konk pack
-------------------------------------------------------------
from the first moment discovered the extremely effective rhythmic and
clear energetic display involving all the body a very large quantity of
fast actions and fast lack of actions poured out a dynamic varied all the
time and detailed stream of sound events that gripped the imagination
from start onwards in a very serious performance making unavoidable large
smile
-------------------------------------------------------------
K O N K P A C K I N F O
1 Tour Dates 2001
2 Concert Reviews
3 CD Release
4 Press Text
5 Appearances
6 Biographies
7 Group Contact/Booking/Websites
1 T O U R D A T E S 2 0 0 1
We. 21.02.2001 London @ Dingwalls Camden
Fr. 23.02.2001 Liverpool @ Bluecoats
Sa. 24.02.2001 Sheffield @ nonpots
Su. 25.02.2001 Leeds @ Termite Club
Mo. 26.02.2001 Liverpool @ Arts School
We. 28.02.2001 Colchester @ Arts Centre
Fr. 02.03.2001 London @ October Gallery (with Derek Bailey)
Sa. 17.03.2001 Cologne @ NOZART Festival
We. 09.05.2001 Brno @ Sklenena Louka
Fr. 11.05.2001 Zagreb @ KSET
Sa. 12.05.2001 Ljubljana @ Gromka Club
Su. 13.05.2001 Maribor @ Satchmo
We. 13.06.2001 Bourges @ Synthese 2001 Festival
Th. 21.06.2001 Berlin @ Kulturhaus-Mitte, guest: Wolfgang Fuchs (reeds)
Fr. 22.06.2001 Berlin @ rhizom, guest: Fine Kwiatkowski (dance)
Su. 22.07.2001 Nickelsdorf @ Konfrontationen, guest: Shelley Hirsch
(voc)
3.10.-2.11.2001 tour in USA
2 C O N C E R T R E V I E W S
"Konk Pack played an unbroken 45 minute set: fun debris, rollicking
freakouts and one magical section of scrape and pling where the music
seemed to play itself."
Ben Watson, The Wire, April 2001
about KONK PACK performance at Festival International Musique Actuelle
Victoriaville/Canada, 20 May 2000:
"Collectively improvised music comes in many forms, with as many degrees
of success. Only some genuinely presses the envelope, pushing into a
terrain where the unknown can happen and where even the best players
encounter risk. On that transcendent scale, the trio Konk Pack - Tim
Hodgkinson on table-top guitar and clarinet, Thomas Lehn on synthesizer,
and the wondrous Roger Turner on percussion - fared best among the groups
at this festival, creating music in which a barrage of discreet particles
bounced around, colliding in a universe in which chance and interactivity
blurred into one another. Playing at one o'clock on Saturday afternoon in
the festival's smallest venue, Konk Pack established a benchmark by which
other improvisers' performances would inevitably be judged."
Stuart Broomer, Coda Magazine, Sept./Oct. 2000
"Definitively the best fusion of acoustic and electronic sound of the
festival."
Nicolas Tittley, Voir, Montreal, 25-31 May 2000
"As for pure total improvisation, the verdict on german-english trio Konk
Pack was unanimous. Even listeners unreceptive to improvised noise
(bending frequencies and sound-textures via an analog synth, manipulation
of a guitar on a table, free percussion, etc) were won over by these
subtle sonorities superbly segued, magnificent interplay."
Alain Brunet, La Presse, Montreal, 23 May 2000
about concert at Paradox in Tilburg/NL, 5 April 1999:
"There are improvising groups that launch themselves from a chaotic
tangle of sound into soft-coloured sonic landscapes full of fragile
tones. The trio Konk Pack does not belong to this category. With drums,
steel guitar, clarinet, alto sax and analogue synthesizer the musicians
plunge themselves head over heels into a turbulent sea of sound, keeping
themselves afloat with forceful movements, repeatedly working themselves
to eruptions of energy that an average flash of lightning wouldn't have
to be ashamed of. That was the impression their concert made at De Vonk
in Paradox on Easter Monday... - a deranged high voltage countryside
scene...; an inspired set."
Rene van Peer, April 1999
about perfomance in Roccamorice, 4 December 1998:
"Konk-Pack's high-energy flow of ideas generates extremely varied,
evocative, distinctively coloured explorations".
