TOOLS OF THE TAPE TRADE: INHERITANCE AND VARIATION

Sound Performance / 2009

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Influences was organized by Érick D'Orion. Sound artists were invited to perform while being influenced by an artistic or musical movement. Philippe-Aubert Gauthier was paired with death metal. Accordingly, he presented a performance around the tension between amplified and acoustical sounds, between technology and physically demanding performance. In the first part, a tape overdub is performed in real-time based on death-metal-like drum track. The overdubbing and live copying of tapes is spatialized over 4 loudspeakers. As the dubbing-copying progresses, the drums turn in noise. In the second part, there is a race, a race between snare drum rolls (Cédric Camier) and a fading TR-808 playing at machine speed. At the end, the acoustical snare drum is no longer audible in the 808 wall of rolls. In the third dark and ambient part, a wind blower is used to create a windy ambiance and to excite a wind chime. The wind chime include piezoceramic sensors that trigger a Pearl electronic drum amplified through a distortion and bass amplifier. In the last part, there is physical tension between a drum and screams. P.-A. Gauthier screamed at a drum, without amplification, until he looses its voice. Interestingly, the scream in the drum produced a localized reverberation through the resonance of the cymbals and toms. The title of the piece is inspired by an album title of Carcass, a group that shaped P.-A. Gauthier earlier years in music. Each parts are of equal duration with instantaneous contrasting change from part to part.

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Invitation to the event Influences, Avatar, Qc
Curator: Erick D'Orion

Drum roll by Cédric Camier

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Photo credits: Myriam Lambert

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