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Janek Schaefer review
3 Dec 2007, 16:56
Sun 2 Dec – Janek Schaefer
I'm an indie kid at heart, but entirely open to all sorts of music and unique musical experiences. And this one was really unique. "Sound artist, musician, composer and sound designer" Janek Schaefer, who I'd never heard of, was performing a specially commissioned work relating to sport at nearby Loughborough University. I had to be there.
So myself and 50-ish others were led into the David Wallace Sports Hall at the University on a cold, wet, windy December night. As it was a gym, we took off our outdoor shoes (religious overtones there I thought), picked up a gym mat, and sat in front of Schaefer's mixing desk. Schaefer's setup, as he was then to explain in a pleasant understated way, was that he was to perform a work lasting up to an hour, mostly improvised. He was sitting on a gym bench, with a low table in front of him. He was sitting on the goal line of the gym, with goalposts above and around him. Sets of speakers were positioned around the gym so listeners felt immersed in the sound.
The goalposts were one of several "found" items that form an important part of much of his work. He'd been to the University prior to the performance to collect sporting sounds (like balls bouncing), and had also visited the University's Music department to borrow a xylophone, gong, cymbals, and several classical LPs.
He had also brought along his instruments - most importantly a mixer, plus several minidisc players (with samples and field recordings loaded up), effects pedals, and his home-made record player with two arms (so that two parts of the record can be played at the same time). For an inexperienced tech geek like me, this was all great stuff.
And then the concert started - with the basketball nets mechanically, noisily, coming down from the roof (a nice touch). The main gym lights were turned off, leaving a few red spotlights on around the goalposts. He first played a short piece called something like The Horse Race Game - from a US LP he'd bought 10 years ago and never found much of a use for. This LP has five separate grooves in it, and depending on which groove the needle lands on, that horse wins the "game". Horse 5 won for us.
And then it was straight into the rest of the work. Long, brooding, warm electronic sounds were merged with all sorts of other material, looped and warped, speeded up and slowed down. Highlights for me included a wonderful repetition of noises of cars driving past, which after a while started to sound like people playing musical instruments. Also Schaefer's live xylophone was sampled and looped to become a beautiful chiming section. There was a baffling extract of speech from ex footballer Jackie Charlton. And at the end there was a great looped bit of Ravel's Bolero (the piece of course being famous in sport for the Torvill and Dean connection), followed by looped and warped cymbal sounds.
All very relaxing and warm. Sometimes loud and sometimes dischordant but never unpleasant. I was very pleased I'd made it to the event, and will be more than interested in seeing him again.
After the performance Schaefer stuck around to talk to a few of us and to sell his CDs and DVDs. He guided us around his kit, and kindly, patiently, asked what we thought about the work.
More information about the work is at Schaefer's website at www.audioh.com - including a link to buy the mp3 of the event for a fiver.
I'm an indie kid at heart, but entirely open to all sorts of music and unique musical experiences. And this one was really unique. "Sound artist, musician, composer and sound designer" Janek Schaefer, who I'd never heard of, was performing a specially commissioned work relating to sport at nearby Loughborough University. I had to be there.
So myself and 50-ish others were led into the David Wallace Sports Hall at the University on a cold, wet, windy December night. As it was a gym, we took off our outdoor shoes (religious overtones there I thought), picked up a gym mat, and sat in front of Schaefer's mixing desk. Schaefer's setup, as he was then to explain in a pleasant understated way, was that he was to perform a work lasting up to an hour, mostly improvised. He was sitting on a gym bench, with a low table in front of him. He was sitting on the goal line of the gym, with goalposts above and around him. Sets of speakers were positioned around the gym so listeners felt immersed in the sound.
The goalposts were one of several "found" items that form an important part of much of his work. He'd been to the University prior to the performance to collect sporting sounds (like balls bouncing), and had also visited the University's Music department to borrow a xylophone, gong, cymbals, and several classical LPs.
He had also brought along his instruments - most importantly a mixer, plus several minidisc players (with samples and field recordings loaded up), effects pedals, and his home-made record player with two arms (so that two parts of the record can be played at the same time). For an inexperienced tech geek like me, this was all great stuff.
And then the concert started - with the basketball nets mechanically, noisily, coming down from the roof (a nice touch). The main gym lights were turned off, leaving a few red spotlights on around the goalposts. He first played a short piece called something like The Horse Race Game - from a US LP he'd bought 10 years ago and never found much of a use for. This LP has five separate grooves in it, and depending on which groove the needle lands on, that horse wins the "game". Horse 5 won for us.
And then it was straight into the rest of the work. Long, brooding, warm electronic sounds were merged with all sorts of other material, looped and warped, speeded up and slowed down. Highlights for me included a wonderful repetition of noises of cars driving past, which after a while started to sound like people playing musical instruments. Also Schaefer's live xylophone was sampled and looped to become a beautiful chiming section. There was a baffling extract of speech from ex footballer Jackie Charlton. And at the end there was a great looped bit of Ravel's Bolero (the piece of course being famous in sport for the Torvill and Dean connection), followed by looped and warped cymbal sounds.
All very relaxing and warm. Sometimes loud and sometimes dischordant but never unpleasant. I was very pleased I'd made it to the event, and will be more than interested in seeing him again.
After the performance Schaefer stuck around to talk to a few of us and to sell his CDs and DVDs. He guided us around his kit, and kindly, patiently, asked what we thought about the work.
More information about the work is at Schaefer's website at www.audioh.com - including a link to buy the mp3 of the event for a fiver.
