June 16, 1979 - New Music New York - closing day 9 (except for the conferences)
Chatham ● Byron ● Mann ● Anderson ● Gordon & LOLO ● Longo ● Canal ● Rosenbloom ● Tiers ● Lohn ● Rockwell ● Beckley ● Goldberg ● Monk ● Branca ● Sublette ● Eastman ● Dewys ● Johnson
Rhys Chatham with Michael Byron, Peter Gordon and Frankie Mann
Young Composers panel
John Rockwell with Connie Beckley, RoseLee Goldberg and Meredith Monk
New Music and the Other Arts panel
Laurie Anderson with Peter Gordon + others Americans on the Move
Rhys Chatham with Robert Longo, Nina Canal, David Rosenbloom and Wharton Tiers Guitar Trio, Pictures for Music
Peter Gordon and Love of Love Orchestra Extended Niceties
Jeffrey Lohn with Wharton Tiers, Glenn Branca, Julius Eastman, Margaret Dewys and Scott Johnson Humans Know How Many Toes They Have Whether They Are Looking at Them or Not
Frankie Mann The Mayan Debutante Revue
Ned Sublette The Mormon Bishop’s Lament
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June 16, 1979 New Music America New Music New York closing day 9
Rhys Chatham with Michael Byron, Peter Gordon and Frankie Mann “Young Composers” at Experimental Intermedia
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- Beth Anderson(-Harold) “Report from the Front”, guerrilla criticism of New Music New York (26 pages), June 1979
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John Rockwell with Connie Beckley, RoseLee Goldberg and Meredith Monk “New Music and the Other Arts” Experimental Intermedia
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Laurie Anderson
Three Songs from Americans on the Move
live at the Nova Convention, December 1, 1978, from the Giorno Poetry Systems album
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Some of the ideas that worked, for me, included…Finally, Laurie Anderson won the prize for pizazz with her three songs from Americans on the Move. She has the charisma and the cabaret style that could win a much wider audience, even though her texts are distinctly non-conventional and she does things like tapping on the microphone stand and arm and using their rhythmic and tonal qualities for accompaniment.
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle July 24, 1979
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Laurie Anderson’s work had never impressed me much before, but her three songs from ‘Americans on the Move’ did. Her lyrics here have something to say, the music is inventive, she uses electric violin in unique ways, and her singing and general chraisma are hard to beat. Some were speculating that, with the help of a good record producer, she would emerge as the ‘80s’ answer to Patti Smith.
- Tom Johnson, Village Voice July 2, 1979
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Americans on the Move is a formidable work that displays a confident Anderson deftly moving through a technological labyrinth to create a mythopoeic and personal round-up of American history.
Poems sung to music accompany a continually shifting landscape (even slides projected on a rear wall "move" ever so slightly) as the cabaret-style evening takes the viewer through an uncharted voyage deep into the heart of America.
Of course, America in Anderson's turf is neither history-book material nor Tocqueville.
It is an idiosyncratic and fabulously inventive interpretation that finds the Garden of Eden located somewhere in Genesee County, a Biblical emendation that rests on the findings of atmospheric currents by a "certain American sect."
An associative narrative jump-cut sparked off by the word "currents" leads to Anderson's tale about Edison's attempts to discredit Nikola Tesla (the popularizer of alternating current) by electrocuting dogs.
This, in turn, lends her wierdly disjunctive narrative another avenue to explore -the American pet syndrome, aptly captured in a hauntingly amplified "Walk The Dog."
(These "talking songs" are all accompanied by the ubiquitous violin, by now an integral part of Anderson's performing career.)
The trajectory of her performance moves from innocence (Eden/Genesee) to betrayal (Edison/Tesla) and from domesticity (dogs) to communality (the couple who wave their hands-"This is the way we say hello in this country") and territoriality (cars/gas stations).
But Anderson's trajectory is not rectilinear; in the spirit of Tesla, it establishes an unequivocal alternating rhythm that fluctuates between the closed circuit dualities or polarities that her poetic narration defines.
Perhaps that is why her song on the snake charmer-
"You're the snake charmer. . .and you're also the snake" -takes on significant meanings within this context.
It is the quintessential closed circuit experience.
The technological maze that surrounds Anderson not only evokes the spirit of America but emphasizes further through connecting cables and diverse gadgetry a pictorial image of America on the move-it is both a closed and fully dynamic circuit.
(Note: Alternating current, a closed circuit, was firmly established in America where its use was found expedient to transmit power over long distances; hence its intrinsic relation to distance, territoriality, and geography.)
