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Contact: Brady Sharp (615) 522-4523
German- English Trio Konk Pack Hit Nashville on U.S. Tour
VKMusic is honored to present improvising trio Konk Pack in Nashville.
Featuring guitarist Tim Hodgkinson (UK), drummer Roger Turner (UK), and analogue synthesist Thomas Lehn (DE), Konk Pack will visit Twist Art Gallery in the downtown Arcade as part of their 2007 U.S. tour on Saturday, September 29th.
Since 1997, Konk Pack have performed throughout Europe, the UK and the US, and have been described by The Wire magazine¹s Lee Henderson as "one of the most exciting improv groups in the world." But that¹s no surprise. Konk Pack features three of the most innovative improvisers active today, each with hefty credibility to prove it: guitarist Hodgkinson was one of the founding members of the legendary 60s-70s art-rock group Henry Cow, drummer Turner has performed with Derek Bailey, Cecil Taylor, Keith Rowe, and Lol Coxhill, and analogue synthesist Lehn has worked with Gerry Hemingway, Marcus Schmickler, John Butcher, Phil Minton and many others. As a trio, the group have released three compact discs on the German label Grob, and performed at major music festivals from Vancouver to Belgrade. The experiences they¹ve shared alone are reason enough to take note of this trio, but the music they make leaves audiences amazed and inspired beyond simple notes of history. In fact, each concert is legendary.
Reviews:
"The accelerated, interactive electronica of Roger Turner (percussion), Tim Hodgkinson (deconstructed tabletop guitar) and Thomas Lehn (analogue synth) arises from a scintillating heap of sonic detritus the way an artificial intelligence manifests itself in a Manga movie: a writhing mass of automobiles, arcade consoles, street furniture and mobile phones. Hodgkinson attacks his amplified strings with plectrum and bow, his specs glinting as he waits for the right awkward moment to kloodge a sonic shard on the side of one of Turner's amazingly vocalised motifs (at times you swear you hear collaborator Phil Minton's musical snorts). Lehn restricts his pianism on analogue synth to pinched blurts, but still manages to resemble a switched-on Liszt. Although we itched to interrupt with applause, Konk Pack played an unbroken 45 minute set: fun debris, rollicking freakouts ... and one magical section of scrape and pling where the music seemed to play itself." - Ben Watson The Wire, UK
"As for pure total improvisation, the verdict on german-english trio Konk Pack was unanimous. Even listeners unreceptive to improvised noise (bending frequencies and sound-textures via an analog synth, manipulation of a guitar on a table, free percussion, etc) were won over by these subtle sonorities superbly segued, magnificent interplay." - Alain Brunet, La Presse, Montreal
"Collectively improvised music comes in many forms, with as many degrees of success. Only some genuinely presses the envelope, pushing into a terrain where the unknown can happen and where even the best players encounter risk. On that transcendent scale, the trio Konk Pack - Tim Hodgkinson on table-top guitar and clarinet, Thomas Lehn on synthesizer, and the wondrous Roger Turner on percussion - fared best among the groups at this festival, creating music in which a barrage of discreet particles bounced around, colliding in a universe in which chance and interactivity blurred into one another. Playing at one o'clock on Saturday afternoon in the festival's smallest venue, Konk Pack established a benchmark by which other improvisers' performances would inevitably be judged." - Bill Smith, Coda Magazine
Event details:
Saturday, September 29th at Twist Art Gallery (73 Arcade, in Nashville's downtown Arcade). Show begins promptly at 8:30pm, and a $6-$12 sliding donation will be strongly encouraged!
More information: www.VKMusic.org or (615) 522-4523