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Niblock, Phill: T H I R  [DVD] (Von)

Named for "Ten Hundred Inch Radii", a performance of film and music from the series "Environments" by composer and filmaker Phill Niblocks, shot in upstate New York in 1972 and released now for the first time on DVD, a mesmerizing and hypnotic film with two soundtracks: the original 1972 from analog tape, and a 2008 edition from the Nelly Boyd Ensemble updated in 2015
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Phill Niblock-composer, performer, filmmaker

Nelly Boyd Ensemble

Jan Feddersen-piano strummed with nylon strings

Peter Imig-violin

Jens Roehm-acoustic bass guitar strummed with nylon strings or e-bow


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Edition of 1,000 copies.

UPC: 769791972049

Label: Von
Catalog ID: VON 021DVD
Squidco Product Code: 26879

Format: DVD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: Italy
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded at Christianskirsche in Hamburg, Germany, on May 16th and 18th, 2008.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"A milestone film from American composer and filmmaker Phill Niblock, presented for the first time in DVD with two alternate soundtracks. T H I R is a mesmerizing and hypnotic film from his Environments series shot in upstate New York in 1972. This film is one of Niblock's finest and undiscovered jewels. A must have classic release. The material to make the film, T H I R, is taken from "Ten Hundred Inch Radii", a performance of film and music from the series -- Environments, premiered at the Everson Museum in Syracuse NY in 1972. The original music for this film, finished in 1975, was recorded and mixed at Intermedia Sound in Boston, in 1971-2. The DVD features a new soundtrack by Phill Niblock, with the piece "One Large Rose" as well as the original soundtrack from 1972. Filmed with a Beaulieu 16 mm around Keene Valley, New York in the Adirondack Mountains in 1971-1972. T H I R original soundtrack recorded in 1972. T H I R new soundtrack "One Large Rose" (T H I R edit 2015) recorded in 2008. Recorded in Christianskirsche (Hamburg, Deutschland), May 16 and 18, 2008. Final mix at Experimental Intermedia October 13, 2008. "One Large Rose" edited at Experimental Intermedia, February 1, 2015. Edition of 1000. NTSC format, region free."-Von


Edition of 1,000 copies.

Artist Biographies

"Phill Niblock is a New York-based minimalist composer and multi-media musician and director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation born in the flames of 1968's barricade-hopping. He has been a maverick presence on the fringes of the avant garde ever since. In the history books Niblock is the forgotten Minimalist. That's as maybe: no one ever said the history books were infallible anyway.

His influence has had more impact on younger composers such as Susan Stenger, Lois V Vierk, David First, and Glenn Branca. He's even worked with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo on "Guitar two, for four" which is actually for five guitarists. This is Minimalism in the classic sense of the word, if that makes sense. Niblock constructs big 24-track digitally-processed monolithic microtonal drones. The result is sound without melody or rhythm. Movement is slow, geologically slow. Changes are almost imperceptible, and his music has a tendency of creeping up on you. The vocal pieces are like some of Ligeti's choral works, but a little more phased. And this isn't choral work. "A Y U (as yet untitled)" is sampled from just one voice, the baritone Thomas Buckner. The results are pitch shifted and processed intense drones, one live and one studio edited. Unlike Ligeti, this isn't just for voice or hurdy gurdy. Like Stockhausen's electronic pieces, Musique Concrete, or even Fripp and Eno's No Pussyfooting, the role of the producer/composer in "Hurdy Hurry" and "A Y U" is just as important as the role of the performer. He says: "What I am doing with my music is to produce something without rhythm or melody, by using many microtones that cause movements very, very slowly." The stills in the booklet are from slides taken in China, while Niblock was making films which are painstaking studies of manual labour, giving a poetic dignity to sheer gruelling slog of fishermen at work, rice-planters, log-splitters, water-hole dredgers and other back-breaking toilers. Since 1968 Phill has also put on over 1000 concerts in his loft space, including Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski, Jim O'Rourke."

-Phill Niblock Website (http://phillniblock.com/2007/06/14/biography-photos/)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. One Large Rose 43:23

New Soundtrack: One Large Rose (T H I R edit 2015) Recorded in 2008.

Related Categories of Interest:


DVD
Compositional Forms
Electro-Acoustic
Sound, Noise, &c.
Ambient & Minimal Music
Solo Artist Recordings
Soundtracks, Movie Scores, &c.
Sound, Noise, &c.
Trio Recordings
Trio Recordings
New in Compositional Music
New in Compositional Music

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