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Improbable Improv: Lee Simpson on Animo

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The UK’s Improbable Theatre has mounted some enormous — and enormously successful — productions in Minneapolis, from the extravagant Shockheaded Peter (2000) to the hilariously morbid The Hanging Man (2003). On their fifth Walker-sponsored visit, Improbable goes into more Spartan territory: a stage cleared of sets and costumes. There, armed only with a box of [...]

improbable_1_2006.jpgThe UK’s Improbable Theatre has mounted some enormous — and enormously successful — productions in Minneapolis, from the extravagant Shockheaded Peter (2000) to the hilariously morbid The Hanging Man (2003). On their fifth Walker-sponsored visit, Improbable goes into more Spartan territory: a stage cleared of sets and costumes. There, armed only with a box of odds and ends (a bristle brush, a newspaper, a hand mixer) they’ll be performing live, improvising everything as they go. Improbable’s artistic codirector Lee Simpson likens this process–in which performers face an expectant audience with little more than their wits–to “ primeval gloop,” a powerful, mysterious state in which improviser and audience explore possibilities. Simpson and Walker performing arts curator Philip Bither recently discussed this promising, challenging, and terrifying place as a prelude to Improbable’s April 19–21 American premiere of ANIMO: UK/Minneapolis.

Philip Bither: Improbable Theatre has been together a little over ten years now and has gotten major recognition for large-scale shows such as Shockheaded Peter. Why do a project like Animo, an improvisational work like the pieces you did when you first started the company?

Lee Simpson: I think the answer is in the question, really. The fact is that this is at the very heart of what we do. It’s like a little reservoir of stuff that we go back to, a reservoir of experience where we can go to make ourselves scared and vulnerable and off balance again. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing it. It doesn’t matter how cool you think you are. It doesn’t matter how successful your last show was. When you step on stage in Animo, that’s it–you’re nothing. It wipes the slate clean. There’s nothing, and you face that nothingness and you find something out. And that’s the most scary and exciting thing. The reason why we do this, I think, is that it really gives us that kind of buzz.

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Emotional shrapnel: Farber on apartheid’s pain and inspiration

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“South Africa is an extraordinary country in so many ways,” wrote director Yael Farber at Broadway.com. “Indeed, the relatively peaceful transition from almost half a century of brutal oppression to democracy was nothing short of miraculous. Yet beneath the hype of a country reborn lies the dark current of consequence… The flexibility with which the [...]

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“South Africa is an extraordinary country in so many ways,” wrote director Yael Farber at Broadway.com. “Indeed, the relatively peaceful transition from almost half a century of brutal oppression to democracy was nothing short of miraculous. Yet beneath the hype of a country reborn lies the dark current of consequence... The flexibility with which the survivors of these years have had to rise to embrace the ‘new’ South Africa inspired the world, but left little time for looking back to reclaim the emotional shrapnel left from those dark years. Amajuba is our attempt to do just that”

After a multi-year tour to sell-out crowds at international venues, The Farber Foundry’s Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise, a stirring theatrical performance based on the experiences of its cast, makes its final stop at the Walker February 22–25, and to mark its conclusion, Farber visits Minneapolis to oversee this historic run. For a great primer on Farber and Amajuba, listen to this excellent NPR piece from July.

Special offer: Ticket prices for Friday night’s show have been reduced. Call the box office at 612.375.7600 to get tickets to Thursday and Friday shows for $18 ($15 Walker members). Tickets to Saturday and Sunday shows are available online.

Of Matmost Importance

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Despite plugging our May performance by found-sound electronic duo Matmos (here), I’m not all that familiar with the group. But this new interview by the Daily Californian offers a fascinating primer on their thinking and music. Known for creating soundscapes using found objects (a taxidermied deer head, the pages of a bible), animals (rats scurrying [...]

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Despite plugging our May performance by found-sound electronic duo Matmos (here), I’m not all that familiar with the group. But this new interview by the Daily Californian offers a fascinating primer on their thinking and music. Known for creating soundscapes using found objects (a taxidermied deer head, the pages of a bible), animals (rats scurrying in a cage), and actions (liposuction surgery), the pair’s conversation ranged from Drew Daniel’s love of American punk (he tells how the Germs’ drummer agreed to burn Daniel’s skin with a cigarette “and we recorded the sound of my cry of pain and the sizzling sound, and then manipulated that into a piece”) to the dematerialization of music (“instead of buying records and looking at the art, people are getting music that streams into their hard drive, they have it for a few months, and then throw it away”).

An excerpt of the interview with Daniel, Martin Schmidt, and the DC‘s Michael Harkin:

DC: What initiated your mutual interest in found sound amd field recordings?

