Promotional materials for bob bellerue / halfnormal :: Presskits and reviews
contact: bob_AT_halfnormal.com
useful links:
quotable blurb - "shapely noise && fragrant circuits"
Honors -
Top Honors: Threat Level Charlie, Periòdic Sound Art Competition, Centre
de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona (Spring02)
"1 of 10 people making things happen in LA" - LA Alternative Press
(Dec05) nice
picture in the paper with my dog, great for mom
#6 on the Trendsetters list, LA Alternative Readers Poll (July06) that's high
enough, damn. a vote for me is a vote for noise!!
over 100 gigs in the last 2 years - personal award
the ONLY person allowed to use a mixer at the INC, as authorized by Mr. Rat Bastard
himself.
Press/Reviews -
LA Weekly August 22 2008 link to scan
Bob Bellerue at the Smell by David Cotner
...Bellerue, formerly of the performance space known as Il Corral, ground zero
of the LA punk-noise scene [??], returns Ulysses-like from his many voyages.
He's visiting tonight from Brooklyn.... Promised: a giant shard of metal, caressed
and cajoled and made to do terrible things to you, your hearing, and your rectum,
though not necessarily in that order. Rectum? He destroyed 'em! Miss the caophony
(can you really comprehend the potential of abused metal?), and you just might
die inside, like that guy at the end of The Postman Always Knocks Twice,
or Hillary
Clinton.... [no metal, bad performance, but great write up]
Musique Machine link to review
Zelphabet 'Vol B" CD
...Lastly we have Bob Bellerue track Fridge Tower which again feels quite primal
and strange like the snoozing state of some huge ageing technology beast.There's
some nice smaller tone details like wire windings, wind blowing and spoon in
cup stirring moving back and forth through the tracks central growing more
and more noisy buzzing slumber...
Introspect link
to review
Zelphabet 'Vol B' CD
...The last piece is by Bob Bellerue, who is also behind the excellent Redglaer.
'Fridge Tower' is a swarming mass of wriggling electronic frequencies that
builds into fairly dense peaks without ever approaching harshness, all sorts
of tactile surfaces building into a fairly tonal finale...
Just For The Day (10/26/05) http://justforaday.blogspot.com/2005/10/clear-as-glass.html
clear as glass
Last month's west coast tour brought a couple a good surprises, mainly a sweet
time in LA. Outside of walking the avenue of stars and relaxing in La Brea
Tar Pits our show was at the amazing and overly welcoming Il Corral, a multi-room
warehouse/art venue in the Hollywood area that seems to present a non-stop
wallop of ace performances. The place is run by Bob Bellerue, who I wasn't
familiar with until setting up the show. After we played and were heading out
he passed on his Threat Level Charlie CD to me, which is "music for glass,
metal, space(s), programming, electronics, body and power."
Waverly and wasp-like, Bellerue's bowing of the elements is ambient as two-eyes
full of sand yet holds an utterly elegant gaze during the four pieces, all
recorded in Barcelona + California, 2002. Using a contact mic and microphones
slipped inside PVC pipes, the waves shift from bassy, echo laden rumble to
quivering sinewaves. Like the best Keith Rowe injections, Bellerue also plunges
into the airwaves. As he explains: "Radio is tapped as a chthonic noise
source, and as processing stage and path for feedback via transmitter. Broadband
noise is generated from public and private ambient recordings, and speeches
by George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden are shredded together."
A bunch of Bob's past work is detailed with streaming MP3s at his site: some
recent power noise/feedback (OROBOROS) and mind-heavy n' amped gong works (Gong
Listrik). Enough to keep you listening all weekend. (Eric - anyone know anything
about this site?)
LA TIMES (January 15, 2003) scan of original
Art fest breaks sound barriers: Musicians defy convention with digitally
inspired material at Cal Arts showcase of all things experimental. (by
Josef Woodard)
If there was a recurring motif at last weekend's CEAIT (Center for Experiments
in Art, Information and Technology) festival at Cal Arts, it had to be the illuminated,
compromised apple on the many Macintosh laptops on hand, a tool of choice for
many of today's experimental musicians.
And, because tools and conventions are made to be broken in the experimental
scene, we could have expected the presence of a rebel like the artist known as
Bob Bellerue/halfnormal.
Roving around Roy O. Disney Hall, Bellerue/halfnormal manipulated his laptop
in strange ways for his piece "out of the box," using only its tiny
microphone to produce maelstroms of distorted and feedback-smothered sound.
At one point, he emphasized the transformation of a laptop into a physical instrument
by using a bow on the laptop lid, to squealing effect. The end result was more
guerrilla theater than inspired content, but it was the conceptual thought that
counted....
LA TIMES (January 15, 2002) scan of original
Gestures Large and Small at CalArts Festival (by Josef Woodard)
... Contrasts ruled. After the loopy softness of "Rain," Bob
Bellerue's "Threat Level Charlie" upped the angst as three musicians
bowed pieces of plate glass, producing an aura of volatile intensity, while also
illustrating the medium-specific emotional quality of sounds.
LA TIMES (Feb 25, 2002) scan of original
Contact is made with John Cage’s Free Spirit (by Mark Swed)
... "Imaginary Landscape No. 5," realized by Bob Bellerue,
was more curious. It is a score for making a tape out of excerpts from any 42
phonograph records using chance operations. Cage's own tape, created for a 1952
dance, used jazz recordings, and Bellerue did the same with recordings from the
era. But his was not a handmade tape, rather the result of a modern computer's
resources.
