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Tony Conrad live at Cobb Hall (1/23/2011), part I
'Tony Conrad is the quintessential cult figure; resident outsider; rebel angel; Tony Conrad's got the kind of immaculate credibility that can't be bought and can't be sold -- and how else, otherwise, could he have persevered? Rumbling under the cultural radar since the Kennedy Era, Conrad is at once first cause and last laugh, a covert operative who can stand as a primary influence over succeeding generations. At the core of Conrad's legend is his work as a violinist, in which primal, enveloping drones create an oscillating ritual theater. In 1962 he co-founded the groundbreaking ensemble known as the Dream Syndicate. Wielding a drone both aggressively confrontational and subtly mesmerizing, he and his collaborators -- including La Monte Young and future Velvet Underground co-founders John Cale and Angus MacLise -- created some of the most revolutionary music of that -- or any -- decade. Utilizing long durations, precise pitch and blistering volume, Conrad and co. forged a "Dream Music" that articulated the Big Bang of "minimalism." However, the many rehearsal and performance tapes from this period were repressed by Young, becoming the stuff of legend.'-- MOCAD
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Tony Conrad & FaustFrom the Side of the Machine
'Recorded over a span of three days in 1973, Outside the Dream Syndicate was Tony Conrad's first official release; though also credited to the celebrated Krautrock band Faust, it's primarily a showcase for Conrad's minimalist drone explorations, an aesthetic fascinatingly at odds with the noisy, fragmented sound of his collaborators. Consisting of three epic tracks, each topping out in excess of 20 minutes, the album is hypnotically contemplative; the music shifts in subtle -- almost subliminal -- fashion, and the deeper one listens, the more rewarding it becomes.'-- pelodelperro
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Tony Conrad & Keiji Hainolive
'Recorded live at Super Deluxe, Roppongi on the 17th of September, 2008. This is an excerpt from the shorter first piece performed (around 47 minutes). Tony Conrad (treated and amplified violin), Keiji Haino (treated and amplified hurdy gurdy).'-- santasprees
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Tony Conrad & Gastr Del SolTen Years Alive on the Infinite Plain
'9:36pm: Conrad is joined onstage by David Grubbs and Jim O’Rourke of Gastr del Sol, as well as frequent collaborator Alex Gelencser. She’s holding an instrument that looks like a cello, but all neck, with no body and only two strings. Grubbs sits at a long, horizontal, one-stringed instrument. O’Rourke is on electric bass, and Conrad has his violin. In the back of the club, a battery of film projectors is lined up on a pool table and pointed at the white screens behind the performers. 9:45pm: The performance begins with a violin drone from Conrad, punctuated by a slight glitch whenever his bow reverses direction. O’Rourke starts to add resounding bass notes, first irregularly, later settling into a steady pulse. The piece is “Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain,” composed in the early seventies. 9:48pm: Two projectors are running now, projecting vertical black and white stripes on the screens behind the performers. The flashing stripes invert motionlessly, but the eye sees them moving now to the left, now to the right. 9:55pm: Four projectors are running now, all projecting the same loop of marching stripes. Grubbs strikes the lone string on his instrument with a metal rod, making a grainy twang with a distorted attack. He slides the rod along the string, making downward glissandos. The fifth projector starts. The five projected images span the width of the stage and spill out onto the adjacent walls. The stripes play across the performers’ faces and instruments. 10:02pm: Conrad is playing more freely now, adding and subtracting pitches from the drone by altering the angle of his bow. The booming bass notes and downward glissandos pull the music down while Conrad’s violin leaps upward. Gelenscer’s metronomic bowing on the cello-like instrument occupies the center, unmoving. 10:05pm: Suddenly I notice the edges of the five films have started to overlap. They must have been gradually moving closer together for some time now. 10:30pm: The overlap between the films is substantial now. Illusory interference patterns appear, tinged with faint phantom colors: green, orange, yellow. Conrad sways back and forth as he plays, sometimes grimacing with concern, sometimes positively beaming, his mouth open as if frozen in mid-laugh. O’Rourke lies on his back, bass resting on his crossed leg. The glissandos reverse direction. 11:08pm: The films finally merge into a single vibrating, flickering mass. Then, one by one, they shut off. 11:15pm: When the last film shuts off the music abruptly stops and the echoes of the last bass note fade to silence.'-- Seth Tisue
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Tony Conrad The Flicker (Excerpt)