Rocca, December 1998
3 C D R E L E A S E
CD "BIG DEEP" released in December 1999 on GROB, Cologne/D (GROB.102)
6 tracks recorded live in Tilburg, Bruxelles and Roma
in December 1998 and April 1999
For cover image and track information, visit:
http://www.grobcologne.de/Churchofgrob/catalog/grob102/grob102.html
http://www.shef.ac.uk/misc/rec/ps/efi/labels/grob/grob102.html
On BIG DEEP the trio engages in in-depth live free improvisation
involving rapid interaction, a continuously inventive exploration of
unstable timbres and transient sounds driven by an implacable performance
energy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The aggressiveness grabbed me. It's full speed ahead with these boys...
A very good CD!"
Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly #210 (Week 4/2000)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
mail order: grobcologne@hotmail.com
distribution: metamkine@compuserve.com
UK Distribution: ReR Megacorp, megacorp@dial.pipex.co
4 P R E S S T E X T
KONK PACK
Tim Hodgkinson (London) flat guitar, electronics, clarinet and alto
saxophone
Thomas Lehn (Cologne) analogue synthesizer
Roger Turner (London) drumsets and percussion
The group met at Szuenetjel Festival in Budapest 1997.
Tours in Italy 1998 and Netherlands 1999 followed.
In 2000, Konk Pack are touring in UK, Germany and Canada and perform
various other festivals.
from the first moment discovered the extremely effective rhythmic and
clear energetic display involving all the body a very large quantity of
fast actions and fast lack of actions poured out a dynamic varied all the
time and detailed stream of sound events that gripped the imagination
from start onwards in a very serious performance making unavoidable large
smile
Roger Turner: drums, percussion; famous improviser / totally visually
compulsive bald player with unique "dirty" drum sound.
Thomas Lehn: analogue synthesizer; nervously twitching avant garde
scientist using unique dirty sound.
Tim Hodgkinson: washed-up 70's celeb bird-like hawaiian guitarist famous
for unique dirty sound.
5 A P P E A R A N C E S
Fr. 05.12.1997, Budapest @ Szuenetjel Festival
Fr. 04.12.1998, Roccamorice @ Sussuri e grida
Sa. 05.12.1998, Roma @ Brancaleone
Mo. 05.04.1999, Tilburg/NL @ paradox
Tu. 06.04.1999, Bruxelles @ vk
We. 07.04.1999, Rotterdam @ dodorama
We. 02.02.2000, London @ Centurion
Th. 03.02.2000, Sheffield @ Nonpots
Fr. 04.02.2000, Leeds @ The Adelphi
Sa. 05.02.2000, Manchester @ Night & Day
Su. 06.02.2000, Hull @ Timebase
Mo. 07.02.2000, Liverpool @ Art School
We. 23.02.2000, Cologne @ Stadtgarten/studio 672
Fr. 25.02.2000, Frankfurt @ FIM Festival
Sa. 26.02.2000, Weikersheim/D @ Club W 71
Su. 27.02.2000, Wuerzburg/D @ Immerhin
Th. 18.05.2000, Toronto @ Music Gallery
Sa. 20.05.2000, Victoriaville/CAN @ FIMAV Festival
Th. 01.06.2000, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy/F @ Musique Action Festival
Sa. 05.08.2000, Mhere/F @ Fruits de Mhere Festival
We. 25.10.2000, Cologne @ Gebaeude 9
Fr. 27.10.2000, Paris @ Instant Chavires
Sa. 28.10.2000, Grenoble @ Le 102 club
Su. 29.10.2000, Lyon
Th. 02.11.2000, Regensburg @ Leerer Beutel
Fr. 03.11.2000, Wels/A @ Schl8hof, Music Unlimited Festival
6 B I O G R A P H I E S
TIM HODGKINSON
Performer/composer. Plays clarinet, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, lap
steel guitar,
keyboards, vocals & electronics. Also records on percussion and viola.
Live appearances 1999 include:-
Moers Festival
Real Time Music Meeting Hamburg
Szuenetjel festival Budapest (curator)
Fonoteca Files Festival, Lisbon w. Telectu,and Eddie Prevost
Bucharest with Iancu Dumitrescu, Ana Maria Avram, and Hyperion Ensemble.
