Phill Niblock, a legend of experimental sound known for his compositions of unrelenting drone, left this world on January 8, leaving behind hundreds of hours of music and signaling the end of an era. The seemingly endless winter solstice sessions Niblock staged for decades in his New York loft were formative experiences for many pioneers of new music. We conclude the year that began with Niblock’s exit by honoring the long-standing tradition of this austere pioneer of minimalism. On December 22, the inner room of Reethaus will be completely saturated with Niblock’s atonal textures.
Beginning in the 1960s, Niblock’s practice developed from his fascination with being able to play back recorded sounds in ways that made them sound bigger than they did when heard live, discovering in this fashion a kind of poetics of amplification. He created his thick drones of music by stacking scores of channels into very dense tunings. These he played in durations that defied the expectations of musical performance and the endurance of listeners. In a Niblock work, there is no melody, no variation in dynamics and no rhythm. And yet as you accept the experience, something opens up, and small nuances become big ones. The monolith of sound gives way to pulsations and shudders, like scratches and caves on the face of a giant mountain.
This Open Haus experience, programmed by Soundwalk Collective, is offered in syndication with Roulette and in collaboration with the late composer’s partner, the video artist Katherine Liberovskaya. One day after Roulette stages the first posthumous Niblock Winter Solstice Concert in New York, Reethaus will present a spaliatized version of the six-hour recording through its 360-degree sound system. With this tribute, we conclude the year by returning to the themes of immersive sound and long listening with which we opened Reethaus.