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Krispen
Hartung's Email Response to Larry Conklin's
Review of Krispen Hartung & Vincent Miresse's
"Live at the Kulture Klatsch"
(View
Original review in the Boise Weekly, June 15 2005)
Hi
Amy & Larry --
I'd like to thank you for the review of "Live at the Kulture Klatsch"
(copied at the bottom of this email). You did not have to do this, and
it was gratuitous of me to ask Amy to consider it.
I'd like to comment a bit, if you don't mind, on Larry's words about the
CD and performance. First, I enjoyed your comment "The music here
is a soundscape for cosmic travel by two guys who improvise with each
other. Krispen Hartung's acoustic guitar is looped (an electronic process
by which rhythms and lines repeat themselves), and this repetition threads
the astral tapestry while Vincent Miresse adds aural colors...".
I think you accurately described most of the gist of our music. Thank
you so much for that. :)
Second, I absolutely agree, and can definitely empathize with the "I
can't get no satisfaction" factor from not hearing the live audience
in the mix. It's like...hmmm, it says it's live, but it sounds like it
was recorded in the studio. Huh? However, the term "live" in
a CD title does not logically imply what you implicitly state in your
review. The reason for this characteristic of the recording is that I
record my guitar direct and close mic all the percussion to avoid feedback
and increase the quality of the recordings. I've used mic systems before
at the Klatsch in the last 8 years where I could hear the audience in
my recordings, but inevitably a LAN or cell phone rings, or some loud
pot clangs in the middle of a sensitive and delicate music part...and
that always upsets or distract me when I hear the recording. I'd I personally
like my CD listeners to focus on the music and not the context that it
was recorded, which would be indicative of a spoon dropping on the floor.
Hence, including the term "live" in the title of the CD was
not meant to imply that you'll hear people talking and spoons dropping
in the background (as you humorously suggest in your review), but that
the recording occurred in front of a live audience, and not the controlled,
safe, and secure context of a recording studio where you can redo parts.
Nonetheless, it was a sound engineering, albeit subjective choice that
I made...some folks will like it, some not depending on what they what
to get out of this type of music. Personally, if a person is hung up on
the title of the CD and the fact that they can't hear chatter or spoons
dropping on the floor, they they probably missed the point and intrinsic
nature of the work itself. Hence, it is not "supposedly live"
simply because you can't hear the audience. Many live recording have this
characteristic, and our CD was truly recorded live at the Klatsch. Additionally,
I suppose if we were playing a rock concert with a lot of people screaming
and clapping in between songs, I'm sure I would record that with an ambient
mic to enhance the recording and overall feel. Context and genre is everything.
Relativity rules in music.
More importantly, Larry, I'm quite surprised, as a worldly musician yourself,
that you suggested there are no "tangible melodies" in the recording.
I wouldn't mind a qualification of this phrase. Many improvisational musicians
like Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Robert Fripp (with his
live looped soundscapes), and other modern jazz and non-jazz avant-garde
artists would vehemently, if not violently object to this general claim.
I am hoping that you likely meant to articulate that there were no melodies
in the sense of those that we hear on pop CDs, where you can hum them
easily because of their simplicity and short duration - you know, diatonic
melodies vs. abstract melodies based on polytonality...or like some catchy
melody that Joe Satriani might use in one of his studio productions. Melody
is a broad term in music theory, as you probably know. It can't be defined
by one genre. Every solo or phrase of single-note improvisation on that
CD is a string of melodies that I invented on the spot. It's not the same
thing as a four or eight measure, repeatable, hook-like melody or cliché
that you hear on MTV or VH1, but melodies nonetheless. Sorry to get defensive
here, but I take this genre of music VERY serious, and I am compelled
to refute your claim here as a point of integrity and principle. As I
said, I am very passionate about this form of music performance and art.
Many people misunderstand the intent of avant-garde and improvisational
music and perceive it as noise or cacophony, when in fact for the musicians
themselves it can be one of the most spiritual, emotive, and challenging
(yet gratifying) forms of music. In my opinion, most improv music transcends
words, and it was likely mea culpa to ask Amy to pass the CD to to someone
for review. It would be like asking someone to review a piece of abstract
art that they never saw in person, but only saw a photograph, with no
knowledge of the intent of the artist. I like to see clarity in these
sort of concepts, such as melody, in music reviews so that readers don't
misinterpret the intent of the musicians or the what factually transpired
at the event. It saddened, hurt my artistic feelings somewhat, and disappointed
me to read your comment because it has taken me 36 years of guitar playing
and diverse music study - playing and composing everything from classical,
rock, and fusion, to country, blues, and traditional jazz....and now finally
free improvised music/art - to get to the point to where I can play as
sincerely and freely as I did on that CD. I would defend to by deathbed
that the CD is jam packed full of tangible melody, just not the type that
you are accustomed to hearing, or that you personally enjoy (granted assumption
on my behalf here).
Unfortunately, some readers of your review may not understand the true
diversity and wonderful richness of the concept of melody in the history
of music, and they might think, "Boy, I guess these guys are playing
neophyte noodling, no tangible melodies, just ambient drivel and chords?"