Istanbul with Serhat Koksal's 2/5BZ project.
My work has included:-
- In rock -
Co-instigator and constant member of HENRY COW 68-78. - "The greatest and
most advanced
of all progressive bands" - Spanning the Globe 99.
Instigator of THE WORK 80-95 - "Experimental music at its most urgent and
exciting"
- Time Out
Played alto sax in GOD 91-94 - "Hard-core non-jazz - a symphony of
extremes" - SPEX
- As an improviser -
Played in ad hoc groupings with a great many musicians, amongst whom
Lol Coxhill, Fred Frith, Lindsay Cooper, Evan Parker, John Zorn, Jim
Staley, Catherine Jauniaux, Chris Cutler, Tom Cora, Charles Hayward,
Valentina Ponomareva, Sainkho Namtchilak, Ikue Mori, Tenko Ueno, Albert
Kouvezin, Fabrizio Spera, Iva Bittova, Hi-ah Park, Bolot Biryshev,
Carlos Zingaro, Olga Mageres, Birgit Ulherr....
- Also in more stable groupings -
EUROPEAN IMPROVISING ORCHESTRA - performances include Warsaw Autumn Days
Festival 1998.
SHAMS - duo with Ken Hyder - numerous festivals & tours of Europe and,
from 1990, Siberia.
K-SPACE - trio with Hyder and Gendos Chamzyryn - tour Altai Republic
summer1998 as part of Radical Transcultural Initiatives programme - tour
Europe May-June 2000 including Fabbrica Europa, Firenze.
- As a composer -
Authored 3 CD's of compositions:-
EACH IN OUR OWN THOUGHTS 1994. - "Highly individual and tightly
structured eclecticism"
- The Wire. "Exquisitely composed, an intensity that can be frightening"
- Boston News
PRAGMA 1998 - "Disturbing, fierce modernist compositions" - Sound
Projector
"The concepts of distortion, noise and violence take on a new meaning...
drums, metal plates and wood-winds ... the clarinet so tangible the sound
of the thin reed becomes almost physical in front of us." - Jump Magazine
Radio and international festival commissions include STOP MORTAL, 50 min.
suite for
piano trio, sampler and voice (Dagmar Krause), in response to the work of
Tadeusz Kantor,
performed at Nancy Musique Action, Queen Elizabeth Hall London,
Konfrontazionen Festival,
Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano, Ny Musikk, Bergen, and
Nordlyd Festival, Trondheim.
EIXAM, for orchestra, performed by Banda Municipale de Barcelona,
commissioned for 2nd European Symposium of Experimental Music 1997.
SEVEN VOMITS RISING IN THE REAL BODY OF MUSIC, radiophonic piece, 35
mins, commissioned and broadcast by RAI-Radiotelevisione Italiana, Dec
1996.
ALCESTIS for voice, electroacoustic instruments, flute, bass clarinet,
percussion, performed with Ossatura and Dagmar Krause at Goethe Institute
Rome, Oct 1996.
- collaborations -
With romanian composers Iancu Dumitrescu & Ana-Maria Avram: BLACK DEATH &
ERRORS IN CONSTRUCTION performed at Nancy Musique Action by HYPERION
ENSEMBLE conducted by Dumitrescu.
Perform as soloist with G.ENESCU ORCHESTRA conducted by Jean-Louis Vicart,
playing Avram & Dumitrescu pieces for Romanian Radio 70 Year Celebration
Festival.
Released on CD summer 1999.
With OSSATURA electro-acoustic group; tour Europe 1998 and play
Victoriaville Festival 2000;
release DENTRO CD 1998:- "Completely brilliant European electro-acoustic
sound collage
construction" - Spanning the Globe NYC - "A remarkable recording...group
composition of rare distinction" - The Wire
THOMAS LEHN
analogue synthesizer
Since the early 1980s Thomas Lehn has been working as a performer,
interpreter, composer and improviser of contemporary music. His
individual style of musical expression is rooted in the experience of a
broad spectrum of musical fields. After studying recording engineering at
the Hochschule fuer Musik in Detmold (Germany), he moved to Cologne and
studied both classical and jazz piano at the Hochschule fuer Musik Koeln.