Bellerue poses interpretative issues. To what extent
are period instruments and period practice relevant to electronic music of the
'50s? This "Imaginary Landscape" realization was schizophrenic. Period
recordings turned it into something that sounded like a sparkling modern collage
of old jazz. Still, at a quick two minutes, it cooked. And in the best Cage tradition,
it left us with questions, not answers.
Vital Weekly 618
B (CD compilation by Zelphabet)
...Bob Bellerue's piece of
subdued noise is the best of the rest....
The Wire (London, Dec 06 "Size Matters")
Redglaer American Masonry
Redglaer is Bob Bellerue's experiment in harsh textural environments,
and he finds himself a dandy of a harsh one inside a huge concrete warehouse
in Tulsa. American Masonry is the celebration of the space's acoustics.
Filling the booming structure with dark rumbles, antic squeedles and sheer blather, Bellerue fully
engages the cavernous sonics, creating chittering walls of echoed overtones and
hints of eternal combustion. He roars through the space like a giant robot, spluttering
sparks and evil intent all the way.
Hanson Records :: hansonrecords.net (he's
sold out of them, so it's no longer on his site...)
Redglaer "American Masonry"
Man... This 10 inch really blew my gord... Prolly my fave 10 inch since the
PETER FONDA TRIBUTE on MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH... Man... REVERB GALORE and
preolly the BEST DRONE to be made in the past few years... Scraping metal drone...
Will keep you OVER satisfied till the next TNB/ORGANUM collab...which we know
AIN'T HAPPENIN'... SO FUCKin GRAB THIS ASAP.. HIGHEST RECCOMENDATION! All hand
painted covers on THICK cardstock....
Digitalis Industries
Redglaer- "Cranky"
Redglaer is the only name in this stellar batch of SA 7"s that I don't
recognize. The A side starts off with clattery junk noise. Change be tossed
onto metal or maybe it was just him plugging his gear in. The electricity gets
turned on and abrasive synth abuse follows. Low tones are mixed with hi-end
sputtering and manic oscillators. Chugga-chugga progression similar to dudes
like Door/Earth Crown; part organic, metal pipes banging, but also part synthetic.
The feedback fucking never gets too intense, but always smooth enough to groove
too with ever present low end rumble. Side B begins with looped mixer destruction,
buzzing and chunking eventually raising the level of intensity as the tones
take over. One man's struggle with feedback. Eventually he gains control again
and puts it in its place. Subduing it, quieting it, until it is just the occasional
feedback screech. This game of cat and mouse continues for the rest of the
record. According to the internet he (Bob Bellerue) will be going on a 2 month
long US tour with fellow PDX tone psycher Acre, definitely a show I'll be hitting
up when it comes through Chicago.
Vital Weekly 600 http://www.vitalweekly.net
SMEGMA - THE SMELL REMAINS THE SAME (LP by Anarchymoon)
REDGLAER - AMERICAN MASONRY (CD by Anarchymoon)
Though being a constant factor in noise & free rock for as long as those
genres might even exist, I can't recall ever listening to a full Smegma album
apart from collaborations with Wolf Eyes or Jazkamer. This new LP, subtitled
SINGLES 90-95, might therefore be the best introduction to this group that has
been around for longer then I've been. Considering that this is a collection
of 7" tracks it makes for quite a diverse and exciting listen, even including
a relatively straightforward garage rock track with opener ≥Swamp Dick".
What amazes me most here is how good they actually are as musicians. Tracks like ≥Fish
Story" end up as some alien free jazz, not unlike some Art Ensemble of Chicago,
and what also strikes me is the spirited use of loops, found sound and sampling.
It makes the group sound in places like a musique concrète lab experiment
injected with a viral disease. I wonder if their all-out approach to sampling
is something from the 90s or if this has always been their sound. I will certainly
need to start checking out more of them now. Better late
then never.
Much less known, and much younger, is Redglaer. The solo project of one Bob Bellerue,
this new CD contains a live recording made in Tulsa in 2006. The title of this
recording is chosen well, it sounds like somebody who knows his craft, and builds
sonic walls for his after-work pleasure. The music takes place at the crossing
between drone music, dark ambient and the occasional noise, but stays abstract
enough to neither annoy or grab attention. At some moments vocals come to the
fore, especially in the third, final, and best track, which for a short moment
sounds like an extended buddhist chant overlayered with, I assume, Redglaer's
own wordless incantations ending in some rather nice stormy weather. (RM)
Bull Tongue :: arthurmag.com (not
sure if this will be published in the upcoming Arthur ie the phoenix rising
July 07 issue)
Los Angeles label Anarchy Moon [anarchymoon.com] scored big a while back with
the Redglaer [myspace.com/redglaer] American Masonry 10?, which was a wicked
ride through high force audio death wind. The label has a local connection to
Il Corral [ilcorral.net], a venue catering to the most extreme forms of L.A.
sput and has released a somewhat mouth-watering double LP documenting the night
of Friday the 13th January 2006 there. The acts are powerbook sound jammer John
Weise [home.earthlink.net/~johnwiese/], electronic junk and spirit head duo Dead
Machines (John Olson of Wolf Eyes and Tovah O’Rourke Olson) [myspace.com/tovaholson],
low end cement-mix slabber Damion Romero [poweracoustics.org/discography/] and
a collaboration of all three – each to a side. Each joint gives you a real
time glimpse into each of these people’s noise emission world and anyone
familiar with their catalogues may think it’s certainly not their most
killer takes. The interesting thing though, and this holds true for the genre
in which they’re active, is that the process of reaching for personal epiphany
is as rewarding as hearing an artist’s chosen best effort. Weise spends
time with comparatively quiet stations, Dead Machines deal with a more fractured
pace than is expected, and Romero really just sits on a deadzone of drone, although
three-quarters of the way through his piece starts to glow in a subtly remarkable
fashion. The get together on side 4 comes across as any jam out in any one of
these budz basements and therein lies its charm. All these cats have stronger
sides out there, but these performances are the sound of them in true experimental
style, seeking, prodding, checking in and checking out and back again – everything
that makes this scene
so goddamned great in the first place.
