One of the best things about curating concerts is that you get to meet artists that you truly admire. Philip and Claus are two veterans that have had much influence on the younger generation. I was especially excited to have Claus who is relatively unknown outside of Europe, even though he has played with most German improvisers and his performances are hard to forget. Many people who came to the show had not seen him before and where really blown away by his style and music. Philip also gave an solid and delicate performance that transformed our space into a reverberating memory chamber. However, the highlight of the show was their duo at the end. The distinct sound coming from both players matched perfectly creating a dense vinyl soundscape full of crackly textures.

Bebber’s turntables

Claus van Bebber with his hammer loops

Jeck’s setup

Philip Jeck

Jeck + Bebber

(photo taken by Vivian Wenli Lin)

Text from our mailing list:
STEIM presents Turntable Music Night vol.4
a night for experimental turntable music

Philip Jeck (UK)
Claus van Bebber (DE)
dj sniff (NL/JP)

Date: Thursday, March 13
Venue: STEIM, Utrechtsedwarsstraat 134, Amsterdam
Time: 20.30 hrs.
Entrance: 5 euros
Reservations and more information: knock@steim.nl or 020-6228690

Contrary to turntablists who cut and scratch, there are the ones who find beauty in textured memories of the vinyl and delicately weave together a narrative that evolves in multiples of 33 and 45. Philip Jeck is one of the pioneers in this style of music, not only influencing other turntablists but also a whole generation of laptop musicians. Claus van Bebber is a legend who rarely plays outside of Germany and Western Europe. At the age of 59, he can possibly be one of the oldest turntablists active today, but his music is powerful - using 5 turntables simultaneously and placing hammers next to the needles to create spontaneous loops. Unlike many turntablists, both of these musicians bring their own turntables reminding us that each turntable has its own characteristic sound. Please join us for the fourth edition of Turntable Music Night at STEIM.

videos of Philip Jeck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me5sHTpzZkQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJQLCxi3doI

videos of Claus van Bebber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBdx2_0Q6U0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4qZdXF5IPw

videos of dj sniff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkR2ID8j_mU

Last thursday there was another evening with three experimental DJs at Steim. DJ Lenar from Poland opened the evening. To my opinion his focus right now is more on the experiments, the pieces were not matured yet, but the experiments sounded very promising. Somebody to watch closely. Next performer was dj sniff, now living in Amsterdam and one of Steim’s artistic co-directors, whom I have seen and heard a couple of times before. His performance was outstanding! I think he is a true master in this genre and I am already looking forward to a next concert. The last performer was eRikm from France, who has been quite succesful for a while already. His performance was eclectic and energetic, some might say a bit over the top. To be honest, I really like his visual performance but musically I was very dissapointed. In the end I only heard scratches and ticks, hardly any music any more, which is not surprising when you see how he treats his records…

Anyway, it was another very interesting and inspiring evening at Steim, I am looking forward to another Turntable Music Night.

DJ Lenar

dj sniff

eRikm

text from our mailing list:

R. Murry Schafer’s famous term schizophonia (when a sound is removed from its source) is problematic because it implies a “troubled” state of disembodiment and fragmented reality created through modern recording technology. However, musicians have always developed techniques in both playing and composing specifically for recordings and listeners quickly adjust to listen through crackles, clicks and compression. So it is a romantic notion to think that the record is a “copy” of the “source” when in fact it is both a copy and the source at the same time. Of course the turntable with vinyl is a referential sounding device in its practical use, but fundamentally it is a sonic reality of its own. In my view Janek Schaefer is a musician who builds upon this reality embedded within recording technology. He drifts between fragmented references of beautiful and melancholic sounds and the raw noise of the referring medium, to create an imaginary landscape that can only exist between the grooves of the record and the circuitry that connect to the speakers. We are very happy to have him for the second installment of Turntable Music Night, and am sure that it will be a truly immersive sound experience. You can listen to one of his performances here: http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/24314661

It was a real pleasure having Martin and Maria come to perform for the first Turntable Music Night at STEIM. It was sort of an amazing experience at dinner before the show to sit down with 2 other experimental turntablists and talk about turntable stuff. All three performers had distinct styles and unique approaches to the instrument and medium. The trio session we did at the end came out quite nice and I hope there will be more meetings like this in the future.

Text from mailing list:

It has always been my dream to organize a concert series featuring only turntable musicians. Naturally, such an event at STEIM would be in the context of experimental/electro-acoustic/improvised music with more crackles and hisses than scratches and cuts. However, I hope not to only invite artist from this particular genre because if one can characterize STEIM as a center for artist driven technology, then Grandmaster Flash (one of my personal heros) who opened his DJ mixer and added a headphone pre-amp to realize a revolutionary technique in Hip-Hop music and the Jamaican Dub selectors who built their own studios and sound systems with little resources are equally in the context of STEIM. I believe that turntable music embodies an important lineage and inspiration for artists who seek an expressional voice with technology.