ABATTOIR is Audrey Chen (cello & voice) and Robert van Heumen (laptop & controllers). Rooted in free improvisation and experimental electronics, they perform music where Chen's intense vocals and intricate cello playing are sampled, transformed and ripped apart by Van Heumen's vigorous laptop actions. Together, they are able to create a deeply sensitive communication infused with a boundless feeling of release and letting go. Their first CD is out now on Evil Rabbit Records.
From a review by Keir Neuringer, of a concert at STEIM where it all began:
"Devoted to not holding back when Chen performs, it was a pleasure to see her work so hard to match van Heumen’s often brutal digital transformations of her sound. There were several moments of pure psychedelia as van Heumen allowed untransposed, ungranulated repetitions of Chen’s voice to come through. I loved it when he took Chen’s keening voice and filtered it in such a way that, for a moment, it seemed that George Martin, the revered Beatles producer, had entered the room."
Bloodknot (recorded live at STEIM's Local Stop concert on May 22 2008) (excerpt)
Feasting (recorded live at STEIM's Local Stop concert on March 12 2009) (excerpt)
Live at Nachtjournal Cologne March 5 2009 (excerpt)
Audrey Chen is a Chinese-American musician and performance artist born outside of Chicago in 1976. Using the cello, voice and analog electronics, Chen’s work focuses on the combination and layering of traditional and extended techniques. A large component of her music is improvised and her approach to this is often extremely personal and visceral. Her performance work incorporates sound, movement and visual/sculptural concepts. Chen performs solo and in collaboration with a wide number of musicians and dancers. Among musicians, she has worked with many great improvisers, including Phil Minton, Elliott Sharp, Aki Onda, Phill Niblock, Frederic Blondy, Jim Pugliese, Alessandro Bosetti, Mike Cooper, Mats Gustafsson, Mazen Kerbaj, Michael Zerang, Tatsuya Nakatani, Le Quan Ninh, Joe Mcphee, Susan Alcorn, Michele Doneda, Paolo Angeli, and Gianni Gebbia. Some current projects include: duos with Phil Minton, Frederic Blondy, Robert van Heumen, Katt Hernandez, Nate Wooley, a new trio project with Nate Wooley and C. Spencer Yeh, 3AandE: with Seamus Cater, Robert van Heumen and Nate Wooley and Trockeneis: with Andy Hayleck, Dan Breen, Catherine Pancake and Paul Neidhardt. Chen has performed in Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Taiwan and the USA. She is currently based in Baltimore, MD USA where she is member of the Red room and High Zero Collective, an on-going series and international festival devoted to experimental improvised music.
http://www.myspace.com/audreychen
Robert van Heumen is an electronic musician-composer using an extended laptop instrument to perform highly immersive and hyper-dynamic electro-acoustic music. As a musician, live sampling is his main tool. With a joystick and other tactile controllers, live sampled source sounds are gesturally manipulated and reworked within open ended narratives. Van Heumen is constantly searching for new strategies for live sampling and for the perfect balance between free improvisation and structured music. The laptop is used in an instrumental, tactile way, connecting action to sound like any acoustic instrument, and is used live as well as in the studio to generate sonic material for fixed-media works.
CD
front / back
Released in July 2009 on Evil Rabbit Records. Available on Fridgesound records, Subterranean Distribution and ToonDist.
ABATTOIR
Audrey Chen - voice & cello
Robert van Heumen - laptop & controllers
3. Endless summer (excerpt) 6:29
All music by Audrey Chen & Robert van Heumen
Selected, mixed and mastered by Robert van Heumen
Tracks 1 & 2 recorded live at STEIM's Local Stop concert on May 22 2008
Tracks 3, 4 & 5 recorded at STEIM on May 17 & 20 2008
Track 6 recorded live at STEIM's Local Stop concert on March 12 2009
Design: Lysander le Coultre (Strangelove creatives)
Photography: Monique Besten
Reviews
Baltimore-based Audrey Chen is one of the most notable of the young cellists and Abattoir, her duo with electronics manipulator Robert von Heumen, is a full round of beautiful playing and surprising turns. Chen's dexterity as both an instrumentalist and a vocalist is fairly striking and with both voices she moves easily between the pretty and the ugly, not always in tandem. The acoustic strings and singing voice give a very human feeling to the CD, only to be undermined by Van Heuman's live processing. In his hands, Chen's voice might start to develop an artificial sustain and within seconds be swirling like water down a drain. Fragments of her cello playing seem to be preserved and regurgitated as blipping percussion. At other times, the electronic elements separate themselves fully away from the acoustic, giving the odd sensation of an unstable duet, sometimes merging into a complex solo and then dividing again into two. The guttural sounds both favor at times might prove difficult to some listeners, but the five tracks here are endlessly inventive.Kurt Gottschalk, All about Jazz, 15 may 2010
I am not familiar with Mr. Van Heumen who I believe is from the Netherlands where this disc was recorded, but I am a big fan of Baltimore-based improviser & sonic sorceress Audrey Chen. I've caught Ms. Chen on a number of occasions and heard her play an astonishing duo set with Tatsuya Nakatani last Sunday (1/31/10) at The Stone. I can't think of a more magical and transportative improv set that I've attended in ages. Audrey's approach to the cello and strange vocalizing are completely unique and utterly distinctive. For this disc Audrey is working with another sonic wizard and like-minded improviser named Robert Van Heumen. Right away on "Bloodknot" we know we are in for something special with layers of odd vocal sounds being manipulated and her cello droning suspensefully underneath. Van Heumen sounds like he is sampling the wind and/or altering static or quiet feedback. Ms. Chen uses her voice like instrument, bending and twisting it into all kinds of bizarre shapes. Each sound is carefully selected and occasionally manipulated so that nothing is as it seems. Sometimes that static erupts while different layers of vocal sounds enter from different places. There times when it if difficult to tell the vocals, cello and electronics apart since they are in a similar range and are equally brittle and consistently surprising. Considering that this disc is an hour long, I found myself tranfixed and often at the edge of my seat wondering how they were making all of these remarkable sounds and what would come next. Something incredible I assure you.