Also on Anarchy Moon is the split LP betwixt Roman Torment and Feed The Dragon. Roman Torment’s side is as good a place as any to hear the current state of American power electronic harshness. Not a full rectal blare nor a squiggle fest these boys, Jeff Witscher (Impregnable, Deep Jew) and Evan Pacewicz (Moth Drakula [swamplandnoise.com/mothd.htm]) ride the flaring noise gush in an almost compositional style taking the listener through a harsh yet meditative drive. Feed The Dragon is another nom de plume, like aforementioned Redglaer, of Bob Bellerue [halfnormal.com], a Naropa Institute graduate and a man who has spent jugs of time exploring, thinking and creating all sorts of transmissions of noise humanism. His side is typically jake and another cog in this cat’s excellent life.
[NOTE: Albert Ortega was somehow overlooked in the Bull Tongue review of Feed the Dragon. apologies to him. rockstars - you can't trust anyone!!]
Heathen Harvest link
Redglaer "Buried With Freedom" (Amorf Sounds)
Arriving wrapped in a double sided poster this three inch CD release looks
harmless enough. This charade of innocence lasts about five seconds before
realisation dawns... Innocent? Harmless? Redglaer wants to damage you, your
audio equipment and your relationship with the neighbours. Yup, looks like
we’re back in good old noise territory. At only twenty one minutes long
Buried With Freedom is a relatively short beast, but the whole twenty on minutes
is chock full of interesting variations on the theme of sonic destruction and
sound manipulation.
There are thin scraping elements, the metal on metal sounds
providing the same sensation as nails on a chalkboard, setting your teeth on
edge in a wonderfully
excruciating fashion. There are fat layers of mangled mid range, vocals sounds
and analogue throbs chopped into each other as they stutter and slur like incoherent
alcoholics, and of course there is a wealth of low frequency bass.
The bass here is a beast of many coats, from low end frequencies that attempt
to pin loose clothing to you through to jerky cut ups that threaten the integrity
of your speakers, and of course the low throb of the sub bass that lurks in
the background, waiting for it’s moment to lunge at you.
Heavy analogue effects abound, gathering the whole mass up and warping it out
of shape, creating sirens and swirls of noise from the clatter or causing the
whole affair to glitch and stutter as it cycles through random frequencies.
There are also brief moments where it is almost silent, but these are few and
far between and are, of course, only the calm before the eventual storm.
While not the harshest or most abrasive noise I’ve heard, this is far
from being a damp squib. Rather than a complete and overwhelming wall of chaos
that I’m more familiar with, Redglaer has kept the elements involved
in the construction of this piece to a minimum and used them to weave a heavily
textured and varied piece of seemingly unstructured noise, which is just what
the doctor ordered. Over all this is an interesting piece of work that despite
its relatively short run time never fails to deliver the goods and is thought
provoking and varied throughout.
Outer Space Gamelan :: outerspacegamelan.blogspot.com
Redglaer - American Masonry (Anarchy Moon 10") / Roman Torment/Feed the
Dragon - Split (Anarchy Moon LP)
As promised, the final two installations from this current chunk of waxes from
Bob Bellerue's Anarchy Moon label. The first is a stab from the man himself
under the Redglaer moniker and the other is a split between a couple of American
noise groups, Roman Torment (Jeff Witscher and Evan Pacewicz) and Feed the
Dragon (Bellerue along with Albert Ortega). Like the "Friday the 13th" double,
the packaging on both of these is quite a treat. The 10" is in a cardboard
cover with painted-on cover and glued-on back photo w/glossy insert while the
12" has front and back pastings of images varying in degrees of horror
with another beauty insert. The former is limited to 330 copies, the latter
to 300. You can see hot pix on the Anarchy Moon website if you so desire.
Never heard Redglaer (or any of Bellerue's work) before but I see I've been
missing out like a sap. Apparently "American Masonry" was recorded
in an enormous large warehouse in Tulsa with Bellerue using the structure's
natural resonances to bolster whatever kind of damage he's applying. What you
end up with is a great slab of computer- (?) generated/cement-slapped spectral
waft, a dark grey cloud of fear and tension locked in a holding head somewhere
above your head. Celestial and terrestrial. Organic and orgasmic. Slanted and
en...nevermind. The flip is an angrier whack of synth- (??) induced squalor,
careeneing back and forth from the right side of the brain to the left. Gently
washes away only to roar back for a screaming finale. Excellently executed
spaced, outer-reaching drone. No clue what Bellerue's implements are aside
from the building and maybe it's better that way. Judge the results and not
the methods, right? Well the results are quite tremendous. For the turntable-unable
you can also get "American Masonry" on CD but I'm sure it won't sound
this good.
