Mattin / Taku Unami
Attention
h.m.o/r 3 (w.m.o/r
co-released with hibari
music)
CD
Download: 1
When you listen to a CD of improvised
music, where is really the improvisation taking place ?
Many would say that improvisation
happens only among the musicians while recording the CD.
The musicians spontaneously create a
musical piece in the moment of playing,
that the audience is supposed to then
simply enjoy and appreciate through the recording
- especially if they have paid for the
CD. This way of thinking favors clearcut boundaries between producers
and consumers.
''Attention'' questions the
fictitious divisions that exist in hearing recorded improvisation:
isn't the listening experience also an
act of improvisation?
There is no outside to improvisation.
While hearing the CD that you have put
in your CD player, you cannot isolate the sounds coming from the CD
from those coming out of the CD player, or the computer, or the
washing machine or the street. The improvisation is happening in the
head of the listener, it is impossible to take a CD as a finite
statement that can be constantly replicated through a perfect
listening experience.
Something as simple and important as
choosing the volume of how to listen to the recording is a very
strong decision that determines the sound and the meaning of the
work. Other aspects determined by your economic possibilities also
affect your listening experience, such as the quality of your stereo,
or whether you have download the piece or bought it.
You are constantly improvising with
your immediate surroundings!
''Attention'' is an attempt at
addressing the listener directly, making him/her engage in a process
of self-reflection. It suggests that any listening experience is
mediated both by the context and the choices made by the listener,
which alter the meaning of the work and become part of the creative
process, even if people at the top of the music production chain –
musicians and producers - might say it is not.
- (74:00)
Mattin: voice
Taku Unami: guitar
Drawings by Tomoya Izumi
Released in October 2007
Review
of presentation concert at KuLe in Berlin
by Diego Chamy published in whitehotmagazine
Reviews:
8. Februar 2008
in Allgemein
“So, if you have done things properly, we all have been here for
an hour. How much do you usually get paid per hour?” - Mattin
This recording
is an invitation to think. In that respect, it distinguishes itself
from the majority of releases on the market, even within the admittedly
marginal sub-genre(s) where improvised music, experimental electronics,
noise, and conceptual art intersect.
Already, though, some
listeners have succumbed to the temptation to dismiss this CD in a
facile manner as merely a juvenile prank, a cheap exercise in
intellectual one-upsmanship, or a confession of creative bankruptcy.
Even the relatively benevolent review
by Brian Olewnick at Bagatellen
seems to reduce the disc to the status of mere snotty polemic, a
pointed jab at the obsessive (and self-obsessed) subculture of musical
fandom.
Once upon a time, certain protagonists of improvised
music sought to engage critically with questions of music making, the
social field in which improvised music is embedded, audience
participation, and the dissolution of the performer/audience dichotomy.
As Felix
Klopotek writes in an entry on AMM in his book how they do
it: Free Jazz, Improvisation, und Niemandsmusik:
“Compositional
praxis, musical praxis in general, should abolish and transcend itself.
The premises that determine what one understands to be a composition,
what one understands to be a performative praxis, should be thwarted to
the extent that it is possible to understand musical praxis as a
genuinely social praxis.”
AMM now has a secure place in
the canon of post-serialist new music, as well as the post-jazz
improvisational avant-garde. And the recent elevation of Keith Rowe by
his financial patron Jon
Abbey
to the status of “virtuoso” (a notion which seems to contradict the
original intent of such music) serves notice that music with once
revolutionary ambitions is now as sanctified and permissable as
anything on offer from Deutsche Grammophone or any big city
symphony orchestra. The use of gastronomic adjectives by fans of this
music (such as “tasty” or “sumptuous”) is also a rather discouraging
sign.
So we as listeners can be thankful to Mattin and Taku
Unami for prodding us to question our own role as listeners. One could,
if one wanted, experience this disc purely at the level of an exercise
in listening, and indeed, there’s enough initial evidence to support
such an approach (O-Ton Mattin: “turn up the volume” - “I
said turn up the volume”).
However, it becomes quite clear with the progression of the disc that
questions of one’s role as passive spectator, as audience, should be
called into question, and indeed, the invitations to reflection
transmitted by Mattin (“what are you thinking about?”) even
suggest that the listener make his/her own thought processes an
integral part of the proceedings, even if such temptation is later
(paradoxically) foiled (“stop thinking; just listen to us.”)
These critical questions/remarks concerning the listener as consumer
( “how much did you pay for this” - “this stereo is not
good enough for this music” - “you should work harder and get
a better stereo”)
are most fruitful when they become reflections upon the central role of
the economy of labor time which constitutes all of us in our essential
being as subjects in the world. Indeed, these considerations of the
economy of labor time (“you paid for it” - “and if you
haven’t, you’re giving us your time” - “listen properly,
otherwise it just becomes a waste of time”) are a testament to the
fundamental integrity which underlies this effort.