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery, Feb 2010
After an disquieting start, modulating on shrill guttural vocalizations and innervated with noisy and improvisational acts, Robert van Heumen intervenes on laptops and controller. He generates instrumental arrangements, selected by highly noisy drones, with supplemental clicks, hums, sudden changes of volume and various other audio events. The vocal evolutions of Audrey Chen are really extreme, as is - in a decidedly unconventional manner - her cello playing, which is also consistent with radical outcomes, channeling bristly and very imaginative audio convergences. Digital brutalism in free form, vehement expressions, heightened efforts, wailings and atonal lamentations are all performed with uninterrupted breathing techniques - the electronic manipulation is relentless, full of powerful distortions, melancholic melodies and experimental combinations. Authentic, intricate compositions, obviously not designed to please a mainstream audience, or to sit quietly in cautious research styles.
Aurelio Cianciotta for Neural.it
Wow. What a mighty blast this is. Robert van Heumen we know from his previous work in the field of laptops and improvisations while Audrey Chen on cello and vocals is a new name to me. Chen screams, whispers, mumbles, talks and sometimes she does that with her voice, but perhaps more with her cello. Its not easy to say that, as it seems that the laptop of Van Heumen is the overall controller of the sound. He too screams, whispers, mumbles and talks with the input given by Chen, and not always at the same time. Two worlds that collide and communicate. Van Heumen takes everything apart, melts them into bricks and builds a new house with it. Heavy duty improvised music, but 'silence' is word that they hardly seem to know here. From the very first to the very last second things erupt like volcano. Sometimes we are on top of that volcano, watching the eruption, then we see hot lava running down, slow but hot and powerful. This CD lasts about an hour, which seems quite long to me. It has a lot energy, this music, but it also exhausts the listener quite a bit. To give this your full attention is great, but you should be prepared for it. This music is not entertainment, a lazy laid-back recording, but it requires full, 100% attention. Perhaps to be taken in a smaller doses then as a large 5inch pill it is now. Play half, take a nap and then the rest. Its rewarding however.
Frans de Waard for Vital Weekly
(…) vocalist and cellist Audrey Chen and Robert van Heumen on laptop and controllers operate no less obstinate on the album ABATTOIR. A permanent analog, as well as digitally originated de-familiarized shrieking accompanies...... these recordings from the Amsterdam STEIM-music lab. In length between 6 to 13 minutes, Chen & Van Heumen leave the pieces enough time to develop from formal branching up to a universal structure. Especially nice is the shortest piece "Endless summer", which is probably influenced by colleague Fennesz.
Andreas Fellinger for Magazin für musik und umgebung, November 2009
Chen plays cello and makes vocal noises -- hard to judge her as a singer here in what is basically an unapologetic avant-noise album. Van Heumen is credited with laptop and controllers; also "selected, mixed, and mastered" so he has the last laugh. Chen is Chinese-American, b. 1976 near Chicago, is based in Baltimore. She has appeared on several other albums, only incidentally getting top billing here. Van Heumen's credit list goes back to 2000, but it's hard to tell how they shape up into albums. I tried following postclassical electronic music back in the 1970s when it was still relatively rare, but lost track in the 1980s, especially after Tom Johnson left the Village Voice. I imagine there's more stuff like this floating around, but just don't hear it. Strange sounds, lots of noise, a bit hard to take. Still, I don't find it as annoying as Merzbow or Lightning Bolt. I doubt that you'll like it, but I'm not sure I don't.
Tom Hull
In Dutch:
De kracht en essentie van de muziek op ‘Abattoir’ is dat Robert van Heumen de expressieve potentie van de stem en de cello van Audrey Chen uitbuit en versterkt door de vervormingen van de elektronica. Dat creëert ongekende mogelijkheden. Het zijn interessante experimenten, maar je zal deze plaat niet snel opzetten als je muziek wilt horen om in een betere stemming te geraken.
