BJÖRN JAUSS (modular synth) with MATTHIEU SAFATLY (cello) for a DEEP-AMBIENT-ORGANIC-IMPROVISATION
Björn Jauss aka zen.se — Born in St. Vith (B) and living since his early 20ies in Brussels to pursue his research into the essence of sound. He was one of the founders of meakusma, organizing several electronic music production related workshops and jam sessions. Following his retreat, he made the move towards the modular synthesizer world, with the aim to build his personalized monophonic performance instrument. Driven by a fascination for feedback, his decade long quest, has given rise to "The Gonzophone".
Using exclusively analogue feedback as primary sound source, his minimalist performances are based on timbral variations over time. By keeping pitch changes to a bare minimum and using slow movements, he puts musical form into the sound itself, contrary to the common practice of combining multiple sounds into a musical form. The perception of time becomes fluid during the improvisation around sustained notes of gritty analogue timbres, played through an infinite delay loop to combine into deep and dense dronescapes.
Another aspect of his research is to integrate the play of an outboard instrument and the modular synthesizer into a single musical voice. This can range from simple audio processing of the external instrument, to sophisticated setups where the external instrument becomes a controller of a feedback synthesis setup. Having 2 players perform one musical voice permits to overcome the respective limitations inherent to both instruments.
Matthieu Safatly — Beginning in 1995 with the Norman group Quattrophage (still performing today with Nicolas Lelièvre & Olivier Hüe) — where acoustic instruments (cellos, percussion, prepared instruments and repurposed objects) blended with electric instruments (guitar, turntable, sampling…) for a mix of improvised music, contemporary music and electroacoustic music — the musical journey of Matthieu Safatly has followed a variety of paths.
That of “electro” with Black Sifichi & Negative Stencil (a trio forming a poetic electro-cabaret-circus in which he played the role of bassist, cellist and percussionist), then with the collective Wild Shores where he offset the rigor of machines and industrial sounds with his progressive layerings on the cello or his instinctive rhythms using metallic minimalistic percussion.
That of text, by tweaking his instrument for spoken word performances or plays.
That of physical and sonic performance with the Compagnie Faim de Siècle.
That of pure acoustic and personalized improvisation, in sometimes unexpected on-site encounters.
That of image, by accompanying films or slideshows of contemporary photography.
That of rock (with the Belgian group Present in 2000-2010), or of a tortuous, complex and sensuous solo melody.
He followed these paths before taking a long break and recording his first solo album.
Actually he is also :
- co-composer with his twin brother Tom Whist (surprising electro-crooner-looser)
- DJ Chosta, using exclusively contemporary music samples for deep-ambient-abstract-house sets
- the organizer of One Moment Free Improv with Jean-Jacques Duerinckx and Les Nuits du Beau Tas with Pierre-Jean Vranken, Jean-Jacques Duerinckx and Pit Kanigou, two musical event organizations based in Brussels.
A new solo album is forseen in 2016.