Solo Live Concerts

Historically, when I started to play live, I did so using self-built samplers, distortion, room microphone, and cassette tapes which contained only raw stream like materials that would run asynchronously and be picked up ephemerally by listening and deciding ad hoc in the concert.

When I finally had the opportunity to use a portable computer, I started by transferring this concept into an interactive machine written in Max/MSP, now having been transferred to the more liquid concept of SuperCollider. While I try to preserve the warm and encharming character of analogue mixing and tapes, the computer offers two completely new aspects of a live situation: the ability to do complex colour transformations and modulation of several sound sources, and the ability to exercise autonomous tasks which are controlled by a human in a macroscopic way (i.e. influencing probabilities or densities of events).

I usually decide what kind of sound material to bring to a concert, while not determining it in detail. I choose a starting situation from which to depart, not determining the course of the performance—apart maybe from a rough concept about intersections or general dynamics. Below you find a recording which was made in a small jazz venue in Berlin. During the first eight or so minutes I depart from a scenographic image which could be located on a beach, bringing the listener into a state of mind of not expecting to go somewhere. When this state of mind is established, you will witness a more or less filmic movement with recurring elements. It is difficult however to preserve the live atmosphere on a recording because the venue and the people essentially influence the overall perception and build up a personal relationship. The experience of immersion is better recreated by listening through headphones than speakers.

Live at Oxident (31’) - which year was this?