And on that note, and as a thank you to Mattin and Taku Unami, I
offer the following from the Grundrisse:
“Labour
time as the measure of value posits wealth itself as founded on
poverty, and disposable time as existing in and because of the
antithesis to surplus labour time; or, the positing of an individual’s
entire time as labour time, and his degradation therefore to mere
worker, subsumption under labour.”
Revue&Corrigée (September 2008)
MATTIN / TAKU UNAMI
"Attention", h.m.o/r 03. Dist. Metamkine.
Numéro de frères
siamois de l'improvisation radicale, clowns soniques surprenants,
parfois agaçants, souvent géniaux, courant de
l'extrême silence au bruit extrême, glissant des peaux de
bananes dans le discours de l'improvisation, convoquant autant
Hijokaïdan que John Cage. A pieds joints dans le confort
d'écoute, les petites messes de l'impro, nous mettant aux
lèvres cette question hargneuse : "C'est quoi ce truc ? A quoi
ça joue ?". Aporie de la musique aujourd'hui où le chant
montant des ascenseurs bercent aussi sûrement les auditeurs que
le sax grinçant de Peter Brotzman et ses "Machine Gun" ou les
ballades de Peggy Lee. "Attention" comme un impératif ou une
injonction, comme pour prévenir que l'objet ne sera pas facile,
réticent à l'écoute. De toute façon
au-delà des seuils de l'audible, sons se perdant dans une grande
surface blanche, autant suivre des pas dans la neige sous un soleil
aveuglant. MATTIN au "chant", UNAMI l'accompagnant à la guitare,
duo iconoclaste de deux gamins espiègles s'amusant à
piéger nos attentes. On entend surtout le souffle de nos
enceintes (aussi les bruits du voisinage), troué de quelques
notes sèches et rares de guitare (jouée comme dans les
disques du dernier Taku Sugimoto), rien de plus que des
poussières comme les mirages entrevus dans l'adaptation du
bouquin de Dino Buzatti "Le Désert des Tartares", rien ne finira
par advenir, l'attente n'étant rien d'autre que sa mise en
abîme. Ici du silence. 1h14mn sans évènements
(entendre riffs, mélodies déconstruites ou non,
constructions apparentes), guitare jouée distancée en
pointillés, dot … dot … dot … où chaque son est un point
balisant l'écoulement du temps. "Turn up the volume !",
injonction encore de MATTIN, moins pour associer l'auditeur à
l'acte musical que pour affirmer des règles d'écoute.
Voix neutre donnant cette indication pour re-disparaître dans un
silence éprouvant notre patience. Quel plaisir d'écoute ?
Est-ce que ces nouvelles musiques s'appréhendent à
travers cette question du plaisir ? En résumé, une
centaine de notes gravées sur ce disque, et une douzaine de
questions posées à l'auditeur comme lyrics. De Johnny
Cash à Whitehouse, les groupes ont toujours pris à partie
leur public, seulement ici c'est moins l'auditeur qu'ils interrogent
que le consommateur, l'économie de ces musiques "underground".
MATTIN enchaîne par une série de questions posées
d'une voix blanche : "How much did youp pay for this ? - This stereo is
not good enough for this music - Don't think! Just listen to the music
…Give us your attention - You are listening to us for a reason - we
have been here for an hour … How much did you paid for this CD ? - This
is underground music - Nobody makes money out of this - You dont
support us ? - What's going on". Et de conclure : "Tell us what do you
think about this music - Please write us an email, surely you must have
an opinion". La musique comme art de la dialectique, interrogeant notre
rapport à elle. Que répondre à ces questions ? De
toute évidence, les réponses seront plurielles. La
musique est dans un tel état de désastre, que la critique
est passée directement dans le médium, que les musiciens
endossent les rôles de critiques et de théoriciens. Comme
pour dire qu'elle avait depuis trop longtemps désertée le
champ politique. L'improvisation ne se joue pas dans cet objet
paradoxal, le concept politique qui soustend ce disque la tient dans un
cadre fermé. Aucune séduction jouée dans ce
disque, juste l'envie de provoquer la réflexion sur l'acte de
jeu ou d'écoute, deux faces d'un même rapport à
l'objet sonore. J'entends les rires de MATTIN et UNAMI, une bonne
blague ? Un coup de pied dans le petit commerce de l'impro ? A vous
d'entendre.
Michel HENRITZI
Touching
Extremes (Italy)
The
thing lasts 74 minutes, long silent segments broken by a clean guitar
(by Unami) that sometimes - peculiarly - sounds like a Fender Rhodes
electric piano. No noise, no explosions of rage, no screaming.
Therefore don't be scared when Mattin (on voice only) appears and
invites you to "turn up the volume". I won't be telling more, because
no surprise should be spoiled. This is conceptual stuff, and one has to
listen. That's not enough indeed, we should pay attention. Did you read
the title? The listening subject is continuously invited to do that, as
in a test. Other kinds of consideration are present, too, but the
essence is there. Understand or not. A few guitar notes, a few
sentences, silence. It's all here, and if "this is good quality music"
that "deserves your concentration" (the Basque artist's
not-so-subliminal message…), that will have to be determined at the
end. Unami, and especially Mattin, have grown us used to this kind of
exercise, and I'm one who loves to feel challenged - or plain stupid -
in front of similar outings. Still, those who give up before the
arrival declaring that this is rubbish are all the more stupid. The
point is: why writing a review of such a CD? The answer would be: we do
what we want in our own website. Even typing words about this record
while playing a Ray Russell Quartet album. Massimo Ricci
Tochnit Aleph (Berlin)
Disciplined & disciplining.
