Interview by Liminal
You can read an interview with Philip Jeck here
Philip Jeck & Never Records | London 24th September 2011
Merge Festival
16th September - 21st November 2011
Never Records with Philip Jeck & Touch
This September, Never Records will open at 11 Southwark St. near London Bridge tube station, as part of Illuminate Production’s Merge festival, sponsored by the Tate Modern, and Better Bankside. Philip Jeck will be performing from 8pm The Bear Pit at on 24th September.
In the daytime, Touch will be recording at Never Records at 2pm for two hours. Two vinyl cuts will be made of the recording, one for display and listening in the shop and one, the other copy goes to the archives...
Never Records is a multi‐media multi‐artist project by New York artist/musician Ted Riederer. Exploring the potential of a record store and record label to unite, educate, and uplift a community through recorded sound, Riederer’s project began in an abandoned Tower Records near Union Square in New York City. In January 2010, Riederer, in collaboration with curators No Longer Empty, created what the Wall Street Journal described as a “mock shop” that served as a “love letter to the dying concept of the record store.”
In September 2010, Riederer brought Never Records to the Liverpool Biennial, and expanded upon his original idea by purchasing a vinyl record lathe. He then cut recordings of live performances, including Philip Jeck & Hildur Gudnadottir, inside of record store/performance space, and filled his record store with this library of on site performances.
Philip Jeck on TouchRadio | 22nd September 2011
22.09.11 - Live at The Brücknerhaus – 32:58 - 192 kbps
Pic: "The Ghost of Philip Jeck" by Mike Harding
Philip Jeck in performance was recorded on 6th September 2011 at The Brücknerhaus, Linz, Austria for Prix Ars Electronica, at which Philip Jeck was awarded a Distinction for his LP 'Suite: Live in Liverpool' [Touch # Tone 29, 2009]. The multi-channel recording (2 channels off the desk, two in the room) was mixed for TouchRadio by BJNilsen.
Live at Vortex, London | 16th September 2011
Live at The Vortex #10 and for tickets
Review in The Liminal:
But if the first two acts were uneven, and the third rock solid, the evening’s piece de resistance, Philip Jeck, was simply on another planet, to use an exhausted cliche (might not be the only one – Jeck’s music has the ability to make me lose my linguistic dexterity somewhat). In comparison to the videos, darting around and occasional posturing of the preceding trio, the Liverpool-based artist’s performance was understated, as he remained seated throughout in front of his mixing console, effects pedals and pair of battered-looking turntables. Eyes half-closed, seemingly lost in his music from the off, Jeck projected an aura of calmness and contemplation that had the audience, certainly me, rapt.
Comparisons to current The Wire cover star Christian Marclay are misleading but inevitable, given their common use of weathered vinyl to create avant-garde compositions, but for my money (and having seen both live), there is something so much more seductive and powerful about the Briton’s compositions, which is saying something. As the LPs wobbled and span on themselves, Jeck delicately twisted knobs and pressed buttons in front of him, creating an almost solid cloud of sound that poured into the room, filling every space around me, and inside me, unfathomable crackles, wooshes, haunting half-melodies and troubled drones engulfing me with every twist of his wrists or toggle of the stylus. This was sound not so much being played as sculpted, Jeck’s thoughtful manipulations smoothing out rough edges or creating unexpected jagged ones with an intuition worthy of Michelangelo faced with a slab of marble. Hyperbole? Maybe, but it’s hard not to when hearing and seeing Philip Jeck live.
Above all, where Philip Jeck elevates himself above the night’s other performers, and indeed over a great many modern British and international improvisers, is the unfettered emotion he brings to what could, in other hands, be overly cerebral, even cold, music. Part of this is surely down to the records he chooses, but more than that it’s Jeck’s apparently innate sense of flow, as he slowly builds up layers of sound, before dissipating them into waves of new, quieter ones, and so on.