As an interpreting pianist he has played concerts since 1982 - performing
both contemporary new music including numerous first performances and
traditional composed music of the classical and romantically period. In
1989 he initiated the chamber ensemble Trio Dario and four years later
the Mengano Quartett. Focussed on performing compositions of the
contemporary avant-garde, he is pianist of the Nova Ensemble Wuppertal.
Parallel to his work as a pianist, he concentrates on composing and
performing electronic music. Based on his background as an interpreting
and improvising pianist in classical-, contemporary and jazz-music, he
developed his individually langguage in live-electronic music. The
electronic equipment he uses consists of analogue synthesizers of the
late 1960s. The facilities of these 'historic' instruments - e. g. to
modify electronic sounds very directly as well as to combine and to
control several parameters at the same time - allows him to spontaneously
act and react in close contact with the process of tension, space and
structure of the music during its performance.
Thomas Lehn has played concerts in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England,
France, Germany, Hungaria, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, USA and Canada. He
has repeatedly collaborated with a number of musicians of the
international avantgarde, as there are among others John Butcher, Guenter
Christmann, Axel Doerner, Phil Durrant, Alexander Frangenheim, Mats
Gustafsson, Gerry Hemingway, Tim Hodgkinson, Paul Lovens, Radu Malfatti,
Andy Moor, Evan Parker, Keith Rowe, Roger Turner and Peter van Bergen.
Lehn has been repeatedly invited to perform at international festivals
and for TV and radio productions. He has been involved in projects
promoted and/or supported by Goethe-Institutes in Budapest, London, Roma,
Manchester, Marseille, York and Chicago.
Thomas Lehn lives in Cologne.
ensembles
ANTASTEN w/ Hannes Loeschel (p), Josef Novotny (computer,
electr.)
BUTCHER/LEHN/MOOR w/ John Butcher (ts/ss), Andy "Ex" Moor (g)
CHADLEHN w/ Eugene Chadbourne (banjo/g/objects)
DIE KLANGRAEUMER w/ Guido Hafner (b), Andreas Wagner (cl/ts)
DURRANT/LEHN/MALFATTI w/ Radu Malfatti (tbn), Phil Durrant (vl)
E-RAX w/ Peter van Bergen (elec. windcontroller),
Gert-Jan Prins (electr.)
GLASSBAND w/ Phil Wachsmann (vl/electr), Evan Parker (ss/ts),
Alexander Frangenheim (b), Roger Turner (perc)
GUSTAFSSON/LEHN w/ Mats Gustafsson (reeds)
HIRT/LEHN/THEURER w/ Erhard Hirt (g/electr), Martin Theurer (p)
KONK PACK w/ Tim Hodgkinson (g/reeds/electr), Roger Turner
(dr/perc)
LEHN/SCHMICKLER w/ Marcus Schmickler (computer/synth)
LINGUA w/ Wofgang Fuchs (reeds), Fabrizio Spera
(perc/electr.)
