ISSUE Project Room : an open and versatile environment in which established and emerging artists conduct, exhibit and perform new and site-specific work

Phill Niblock (pictured) started out the concert by superimposing Four Arthurs on top of Two Octaves and a Fifth. In the spirit of Niblock, I’m superimposing the three sets of the concert (Niblock, saxophonist Jon Gibson, and the Meredith Monk group M6) into a single reading experience.

About a minute after the huge mind-crushing drone starts, the bassoonist and oboist begin pacing very slowly up and down the aisle, while Phill is on his laptop controlling the mind-crushing drones and strains of soprano saxophone meld with diphthongs and evocations of didgeridoos, and earth-goddess Ha-Yang Kim bows perfect fifths. Pentatonic saxophones and time stops as the chord held is not a chord, but instead a single harmonic object, turning as if in uneven light and unable to stand still but unable to hear anything else except some pseudo-primitive tribal language made up of mostly new vowels. The oboist and bassoonist have basically switched places now, with the bassoon in the back of the hall, and soprano saxophone now capable of either short or long notes but nothing in between, and Ha-Yang goes col lengo while sopranos take their cues from one another. Rhythm study for hands, feet and voice seems apt, replacing the soprano saxophone, and even at the age of sixty nine it looks scary up there all alone with no prop, clapping and stomping in ratios of 3:2 and all its extensions, while ratios of 3:2 continue spilling from speakers overhead and as the oboist walks slowly by the acoustic sound separates from the electronic sound–singers in ratios of 3:2, earth-goddess Ha-Yang holding perfect fifths again, while I’m wondering what “Dolmen Music” is supposed to mean, and think I should look it up when I get home although I never do. The sound ends and now it’s negative sound, the ear pushing back, wanting more.