REVIEWS ↓
“C’est le deuxième album de Gerard Lebik pour Inexhaustible Editions après Psephite (ie-020) avec le violoncelliste Noid, album pour lequel je n’ai pas trouvé l’énergie suffisante de rédiger un compte-rendu. Lebik y était crédité « sound objects ». Pour cet Alphabet Of Fluctuation, on le retrouve maniant « pd, ppooll, zopan generator » face à la cymbale ride amplifiée de Burkhard Beins, instrument auquel Beins ajoute une sine wave et un synthé pour les morceaux III et IV, respectivement 20:29 et 14:56, sur la plus grande durée de l’album. Dans I (12:29) et II (8:50) durant lesquels Beins est crédité uniquement de sa cymbale amplifiée, les deux artistes produisent un seul son soutenu qui évolue imperceptiblement et se reflète dans un soupçon de vibration électronique qui effectue simultanément un crescendo et un glissando intangible vers une harmonique imaginaire. La qualité du son enregistré est plus qu’excellente et l’aspect « étude de timbres » de leur travail est sublimé. Ce type de musique minimaliste, baptisée « réductionniste » il y a une vingtaine d’années peut se révéler être une posture. Mais avec des artistes comme Burkhard Beins et Gerard Lebik, cela devient une révélation de l’indicible de la vie irréelle et sensitive des sons générés pour le plaisir de les entendre évoluer et planer dans l’espace auditif. Une expression signifiante des propriétés sonores intrinsèques de fréquences et de textures sélectionnées de manière très étudiée et hyper scrupuleuse et l’expérience de toute une vie. Incarnation d’une effective sculpture sonore plutôt qu’un « morceau » de musique ou une improvisation dans l’instant.
À lui seul, I est un véritable manifeste qui va se métamorphoser dans les trois autres morceaux procurant un sentiment de merveilleux et les caractéristiques d’une logique imparable. Variation d’un feeling dans l’infini, inouïes ondulations, réverbérations mourant dans un étonnant silence, parfois intersidéral. Au risque d’être barbants, nos deux acolytes nous posent des questions esthétiques et y répondent avec une conviction désarmante, fascinante. Se révèle ici, un des éléments constitutifs de la musique observé de mains de maître à la loupe. Comme toujours chez inexhaustible, production très soignée.” / Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, Orynx-improv’andsounds, 9 November 2021
“Gerard Lebik bringt als Sound-Installateur Klangobjekte zum Klingen und operiert improvisatorisch mit seinem Zopan Generator. Er war mit Piotr Damasiewicz oder David Maranha auf Bocian Records zu hören, betreibt in Wrocław Zopan Records und organisiert zusammen mit Zuzanna Fogtt das Sanatorium of Sound Festival im einstigen Kurort Göbersdorf, heute Sokolowsko. Statt wie einst Dr. Brehmer TBC-Kranken hydrotherapeutisch zu behandeln, wird dort in den kulturell verwandelten Räumlichkeiten seit 2015 mit EA, Improv und Sound Art rumgedoktort. Dort entstand 2018 mit “Gliss” auch schon ein Zusammenklang mit Beins. 2020 fand sich unser mit Perlonex, Polwechsel, Trio Sowari und The Sealed Knot aktiver Sublim-Perkussionist dort erneut ein, mit amplified ride cymbal und teils noch sine wave & synth, während bei Lebik pd, ppooll & zopan generator notiert sind und er von surgical instruments and a victorian synthesizer method spricht. Es wurden vier Räume des Dr. Brehmer-Komplexes beschallt, in einem waren die beiden umstellt von anthropoiden Skulpturen von Bożenna Biskupska, archaischen ‘Bischöfen’ (‘Misterium czasu’) und 49 hieroglyphischen Drahtskulpturen (‘Od materii do materii’). Deren drahtige Materialität schlägt schneebesig ans Cymbal, ratscht übers Messing, zu raumgreifenden Dröhn- und Wummerwellen und selber raumgreifend verstärkt. Motor und Pulsar, surrend verhaftet und glissandierend ausgreifend, im zweiten Track durch einen Schlaghagel aufgemischt, doch vom harten Metall emaniert weicher Sound, immaterielles Mysterium, pulsend, schwellend, bebend, ein Uuuu, spektral zerlegt, metalloid getönt. Scharfe Akzente schlitzen den dritten Zusammenklang, Gongsound verdunkelt, Glissando erhellt ihn, Generator und Synth surren und sirren, Noise erscheint als Okkupant, die Phantasie sucht Nahrung – Gombrowicz, Kafka. Zuletzt mischte Beins ins raumhaltige Endergebnis monochrome und metalloide Tönungen, pfeifendes Sinusgeflacker, das den einen die Synapsen von Unrat spült, den andern die ‘Gedankenverbrechen’ weglasert.” / Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy, BA 112, 21 November 2021
“An Alphabet Of Fluctuation focuses on creating a sonic air of slowly constricting unease and pressing stark tension. The four-track album is built around airless and oppressive drones, coldly reverberation tone detail, barrenly ringing percussive, and nerve slicing sine wave swoops.
