to mess with it

I'm preparing a huge list of links related to radio broadcasts, labels, clubs, art galleries, webzines, reviews, festivals, all that concerns improvisation, sound art, contemporary music, preformances. Everyone who wants to add or warn about one of the topics on the list, is free to email me.

What prompted you to try to prepare a piano in the first place? What about it initially intrigued you?

The short answer is I wanted to play piano without being a classical robot or some schmuck doing BVs and playing bad synth hooks in a covers band. I distinctly remember the turning point being playing in a certain commercial radio broadcaster’s comedy show about 10 years ago. While playing the synth pads for the intro to ‘Walking in Memphis’ I thought to myself (completely ripped to dull the pain), man, all those hours of practising Beethoven and Bach to perfection over 14 years and it’s come this…I thought just before I reached for the cowbell for the chorus. Something had to be done. This is best solution I could come up with.

What have you learnt from piano preparation? What continues to interest you?

A big thing I’ve learnt is that the piano is a powerful cultural icon across the board – to mess with it so intimately is blasphemy for some.

Anthony Pateras interviewed by Bob Baker Fish 

it sort of seems to have been inevitable

KH : Music criticism gets in the way of feeling and understanding the music.

AC : Do you think then that it’s totally unnecessary?

KH : It’s OK to think about music after you’ve heard it. But first you’ve got to experience it. There’s no one who truly understands what Jimi Hendrix was doing. Most kids who get into Hendrix hear him as a progression from the blues. They don’t try to understand why he wrote those kinds of songs. So after they’ve listened to Hendrix for about ten years, they move on to better guitarists–people like Django (Rheinhardt) or Charlie Christian. But I think they’re entirely different. I’m not especially a fan of Hendrix though. I like Django and Charlie Christian–they did some amazing stuff. 

keiji haino interviewed by alan cummings

Why london_resonance? Since I'm going to London in september to follow concerts and write about music, I'm opening this space with the intent to full it up with my impressions on what I will be able to see and hear. Stay in touch. In the meantime, while I'm organizing stuff on the right side, you can visit my alter blog, Complete Communion.