Also, amplification, distortion, body mikes, and other appendages lead to a disruption of space (chopping it up, making it discontinuous, etc.), thereby effecting a sense of "otherness," a feeling of distance, of travel, of a yonder space, and ultimately of a geography.
(What Gertrude Stein did for the novel Anderson may well have achieved for a performed event.) Amplified sounds-which is to say "quotation" sounds insofar as it "quotes" the human voice-adds another dimension to Anderson's eclectic aesthetics (musically, hers is a punk/classicallrock stance; theatrically, hers is a Brecht/Godard/ Handke stance).
From B.C. to A.C., Anderson takes us along a technological brick road to a haven that resounds amplitudinously with electronic energy and gen-erative ideas.
To top it all, the evening comes in a neat package that is a joy to behold. There is little doubt in my mind that at the center of so much performance activity today, the demure figure of Laurie Anderson will be a challenge to all.
- Gautam Dasgupta, Performing Arts Journal (MIT Press) April 1979? review, kind of.
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Laurie Anderson’s work has been ‘hit parade’ stuff every time I’ve heard it, and last night she was even better. She takes the elements that a lot of other composers are using and puts them together in a more logical, textural, and theatrical way. Her first song about trees that were made entirely of wood and a dog 30 feet tall made entirely of light showed tremendous attention to detail / timbre / texture / wording. It’s hard to stop on this because it showed me that its possible to use these elements in a way that is pleasing to me. Ms. Anderson always has wonderfully sophisticated electronics.
Her violin piece with harmonizer was an interesting mixture of the punk look, live electronics, and classical violin phrases. Her last song about a closed circuit sounded like a ‘black’ influence that had been punked up (boosted) and dropped back into an experimental-music-performance-art ear / brain. She played the mike stand and cable like a string bass / Indian oboe and sang sitting down like a snake charmer. Mr. Gordon and Mr. van Tiegham were always in the right place at the right time with the perfect addition / layer / back-up.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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To this taste, the ‘best’ pieces were by Phill Niblock, Charles Dodge, David Behrman, Rhys Chatham, Frankie Mann and Laurie Anderson. … Miss Anderson confirmed her status as about the most charismatic performance artist we have who uses sound extensively.
- John Rockwell post festival wrap up review, New York Times June 18, 1979
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A review of a performance of Americans on the Move at the Kitchen, but two months earlier. From MIT’s Performance Art Magazine, reviewer: Gautam Gasparta
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Rhys Chatham with Roberto Longo
Guitar Trio Pictures for Music
(see separate post for more on this work)
y2b – sebatien greppo acct – 2007 live version
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Some things were amusing or intriguing … Chatham’s Guitar Trio, set over a rock rhythm of strumming guitars and highhat cymbal, explored the subtle effects of overtones obtained when guitars are strummed at various frets and not over the body of the instruments.
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle July 24, 1979
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It is not really a question of accessibility. One cold hear rather severe approaches in the older composers like Corner, but Rhys Chatham, 26, is equally severe in his current work, in which the relentless restriking of drums and guitar strings is varied only by subtle changes in the way the harmonies are allowed to ring out in the high register.
- Tom Johnson, Village Voice July 2, 1979
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At the concert, Mr. Chatham’s Guitar Trio (with drums, and Robert Longo’s visuals) showed a continuing interest in overtones. We all understand now that The Kitchen is a place where there is a very good chance of hearing very loud music, and quite a few people had brought cotton for the occasion. Having heard this work previously without the cotton, this writer was impressed with the sound of the piece (if not the form, since it simply started, continued, and stopped) after this technical addition. This is not snide. This is self-defense and personal feeling. One audience member said: “The machine is there and we have to worship it, even if it kills us.” The reply was: The machine is there, but the brain left.” They loved it.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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Peter Gordon
Extended Niceties (solo with full band on tape)
1980 “Extended Niceties” album
https://www.discogs.com/release/550900-Various-From-The-Kitchen-Archives-New-Music-New-York-1979
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It is not really a question of accessibility. … if Don Cherry was able to please just about everyone with his friendly manner as he sang and accompanied himself on an African stringed instrument, Peter Gordon, 28, reached everyone with a good old-fashioned tenor sax solo, played against a hard-rocking pretaped accompaniment with idiosyncratic chord changes.