The release appeared in August of this year on Slovenian label Inexhaustible Editions – presented as either a CD or digital download. I’m reviewing the former, and the CD comes presented in a monochrome six-panel digipak, on its front cover we get a close-up picture of what looks like a bent and buckled air vent. Inside we have texts discussing the album and its concepts. The CD had an edition of three hundred copies, and as of this review the label still have copies for purchase, so head here to score one/find out more.
The line-up here is Gerard Lebik – Pd, Ppooll, and Zopan generator; Burkhard Beins – amplified ride cymbal, additional sine and Synth on tracks ‘III’ and ‘IV’. The tracks are simply named with Roman numerals, with each having a runtime between eight and twenty minutes, with over the album’s length the sonic tension nicely swimming and building throughout, so this is certainly not an album to in any way relax or mellow out too!
We open with the just shy of twelve and a half minutes of ‘I’, here we start off with airlessly simmering and drifting drones, sudden slicing percussive detail, and fading tone falls. As we move on the elements nicely dip, ebb, and stretch into moments of drifting reverb and fading hover, and even at the barely heard moments the feeling of tense unease remains highly firm and focused.
By ‘III’ we initially find sinister percussion combs and gong chimes, meeting frigid drone hoovers, underfed by grain detail. As we move through this nearing twenty and a half minute track we barren reverb trails, sine wave drift and latter searing, and more forking-to-coldly striking percussive detail. The album is finished off with the just shy fifteen minutes of ‘IV’, this opens with a sudden high and grainy noise wash, before moving into pressing pitch and sine wave hazes, which is ever so often is edged by piecing and nerve stretching percussive pulling and ebb.
With An Alphabet Of Fluctuation Lebik and Beins have created an album that ebbs and builds airless tension, constricting unease, and pressing starkness. Like the sonic equivalent of being in an oxygen depleting and stark white light dimming ultra-modern tower block, so not easy listening by any means.” / Roger Batty, Musique Machine, 13 December 2021
“I got a nice Christmas present from Gerard Lebik: his ‘Lepomis Gibbosus’ and a new electronic work, ‘An Alphabet Of Fluctuation”, recorded in August of 2020 with Burkhard Beins. This one CD reminded me that I have another CD of Gerard, on which he uses the famous ZOPAN generators. Indeed ‘VHS EPS’ is a recording of a sound installation. Changes in light intensity, saturation and uc859 tuations on the magnetic eld video cassette signal gives the micro changes in sound generated from TV PAL output. Mechanical and unplanned modulation arising from randomization image on video tapes recorded at the beginning of the 90’s. Random image content. Four video recorders, audible range of the waves emitted by function generators type ZOPAN KZ 1406 0.0005 Hz-100 kHz, produced in the 80’s by the Polish Institute of Scienti c Equipment Manufacturing and three old TV’s at a time were used to create these sound. ‘VHS EPS’ recorded by Gerard Lebik at Jaworowa 39, in Wroclaw in August 2013. The music clearly reminds me of the best of industrail music, including works of our own Zbigniew Karkowski. But, in a sense it is even more radical, science- ction related and all that. ZOPAN, or better to say Gerard, presents 3 minimalist pieces. ‘A’ last nearly 20 minutes is essentially a constant buzz sound, getting some rhythmic changes only at the end. ‘B’ is nearly 22 minutes long, and it is more aggressive, fragmented and rough. Finally, ‘C’ – even more fragmented, reminding me of sounds of pneumatic hammer with permanently changing rhythmic patterns. A masterpiece of this kind of music!
The second CD is not as radical, but maybe for this reason much more beautiful. The duo plays four tracks, combining various instruments and sounds. Gerard uses electronics, including ZOPAN generators, which Burkhard add subtle percussion background. ‘I’ is an example of this, also minimalist, but very colorful approach. ‘II’ is nine minutes long, and contains truly beautiful generator lines of Gerard. On ‘III’ and ‘IV’ Burkhards uses additional sine wave generators and synthesizer… This is a truly beautiful abstract electronic music at its best! The stu was recorded by Gerard Lebik at Dr. Brehmer’s Sanatorium / In Situ Foundation in Sokolowsko, Poland in August 2020 during the exhibition ‘From Matter To Matter 2019’ by Bożenna Biskupska. For me a revelation!” / Maciej Lewenstein, Facebook, 26 December 2021
“Burkhard Beins and Gerard Lebik construct four environments for amplified ride cymbal, sine wave, and synth & pd, ppooll, and zopan generator on the 57’ An Alphabet Of Fluctuation.
