(HOLLYWOOD PRESS CORPS) — Brooklyn, New York — Roulette presented on December 21st, Saturday night, the 14th annual Winter Solstice concert, honoring the late Phill Niblock.
Phillip Earl Niblock (1933-2024) was an American composer, filmmaker and videographer.
In 1985, he became director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation for avant-garde music based in New York and Ghent, Belgium.
Niblock taught at the College of Staten Island from 1971 to 1988.
While riding his motorcycle through the Appalachian Mountains, Niblock experienced an epiphany: climbing a steep grade behind a diesel truck, he noticed a near-perfect synchronization of their engine revolutions. “The strong physical presence of the beats resulting from the two engines running at slightly different frequencies put me in such a trance that I nearly rode off the side of the mountain.”
Niblock had no formal musical education. He composed based on his intuition, combining at times, images he filmed from his travels.
The Movement of People Working (1973-1991), presented at Roulette Intermedium, was done in collaboration with Niblock’s partner Katherine Liberovskaya.
It featured his signature multimedia style: projections of his seminal film and a soundtrack of his diverse compositions.
Filmed in 16 mm and color, mostly in rural parts of China, Brazil, Portugal, Lesotho, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, the Arctic, Mexico, Hungary, the Adirondacks and Peru, the film series focuses on everyday work, agrarian or maritime.
The films employ realistic long takes, minimal camera movement, and a striking juxtaposition of non-fiction and vibrant colors.
These depictions of human manual labor are presented abstractly, combined with Niblock’s signature eletronic music compositions, created with Pro Tools and a Mac computer.
Niblock was deeply influenced by Minimalism and his music style still influences many composers all over the world.
Phill Niblock’s music was released on labels such as XI, Moikai, Mode Records, and Touch. His work also includes a double-sided DVD of films and music, spanning nearly four hours, available on the Extreme label and YouTube.
Catch the full show at:
Roulette Intermedium
509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217
(1) Schell, Michael (October 2, 2018). “Phill Niblock at 85: Austere, Unpopular, Astounding Minimalism.”
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Phill Niblock, Dedicated Avant-Gardist of Music and Film, Dies at 90
