[ reviews ]
30. Live in 's-Hertogenbosch [ • rec. 2000 ]> rel. 2003 - CD Bottrop Boy, Germany ()
Francisco López "Live in 's-Hertogenbosch" (CD - Bottrop-Boy, 2003)
World renowned composer Francisco López has by now an extensive discography and is seen regularly performing his music live around the globe. Yet only a very small portion of his extensive discography reflects his activities on stage. Therefore we are proud to release this excellent recording of a Francisco López concert from 1999, taped in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. In a dark room, López sat behind the mixing board and mixed his various sound sources blindfolded, whilst his audience was also blindfolded. Unlike his many 'silent' (or more accurately) studio CD's, López here builds the sound from extreme silence to extreme loudness. This CD comes with a black blindfold which is recommended for use during playback of the CD at home. Bottrop-Boy press release (2003)
Francisco López "Live in 's-Hertogenbosch" (CD - Bottrop-Boy, 2003)
Francisco López has an extensive discography already and he is seen playing live a lot in the most parts of the world. Yet only very few live pieces were released on CD. This new CD might be the very first CD entirely devoted to a single recording from him. Already recorded four years ago, and planned for release, but labels went bust etc. Now it's finally available and it comes with a blindfold. As many who visited a López concert will know, he plays in the dark and both López and visitors wear blindfolds to concentrate fully on the music. Although I was there that evening in 1999, I had to leave before López started to catch the last train. What a pity to miss such a historical concert. The CD starts in a true Lópezian vein: silent.
After some minutes sound starts to come out of your speakers, but it's still soft. After some twenty minutes the Lópezian sounds (which are, as always, hard to define in terms of origin) arrive at an audible level and from then on things go up sound wise. At the end (the concert lasts around thirty minutes) it's very loud, without being too noisy or blurry. Everything remains at a clear sound level.
The sound ends abrupt and you feel it being sucked away. I don't know wether this is a line or microphone recording, but the result is excellent. Maybe this is how López wants his CDs to be treated: play them and cranck up volume and EQ (bass, mid and high end) the way they suit you, until they arrive at what you as a listener wants and therefore his CDs are so soft, so the more potential is there. And finally also worth noting: this comes in a regular jewel case with printwork, albeit black, but no longer those transparant no info jewel cases. Vital Magazine (The Netherlands, 2003)
Francisco López "Live in 's-Hertogenbosch" (CD - Bottrop-Boy, 2003)
A few years back, Byram and I (Jim) had the preposterous idea of getting really drunk at a Francisco López concert and then heckling him when he performed one of his infamous, nearly inaudible compositions, simply because, quite frankly, they really annoyed us. Having giddily consumed a bottle of whiskey and entered the gritty confines of the 7hz warehouse performance space, we were a bit surprised at López' request that everyone in the audience be blindfolded. It wasn't enought to simply turn off all the lights and let the audience sit in the dark; López requires more absolute sensory deprivation in order to listen to his work. Regardless of how you might interpret our perception of the show due to our sloppy intoxication, we both left elated and exhausted from his very impressive, phenomonological excursion into raw sound. Having very little definition within the reverb-happy warehouse of 7hz, López' massive roar of sound steadily increased around us, before coming to an abrupt conclusion. I thought the performance was a little too quick for my tastes, until I checked my watch to discover that almost an hour and half had passed! In effect, López had hypnotized me. The cd documentation of "Live In 'S-Hertogenbosch" does its best to repeat the experience of a Francisco López live show by including a blindfold along with the music itself! That said, this show is a mere 34 minutes, but it is nevertheless an impressive recording, and not at all inaudible! Aquarius Records website (USA, 2003)
World renowned composer Francisco López has by now an extensive discography and is seen regularly performing his music live around the globe. Yet only a very small portion of his extensive discography reflects his activities on stage. Therefore we are proud to release this excellent recording of a Francisco López concert from 1999, taped in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. In a dark room, López sat behind the mixing board and mixed his various sound sources blindfolded, whilst his audience was also blindfolded. Unlike his many 'silent' (or more accurately) studio CD's, López here builds the sound from extreme silence to extreme loudness. This CD comes with a black blindfold which is recommended for use during playback of the CD at home. Bottrop-Boy press release (2003)
Francisco López "Live in 's-Hertogenbosch" (CD - Bottrop-Boy, 2003)
Francisco López has an extensive discography already and he is seen playing live a lot in the most parts of the world. Yet only very few live pieces were released on CD. This new CD might be the very first CD entirely devoted to a single recording from him. Already recorded four years ago, and planned for release, but labels went bust etc. Now it's finally available and it comes with a blindfold. As many who visited a López concert will know, he plays in the dark and both López and visitors wear blindfolds to concentrate fully on the music. Although I was there that evening in 1999, I had to leave before López started to catch the last train. What a pity to miss such a historical concert. The CD starts in a true Lópezian vein: silent.
After some minutes sound starts to come out of your speakers, but it's still soft. After some twenty minutes the Lópezian sounds (which are, as always, hard to define in terms of origin) arrive at an audible level and from then on things go up sound wise. At the end (the concert lasts around thirty minutes) it's very loud, without being too noisy or blurry. Everything remains at a clear sound level.
The sound ends abrupt and you feel it being sucked away. I don't know wether this is a line or microphone recording, but the result is excellent. Maybe this is how López wants his CDs to be treated: play them and cranck up volume and EQ (bass, mid and high end) the way they suit you, until they arrive at what you as a listener wants and therefore his CDs are so soft, so the more potential is there. And finally also worth noting: this comes in a regular jewel case with printwork, albeit black, but no longer those transparant no info jewel cases. Vital Magazine (The Netherlands, 2003)
Francisco López "Live in 's-Hertogenbosch" (CD - Bottrop-Boy, 2003)
A few years back, Byram and I (Jim) had the preposterous idea of getting really drunk at a Francisco López concert and then heckling him when he performed one of his infamous, nearly inaudible compositions, simply because, quite frankly, they really annoyed us. Having giddily consumed a bottle of whiskey and entered the gritty confines of the 7hz warehouse performance space, we were a bit surprised at López' request that everyone in the audience be blindfolded. It wasn't enought to simply turn off all the lights and let the audience sit in the dark; López requires more absolute sensory deprivation in order to listen to his work. Regardless of how you might interpret our perception of the show due to our sloppy intoxication, we both left elated and exhausted from his very impressive, phenomonological excursion into raw sound. Having very little definition within the reverb-happy warehouse of 7hz, López' massive roar of sound steadily increased around us, before coming to an abrupt conclusion. I thought the performance was a little too quick for my tastes, until I checked my watch to discover that almost an hour and half had passed! In effect, López had hypnotized me. The cd documentation of "Live In 'S-Hertogenbosch" does its best to repeat the experience of a Francisco López live show by including a blindfold along with the music itself! That said, this show is a mere 34 minutes, but it is nevertheless an impressive recording, and not at all inaudible! Aquarius Records website (USA, 2003)