DD: When I was a kid, I had a mono jambox, a little tape recorder, and the mic inside it was broken. When I recorded my own voice, it was so distorted–it changed me from a little child into a scary monster. I liked that you could use recording to change your identity–it’s the musique concrete equivalent of feeling like Sauron when you’re playing heavy metal.

DC: With Matmos, the principle of composition is of the utmost importance. What sets you apart from other artists in the electronic or sample-based realm?

MS: We’re strangely driven by conceptual restriction. We started doing it for fun–we were into this idea of “ try to make a song where you don’t use the normal things that you would use to make songs.”

DD: It’s a “ MacGyver”-like situation where you see what you can make out of what’s on hand. At that time in sampling culture, people were pigging out on James Brown breaks, and we started with something that wasn’t musically promising–a latex t-shirt, for instance.

MS: At this point, we’ve been doing this for so many years that it affects other parts of my life: “ Can I clean the kitchen only using vinegar?” I think to myself, “ Okay, I don’t have to wear all yellow all the time.” Actually, I’ve never worn all yellow in my life before.

DC: How do you decide that the more found-sound aspects of the music should be accompanied by more traditional instrumentation?

DD: It depends on the song: there are certain pieces where we decide, “ Okay, let’s make this out of just one object.” As we’ve gotten older, we’ve gotten proggier and more pretentious. In the case of the new album, when you want to depict someone like Joe Meek, you want to use some of the kinds of instruments and playing that were important to him–that meant having a particular guitar tone. Other times, we’re pursuing an object as intensely as we can. In the case of making a song out of the skin of a rabbit, I tried to make 90% of the piece using just that rabbit, and then we brought in some environmental field recordings to put the rabbit in a space sonically.

Matmos performs May 19 at the Walker with Brooklyn’s So Percussion and artist, instrument maker, composer (and former Walker staffer) Kitundu.

Get tickets while you can.

Update: While I’m at it, here are a few (of the many) YouTube entries for Matmos, including their twisted take on “Stars & Stripes Forever” and a live performance of “Tract for Valerie Solanas” recorded in New York last October: [youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZEXgNM9MAMY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2OgrzaINp8[/youtube]

Pazz & Jop 2006: Minneapolis Connection

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Every year, top music critics compile a massive poll on the best music from the previous year. This year’s Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll tallies votes from 494 music writers to come up with a list of the best albums and singles of 2006. From the involvement of local writers Chris Riemenschneider and Jon [...]

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Every year, top music critics compile a massive poll on the best music from the previous year. This year’s Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll tallies votes from 494 music writers to come up with a list of the best albums and singles of 2006. From the involvement of local writers Chris Riemenschneider and Jon Bream (both from the Star Tribune) to Minnesota-born Bob Dylan taking top album honors for Modern Times, our fair state gets its due.

Bands with Minnesota connections getting top album votes include: The Hold Steady at number four (featuring members of the former TC band Lifter Puller) for Boys and Girls in America; at 137, Tapes ‘n Tapes for their breakthrough album The Loon; and, fresh off his Super Bowl rockfest, Minneapolis’ finest, Prince at #142 for 3121.

Other locally affiliated vote-getters for best album:

154. Golden Smog, featuring members of Soul Asylum and The Jayhawks, for Another Fine Day

161. P.O.S., a Rhymesayers up-and-comer, for Audition

399. (TIE) Soul Asylum, The Silver Lining

530. (TIE) Paul Westerberg, Music for Open Season; and Alan Sparhawk of Low for Solo Guitar

720. (TIE) Zebulon Pike, Zebulon Pike II: The Deafening Twilight

756. (TIE) Jessy Greene, A Demon and Her Lovers; and STNNNG, who played at the Walker’s Summer Music & Movies in ’06, for Fake Fake

Plenty of others making the Pazz and Jop list have been to the Walker recently or–in the case of Matmos, at #107, who play the McGuire stage with So Percussion and Kitundu May 19–will be here soon:

12. Sonic Youth (who played Rock the Garden 200o and dropped by for a gallery visit last summer) for Rather Ripped

21. Ornette Coleman (who played his 75th-birthday concert here in 2005) for Sound Grammar

59. Tom Zé (who collaborated with Tortoise back in ‘99) for Estudando o Pagode

76. Boris, Pink (see #373)

107. Matmos, The Rose has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast

111. Melvins (who scored Cameron Jamie’s three films, shown here in fall 2006) for A Senile Animal

135. Juana Molina (she sang here in fall 2005), Son

373. (TIE) Sunn0)) and Boris, who played a concert at the Walker in fall 2006, Altar

391. Carla Bozulich (she performed here in March ’06) for Evangelista

530. (TIE) Stereolab (Rock the Garden 2000) for Fab Four Suture