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[uzine] - since 1999 \ facebook.com/pages/uzine-blog/216710133861

david van tieghem, master percussionist / michael clark [1/2]

Just imitated this whole exercise at home, but 't didn't sound quite the same - suppose it's the Chelsea Hotel's acoustics ;-) ... The artist at work is "of course" the criminally underrated David Van Tieghem, one time member of the Love of Live Orchestra and session percussionist for NYC icons such as Laurie Anderson, Talking Heads & Eno - Byrne. Here's another sample of his early art:
Just like David Byrne with "The Catherine Wheel" (1981-12), Van Tieghem recorded music for a dance piece by Twyla Tharp, viz. "Fait Accompli" ; the resulting album "These Things Happen" (Warner Brothers 1984) is, imho, one of the best albums of the eighties - and a lost gem in dire need of a deluxe cd reissue reappraisal. [If only for the car stereo - the lp has been working wonders back to back with Weather Report's "Sweetnighter" (1973) on a worn car tape.] Singling out one track doesn't do this album justice, as it's a plus forty minute trip of percussive genius (and compelling sax action à la Tuxedomoon, impLOG and the like) over a soundscape of sirens, breaking glass (love that sound, even though it makes me think of people pissing on the stairs), tv & shortwave clips and other New York noises ... but here goes:
... or, better still, check the video at Spike dot com > video/david-van-tieghem/2791971 (I'm splitting the link to avoid Posterous showing a black screen without value), where the video and the music are better synchronised. (Notice the "Once in a lifetime" influence, too.) "These Things Happen" is a must for anyone into early (Ralph era) Yello, "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts" (1981-02), Bill Laswell, Martin Rev, Suicide and the whole No New York / Knitting Factory scene, but also to anyone into creative electronics and percussion ... or remotely interested in modern dance - from Anna-Teresa “Rosas” De Keersmaeker or Chantal Akerman's “Toute une nuit” to the post-Godard video dances of Pas de Deux or Michael Clark's troupe dancing to Bruce Gilbert and the Fall ... just check this other man in a suit here:

Later on, DVT would release more albums in an electronic / library / nearly new age vein, but never as intense. See the man's age old website http://www.vantieghem.com/ for more.

Incidentally, re: Byrne & Talking Heads, see also this here post ... http://snaporaz.posterous.com/go-ahead-and-tear-up-tear-up-the-paper ;-)

improv everywhere's moebius / tieghem mob [2/2]


Talking Tieghem, do check this here 1985 gem too. Five minutes into the video, some sort of flash mob avant la lettre starts taking shape which feels like an anticipation of the utterly amazing stunts pulled by the Improv Everywhere agents, whom I've just discovered via their highly entertaining book "Causing a scene" (publ. 2009-05-19 by William Morrow, ISBN 9780061703638 - do browse it at http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061703638/Causing_a_Scene/index.aspx !). This one's my favourite, conceptually, but there's more impressive pranks and amazing antics listed on http://improveverywhere.com/ ...