The droned and the saved

droid

Well-known member
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I was at a drone/ambient gig on Saturday. Sunken Foal and Donnacha Costello in the Unitarian Church in Dublin. The former was great, melodic electronic, mostly song based ambient, but the latter was full on hardcore drone. Costello is a minimal techno bod who's done stuff for raster noton and is generally held in high regard. This show was based on his Mouvement album, and had really interesting visuals - a large black rectangle taking up 70% of the screen with subtle gradient changes around its edges. An eclipse or occlusion. Aurally it was synth based drone with a bit of field recordings - somewhere between Anthony Childs and Eliane Radigue.

You dont get to see quite this level of drone very often, so it was interesting to be in an audience, in the dark, in a church staring at a mostly black rectangle with the kind super intense experience that you get from focussed listening to drone at high volume. I was struck by the decadent austerity of it... the dearth of functionality in the music & thoughts of the dissolute society which would allow this kind of ritual to take place - in contrast to the starkness of the content of the music itself. It was like a scene from a dystopian 70's sci fi film illustrating some godless alien future or a Ballardian cult meeting.

Fundamentally though the biggest impact was in terms of intensity. Confirmed a lot of things Ive been thinking about for years. The aural ganzfeld effect is a real phenomenon and it's a potent force. Also, its torture to subject people to thoses kind of extreme sensations without comfortable surroundings - so if going to a sit down 'performance' ambient gig - bring a pillow. I learnt my lesson last time.

Anyway, buy the record, its really good:

 
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droid

Well-known member
I have a master of the mix above if anyone wants it. Also collated a list of effects processing gear:

Mutable Instruments Clouds: Granular audio processor/Texture Synthesiser
Intellijel Rainmaker: 16-tap stereo spectral rhythm delay and comb resonator
Ornament and Crime: Polymorphic CV generator
Make Noise Maths: Analog computer
MFB dual LFO
Mutable Instruments: Tidal modulator
Bastl Cinnamon: Voltage controlled state variable filter
Mutable Instruments Warps
Nord Micro Modular
Eventide H9 Harmoniser: Multi effect processor
Strymon BigSky: Multidimensional reverb
Ableton Live
 

droid

Well-known member
Went to see Sarah Davachi last night. Gig was in a small museum with about 80-100 people seated in candlelight. She played an unusually minimal 40 min set, one very droney piece with a hint of strings, shifting between frequencies and overtones. All analog electronics but with a slight organic tone. I forgot my cushion, but almost drifted away anyway. The experience was compromised by the sound setup - all the speakers were to the right of the audience, so it lacked the required immersiveness.

There was a chat beforehand with a... ...verbose interlocutor and the night was sponsored by a wine company, so there was a wine and cheese reception beforehand. She came across as sound, if a bit academic, but the cheese let the whole thing down.
 

droid

Well-known member
I go to a fair amount of 'serious' ambient type gigs and one of my main bugbears is the total lack of comfort.

So yes, I have a cushion, and am contemplating a beanbag. The ultimate aim is to hammock.
 

droid

Well-known member
I also have a hoodie that has an inflatable pillow built into the hood, but I have yet to deploy it publicly.
 

Leo

Well-known member
that's pretty cool, droid. although it might be a bit awkward to go out for post-gig drinks while lugging a beanbag around.
 

droid

Well-known member
Yeah, I need to find pants with an inflatable ass pad, like one of those avalanche backpacks except for your bottom half - triggered automatically by excessive reverb.
 

droid

Well-known member
Oh, I have cycling shorts, but you cant walk them around town, gives you an awful rash.

Im thinking of something like this, except for pants.

 

droid

Well-known member
Yes, but Ive been banging this drum since the chill out days, when comfort & ambient were synonymous.
 

jenks

thread death
cyclists have arse panel shorts i think. jenks could lend you some

Oh but you must never wear another's arse panel shorts/bib tights/skinsuit and certainly not without a liberal smear of chamois cream. I'm guessing droid's don't need special arse butter.
 
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