- Tom Johnson, Village Voice July 2, 1979
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Peter Gordon’s Extended Niceties was beautifully performed and produced. He played sax with a tape of a band (I think Peter has discovered how to tour a rockexperimental sound, without taking the band. Not that this was his intention -- ) I heard an ABABABABAB… form with his licks varied and developed and a real bass movement. If I were inventing a category for this, it might be called: repetitive-non-minimalistic-fat ‘n sassy-rockpunkexperimentalism. Whatever it is, Peter can do it, even alone. However, the most sensationalist audience comment I have for this piece is: “Manson Music”.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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Jeffrey Lohn
with Wharton Tiers, Glenn Branca, Julius Eastman, Margaret Dewys and Scott Johnson
Humans Know How Many Toes They Have Whether They Are Looking At Them Or Not
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On the other hand, much of the repertoire seemed clearly secular. These pieces are rooted in the here and now, and convey greater respect for human skills than for outside forces. A few examples might be Jon Deak’s one-man-band act, Jill Kroesen’s songs, David van Tieghem’s toy instruments, Larry Austin’s somewhat humorous lecture-as-song, Tony Conrad’s shaggy-dog piano piece which ends with the piano being played by a machine, and Jeffrey Lohn’s neoclassically structured work for a rock ensemble.
- Tom Johnson, Village Voice July 2, 1979
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Jeff Lohn’s piece combined figurations from the classical tradition with a basically punkesque beat. His use of the violin and viola with the electric guitar and bass displayed the same tendency or desire to combine styles and timbres. I was muttering to someone about the lack of audible similiarity between Mr. Lohn’s music and Mr. Lohn’s favorite composer’s music (Stravinsky), ad this person replied: “Now that I think about it, there were some novel instrumental textures, similar to Stravinsky.” By and large, the audience loved it, but it didn’t hit me and (like Mr. Niblock’s music the other night) I wanted to enjoy it. That big beat just clobbers me, as readers of these ‘reports’ must have noticed by now.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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Frankie Mann The Mayan Debutante Revue
entire program description:
Lovely Little Records 1989 comp
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Some of the ideas that worked, for me, included… Frankie Mann, a San Francisco composer, was clearly the best of the electronic set with two parts Debutante Revue. She did subtle live manipulations of the recorded tape, such as cutting off the sound completely. In the process, she showed an uncanny instinct for strong musical shape.
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle July 24, 1979
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Frankie Mann’s Mayan Debutante Revue for tape and electronics seemed to revive a tradition of tape ‘collage’ music (this is by aural perception, not by information concerning the method of production). This tradition goes back to the late fifties in Paris to the Studio Phonologique, and certainly existed here in the sixties. “Blue” Gene’s piece from the night before also showed some of this same quality. It is a personal thing to respond to broken phrases, sudden disappointments, sudden stops in the sound, things that appear ‘shockingly’ from nowhere and disappear just as ‘shockingly’, but I am not made happy by this. Oh well, different strokes for different folks. Perhaps she will publish her score/ideas in Ear later on.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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To this taste, the ‘best’ pieces were by Phill Niblock, Charles Dodge, David Behrman, Rhys Chatham, Frankie Mann and Laurie Anderson. … Miss Mann revealed an intuitively convincing sense of flow and shape in her use of all manner of electronic musics…
- John Rockwell post festival wrap up review, New York Times June 18, 1979
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Ned Sublette The Mormon Bishop’s Lament
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Ned Sublette did a strange and rather courageous thing. Having found a set of lyrics related to the Sublette family in a collection of frontier ballads, this composer from Texas and New Mexico set them to an old-fashioned modal melody of his own devising, and sang the results himself. His singing ability is marginal and there was no accompaniment to cover it up, and yet the long ballad was quite convincing.
- Tom Johnson, Village Voice July 2, 1979
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Ned Sublette’s entry was astoundingly acoustic. He sang a song about Mormons in which his famly name appeared in passing. He sang in strict folk tradition, standing with eyes closed and clinched white fists in front of himself, with a strong vibrato and other interesting vocal peculiarities (often heard on early recordings of folk singers made in the hills). To this writer it seemed that Mr. Sublette was making a moral and aesthetic comment and this may or may not be true. Some of his words inclded: “What began as glories, are now bloody crimes – These awful hours of woe – Sublette’s lonely path.” He forsook, in this instance, the electronics which Mr. Eno had so convincingly suggested, in favor of the naked reality. It was striking!
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”, guerrilla criticism of ‘New Music New York’ (26 pages), June 1979
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Screen shots of the original New Music New York 1979 program were from a downloadable photocopied pdf available from the site of the late Michael Galbreth. Direct link to the downloadable program here:
https://www.michaelgalbreth.com/_files/ugd/b4072f_e5d11c9f076542479f8a38108565980a.pdf