A LITTLE BIT OF NOTHING
A modern recital of 6 primarily electronic pieces creates an interesting, live ambient event
by Lionel Zivan S.Valdellon

published in PHILMUSIC.com : December 2000

Last November 30, 2000 at Kemistry along J.Nakpil Street in Malate, a loose group of 6 people came together to perform a modern recital in a smoky bar more known for its weekend dance parties than for sit-down concerts.

The name of the recital was NOTHING and featured Rachel Conanan, Karlo Samson, Malek Lopez, Don Renato (aka Houseboy), Blums, and Noel de Brackinghe. Some of the names might be familiar to you in other guises since some of the performers are active participants in the small but growing world of local electronic music. Musical differences between the performers faded that night as one thing linked them all: each huddled over their vast amounts of musical gear, looking like wizened crones amidst the snakepit of cables.

THE PERFORMANCES

Despite the recital starting almost two hours after its publicized 9pm beginning, there was eclectic music already in the air care of DJ Mulan and his collection of wild CDs-- enough to keep boredom from creeping in.

First performer of the evening was Don Renato a.k.a. Houseboy, a DJ for the past 12 years who is now one half of the live PA group Rhythm Method (the other half being Groove Nation DJ Toti Dalmacion). His piece, entitled "Two" was a pulsing analog composition using two chords, modern rhythm modules and several mammoth vintage keyboards. Warm, lingering and unhurried, the piece lasted a good 5 minutes and veered into several directions before coming to a halt with several waveforms in a crescendo of hiss.

Karlo Samson, a dot.com manager and one-third of the adult contemporary electronic group Clone, delivered a straightforward piece entitled "Rocket Summer". Inspired by the first chapter of author Ray Bradbury's book The Martian Chronicles, Samson wove several vocal samples and simple keyboard lines in and out of a tribal drum pattern. The result was a chunky organic mass of keyboards and voice, more about emotion than thought.

Noel de Brackinghe, record producer and one-half of the dynamic live PA, Rubber Inc, presented his piece "Crayola, A Piece in Four Colors". It started off quite interestingly, molding rhythmic patterns out of the sampled sounds of a 3-year-old playing with notebooks, crayolas and plastic toys. Lots of baby gurgles and crinkling paper tossed in with keyboard squiggles. Too bad there was a technical glitch (the wrong sounds being triggered, apparently) and de Brackinghe had to to stop midway, apologizing for the fallibility of his machines.

Blums was up next. Unlike everyone else performing that night, Blums wielded a MIDI guitar and an effects rack instead of keyboards and samplers. Formerly guitarist for underground band Children of the Cathode Ray and now solo guitar tinkerer, Blums performed "Loom"-- a lush tapestry of sounds washed with delays, flanges and otherwordly reverbs. The piece was easily the longest and meandered more than any other piece that night.

Malek Lopez, bespectacled composer, tech whiz and the other half of Rubber Inc, came in with "Ang Pinakamamahal Kong 'Cyborg'"-- a fibrillating piece reminiscent of Aphex Twin and The Orb. Utilizing a minimal set-up which included a Korg electribe for his rhythm patterns and a Nord Lead for his keyboard, Lopez easily outdistanced the other performers by fully utilizing the potential of his equipment. There was a lot of stereo panning effects and real-time wave form editing. And the best part of it was: you could actually hum the complicated pattern of notes after his piece ended.

The night's final performer was Rachel Conanan, the jazzy improv keyboardist for the wonderful acid jazz/world music outfit Third World Project, and semi-regular performer (keyboards and/or tambourine) with the Radioactive Sago Project. Her piece entitled "Tula" was the night's shortest-- an abstract keyboard piece layered over a pre-recorded MiniDisc of noise and metallic clanking. Unfortunately, it barely highlighted her keyboard prowess, opting instead to create mood from noise.

AFTER NOTHING, WHAT?

Plans are already being made for the second Nothing event at Kemistry, tentatively scheduled for middle of January 2001. According to organizer Malek Lopez, this time around he is handing over the marketing and publicity aspect of the event to someone else so he can simply worry about performing and the technical aspects of the show. Watch out for the second coming of Nothing in January.

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