I’ve been dealing with a lot of shit lately-this lineup and show was exactly what I needed #chrislibutti #bobbellerue @halfnormal #jacksonkovalchik #nucleardeathwish #keithfullertonwhitman #mentalpalatecleanser #stvitus #greenpoint #brooklyn #noise #electronics #experimental #sound #music #performance (at Saint Vitus Bar) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByVsk4hBhFB/?igshid=lf4ukjrejdlr
I wait every year for Ende Tymes and when those nights that turn in to morning go by, I’m left begging for more. Part 1 of Ende Tymes 2019 was a much needed mind and soul cleansing. Can’t wait for tonight #endetymes #bobbellerue #noise #experimental #sound #performance #bloater #marciabassett #barryweisblat #sadaf #kingvisionultra #asthyna #viaapp #bookworms #purgist #bonniebaxter #ligatureandskingraft #clavender #ratbastard (at Secret Project Robot) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv4YEJnBNPw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5ymyxc77wmm6
Kaleidoscopic “Distorted Dharmas” video installation by Bob Bellerue. It’s up for the month, so check it out #madeinnymediacenterbyifp #distorteddharmas #bobbellerue #installation #art #dumbo #brooklyn #nyc #contemporary #colors #shapes #movementinspace #mesmerizing (at DUMBO, Brooklyn) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoiMbLTBd6b/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ggoc8gk6tyuz
(In 200 Words, we highlight a new record we like a lot, via a 200-word review by Marc Masters and 200 words (or so) from the artist about whatever they choose.)
BOB BELLERUE – Damned Piano LP (Anarchymoon)
I can't tell how much hearing the title Damned Piano before I heard the music colored my experience of Bob Bellerue's masterful double LP, but either way it strikes me as one of the most apt names ever. In these four brain-encroaching slabs of drone, ambience, noise, and sonic terror, Bellerue sounds like he's doing everything he can to exorcise demons out of a piano. The process he used sounds a little ritualistic too, but it's the results that bear ghosts, erecting a black-toned universe of creepily-calm, subconsciously-urgent music.
At times it feels like even Bellerue has run scared from his sounds and they've taken the record over, trawling around all the bodies they just killed looking for a few final scraps of meat. But that's an aural illusion: listen to the entire hour-plus in one sitting and it's clear that every moment is deftly controlled. My favorite parts are when what seems like a restful bit of subdued drone morphs into a chainsaw that you only notice once it's been plunged into your eyeballs. Damned Piano's basic DNA is ultimately pretty simple – tons of attack and just as much decay – but the monster it spawns is as complex as music gets.
– Marc Masters
<a href="http://bobbellerue.bandcamp.com/album/damned-piano">Damned Piano by Bob Bellerue</a>
Bob Bellerue on Damned Piano
I learned how to play the piano 10 years ago. As a child I had taken piano lessons and could do the sloppy renditions of “The Entertainer” and other crap when the family came over, but I didn’t really get it in my heart and bones.
In 2005 while living at the Il Corral in LA, I was given a piano soundboard as collateral for a small debt. It had been taken out of a small upright piano, and had only the strings, the metal frame, the thin wooden diaphragm, and the wooden frame. The thing was so lively, it would resonate if you looked at it.
I had one thought - lay a guitar pickup on the strings and turn it up to make feedback. It didn't take much practice or technical skill. The results were immediate, massive, delicate, and very reliable - much more than my efforts with tickling the ivories. (I was unaware of David Behrman at the time, who pioneered this kind of feedback piano in his seminal work "Wave Train" in the 60s.) I came to call this project “fcking piano” after a 4000 mile western states tour later that first year.
I left the soundboard in storage when I moved to New York. Occasionally I am allowed access to grand pianos for work, and I've developed ways of playing them with feedback without damaging the instrument. I've started calling this project “Damned Piano” to consider the curse of the grand piano in today's age – they are venerated as the height of musical industry, but very few people play them anymore, and you can't even give them away when you are done with them.
The next project is a series of scores for “charming” the amplified piano with voice, winds and strings. For this I need to acquire a soundboard, so if anyone has an old piano....
Damned Piano is out now on Anarchymoon. Buy it here.
