A Perfect Day has taken over the insert of De Volkskrant

On Friday 10 February the exhibition A Perfect Day – Tekenshow will open at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam. More than 60 artists and over 150 works of art will be on display until Friday 24 February. Amongst them are David Shrigley, Raymond Pettibon and Gummbah.

In today’s De Volkskrant, Dutch artists that take part in the exhibition have replaced all the photos with drawings. It is a rare take over of one of the biggest newspapers in the Netherlands, and surely worth a walk to your news stand or sigarenboer to get a copy.

Dutch:

Zondag 15 januari is A Perfect Day voor Tin Men and the Telephone in Concerto. Drie enthousiaste musici die na een studie aan het Amsterdams conservatorium nu de grenzen opzoeken van jazz en elektronica. Dit instore optreden is tevens een vooruitblik op A Perfect Day – een internationale tentoonstelling van tekeningen met tekst. Tin Men and the Telephone zullen op 11 februari optreden in de tentoonstelling en combineren hun muziek veelvuldig met illustraties.

Deze zondag zijn ook de felbegeerde A Perfect Day tasjes en tshirts te koop, en krijg je (alleen tijdens de instore) daarbij een poster met een tekening van Paul Faassen + kaartje voor de tentoonstelling kado!

Aanvang instore optreden: 17.00 uur

Over A Perfect Day:
A Perfect Day Tekenshow is een 14-daagse internationale tentoonstelling van tekeningen met tekst. Met goedgemutste, hier en daar ontregelende en bovenal grappige tekeningen over alledaagse gemoedstoestanden. Van 10 t/m 24 februari in de Westergasfabriek te Amsterdam. Met David Shrigley, Gummbah, Raymond Pettibon en vele anderen.

www.aperfectday.info

Over Tin Men and the Telephone:
De bandleden van Tin Men and the Telephone delen een groot enthousiasme. Zij zijn ervan overtuigd dat er nog veel ruimte te ontdekken valt in geïmproviseerde muziek.
Drie musici, opgegroeid met (moderne) klassieke muziek, hip-hop, en hedendaagse jazz, presenteren geïmproviseerde muziek in een nieuwe gedaante. Uitdagend, verleidelijk, komisch, boosaardig maar altijd met grote muzikale diepgang en sterke ritmes. Voor mensen die iets nieuws willen horen .. en zien, want voor TMT is het vanzelfsprekend dat bij muziek ook beeld hoort.

www.tinmenandthetelephone.com

Raphael Vanoli at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (photo by Maarten Jüngen

Tonight the trio Fennesz/Dafeldecker/Brandlmayr will make their debut performance at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam. The three usual suspects from the Viennese improv scene have collaborated before on a project with David Sylvian. Christian Fennesz has made name for himself, with solo albums that are exemplary for contemporary electronic music.

This incredible trio will be supported by experimental guitarist Raphael Vanoli of the internationally renowned experimental rock duo Knalpot. Here is a brief introduction to one of the most imaginative composers of his generation.

Juha van ‘t Zelfde Hi Raphael, how are you doing? Could you briefly introduce yourself to those readers who do not know you?

Raphael Vanoli To be honest, I’m not doing so well. Too busy and little time for myself and family, but I will spare you details. Music though feels great when you have the blues…

I’m a guitar player and electronic musician, since 11 years based in Amsterdam, where I studied jazz and classical guitar. I mostly focus on my duo KNALPOT, since about a year I work more and more on my solo settings.

Besides this I have been playing in countless bands and ensembles in the Netherlands and Europe since I moved here. This is mostly contemporary and modern jazz based, but there has also been a lot of modern classical repertoire, rock, experimental electronica, noise improvisation and some standard session work for money here and there. I also used to teach a lot but had to quit this since I had no time and could live from playing the music I love.

JZ How is Knalpot doing? How was your recent tour with Gerri (drummer) and Sandor (engineer)?

RV KNALPOT is doing very fine, never took a break since we started 4 years ago and I am happy to finally have a working band that gets more and more depth. Our Sauce release tour was one of the best we had. No off day and the concerts got better and better from day to day. We also had a tasty DJ who joined us on this trip: ‘Asthma Attack’ a.k.a. Mark Cremins. We were eating, breathing and dreaming great music 24 hours a day. Good times.

