Reviews

BOX #12 - 28 April 2002 - Loops - The Conscience Quartet

Review by Fiona Bennett

Sunday 28 April, 7pm-10pm Metro Arts Theatre
LOOPS & CONSCIENCE QUARTET
by Fiona Bennett

The main thing which stood out, for me, during the Loops performance was the level of composition in the pieces. So as I write this review I am again asking questions and exploring the definition of experimental music. Are there boundaries?  Is there a place for composition or is it ?limited? to improvised music?

Loops, at trio well known around Australia for their unique sounds in modern jazz were now presenting an array of semi-composed/ improvised music; 3 pieces created by each member.

Interestingly enough, the first piece by John Diamond came across as far more haphazard than the others, yet I think it had the highest level of planned structure within it. However, what started out as seemingly random sounds soon converged in to a sonic fusion.
Ten. The number of the 20th Century. The decimal system. Children all over the world learning to count to 10 in a different language. An improvisation around this number. Counting in English and Japanese. Despite the voices being unamplified I still managed to hear the Japanese in stereo, thanks to my friend beside me being an interactive audience member and counting along in Japanese. And to further challenge our perceptions about form there were a few 13s, 12s and 11s thrown in.
The experiment found its conclusion in the final piece. The merger of semi-constructed ideas using conventional instruments, used in an unconventional manner, with the use of objects not defined in Western tradition of music. ie: I really liked the imaginative use of the ?live? water sample.
So jazz went experimental..????? !!  Hmmm, isn?t that what jazz musicians have been doing since the dawn of their time? Experimenting, that is, creating structures and forms and then breaking all the rules?

The Conscience Quartet, by contrast, played a set that fell within the typical structures of noise. A couple of electric guitars and saxophone, amps etc.  Feedback, distortion, blah, blah, blah and what do we get?  Noise.  Formula stuff. Proven method.  Structured.
That?s not to say I didn?t enjoy this said.  Quite the opposite.  I am always interested to see how noise artists can create something dynamic and intricate within a minimalist framework.  So much, yet so little.  I enjoy the subtleties of noise, how ever so slightly themes will evolve, the other artists picking up on this and running with it for a while before it takes another shape and changes in to something else.  There is an exploration of the environment, going to the outer boundaries and pushing beyond them.  A reminder that there really are no limits after all.

At the end of the day, I don?t think it really matters whether there has been composition, in the traditional sense of the word, or perceived structures.  Every performance in its own right is unique and it is how the creative ideas evolve and are communicated that give us a new experience each time.