EXPOZICE NOVÉ HUDBY 2008 - Noisy

The evening started at 7 pm, so unfortunately i missed the first part, which featured Slovak noise duo POO. A pity as I've wanted to see them since Sophie bought me one of their CD's for my birthday.


I arrived as the ticket seller was packing up their laptop/till. I was told that I couldn't buy a ticket and my heart sank as I'd raced up to the venue as fast as I could. A large man told me I could go in for free. He seemed to be very happy to see me smile when he said this. I went into the main room; bunged.


As before the stage was absent. The performance was a floor show. Three chairs, three performers. Four stage lights at floor level; two blue, two red.


At the far left and far right were two guitar players. In the centre a saxophone player.
The group is Text of Light. Named after a film made by Stan Brakhage. The film was played above the performers.


Although I was working to 8.30, I managed to get down to Fleda to see another performance from the EXPOZICE NOVÉ HUDBY.
The group doesn't play songs, they improvise and make noise. It isn't related to jamming in a way that might bring to mind blues and rock wig-outs. Instead they listen to one another, listen carefully to every noise they make and how it fits with what the others make. The end result is a series of waves of sound that you can't really sing along with. Quiet, loud, mutate, repeat.


The group has a pool of musicians, like a collective. They ar flexible in that different members will perform at different times and places. The performance I saw featured Lee Ronaldo (guitar, radio oscillator), Ulrich Kreiger (Saxophone, electronics), Alan Licht (guitars/devices).


I arrived a little late and missed the very begining of the performance. What I did see an hear was a range of tones that moved from sparse drones to harsh explosions to delicate humming with dots of sound back into shards of fuzz with squeeling harmonics.


The trio looked quite relaxed throughout, and they looked quite pleased when they finished. The audience gave them a warm round of applause. I walked home feeling glad I had experienced such wild sounds.




I know the videos are dark. I know it's almost impossible to enjoy them as visual documents of a live musical performance, however, I feel the sound works as a sketch of what you might find if you want to go buy one of their records.