Metamkine
(France)
Mattin (voix) et Taku Unami (guitare). Octobre 2007. 'Attention',
malgré l'instrumentation, il ne s'agit pas de chansons au coin
du feu
la fleur entre les dents. Mais d'ailleurs de quoi s'agit-il exactement
? Improvisation ? Provocation ? Interrogation ? Amateurs du genre (que
ces deux-là se développent), vous allez jouir
sévère. Dessin d'pochette
de Tomoya Izumi. Une coproduction w.m.o/r et Hibari music.
============
VITAL WEEKLY
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number 600
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week 45
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MATTIN & TAKU UNAMI - ATTENTION (CD by w.m.o/r/Hibari Music)
File under 'practical jokes' this one. Taku Unami plays a guitar, but
produces not many sounds throughout the entire seventy-three minutes. A
note here, silence, a note there. Ok. That's one the right channel. On
the left channel
there is Mattin rambling about this music, and that you should play it
at the best possible installation, and asking if you are still there.
'Go Buy This CD' is also a statement, followed by lengthy silence, as
all of his remarks
are one liners, statements, but hardly do make a coherent text. We all
had a good laugh and then played some music. (FdW)
Bagatellen
Mattin/Taku Unami
Attention
w.m.o/r – hibari
h.mo/r 03
OK, then. On the one hand, we have Unami playing spare, mostly
pure-toned guitar notes, doling them out one at a time in a loose,
fairly desultory manner, switching later to fuzzed sounds. On the
other, we have Mattin, talking. His first words, several minutes in,
are “Turn up the volume.” I didn’t comply. He continues, “I said, ‘Turn
up the volume!’” and then proceeds to berate me for not having a good
enough stereo system. I chuckle. It becomes swiftly apparent that
Mattin has been browsing the sort of fora you’re reading now,
collecting the kinds of dopey arguments and discussions that ensue
about equipment, listening habits, proper volume, seriousness of
listening, environment, etc. and is, rather playfully but not without
some sneering, tossing it back into our faces. For about 74 minutes.
Goodness knows there’s a wealth of material to be thus lampooned and
it’s amusing as far as it goes even if the occasional pinprick
irritates by penetrating closer to the bone than one would like. Do I
ever need to return to it again? Not likely (though Unami’s playing has
a minimal amount of charm). But, like an elbow to the ribs, it makes
its point and we can move on. One can, of course, insist on listening
to it as pure sound, ignoring its intent. Not easy, but it does give
the listener a malicious sense of satisfaction…
n.b. I’m not quite sure if it’s intentional or not, but the
typography on the disc itself might be intended as a sly take-off on
that found adorning given Lovely Music Ltd. release.
Bad
Alchemy # 57 (Deutschland)
Sound Projector # 17 (UK)
Mattin and Taku Unami have
collaborated to make Attention
(HIBARI MUSIC / W.M.O/R H.M.O/R 03), jointly released on
Mattin's w.m.o/r label and the Japanese player's Hibari Music label.
This is not one of the Free Software releases, but it is still Anti-
Copyright, even to the extent of having a satirical barcode hand-
drawn on the back cover in a rather sarcastic way. Like the
Skrobek release above, this one uses vast stretches of silence in
which to showcase micro-seconds of minimal music; Mattin seems
to be irresistibly drawn towards these alienating devices, which
present huge obstacles to the casual listener. He may be intent on
exposing something about the alienation of mankind under
Capitalism, but he's also risking losing the attention of his audience
on this particular throw of the dice. Taku Unami's guitar plays a few
notes in short phrases, which are drip-fed to us across the hour-
long CD. Occasionally Mattin intercedes with a vocal statement of
some sort, suggesting that we turn up the volume on this quiet and
fragmented record. How reflexive can you get? A record so post-
modern that it starts lecturing you about how you should be
listening to it. At one point he even advises the listener to work
harder so they can buy a better stereo, another one of his abrasive
Marxist gibes, with which he appears to undermine his own music,
even. I wouldn't recommend buying a better stereo just to improve
your enjoyment of this peculiar record, although the point is well
taken. Unami is an excellent fellow who has collaborated with
Rhodri Davies, and I suspect he is doing much to push forward the
cause of minimal improvisation into exciting new and undiscovered
realms. We're already way beyond the `Onkyo' tag now...
Z
GUN (USA)
Turn up the volume …
...............and
decide for yourself .............…
........whether or not
this....... is ..........worthy .........of your attention.
I …
.......laughed, ...........................awkwardly.
–FSS
discography
w.m.o/record label
desetxea net label
www.mattin.org