'A 1966 film by Tony Conrad consisting of only alternating black-and-white film images. During the projection, light and dark sequences alternate to changing rhythms and produce stroboscopic and flickering effects; and while viewing these, they cause optic impressions which simulate colors and forms. In the process, the film also stimulates physiological in place of psychological impressions, by not addressing the senses as such, but rather triggering direct neural reactions. Tony Conrad, who has devoted himself to an intensive study of the physiology of the nervous system, created with The Flicker an icon of the structural film, which succeeds without a narrative or reproducible imagery. Since the seen is not captured through the eyes, but rather first produced in the brain.'-- medienkunstnetz.de
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Angus Maclise & Tony ConradDruid's Leafy Nest
'Previously-unheard recordings of Angus MacLise and Tony Conrad from the MacLise tape archives. In a silkscreened sleeve. First edition of 500 (purple cover) - ALMOST SOLD OUT. Side A: Untitled (recorded October 18 1968 at Tony Conrad's apartment) 15'27". Side B: Short Drum and Viola part 1 & 2 (ca. 1969) 4'49". Druid's Leafy Nest (undated) 7'26". Early Jams (undated) 6'46".'-- Boo-Hooray
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Tony Conrad & C. Spencer Yeh & Michael F. DuchMusculus Trapezius
'An epic performance captured pristine, unfurling its massive limbs patiently and cannily over the course of seventy-plus minutes. TONY CONRAD mingles among trusted wood-and-steel sidekicks, engaged in both age-old conversations and inspired new inquisitions; C. SPENCER YEH bookends his passive/aggressive behavior on violin with spare piano incantations; MICHAEL F. DUCHS acts as a ghostly anchor, casting formidable binding and deft velocity. Drones flow freely, but these reliable horizons fracture into surprising detours, tearing apart the instruments, the players involved, and the expectations of the music itself.'-- The Omega Order
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Tony ConradLive at Cafe OTO, Wednesday 26 October 2011
'The first law of music mythology states: every music scene throws up at least one disenchant who makes a case that their original contribution to whatever made their scene something special has been overlooked. If true, then Tony Conrad has more reason to feel aggrieved than most. But it’s worth taking a view on Conrad because the concept of allying repetitive structure to tuning was a flash of genius. Who actually brought just intonation to the Theatre of Eternal Music table first has been lost to history. Perhaps there was synchronous thinking going on between Young and Conrad, but using a tuning system richer in natural overtones, and less clean-cut in its ability to switch between keys than equal temperament, cut a round peg for a round hole. New structures opened up; tuning and structure went places Reich and Glass could only dream about. In 1997 Conrad released a box set of period recordings, Early Minimalism Volume One, in an attempt to put the record straight; his 1995 disc Slapping Pythagoras turned out to be a thinly-veiled polemic against La Monte Young. Few people who wage tuning wars emerge unscathed. At Café Oto, Conrad will generate 'incredible psychoactive tonal colours'; drones and just intonation; a direct link back to the hidden history of minimalism.'-- Philip Clark
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Hangedup & Tony ConradPrinciples
'Hangedup is the Montreal-based duo of Gen Heistek (viola) and Eric Craven (drums). The two met in 1995 while playing in Sackville and formed Hangedup in 1999. They released their eponymous debut in May 2001. Kicker in Tow followed in October 2002 and Clatter for Control in April 2005. Hangedup are unique operators of their chosen instruments, and have mastered a signature sound that is well ahead, and far behind, the times. Heistek’s vertigo-inducing viola runs through hallucinating loopers and warranty-voided amplifiers. Craven’s inimitable sound fuses auto shop discards with home-wiring experiments and fifteen-year-old drum skins. Sometimes soaring, occasionally distressing, Hangedup are the sound of tomorrow, only tomorrow was this morning, just before you left the house. And you left the stove on. Their friendship and collaboration with legendary violin minimalist Tony Conrad led to a series of recording sessions in 2004. These recordings finally saw the light of day as Transit of Venus, released in June 2012 as part of the Constellation label's Musique Fragile Volume 02 box set.'-- Constellation
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Tony Conrad & FaustThe Pyre of Angus Was in Kathmandu
'Here's what we know: in October 1972, at a hippie commune in Wümme in southwestern Hamburg, a German art-rock collective bred on the stringent drone and skag-pop of the Velvet Underground hooked up with the young composer who gave that band its name-- or rather, who handed Lou Reed the sadomasochism exposé whence the band derived its name. Tony Conrad and the members of Faust collaborated for three days on an album that would be released the following year in England and would tank immediately thereafter. The musicians did not communicate or collaborate throughout the following two decades. Minimalism is unquestionably the wrong word; I prefer asceticism. Anyone familiar with the Zappa-like hysteria of Faust's first album or the searing kosmische of IV must imagine the sheer force of self-denial at work in implementing Conrad's vision: to have a deep base note tuned to the tonic on Conrad's violin and to have the drummer "tuned" to a rhythm that corresponded to the vibrations. Minimal in design, I suppose, but catastrophically huge in execution.'-- Brent S. Sirota