There is a continuous surface of sound woven from manifold pulses, hum, buzz, whirr, and oscillation in different frequencies sometimes stratified and sometimes interacting for beating patterns and perceptual distortions, sometimes as calm as a breeze and sometimes flexing the volatility of its electric air. Cymbal sounds crosscut, scraped, tapped, raked, pawed, their textures patchworked through the piece though played long enough to resonate with the rest and manifest beatings from the ether that hasten and slow with each activating intervention like drops in a pool refracting among each other. As the title suggests, not much changes and everything is always changing, in flux.” / Keith Prosk, Harmonic Series, 1 January 2022
RADIO PLAYS ↓
· Música Dificíl at Radio Mirage, Barcelona, 21 September 2021
· Świeżynka at Radio Kapitał, Warszawa, 28 September 2021
· A Duck In A Tree at Resonance FM, and CJMP 90.1 FM, London and Powell River, 26 October
· Glasni Novi Svet at ARS – 3. Program Radia Slovenija, Ljubljana, 24 November 2021
· Godbeni Imperializem at Radio Študent, Ljubljana, 16 December 2021
Gerard Lebik / Noid – Psephite, inexhaustible-editions
http://inexhaustible-editions.com/ie-020/
· Gerard Lebik: sound objects
· Noid: cello
Released: June 2020 / first edition of 300 cds
Direct purchase: Bandcamp / Discogs
REVIEWS ↓
“What is a note, if not a sound deprived of its phenomenal freedom? This assumption seems to have guided the entire history of ‘spontaneous music’, originated from the radical improvisation practices introduced in the sixties: an anti-academic approach which, thanks to the enthusiasm of its pioneers, first manifested itself in thunderous forms to then follow, a few decades later, the path of reduction, meaning a renewed attentiveness to the ‘musical’ dignity intrinsic to sound matter in its most elementary forms, revealed in its less evident qualities. So we re-enter the domain of oblique expression and instant composition, made with known instruments played as if they were manual work tools, and vice versa. Gerard Lebik and Arnold Haberl (aka Noid) put one’s sound objects and the other’s cello on the same level, proceeding with Psephite to coin a common (non)musical language from scratch.
The notes executed in the classical sense are, in fact, relatively few: even if among Noid’s extended techniques sometimes arise recognizable tonalities, their rendition is uncertain, flimsy, dissonant (Basalt Pebbles) or just grotesquely decontextualized, like a foreign sound body (Basalt Bloc). A deliberate expressive renouncement that tends to go along with the electroacoustic inputs arranged by Lebik, who with its elaborate microphone systems seemingly gives voice to the latest energies contained in the discarded items of an industrial landfill: pulsations, intermittent clicks and feedbacks, mechanical buttons without response, ultrasonic frequencies that cut the stereo channels horizontally. Lastly there’s a third hidden element: the surrounding space, the almost imperceptible rumble of the walls refracting the inscrutable dialogue of the performers, while also amplifying their silences within an invisible frame, yet clearly discernible from the emptiness that follows the album’s playback.
Without asking questions nor offering answers, with the utmost seriousness the duo takes part in a post-apocalyptic concert for an unknown audience, more likely formed by inert objects rather than sentient beings: but the sense of absolute extraneousness to their hybrid phonetics ends up increasing one’s will to observe their relational practice and understand its elusive logic. Seven years separate the recording and the release of these studio sessions in Wrocław – under the imprint of László Juhász’s increasingly noteworthy Inexhaustible Editions – but the discreet aura of the gestures performed in the unrepeatable ‘here and now’ that they document extends to our present and renews itself in all its hermetic otherness.” / Michele Palozzo, Esoteros, 26 July 2020
“The third duo is Gerard Lebik on sound objects and Noid on cello. I don’t think I had heard of Noid before; Lebik was part of VeNN Circles and worked with David Maranha. The music on this disc, four pieces spanning some fifty minutes was already recorded in 2013, but for whatever reason, it took some time before it was released. If the two releases by Inexhaustible Editions contained difficult music, then this is the next level. Quite a bit in these four pieces deals with silence, silent space and short controlled bursts; in those cases, the cello is played with some seemingly uncontrolled violence. It disappears as suddenly as it arrived. Then we feel fall back onto something very quiet, in which the cello becomes an object, moving across the floor, rubbing it. And then there are the mysterious ‘sound objects’ from Lebik, of which I have no idea what they do; sometimes they seem to be very acoustic and stumble around, fall on the floor, but there is an electronic component to these sounds, making loud beeps, feedback moves and such. This is not very easy to access, partly due to the differences in volume, which can be loud or very quiet. As I said, this is some radical music. It might be uneasy music but that doesn’t mean this is not enjoyable. I enjoyed this very much, but it took me some time to discover what I liked about.” / Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly, 1 September 2020
“Three excellent, recent-ish releases from Inexhaustible Editions made there way to my abode last week. Annette Krebs / Jean-Luc Guionnet – Point Sèche. A spacious, imaginative duo from 2018 with Krebs at her Konstruktion #4 (an amalgamation of various items) and Guionnet on church organ. The latter used in extreme fashion, but not loudly or garishly, rather with subtle, smoky attenuations weaving among the welter of sounds generated by Krebs, very enveloping – some of my favorite work from either musicians in a while. Gerard Lebik / Noid – Psephite. A wide-ranging 2013 date with Lebik on sound objects and Noid on cello. Either player moving through steady-state forms, traditional playing and rambunctious, sharp-angled work. Disorienting and absorbing; good work, always surprising. Antoine Beuger – Dedekind Duos. Performed by Carl Ludwig Hübsch (on tuba) and Pierre-Yves Martel (on viola da gamba). A fuller-sounding piece than much of Antoine’s work, this pair also takes things more aggressively than typically heard in a Wandelweiser performance, the tuba robust and deep, the viola da gamba forthrightly grainy and richly complex. Interesting to hear this approach and I find the result intriguing and often exciting. All three well worth hearing.” / Brian Olewnick, Facebook, 5 September 2020
“Psephite brings together Polish sax player and sound artist Gerard Lebik, playing here on sound objects, and cellist and sound artist Noid (one of the developers of the ppooll software), playing here only on the cello. This meeting was recorded at BWA Studio Wrocław, Poland in October 2013.
