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Mixing it up

From Germany, a jolt of experimental electronica

By James Scanlon
For The Prague Post
March 28th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
With any luck, the performance will be as distinctive as the duo's publicity photo.
As one of Japan’s leading figures in ambient noise electronica, Toshimaru Nakamura explores depth, dimension and new means of expression like nobody else, all courtesy of his “no input” mixing board. A device he now lugs all over the world, it’s basically a simple (yet complex to use) analog synthesizer that requires the user to jack the board’s output into input in order to create a feedback loop. This transforms rhythmic patterns into what’s been described as ear-bleed-level oscillations.
Although not entirely a new concept, it has nevertheless helped trigger some interesting new electronic hybrid sounds. Nakamura’s work with the Bagnolet Choreography Concours, and his acclaimed improvisational live shows at Tokyo’s Bar Aoyama, have also helped stretch his influences.
Adopting the moniker “Toshi Sampling-Self” in honor of his machine, Nakamura has now joined forces with Berlin composer/performer Nicholas Bussmann as Alles 3.
Bussmann is also a firm believer in the art of performance. The two first met at the Anorak club in East Berlin in the early 1990s. According to Bussmann, the dive was a magnet for all sorts of junkies, punks, fundamentalist Christians and artists. But, even by fringe standards, the duo’s approach to music was very different — which may explain why more than a decade passed before they got down to some serious experimenting.
Once they found an improvisational formula that worked, things suddenly clicked. Bussmann already had a lot to bring to the table, or rather mixing board. For 10 years he had dabbled in hip-hop, electronica and elements of jazz with fellow Berliner Hanno Leichtmann to produce three cerebrally provocative albums under the guise of White Hole. Along with that, his “Edition Edison” project, executed with the help of China’s largely unknown FM3, ran installation workshops that highlighted the demise of sound-storage media.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, Bussmann is also the brains behind the “Grand Prix d’Amour,” an annual love-song contest held in Berlin. All sorts of people are encouraged to write their own songs and take to the stage for the first time in their lives. A one-person jury is selected from a hat and receives a bottle of champagne for the trouble. The catch, however, is that he or she must promise to drink the contents while hearing out all the songs. At the end — assuming an ambulance is not required — a winner is chosen and rewarded with a bucketful of fruit, chocolate, schnapps and wine. No wonder Bussmann says, “It’s fun.”
As, no doubt, was Sex, a radio play he performed with Lindy Annis that’s been described as labyrinthic, restless, seductive and thorny. Annis says she wanted an eclectic edge to the accompanying music, as well as “an intercourse of text and music. I wanted a disrespect of the texts and their structure. I got the first two, but not the third,” she adds mysteriously.
Bussmann is no stranger to Prague; he’s often done the rounds at Klub Delta. But this is his first outing with Alles 3, a project he’s running simultaneously with another project called Kapitol One Band.
Bussmann believes the computer is a stupid instrument, but he likes its capacity to be random. Matching Nakamura’s no-input contraption, Bussmann works with Patches, small programs created in Supercollider. “I control a randomness, which is a kind of contradiction,” he acknowledges, “because, if you control a randomness, it’s not random anymore. But it’s partly random, so this forces me to react to what the machine is doing. It keeps it alive. The patch I’m most often working with gives me the full range, from a straight beat or melodic-oriented music to far-out, unpredicatable collages.”
Alles 3

Toshimaru Namakura & Nicholas Bussmann
When: Tuesday, April 3, at 7:30
Where: Palác Akropolis
Tickets: 250 Kč, available at the venue

At Akropolis, Alles 3 will concentrate on the album I Know How You Frown, more or less. It’s only a sound base, so the performance will probably sound nothing like it.
“It’s a record that wasn’t made with a purpose,” Bussman explains. “It was made because it comes from the music — it just happened. We improvise a lot. He’s on one side, and I’m on the other.”
Looks like a potential clash of electro titans is in store.

James Scanlon can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (28/03/2007):

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