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Tony Conrad, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge & Edley ODowdDemilitarized Ozone
'Recorded live February 19, 2011 at the Hebbel am Ufer 2 (HAU2) in Berlin, Germany. The concert was in conjunction with Arsenal's premiere of Marie Losier's film "The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye" for the 2011 Berlinale. The sound in this recording is owned and published by Tony Conrad, Genesis P-Orridge and Edward O'Dowd. Limited to 230 copies (in recycled vinyl and in several different colors). Cover has a patch attached to plain brown jacket. Included an 8” x 8” black and white booklet and 2 postcard sized replicas of the original concert poster.'-- discogs
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Tony Conradlive at Tate Modern
'Tony Conrad is a pivotal figure in contemporary culture. His multi-faceted contributions since the 1960s have influenced and redefined music, filmmaking, minimalism, performance, video and conceptual art. Known for his groundbreaking film The Flicker, his involvement in the Theatre of Eternal Music and the evolution of the Velvet Underground, and collaborations with a host of luminaries including Jack Smith, John Cale, Mike Kelley and Henry Flynt, Conrad remains a radical figure who challenges our understanding of art history. This special weekend at Tate Modern will feature a major new performance for the Turbine Hall and screenings of Conrad’s extraordinary film and video work.'-- Tate Modern
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Tony Conrad & Yasunao Tonelive at ISSUE Project Room
'Polymath Tony Conrad is known by many names: composer, filmmaker, video artist, media activist, writer, and educator. Associated with the founding of minimal music and underground film, he is well known for his pivotal role in the formation of the Velvet Underground and The Dream Syndicate, as well as his 1966 film masterwork The Flicker. He performs and exhibits widely internationally, the present decade has seen a series of releases and exhibitions confirming his indefatigable creative legacy. Conrad is a founding member of the ISSUE Project Room Board. Yasunao Tone was one of the first Japanese artists active in composing “events” and improvisational music. Active in the Fluxus movement since 1962, he has been an organizer and participant in many important performance groups including Group Ongaku, Hi-Red Center, and Team Random. Tone has worked in many media, creating pieces for electronics, computer systems, film, radio and television, and environmental art.'-- ISSUE Project
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Tony ConradSlapping Pythagoras
'Violinist and theoretician Tony Conrad was one of the leading lights of the minimalist school revolving around LaMonte Young in the early '60s, but had not released a studio album for 23 years prior to Slapping Pythagoras, the odd title apparently deriving from the multitude of issues Conrad has with the Pythagorean method, detailed in painstaking fashion in his liner notes. True to his career-long approach, the two lengthy pieces herein are centered on the drone and the sonic richness to be found there. His microtonal approach will be perceived as abrasive (even aggressively so) by many listeners, but those who allow themselves to succumb will discover a fascinating, multi-layered sound world in which can be heard many of the ideas underlying the work of bands from the Velvet Underground to Sonic Youth. Indeed, occasional Sonic Youth producer/collaborator Jim O'Rourke is on hand for this session, as is a roster made up of the cream of the late-'90s Chicago experimental music scene. This is deep minimalism with a sharp and acidic bite, and will provide many rewards for the intrepid listener.'-- allmusic
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John Cale, Jack Smith, & Tony ConradSilent Shadows On Cinematic Island
'Stainless Gamelan is an album by John Cale, better known for his work as the violist and founding member of the Velvet Underground. It is the fourth and final album in a loose anthology released by the independent label Table of the Elements. It follows Sun Blindness Music, Day Of Niagara and Dream Interpretation. Stainless Gamelan, along with the other albums in the trilogy, involves Cale during his tenure with the minimalist group Theatre of Eternal Music. His collaborators on the album include fellow VU member Sterling Morrison, filmmaker Jack Smith, and composer/filmmaker Tony Conrad who is credited as playing 'thunder machine'.'-- collaged
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Angus Maclise & Tony ConradTrance 2
'A second LP of previously-unheard recordings of Angus MacLise and Tony Conrad from the MacLise tape archives. In a silkscreened sleeve. Released in an edition of 500, to accompany the DREAMWEAPON, The Art and Life of Angus MacLise 1938-1979 exhibition, May 2011. SMRGS-2 appears on the LP jacket. BH-002 is the matrix etching on the vinyl itself.'-- discogs
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The Theatre of Eternal MusicB flat dorian blues 19 x 63