Both Lebik and Noid share a similar interest in our perception of sound waves in time and in space. The four pieces are titled after sediments. All offer minimalist and almost silent, disorienting, and fragmented interactions between the acoustic cello of Noid, sporadically played in a conventional manner and more often as a sound generator with an extended array of bowing techniques, and the unworldly and mundane electronic sounds and noises of Lebik. Psephite is an uncompromising work of abstract sound art, developed patiently with unpredictable courses, and sketching dissonant, desolate, and alienated sonic landscapes, with rare and brief glimpses of musical comfort. Enigmatic and weird but also quite expressive (in its own unsettling interpretation of the concept of expressiveness).” / Eyal Hareuveni, The Free Jazz Collective, 31 January 2021
“On Psephite, we have another duo – the Austrian cellist Noid, and the Polish guy Gerard Lebik who plays his ‘sound objects’ using amplification and a mixing desk. Noid – real name Arnold Haberl – made a real hit with us on the Foreign Correspondents two-disc from Mikroton in 2015, where he not only bowed his cello but also explored the jinghu, plus turned in interesting field recordings captured in the east. These recordings were made in a Polish studio as far back as 2013, and all the pieces have titles which seem to refer to building materials, like ‘basalt pebbles’ and ‘roof slate’, plus there’s a photo of a modern urban sprawl on the front cover served up in no-nonsense black and white. I say this as I think these are hints to the very ‘physical’ nature of this Psephite record, thinking that it might be an attempt to say something about the world through a steady contemplation of facts, even if that process involves gazing at a brick wall.
As such, this one probably sits more in the ‘sound art’ camp than in the genre of free improvisation, and the music tends to bear this out, both players more concerned with generating and exploring unusual sounds than with creating a musical dialogue. Non-specific abstract drones, crackles, creaks and hums abound, and the overall texture seems very hard-edged to me, full of brittle playing and solid shapes, textures as smooth as well-rendered concrete. Another noticeable feature is the sense that there is no direction or movement to the sounds, and rather we’re situated in a site much like a building site, looking around at materials and trying to understand what the environment is. This is not to say that Psephite is boring, quite the opposite; it’s a very careful and detailed study of… something.” / Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector, 2 March 2021
Phil Minton David Maranha Gerard Lebik ADVENT LP, Bocian Records
bocian.bandcamp.com/album/advent
Phil Minton – voice
David Maranha – organ
Gerard Lebik – generators
Curated by Michał Libera and Michał Borkiewicz
Cover Design by Kama Sokolnicka
Mix by Gerard Lebik, David Maranha
Mastering by Joe Talia
credits
released August 25, 2019 at Bocian Records
Anime Pezzentelle LP, Bocian Records
http://www.bocianrecords.com/releases.html
David Maranha- Electric Organ
Gerard Lebik- Pure Data, Objects
http://davidmaranha.blogspot.com/
by metamkine http://www.metamkine.com/
The revived Bocian Records seems truly revived! Hurrah! And to support this they just released a LP by David Maranha, one of my favourite organ players and Gerard Lebik. The only thing I seem to know about him is that he is one half of the duo VeNN Circles (see Vital Weekly 896). Here he plays ‘Pure Data and Objects’. Pure Data is a software package to create your own musical devices, not unlike max/msp, but then for PC I believe. In January last year they spend two days working on these pieces, which fill up seventeen minutes of each side. I am a massive fan of David Maranha, following his work ever since he started out with Osso Exotico, later on solo and with others, and much of his work has him playing in an excellent psychedelic minimalist way – Steve Reich as a member of the Velvet Underground. This record seems to be a bit different, I think. Here his organ sounds more melted down, buried even, in the confinement of the software. Is the software picking up the signal and transforming it on the spot? Hard to say. It could very well be the case, but maybe this is a duet in the ‘classical’ way: two guys at their instruments hammering away? This is quite a noise based record, perhaps not something you’d easily expect from Maranha… not like this perhaps: it’s an all open/frequency assault of some highly nasty tonal material, with big clusters appearing everywhere, overlapping each other and working overtime. This is one of those records that one needs to play ‘loud’, in order to get all the details. There is quite an amount of sonic richness in here, although perhaps it is not easy to detect. On the loud fringes of drone music, is perhaps the thing to say here. If you like the more powerful drones of someone like Kevin Drumm, then this is surely something to inspect; obviously if you are a keen follower of the releases on this label you can’t go wrong either. Excellent release!