Last I heard from the Roman Torment duo they were ripping it up on the Troniks
CD "Skin Game" with a record due on Hospital Productions. Not sure
if that ever surfaced but they're keeping up appearances here with a side-long
blasterpiece dubbed "The Gift of Grief". Total non-stop in-the-red
wall of high-wired electronics geared to explode synapses. Witscher and Pacewicz
keep all hands/feet/whatevers to the metal for the full twentyish minutes and
spew out a dizzying juggernaut of blindingly fast, brutal, and surely harsh
flat-out fucking noise. Totally worth the possibility of getting evicted over.
Buckle up or down as you see fit.
Feed the Dragon's side "Bromide Romance" is a mixed bag of junky
electronics, UFO-transmitted soundwaves, buzzing matrices, robotic splurge
and a whole lot else strewn methodically throughout the slow-evolving piece.
Bit of a baffler and not too much to say but it's well done and engaging and
that's all you need to know. If this helps, Anarchy Moon sez: "narcotic
ritual. the history of desperate ages and the final moments of delivery into
chaos / nothingness, scorpions erupting from cactii. who will be left to laugh
about the death of civilization???". Did it help? I thought it would.
I think the label website also offers some MP3 downloads so get on that huh?
Considering these and upcoming cuts (a couple of heavy noise 2x7"s, new
Il Corral 2006 2xCD-R, Yellow Swans 12", etc) it looks like you can safely
add Anarchy Moon to the ever-growing list of quality labels serving up slick
and slimey doses of new noise. Good for music, no good for your wallet...you
know how it is.
LA Weekly (Los Angeles, Dec 14 2006)
Turn the Screws Festival of Love and Noise at Il Corral (by David Cotner)
The budding experimentalist usually starts by thinking that he is dark and
disturbed when really he is light and fruity. Practitioners who have consistently
suffered the arrows of outrageous reality coalesce Friday through Sunday at
racket hall Il Corral for this second annual music festival for “sonic
arts sublime and depraved.” With more than 40 acts, Corral’s Bob
Bellerue threatens to expose “people of all ages to radical creativity
created with folk technology (i.e., anyone can do it if they want it bad enough).” From
across America: San Francisco’s blacklight noisemongers Rubber O Cement;
L.A.’s Bastard Noise; AMK from Glassell Park; Aaron Dilloway, formerly
of Wolf Eyes, from Michigan; Portland oscillator masturbators Pulse Emitter;
Oakland performance-art guarantors Tarantism; and local combo Psicologicos
Trauma (Mitchell Brown, Joseph Hammer, Loachfillet, Albert Ortega). The bill
is stuffed to bursting — as you will be after the vegan “pancake
noise brunch” at noon on Sunday.
LA Alternative Press (Los Angeles, June 30 2006, "Best of
LA")
Night Moves: The new spirit of our night haunts. (By Lesley Bargar)
There’s been a shift in the tectonic plates of our night terrain. The
very foundation of our evenings is trembling from the friction of change. As
the sound of it builds to a roar and the shaking settles into a tangible rhythm,
we’re altering our plans each night accordingly. Your votes prove it.
Up until very recently, the shape of Los Angeles’ musical nightlife was
primarily molded by the experienced hands of a few heavily seasoned professionals.
The folks who ended up on L.A. stages every night were chosen by club bookers
whose job it is to predict who and what we’ll throw our love, money and
lime wedges at over and over again. It was these bookers who literally “set
our trends,” made our scenes, and we loved the venues they worked for
because of it. This is how the stages of classic L.A. venues like Spaceland,
the Troubadour and other time-honored clubs are run, and many SoCal music aesthetics,
genres and scenes have blossomed over the years because of it.
But nowadays, the power is drifting from the hallowed halls of these established,
booker-run spaces and into the hands of a few visionaries who literally do
it all themselves: own, operate and book the entertainment at smaller, independent
venues. These people are Dave Conway-perhaps the newest of the bunch-who dreamed
up the downtown loft/radio station/club/sporadic concert space Little Radio,
and both the man and the loft swept the categories of favorite local trendsetter
and best local venue, respectively. It’s Jim Smith-man behind longtime
downtown dive gem the Smell-who draws young crowds and younger bands to his
space, making the Smell fourth in your venue votes, and the man himself came
in third for trendsetter. Same goes for Bob Bellerue, whose East Hollywood
concrete shack Il Corral continues to draw crowds craving the far reaches of
local music, and the results seem to show we all love him for it. Twenty-three-year-old
Sean Carlson organizes and curates the entire Fuck Yeah!!! Fest in Echo Park
each year. Sam Lanni of Safari Sam’s-while he doesn’t do the booking
himself-finally got to open the venue that’s been haunting his dreams
since the ’80s, and there’s not a night you won’t find him
wandering through the crowd and adjusting a few tables and chairs.
It’s not simply a coincidence that the individuals you elected as trendsetters
also own and operate the venues you chose as your favorite to frequent. It’s
because this new breed of venue hinges its success on the ideas and missions
of the people who own and operate them, not the ones they hire to plan their
marquees. Of course, there are still remarkable bookers out there, and there
is, and always will be, a need for their experience within the realm of Los Angeles
nightlife. But now it looks like the city’s night-train is headed to a
more DIY destination.
San Diego Reader (San Diego, June 8 2006, "Blurt")
Bring the Noise Project (by Jeremiah Griffey)
This weekend, former Ché Café sound engineer
and booker Bob Bellerue will enter the UCSD venue for the first time in 15
years. He'll perform as Halfnormal, his L.A.-based noise project. Bellerue
ran the boards from 1987 to 1991, a period during which Rage Against the Machine
appeared at the Ché.
