CLINKER | PRESS & INTERVIEWS
CLINKER
| ON THE OTHER SIDE... (for L. Cohen) |
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That’s right, you read correctly:
the composition is a homage to the author of “Hallelujah”
and “Suzanne”, commissioned for the 2008 Leonard Cohen
International Festival in Edmonton, Alberta; in essence, this was
a “live cinema” performance, one of the various specialization
of Gary James Joynes, who’s also a visual artist and a vocalist
besides composing commendable music (at least from what I could gather
from this, my opening meeting with this man’s production). Exploring
“meditative spaces and the kinaesthetic and synesthetic effects
of sounds and visuals”, Clinker develops intriguing textures
of processed vocals and synthesized resonances, contextualizing his
work in the advanced rank of what once would have been designed as
“dark/space ambient” with a pinch of (perhaps unintentional)
Lustmordian influence. Indeed the growling features of the basic factor
– Cohen’s low tone – meshed with the infinite wavering
and oceanic swells of the electronic treatments generate more than
a few moments of intense resonance, both emotional and physical. Harmonious
meditations on the absence of weight, diffusing around our persona
with the same levity of a flock of black-haired cherubs looking at
us with a mix of resignation and severity. Nothing really new under
the sun, but – inexplicably – absolutely stunning for
long segments.
– Temporary Fault
Altro lavoro della label statunitense Dragon's Eye Recordings. Ed
altro prodotto fortemente segnato da una connotazione sperimentale.
Gary James Joynes (o per meglio scrivere Clinker) ci conduce nel suo
mondo di idiosincrasie electroniche. "On The Other Side... (for
L.COHEN)" è un cd che conquista poco alla volta. O sarebbe
più opportuno dire che avvolge lentamente. I loop sono medaglioni
intrisi di spine avvelenate. I minuti di ansia sono quarantadue. In
questo ampio lasso di tempo suoni analogici destrutturati ti piazzano
con le spalle al muro. La musica è rigorosamente strumentale,
e visioni prospettiche si materializzano come d'incanto. E' la materia
che viene creata in funzione del libero arbitrio umano.
– Ideabiografica
On the Other Side... (for L. Cohen) may seem, conceptually, a distinctly
unpromising experiment by Edmonton-based tonesmith Gary James Joynes,
aka Clinker; the bass tones of Leonard Cohen's voice hardly seem an
inspirational departure point for ambient drone experiment. But once
Joynes gets down and deconstructive with analog synthesis, digi-dusting,
and a touch of his own voice, any qualms are dispelled as an oneiric
suite emerges. Clinker's manifesto is one of "meditative spaces
and the kinesthetic and synesthetic effects of sound," and, having
initially established a serene and euphonic dronosphere, he articulates
it in terms of a 42-minute tract, drawing out the smoky lows of Cohen
in an evacuated space, then lacing them his own wispy highs. Cohen's
voice, suspended between mantra and Gregorian chant, seeps back through,
cracked, distended, bled into by Mr Joynes' altered states. A slow
transmutation is effected, first into subtle dissonance, then on to
a dramatic closure of thickening timbres stretching toward shimmering
shivering uplift. Cover art again reflects musical meaning potential,
Cohen's physog abstracted beyond recognition, evoking his struggle
with light and dark. Joynes works with Cohen's voice, a nocturnal
hum maneuvered into sweeping movements; gradually emancipated from
Cohenic attachments, it enters into a spooked drone zone redolent
of NWW's Salt Marie Celeste. All in all, Clinker joins Lissom to form
a doublet of finely wrought dronescapes to further cement the Dragon's
Eye reputation for quality experimental electronics.
– Igloo Magazine
Originating as a live cinema performance at the Leonard Cohen International
Festival in Alberta, Clinker's 45 minute 'On The Other Side' is a
thoughtfully and beautifully structured piece of work. Using bass
tones from Cohen's music as well as some serious processing and synthesis
Clinker perform a mini miracle of soundscape pleasure. It's an initially
serene and very beautiful drone piece with suitably atmospheric and
haunting sound design which, over time, transforms into subtle dissonance
and then on into a dramatic end section with a gorgeously dense texture
and a strangely uplifting lilt to the chords. Penetrating deep into
your subconscious this is another release from Dragon's Eye that left
me with a lasting impression that made me want to go straight back
to it. So many wonderful releases from this label - absolutely superb!
– Smallfish
In processing the voice of Leonard Cohen beyond recognition, sound
artist Gary James Joynes liberates it from structure and narrative
development, and uses it, alongside analog synthesizers, to induce
in the listener a suspended listening, wherein its intimacy doesn’t
absorb or placate but pushes one back into one’s own multi-colored
memories
.
Cohen’s breathy bass tones are most readily noticeable in the
opening moments, where they unfurl in long tendrils alongside sparse
but carefully conceived accompaniment. The groans and strained overtones
continue to twist around subliminally felt mantras for the first ten
minutes of this forty-two minute set, and while pleasing in their
ability to trigger memories, its the unexpected excursion into the
dark intensity of the slow-burning, sultry drone that occupies the
mid-section of the work, as eerie as it is erotic, that really ensnares
the attention.