Frans de Waard
Vital, number 974
David Maranha, orgue électrique. Gerard Lebik, ordinateur (pure data) et objets. Une accumulation de résonances, directes ou par sympathie, et réinjectées dans un impressionnant continuum granuleux avec un signal audio toujours aux limites de la saturation. Une musique qui mène à la transe.
Brand new David Maranha album, here with Gerard Lebik in a a sound performance held at Cave 211, Lisbon, January 2014 “An accumulation of resonances reinjected into an impressive granular continuum with a growing audio signal stretched to the limits of saturation. Music that leads to trance!
Jerome Noetinger
MetamkineAujourd’hui que la ligne de démarcation, autrefois si difficile à traverser, entre compositeur et « musicien » tend à s’estomper, et que le musicien qui n’aspire peut-être pas au statut de « compositeur » n’en produit pas moins de la musique, sa musique à lui, façonnée autant par son instrument que par sa fréquentation d’autres musiques (et ce changement d’attitude, de mode de pensée, est sans doute dû à l’émergence des musiques électroniques et des structures mentales que cela a modifiées, y compris chez les musiciens ne pratiquant pas eux-mêmes la musique électronique) , c’est aussi les rencontres entre les musiciens eux-mêmes qui sont devenues plus fréquentes, les collaborations plus ou moins éphémères entre les mondes musicaux que chacun porte en soi. Ainsi de ce projet signé par David Maranha et Gerard Lebik, l’un venu du Portugal l’autre de Pologne, dont je ne sais s’il s’agit d’une rencontre ponctuelle ou d’une collaboration à long terme (et il est probable que les artistes eux-mêmes l’ignorent, et que ce sont les hasards des tournées de l’un et de l’autre qui vont en décider) : ce qui est certain c’est que c’est une version similaire de la musique, de l’objet musical, qui les a réunis, une même façon d’imaginer la sculpture du son. David Maranha utilise ici son orgue – électrique – comme à son accoutumée (même s’il lui arrive également de jouer de l’instrument acoustique) tandis que Gerard Lebik ne se sert pas (et presque plus par ailleurs dans d’autres contextes) de son instrument premier, le saxophone, pour lui préférer l’électronique (et il précise le programme de son choix, Pure Data) ; et le changement est important, il ne s’agit pas uniquement de troquer un instrument pour un autre, il s’agit d’un changement de vision sur la musique, un changement de paradigme – aller vers une autre pensée de la musique.
Celle qui est proposée sur ce disque vinyle (et en vinyle transparent !) ne doit rien à la pensée plus ancienne de ce qui est musique, mais se détache également de l’idée de la « noise électronique » par sa profondeur, son épaisseur dirait-on, plus grande. Il ne s’agit pas d’un déluge de bruit, d’une décharge d’énergie brute (bien qu’énergie il y ait, ici) mais bien d’une construction (deux en fait, une par face du disque), une occupation de l’espace et du temps, une avancée dans la complexité de la vibration.
Kasper T. Toeplitz
veNN circles CD, Bocian Records
Piotr Damasiewicz – trumpet
Gabriel Ferrandini – drums
veNN circles Boomkat bestsellers 07.2015
Poland’s Gerard Lebik (electronics) invites fellow improvisors, Piotr Damasiewicz (trumpet) and Gabriel Ferrandini (drums) into the 2nd veNN circles session, released on his native, Bocian Records. In four extensive pieces they laregly operate at the liminal, lower case end of the scale, communing between fingertip-brushed drums, half-heard radio transmissions and all manner of odd, spittley sources drawn from extended technique. The pieces unfold between democratic dialogue, with each performer taking equal roles, and pieces where Lebik’s broad electronic bases dominate the spectrum , always keeping towards abstract atonality and with a shifty sense of freedom that keeps our curiosity piqued.
https://boomkat.com/cds/1302841-gerard-lebik-poitr-damasiewicz-gabriel-ferrandini-venn-circles
veNN circles is a typical Bocian release, therefore definitely not for the faint of heart. Gerard Lebik (electronics), Piotr Damasiewicz (trumpet) and RED Trio’s Gabriel Ferrandini (dr) draw you down to their personal hell consisting of distant, muffled, agonized cries that seem to come out of a huge anthill populated by tiny, spooky creatures. The sounds are intimidating echoes, the electronics cause a ringing in the ears providing an atmosphere of constant drizzle. Ferrandini’s percussion remind of objects falling down from nowhere, while Damasiewicz’s style seems to be based on Nate Wooley’s more adventurous albums. This could be an alternative soundtrack for David Lynch’s Eraserhead – creepy, painful, but also exciting!