JZ What are your plans with Knalpot for 2012?

RV We will work on our first album in January and February. It is almost finished and we are happy how this is going. We are still looking for a label, but don’t really find the time to work on this… Plus we want to finally get our website online.

Of course we will play a lot next year (a couple of tours, and hopefully more concerts abroad, probably Turkey, maybe Canada and Japan in the fall, US…) It is still pretty open. We have to live from this band so we cannot allow ourselves not to perform. Knalpot will remain a full-time job and we still have many plans and ideas for the future.

JZ You have recently started playing solo sets, how is that going?

RV I’m enjoying playing solo more and more, it’s a good kick. There’s no interference with other sound sources but my own, so I can project everything in the room like I want it to sound. It’s demanding, the responsability for all of my actions gets even more clear. It gives me a lot of freedom, and it’s constantly confronting and a lot of fun.

Nowadays I mostly work with extreme volume and microscopic sounds you actually can’t hear properly with standard volume. I try to limit myself and for the future i plan to work to limit myself even more. One of my goals these days is to make ambient/electronic music only with one electric guitar, amp and extreme volume. There’s still a lot of practicing and research to be done in the little spare time that I have.

In the Bimhuis I’ll be premiering an amp-switcher and I have to drop a name here: I met a very good music instruments technician called Foppe Tallmann. He has built a switcher from scratch allowing me to switch between 6 amplifiers on the spot. It reacts quick and it’s silent, pretty amazing actually. I got this thing last sunday so it’s all fresh and exciting.

JZ You create a very electronic sound without using any computer. Why is that? Could you explain what kind of instruments you use, and what your musical ‘strategy’ is?

RV I have a deep passion for the guitar, all different kinds there are and there specific techniques and sounds. The basic sound source is always a guitar. The past few years (mostly in KNALPOT) I discovered many ways to create sounds I hear in electronic music by extending the guitar with analogue and digital pedals and while using some unorthodox prepared and extended guitar techniques, alongside all conventional techniques from classical and electric guitar.

Since I am an improviser and jazzmusician at heart, I like everything you hear to be created in the moment and therefore I keep looking for new ways to do things I hear. For me the guitar and all electronics are one instrument together, you can’t separate it, it is something new and it’s constantly changing.

It’s not that I’m against using computers or pre-recorded material, not at all. For now it’s simply that I have no time to check out any software what-so-ever. For now I keep playing with pedals and carry around heavy tube amps and flightcases with pedals and switchers. At this moment I like the sound quality of analogue things, but I’m not against digital or computer based esthetics, I guess i’ll dive into that one day…

JZ How is to play at the Bimhuis? And with the trio Fennesz/Dafeldecker/Brandlymayr?

RV What can I say? The Bimhuis is my favourite venue in the entire world! The most helpful and professional staff, the sound is very good, it has great vibe and the audience is mostly allert, silent and therefore pushing you to your limits. The fact that the kitchen there is very good also helps you to play better. It’s a great place to go enjoy a concert, it also feels a bit like a family for me, since I used to work there as a driver years ago, picking up all these great jazz musicians at the airport.

And talking about Fennesz/Dafeldecker/Brandlymayr, they are my heroes when talking about taste and aesthetics and I think their music is rich in many ways. I feel honoured and am a bit nervous to open for them, since I have so much respect for their work. When you are a teenager, you always have these guitar idols. Fennesz is my last big guitar hero since many years, devouring his music has opened my eyes and without him I wouldn’t be where I am now. I almost quit listening to his music since I felt I was being influenced by it too much. Fennesz’ work keeps coming back in my playlists a lot.

JZ Gerri is going to dj after the shows. Do you know what we can expect from him?

RV To be honest, I don’t know what his plan is. It’s for sure that Gerri has great musical taste and likes to confront people with new things. In the tour van we’re always playing music non-stop and Gerri has a great collection on his iPod, he’s constantly looking for interesting new music. I’m curious to hear him.

JZ Any suggestions on what to listen during Christmas? Maybe your five favourite releases of last year?

RV That’s a tough question. Recently I listened a lot to:

‘At night’ by Theo Bleckman and Ben Monder
‘Seria I & II’ by Skúli Sverrisson
‘Trees are allways right’ by Jozef Dumoulin & Lidlboj
‘Jewellery’ Micachu & the Shapes
‘Halfway to a threeway EP’ Jim O’Rourke

JZ Thank you Raphael, I cannot wait to hear you tonight.

