Sunday, October 19, 2008

Sound Is A Picture And Vice Versa



SOUND IS A PICTURE AND VICE VERSA

ONE NIGHT SHOT

Artelier Mecano is glad to invite you to the opening of the exhibition "Sound is a picture and vice versa", Saturday 25 October, Salone Gemma (www.faltwerksalon.it) in via S.Francesco 52A, Triest.

h. 18.30 corpi illuminanti e paesaggi sonori ("illuminating bodies & sound landscapes") - installation by Artelier Mecano

h. 20.00 marea_rumore di fondo (tides_background noises)
appunti sonori per derive psichiche (sound notes for psychedelic drifting) - Live performance on music and sounds of J.Berrocal, Cabaret Voltaire, Hanged up, M.Marzidovsek ecc. random selection and mix by M-VOID
length: about 40'

The installation makes use of music interventions by Maurizio M-VOID and present itself as a whole of sounds and visuals, where illuminating bodies and sound landscapes take shape through the use of minimal leftovers and industrial waste reinterpreted by the Artelier poetic. The title is a quote of Mario Marzidovsek, an explorer of the industrial/noise music scene in the ex Yugoslavia. During the Eighties Mario established the no profit label MML (Marzidovsek Minimal Laboratorium). He was also a prolific self-taught artist, dedicated to xerox and mail art.

Our project takes inspiration first of all by Marzidovsek music, but also by his peculiar and multifaceted personality. He was full of creative energy and able to establish a real network of artists and musicians around the world, thanks to an intense correspondence around and about the MML production. Inspired by Mario Marzidovsek the minimal resources available became our expressive strength.

http://arteliermecano.blogspot.com/

Sunday, August 31, 2008

P.P. Nikt


Yugoslav tape experimentalism is pretty much rare per se, but this is a rarity even for experimental music production standards in Yugoslavia. Formed in Belgrade during the latter half of the 1980ies, P.P. Nikt stands for Plastično Pozorište Nikt [or Plastic Theatre Nikt] and is the brainchild of Serbian filmmaker, theatre director and musician Dejan Vlaisavljević "Nikt".

While his activities were primarily associated with filmmaking, Dejan Vlaisavljević also composed soundtracks for his films and theatre plays. In the beginning, around 1987, he was the only member of the group, performing live several times as a one man band and occasionally with the help of video/sound artist Petar Milić. The concerts combined video and film screenings, live instrumental music and spoken word. During that time P.P. Nikt recorded the four cassettes I will present here - Besmrtnost [Immortality], Great Movies, Private Eyes, Up and released all of them on his own label Nikt Music in 1989. In 1989 Mirko Mikulić and Dragan Ve Ignjatović joined in making P.P. Nikt a trio that performed several times in Belgrade and Warsaw. Later on, in 1990 Dejan dropped the 'P.P.' in the band name as well as the two other band members, teamed up with longtime friend and a colleague Igor Toholj and produced an album called Amazing Flight Stories. Soon, in the wake of war in Yugoslavia, he relocated to Amsterdam where he remains until today, making movies and just occasionally composing music.


Music of P.P. Nikt was homemade experimentalism usually consisting of abstract, loop-based patterns [usually sampled from 50ies movies] and/or bedroom jams deploying lots of synths, guitars and other unidentifiable sound-sources. The overall effect of which is very emotional often mesmerizing lo-fi music made out of virtually no proper means, as a product of sheer enthusiasm. Double cassette release Great Movies is probably the most representative of this 'typical P.P. Nikt' sound.

P.P. Nikt - (1989) The Great Movies [mc,Nikt Music] are - HERE




Pretty much in the vein of Great Movies - the suggestively titled Private Eyes album obviously evokes film noir atmospheres with it's cool jazz-reminiscent synths. It's probably the most diverse or the least coherent album in terms of style [for instance songs like: Elephant's Song or Happy], but that's the case with more or less every P.P. Nikt release. Sometimes the effects employed in making these albums - and this especially goes for Private Eyes - will leave a feeling of naivety, but that's just a part of P.P. Nikt's charm.