By Martin Schray
http://www.freejazzblog.org/2015/04/gerard-lebik-piotr-damasiewicz-gabriel.html#uds-search-results
GERARD LEBIK & PIOTR DAMASIEWICZ & GABRIEL FERRANDINI – VENN CIRCLES (CD by Bocian Records)
The first time I encountered veNN circles (what is it with these names nowadays?) was in Vital Weekly 896 and they were a duo, of Gerard Lebik and Piotr Damasiewicz. No instruments were mentioned back then but on this new release I learn that Lebik plays electronics and Damasiewicz is on the trumpet, but also they are now a trio, with Gabriel Ferrandini on drums. The front cover lists all three names, and below veNN circles, so we could also assume this is the title of the release. From the earlier release I gathered them to be an all-electronic outfit, but that one was was a collaboration, so maybe my judgement was a bit clouded. On this release this trio surely moved over towards the world of improvised music, with what seems to be a live recording of sorts. The recording could have used a bit more clarity, unless the somewhat muffled sound is part of the aesthetic. The drums are the one instrument that can be clearly recognized and in the second piece even plays a steady rhythm of some kind, sometimes. The other two play something that focusses on the electro-acoustic quality of the sound. Deep ends rumble at the start of the third (all pieces are untitled) piece, some mild distortion in the second and the trumpet being all about false air, the object, the horn and hardly about the trumpet itself. There is a noise like quality to the music – hey, this is on Bocian Records, of course – but there is a well-kept balance between noise, silence, playing around with steady rhythm and sound and improvisation. The overall recording could have been better I think; that is the only downside it seems. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bocianrecords.com
http://www.vitalweekly.net/987.html
veNN circles to elektro-akustyczna wyprawa trzech artystów z improwizatorskim bagażem na mroczne, surowe i grząskie terytoria noise’u, dark ambientu i muzyki konkretnej. Niepokojący, zagadkowy klimat wydawnictwa zdradza już czarnobiała, kolażowa okładka autorstwa Kamy Sokolnickiej. Dla wielu osób kojarzących twórczości Gerarda Lebika, Piotra Damasiewicza i Gabriela Ferrandiniego przez pryzmat bardziej jazzowy, album może się okazać sporym zaskoczeniem. Z mojej perspektywy krążek jest bardzo miłą niespodzianką.
Materiał złożony na veNN circles jest w pierwszej kolejności szalenie nieprzewidywalny – i tutaj dają o sobie znać inspiracje brytyjskim AMM. Lebik wykorzystuje elektronikę w sposób bardzo wyważony, subtelny, tworzy jednostajne, hipnotyczne podkłady, niekiedy czerpiące z field recordingu, bądź wydawanych na żywo dźwięków o bardziej industrialnej, szorstkiej proweniencji. Noise unosi się nad całością nagrania, lecz nie przysłania instrumentów pozostałych muzyków, a bardziej osadza je w kontekście, nadaje specyficzny, niepokojący klimat. Brzmienie trąbki Damasiewicza zwykle pełni funkcję ornamentalną. Muzyk wychodzi na pierwszy plan sporadycznie, a nawet jeśli, to ogranicza się do akcentów bardziej sonorystycznych, nadających nagraniu chropowatej faktury. Trąbka przypomina mi mocno eksperymentalne płyty Petera Evansa nagrywane wraz z Natem Wooley’em i Jeremiahem Cymermanem, ale jest trochę bardziej ascetyczna. Na veNN circles najbardziej czytelną funkcję narracyjną można przypisać perkusji. Gra Ferrandiniego pełna jest niuansów, czasem nadaje całości quasi-melodyczny pierwiastek, cieniuje, bądź podkreśla dramaturgię poszczególnych części nagrania, co fantastycznie słychać w improwizacji numer 2. Na całym albumie perkusja pełni rolę kontrapunktu dla raczej cyrkularnej i pulsującej elektroniki. Dużym plusem wydawnictwa jest też znakomita realizacja dźwięku, dzięki której działania poszczególnych muzyków brzmią wręcz namacalnie.
Chociaż jest to muzyka pozornie posiadająca wszystkie cechy tzw. trudnej i awangardowej, to wejście w eksperymentalne soniczne światy Lebika, Damasiewicza i Ferrandiniego nie wymaga od słuchacza wcale tak wielkiego wysiłku, a jedynie chęci podjęcia ryzyka, wyzbycia się oczekiwań i skupienia na dźwiękach. W pewnym momencie, zupełnie niepostrzeżenie veNN circles odwzajemnia otwartość i wówczas prezentuje zupełnie zdumiewające pomysły na to, czym może być dzisiaj muzyka improwizowana. Obcowanie z tym albumem to naprawdę wyjątkowe doświadczenie, które zalecam wszystkim szukającym w muzyce radykalnego i odświeżającego podejścia do dźwięku.
http://www.popupmusic.pl/no/46/recenzje/2389/lebik–damasiewicz–ferrandini-venn-circles
[Krzysztof Wójcik]
Mineral LP, Bocian Records
https://bocian.bandcamp.com/album/mineral
Piotr Damasiewicz (trumpet)
Gerard Lebik (tenor saxophone)
Rodrigo Pinheiro (piano)
Hernani Faustino (double bass)
Gabriel Ferrandini (brums)
Mastered By, Lacquer Cut By – Matt Colton
released January 1, 2015
ZOPAN VHS ESP, BDTA
Sound Installation.
