Sunday, Reykjavik House Show: Úlfur Hansson Lighthouse Sound Installation

Grótta Lighthouse Sound Installation

Grótta Lighthouse which is an island at this moment:

Artists:
Elín Hansdóttir, b. 1980
ICELAND
www.elinhansdottir.net

Úlfur Hansson, b. 1988
ICELAND
www.myspace.com/kliveisklive

Selkórinn
ICELAND

Project: Helix

Location: Gróttuviti- lighthouse in Seltjarnarnes

Date: October 12, 2008, 21:30

About the project: Vocal installation in Grótta lighthouse in collaboration with local choir Selkórinn.

The house show wrapped up and we had very little time to get to Úlfur Hansson's lighthouse sound installation--we had to make it to Rökkurró rehearsal soon after that. Karl AKA "The Heir Electric" grabbed a ride with Árni, Hildur, and myself. It becomes very "cozy" in the car when you have 4 people and a cello.

Árni and Hildur actually took me out to the lighthouse earlier in the day when it was light as it is very scenic. It's different from any other lighthouse I have ever seen in a very bizarre and interesting way: at high-tide the lighthouse becomes an island, at low-tide, it is a peninsula and you can simply walk to it.

Satellite image of the lighthouse:

View Larger Map

Another view from farther away:

The concept for the lighthouse sound is pretty interesting. There was a choir singing descending pitches so the music always sounded like it was falling but it never really fell.--a gerbil wheel of musical descent. Karl said this reminded him of an electronic music piece that had a similar effect but used falling sine waves. It is a really cool effect.

To even get to the lighthouse you first arrive in the parking lot and you can see the lighthouse off in the distance with a path marked with large flames that show you the way to get to the lighthouse. Following these flames you walk over rocks and seaweed and sand, basically unable to see much of anything. It took about 5 minutes to reach the lighthouse. It was packed--what a great turnout.

The view looking back toward the parking lot and Reykjavik from the lighthouse. You can see the flame outline of the path:

This recording is quite long (19:20) and a lot of that is due to waiting at each of the landings between staircases since there were so many people packed in there. I was expecting a spiral staircase but this lighthouse had floors every ~6m/20ft which were connected by straight staircases. People had to go both ways on the narrow steps which was not easy. And, as you got close to the top, where the choir (and fog machines!) were, it became even more packed with people. At the very top there was a bright light, fog machines, and the choir behind a white sheet covering the highest staircases entry to the next landing.

Looking up at the top of the lighthouse:

The recording includes my descent down the stairs as well all the way until I get outside. This is what it sounds like:

Sound Installation:
(Use Headphones for All Recordings)
Ulfur Hansson Lighthouse Sound Installation - Sequences Festival - Reykjavik, Iceland by BinauralAirwaves
Artist: Úlfur Hansson
Song/Piece: Lighthouse Sound Installation @ Sequences Festival
Microphone Setup: In-Ear Microphones
Master Recording Format: 44.1kHz/24bit

It was very eerie as you ascended in this haze of fog while the descending pitches grew louder and louder. Perhaps this is an allusion to the sensation of vertigo--these contradictory senses of ascending (the lighthouse) and falling (the sung tones of the choir), while you swirl around landings and up the lighthouse stairs, in a haze (fog), but never getting to a destination, only the sound growing more and more intense. Very cool.

Klive is Úlfur Hansson's alter ego under which he makes really cool electronic music (very much different from this sound installation). Here is what Klive's Iceland Airwaves bio says:

Playing a self-devised genre he dubs 'concrete', this tongue in a cheeky-chappy slaps sexy female vocals over abstract electronica. Klive sounds a lot like Aphex Twin and Jackson & His Computer Band.

Look forward to these recordings from Wednesday. I recorded his performace at Hressó with female vocalist (amazing voice) and 4 brass players (who were Björk's brass players). This was a great show. I'll be posting them soon.

Aaron

Sunday, Reykjavik House Show: The Heir Electric

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday: We'll sell you the whole seat but you'll only need the edge. Sunday was like a monster truck rally of awesome music--sans monster trucks and mullets. I didn't think I would be bombarded with this many music options until Iceland Airwaves was in full swing but Sunday was a most pleasant contradiction. Of course, there was so much interesting music going on that the choices became perplexingly difficult. Though, in the end, I definitely heard a ton of awesome music, even if some other music was missed due to this specific trajectory.

