kaffematthews.net

Friday 5th March

kaffe — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:14:00 +0000

Glide smooth as a snake from one train to another crossing France and London to arrive in Newcastle in time for AV Festival 10’s opening and Charlemagne Palestine’s play of the city’s Carillon Bells. His performance from the tower projected in the City Hall’s beige staircase with dripping nouveau chandelier created a psychedelic swirl of an oil painting and the joy of hearing his touch on those rings outside was a super start to this plethora of work now spread across Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesborough. We, The Gluts, open our film “The Gluts go to Copenhagen,” at Vane Gallery. It is fantastic to see it. It is direct, funny and real . The Gluts have kicked off in truth. Ahoy there fans, what say you?

Thursday 4th March later

kaffe — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:59:19 +0000

The French do incredible things with trees.

Thursday 4th March

kaffe — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:34:21 +0000

Our Kontakt Sonore hosts, are exemplary in their hospitality and brunch at the Pierre Vive with Bernard Parmigani and Christian Zanesi is just the pre-sound check succour required. We discuss live intervention in multichannel diffusion, what is in your laboratory ?, Fathers playing in France and numbers of speakers to use in different kinds of spaces. Bernard is 82 and brilliant. My solo at 10.45pm gets an encore and I improvise with LiSa in a way not played for years. We feast again late. Chalon sur Saône is in the heart of Burgundy country.

Wednesday 3rd March

kaffe — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:28:23 +0000

I am in Chalon sur Saône, in a truly French apartement overlooking the River Saône.

The fat brown river glides strong, fast and silent past the window and I’m in its underwatery sonorities even without my hydrophones. I am playing at the Kontakt Sonore festival here tomorrow , and am all a-bristle with an orchestra of water music so must be sleeping in just the right place. The man who bought me a perfect espresso in the sunshine at Gare du Lyon said it was my lucky day.

Saturday 20th February

kaffe — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:18:19 +0000

We, the Gluts, are in the middle of recording thirteen songs in two days in Somethin Else’s studio with Sherry Ostapovitch engineering. A serious blast to be finally really listening to our material, most especially the latest songs ~ a couple of hits in there even? (NOTE: Café Oto gig on Friday March 19th could be stunning !)

The last time I was singing recording in a studio was in Brixton in 1986 with the Fabulous Dirt Sisters. I was also doing a lot of scuba diving, bashing drums at Greenham Common and being a fan of the Raincoats. Funny how things come round.

Wednesday 10th February 2010

kaffe — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:53:47 +0000

So the salmon remember the taste of Tyne water as they live the first few years of their lives here and that, apparently, is what guides them back from Greenland. And what a noisy welcome. The wooden stilts of the handsome fishing pier at North Shields rock and clank, small boats with engines running fill the sound space above 100Hz and the digging of new supports 50m down thud the beat of the echo from the far side. Could be just the right thing to mark a possibly 10 month fast before procreation and likely death.

Tuesday 9th February 2010 5pm

kaffe — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:37:39 +0000

The source of the Tyne is cold and bubbling over stones. Noisy next to the smooth sandy bed textures further south.

Tuesday February 9th 2010 9am

kaffe — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:00:31 +0000

I’m at the salmon hatchery at Kielder water. It was built to replace the old spawning area of the river that the fish used to swim up to until the reservoir and holding dam prevented them coming any further. An 8 step fish jump would have cost £1x million, would not necessarily be fish friendly, so the hatchery seemed a good option. I’m impressed. Ready to go hens and cocks (why the chicken vocab with fish?) are caught in soft electric nets in November, transported back here in huge tanks, squeezed and squirted respectively, the fertilized eggs then laid in gravel simulated conditions until they hatch. Precise methods are used to maintain as wild/natural conditions as possible, water being pumped in direct from the Kielder burn with no heating or treatment or filtering. We discuss whether this approach does benefit this endangered species, (I’m discovering how hardy and seemingly stupid salmon are – curious, a comparison to chicken brain ability is mooted), and is not damaging its gene pool. This is a 1 year old salmon. I’m so excited to see it and its companions and am equally surprised how small they are. I attempt to record them but they make not a sound. Salmon are silent to human ears, though the whirlpools of their huge fibre glass containers are great rhythm makers.

Monday February 8th 2010 2pm

kaffe — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:23:00 +0000

Laura has arranged a visit with some senior members of the EA fish monitoring and maintenance team at Riding Mill. Northumbrian water has a pumping station here and EA count the fish using an electrode system and underwater camera that is continuously recording everything that passes. A few fish have come by but not yet many salmon, though there is a fisherman casting his line again and again in lazily swooped arches. Makes a mellifluous arc to the noise and swoop of the underwater which plays stunning tunes as the frothing volumes are driven slam aerated into concrete walls. Man’s engineering interventions in these water flows make great orchestras.

Many thanks to the time and enthusiasm of the EA team. They have so much knowledge and information and are more than eager to share it. Listening to the water in different places together excites us too and we plan an outdoor performance for the summer. Lets count those fish!

Monday February 8th 2010 9am

kaffe — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:16:04 +0000

I am upstream from Hexham, dipping listening into smooth strong currents and slower pools. It’s very cold and they are quiet of plant or animal life and full of rushing water melodies. The Tyne also has a sandy bed here so few stony reflections, making a melodious start to the week.