Mikrozvuk #56: Pierre Bastien, Angelo Harmsworth

In December, LOM space will host a concert from the Mikrozvuk series, featuring artists Pierre Bastien and Angelo Harmsworth.

After canceling his concert at the end of 2021, Pierre Bastien will finally be stopping by LOM. It will be a concert that builds on and expands the concepts of "mechanical music" that have been explored at LOM during performances by Tatsuya Umeda, Peter Válek, Maria Komarova, Ryoko Akama, and others. Pierre Bastien is a French "conductor," composer, designer, and multi-instrumentalist. His orchestra Mecanium is composed of musical automata activated by electric motors. He uses parts from the Meccano construction set (one of the oldest technical construction sets, created in 1901), which is similar to the better-known Merkur. The orchestra's performers are therefore mechanisms that play specific instruments from around the world, such as the Chinese lute, Moroccan bendir, Javanese saron, koto, and sanzu. "Mecanium is a composer's dream orchestra, always at hand, obeying every command and, moreover, fail-safe." Bastien has been working with it since 1976, first as part of the French avant-garde scene, and later his album was also released by Aphex Twin on his label. Today, he performs in large concert halls.
The hybrid, self-playing sculptures resemble a series of short illusions, their sound taking us back to the era of the first mechanical toys and musical instruments. However, Mecanium is not a museum exhibit; on the contrary, during his performances, Bastien is able to gracefully transition from the position of conductor to mechanic or performer, seamlessly integrating himself among his metal bandmates.

Angelo Harmsworth is a musician and sound artist from New Mexico, USA, currently living in Berlin. In his compositions, he attempts to map the boundaries of the senses, playing with the perception of time, place, and sound. He creates hallucinogenic, time-sealed, and extremely cathartic sound worlds. His sets are best listened to in "eyes wide shut" mode, which is best practiced by listening to his last year's album Without Blinking, released by the Slovak label Warm Winters Ltd. Recommended for fans of Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Fennesz, or labels such as Opal Tapes and Students of Decay.