But one of the things I enjoy doing anywhere is attending music events, which is one of the very first things we did upon arriving in Paris, so without any further delay here's my first post on this new blog.
104 (centre quatre) was built in 1894 and for a hundred years was used as a funeral house in the north east of Paris. In a rather well publicised redevelopment the building was converted into a public art space in the 19eme and now consists of numerous studios and performance halls which opened in 2008.
Only a day after arriving in Paris we discovered that Philip Jeck and KK Null, amongst others, were to play free gigs there as a part of the Présences électronique 2009 festival.
First up on a late Friday afternoon was a “Concert couché” with Philip Jeck. It was a fun and slightly wierd set with much vinyl sampling and manipulating mixed with a collection of electronic washes, blips and scrapes. From our viewing position on the floor in the dark there was little to see, but that was the idea and the sounds created a world of their own.
Philip Jeck works with old turntables, a couple of Casio SK1’s, mixers, delay effect pedals and more to create his unique sonic spaces.
We arrived too late on the Sunday night to gain admittance to the hall for prolific noise artist KK Null’s performance, not knowing seats could be reserved on the internet, nor even having internet access, but we could still sit outside the performance space and watch the man at work on the video screen.
KK Null has released over 100 albums in the last quarter of a century, propelling him to the forefront of experimental music around the world.
Unlike the laptop based performances by which preceded it, by KK Null used a couple of mini synthesisers (I couldn’t tell what they were from the video projection) to create his wall of noise and mayhem. Even outside via the smaller speakers in the space where we viewed the show you could sense the power of the music.
Both shows were a great introduction to our visit to Paris and we look forward to many more musical performances over the next few months.
If you are in Paris and are aware of any shows we may want to attend (check out Something Old, Something New to see what interests me), please leave a comment and let us know.