As Jeck’s immaculate sounds rolled out of the speakers and over my senses, I found myself detaching my eyes from the stage to stare out of the window at the rapidly emptying square outside The Vortex. Something in the way the quiet, lamp-lit space glowed in the night, surrounded by darkened buildings and silent vehicles, seemed to reflect the stark, crepuscular music being sculpted in front of me: something melancholic, lonely and beautiful. When I later found myself wandering those streets, with the echoes of crumbling vinyl and quiet distortion still drifting through my head, I felt a strange sort of inchoate peace. Philip Jeck’s music will do that to you. It makes it hard to describe properly in words, which I guess should be your cue to track down his records or go to his next gig. Lucky you.
Live in an Old People's Home | Barrow-in-Furness August 2012
The Sinking of the Titanic | Barbican Hall, London 15th April 2012
A special concert for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, with The Gavin Bryars Ensemble & Philip Jeck.
Composed in 1969 and first recorded for Brian Eno’s Obscure label, Gavin Bryars’s The Sinking of the Titanic was inspired by reports that the ship’s string ensemble continued to play the hymn tune Autumn as the vessel sank in April 1912. Featuring projections of archival images curated by Bill Morrison and Laurie Olinder.
Tickets are now available here
The CD is still available from the TouchShop...
Tone 42DR2 | Sohrab - "You Are Not Alone II"
320 kpbs mp3 - 1 track - 35:31
Photography: Sohrab
The second in a series of reworkings of Sohrab material by artists, including Philip Jeck, showing solidarity to his cause... all label and artist money goes towards the fund for his appeal against refusal to be granted political asylum in Germany...
Philip Marshall mix content providers:
Daniel Menche - Zarinn (menche mix) 11:45 | Jana Winderen - Susanna 7:00 | Philip Jeck - Susanna (remix) 5:23 | Philip Marshall - Somebody, Hidden 7:45 (Mastered by BJNilsen, Berlin, 20th May 2011) | Michael Esposito - Somebody's Ghost 6:47
Buy Sohrab "You Are Not Alone ll" in the TouchShop
www.touchmusic.org.uk/sohrab
Drums Off Chaos & Philip Jeck | Kilkenny 12th August 2011
Tonight’s gig sees two seismic forces at the frontline of modern music team up for an extraordinary sonic voyage.
Drums Off Chaos are unlike any other band. Since 1982, Jaki Liebezeit, Reiner Linke and Maf Retter have been creating headspinning storms of multi-layered groove using odd meters and unconventional rhythms. Liebezeit is best known as the beating heart of Can (whose frontman, Damo Suzuki, took the Set by storm last year), and his culture-changing rhythms have been required fuel for the likes of Brian Eno, Chet Baker, Eurythmics and many more.
Together, Liebezeit and his fellow master drummers play like a football team talented enough to have stayed in the Premiership for 30 years, improvising on self-made instruments with a sensitivity and fluidity which is nothing short of psychic. This is powerful, hypnotic, life-affirming music.
For Kilkenny they team up with award-winning turntable artist and composer Philip Jeck, who creates seductive, crackling soundscapes from salvaged vinyl. It’s a world into which you drift gently, following each thread of melody through veils of repetition and delay. This unique collaboration promises to be one of the most memorable and groundbreaking shows of the festival. Bring your dancing shoes!
You can see a clip of this show on youtube
Adam Curtis | All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace
Philip Jeck is chuffed to hear his music used in 3rd part of Adam Curtis's latest amazing BBC documentary, which can be seen on iPlayer here.
Pieces used included "All That's Allowed" from "Suite: Live in Liverpool" (see below, and extracts from his latest album, "An Ark for the Listener".
Beam Festival | Philip Jeck live in London
Philip Jeck is appearing at the Beam Festival on Saturday 25th June 2011.
Curated by Sarah Nicolls, the festival takes place from June 24-26 at Brunel University, Uxbridge.
Tickets can be purchased here.
"BEAM Festival was devised by Artistic Director Sarah Nicolls, an experimenting pianist, as a way to bring together some of the amazing artists, researchers, and DiY electronics builders and enthusiasts she has met over the years.
A truly global event, BEAM is an experimental playground for both veterans/experts and beginners - in workshops, over demonstrations, during a meal break or informally during a game or evening gig we hope you'll talk, learn and swap creative ideas.
Since technology can involve objects or computer code that can be abstract, we're offering loads of great workshops where you can try your hand at soldering, building an instrument or moving your own body to make music. See the WORKSHOPS page for more."
