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Concert Thu Feb 07 2013
The Sound of No Needle Clapping (Hong Chulki and Choi Joonyung @ Lampo/Graham Foundation)
A turntable without a needle...a turntable without a needle...what the hell good is a turntable without a needle!?
I pondered this in my mind (figuratively, of course...I may have only spun 38 times round the sun, but I know from Cartridge Music), the benefits of using a turntable without a needle to generate sound. The turntable's tonearm, of course, is still an amplified, resonant objects, and vibrations sent through it by cyclical friction will still produce interesting results, if not crisp, His Master's Voice-level precision. And maybe that's music to your ears. It is to mine.
This is the hook provided for the work of Hong Chulki, one-half of a performing duo performing this Saturday, hosted by Lampo at the Graham Foundation's Madlener House (4 W. Burton Pl., Chicago). Along with Choi Joonyung, who plays "playback devices such as CD-player, MP3-player, tape player, VCR, or loud-speaker," while "push[ing] an amplifier in and around the audience as if he were a noise vendor," Chulki creates an especially unconventional duo. Joonyung, similarly drawn to non-musical non-event based experimental music, has also published several albums manipulating damaged CDs. (One is cheekily titled I Am Scratching A CD In A Room.)
The pair founded South Korea's first noise group, Astronoise. But that was a long time ago -- the last release I can determine comes from 2006. Since then, Chulki and Joonyung perform solo, in a duo with each other, or in collaboration with others. Chulki and Joonyung have released a dozen or more collaborations on their Balloon & Needle label, collaborating with other South Korean improvisors/noise musicians, but also with international stars like Jason Kahn and Zbigniew Karkowski.
The event begins at 8 p.m. and is FREE with RSVP. You can do so here.
Here's the pair in trio, with Ryu Hankil on, er, typewriter.