Andrea Belfi, Thomas Ankersmit
FEED 052815
Presenting the two-year anniversary of FEED's FREQUENCIES program at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. Andrea Belfi performs a selection from his latest album Natura Morta, the electro-acoustic equivalent of an artist's skill portraying the glow of a ripe fruit, or capturing the light beaming on a vacant chair. Following the intermission, Thomas Ankersmit will perform his solo electronic work, shifting a captive audience between the controlled formation of music and a sonic world of chaos.
Thomas Ankersmit (1979, Leiden, Netherlands) is a musician and installation artist based in Berlin and Amsterdam. Since 2006 his main instrument, both live and in the studio, has been the Serge analogue modular synthesizer.
Acoustic phenomena such as sound reflections, infrasonic vibration, otoacoustic emissions, and highly directional projections of sound have been an important part of his work since the early 2000's. His electronic music is also characterized by a deliberate misuse of the equipment, using feedback and disruptions in the signal to create dense but finely detailed swarms of sound.
Recent projects include a radio piece based on the acoustics of abandoned radar domes with Valerio Tricoli, recording sessions with Kevin Drumm at GRM in Paris and with Tricoli at ZKM in Karlsruhe, a new Phill Niblock composition for Serge modular synthesizer and all-analogue quadraphonic music for the historical Serge and Buchla synthesizers at EMS in Stockholm.
His music is released on Touch, PAN and Ash International.
Figueroa Terrace, a solo record with music for the original Serge synthesizers at CalArts, was released by Touch in 2014.
Natura Morta, "dead nature" or "still life". This album can be understood as a powerful study of the minute details of the art of electro-acoustic composition. Layers of drums and percussions intertwine with synth waves making the portrait come to life, detail after detail, until a complex figure emerges from the white canvas. The constant, unsteady sounds, wavering noise, swirling cymbals, and distant feedback gently pull the listener into the picture, letting them enjoy every detail of this beautifully staged compositions. His latest work mixes influences from both Italian minimalism and the electro-acoustic contemporary scene. Somewhere in between the electronics of Keith Fullerton Whitman, the percussive repetitions of Jon Mueller, and the atmospheric sensibility of Pan-American.
Andrea Belfi is a drummer and composer.
He studied art in Milan before becoming involved in experimental music. He currently lives in Berlin and its projects include collaborations with Erik Skodvin, Stefano Pilia, Mike Watt, David Grubbs, BJNilsen, Simon James Phillips, Aidan Baker, Hobocombo.