Changes in light intensity, saturation and fluctuations on the magnetic field video cassette signal gives the micro changes in sound generated from TV PAL output . Mechanical and unplanned modulation arising from randomization image on video tapes recorded at the beginning of the 90’s. Random image content. Four video recorders, audible range of the waves emitted by function generators type ZOPAN KZ 1406 0.0005 Hz-100 kHz, produced in the 80’s by the Polish Institute of Scientific Equipment Manufacturing and three old TV’s at a time were used to create these sound.
Zopan
http://bdta.pl/
veNN circles feat marek brandt- tuple, BDTA
The order-three diagram consists of three symmetrically placed mutually intersecting circles comprising a total of eight regions. The regions labeled andconsist of members which are only in one set and no others, the three regions labelled and consist of members which are in two sets but not the third, the region consists of members which are simultaneously in all three, and no regions occupied represents
gerard lebik
piotr damasiewicz
marek brandt
rec 24.06.13 wroclaw
VITAL WEEKLY number 896
…more cryptic is the release by Marek Brandt and VeNN Circles. Brandt, who is from Leipzig, played at Animals Music Performance and stayed a bit longer in Lower Silesia and played three concerts with VeNN Circles at Studio 27 in Poznan and in abandoned mental hospital. VeNN Circles is Gerard Lebik and Piotr Damasiewicz. Two pieces here, which total up to thirty-two minutes and the best I can make of it, that these three men sat around with a whole bunch of sound sources, stacked on laptops, mini discs, HD recorders, cassettes or whatever, and mixed these together, adding a few electronics. I am not sure whether there is any sign of a real instrument, but if so, I expect this to be some form of percussion. The field recordings are stacked high here, and this is a fine multitude of sounds being played together at the same time. I must say I quite enjoyed this release. It has a mildly disturbing character, it’s minimal, but yet full of sounds and there is a lot of lively material in there. I was doing other stuff in the meantime, so I must have played this at least four times in a row, and not a single second I was thinking: I heard this before. Excellent.
http://www.vitalweekly.net/896.html
ZOPAN ARCHIVE 2012-2013 Sound Works
http://zopan.bandcamp.com/
Gerard Lebik / Artur Majewski Foton Quarte,Not Two
Gerard Lebik – tenor sax, contra alto clarinet
Artur Majewski – trumpet
Jakub Cywinski – bass
Wojciech Romanowski – drums
The rich and versatile Polish jazz scene has gone through a big transform in interest over the last decade. Due in large part to the resurgence of the great Tomasz Stanko. Over the last few years a number of artists have leaped into the consciousness of jazz fans all across the globe. From Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Mikrokoletyw to RGG Trio, Polish artists are showing us all that great, creative and forward thinking jazz can come from more than just Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, England, U.S. and a few select countries. One such collective is Foton Quartet and their debut, Zomo Hall (Not Two Records). Zomo Hall might sound like a trip into the avant garde for the uninitiated, its actually upon the deeper listening that you will find the detail. There are qualities here that are reminiscent of the more experimental work of Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and Art Ensemble. But the journey through these six “untitled” tracks is truly fruitful and a superb listen. Artur Majewski (also a member of the duo Mikrokoletyw) and Gerad Lebik combine to bring forth some incredible phrasing and stellar improvising throughout this recording. Track three has a steady meditative tonality with both horns taking different patterns while Cywinski lays down a dreamlike bassline. Majewski later gains a bit of steam midway through but the track never loses its reflective aural sculpture. Track five brought back memories of listening to Ornette Coleman’s soundtrack for Naked Lunch. It’s a journey through recess of my own mind that I’d rather not experience. A powerful performance from both Lebik and Cywinski, who turns his bass almost into a cello. This is the longest track on the album but its also the deepest and most creative as it takes the listener through a number of different themes all quiet in nature but adventurous in execution. Track six does stretch out with the band demonstrating that it can take the listener to far reaches of thought while still holding your interest (in only two and a half short minutes). Foton Quartet is yet another piece of the new Polish jazz scene that must be heard by a wider audience. Zomo Hall standups against anything from rest the minimal, avant garde in other countries. And the work of Artur Majewski should really start to be noticed by more people as well. His collaborative work on the scene for me, is some of the best in Europe at the moment. Zomo Hall was a hard record for me to find. I had known about it for some time but couldn’t even stumble across it. Then one day my good friends at Downtown Music Gallery got it in and I immediately put down the money. I suggest if you are interested in something new and creative–do yourself a favour and pick up Zomo Hall. Highly Recommend!
(Maciej Nowotny, polish-jazz.blogspot)
*****
…sometimes I wonder just how many gifted improvisers known & unknown are there around the world… hundreds? thousands? even more? There seems like an endless supply as more independent label emerge and release so many interesting discs. Take this disc, for instance… strong, careful, minimal, acoustic avant jazz with tenor sax, trumpet, acoustic bass and drums. This could be a quiet section from an Art Ensemble disc or a Henry Cow album or any other acoustic improvisers showing a good deal of restraint. All four members of the quartet are of even ability and temperament. Is that Don Cherry or Nate Wooley or someone new & as yet unknown? There is something very natural and righteous about this music. On the second unnamed track, the sound is still subdued with moments of joyous dreamy groove-like blends. It is actually that calm center that makes this so magical at times. In a blindfold test, you would certainly come up with numerous more famous musicians but you wouldn’t be too far from this does sound like.
(Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery)
*****
The rich and versatile Polish jazz scene has gone through a big transform in interest over the last decade. Due in large part to the resurgence of the great Tomasz Stanko. Over the last few years a number of artists have leaped into the consciousness of jazz fans all across the globe. From Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Mikrokoletyw to RGG Trio, Polish artists are showing us all that great, creative and forward thinking jazz can come from more than just Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, England, U.S. and a few select countries. One such collective is Foton Quartet and their debut, Zomo Hall (Not Two Records). Zomo Hall might sound like a trip into the avant garde for the uninitiated, its actually upon the deeper listening that you will find the detail. There are qualities here that are reminiscent of the more experimental work of Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and Art Ensemble. But the journey through these six “untitled” tracks is truly fruitful and a superb listen. Artur Majewski (also a member of the duo Mikrokoletyw) and Gerad Lebik combine to bring forth some incredible phrasing and stellar improvising throughout this recording. Track three has a steady meditative tonality with both horns taking different patterns while Cywinski lays down a dreamlike bassline. Majewski later gains a bit of steam midway through but the track never loses its reflective aural sculpture.
Track five brought back memories of listening to Ornette Coleman’s soundtrack for Naked Lunch. It’s a journey through recess of my own mind that I’d rather not experience. A powerful performance from both Lebik and Cywinski, who turns his bass almost into a cello. This is the longest track on the album but its also the deepest and most creative as it takes the listener through a number of different themes all quiet in nature but adventurous in execution. Track six does stretch out with the band demonstrating that it can take the listener to far reaches of thought while still holding your interest (in only two and a half short minutes). Foton Quartet is yet another piece of the new Polish jazz scene that must be heard by a wider audience. Zomo Hall standups against anything from rest the minimal, avant garde in other countries. And the work of Artur Majewski should really start to be noticed by more people as well. His collaborative work on the scene for me, is some of the best in Europe at the moment. Zomo Hall was a hard record for me to find. I had known about it for some time but couldn’t even stumble across it. Then one day my good friends at Downtown Music Gallery got it in and I immediately put down the money. I suggest if you are interested in something new and creative–do yourself a favour and pick up Zomo Hall. Highly Recommend!
(Stephan Moore, jazzwrap.blogspot)
*****
There is nothing like pure and free musicality, flowing notes moving slowly forward, embracing one another in a common one-directional stream, yet totally unpredictable like the water sliding between rocks in a mountain river. So is this music. The band is Gerard Lebik on tenor sax and contra alto clarinet, Artur Majewski on trumpet, Jakub Cywinski on bass, and Wojciech Romanowski on drums. And yes, you’re right: yet again another stellar band from Poland. Both horn-players were recently reviewed in separate duo settings, but hearing them together is a pure joy. The music reminds of “Other Dimensions In Music” because of its small band coherence and freedom, or more recently “Nuts”, or “Les Fées Du Rhin”, and the “Collective 4tet”, bands that combine great musical adventure with fragile sensitivity, and albums that received top-ratings. The most stunning aspect of the music is its great natural and organic sound, as if every note grows out of the previous one, without the need to demonstrate skill or use special effects or to be different in form. And the end result is skillful, and special, and different … as the result of talent and creative vision. Extremely beautiful! The year has only just begun, and this is to me already a strong contender for the best of the year lists.
(freejazz-stef.blogspot)
Slug Duo Organic stone, Om
Gerard Lebik sax, electronic
Kub Suchar drums
Om 2010
“…Their second release, “Organic Stone”, is a little bit of a different beast. Recorded in the studio, it starts well, with a deep slow and free interaction between howling tenor and thundering drums. On the third track the electronics enter into play, and then this guy’s attention starts to drift off. Yes, there is some drumming to be heard under the crackling noise, but we are far away from the pristine joy of celebrating music in its simplest form. We have left the realm of “close celebration” and we have entered the realm of “distant posture”, with sounds that are made of plastic instead of made of wood. The same holds true for the rhythms, why would you process them into an endless repetitive beat if you can add lots of variation and subtle changes with natural playing. Luckily, the natural sound dominates most tracks and the playing is really good…”
(Stephan Moore, jazzwrap.blogspot)
Live from Falanster, Om 2010
Gerard Lebik sax
Kub Suchar drums
Om 2010
Om 2010 The first album was recorded live at the Falanster Club in Wroclaw, Poland, in November of last year. The music is mainly acoustic with ongoing superb and varied free improvisation : from incredibly playful and rhythmic interaction, over fierce and wild moments, they can easily switch to more sensitive slower passages and back. It is all very straight-ahead, without too many pyrotechnics, and it is really a joy to listen to from beginning to end. It is pure, unadultered fun. The audience, though limited in number, claps and cheers, adding some value to this performance. It is so good, that it is real easy to recommend.
(Stephan Moore, jazzwrap.blogspot)