blog.Crónica

Una giapponese a Brooklyn, dopo anni di progetti felicemente in bilico fra arte, musica e live performance, sotto la luce esile dei riflettori delle scene alternative di downtown, nascosta dietro lo schermo di un powerbook: per Keiko Uenishi (in arte O.Blaat) è adesso arrivata l’ora di un confronto oltre la cerchia stretta d’ammiratori definita dal suo specialissimo (e specialistico) pubblico. Si occupa del debutto l’etichetta lusitana Cronica Electronica, lasciando nientemeno che a Christian Marclay il compito di presentare e sostenere l’artista, supportata nella prima sezione di registrazioni da un’altrettanto valido nucleo di amici e collaboratori. Si alternano per i primi nove brani che compongono ‘Gaze’, Kaffe Matthews, Toshio Kajiwara, dj Olive, Aki Onda, Akio Mokuno, Ikue Mori ed Eyvind Kang, seguendo un ordine dettato più dalle minimali articolazioni dei suoni e dai codici segreti delle collaborazioni piuttosto che da intenti narrativi (come potrebbe in parte suggerire la scelta del titolo). Composizioni che indulgono a stati convergenti di destrutturazione sonora, assemblando gran parte di quello che il genoma concettuale di una metropoli come New York ha saputo partorire nel tempo. Un amalgama alieno, distillato dalle avanguardie storiche, innervato da infatuazioni ambient (che ancora percorrono le ultimissime ricerche), condito da sfrigolii e microsuoni, sfere d’interesse a modulazione assai sintetica che bene rappresentano lo stato di salute dell’underground digitale d’oltreoceano. Ancora più rarefatta ed astratta la seconda sezione di questa uscita, ‘In The Colchlea’, altri nove brani nei quali da sola la Uenishi centellinando eteree scansioni per ascolti scientificamente programmati, dipana il suo repertorio ascetico ma vibrante, contemporaneo ed emotivamente coinvolgente.

Aurelio Cianciotta

Unter dem seltsamen Künstlernamen O.BLAAT veröffentlicht die in Brooklyn lebende Japanerin Keiko Uenishi mit Two Novels: Gaze/In the Cochlea (Crónica 012~2004 + data track/quicktime) erstmals Beispiele ihrer Powerbookperformances. Die Konstrukte, die sie mit einem speziellen “tapboard.effector.soundsystem” entwirft, hat sie bereits auf Festivals, in Museen, Galerien und Clubs von New York bis Wien, von Bordeaux bis Berlin präsentiert. Als sie 1987 nach New York gekommen war, wollte sie eigentlich als Steptänzerin Karriere machen. Statt dessen fand sie Anschluss an die Downtown-Avant-szene um John Zorn und Christian Marclay, auf dessen Footprints ihre Tanzschritte zu hören sind. Inzwischen tanzt sie mit den Fingern über ihr Keyboard, solo, wie im “In the Cochlea”-Part, oder in Dialogen und Kollaborationen mit Kaffe Matthews, Toshio Kajiwara, DJ Olive, Ikue Mori, Aki Onda und Eyvind Kang, die als “Gaze” zu hören sind. Hierbei mischt sich O.Blaats abstrakte Acousmatic mit den of konkreteren Sounds ihrer PartnerInnen zu Klangbildern, in denen, obwohl ikonoklastisch verdünnt und gesiebt, noch imaginäre und atmosphärische Reste mitschwingen. So wird mit Signallauten und subtilen Andeutungen von “Stimmung” ein Tagesverlauf suggeriert von “one morning” über “gone fishing” und “afternoon” bis “nightfall” und “froid”. Solo kreiert Uenishi betont spröde Miniaturen für Kopfhörer und beschränkt sich, etwa bei “snowlight”, auf ganz minimalistisch reduzierte Mittel, um andererseits mit fast schmerzhaften Frequenzen und stechenden Noise-spitzen die Synapsen zu traktieren. Die Ader für ästhetische Finessen verdankt sie vermutlich eher ihrem japanischen Background als ihrem Brooklyner Umfeld. Dass zur seltenen weiblichen Spezies in der Electronica ausgerechnet Japan einen nennenswerten Anteil beisteuert, Namen wie Ikue Mori, Sachiko M und Yuko Nexus6 kommen mir spontan in den Sinn, das spricht dafür, dass das ästhetisch und existenziell unkonventionelle zusammen gehören.

