Lia Kohl

“Long Distance Music [Speakerphone]” is a series of structured improvisations by Lia Kohl, performed by eight musicians via speakerphone microphone.

In conversation with Maryanne Amacher’s telematic music (1960-2009), each improvisation is recorded on either end of a phone call, both in their respective rooms with traditional recording technology, and via the “voice recording” function available in most smartphones. This method of recording emphasizes the unique quality of phone microphones, which are optimized for vocal conversations rather than simultaneous musicmaking, welcoming the audio artifacts that might arise. The improvisations are guided by scores written by Kohl and then arranged for the space.

The piece investigates what it means to listen across distance, how the profound experience of presence afforded by improvisation can be cultivated without physicality, and how modern technology shapes our experiences of presence. In Amacher’s words, “extend[ing] our listening in this manner extends our receptivity to each other – to the music we are making and the very room we are in”

Hans Tammen

Sonic Flotsam uses found objects – found in the cities I perform in – as instruments. Old suitcases have been shown to be excellent resonant objects, and they are of special interest to me as they conjure up images of travel & exile.

I am indebted to Pauline Oliveros’ Apple Box approach, where objects act as a filter and amplifier for the sounds coaxed from their resonant bodies through contact microphones. Sonic Flotsam is an alternative to the use of (disembodied) field recordings when relating to a specific location. The object has to come from the city I am performing in, and by exploring its sonic properties I am imagining (this is the absurdist part) what the object would say to us if it could talk.

I started programming my software in the year 2000. It creates eight independent voices from any source, voices that are then electronically altered, processed and spatialized. This allows the object to interact with its environment. Ambisonics is then used to move those eight voices through New Ear:: Spatial’s cube system.

Originally premiered in 2018, the current version is an update on the hardware, as I was initially using small handheld fans. As part of a Harvestworks Artist in Residency grant, engineer Noor Sabreen built an arduino-based motor system that allows me to control five high-speed motors in realtime.

About the Artists

Lia Kohl is a composer and sound artist based in Chicago. Her wide-ranging practice includes composition and performance, installation,
improvisation, and collaboration. Her work centers curiosity and patience, an exploration of the mundane and profound possibilities of sound.

Hans Tammen is just another worker in rhythms, frequencies and intensities. He likes to set sounds in motion, and then sit back to watch the movements unfold. Using textures, timbre and dynamics as primary elements, his music is continuously shifting, with different layers floating into the foreground while others disappear. This flows like clockwork, “transforming a sequence of instrumental gestures into a wide territory of semi-hostile discontinuity; percussive, droning, intricately colorful, or simply blowing your socks off” (Touching Extremes).