Autechre the hafler trio

[Guest Z_B_Z]

 

my guess is that because of the autechre collabs there have to be some fans/followers here. a few years ago i decided to make a commitment to really understand the essence this group (well, andrew mckenzie) and i have to say that for the most part ive been unsuccessful. best i can figure is that the works are intended to directly affect the listener in more than just an emotional/intellectual way. its like hes aiming for some kind of serious alteration of consciousness that can only be achieved if you fully engage with the work. that is, put as much work into experiencing the album as the creator did in making it. thats a tall order but also interesting in that it presents a serious challenge to the listener. back before mckenzie deleted his email list i used to ask questions about how to best approch his work, and he would more or less always use various metaphors that said the same thing. like "its like getting your house in order for guests that will arrive at an unspecified time" or something similar. im still not quite sure what that means. heres and example of his oblique way of uh.. im not sure - a description (for lack of a better word) of the "kill the king" reissue -

 

"Saved from bit-rot, ergonomically enhanced, notated, commented, added and lubricated to perfection, Kill The King rises again to slip inside systems and penetrate that which used to be called Mind with an effortless bobbing and to-ing and fro-ing, which connects the other centres with a loud "PING!", leaving all joyous and fruitful. believing is seeing. experience the thrill of several lifetimes and invest in your grandchildren's uncertain future." — the hafler trio

i remember reading autechre say that the hafler trios work "has a rare humor" and i completely agree. the man has an extremely odd sense of humor and its certainly present in that blurb above.

 

an interview with mckenzie-

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJWaLucb664

 

also, i think this guy deserves some kind of award for graphic design. quite beautiful -

 

 

If you could have three wishes what would they be?

 

h3o: The same wish three times, but on three different levels.

[Capsaicin]

Very weird and eccentric, but nevertheless interesting enough for me to proudly own Kill the King, A Thirsty Fish, and Intoutof. I'm rarely in the mood to listen to his works, though.

[Guest Z_B_Z]

i go through periods of interest with h3o.. his stuff doesnt lend too well to casual listening...

[xy_politics]

I found this interesting:

 

http://totem.menneske.dk/batch_totem/BIN/%5BBIN_005%5D/

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Andrew McKenzie - DIEM Lecture

 

01: DIEM Lecture - Part 1 [57:39]

02: DIEM Lecture - Part 2 [69:10]

 

Lecture given at DIEM, Aarhus - Denmark 14-09-2006 by Andrew McKenzie / Hafler Trio.

 

BIN - 2007 [bIN DATA 005]

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[elusive4]

yeah - i haev all my h30 for a reason

 

me and mappatazee

[o00o]

its contemporary music

 

this is where it leads you when autechre and aphex are not experimental enough anymore for your ears

 

nice from time to time but also nice to come back from it to normal stuff like ae

[Blir]

Isn't Andrew McKenzie dying or something?

[mcbpete]

Isn't Andrew McKenzie dying or something?

He's got Hepatitis B apparently (I say apparently as you cant never truly believe the true king of misinformation !).

 

I have the Exactly As I Am/Say/Do trilogy (including that version that came in a big box with salmon skin), A Thirsty Fish, Mastery of Money, Kill The King, A Pressed on Sandwich, Intoutof, Bang An Open letter, and the two collaborations with Autechre. And yet (and yet), I still have no idea whether I like The Hafler Trio or not

[Blir]

It's that kind of music innit. I get that with SND as well.

[awepittance]

i love his early works, thirsty fish especially. his later stuff kind of dropped off for me, the drones are too unchanging and not as textural. he is a weird guy, i've heard several 'horror' stories from pretty well known artists in the experimental scene about him though, apparently he is ridiculously hard to work with

 

edit: i miss the all the 80s post industrial ambient/experimental stuff though. I feel like a lot of experimental drone and ambient music made now is too sterile and digital sounding in comparison

Edited November 25, 2009 by Awepittance

[Guest Z_B_Z]

I found this interesting:

 

http://totem.menneske.dk/batch_totem/BIN/%5BBIN_005%5D/

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Andrew McKenzie - DIEM Lecture

 

01: DIEM Lecture - Part 1 [57:39]

02: DIEM Lecture - Part 2 [69:10]

 

Lecture given at DIEM, Aarhus - Denmark 14-09-2006 by Andrew McKenzie / Hafler Trio.

 

BIN - 2007 [bIN DATA 005]

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

very cool! thanks for the link!

[awepittance]

Fuck and masturbatorium are kind of fascinating, if only for the concept and the photos of andrew jacking off into a bucket in the linear notes (not to mention precum emanating from his cock on the cover)

i've never heard masturbatorium, was the 3rd part of that trilogy ever released?

Edited November 25, 2009 by Awepittance

[Guest Z_B_Z]

he is a weird guy, i've heard several 'horror' stories from pretty well known artists in the experimental scene about him though, apparently he is ridiculously hard to work with

 

 

yeah, i can certainly see this. he was always responsive when i asked questions about his work, but his answers were difficult and hard to understand.. any attempt to draw more than a cryptic answer out of him was met with derision

 

what are the horror stories? autechre seemed to be able to handle him enough to do two releases with him..

[Guest Z_B_Z]

 

i've never heard masturbatorium, was the 3rd part of that trilogy ever released?

 

the complete trilogy can be purchased for $500 from his simply superior site. masturbatorium is more of an ep. and theres a lot from kill the king on it if i remeber correctly

 

edit: nevermind, only 7 copies are being produced lol

 

DJARTKLOM is the area of activity and endeavour of Simply Superior that intends to address in as an intelligent and appropriate manner as possible the changing nature of the marketplace with respect to projects that are no longer suitable cargo for that framework. It will consist of very small editions of projects that would otherwise not have seen the light of day, allowing limited openings of access to material that should not remain completely covert, but should manifest because of their inherent nature. These boulders will roll uphill.

