Klangstaub are an improvised music duo consisting of Bernhard Günter, Koblenz, Germany ( clarinet, pocket trumpet, live electronics, looping and mixing, plus an occasional field recording ) and Gary Smith, London (electric guitar). They have collaborated with Michael Vorfeld, Berlin (percussion and stringed instruments).
Gary Smith - A short musical biography:
Originally from a background in commercial music, Gary worked in a wide
range of musical situations in the UK and Europe. With the formation of The
Acme Quartet in the mid '70s he moved out of the commercial arena. For around 8 years, until 1990, Gary retreated from recording and live performance. In this period he studied harmony and counterpoint with composer John South and started to develop the technique and approach to playing the guitar he now utilises.
Since the release of his first solo album 'Rhythm Guitar' in 1991 he has
worked with, amongst others, John Stevens, Mass, Shoji Hano, Rhys Chatham,
Bill Fay, Aufgehoben, and Masayoshi Urabe.
He is known for his dense, contrapuntal style of playing and has been a pioneer in the use of stereo guitar. In recent years he has reduced his use of
technology to just guitar, amp and volume pedal creating sounds similar to
prepared instruments, static, mechanical effects, computer generated sounds,
birdsong, etc. These detailed and magnified sounds he combines with the
traditional parameters of Western music.
He is currently working with Aufgehoben, Bill Fay, and of course Bernhard, and keeps developing his live solo work.
For Bernhard Günter's biography please refer to his MySpace profile:
Bernhard Günter
The two video clips below document the beginning and the ending of our concert at no.signal @ wire.25 in London. The set began and ended with a stereo loop Bernhard had brought stored in his loop boxes so that said loop is heard in both clips. This doesn't mean it was going on all the time - another loop created on the spot was also used, and there were of course passages with no loops at all.
Bernhard Günter and Gary Smith both consider improvisation a form of instant composing and are interested in creating valid musical structures in the present moment. They usually start by free instrumental improvising, the digital tools can, but don't have to be used – this decision, too, is subject to improvisation. Bernhard has coined the term 'compovisation' for this approach.
While Gary generally uses a rather straightforward technical set up ( his guitar, a volume pedal, and an amplifier ), Bernhard has conceived and handles Klangstaub's 'Ground Control', built around a mixing board, two Loop Stations, and a digital multi effects unit wired in a rather intricate way ( and making it look quite a bit like a hedgehog ). This set-up makes it possible to mix the duo's playing live, sample one or both players to the loop boxes, and re-introduce parts of their improvisations into larger structures also created on the spot – the technical equipment thus becomes one of the instruments. Gary, who is also known as 'Gary Smith, stereo guitarist', is playing mono for the time being, although subject to stereo looping.
The results can vary from straightforward improvised instrumental playing
to complex digital soundscapes, and anything in between and beyond. The possibilities of this approach are enormous, and still being gradually discovered by the musicians - there is still a great amount of territory to explore and many a piece of exiting music to create...
The combination of Gary's extremely subtle, intricate and personal
approach to playing the electric guitar, and Bernhard's 'no taboos' approach
to playing instruments that integrates the use of diverse digital tools, brings
forth a sort of music that is contemporary in the most positive sense, highly original, and open to constant development.
Klangstaub have played their first concert at the no.signal@ Wire 25 festival AvantJazz on 17 November 2007 at The Bush Hall in London.
Spyder 1.4.29 for Mac OS X. MySpace browser, friend adder, messenger, and commenter. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I..ve uploaded "diametric" from the fabulous online-release "DataTransfer2", which I..ve created for David Velez with several of his sounds and some of my field-recordings of a journey to the "Documenta Kassel" and some german museums.
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It was good to meet you last week. I was pleased to be the connection between the two of you. It occurred to me as I was watching your performance. I felt like a proud parent watching his children at a school concert. We shall meet again, no doubt, perhaps in Italy once Gary has moved. It's a beautiful place. I paid a visit when I was in La Marche earlier this year and the house was still a shell. It's going to be fantastic when it's finished.
thanks to give us the oportunity of discovering some of this new project.
this is a very beautiful work, feldmanesque in the best way. a very personal guitar playing that is very interesting. and it's nice to hear more of bernhard's sax & flute playing.
i hope that we will see (i mean hear) a record soon...
Now available for download from klangstaub musik 
Now available for download from klangstaub musik 
Now available for download from klangstaub musik 