P.P. Nikt - (1989) Private Eyes [mc,Nikt Music] is - HERE




The most implicit and intense P.P. Nikt album is Up, a soundtrack for the movie of the same name, an inhumanely minimalist piece of work occasionally contrasted with beautifully melancholic tracks 'Ponekad Kao I Uvek Nekad' [Once in a while as always sometimes], 'Posle' [After] and 'Jednog Dana Će Sve Ovo Biti Tvoje' [All of this will be yours one day] . This is P.P. Nikt at its best. The Up film is an informal remake of Tomislav Gotovac's 60ies avant-garde classics 'Pravac' and 'Kružnica'.

P.P. Nikt - (1989) Up [mc,Nikt Music] is - HERE

Besmrtnost stands out in P.P. Nikt's opus primarily because of the 'concrete' nature of the samples used: steel-mill echoes, machine hums, jet propulsion noises here constitute long drone symphonies that arouse feelings of silent perverse optimism in prospects of impending technological doom. If one hasn't been previously introduced to the highly implicit nature of previous P.P. Nikt efforts and his naturalist approach to sonic experimentalism - he could even argue that Besmrtnost is an example of industrial ambient and that wouldn't be too much of a mistake, either.

P.P. Nikt - (1989) Besmrtnost [mc,Nikt Music] is - HERE



All tapes ripped as 320 kbs mp3's by pop3. For a more detailed biography of Dejan Vlaisavljević "Nikt" which I used as a valuable source, click - HERE. Naturally, if anybody has any additional info on Dejan Vlaisavljević "Nikt" or would like to contribute to this blog with his publications, tapes or maybe even films - I would be more than glad to have them here.Link

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

And meanwhile..

Here are the promised Marzidovsek tapes, carefully collected from all four corners of the globe:

Mario Marzidovsek - (1984) I [mc,Marzidovshek Minimal Laboratorium,320kbs] - HERE [thanks to anonymous hero pop3 from Osijek,Croatia]

Mario Marzidovsek - (1985) II [mc,Marzidovhsek Minimal Laboratorium,320kbs] - HERE [pop3]

Mario Marzidovsek - (1985) 3 - Reincarnation Tetralogy (Dedicated to Klaus Schulze) [mc,MML,320kbs] - HERE [originally published by noisepress blog, should be Swiss if my memory serves me well]

Mario Marzidovsek - (1985) 4 - Reincarnation Tetralogy (Dedicated to Klaus Schulze) [mc,MML,320kbs] - HERE [again pop3]

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[NO SCAN, HELP PLEASE]

Mario Marzidovsek - (1985) Brutal-Minimal [mc,Marzidovshek Minimal Laboratorium,128kbs rip] - HERE [thanks to Atrax Morgue,Venezuela]
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[take notice : the picture doesn't portray the city Maribor in Slovenia or 'Marburg am Drau' as Germans call it, but probably a german town called Marburg!]

Mario Marzidovsek - (1986) Marburg [mc,?,256kbs] - HERE [kindly donated from an excellent Slovak blog - Dualtrack]



[thank you, mr. De Waard for filling us in with the cover]

Mario Marzidovsek - (1987) Live On The Air - Nijmegen 17.09.1987 [mc,Art & Noise Editions,128kbs rip thanks to Atrax Morgue,Venezuela] - HERE

Merzdow Shek - (1987) Suicide In America & Bavarian Aquarels [mc,Staalplaat,256kbs rip] - HERE

+ bonus:
                   Various Artists - (1985) Steyer [mc,Marzidovshek Minimal Laboratorium,256kbs rip] - HERE [pop3]

Also i owe a big thanks to Gramofonije Plocanovic for the info and huge one to Rajko Muršič for the precious article. Needless to say, if somebody would like to contribute with more Marzidovsek or MML tapes - I'd be more than happy to put them on my blog.