'The Theatre of Eternal Music, sometimes later known as The Dream Syndicate, was a mid-1960s musical group formed by La Monte Young, that focused on experimental drone music. It featured the performances of La Monte Young, John Cale, Angus MacLise, Terry Jennings, Marian Zazeela, Tony Conrad, Billy Name, Jon Hassell, Alex Dea and others. The group is stylistically tied to the Neo-Dada aesthetics of Fluxus and the post-John Cage noise music continuum. The Theatre of Eternal Music gave performances on the East Coast of the United States as well as in Western Europe that consisted of long periods of sensory inundation with combinations of harmonic relationships, which moved slowly from one to the next by means of "laws" laid out by La Monte Young regarding "allowable" sequences and simultaneities.'-- collaged
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Tony Conradlive @ Supersonic 2011
'TONY CONRAD is a giant in the American soundscape. Since the early 1960s, he has utilized intense amplification, long duration and precise pitch to forge an aggressively mesmerizing “Dream Music. “Conrad articulated the Big Bang of “minimalism” and played a pivotal role in the formation of the Velvet Underground. Conrad continues to exert a primal influence over succeeding generations with his ecstatic oscillations and hypnotic drones. “Tony Conrad is a pioneer, as seminal in his way to American music as Johnny Cash or Captain Beefheart or Ornette Coleman, one of those really savvy old guys whom all the kids want to emulate because their ideas, their style are electric and new and somehow indivisible.” -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution.'-- Supersonic
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p.s. Hey. Warning: I somehow fucked up my back yesterday, and I'm on pain killers and anti-inflammatories, and I'm typing this -- or trying to -- while lying on my stomach, so I'm a bit fogged, distracted, and hampered today. Nothing serious, I'm just in pain and debilitated for the moment. I'll do my best. ** Armando, Hi. I hope you saw Chris Dankland's comment to you yesterday. It should be really helpful. ** Thom, Hi. Yeah, it's weird, but I can't think of anybody. I think my imagination is into doing acrobatics inspired either by 3-dimensional real world people or super flat people like the escorts and slaves I cull here every month. Very strange. Just to show you my out-of-it-ness, the only guy in your list whose name rings a bell is Logan Lerman. But I will go cruise what I can find of them as soon as I'm not forced to push laptop buttons while prone on my stomach, which is weirdly more difficult to do than it probably sounds. It's made me realize that there's a dark side to having elbows. Thank you! ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, David. Agree with you about Firbank, obviously. I'll have to get in a little less pain before I get to your email, but I'm hoping to be far more normalized by tomorrow. ** Steevee, Hi. Wow, I'm not even sure how you could have a bad trip like that on mushrooms. Weird. That seems like a Guinness World Record Book thing. I haven't seen the American 'KoC' trailer, but I can only imagine. Representing that film appropriately in one minute or whatever would definitely not fill seats. I'm guessing it must distort the film by emphasizing Christian Bale and the celebrity cameos and maybe the earthquake moment and how pretty LA looks. ** Dóra Grőber, Hi, Dóra! I'm very happy to say that we now have a producer for our new film! There's a ways to go to raise the money needed -- we've already raised maybe a little less than half of the budget -- but now the biggest step has been taken, and we're very relieved! Yay! Awesome about your pamphlet project! I think that's a really great idea! Will it be printed or online or both? I'll totally do a post here for the pamphlet to christen it and let people know that it exists and is a must-get. Great! Well, my back getting fucked up has pretty much killed my chance to see Marching Church tonight, sadly. Ugh. I hope your day is going to be a ton more wonderful than mine will be, ha ha. ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris! Thank you so, so incredibly much for so generously helping Armando out with that great information! You've also alerted me to some books I don't know and will definitely get asap! Thanks about the interview. The DVD release will be in early summer. The exact date isn't set yet. We're trying to set up as many showings first as we can. I really want to see 'The Witch'. I think it's the new movie I most want to see. It sounds really interesting, thank you. I really, really love what you said about 'Knight of Cups'. I totally agree. That was beautiful, man. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. I know, right? I watched that clip about fifteen times. ** Misanthrope, I really don't get these extreme mushroom trips. They must have been very weird shrooms. The VR that I've tried so far, some of it supposedly top level tech, left a huge amount to be desired. But, yeah, the promise is really there. I'll look for what you sent me. I'm zonked, so it might take me a bit to respond. ** Bill, Hi, B. Oh, thanks. Um, I can't say very much about this right now, but let's just say you'll get an opportunity to see the film in your hood before too, too long. ** Sypha, That makes sense. Yes, I just saw yesterday about the new Philip Best book! Due to the impairment caused by my current condition, imbedding links here is too difficult, or else I would. ** Okay. Whew. Please cast your ears, and, in many cases, eyes into the work of the great, great Tony Conrad. Thank you. I will go try to turn my back into a saint now. See you tomorrow.