Sunday House Show in Autumn
Reykjavik, Iceland
2008/10/12

This is a picture between sets where a lot of people left to get some fresh air, AKA smoke (it was relatively packed during the music). You can see my ultra hi-fi manikin head in the foreground with the Icelandic hipster haircut (not so apparent from the back). He is looking intently at the chandelier and sound stage. I took the picture while bracing the camera on the door sill since I needed a long exposure with as little movement as possible. You can hear this door, that I used as a stabilizer, being opened in back of you at least in Song 1 of My Summer As A Salvation Soldier set.
-------------------------------------------------------
The Heir Electric
My Summer As A Salvation Soldier
Ólafur Arnalds

This house show was in a small neighborhood next to the Reykjavik Airport

View Larger Map

It was a brisk clear autumn night and people gathering indoors in the comfort of someone's home to enjoy music seemed apropos.

It took a while to setup my ultra hi-fi binaural recording manikin--this would be its debut live concert recording. Perhaps, at somepoint I'll post a bit about how I built the binaural manikin head and the technical/artistic decisions that I made to create what is quite probably the highest fidelity binaural recording system in the world (not to brag or anything).

At anyrate, I started capturing the acoustic environment somewhere in the middle of The Heir Electric's set.

Behold:

(Use Headphones for All Recordings)
2008 10 12 House Concert - The Heir Electric - 2nd from last by BinauralAirwaves
Artist: The Heir Electric
Song/Piece: Unknown
Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head
Master Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital
Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz

If I remember correctly, The Heir Electric played 3 pieces and this is the 2nd of those.

The Heir Electric:
Basically, The Heir Electric is a solo act that sounds more like a swath of musicians (perhaps a modern string quartet + some electronic musicians) creating interesting textures with loop and effect pedals. Think Steve Reich ("Electric Counterpoint" comes to mind) meets, Jimi Hendrix (shreding the violin [instead of guitar]) meets, Shostakovitch (interesting syncopation and harmonic dissonance), meets Daft Punk ("phat beatz" that are like comfort food). It's really fun to watch this come together because not only is The Heir Electric crafting this large sound in front of you but he is often doing it using his toes to turn knobs and tweak sounds. His toes.

The Heir Electric's 3rd and final piece was interesting not only in that it was a cover but it was a cover of a musician who was playing at this same show: Ólafur Arnalds. It's the last track from Ólafur's album "Eulogy for Evolution" which is now available in North America.

(Use Headphones for All Recordings)
2008 10 12 House Concert - The Heir Electric - last song - Olafur Arnalds Cover by BinauralAirwaves
Artist: The Heir Electric
Song/Piece: Cover of Ólafur Arnalds' last piece on the album "Eulogy for Evolution"
Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head
Original Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital
Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz

An aside regarding the name "The Heir Electric":
I cannot claim that "The Heir Electric" is indeed the exact written name of this artist. I know his real name is Karl and he is a really interesting guy who seems to be hugely into classical and electronic music and their hybridization. Though, it was unclear to me if he actually went by "The Air Electric", which sounds the same when spoken. I only heard him say it; never saw it written. "Air" could definitely be an allusion to the era of Bach and The Heir Electric's classical ("classical" encapsulating all time periods of classical music, as opposed to meaning the "classical period" within classical music) influences.

However, I must say I very much hope that Karl is indeed "The Heir Electric" as that can be understood in so many various and interesting ways. He's not the heir apparent, he's not the heir presumptive, he's... The Heir Electric.

Wait. Wait. Wait. Does that mean whenever electricity dies (like, for instance, my iPod battery on a long flight) Karl is crowned in a lavish ceremony and, from then on, wears a cape that reads "The Electric"? Is it his bank account that my electric bills go to? It's hilarious, confounding, and, more than anything, vexing.

It's a tragedy but I don't have any contact or website for The Heir Electric.

Karl: drop me a line por favor.


Ok, there is far more to hear from Sunday.

The rest of the house show including:
My Summer As A Salvation Soldier
Ólafur Arnalds

The lighthouse sound installation put on by:
Klive
Overview of the Sound Installation

Plus, I heard a Rökkurró rehearsal.

So, stay tuned. More binaural audio + context will soon be posted.

Aaron