De Chinees-Amerikaanse Chen geeft op vele verschillende manieren uitdrukking aan haar gevoelens, van diep gegrom tot ijle hoge tonen die luiden als gebeden en van oerkreten tot zacht gefluister. Indachtig de albumtitel 'Abattoir' klinkt haar vervormde stem af en toe inderdaad alsof er een speenvarken geslacht wordt. Dan weer lijken hele gebouwen in te storten, met bakstenengeweld en glas dat begint te scherven in ontelbare deeltjes. Als een krolse poes miauwt, gromt, spint en schreeuwt Chen alle katers uit de buurt bij elkaar. Kokhalzend en lallend brengt zij geen zoete gevoelens naar boven bij de luisteraar, die zich in zijn eigen huis ineens niet meer zo op zijn gemak voelt.
Bij de track 'Endless Summer' wordt zowaar iets van een melodisch thema door de cello ingezet, waaromheen vrije improvisaties klinken, die niets met het onderwerp te maken lijken te hebben. Het motief wordt vele malen herhaald en stopt dan onverbiddelijk op het moment dat je er van in trance zou kunnen raken. Dan volgen stemgevingen die doen denken aan oefeningen voor klassieke zang om het articulatieapparaat te scholen, zoals kauw- en resonanstechnieken. Het nummer bevat ook een element van percussie, alsof iemand met een rietje op tafel zit te tikken. Dat heldere en vlugge gerikketik hoor je ook elders op de cd, evenals hoge, fladderende fluittonen, en dat geeft het overheersende gevoel van beklemming nog iets van lucht. Maar vrolijker word je niet van dit album.
Jan Jasper Tamboer voor Jazzenzo
Met ‘ABATTOIR’, de titel van hun eerste cd, geven celliste/vocaliste Audrey Chen en elektronicaman Robert van Heumen al aan dat ze geen muziek voor tere zieltjes maken. De improvisaties die ze bij STEIM in Amsterdam produceerden en vastlegden, gaat uit van Chen's soms orthodox en soms experimenteel bespeelde cello, en haar stemgeluid. Met dat laatste zoekt ze vaak de extremen op en krijsende of gillende klanken zijn vaker aan de orde dan welluidende, mooie. Van Heumen bewerkt die akoestische klanken met de software uit zijn laptop, zodat volkomen onduidelijk wordt of we Chen nu live horen, of via een omweg. Dat maakt het spannend, hoe ongemakkelijk de muziek af en toe ook is. En wie bereid is om zich de klankwereld van het tweetal eigen te maken, vindt er ook weer een eigen schoonheid in.
Herman te Loo voor JazzFlits, November 2009
Abattoir : cello, stem en live electronics, maar niet voor tere zieltjes
Cello, stem en electronics: daar doen we het mee op deze voorstelling. Déja vu, zal de doorwinterde bezoeker van festivals voor nieuwe muziek en mixed media zeggen. Maar deze combinatie klinkt nog nét iets anders... Abattoir bestaat uit Audrey Chen (cello en stem) en Robert van Heumen (laptop en controllers), wier roots duidelijk in de wereld van de vrije improvisatie en de experimentele elektronische muziek liggen. Zoals vaak het geval is op hun optredens, vormen de input van Chen's stem en cello de basis om van Heumens live processing op los te laten.
Die stem zingt, gilt, kraakt, fluistert, mompelt en vocaliseert er op los als een autonome klankgenerator (wat een stem per slot van rekening ook ís). Vooral de nummers Bloodknot en Feasting (beide live opgenomen in STEIM) spreken hier boekdelen. De granulatie en distortie die van Heumen op de input loslaat, heeft doorgaans de subtiliteit van een kettingzaag, maar is daarom ook des te indrukwekkender in al zijn brute oerkracht. Na een tijdje is de fusie volledig en valt het onderscheid tussen akoestisch en elektronisch, cello of stem, volkomen weg. Hoewel het eindresultaat hier en daar aan het psychedelische grenst, blijft er toch in elke sessie een voortdurende instant-communikatie tussen de twee aanwezig.
Oorgetuige
‘Endless Summer’ is de derde van vijf tracks die op het album ‘Abattoir’ zijn terug te vinden en die een weerspiegeling bevat van de concerten die het tweetal in Amsterdam had afgewerkt. Het is het rustigste nummer van de vijf improvisaties. Na een intro van traag grommende en krassende celloklanken en flarden elektronicageritsel worden gaandeweg cellofragmenten in loops gestoken en op elkaar gestapeld. Vervolgens wordt een enkele basnoot geïntroduceerd en die doorheen de rest van het stuk wordt herhaald. Deze dient als kapstok waaraan al de andere klanken worden gehangen. Zo wordt er door Chen wel heel gedreven en knap gesoleerd. Voorbij halfweg zet Chen in met – voor een keer – bedachtzame zang die goed past bij delayeffecten die nu ook nadrukkelijk naar voren worden gebracht. Snippers digitale klanken en cellowerk hoog in het toonregister breien een einde aan dit contemplatieve stuk.
Sen Claes voor Kwadratuur.be
Images
(photo's by Peter Gannushkin)
ABATTOIR excerpt from STEIM CONCERT: Electronic Music Lab, 8 May 2010, Japan Society, NYC USA
Same event as above, the full ABATTOIR set.