"
[Back then it] was a bizarre combination of things between the whole hippie
garden vibe and then the punk rock or post-punk or post-whatever music scene....
You had this amazing rock scene, which was for me the people who were in Pitchfork,
Fishwife, Heavy Vegetable who have all become rock stars in their own right.
Then you also had the Crash Worship element, which really turned people on
their heads in the same way the Dead did, but in a more pagan, industrial way.
Then, also, they had Daddy Long Leggs, which were a funk-metal-punk thing,
which turned a lot of kids on to groove and rhythm."
Bellerue left San Diego after dropping out of UCSD during the "next Seattle" years,
when bands such as Drive Like Jehu, Three Mile Pilot, and Rocket from the Crypt
signed to major record labels. When that happened, he lost a lot of his passion
for San Diego music and moved to Colorado to study poetry and Buddhism.
"
I think we gave Rocket from the Crypt their first gig outside of house parties," Bellerue
says. "The thing that really sticks out from that period of time was that
people were just interested in doing their own thing. They knew about music that
was going on in the world, but they weren't necessarily trying to make it big.
They were just trying to have fun."
LA Weekly (Los Angeles, Dec 15 2005)
Turn the Screws Festival of Love and Noise at Il Corral (by David
Cotner)
More stars than there are in heaven in this hellish inferno of the last free
music
on Earth: noise. It's the final frontier in sound that either makes you shit
your
pants and come simultaneously with every
forkful, or run screaming for the Teflon safety of 94.7 the Wave. Actions promised
at this three-day fest: visuals from Maile Colbert and 2005 L.A. Weekly Music
Award winner G.X. Jupitter-Larsen; KXLU mainstays Damion Romero and Mitchell
Brown,
and Germs drummer Don Bolles' Kitten Sparkles working as shock therapy for oxygen
molecules. Also, car-door-abusing spazmo Tralphaz; free-improv trio Open City;
composer
Adam Overton arranging a quartet of nude bass players; and post-nuclear-family
tales told by dancer Wanda Gala and Corral visionary/noisician Bob Bellerue in
a van down by the gutter.
LA City Beat (Los Angeles, August 4 2005)
Avant-Bliss (By Oliver Hall)
One of the best concerts of the year so far happened in front of about 100
people at Il Corral (662 N. Heliotrope Dr., L.A.), Bob Bellerue’s performance
space at the corner of Melrose and Heliotrope, which, according to Bob, puts
it in L.A.’s picturesque Koreawoodlake area. On June 17, harsh noise
master Phil “Blood Maniac” Blankenship celebrated his quinceanera
by reuniting the band Sissy Spacek (John Wiese, Corydon Ronnau, Jesse Jackson)
for an exhilarating 10-minute grind blast from the Beatles of the genre. Dozens
of hands were thrown forward in loving tribute to Ronnau’s signature
gesture of power and mastery as the plague tones of total brutality possessed
listeners’ zombie limbs, causing them to lash out against the system.
Despite the physical and musical intensity, no one was hurt, and the glad breath
of happy conviviality was drawn deep into every lung that had not been collapsed
by Wiese’s bass.
The space has also hosted, or plans to host, Cherry Point, Knives, Damion Romero,
the Haters, Nels Cline, Tom Grimley, David Scott Stone, Rainbow Blanket, Obstacle
Corpse – in other words, anyone who is doing anything interesting with
sound in L.A. at the moment. (Wolf Eyes performed here the night before it
played Coachella.) Il Corral opened last January “to provide accessible
venue and rehearsal space for community art and music events, with low rental
rates and a open-door policy for emerging artists,” says Bellerue. Admission
is cheap ($5), people treat each other kindly, and if you have any interest
whatever in outsider music or avant-garde art, do yourself a favor and go.
Halfnormal.com/ilcorral. (Oliver Hall)
LA City Beat (Los Angeles, June 16 2005) scan
of original
Musical Meal by Rebecca Epstein
...the series welcomes three solo acts wth short and sweet sets: Bob Bellerue
/ halfnormal, who plays feedback and "wrangles sound like a cowboy on methamphetamines"...
Willamette Week (Portland, OR, March 30 2005) scan
of original
Travellers & Locals by TD
The Dunes continues its daring commitment to some of electro-acoustic improv
and noise music's more uncompromising underdogs. From LA, "poetic terrorist"
Bob Bellerue (known for performances involving amplified sheets of plate glass,
hacked electronics and insectile feedback)....
Eugene Weekly (Eugene, OR, March 17 2005)
link to website
Unusual Instruments, Unusual Sounds (by Brett Campbell)
...On March 29, DIVA hosts a trio of out-there sound and noise artists from
Los Angeles: ...Bob Bellerue, who uses feedback and other electronic and computer
trickery, along with metal, bamboo, radios and other sources to produce strange
soundscapes...
LAWeekly (Los Angeles, November 5-11, 2004) scan
of original
Live Art Pick of the Week: Linda Albertano, Bellerue/Halfnormal,
Ry Rocklen (by Ron Athey)
For the past year, Dangerous Curve gallery has been programming live art events
on a monthly to biweekly basis, often in tandem with interactive installations.