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Fennesz/Dafeldecker/Brandlmayr, Raphael Vanoli and Gerri Jäger will play at the Bimhuis on Wednesday 21 December. The night starts at 21:00. It is the first collaboration between Viral Radio, STEIM and the Bimhuis. Join the event on Facebook.

A new Friday, but the same old balcony to celebrate the week and the weekend on. Join us after 5 pm for special Non-fiction drinks: an intimate preview on A Perfect Day, an exhibition with drawings by David Shrigley, Gummbah, David Bade, Raymond Pettibon and many others, that will take place 9 – 24 February 2012 at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam.

With talks by curators Olga Scholten and Paul Faassen, a short film programme, mini exhibition preview, drawing corner for children, live button creation, free goodie bags, plus sausages and Glühwein at the ice cold roof terrace at Museumplein – to make your day perfect.

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Stay up to date with A Perfect Day via their website, Facebook and Twitter.

The Access to Culture Platform and its working group on Audience Participation are focusing on access to culture in the digital era this year.

Together with its partners, it is organising a workshop on this topic on 15 December at 16.00 at the European House for Culture in Brussels under the title: ‘Access to Culture in the digital era: A citizen’s right‘.

Non-fiction has been invited for a presentation and a workshop on the museum in the age of ubiquitous networks. We will talk about our experience with organising the annual Museum Night in Amsterdam, and working with museums on public events and online communication.

A lovely composed review of Colin Stetson’s performance at the Bimhuis of last Thursday in national newspaper Trouw.

Last night saxophone powerhouse Colin Stetson made his Bimhuis debut, sharing the bill with the monumental Alexander Von Schlippenbach Trio. With more people in the audience than seats in the room, this special improvised music edition of Viral Radio was not just a success for the forwardist music aficionado, but also for the venue’s treasurer.

Here’s a small impression of Colin Stetson’s performance. The next edition of Viral Radio at the Bimhuis is on 21 December. We will end the year with another favourite trio: Fennesz/Dafeldecker/Brandlmayr. They will be supported by local guitar prodigy Raphael Vanoli of Knalpot fame, and a DJ cameo by his partner Gerri Jäger.

We are delighted to present internationally acclaimed saxophonist Colin Stetson for the first time at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam tonight. He will join one of the most amazing avantgarde bands of the past 40 years, the Alexander Von Schlippenbach Trio, with Evan Parker (saxophone), Paul Lovens (drums) and Alexander Von Schlippenbach (piano). This is a synthesis of breathtaking music of past and future.

We would like to invite you to join us at this monumental concert in our favourite jazz club this side of Sirius. If you send us an e-mail you will only pay 14 euros instead of 20. We look forward to seeing you tonight.

Update:

Here is an old post I wrote on witnessing Evan Parker playing with Squarepusher in 2007 that might help you in your decision to travel to see tonight’s show.

It is almost 4 o’clock on Friday, which means in two hours our weekly pre-weekend bar opens. Last week we discovered the possibilities of outside projections, so let’s see what happens this week.

Anyone up for a drink, new Viral Radio music and a non-standard viewing of a torrented newspaper documentary is welcome.

We look forward to seeing you.

The ubiquitous use of mobile devices to document and distribute our daily activities in a never-ending stream of updates, checkins, tweets and retweets is generating an ever-expanding biosphere of social information.

This advancing ecosystem is growing into an adaptive system of informational weather. Technologist Ben Hammersley calls it ‘social weather’: “I want to feel my friends like I feel the weather.”

The social weather is here, and more people want to know the forecast: should I book a room at the Lloyd? Facebook: ‘yes, but be aware of the crazy-bath room.’ Is the Bimhuis happening? Foursquare: ‘now trending in Amsterdam’. And how was the ‘Talk To Me’ opening at MoMA last night? ‘Awesome’, according to Instagram.

So where do we go now? Sonar says someone I follow on Twitter, who likes Alog on Facebook, is checked into the Stedelijk on Foursquare.

Today is a good day.

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This article has been published in the Trend Book of the tenth Dutch Design Week Eindhoven.