No matter how much of my time I sink into musical explorations, no matter how exhaustive my searches, I always stumble across new musical territory on occasion that reminds me just how much wonderful music I’m regularly missing. Thanks to a brief, but stupendously helpful posting at the K-RAA-K blog a few weeks ago, I’ve sailed straight into some new territory, an impressive expanse of previously unexplored musical terra icognita called Blaastaal. Blaastaal is Belgian duo Mik Prims and Bert Lezy’s monthly experimental, tape-fueled, kitchy radio broadcast/podcast. Generally (and it’s difficult to generalize), blaastaal sounds like surrealist musical painting in pointillism. From a distance, the show takes the impression of a colorful cacophonous mess, contradictory elements residing comfortably side-by-side. Up close, the layers of sound gain more clarity, drones, found sound, samples and analog burrs festooning a colorful and consistently mysterious core playlist (I hardly recognize a handful of names from each show). It’s difficult, usually impossible, to say with any certainty whether you’re experiencing a musician’s offering untouched, or soaked, stained and tainted in layers of tape-manipulated reinvention.
Describing music is usually as constructive as blowing on a cup of steaming lava, so I’ve thrown together a quick mp3 mix highlighting some favorite moments from recent shows. The static you’ll hear periodically divides the selections, serving as a sort of audio ellipsis. I assure you I’m doing little justice to the show, and it could only really be fully appreciated as originally presented, but alas, here is the sample nonetheless:
more below…
Prior to the kraak posting, I hadn’t heard of either of the mentioned gentlemen, nor of the Belgian experimental/avant Radio Centraal, so the discovery has been doubly delightful. Like any good independent radio, free, multi-format streaming is available of the live broadcast.
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From blaastaal’s podomatic page, I was led naturally to Radio Centraal (106.7fm), Antwerp’s WFMU style, experimental radio and terrestrial home base for the program. Unfortunately, Google Translate’s weak command of dutch has made the site difficult to navigate for a monolinguist like myself, but I have managed to uncover their generous, multi-platform live stream (it was hard to miss). Haven’t yet had much time to listen in, but I’m excited to spend some time with the station if blaastaal is any indication of the schedule’s merits.
A separate Kraak posting claims the pair are performing together as Lap!, and appearing together in the very near future at the label’s own Pauze Festival (Gent, Belgium 29nov-1dec 2007).
Lap! the circuit bending-electro acoustic-tape experiment duo of Mik Prims and Bert Lezy also form and make Blaastaal! Blaastaal is radio art on Radio Centraal (Antwerp). In Blaastaal they take Radio as the Focal point. Prims and Lezy are Pauze Festival’s field recorders and will present their radio collage art on Friday and Saturday night, after the gigs. Where Bohman Brothers, Urbanus and John Cage meet, that’s where Blaastaal comes in.
While I haven’t found much Lap! material online (besides this noisy live show), Bert Lezy has a generous offering of his related work posted on youtube, including a spastic, alluring solo performance by Jad Fair, yet another artist I’ll have to explore further when time permits.
I’ll have some more podcast and radio recommendations in the weeks ahead. I tend to uncover this sort of unexplored territory fairly often, and do enjoy dipping my toes into the new material. The submersible is a neat place to recount these little explorations, and provide a decent excuse to keep digging. I’ve uncovered a few other spectacular podcasts along with some other older offerings over the years, and hope to continue these features as I move forward. Finally, I’ve got a couple new podcasts of my own almost finished up, including a show delving into the first round of Digitalis Arroyo releases, and a show dipping into my WFMU Record Fair haul, among a couple other less developed ideas.
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