This weekend has a sound bend to it. Noise artist Bob Bellerue is not only loud
but known for taking micro-sound vibrations through sheets of glass and playing
them. As Halfnormal, Bellerue will perform “Material Spirits,” vocal
support attributed to a few recent commanders-in-chief. Performance veterana
Linda J. Albertano will work in two mediums, first a spoken-word piece, “The
Sanctity of Marriage — Nudge, Nudge,” and then a trance recital on
the West African harp. And with a claim to fame that includes starting the “boy-oh-boy”
movement, baby on the block Ry Rocklen’s act for the night is described
as a “poignant one-man art band.” Dangerous Curve, 1020 E. Fourth
Pl., dwntwn.; Sat., Nov. 6, 8 p.m. (213) 617-8483 or www.dangerouscurve.org.
Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM, October 8, 2004) scan
of original
Something Mayhem This Way Comes: High Mayhem Festival (by David Prince)
... But what promises to be truly amazing this year comes from Los Angeles musicians
Raven Chacon, Adam Overton, and Bob Bellerue... [description of tour mates Chacon
and Overton's rigs. new paragraph!] Bellerue, however, may be the strangest
of them all.... [long quote from festival organizer, in which he incorrectly
reports that i often play a sheet of glass with feedback to the point of breaking.
close, not completely true, but hey good press is hard to come by! thanks Carlos
and Max!]
New Times (Phoenix, AZ, October 7-13, 2004) scan
of original
Let's Hear It for the Noise (by Erika Wurst)
[see note below for the CO Daily article]
Colorado Daily (Boulder, CO, September 26, 2003) scan
of original
Pane-fully aware: Bellerue plays glass, explores reverberations of 9/11
at BMOCA (by Elizabeth Decoursey)
[Not very quotable, but a great full page plug with picture. She could have
done a lot worse - she really tried to do a good job, not jaded and cynical
(yet?)]
Kompas (Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia, Sabtu, 26 Juli 2003) link someone
please translate this for me
Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival VIII
Semangat Itu Masih Tetap Ada
Dari segi jumlah peserta asal luar negeri, Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival VIII,
di Yogyakarta, 11-16 Juli tak semeriah festival yang sama pada tahun 1999-2000.
Meskipun jumlah peserta masih tetap banyak, tetapi lebih banyak peserta yang
datang dari berbagai daerah di Indonesia.
Ada kendala sosial politik yang ikut memberi warna pelaksanaan festival gamelan.
Banyak peserta yang harus terhadang adanya travel warning yang dikeluarkan
oleh pemerintah masing-masing, yang intinya mengimbau warganya agar untuk sementara
tidak datang berkunjung ke Indonesia. Bahkan Pemerintah Amerika Serikat menunjuk
Kota Yogyakarta-bersama Jakarta dan Surabaya-merupakan salah satu sarang teroris.
"
Tentu itu memang bukan satu-satunya karena sifatnya juga hanya semacam imbauan.
Tetapi, banyak teman-teman yang nekat nyelonong datang untuk ikut festival
ini," ujar Sawung Jabo pemusik kontemporer yang ikut menjadi peserta festival
itu. "Teman-teman dari Australia yang hadir ikut festival ini saya ajak
melihat Indonesia. Ternyata, kan, tidak menyeramkan," ujarnya.
Pemusik Australia yang datang bersama Jabo dari Australia di antaranya adalah
Kim Sanders, pakar etnomusikologi yang menguasai peralatan tiup tradisional
Turki, serta grup Genggong and Wot Cross cultural Synergy. Peserta lain Bob
Bellerue dan Alex Dea, keduanya dari Amerika, dan Marc Lannelongoe dari Perancis.
Sedang pemusik luar yang hadir tetapi tidak ikut tampil adalah Judith Shelley,
Direktur pada Australia Indonesia Arts Alliance dari Australia, Shin Nakagawa
dari Kyoto University of Arts, dan Don Mamouney, Direktur Side Track Performance
Grup dari Australia.
KUANTITAS peserta dari luar negeri memang lantas tidak menjadi penting-meskipun
namanya festival internasional-ketika penampilan peserta menghadirkan karya-karya
inovatif bukan saja dari segi penciptaan, teknik-teknik pengolahan sumber bunyi.
Penampilan Bob Bellerue musikolog dari Carl Arts University, Los Angles, ini
memanfaatkan jasa teknologi di dalam menggarap keseniannya. Dia meniup seruling
gambuh dari Bali, kemudian ditangkap dalam olahan komputer. Suara yang muncul
kemudian adalah suara elektronik yang sama sekali lain dengan seruling aslinya.
Suara-suara lebih aneh lagi muncul ketika Bob berkolaborasi dengan Marc Lannelongue
dari Perancis pada permainan malam berikutnya, Selasa (15/7).
Marc memainkan saron, kendang, jembe, dan perkusi lainnya. Suara ini dikeraskan
oleh Bob dengan speaker driver, yaitu elemen-elemen pengeras suara yang ditempelkan
pada gong besar yang sekaligus menjadi "daun" loud speaker. Suara
yang keluar dari sana ditangkap oleh komputer Bob kemudian diramu menjadi sebuah
bunyi gamelan yang unik, yang berbeda dengan bunyi gamelan umumnya. Garapan
musik-teknologi mereka setidaknya menunjukkan bahwa festival gamelan Yogyakarta
sampai kini tetap masih punya semangat.
