Sunday, March 04, 2007
portland bike ensemble
portland bike ensemble 12"
[2004, olde english spelling bee]
for some reason it's hard as hell to track down complete info for these guys, but here's the skinny; at their core pbe are an oregon three-piece consisting of kelvin pittman, craig burgardt and quite possibly someone named john. they kinda seem to have that "hey, come jam with us" vibe as i've seen quite a few other names in association with the ensemble. on this record they were joined by jim altieri (who did that drowning yellow swans
3" cd along with gabe and pete), mark kaylor (cells, ghost to falco, super dupity, oregon artificial limb company), jean-paul jenkins (peevish, $uper unity), morgan hobart, argon, and shane schnieder. kelvin was a part of the avant noise group with the either eww or wow inducing name, depending on how uptight you are, rocket science and the nigger loving faggots. i laugh when i think of exchanges like this taking place: "what's the name of your band again?" "rocket science and the nigger loving faggots" ...uncomfortable silence... "okaybyebyethen!" good times.
when it comes to musicalgeniusdom, geniusness, geniusity...when it comes to bright ideas, musically, this has to rank way up there. take a few bikes, in this case, centurion, schwinn, univega, cannondale, nishiki and bueoings (get your huffy the hell out of here), flip them sumbitches upside down, wire them for sound with microphones, effects pedals and other gadgetry and have a ball. it's mind-blowingly brilliant. they use techniques ranging from plucking the spokes to playing the spokes like a triangle, cranking the pedals, rubbing the tires with mics, amongst other ones that i'm incapable of fathoming. lest you get to assuming that this is a noisy affair, i'll have you know that it's actually fairly restrained and minimal.
portland bike ensemble, which is a recording of two separate shows, begins with 411 i, being that it's the shortest track on the record, it makes sense that it's the least minimal. there's some great drumstick(?) spoke playing amongst less discernible background noises. while my
attention lies with the spoke action, the contrast with what's going on in the back makes for great listening. the seventeen minute and change 411 ii finishes out the side. this one's way more on the atmospheric side of things. it's very creaky sounding. like a huge old wooden ship floating in the middle of the bermuda triangle, at midnight, kind of creaky. i think i hear someone bowing the spokes now, awesome. there's a few more involved segments during the piece, especially at the beginning and then towards the end. even when there's not a lot of different things all happening at once, the more subtle sounds that they're making are more than capable of keeping me involved. the opposite side is house at commercial and failing and it's just one long, twenty-three and a half minute track. one of pbe's greatest strengths is how well they mask the fact that they're playing bikes. whether it's through electronic or their own physical manipulation, it's hard to pick up on what they're actually doing just by listening in. at around three minutes into this it sounds like they're trying to saw through one of the bikes, i guess someone's walking home. commercial and failing is still on the minimal side of things, but it sounds a lot different than the a-side did. there's plenty of even more unique sounds to be had, the sporadic amplified spoke plucking is excellent as is the catchy percussion applied to the last minute of the album. damn, it really makes you wish they did more of this, ahh, oh well. it's still great.
i'd highly recommend portland bike ensemble to anyone who considers themselves a fan of minimal or avant-garde music. the things that they're doing are not that noisy (this time around, but their tour double cd-r was a bit noisier, but good luck finding that one!) and it's a completely unique and refreshing experience. this 12" is still in print and each lp has its own different hand-painted/silk-screened artwork. now go give these guys money so they can upgrade to the portland vespa ensemble.
