Van Tieghem, David X Ten – “Fits & Starts” – [Rvng Intl.]

Thurston Hunger   3/5/2014   12-inch, A Library

Found sound – where the others do the finding and then
van Tieghem plays the objects (seen in the cover photo
and inside the booklet). In addition to a filter provided
by the finders’ objects, there’s another pass back from
van Tieghem’s recordings in a NY art space to the 10
finders for sonic doctoring. So drone permutation and
electro static discharge beat therapy are added to each
side-long exploration. Even some voices leak in, Blanche
Blanche Blanche uttering about “The Gloves Go On.” It’s
kinda cool that the storage space for the found objects
was called a “Bulletin Board,” made me think of postcards
for musicians desperately seeking musicians to start bands
in pre-internet days at record stores. Side A has sort of
a mellow orchestra awakening, glimpses of warehouse gamelan.
Or if Pan Sonic were a non-electric, all-acoustic project?
Van Tieghen is doing most if not all of his sound generation
apparently from striking the objects, and the frame itself,
with sticks, mallets, brushes and so forth. Side B hits like the
monolith in 2001 to star, then gets a transfer to an almost
magic bus, that drops us off in a forest where Werner
Herzog is hiding from Kitaro, who appears on New Age digital
horse. Your reaction may vary. Side B was more disjointed
with discrete movements, and my favorite, plus easier to
excerpt for short radio moments.It had me hoping for a locked
groove too. Here’s a promo video for what it’s worth

I have NOT seen the 1981 film with/about van Tieghem
called Ear to the Ground. Ignore the cardboard box which
says “STAY AWAY”, grab a drumstick and chime in.

-Thurston Hunger