Dari 27 grup yang tampil selama tujuh hari dalam festival gamelan Yogyakarta
kali ini, garapan atau karya-karya yang mengangkat ritus-ritus tradisi sangat
menonjol. Sebutlah itu seperti yang dilakukan oleh KPH3, Gobah Contemporary
Music dari Riau, Kiai Kanjeng (Yogyakarta), Genggong dan Sono Seni Ensamble
dari Solo, HMJ Karawitan ISI Yogyakarta.
KPH3, misalnya, yang menghadirkan hasil kolaborasi antara Alex Dea (AS) dengan
dua abdi dalem Keraton Yogyakarta yang sudah sepuh Manggalagita dan Pujo. Dua
abdi dalem keraton yang ahli tembang itu menyanyikan tembang-tembang mistis
masing-masing dalam irama tembang pelog dan slendro. Alex Dea pun bernyanyi
(nembang) di antara dua nada itu. Muncullah musik yang unik dengan aura mistis.
Contoh lain datang dari penampilan kelompok musik dari Riau, yang dari karyanya
terkadang sayup-sayup tertangkap kesan munculnya suara musik garapan Kitaro.
Seperti diakui oleh Rino Deza Pati yang membuat karya Olang-olang Perang sangat
diilhami oleh budaya masyarakat pedalaman di Riau, yaitu masyarakat Sakai.
Olang-olang artinya burung elang, perang artinya perang. Tiga repertoar yang
ditampilkan grup dari Riau itu menunjukkan bahwa peta musik kontemporer tak
bisa mengabaikan wilayah ini.
Komposisi In Pelog adalah karya Kolaborasi Alex Dea dan Prof Dr Sumarsam warga
Indonesia yang menjadi dosen Weslayen University Amerika Serikat-yang buku
terbarunya berjudul Gamelan: Cultural Interaction and Musical Development in
Central Java dibedah di tengah-tengah berlangsungnya festival. Karya musik
yang lebih merupakan garapan akademik ini sengaja dibuat untuk menghormati
Terry Riley, penggarap komposisi terkenal dan penting dari sejarah musik avant-garde
di Barat yang berjudul In C .
Teknik musik yang penting di dalamnya adalah cycling dan phasing di mana melodi
atau bagian dari melodi akan diulang terus-menerus sampai muncul suasana yang
tambah-menambah resonansi suara. Kalau In C memunculkan suasana kunci "C",
komposisi In Pelog memunculkan suasana Pelog.
Untuk memainkan karya ini orang harus punya kemampuan karawitan klasik dan
pengalaman kontemporer karena komposisi yang muncul melewati proses improvisasi
yang pada puncaknya bisa mengembang sangat luas. Setiap kali permainan belum
tentu sama, tetapi karena adanya kerangka kerja melodi balungan gending Onang-onang
dan prinsip siklus, permainan tetap akan terus terkontrol.
Permainan kelompok musik Marusya dan Inisisri dari Jakarta, yang tampil bagus,
juga menunjukkan bagaimana visi akademik memaknai gamelan. Marusya Nainggolan
yang dosen IKJ dan pemain perkusi andal Inisisri mampu menunjukkan semangat
gamelan yang kaya nuansa kebersamaan.
Spirit gamelan itulah yang menjadi obsesi Sapto Raharjo dan kawan-kawan sebagai
penyelenggara festival tahunan ini. "Yang saya ambil adalah spirit gamelan,
yaitu kebersamaan, gamelan sendiri alat yang boleh diganti apa saja. Toh, gamelan
juga berkembang. Mulai gamelan tiga pada zaman Majapahit, meningkat menjadi
gamelan lima, tujuh, dan sekarang bersinggungan dengan komputer, alat musik,
alat elektronik, dan lainnya," kata Sapto.
Dengan pertimbangan itu pula, dalam festival itu tampil seni Islami Rodhat
dari Pasuruan (Jatim). Anak-anak usia sekolah dasar (SD) baik berasal dari
sanggar maupun sekolah, termasuk siswa sekolah menengah karawitan (SMKI) dan
mahasiswa karawitan Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) Yogyakarta, tampil pula dalam
festival itu. Umumnya mereka tampil tak lagi berpijak dalam gamelan konvensional.
Hadir pula peserta dari Medan dan Palu yang tampil di acara ini.
FESTIVAL itu juga diisi workshop oleh Kim Sanders dari Australia yang memperkenalkan
alat-alat tiup tradisional dari wilayah Turki dan sekitarnya. Ditunjukkan pula
sebuah alat tiup bernama Bag Pipe, terdiri dari kantong udara yang terbuat
dari kulit kambing, yang dihubungkan dengan tiga alat tiup menyerupa seruling.
Cara memainkannya kantong kulit ditiup agar berisi udara. Udara dari kantong
ini yang ditangkap oleh benda semacam seruling itu untuk dibuat nada-nada.
Dalam workshop itu ditunjukkan pula bahwa permainan rebana di Turki dan sekitarnya
memiliki hitungan yang pasti. Secara garis besar ditunjukkan bahwa pemukulan
rebana terdiri dari berbagai irama 7, 9, 11, sampai 18, dengan pembagian ketukan
3-3-1, 3-2-3-3, atau 7-4-7.
Festival Gamelan Yogyakarta yang diselenggarakan secara pribadi oleh Sapto
Raharjo dengan kawan-kawan, bersama Radio Geronimo-nya, akan terus diupayakan
berlanjut, tidak hanya berhenti pada delapan kali saja.
"
Meskipun naik-turun, tetapi kualitas festival ini masih tetap bisa dipertanggungjawabkan.
