Tag: David Fenech

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Winter 2023

I’m delighted to announce the release of my duet album with David Fenech, TomorrowStartsTonight. The album has been released on CD on the KlangGalerie label. This is our first duo album. I’m very happy to have recorded this album with David. It was a wonderful musical and human encounter. We composed a long piece in a minimalist spirit, where our two guitars meet and merge with my trumpets, flutes and voice and David’s small percussion instruments. The record was mastered by James Plotkin.

David Fenech is a French composer, guitarist and singer. His style has been described as ‘a kind of punk musique concrète’ He uses the studio as an instrument, using a large panel of recording techniques. He has played and recorded with musicians such as Nurse With Wound, Felix Kubin, Jad Fair, Tom Cora, Pascal Comelade, Jac Berrocal, Ghédalia Tazartès, James Plotkin, Shugo Tokumaru, Ergo Phizmiz, Pierre Bastien, and many others.

He also plays improvisation on electric guitar with musicians such as Gino Robair, Tom Cora, Jac Berrocal, Andrea Parkins and has also played duets with musicians like Felix Kubin, Jad Fair, Ergo Phizmiz, Klimperei, James Plotkin, Shugo Tokumaru, Ghédalia Tazartès, etc. He has also worked as a software developer at IRCAM and more recently at L-Acoustics

He has run a micro-label Demosaurus that has published 2 cds (Ghédalia Tazartès and Frank Pahl).

In 2009, David began working with the cornetist Jac Berrocal. This collaboration resulted in a record as a trio with Ghédalia Tazartès (Superdisque, on Sub Rosa) and more recently trios with Jac Berrocal + Vincent Epplay (3 albums) or with Jac Berrocal + Jason Willett (Christmas in March – Megaphone / Knock Em Dead)

David (left) and Rhys 6 October 2023 at Café de Paris, Paris 11 – Photo: Ben Lx.

click on the photo above to hear an excerpt from the album on YouTube, or click here.

This just in !

On 3rd February 2024 in Paris, I’m delighted to be opening for my good buddies Charles Hayward and Agathe Max at Mécanique Ondulatoire, who will be playing in Charles’ new group Abstract Concrete, with Agathe, Roberto Sassi, Yoni Silver and Otto Willbert.

Me? In addition to electric guitar (of ce!) I’m gonna be crooning over homemade EDM grooves. THAT will be a first!

Click on image or click here for more details on FB.

This film of G3 will premiere on YouTube today (Friday, 22 December) at 4:15 pm EST, here is the info:

Table of the Elements continues to divulge treasures from its 30-plus-year archive with this epic performance by pioneering composer Rhys Chatham. Utilizing multiple electric guitars and a single chord, 1977’s “Guitar Trio” is Chatham’s signature work, and a euphoric, minimal-punk classic.

This 2005 “Guitar Army” version was documented by filmmaker Tyler Hubby (Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present) during Table of the Elements Festival #3 at Central Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. It’s an all-star ensemble on rigorous, determined mission.

Featured performers include Jonathan Kane (Swans, La Monte Young), Ernest Brooks III (Modern Lovers), Doug McCombs (Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day), Chris Brokaw (Codeine, Come), David Daniell (Loren Connors, Fennesz), and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), with original video by Robert Longo.

Click here for FB link

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Autumn news – 2023

Rhys Chatham Solo 2023


In the shimmering spectacle of modernity, where the play of simulacra masks the disintegration of the authentic, Rhys Chatham emerges not merely as a musician but as an architect of sound, crafting a sonic narrative from the shadows of late twentieth century Manhattan, now wandering the streets of the Latin Quarter of Paris. He stands as a testament to the metamorphosis of rock’s very essence, weaving the ethereal minimalism of a forgotten era with the raw, unrestrained rage epitomized by the Ramones. It is in this collision that one witnesses the avant-garde’s intricate dance with the primal scream of punk, electric guitar in hand.

In the decaying glow of the 60s, the electronic symphonies of Morton Subotnick whispered secrets of composition into Chatham’s eager ears. As the seventies dawned, La Monte Young’s teachings resonated with him, and soon, the Theater of Eternal Music echoed with Chatham’s presence, alongside figures like Jon Hassell and Terry Riley. In these corridors of sound, the minimalist maestros like Tony Conrad and Charlemagne Palestine played their role in molding Chatham’s ethos, with the spectral touch of the French virtuoso, Eliane Radigue, lingering on.

As the echoes of ‘Guitar Trio’ from the 1970s merged into the vast sonic horizon of ‘A Crimson Grail’ for 200 electric guitars in 2009, it became evident: Chatham had embarked on a transcendental journey, spanning decades, summoning electric guitar legions in mystical tunings to bridge the temporal vastness of the 60s and 70s with the pulsating heart of hard rock.

