| Reviews
By jeph jerman, in the improvisor
From allmusic.com
The second edition of the No Music
Festival was held in London, Ontario (home of the Nihilist Spasm Band),
from April 8 to 10, 1999. The three-day noise extravaganza was recorded
and the label Entartete Kunst Recordings released a five-CD document of
the event. That's over six hours of material, accompanied by a 16-page
booklet filled with photos and comments from the organizers and some of
the participating players, which included that year Ken Vandermark, Fred
Van Hove, Borbetomagus, Alan Licht, Michael Snow, Jim O'Rourke, and many
more, along with the Nihilist Spasm Band (Bill Exley, Art Pratten, John
Boyle, John Clement, Hugh McIntyre, and Murray Favro), of course.
The No Music Festival was structured in
two parts: evening showcases and late-night "interplays."
Excerpts from the showcases are found on the first three discs. The
premiere duo of Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone) and free jazz legend
Fred Van Hove (pipe organ) is a delight. Their 45-minute set is an
occasion to hear both players in a very unusual setting, outside any
reference to jazz. The organ had a very delicate sound that set the mood
for a not too noisy and very enjoyable improv. Worth of note are the
performances of Borbetomagus (this one will get rid of any
wallpaper-scraping job), the pairing of guitarist Alan Licht and
conceptual artist/pianist Michael Snow (heard here on Fender Rhodes),
and the first ever performance of 14-year old Californian noise
guitarist Jon Borges. The Nihilist Spasm Band delivers an average
performance highlighted by guest appearances from Licht and Masaki Ohno
(of Solmania).
Disc four and five collect excerpts from
the "interplay" sessions, collective jams where musicians are
invited to form small ad hoc groups. These events are often the occasion
to hear musicians on unusual instruments (Michael Snow and Jim O'Rourke
played drums, Fred Van Hove took out his accordion) and settings. Ken
Vandermark proved very creative in non-jazz settings, as testifies his
quartet with Licht, O'Rourke, and NSB's John Clement and his "three
tenors" stunt with Borbetomagus' Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich. The
same Dietrich got into an exciting wall of sound with Donald Miller and
Ohno. O'Rourke on unamplified guitar and noisician Knurl played a very
funny David vs. Goliath game with Miller switching Knurl's amplifier on
and off. On a softer side, Vandermark and Van Hove came back for a
surprising clarinet/accordion duet and the latter sat down at the piano
for a duet with NSB's Art Pratten.
No99 is recorded proof of the festival's
vitality. Sound quality is flawed at times, but it conveys a more
accurate transcription of the event. Fans of Ken Vandermark need to hear
his very unusual performance here. After all, the No Music Festival was
about unexpected match-ups (the Vandermark/Van Hove, Licht/Snow, and
Bellchamber/O'Rourke pairings were all world premieres).
—François Couture
From WIRE Magazine
What would the world be like if every
town had its own group of aging reprobates, getting together Monday
nights not to drink beer and talk football but to kick up an unholy
racket on kazoos, guitars, and anything else they could blow into or
electrify? Undoubtedly a more interesting place, and probably a better
one. For more than 35 years, London, Ontario has been home to precisely
such a group-The Nihilist Spasm Band.
In addition to their regular Monday
sessions, the group has also been programming their own No Music
Festival these past few years, gathering together the movers and shakers
and minor tremblers in the US-Europe-Japan noise Improv underground.
Over five CDs, No 99 documents the 1999 event, capturing the high
profile-the host Nihilists, Ken Vandermark and Fred Van Hove,
Borbetomagus, the ubiquitous Jim O'Rourke and Japan's Solmania doing
their thing alongside a wilfully obscure selection of new faces, among
them 14 year old guitar wunderkind Jon Borges, lowan avant banjoist
Christian Kiefer and Toronto's 'hilarious' noise cabaret act Unclean
Wiener. The big hitters get their own showcases, but it's at the
afterhours Interplay sessions where the festival's unique egalitarian
nature shines through. In a multitude of ad hoc groupings, everyone on
the bill and their mothers get the chance to grab an instrument and kick
up a racket. (You can even join in the fun at home, as the package
includes a free kazoo.)
Any festival will have its equivalent of
an interminable set by Ozric Tentacles—just about bearable as part of
the experience, man, but a total downer when reproduced in your own
Irving room—and No 99 is no exception. Still, there are plenty of
gems. Borbetomagus lay down a set that feels like three boulders
pulverising your head for an hour, with guitarist Donald Miller on top
form. Vandermark (who also shares a mesmerising sax trio with
Borbetomagus's Sauter and Dietrich) and Van Hove present a more
considered weave of sax and pipe organ that steers clear of free jazz
clichés while maintaining an elegant fire. Solmania's
speaker-destroying homemade guitar is as ludicrously and wonderfully
over-amped as ever.
Also of special note is Alan Licht's duo
with Canadian avant garde film maker and musician Michael Snow, of New
York Eye And Ear Control fame. A Jim O'Rourke for the Slayer generator,
Licht's guitar sinuously chases Snow's Fender Rhodes through a multitude
of cosmic echoes, transitioning smoothly from one dimension to another.
And O'Rourke gives yet more evidence of his career shift into comedy in
an acoustic guitar/noise generator duo with Knurl that raises the
largest guffaws of the night. A wonderfully informal kind of festival.
Every town should be so lucky.
—Alan Cummings
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