Please regale me with your thoughts on Martin Tetreault. I've had "21 Situations" (with Otomo Yoshihide) and Invisible Architecture 01 (with Philip Jeck and Yoshihide again) for a while, and finally just got my hands on "MXCT" (with Xavier Charles). The latter contains some of the most evocative noise I've ever heard.
This inquiry is mainly prompted by seeing him do a live improvisation with Nobukazu Takemura the other night. He used a three-armed customised turntable, an old sony discman (used not to actually play CDs into the mixer, but to create interference with another device), and a minidisc walkman whilst Takemura employed a trio of laptops. Tetreault was extraordinarily careful and gentle with his movements (except near the end when he dropped the discman onto the turntable from a height of about three feet). After listening to his recordings it was fascinating to actually see his methods in practice.
As for the music itself, Takemura provided rolling, repetitive patterns, occasionally resembling distant crickets and frogs, over which Tetreault improvised interference and amplified quiet noises. Only very occasionally were we able to tell what was actually on the records he was using (and then only barely), and for much of the performance he used the turntable alone, without vinyl.. more along the lines of the Invisible Architecture release than "21 situations".
So, has anyone else in these parts seen him perform or heard recordings beyond the three mentioned above? Can you tell me something interesting about him or his music or his performances? Does he do solo performances/recordings (everything I've seen or heard has been collaborative)? Can you recommend any similar practitioners to me?
A search of ILM reveals that he has only ever been mentioned once here, in passing, so maybe this will end up unanswered; I'd appreciate anything you can offer, though.
― Captain Sleep (Captain Sleep), Sunday, 27 October 2002 11:19 (twenty-three years ago)
Well I've heard an interview as part of a session he did for BBC radio 3 here in the UK. i thought it was really interesting (I can't rememeber what he did in any sort of detail, just that it was good) but i haven't come across any of his stuff over here. but if i do find it i'll revive this to comment someday (it could be a long time tho').
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 27 October 2002 17:09 (twenty-three years ago)
Get the duo disc with Kevin Drumm.
I saw him once with Luc Ferrari, which was totally awesome. Wish there was a commercially available recording of it.
― hstencil, Monday, 28 October 2002 02:24 (twenty-three years ago)