Phil Niblock

February 11th. 2001
SUNDAY HERALD

Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh College Of Art

Phil Niblock has been a maverick presence on the fringes of the avant garde since the late 1960s. Through his compositions are "minimalist" in the classic sense, based around monolithic blocks of sound that slowly peel and fold in on themselves across time, his music is much more visceral and intense than, say, that of Terry Riley or Philip Glass.

Maybe that's why he's here playing for free in a student bar rather in some frigid gallery space. Tonight's performance includes some older work, a preview of two new pieces and a stack of pre-recorded tapes and samples freaturing contributions from scuzz rockers such as Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. Helping out are a vocalist and two guitarists, one of whom doubles on violin.

With speakers in each corner of the bar the room is transformed into a three-dimensional sound-space, with sonics so loud and heavy that merely moving your head feels like wading through thick cheese. The first new piece, Hurdy Hurry, features samples of Chicago avant-rocker Jim O'Rourke playing hurdy gurdy and sounds ecstatic.

It works on a deeply physical level and you can feel each gradation of sound creep up through your rib cage before peaking at the base of your skull. When vocalist Thomas Buckner enters on AYU, his otherworldly baritone rising through the sampled murk, the performance satrts to take on an air of of sacred ritual. Indeed there are moments that are so sensually overwhelming, so ego-obliterating, that you feel close to some kind of Buddhist samadhi - to total oneness with the sound.

As the OM gradully gives way to the sound of clinking pint glasses you suddenly remember you're in a bar in Edinburgh. But for a minute it felt like we were all somewhere else, somewhere primal.

David Keenan

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