Hanya orang gila seperti Sapto yang bisa menggelar festival rutin semacam ini.
Banyak benturan bukan saja masalah sosial politik, tetapi juga dana. Dan, Sapto
tetap tegar meski terbentur-bentur," kata Sawung Jabo. (th pudjo widijanto)
Igloo Magazine (Oct 2002, www.igloomag.com) screenshot
Bob Bellerue - Threat Level Charlie (by
TJ Norris)
Out of nowhere comes a dramatically empowered recording by LA-based sound artist
and performer Bob Bellerue. Using glass, metal and other electronics as the
sound sources Bellerue is a physical performer with no regrets. His work here
is akin to other such experimenters as Aube, Knurl and a touch of Brume. Sounds
like an evil potion - but this is far from evil. Its magic recipe is in its
sporadic sense of improvisation and drama. The composition is blindly organic
and freeform truly made of ingredients, formulated through its base structure
and all its singular elements coming together, clashing at times. There are
mind numbing screetches and quieting intervals of solace. He has used broadband
noise developed from speeches by George Bush and Osama bin Laden and distorted
them beyond recognition into the overall final mix. Winning top honors at this
year’s Centre de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona Bellerue’s
sound collage of homemade instruments and noise have a big presence. The final
piece is made of four interlocking tracks, clocking in at about 45 minutes,
that are raw and capture a live sound. He calls it “poetic terrorism”
and I call it an aural mind bomb. For fans of Nocturnal Emissions and Illusion
of Safety. (TJN)
LA WEEKLY (Nov 22, 2002) scan
of original
Concerts pick of the week (by David Cotner)
Beyond Music evenings ride again, as many of the bon vivants of the experimental-music
community take matters into their own hands in a pulse-pounding punch to the
puss of The Man! Indefatigable composer and curator Bob Bellerue (working as
Halfnormal) premieres the installation "bocaFantasma" in the upstairs
gallery, using surround-sound to create "sonic vacuums with personal oscillations."
...
LA WEEKLY (Slush, July 19 2002, link
to online review)
by Sandra Ross
"Sound-installation artist BOB BELERUE (sp!) warmly welcomed guests into
his room to listen to distortions of favorite tunes"
WILLAMETTE WEEKLY (Portland, OR, September 25, 2002)
Club Picks: Halfnormal, Eveline's Klang Quintet, Nequaquam Vacuum
Halfnormal's abstract songs scrape and burn like the meeting of tectonic plates
or the slow throb of magma. Sometimes they erupt into spasms of noise. Other
times
they rumble with subliminal patience, waiting for their next chance. And is
that the chattering screech of some as-yet-unclassified subterranean animal
burrowing in the background? Seattle's Eveline Mueller-Graf brings her scrap
percussion to town, as well, probably a good complement for the clangorous Nequaquam
Vacuum. (JG)
AMPERSAND &TC (Nov 2002, vol. 2002-18)
link to online
review
Bob Bellerue is a performance artist who works with a range of material –
the inside of the sleeve shows Liam Mooney (one of a number who work with him)
manipulating a sheet of glass – but he also uses various metals, resonant
tubes, radio, programming and his body to achieve his musical effects. TLC (interesting
acronym as the name is actually the highest level of alert) was recorded in
a studio but with excerpts from a live show.
Shimmering crackly feedback signals and a low throb build a stimulating atmosphere
joined by tings and distant chopped voices. Pattering noises and a growly undercurrent
together with a metal wind make way for sustained ringing and gentle tones,
then shifting to a noisey scrabble, distorted voices and tones to squally feedback.
A shifting electroacoustic space. The second track opens with a distorted Dubya
accompanied by a squeaking balloon and deep wobble-board sound develops into
scrabbling windswirls, a twittering battle and high tones. Passing from a more
musical mood it drops to a rumbling pulse and soft cycles that echo and loop
to an applause-like percussion. Deep woobles, twitters and harsh whoosh, a low
tone and manipulated higher one – interference vibrations – crackles,
tones fade.
The third track is short – edgy harsh metallic vibrations and high tones
– close mike work – percussive at times, but more focussed. And this
intensity carries over into the last two tracks. The fourth layers noisy held
strong tones, some squeaks and scrapes. But focussed on the full tones with
controlled modulation, creating a vibrant and powerful noise work with lots
of interesting variations. In the final track a scrabbly burble, possibly the
radio, is a base for the other components – long feedback tones, a juddery
oral close-mike scrabble, noisey drills, squiggles and shimmers building the
slowly fading through the noises into a whooshy finale.
The balance in the album between to more exploratory variations of the first
half and the intense focus of the second provides a strong structure to the
work, which is a complex mixture of live and studio performance art, conjoining
engagement with sound and noise.
The Austin Chronicle "The Zine Scene" by Stuart
Wade (Oct 13 1997)
http://weeklywire.com/ww/10-13-97/austin_books_feature1.html
The Book of Zines is an excellent book for the uninitiated because it is the
most pop culture-oriented of the lot. The book opens with a reprint of an actual
letter from the grandfather of Basurame editor Bob Bellerue. In it, the old
man has obviously just been jolted alert from his Barcalounger after reading
his grandson's nihilistic handiwork. "Any Flop House Toilet or Hobo Jungle
can provide this type of dirt," writes the well-meaning grandsire, begging
his progeny, "For Christ Sake take a look at yourself," and, "The
mention concerning John Hinkley could subject you to federal questioning."
