Stet Lab is, and has been for some time, on indefinite hiatus. [More info…]
…a celebration of the practice of improvisation in all its diversity, complexity and, perhaps, contradictions
I’m sitting in London writing this. [I’m typing this up in Cork several days later, however….] My initial idea for this report, fueled by my less-than-wonderful playing with Paul Dunmall (Paul, of course, is never less than fantastic) [info on this performance…], was to write about the tightrope balancing act between playing something—crafting something—‘musically’ satisfactory (however […]
Since Piaras Hoban published an algorithmically generated text for his Lab report, and since I’m not averse to conversations with technics, I thought I’d follow his example with a conversation with Eliza (in this case Charles Hayden’s Java implementation of Eliza), the grandmother of Turing-test contenders. Here’s a more-or-less unedited conversation on the October Stet […]
click clip surprises bell floored click clip the end light a little bell floored click clip the low end light bell blow tap tap wind tap tap wind tap tap tap wind tap type floored click clip hum no alarm this the low end light a off blow click clip the time some tap type […]
I’ve said previously that “I’d be lying if I said I did not have allegiances—in idiom, in tradition, and in practice—I do, but I want to stress the possibility of trans-cultural meetings and creative (mis)understandings.” I don’t subscribe to a silly ideology of some impossibly impartial, neutral, transcendental performance, free of tradition, history, identity. I’m […]
As I approached The Roundy on Monday night, alarm bells were a ringing. “Surely someone will silence that alarm?” thought I. Ha ha, how optimistic. The power of the universe wasn’t with me unfortunately, and 50 minutes later, as Piaras Hoban, Francis Heery, Áine Mangaoang and I began our masterpiece, the alarm was still sounding. […]
Somewhere in Belfast, May 16, 2009 Snippets from a conversation between three musicians: “Man, I should play more free jazz.” “It’s not an idiom at all…” “…a tradition? …a practice?” “Just play all over the keyboard.” “It is so much fun.” “Why don’t I do this all the time?” “There’s nothing better.” “There really isn’t.” […]
Number one (the first thing): playing with Han-earl Park Listening back to the recordings I can’t remember what I was playing or what’s coming next, but I can remember what I was thinking as I played. Such thoughts included “That doesn’t sound like what I expected”, “Now What?”, “Ha!”, “That was cool”, “Where’s he going […]
What is the status of ‘failure’ in improvisative performance? Is the notion of failure relevant to improvised music? If relevant, is it important in the ongoing practice (evolution, mutation or adaptation) of improvisation? safety… For me ‘oxleygrass (Marie’s phone)’ really doesn’t work as music. I think, at best, it’s a technical demonstration. The ditty didn’t […]
Stet Lab, Cork, February 10, 2009 Before we go on stage, I joke with Jamie Smith that we’re the two guitarists who’re going to be tripping up each other (and that the drummer, Owen Sutton, will have to pick through the carnage). By ‘tripping up’ I’m not implying that the results weren’t going to be […]