 

Projects to be included in this series are among the following:

 

I Love You + Masturbatorium + Fuck

all in 5.1 surround versions and with visual evidential matter

How To Slice A Loaf Of Bread

in 5.1 surround sound and with visual evidential matter

Severin3o (title TBC)

part of the "voice" series, constructed entirely from the dulcet tones of Mr. Steven Severin with 5.1 surround, visuals

Anything That Anyone Else Tells You Is Not Enough

in 5.1 surround sound and with visual evidential matter

A Series Of Questionable Experiences Raising Dust And Cracking Eggs With Sticks (Steiner Theatre)

in 5.1 surround sound and with visual evidential matter

The Nearness of Doings That Be Things (Horse Hospital)

in 5.1 surround sound and with visual evidential matter

Light & Joy

5.1 surround with visual evidential material from european galavantings, 2003

There, Where We Thought We Were (But Weren't)

St. Petersburg; material prepared but never presented

La Chanson Dada boxed set

5.1 surround version featuring the massed choirs of the world with visual evidence, plus the original 10" record in custom box

Ordinarily

planned for performance, but never used

How To Breathe Air For Beginners

material constructed for performance in Finland, 2006 - 5.1 surround and visual acuity testing modes included. features previously unreleased work with Pan Sonic and Isalaja

Gira3o (title TBC)

part of the "voice" series, constructed entirely from the voice of Mr. Michael Gira with 5.1 surround, visuals

5.1 Surround editions of some of the 10" vinyl release material, where appropriate and possible

 

---oooOOOooo---

 

7 copies will be for sale, at the price of 500 USD each, to "subscribers" — nothing will be constructed until all seven fees are paid. original artwork and notes will be included in an unusual fashion, plus explanatory diagrams, notes made at the original time of construction, and other more confusing and enlightening matter. these will all be signed to the subscriber, and registered with Simply Superior as being owned by that individual or organisation, so that they can be identified in the future. after this, there will be no more copies, no more re-issues of this material, these accounts will be closed forever. this is positively the last chance to acquire these works in the definitive version(s).

Edited November 25, 2009 by Z_B_Z

[awepittance]

he is a weird guy, i've heard several 'horror' stories from pretty well known artists in the experimental scene about him though, apparently he is ridiculously hard to work with

 

 

yeah, i can certainly see this. he was always responsive when i asked questions about his work, but his answers were difficult and hard to understand.. any attempt to draw more than a cryptic answer out of him was met with derision

 

what are the horror stories? autechre seemed to be able to handle him enough to do two releases with him..

 

mostly just stories involving very diva like behavior and burning bridges within the experimental community. i don't want to mention any names because even world wide the scene is still very small. One particular story i remember was described to me by a friend of a drone label owner who put out a very costly H30 special edition, apparently he got into debt because of the expense of this h30 project, he was so dedicated to it seeing the light of day that he refinanced his home to get extra immediate funds. When it finally came out (after some understabdle delays) Mckenzie started posting messages to several online mailing lists telling people not to buy this release because it didn't come out exactly how he wanted. It was a big enough deal that i think it soured a lot of people in the scene on working with him. I trust the sources implicitly that i heard this from.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Awepittance

[Guest Z_B_Z]

the man is obviously quite brilliant, but he needs to come back down to earth a little. its a shame, if it wasnt for behavior like you described in your post, he might be more well known...

Edited November 25, 2009 by Z_B_Z

[awepittance]

sadly i know more than one artist personally who suffers from the same problem. Insanely talented almost autistic like genius but absolutely abominable personality wise, zero social skills

unfortunately these two go together pretty often.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Awepittance

[khov]

honestly i only care about the music (see Prince). I'm a big fan of the recent Hafler Trio releases.

[mcbpete]

mostly just stories involving very diva like behavior and burning bridges within the experimental community. i don't want to mention any names because even world wide the scene is still very small. One particular story i remember was described to me by a friend of a drone label owner who put out a very costly H30 special edition, apparently he got into debt because of the expense of this h30 project, he was so dedicated to it seeing the light of day that he refinanced his home to get extra immediate funds. When it finally came out (after some understabdle delays) Mckenzie started posting messages to several online mailing lists telling people not to buy this release because it didn't come out exactly how he wanted. It was a big enough deal that i think it soured a lot of people in the scene on working with him. I trust the sources implicitly that i heard this from.

Didn't he also burn his bridges with [i think] Phonometrography by putting out an advert urging people not to buy from them as they released his stuff in sub-quality packaging. It was a while ago so my memory may be a little off...

[awepittance]

i just listened to the whole 2 hour lecture... really interesting stuff. he definitely sounds pretty down to earth on there... no pretentiousness to be detected.

 

 

 

and yet... i still havent listened to his music

 

sounds like it must have been pretty intriguing to listen to a whole 2 hours, ill have to listen. It's the thing posted on the first page ?

[mcbpete]

Mr.McKenzie told me off for making this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuEKoFC9ELk

 

very pleasant. but why didn't you ask me before posting this? it's not as if my views on unauthorised postings of my work are unknown.

[awepittance]

can't win them all , i wonder if the kill the king tshirt i own is unauthorized

[Guest Z_B_Z]

ive listened to about half that lecture so far and its definitely surprising how down to earth he sounds.

[Capsaicin]

Both editions of How to Slice a Loaf of Bread are on ebay right now, and I'm tempted to get one despite the horrible GBP -> USD conversion.

 

Which one is best?

[thehauntingsoul]

I quite enjoy his music in the right circumstances.

 

If you have ever attempted to listen to Merzbow, it makes H3O sound as mainstream as brittany spears