Now, as the holographic present unfolds, Chatham traverses the soundscape as a solitary figure, serenading with versions of ‘A Pythagorean Dream’, borne by the UK’s Foom Records. Yet, in his duality, he intertwines with guitarist David Fenech, their symphonies crystallized in a CD from the Austrian alcove of Klang Gallery Label. The simulation continues, the hyperreality intensifies.

And soon to come, in November:

Watch this page for further updates…

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Spring News 2022

Rhys Chatham & David Fenech / Martin Siewert & Christian Reiner at Liccht
Venue :  Replugged – Lerchenfelder Str. 23 –  1070 Wien
Thursday, 12 May – concert starts at 8pm.

Tickets: Click here

Rhys Chatham is a composer, guitarist, trumpet player and flutist from Manhattan, currently living in Paris, who altered the DNA of rock and created a new type of urban music by fusing the overtone-drenched minimalism of the early 60s with the relentless, elemental fury of the Ramones — the textural intricacies of the avant-garde colliding with the visceral punch of electric guitar-slinging punk rock. He was introduced to electronic music and composition by Morton Subotnick in the late 60s, and in the early seventies he studied composition with La Monte Young and played in Tony Conrad’s early group. These composers are, along with Terry Riley, the founders of American minimalism and were a profound influence on Chatham’s work.

Starting with Guitar Trio in the 1970s and culminating with A Crimson Grail for 200 electric guitars in 2009, Chatham has been working for over 30 years to make use of armies of electric guitars in special tunings to merge the extended-time music of the sixties and seventies with serious hard rock. Parallel with his rock-influenced pieces, Chatham has been working with various brass configurations since 1982, and recently has developed a completely new approach to collaborations, improvised and compositional pieces involving trumpet through performances and recordings that started in 2009.

David Fenech is an active composer, performer, and improviser from Paris. His works include acoustic, electronic, tape, and digital media, including sound installations and film scores.
After creating the musical collective Peu Importe in Grenoble in 1991 (free improvisation and songs – many gigs in Europe) his music has shifted to more personal and strange areas, mainly using voice as an instrument. He released his first solo cd called Grand Huit, in 2000. The record is like a long movie for the ears, with 8 different clips. This album is now re-released on Felix Kubin’s Gagarin label.
As a soloist, David Fenech plays guitar and ukulele as well as small instruments such as melodica, cavaquinho, toy piano and xylophone. He played with musicians such as rhys chatham, berangere maximin, james plotkin (old, khanate), felix kubin, jad fair, tom cora, gino robair, ramona cordova, erikm + llog, sebastien roux, claude parle, christian rollet (a.r.f.i, workshop de lyon), andrea parkins, and with members of madrid, moka, les enfants des autres, x ray pop, art moulu, maisie, le club des chats, vincent epplay, sporto kantes and also with herve zenouda, mr quark, shugo tokumaru, anja kirschner, ghedalia tazartes + jac berrocal, digiki, toog, daniel palomo vinuesa, falter bramnk, imagho, dragibus and many others. https://davidfenech.fr

Martin Siewert ist ein deutscher Jazz- und Improvisationsmusiker (Gitarre, Elektronik) und Filmkomponist. Er lebt seit dem Alter von zehn Jahren in Wien. Er studierte Gitarre an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz. Als Gitarrist begann er um das Jahr 1995 öffentlich aufzutreten, zunächst mit Herwig Gradischnig, Freier Fall, Franz Hautzinger und seiner eigenen Band Duckbilled Platypus. Mit dieser Band veröffentlichte er zwei Alben auf Extraplatte. Ungefähr zur gleichen Zeit wie andere Wiener Musiker auch (etwa Boris Hauf, Dieb13, Hautzinger, Werner Dafeldecker oder Helge Hinteregger) begann er sich vom Jazzidiom zu lösen und entwickelte einen abstrakten Sound auf der Gitarre. Bald gehörte er zu den Gruppen Efzeg (mit Burkhard Stangl und Hauf) und Komfort, in die er Dafeldecker, Hinteregger, Wayne Horvitz und Tony Buck einlud. In der Gruppe Trapist spielte er mit Joe Williamson und Martin Brandlmayr zusammen. Mit Christian Reiner erscheint im Mai das Album Erstens, das an diesem Abend zum ersten Mal live präsentiert wird.

Christian Reiner ist Sprecher von Gedichten, Prosa und experimentellen Texten.Solo und in unterschiedlichen Formationen arbeitet er an Hörstücken, Theaterprojekten, Lesungen, Konzerten und CD-Einspielungen. Seine Arbeiten sind meist im Zwischenbereich von Sprache und Musik zu finden. Mit improvisierenden Musikern und Tänzern kooperiert er seit Mitte der 90er Jahre und entwickelte seine ihm eigene Art und Weise, mit gesprochenem Wort und den Möglichkeiten der menschlichen Stimme zu improvisieren. In unterschiedlichen Formationen und Ensembles, präsentiert er seine Arbeiten auf Festivals, bei Gastspielen und Konzerten.Doors: 20.00

Reiner Siewert: 20.15
Chatham Fenech: 21.15