Vereniging van Horen Zeggen
upcoming editions: newsletter contact Editie twee van Vereniging van Horen Zeggen
met Still House Plants.
Concert één.
On Sunday, August 25th, 15.30,
at Salon de IJzerstaven,
Bickersgracht 10, Amsterdam.
Concert twee.
On Sunday, August 25th, 20.00,
at Salon de IJzerstaven,
Bickersgracht 10, Amsterdam.
tickets In the urge to explain and illustrate, Still House Plants’ latest record has conjured a vast collection of creative one-liners. And, to be frank, it might take you some acrobatics to honorably capture what’s going on in the mazes of If I don’t make it, I love u. Jenn Pelly of Pitchfork has described the trio’s fractured math-rocky sounds as “made of nerve endings”. And Rate Your Music user 1dollar44 has envisioned the album as if performed in “zero gravity”. Taking that final figure of speech a tad further; within that zero-g chamber, elements swirl, bounce off one another and merge as colliding pieces of goo. At times, the effect is spiky and angular. At others, pure bliss. In the rough-and-tumble lies a friction that got us totally clawed, hooked and gripped. We will host the spellbinding trio for two concerts on a Sunday in the epilogue of this summer. The first in the afternoon, the second at night, both at the equally warm-yet-harsh Salon de IJzerstaven. We’d love to welcome you there. Line-up:
Finlay Clark - electric guitar
Jess Hickie-Kallenbach - vocals
David Kennedy - drums
past editions:
Editie één van Vereniging van Horen Zeggen met Ghosted (Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin).
Presented by BIMHUIS, The Rest is Noise & Vereniging van Horen Zeggen.
On Wednesday, February 14th, 20.30, at BIMHUIS, Piet Heinkade 3, Amsterdam.
Ghosted found its genesis in Studio Rymden in Stockholm, in the fall of ‘18. Or was it early ‘19? The project’s three members—Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin—can’t accurately recall the exact moment, as “that time doesn’t really matter anymore”. What does matter is that the music of Ghosted still exists with the intention of improvising and sharing. All three members have extraordinary track records on their own. They, *breathe in*—have played in ensembles as Fire! and Wildbirds & Peacedrums, have collaborated with the likes of Charlemagne Palestine, Jim O’Rourke, Mette Rasmussen and Alvin Lucier, and run record labels Black Truffle and Häpna—*breathe out*. So, what remains of that time? That time when Ghosted first let itself be heard. That time when the fall or winter light glistened through windows of Studio Rymden and when Ambarchi stumbled upon the best-sounding Leslie speaker he had ever heard. Minimal avant-garde jazz, “with the terse flow of krautrock jams—closely observed percussive riffs and repetitions that build continuously with subtle shifts as they move forward, with the small details flying expansively in and out across the stereo spectrum” (Drag City). It’s “endlessly repetitive, yet born anew with every bar” (Pitchfork).
Line-up: Oren Ambarchi - electric guitar & electronics Johan Berthling - double bass Andreas Werliin - drums
Editie nul van Vereniging van Horen Zeggen met Tongue Depressor + John McCowen.
On Friday, January 12th, 20.00, at Salon de IJzerstaven, Bickersgracht 10, Amsterdam.
Tongue Depressor is a duo, consisting of Zach Rowden and Henry Birdsey, who write, improvise, and perform drone-based music with fiddles, double bass, bagpipes, pedal steel, organ, bells, and tapes—often using microtonal tunings. They have teamed up with John McCowen for Blame Tuning, released on Full Spectrum Records in 2023. Their album Bones for Time, released on Worried Songs the same year, has been awarded a spot on Bandcamp’s ‘The Best Experimental Music of 2023’ list. “Is it DIY basement folk? Experimental classical? 20th century minimalism? Neo-drone? We're not completely sure, and that's precisely why we're hooked” (Boomkat).
John McCowen’s musical life has become an obsession with discovering a polyphonic language on a historically monophonic instrument—the clarinet. This obsession has guided McCowen into an unique acoustic vocabulary that is akin to a shifting soundscape of electronic feedback. His multiphonic approach is based in drones and beating harmonics, as a means to showcase the compositional potential within a single acoustic sound source. His work has been described as “the sonic equivalent of microscopic life viewed on a slide” (The New Yorker), and as “an astonishing demonstration of pure sound and human will” (The Wire).
Line-up: Henry Birdsey - Scottish smallpipes Zach Rowden - double bass John McCowen - contrabass clarinet
Editie min één van Vereniging van Horen Zeggen
met Jeff Parker ETA IVtet.
On Monday, June 26th, 19.30,
at Salon de IJzerstaven,
Bickersgracht 10, Amsterdam.
This event was cancelled due to travel complications.
On a handful of Mondays in a L.A. cocktail bar, with barely enough space to play, Jeff Parker and his quartet recorded a live album of ever-cascading grooves, patient melodies and guitar drones, thick as warm summer air. Again on a Monday night, June 26th, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet will revisit their live album by playing free compositions that expand on the acclaimed music in the L.A. bar. Once again on a stage with just enough room to play, Salon de IJzerstaven—a former atelier on the serene Bickerseiland in Amsterdam.
Line-up:
Jeff Parker - electric guitar
Mikel Patrick Avery - drums
Anna Butterss - double bass
Josh Johnson - alto saxophone and effects