LOVENS/LEHN w/ Paul Lovens (dr/perc)
MIMEO (Music In Movement Electronic Orchestra) [A/CH/D/F/GB/NL/P]
w/ 12 musicians from 7 European nations:
Durrant, Fennesz, Fuhler, Lehn, Matthews,
Noetinger, Prins, Rehberg, Rowe, Schmickler,
Toral, Wettstein
STRID/LEHN w/ Raymond Strid (dr/perc)
TOM & GERRY w/ Gerry Hemingway (dr/perc)
http://www.interactive.net/~gerryhem/tomgerry.html
TOOT w/ Phil Minton (voc), Axel Doerner (tp)
VARIO-34 w/ Guenter Christmann (tbn/vc), Alexander
Frangenheim
(b), Mats Gustafsson (reeds), Paul Lovens
(dr/perc), Christian Munthe (g)
VCO 1 (Voltage Controlled Oddities)
w/ Konrad Doeppert (an.syn), Joker Nies (computer)
discography
2001 ANTASTEN plus Martin Siewert und Didi Bruckmeyer
(Loewenhertz, Vienna/Austria, Extraplatte)
2001 ANTASTEN w/ Hannes Loeschel and Josef Novotny
(Loewenhertz, Vienna/Austria, Extraplatte)
2001 DURRANT/LEHN/MALFATTI, dach (Erstwhile Records, New York/USA)
2000 LEHN/SCHMICKLER, Bart (w/ Marcus Schmickler,
Erstwhile Records, New York/USA)
2000 THOMAS LEHN, Feldstaerken (Random Acoustics, Munich/D)
2000 CHADLEHN c inside (duetts w/ Eugene Chadbourne; GROB, Cologne/D)
2000 MIMEO electric (2CDs, GROB, Cologne/D)
2000 E-RAX, live at the bimhuis (w/ van Bergen & Prins; X-OR,
Amsterdam)
1999 KONK PACK, Big Deep (w/ T. Hodgkinson & R. Turner; GROB,
Cologne/D)
1999 TOM & GERRY (w/ Gerry Hemingway; 2CDs; Erstwhile, New York/USA)
1999 MIMEO (Perdition Plastics, Chicago/USA)
1999 HIRT/LEHN/THEURER, Trinidad (Happy Few Records, Witten/D)
1999 DURRANT/LEHN/MALFATTI, beinhaltung (Fringes, Monza/I)
1999 VARIO 34-2 (concepts of doing, Stuttgart/D)
1999 SHABOTINSKI, (b)ypass (k)ill (plagdichnicht/charhizma, Vienna/A)
1999 LINGUAFONIE 3 (Goethe-Institut Rom & Cervello a Sonagli, Rom/I)
1999 CHRISTMANN/LEHN, temps duree (edition explico, Hannover/D)
1998 MIMEO, queue (GROB, Cologne/D)
1998 Humannoise Congress #7/#8/#9 (ARTist, Wiesbaden/D)
1998 HIRT/LEHN/THEURER, 2+2 sind 3 (Happy Few Records, Witten/D)
1996 DIE KLANGRAEUMER, Mangelware (hybrid music productions, Giessen/D)
1995 VARIO 34 (Blue Tower, Stockholm/S & edition explico, Hannover/D)
reviews
Thomas Lehn's ancient analogue synthesizer is an honestly electronic
sound source, but he plays it with pianistic animation; a responsive
improviser in an ever-shifting, fluid and powerful music.
Stuart Broomer, Coda Magazine, Sept./Oct. 2000
Thomas Lehn changed the parameters of his apparatus with greater speed
and fluency than I have heard before. His hands almost seeming to burn
with volatility on the keyboard.
John Corbett, SPEX, September 1997
The musician at the synthesiser displays the whole spectrum of sound
gestures, timbral effect and atmospheric depth and accompanies these by
his own particular gestures. Concert as an attempt to sensitise the
contemporary listener in a world overflowing with sounds.
Dita von Szadkowski, Westdeutsche Zeitung, May 10, 1997
Thomas Lehn's synthesizer, built at an early age of the technology, and
looking more like a physics device than a musical instrument, was able to
bridge the contradiction between technology and nature. Indeed, there was
something extremely natural about the sounds it produced.
Guenter Matysiak, Weserkurier, December 13, 1996
Lehn gives his analogue synthesizer the full treatment, untethered,
performing with an impressive range of facial expressions and gestures,
and it is this combination of visual and acoustic impressions that make
up the charm of the music.
Daniel Schraad, Westdeutsche Zeitung, June 1997
ROGER TURNER
Drumset and Percussion
grew up amongst the canterbury music life of the 1960's with a strong
broad
jazz root.
first formal performance in improvisation in duo with Chris Biscoe for the
british council, brighton 1966.
moved to london in 1968 and worked with the ghanaian drum ensemble Mask
and
toured with the experimental and innovative Ritual Theatre.
since 1974 work was primarily concentrated on opening the way to a more
personal percussion language.
extensive festival and club solo work followed.
arts council of great britain bursaries for solo percussion 1980 and in
1983 for investigation into percussion with electronics.
workshop residences have included Alan Silva's institut art cultur
perception,paris 1984 & 5.
involvements with experimental rock musics and open -form song included
extensive duo work with Annette Peacock 1983-5, and recordings with
post-wave band The Nose Flutes 1986-7.
