Phill Niblock – YPGPN
Phill Niblock is a composer of minimal music and films who has been working since the late 1960s, releasing records and CDs of his music and holding public performances at his downtown New York City loft. When the big “M” word comes up, names like La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Tony Conrad, Steve Reich and Phillip Glass automatically cross most folks’ minds. Although Phill’s works are just as vital and groundbreaking, his name somehow fell through the cracks of music history, which left it to hover over the outer boundaries of experimental sound. But, once encountered by any wayward soul, the majestic, primal power of his music immediately envelopes and overwhelms.
Phill’s usual modus operandi to build a piece includes recording and overdubbing numerous tracks of one instrument–usually acoustic–playing one held note, editing out the breaths, and panning said tracks across the stereo field, resulting in massive microtonal drones that spit out showers of overtones. With no melody or rhythm, the musical changes occur at a geologic pace, and the results range from beautiful and entrancing to eerie and unsettling.
YPGPN is a 2002 re-issue (on Phill’s own XI Records label) of A Young Person’s Guide to Phill Niblock, which was first released by Blast First / Disobey and The Wire magazine back in 1995. With pieces for flute, didgeridoo, sax, trombone and sousaphone spanning all the way from 1978 to 1994, you might think of it as Phill Niblock’s Greatest Hits–or you might not. Either way, in a better version of our reality, Phill’s drones would be heard on streets everywhere, blaring out of teenagers’ rolling sound systems on a daily basis. I can see it now: Even Dick Clark, Casey Kasem and Total Request Live would get in on the act, spinning Phill Niblock CDs to entrance the nation’s youth–aiming each kid’s newly-formed forehead eye directly into the heart of a warmly glowing infinity.
Label: XI Records Catalog Number: XI 121 Format: 2-CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: Disc 1: 4, Disc 2: 3 Total Time: Disc 1: 78:21, Disc 2: 61:22 Country: United States Released: 2002 More: Discogs, Facebook, Forced Exposure, Hyper Real, Last.FM, Mode, Official, XI Records, Wikipedia, YouTube
Text ©2009 Arcane Candy
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