Vital Weekly 824

YELLOW6 - SOUNDS AND MOVING PICTURES (CD/DVD by Lunasylum/Editions6) Although around for a long time, it wasn't until Vital Weekly 815 that we reviewed something again by Jon Attwood, better known as Yellow6. That was a collaborative work with French Larkian, but in spring time last year he toured the lowlands, Belgium, The Netherlands and France, performing at the Tonefloat tf100 festival (along with Dirk Serries as Sleep Of Reason) and in Antwerp at the Live Looping Festival. That is a well-chosen name for a festival where people like Yellow6 perform. Basically a man, a guitar and loop devices. His three pieces from that festival are captured in audio and film, and both can heard and watched. On the CD there are also six pieces recorded from the audience, so we have a curious mixture of guitar playing and audience activities, although which is very quiet most of the time. These six pieces have been manipulated by David Newlyn. Like I remarked when reviewing the collaborative CD with Larkian, this kind of music hardly progresses, and probably

  doesn't

want to either. With all of this audio and video material, quite an overload. As a music lover I should say I enjoyed the CD more, but that's not entirely true. The CD contains great music, but perhaps music that I also know well quite now. Therefore I had more joy here with the DVD, especially his playing at the Live Looping festival, which lasts thirty minutes. Its interesting to see Attwood at work, playing few notes and then starting to loop them around, adding a few more, more loops, a texture, a strum, loop and loop. The floor is covered with all sorts of boxes to transform sounds, color them, change them. Attwood is playing them with great care and hardly a guitar hero, rock god type of musician. On the DVD there is a bunch more of bonus material, such as a spacious film and likewise spacious soundtrack by various film makers and even a slide show of tour pictures. Video and images work well together here and that's nice. But obviously sometimes you just want to sit back and enjoy 'just' music and then the CD is perhaps the best alternative. Like said, in this particular world 'innovation' doesn't seem to be that important, but quality is delivered no less. An excellent tour report. (FdW)

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