This is the first solo offering of Keiko Uenishi a sound artist who is based in Brooklyn, New York. Among her collaborations emphasizes her participation in Marina Rosenfeld’s 17 piece guitars/laptop orchestra under the name ‘Sheer Frost Orchestra 2000’ and in the laptop and electronica quartet along side to Ikue Mori, Kaffe Matthews and Marina Rosenfeld. Uenishi has participated in various events and festivals and is considered by Christian Marclay – mentor of ‘plunderfonic’ audio collages – like one of the renowned artists more of the new downtown electronic music scene in New York.

For the first half of this CD ‘Gaze’, Uenishi collaborates with several artists. Along side the English artist Kaffe Matthews in “One Morning” they create a synthetic landscape provided with clicks, statics and radio transmissions. Toshio Kajiwara and O. Blaat produces a weird atmosphere of glitch, samples of voices and noises in the second cut ‘Egg salad sandwich’. ‘Bulle-1’ is a death track that is marked by a dub rhythm, in as much ‘Bulle-2’ it’s complex, repetitive and twist. With DJ Olive, Uenishi produces an atmosphere with processed voices – human and of animals – that finally are diluted in white noise. ‘Afternoon’ is constructed with minimal sounds of Aki Onda and Akio Mokuna. With the support this time of Ikue Mori, a drone is the background of a loop of guitar cords and digital percussion. On ‘Froid’, the minimum sounds of blows to cords and out of tune sounds correspond to the violinist Eyvind Kang, who is the last collaboration of O. Blaat.

The second half of the disc titled ‘In The Cochlea’ corresponds to the solo works of Keiko Uenishi in which it displays the synthetic sounds, loops and the kinematics world of this artist.

Guillermo Escudero

I wonder just how angry Mr. Eric Satie (the turn of the century composer) would be if he were allowed to live and see what has become of his legacy.

Mr. Satie, well perhaps, was first and perhaps foremost in asking for and then making music like…err…as furniture to fill a place and make it for living. And then he was gone and more people, maybe, read about it in a magazine and then made music for rooms or music in rooms to make a room. And there are many many less known than Mr. Satie, so, perhaps, he may not even have known … even given the fantastic chance to see.

O. Blaat makes rooms of music by making music of a room. This is how I read once when I read about her once, in a magazine. Before and since that article she has made abstract rooms of sound by recording the little taps and crinkles of coat check halls, tables and chairs, and feet in a museum, and then arranging them in a computer, and then amplifying the arrangement to make the room all over again.

This is her first real record and it comes in two parts. Part one, Gaze, is comprised of duets and collaborations with others, including Kaffe Matthews, DJ Olive, Iku Mori, who may have tickled or tortured old Mr. Satie. These pieces are big worlds made up of little sounds taken from the big world, and are as fascinating when they are all one hears as when allowed to stand up like little tables and chairs. The pieces are composed with a deft ear tuned by emotional need and crafted by skilled hands focused on function and form.

In the cochlea, part two, was made at home but was meant for no space at all. These pieces exist as hallucinations but are very real stimulations of the deep insides of the ears. These are rare meditations for a contracted space when experience allows a grand expansion of sensation. The deep bass solidifies the body, limiting the universe to corporeal boundaries and shifting perspective from a speck in the eye of grandness to grandness looking down at the speck.

This recording is a thrill for those still walking the world, but how will the dead feel about it?

Frankly, they’re quite dead.