Near the end Cohen’s voice, which sounds not wholly unlike a
Gregorian chant, seeps through the pores of the piece once more, broken
with spare crackles and distended by Joynes own high-pitched inflection.
The album, apart from effectively demonstrating Joynes ability to
render a small clutch of component parts almost endlessly flexible,
thus making a fine example of high creativity from basic means, represents
a strong extension of Cohen’s apparent interest in the light
and dark elements of human experience.
– Cyclic Defrost Magazine
Tired of endless covers of Leonard Cohen's “Hallelujah”?
Those of the more experimentally-minded persuasion should treat themselves
to On the Other Side... (for L. Cohen), a fascinating homage to the
Canadian poet by sound artist Gary James Joynes (aka Clinker). Certainly
the soundscape, which originated as a live cinema performance commissioned
by the 2008 Leonard Cohen International Festival in Edmonton, Alberta,
is unlike anything else the Cohen devotee might have been exposed
to. Using analog synthesis and processing, Joynes created the uninterrupted,
forty-two-minute ambient drone by stretching the bass tones of Cohen's
voice into endlessly long trails and augmenting them with layers of
his own voice. Uncannily suggestive of snoring, the low register of
Cohen's voice punctuates Joynes's soothing, high-pitched tendrils
in a manner that only intensifies the work's already-dreamlike character.
True to drone form, there's slow-motion ebb and flow, occasional pulsation,
plus harmonic shifts so gradual they verge on imperceptible, and all
of it's executed with precision-point control. Halfway through, Cohen's
frog-like tones vanish, only to re-surface minutes later like foghorns
piercing mist. During the work's final quarter, the choir-like voices
call to mind both Gregorian chant and Tuvan throat singing before
vanishing a final time and ceding the stage to a shimmering drone.
Apparently, Joynes' live presentations explore the synaesthetic effects
of visuals and sound but On the Other Side... (for L. Cohen) is more
than capable of producing synaesthesia in an audio format alone.
– Textura
Dragon´s Eye Recordings have recently slid down the American
west coast from Seattle to Los Angeles. Home of a small cadre of artists
mainly committed to shaping and manipulating the very air and architecture
around them, as witnessed by recent releases like Yann Novak´s
pulsating "In Residence" and Steve Peters´ "Filtered
Light (Chamber Music 4)", in which the latter proves that an
empty room is far from being a silent room. Since its back catalogue
is small enough to fit into a medium-sized Samsonite, I assume they
schlepped their stock with them, both are still available at a mere
ten bucks a crack.
Its latest release is an homage to the man in the famous blue raincoat,
Leonard Cohen, by Clinker, aka artist and sound designer Gary James
Joynes, and was specially composed for and debuted at the Leonard
Cohen International Festival in Edmonton last year. One wonders how
the audio-visual performance was received by an audience of Cohen
scholars and geeks.
For this "bass-scape", Joynes alchemically renders Cohen´s
self-proclaimed "golden voice" into some lesser but hardier
metal whose tones while also deep and resonant are dirtier and rougher,
less gleaming and seductive - wrought iron, perhaps, maybe brass.
Joynes deploys analogue synthesizers and even lends his own voice
to the mix, though pitched high in the stratsosphere above Cohen´s
earthy mulch. The synths have the perfect timbre for accompanying
his ominous rumble, which over the course of nearly three quarters
of an hour is abstracted into obscurity. Even the cover art, I would
deduce, are visual equivalents of the music - Cohen´s visage
stretched and abstracted beyond clear recognition.
Joynes intends his piece to reflect wordlessly the tussle Cohen has
fought with light and dark that would heal or harm the world. Despite
a clunker of a name, Clinker has succeeded in an inimitable fashion.
Since being inimitable is also a characteristic of Leonard Cohen,
it is even a meta-success.
– Sonomu
Dragon’s eye have just resurfaced on my radar after my brief
hiatus from reviewing, and this release is typical of the label’s
most recent output. Clinker have presented what amounts to a drone
work, a kind of audible still life that takes as it’s source
the voice and vocalisations of Leonard Cohen. Originally commissioned
as a live cinema performance for the Leonard Cohen International festival
in Edmonton, Canada.
Cohen’s voice, renowned for its resonant, reverberant tonality,
becomes the impetus for a prolonged piece. Clinker’s technique
stems from an interest in meditative spaces, and the kinesthetic and
synesthetic effects of sound and tonalism. What we have here is a
long form drone piece, with Cohen’s vocalisations time stretched
and distorted..spun out into a continuous wave form, a strand that
becomes the basis on which Clinker builds his sound, with other complimentary
tones and drone passages.
Over the 42 minutes, as with most drone pieces, one is lulled into
a kind of sublime otherworldy space, where time and matter lose their
significance, and we are placed into suspended animation, cast adrift
in a flood of tidal drones, ebbing and flowing, and coaxing us into
an altogether more spiritual plane. For hard core drone fanatics,
this will be another treasure to add to your collection. Capably handled,
and well worth a listen.