has worked with numerous jazz-based ensembles including those of Elton
Dean,
Alan Silva, Lol Coxhill.
collaborations with film-makers & image projection include work with
Martin
Klapper & Chikako Oyama .
music for dance includes work with Alexander Frangenheim's concepts of
doing, stuttgart; Matthew Hawkins company london; Carlos Zingaro's
Encontros
projects lisbon & macau,china.
music-making with international improvisers in ad hoc and group
collaborations have since the 70's to the present day included Toshinori
Kondo, Derek Bailey, Trio'z with Carlos Zingaro and Tom Cora, Evan Parker,
Cecil Taylor, Otomo Yoshihide, Shelley Hirsch, Joelle Leandre, Keith Rowe,
Wolfgang Fuchs, Ab Baars,Barry Guy, Barre Philips, Paul Rutherford, Gunter
Christmann, Steve Beresford, Eugene Chadbourne,Marilyn Crispell.....
working currently with THE TRADITION TRIO ( alan silva and johannes
bauer),
THE RECEDENTS (with lol coxhill and mike cooper), KONK PACK (with tim
hodgkinson and thomas lehn), the duos with JOHN RUSSELL and PHIL MINTON...
festivals, tours, and concerts throughout europe, australia, canada,
u.s.a.,
mexico, the far east....
'he has a virtuosity as astounding as it is inexplicably hilarious. i have
rarely heard such an exquisite combination of volcanic power and finely-
honed precision.' the wire 1986
'one of the giants of free improvisation' the wire 2001.
Recordings
1979, Sunday best, Incus 32. Duo with Gary Todd.
1979, Artless sky, CAW 001. With John Russell and Toshinori Kondo.
1981, The blur between, CAW 002. Solo.
1981/1984, Forward of short leg, Dossier ST 7529. With various Jon Rose
groups.
1984, Fringe benefits, Entropy Stereo ESR006. Jon Rose and the Relative
Band; one track on compilation CD.
1983, Couscous, nato 157.
1984, Ammo, Leo LR 116. Duo with Phil Minton.
1985, Frog dance, Impetus IMP 28407, 2LP. With The Recedents.
1985, Sans phrase, Moers Music 02048. One piece on Vario LP.
1985/86, Sprung from traps, Re 0103. Piece on ReRcords Quarterly Volume 1,
no. 3 (LP).
1986, Barbecue strut, nato 907. The Recedents.
1986, Take some risks, In situ 011. With Alan Silva, Misha Lobko, Didier
Petit, Bruno Girard.
1986, Ruff, Leo LR 138. The Ferrals with Phil Minton, Hugh Davies and Alan
Tomlinson.
1988, Zombie bloodbath on the Isle of Dogs, nato 112036. The Recedents.
1993, In the tradition, In situ IS 166. With Alan Silva and Johannes
Bauer.
1993, Dada da, Leo CD LR 192. Duo with Phil Minton.
1994, Short in the U.K., Incus CD 27. With Steve Beresford and Shaking Ray
Levis.
1995, Angelica 1995, A1 007. With Lol Coxhill's Before my time.
1995, The comforts of madness, Durian 002. With Helge Hinteregger.
1996, Mouthful of ecstasy, Victo cd041. Phil Minton Quartet.
1996, Birthdays, Emanem 4010. Duo with John Russell.
1997, Recent croaks, Acta 11. Duo with Martin Klapper.
1997, Autism, Durian 008. The comforts of madness.
7 C O N T A C T / B O O K I N G
konkpack@gmx.net
TIM HODGKINSON
46 Spenser Rd, London SE24 ONR, UK
tel/fax: 00 44 171 207 0719
timpragma@compuserve.com
THOMAS LEHN
Kalk-Muelheimer-Str. 370 (Hof)
D-51065 Koeln
Phone/Fax +49.221.619733
ThomasLehn@compuserve.com
www.thomaslehn.com
ROGER TURNER
34 Lancaster Road
GB-W11 1QR London
Phone/Fax +44.171.2213188
rturner@gmx.ne
for further informations, images, CDs and labels, visit:
GROB label:
http://www.grobcologne.de
European free improvisers website:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/misc/rec/ps/efi/