Whereas, with clarification, a fan of the modern improvisational movement
might think, "Wow, someone in Boise is actually doing this and not
acquiescing to the stovepiped and monolithic genres that dominate the
Boise music scene!" (Which I've been observing, categorizing, and
participating in for 18 years now). Both of these aforementioned audiences,
both deserving of the real facts and objective journalistic account in
their own right, could have benefited with a further qualification of
the phrase "tangible melody", when in fact every single-note
phrase I played on the CD was literally a "tangible melody."
Can I assume, in contrast, based on your claim, that I was playing "intangible
melodies", whatever those might be? How do you account for this logic?
In contrast, without the qualification both audiences lose out, and more
importantly Vinnie and I may have lost the very rare opportunity to capture
another person within the meager percentage of Boiseans that likes avant-garde
or free improvisational/experimental music. This gouges a hole in my intent
as a musician and artist in Boise....one paragraph and an unqualified
phrase does this. This aside, I do intend to add your review to my website,
the bottom of this site: http://www.krispenhartung.com
- and provide a link to my response here.
I will speak for Vinnie here (I hope you don't mind Vinnie!) You stated,
"despite the use of ethnic instruments, there are no earth rhythms."
I don't quite understand the intent of this statement. Is there an underlying
disapproval here? Are you suggesting, as a journalist, that if a person
plays an ethnic instrument that he has to play ethnic music? This would
be ludicrous and naive. Certainly the existence of fusion contradicts
this notion entirely, if not self-evidentally. Finally, you also state
"This is not meditative or spiritual fare--it is a study in repetition
and abstract wandering (not a slur, as I believe that this is their intent)."
Actually, this was not our intent, which could have been clarified in
a 5 minute email or conversation on the phone. We consider our music very
meditative and spiritual - these are relative terms and not subject to
categorical restrictions in the context of your review. Vinnie and I have
performed at Yoga centers, same type of music, and listeners directly
contradict and falsify your comment. I've played my debut solo CD for
large events and conferences, and sold copies to yoga center owners, because
they thought the music was ideal for meditation, pondering deep thoughts,
or perhaps just plain ol' introspection. They thought the music took them
on a spiritual journey, and it was more than new age, but a fusion of
jazz, ambient, new age, free improvisation, and other genres. THAT is
our intent.
Given the nature of your review, if you ever get a chance to review another
CD of mine (which is probably unlikely after the impression you frame
of me after reading this response), please, oh please I beg of you, call
me and discuss it with me so that you can understand my intent of the
work, why I or we did the things we did, etc. I find it suspect that any
music review can depict the true intent of the work without discussing
it with the musicians themselves. This is not journalism in my opinion.
It is armchair speculation. My phone number is 208-724-5603. I am willing
to talk any time, everything else water under the bridge.
Moreover, on the horizon there are some interesting things coming up.
First, Vinnie and I may get an interview spot in the Statesman, given
the unique nature of our collaboration - ethnic with electronic, acoustic
guitar with laptop computer, etc. Second, I have two new CD releases coming
out in the next six months. I have a new solo CD entitled "Descent
to Self" that will be out in September, which is not "live"
with any spoons dropping on the floor, but studio recorded, but still
highly experimental, using digital looping technology, and improvised.
Then I am leading a collaboration CD of loopers from all over the world
(Norway, Italy, Belgium, US, France, UK, Germany, etc). It is an experimental
and avant-garde CD called "Krispen Hartung & Friends: Xperimentus."
The CD will be entirely recorded via online collaboration, and each song
will be a duo of me and one of 13 other musicians, including Vinnie. That
project started last week, and the datasheet is located here: http://www.boisemusicians.com/xperimentus.mht
Both CDs, as with my last debut solo CD "Places" we will be
available for sale on CD Baby and other online merchants world-wide.
Regards, and thank you again for the review (though some components did
bend me out of shape) :)
Kris
Reviews of Krispen Hartung &
Vinnie Miresse "Live at the Kulture Klatsch"
http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A5512
"The
self-titled Krispen Hartung Vincent Miresse: Live at the Kulture Klatsch
is a CD of spontaneous compositions supposedly recorded live at the Kulture
Klatsch on two different occasions. "Supposedly" because there
is not a trace of audience, not even a spoon falling to the floor, which
is a shame because I believe that audience response would heighten the
sense of spontaneity. The music here is a soundscape for cosmic travel
by two guys who improvise with each other. Krispen Hartung's acoustic
guitar is looped (an electronic process by which rhythms and lines repeat
themselves), and this repetition threads the astral tapestry while Vincent
Miresse adds aural colors with a variety of instruments: didgeridoo, chimes,
dumbek, udu and singing bowl. There are no tangible melodies here, and
despite the use of ethnic instruments, there are no earth rhythms. This
is not meditative or spiritual fare--it is a study in repetition and abstract
wandering (not a slur, as I believe that this is their intent). Of the
eight titles which clock in at 79:34, I would have chosen "Saga of
the Lord Abstractomondo" to define and give the CD a title."
-Larry
Conklin of the Boise
Weekly
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