PERLONEX/Charlemagne Palestine/Keith Rowe Tensions
[ ns54 / 2CD ]This double-CD documents the 5th anniversary concert of Perlonex who on this occasion invited Keith Rowe(AMM) and Charlemagne Palestine as guests in order to feature different aspects of their musical work in two distinct sets. All material is presented as played live and no editing or overdubs have been applied. Recorded at Podewil by Christian Malejka on September 11th 2004 Mixed by Ignaz Schick &
Burkhard Beins at AudioCue Studio Berlin.
While Perlonex normally don’t perform with guests the collaboration with Ch. Palestine, this unusual confrontation has been continued and Palestine became a frequent & only guest of the group. After the
first meeting documented on this double CD there were several concerts taking place in France, Switzerland & Austria. A recent evening in Vienna which was recorded & broadcasted by ORF radio station documents how intense & unusual the quality of this exchange became. An 80 minutes long stream of intense drones cutting against quotations of Gershwin’s “It ain’t necessarily so”.
The electro-acoustic trio PERLONEX was founded in late 1998 and has performed and toured in Europe and North America extensively since then. Ranging from prominent contemporary music festivals to
underground noise/punk clubs, from art galleries to obscure improv backrooms the wide variety of venues they have played marks out the musical spectrum of the group. Through the interplay and friction of
gradually shifting layers of sound, sonic interferences, interwoven loops and hidden repetitive structures PERLONEX is plumbing the depth of a rather complex sound material.
Keith Rowe is a co-founder of the english improvising ensemble AMM, established in 1966. Already in the late 1950’s Rowe started experimenting with preparations on the guitar, influenced by the ideas of Marcel Duchamps. In the beginning of the 1960’s he has been a member of Mike Westbrook’s band until his resolution, never to tune the guitar again, made his resignation from the group unavoidable. Since then Rowe is exclusively playing the “table top guitar” – as a soloist, in AMM (up to 2000) and in various other groups. A contemporary of Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and Steve Reich, Charlemagne Palestine wrote intense, ritualistic music in the 1970s, intended by the composer to rub against Western audiences’
expectations of what is beautiful and meaningful in music. A composer-performer, he always performed his own works as soloist. His earliest works were compositions for carillon and electronic drones, and he is perhaps best known for his intensely performed piano works. He also performs as a vocalist: in Karenina he sings in the countertenor register and in other works he sings long tones with gradually shifting vowels and overtones while moving through the performance space or performing repeated actions such as throwing
himself onto his hands.
Ignaz Schick – turntables, live-electronics
Jorg Maria Zeger – electric guitars
Burkhard Beins – percussion, objects & Keith Rowe – tabletop guitar, electronics
Charlemagne Palestine – piano, keyboards
listen: PERLONEX with Charlemagne Palestine, PERLONEX with Keith Rowe
Nexsound 2006