– White_Line
Clinker aka Gary James Joynes is an audio/visual artist from Edmonton,
Canada who works in the electronic experimental music field, exploring
the possibilities of technology, found objects, organic sounds and
visuals. Both analogue and digital devices are used. He has performed
in various music festivals in Canada and abroad combining his music
with visuals. For “On the Other Side... (for L. Cohen)”
Clinker was commissioned by 2008 Leonard Cohen International Festival
in Edmonton for a live cinema performance. Gary James Joynes works
with Cohen’s deep bass voice stretching it producing a trance-inducing
mood a bit dark as well and getting into a zone of ambient drones
that recalls me some passages of Coil’s “Time Machine”
or NWW’s “Salt Maria Celeste”. It would be great
to see sometime the accompanied visuals of this music.
– Loop
Apparently there is such a thing as a Leonard Cohen International
Festival in Edmonton for which this work was commissioned as a live
cinema work. Behind Clinker is Gary james Joynes, 'a dedicated audio
and visual artist, composer/musician/vocalist, and sound designer'
and has done various visual works in combination with sound (or vice
versa of course). On 'On The Other Side... (for L. Cohen)' he concentrates
on the bass tone of Cohen's voice, which he stretches out into a forty-two
minute piece of music. I must admit I have no idea wether Cohen or
his fans are really heavily into microsound, but this ambient work
was no doubt an odd-ball at the festival. The stretched out, dark
humming sounds pass with great majestical movements. I must also admit
that if I hadn't known the story behind the piece, I would have never
guessed any connection with Leonard Cohen. I think I would have said
that this is a fine work of ambient, drone and warm glitches, that
makes a great late night listening. Spooky, haunting, dark. Also music
that is nothing new under the ambient, drone and warm glitch sun,
but Clinker produced a fine work. The two questions that remain: what
did the visual side of things look like, and how was this work received?
The audio part was received well here.
– Vital Weekly CLI
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EXAMINER
ARTICLE | JULY 2008
Live cinema explores Cohen’s other side...
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SEE
MAGAZINE ARTICLE | JULY 2008
Clinker stretches Cohen On The Other Side...
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VUE
MAGAZINE ARTICLE | JULY 2008
CLINKER AT THE LEONARD COHEN INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
EVEN COHEN CAN DROP A CLINKER
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EDMONTON
JOURNAL ARTICLE + PODCAST INTERVIEW LINK | JULY 2008
Another side of Leonard Cohen
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PRE
& POST MUTEK 2007 PODCASTS FOR CLOCK'S AND CLOUDS RADIO SHOW
Interviews by John Huck for CJSR Radio
Clinker
(Pre Mutek Part 1)
For Edmonton-based ambient artist Clinker (Gary Joynes),
Mutek 2007 marked his third appearance at the festival, following
performances there in 2003 and 2005. He was returning, however, with
a new approach and a few new tricks up his sleeve. He sat down with
John Huck a few days before flying to Montreal to talk about his new
project Provody. Interview recorded on May 26th. John Huck is host
of Clocks & Clouds.
Duration: 00:14:54 | Filesize: 13.6MB
Clinker
(Post Mutek Part 2)
After the dust had settled, he met up with John Huck to describe his
experiences at the festival. Interview Recorded June 4, 2007.
Duration: 00:07:06 | Filesize: 6.5MB
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IGLOO
MAGAZINE REVIEW | CLINKER'S MUTEK 2007 PERFORMANCE OF PROVODY
Written by TJ NORRIS | JUNE 2007
So, it was immediately off to Ex-Centris, a wonderful
media complex who have partnered with Mutek for years. The theaters
are intimate enough, but the acoustics are generally spot on. I entered
as Clinker (Gary James Joynes) opened the festival with his new Provody
work, which was exquisite. Like a watery collage, deep in lightly
warbling drones, high on visually synthesizing a very restrained palette.
It was hazy, gloppy, striated, and cooling. He built his piece to
a sonic crescendo by using his heavily mixed vocals to smear together
an a/v wash of dark harmonies. One of the channels from which his
voice was being projected sparked some with hiss and fallout, but
it was one of those moments where technical difficulties work in one's
favor. A bit more organic than his past work, Clinker's performance
seemed to resonate with something innately lucid. - TJ NORRIS
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VIDEO
INTERVIEW FOR XLR8R MAGAZINE FROM MUTEK 2007
Interview by Tobias C. Van Veen
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VIDEO
INTERVIEW FOR FLASHER.COM FROM MUTEK LE PLACARD FESTIVAL 2005
Interview by FLASHER.COM
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SEE
MAGAZINE INTERVIEW | JUNE 5, 2003
Min. sound, max. effect
Local artist Gary Joynes takes MUTEK 2003 by storm with his Clinker
project.
Interview by Propser Prodaniuk for REMIX
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