BB

O. Blaat is our old friend Keiko Uenishi, former tap dancer and early member of the downtown scene. She has been booking an unusual international cast of electronic(a), DJ’s and sonic manipulators for the Sub-Tonic Lounge weekly for a few years, as well as helping organize electronic(a) festivals upstairs at Tonic on occasion. Besides all that, she performs her own version of electronic music under the mysterious name, o. blaat. This is her first solo offering, where she works with a few other sonic wizards: Kaffe Matthews, (former DJ) Toshio Kajiwara, DJ Olive, Ikue Mori, Aki Onda, Eyvind Kang and Akio Mokuna. Christian Marclay once recorded Keiko’s tapping for his record “Footsteps” and has written some choice liner notes. The first half of this cd is called “Gaze” and her duo with Kaffe Matthews is first. Intense, crackling static, radio frequency transmissions, strong and well defined, refined, confined, yet fascinating, The duo with Toshio (sampler) is filled with streams of glitches, warped samples, electronic chirps and squeaks, short but sweet. The duos with DJ Olive slow things down to a more minimal, snail-paced detour, yet retain some more introspective consideration. “Hanging Sky” is a superb duo with Ikue Mori and Keiko, a mature, evocative, careful and exquisitely well-constructed. The duos with Eyvind Kang (monster violinist with a psychedelic soul, currently with Secret Chiefs III) start out softly yet soon expose eerie feedback drones. The second half of “Two Novels” is called “In the Cochlea” and it is an o. blaat solo work. A highly detailed piece in ten parts that unfolds like a story, one scene at a time, neatly magnified if you take the time to observe and let it happen. Very tasty, spicy little tales, quiet yet intense.

O.Blaat c’est qui, c’est quoi? O.Blaat c’est tout simplement Keiko Uenishi, artiste basée à New York et qui est surtout connu pour ses créations sonores interactives qui ont fait le bonheur de bien des salles et d’évènements artistiques. Ainsi on l’a vu se produire à travers les Etats Unis et l’Europe (Allemagne, Autriche et France). O.Blaat a également multiplié les collaborations avec une foule de musiciens parmi lesquels on trouve Zeena Parkins, Ikue Mori, DJ Olive, Günter Müller, Kaffe Matthews ou Anthony Coleman. D’ailleurs ces nombreuses expériences musicales ont sans doute facilité la venue de nombreux guests sur cet album. Ce dernier d’ailleurs est la combinaison de deux œuvres distinctes mais qui ici semble se compléter à merveille. Bien évidemment, puisque éditée par Cronica, O.Blaat produit une musique électronique expérimentale saisissante et minimale comme il se doit. Le fait que K.Uenishi se soit engouffrée dans une voie minimale ne veut pas dire que ce disque soit monolithique. Bien au contraire. Les variations y sont ici nombreuses et les univers sonores sans cesse changeants. Ainsi O.Blaat ne reste jamais sur la même ligne, offrant des pistes multiples et sans cesse renouvelées.

Ce disque est également un disque étouffant, oppressant, qui semble plonger dans des eaux troubles pour ne pas dire opaques. Sombre paraît bien être le maître mot de la ligne artistique adoptée par la musicienne. « Two Novels : Gaze / In The Colchea » cherche toujours la profondeur des formes et des sons. Et c’est aussi en cela que ce disque est fascinant. Chaque morceau est une véritable exploration qui vous incite à la plus grande des attentions. O.Blaat nous offre donc un album glacial mais qui s’ouvre sur des espaces différents, qui attise votre curiosité et qui est souvent proche de la mouvance acousmatique. Musique cérébrale à tous points de vues certes mais elle arrive à nous toucher en se voulant également introspective. Entre bruitisme, chuchotements et architecture sonore, O.Blaat sort un premier album – ce qui paraît un petit peu surprenant au vu de toutes ses collaborations passées – des plus envoûtants et qui mérite qu’on se penche dessus. Amateurs de musiques contemporaines ou post-modernes vous savez ce qu’il vous reste à faire.

Fabien