In November 2020 Phill Niblock sent out an email informing a group of us that Experimental Intermedia planned to have their usual December concert series. However, due to the Covid pandemic, the series was set to be streamed online via Zoom or Vimeo Live. I, along with Earl Howard, Marcia Bassett & Bob Bellerue, Gill Arno, Mike Bullock, Lars Åkerlund, Matthias Kaiser & Hans Tammen and Austin Larkin were asked to perform from our own home/studio/space either live or prerecorded.
At the time, I was hiding out covid-style in Decatur, Illinois on an extended stay at my mom’s house. I was surprised, excited and slightly disappointed to receive Phill’s email. I was surprised to be invited by Phill Niblock and even more caught off guard that the series was still happening. I was excited to be invited yet disappointed to be asked to perform when the series was set to be presented online due to Covid safety measures. I would not be able to perform in Phil’s legendary loft space that had hosted the likes of Arthur Russell, David Behrman, Shelley Hirsch, Joan La Barbara, Yasunao Tone, Julius Eastman, and so many others since its founding in the 1980s. Regardless, I knew it was an invitation I could not turn down and I immediately got to work on creating an audio/video work for the 2020 online EI edition.
“Ictum Exercises (Polyrhythmic Studies)” was the fruition of that pursuit. Playing with a single, randomized pattern that morphed through various EQ and distortion filters together with electronics, soprano recorder, breath and voice, I sought to create a longform piece that was minimal, microtonal, and rhythmic. *300 copies limited edition* For the visual aspect I teamed up with multimedia artist Camilla Padgitt-Coles who created color fields and pulses of my framed face and upper torso with soprano recorder shot against a white sheet. On December 15, 2020, this piece was aired via Vimeo Live at 9 PM and followed afterwards by a virtual hang on Zoom with Phill and his partner Katherine and a host of others that would normally happen in the Kitchen or loft space at EI over wine and a meal. Even with this online edition, Phill coordinated artists to provide a Concert Recipe for each performance similar to live EI events where volunteer artists cooked a big meal for the performers and others lucky enough to get into the kitchen in time.
The world lost Phill Niblock on January 8, 2024. The community and support he nurtured for so many artists along with his prolific and singular output of audio and visual works has left a resounding mark on so many generations all around the world. Thank you, Astral Spirits, for allowing this recording, a document of the pandemic era and the long standing and determined tradition of the Experimental Intermedia Concert series, to be memorialized on vinyl format. This recording is dedicated to the memory and legacy of the inimitable Phill Niblock and the universes of community he created.
