The Squid's Ear Magazine


nil.: 01 (Intangible Arts)

Restarting his sonic life at "nothing", Chester Hawkins' new project after work under his own name and his previous decades-long project Blue Sausage Infant is nil, recording after a two-week residency at Liebig12 in Berlin and participation in the Zero Cohesion program, this five-part work for "maximal drone" explores complex harmonics in a dynamic and powerful wall of sound.
 

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Chester Hawkins-composer, performer


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Label: Intangible Arts
Catalog ID: IA029
Squidco Product Code: 33257

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack - 3 panel
Recorded in Berlin, Germany, in June, 2022.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"01 is a summary report following a two-week residency at Liebig12 in Berlin. nil. was present as part of the Zero Cohesion program, which occupied the space throughout June 2022. The procedures documented here incorporate studio recordings made on site and modified street recordings from east Berlin and elsewhere. The June 29 procedure was open to the public for research purposes. Sounds, mix, photography, and package design by Chester Hawkins. Audio mastering by Mark Beazley, Trace Recordings, United Kingdom.



Chester Hawkins (Baltimore USA) began musical activities in the 1980s cassette underground, creating a personal form of junkyard dada psychedelia and ritual noise. His Blue Sausage Infant project started in Washington DC as an exercise in musique concrète and abstract electronics, later expanding to embrace Berlin-school kosmische- musik and sound design. Live performances ranged from anarchic improvised actions to densely composed works, leaving audiences from DC to Paris in a variety of profoundly altered states...

Hawkins retired BSI in 2013 and continued under his own name in an avant-classical direction with cinematic surrealism and highly narrative soundworks. Using an arsenal of electronics and modified acoustic objects, the aim was to tease the brain with a delicate balance of pastoral dreamscapes and paranoid tension.

nil.began in March 2022 as a move towards maximal drone and strong simplicity, exploring complex harmonics in a dynamic and powerful wall of sound. nil. material is presented without clues to the motives behind it. All works are named for the date of completion and all releases share the same cover panel, free from artwork that would suggest any intention. Context is not necessary here. nil. is an attempt to create potent sound without ego, time, structure, or agenda.

Hawkins has provided soundtrack music for feature-length independent films Pale Trees (2018), The Gospel According to Bart (2014), and Surface to Air (2010), as well as the short films Apostasy (2018, dir. H. Paul Moon) and This is Ellen (2013, dir. John Salcido).


Artist Biographies

"Chester Hawkins (Washington DC) has performed a wide range of experimental music since 1985. His most well-known project was BLUE SAUSAGE INFANT, being an exercise in musique concrète and loop-collage, which later expanded to embrace drone, krautrock, psychedelia, noise, and sonically intense live performances. After 28 years, the BSI project was retired and new works continue under his own name, crafting dynamic adventures in sound with a more focused and wholly electronic approach.

Hawkins has released music under the imprints Alrealon Musique, Zeromoon, and his own Intangible Arts. Past collaborators include Insect Factory, Violet, Tag Cloud, Haunted Toilet, Changes to Blind, New Carrollton, Lida Husik, and Stolen Government Binder Clip."

-Chester Hawkins 11/18/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. 0622.7 4:40

2. 0622.5 8:12

3. 0622.6 7:10

4. 0622.4 7:12

5. 0622.3 13:55

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Sound, Noise, &c.
Electronica
Guitarists, &c.
Piano & Keyboards
Electronic Forms
Field Recordings
Solo Artist Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Experimental & Electronic Music

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Intangible Arts.


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The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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