The Squid's Ear Magazine


SSL (Gorfinkel, Dale / Robbie Avenaim): Sonic Systems Laboratory (Splitrec)

Two unusual approaches to the vibraphone in a duo--Dale Gorfinkel using the tremolo mechanism, additional motors, bows and creative percussive techniques; and Robbie Avenaim using homemade electronic sticks and vibrating objects to create rhythms and textures.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Dale Gorfinkel-vibraphone

Robbie Avenaim-vibraphone


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Label: Splitrec
Catalog ID: 18
Squidco Product Code: 20291

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2007
Country: Australia
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at BJB Studios in Sydney, Australia in 2007 by Chris Townend.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Dale Gorfinkel and Robbie Avenaim with radical approaches to the vibraphone.

"The work begins with a varying texture made with electrically powered rotating disks rubbing the ends of bars to produce the ultra-high sustained frequencies. Then follows a foray into complex, mechanically produced polyrhythms. The vibraphone's tremolo motor is the driving force, causing carefully positioned mallets to strike the bars, frame and metal resonators under the keys. In addition, sticks driven by attached off-centre motors play the bars and even strike small, loose microphones at times. Both players manipulate the devices and play occasional mallet rhythms as well. In the third section, the music's frequency bands and harmonic content are shifted upwards with vibrators playing high-speed rhythms on the bars. Some motorized drumsticks are sparingly used as well. There are also instances where a hard mallet is made to bounce on a bar being struck with a soft one to produce high harmonics. Close miked soft mallets on the bass bars, including some customized oversize bars, produce the shifting subtones and difference tones of the final section. The rotating disks from the first part make a fleeting re-appearance at the very end. These methods of production are the results of determined experimentation and research, followed by considered judgement and application in order to make a musical work."-Ernie Althof

"Whatever preconceptions you may have about what a vibraphone should sound like, cast them aside now...a beautifully crafted 32 minute improvisation." Brian Marley, The Wire Here.


Artist Biographies

"Robbie Avenaim is an innovative Australian musician, drummer, sound and installation artist with an international reputation for bold, sonic exploration. Avenaim has been at the forefront of the Australian experimental music scene both as a performer and a curator. Over the past 25 years Robbie has developed a unique and personal musical language on the drums, combining traditional and extended techniques with physical modification of the Drums. Modifications have included extending use of the instrument's, various motorised, robotic and kinetic percussive mechanisms and in so doing, provide greater scope for both composing and performing. As a musician / composer / instrument builder, Robbie's musical ideas are inseparable from the instruments he design's and a integral part of the compositional process. After returning from studies in New York with renowned composer John Zorn and observing the vibrant new music N.Y has to offer, Avenaim was inspired to foster a varied experimental music ecosystem in Australia by co-founding and organising the legendary WHAT IS MUSIC? Festival, Australia's premier annual touring showcase of local and international experimental music from 1994-2012 and has since organised many significant sound-based exhibitions, performances and festivals regionally and overseas, which have been essential for the local growth and international prestige of Australia's avant-garde musical reputation. Since 2017 Avenaim has developed an experimental music concert series specifically for housebound young people with disabilities, called "Safe in Sound"."

-Robbie Avenaim Website (http://www.robbieavenaim.com/index.php/biography-2/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Two Vibraphones 32:00

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Sound, Noise, &c.
Percussion & Drums
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
Australian Improvisers, Composers and Experimenters

Search for other titles on the label:
Splitrec.


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