House At Commercial And Failing Excerpt (from 9:56 to 16:02)
[2004, olde english spelling bee]
for some reason it's hard as hell to track down complete info for these guys, but here's the skinny; at their core pbe are an oregon three-piece consisting of kelvin pittman, craig burgardt and quite possibly someone named john. they kinda seem to have that "hey, come jam with us" vibe as i've seen quite a few other names in association with the ensemble. on this record they were joined by jim altieri (who did that drowning yellow swans
3" cd along with gabe and pete), mark kaylor (cells, ghost to falco, super dupity, oregon artificial limb company), jean-paul jenkins (peevish, $uper unity), morgan hobart, argon, and shane schnieder. kelvin was a part of the avant noise group with the either eww or wow inducing name, depending on how uptight you are, rocket science and the nigger loving faggots. i laugh when i think of exchanges like this taking place: "what's the name of your band again?" "rocket science and the nigger loving faggots" ...uncomfortable silence... "okaybyebyethen!" good times.when it comes to musical
portland bike ensemble, which is a recording of two separate shows, begins with 411 i, being that it's the shortest track on the record, it makes sense that it's the least minimal. there's some great drumstick(?) spoke playing amongst less discernible background noises. while my
attention lies with the spoke action, the contrast with what's going on in the back makes for great listening. the seventeen minute and change 411 ii finishes out the side. this one's way more on the atmospheric side of things. it's very creaky sounding. like a huge old wooden ship floating in the middle of the bermuda triangle, at midnight, kind of creaky. i think i hear someone bowing the spokes now, awesome. there's a few more involved segments during the piece, especially at the beginning and then towards the end. even when there's not a lot of different things all happening at once, the more subtle sounds that they're making are more than capable of keeping me involved. the opposite side is house at commercial and failing and it's just one long, twenty-three and a half minute track. one of pbe's greatest strengths is how well they mask the fact that they're playing bikes. whether it's through electronic or their own physical manipulation, it's hard to pick up on what they're actually doing just by listening in. at around three minutes into this it sounds like they're trying to saw through one of the bikes, i guess someone's walking home. commercial and failing is still on the minimal side of things, but it sounds a lot different than the a-side did. there's plenty of even more unique sounds to be had, the sporadic amplified spoke plucking is excellent as is the catchy percussion applied to the last minute of the album. damn, it really makes you wish they did more of this, ahh, oh well. it's still great.
i'd highly recommend portland bike ensemble to anyone who considers themselves a fan of minimal or avant-garde music. the things that they're doing are not that noisy (this time around, but their tour double cd-r was a bit noisier, but good luck finding that one!) and it's a completely unique and refreshing experience. this 12" is still in print and each lp has its own different hand-painted/silk-screened artwork. now go give these guys money so they can upgrade to the portland vespa ensemble.House At Commercial And Failing Excerpt (from 9:56 to 16:02)
:: posted by avant gardening, 7:47 PM
15 Comments:
hey man. you do good stuff here. we just linked you over @ audiversity. keep up the good work and i'll be reading.
awesome, thanks a lot for your positive feedback, i really appreciate it! i linked back to you guys as well.
what about...
tim reynolds [intellectual mastermind behind pbe]?
glamorous/transparent pat maher?
david noel moscovich?
whitney woolf?
...creative editing?
tim reynolds [intellectual mastermind behind pbe]?
glamorous/transparent pat maher?
david noel moscovich?
whitney woolf?
...creative editing?
beats me. it was hard enough to find that incomplete info. i appreciate the update though.
oh, blame this link: http://www.discogs.com/release/715686
that's where i got the line-up information for the 12".
that's where i got the line-up information for the 12".
sorry,
that performance line-up
is correct.
those are players from pbe
on other occasions.
that performance line-up
is correct.
those are players from pbe
on other occasions.
ahh, very good.
who are you?
nobody in particular, who are you?
kelvin pittman's sexy secretary.
hot.
ah, very nice, thanks. i'll have to check out the pittman 3" cd after i get that split tape he did on cherried out merch. how much are you selling those for anyway?
please forward your request
here
$5 for each [the cd and the tape]
+ s.a.s.e.
concealed cash or $$order,
or possibly trade.
here
$5 for each [the cd and the tape]
+ s.a.s.e.
concealed cash or $$order,
or possibly trade.
got some footage here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gz1miLtUw1E
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gz1miLtUw1E