Thomas Lehn
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KONK PACK
© 2023 by Kirill Polonsky
Tim Hodgkinson • lap steel guitar, electronics,
clarinet
Roger Turner • drumset & percussion Thomas Lehn • analogue synthesizer about | discography | past tours & festivals | audio | reviews
| biographies | downloads | tour dates
^ about KONK PACK brings together three major figures in contemporary music. For about a quarter of century this group has amazed audiences at festivals and concerts all over the world with the sheer energy of its rapid-fire interplay, earning numerous critical accolades. Since 1997, Konk Pack have toured regularly throughout Europe, completed four major tours of the US, and have been described by The Wire magazine's Lee Henderson as "one of the most exciting improv groups in the world." The group have released five compact discs, and performed at major music festivals from Vancouver to Belgrade. The musics they've made individually are reason enough to take note of this trio, but the music they make together leaves audiences amazed and inspired. Budapest December 1997 @ Szünetjel
Festival
^ discgraphy Big Deep [GROB.102] - Dec. 1999 - details Warp Out [GROB.323] - Oct. 2001 - details off leash [GROB.654] - Oct. 2004 - details the black hills [GROB.962] - Dec. 2010 - details Doing The Splash [kdr003] - Nov. 2013 - details Konk Pack on discogs ^ past tours 1998: Italy 1999: Belgium, The Netherlands 2000: UK, Germany, Canada, France 2001: UK, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, USA, Austria, Netherlands, Czech Republic 2002: UK, Germany, Austria 2003: UK, Italy, Canada, France 2004: UK, France, Germany, Austria 2005 & 2006 : UK 2008: 10 Years Anniversary Tour: Netherland, Germany Italy 2009: Sweden, Germany 2010: France, USA 2011: France 2012: Scotland & England 2013: USA 2014: France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy 2015: France 2018: Canada, USA 2022: Norway (supported by Goethe-Institut Norwegen), Austria 2023: France, Germany, Czech Republic 2022 Norway
^ ^ festival appearances Victoriaville, FIMAV 2000 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy/F, Musique Action 2000 Mhere/F, Fruits de Mhere 2000 Wels/A, Music Unlimited 2000 Bourges/F, Synthese Festival 2001 Nickelsdorf/A, Konfrontationen 2001 Prague, Alternativa Festival 2001 Bratislava/SK, NEXT Festival 2001 Utrecht/Rotterdam, Rumor Festival 2001 Belgrade, ring ring festival 2002 Mulhouse, Jazz a Mulhouse 2002 Mhere/F, Fruits de Mhere 2003 Vancouver, Dangerous Currents Festival 2003 Nottingham, Now 2006 Barcelona, LEM 2006 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy/F, Musique Action 2007 Frankfurt, ROT Festival 2009 Caen/F, Interstice Festival 2010 Le Havre/F, piednu Festival 2010 Lille, Muzzix 2011 Dachau/D, Jazzherbst 2011 Tours/F, Total Meeting 2011 St. Etienne/FR, Musiques Innovatrices 2014 Paris/F, CRAK Festival 2014 Le Havre/F, piednu Festival 2015 Bologna, Angelica 2016 Oslo, Blow Out 2016 Brighton/UK, Fort Process Festival 2016 Festival Le Bruit de la Musique/FR, 2017 Guelph Jazz Festival, 2018
^ audio / video audio KONK PACK Prague 7 Feb 2023, live @ punctum: punctum excerpt (2:03) KONK PACK – the black hills (CD 2010) 1. The Welcome (excerpt 1:41) 3. The Grave (excerpt 1:40) 4. The Breakfast (excerpt 3:27) 5. Roof Party (excerpt 1:13) 6. The Trees (excerpt 3:17) 7. Gin Run (complete 6:17) KONK PACK – off leash (CD 2004) 1. off leash (excerpt 5:43) video KONK PACK live in Forli/Italy @ Area Sismica 16 Nov. 2014 Forli, Italy on Sun. November 16, 2014 © Claudia Schmacke
^ reviews "Heading towards their 15th anniversary in 2012, the German-British trio Konk Pack continues to be the gold standard against which any band of electro-acoustic improvisers must be measured." - Ken Waxman | Jazzword | Toronto | 2010
"I've caught Konk Pack live a half dozen times through the years and have been knocked out on each & every occasion. What makes this trio special is that their music is so focused and intense, that you often feel exhilarated by listening. You can't do anything else or have any distractions while listening since you will be swept away." - Bruce Gallanter | Onsen | August 2010 "Konk Pack boasts a line-up that springs from diverse quarters, combining to make a gloriously intuitive barrage of sounds, both soft and savage. They've been together for 13 years, facilitating empathy without banishing unpredictability. To witness both of these gigs was to marvel at a band revealing completely different aspects of their ongoing vocabulary." - Martin Longley | All About Jazz | April 2010
"The free improvisation of the trio Konk Pack is like a blast of science — a kind of controlled chaos in the hands of experts. Being musically proficient is not enough for Konk Pack; the players feed off the collective energy and have an uncanny ability to collectively shape their abstract constructions with a keen understanding of the power of varied dynamics." - Ernie Paik | The Pulse | Chattanooga | April 2010
"I can't think of an improvising group more explosive than this European trio - percussionist Roger Turner, guitarist Tim Hodgkinson, and synth maestro Thomas Lehn bite down hard on whatever they play, confronting even delicate passages with taut intensity. …I've seen so much free improv that some of it feels as predictable as 'Chopsticks', but these guys keep me pinned to the wall, happily anticipating the next shock." - Peter Margasak | Chicago Reader | October 18th,
2007
"Grob label artists Konk Pack are utterly awesome. Featuring Thomas Lehn on the craziest old EMS synthi A, Tim Hodgkinson on flat guitar and Roger Turner on percussion, the show is awkwardly brilliant and defiant. With startling combinations of punkish nuisance, ingenious change-ups, and rolling, stumbling, tripping and flipping sound inventions, Konk Pack are one of the most exciting Improv groups in the world." - Lee Henderson reviewing Vancouver Electric City in The Wire, Dec 2003 "Heralded by a release on the Grob label - Big Deep, recorded in Rome, Tilburg and Brussels - Konk Pack's appearance at a central London venue attracted a sell-out crowd. The accelerated,interactive electronica of Roger Turner (percussion), Tim Hodgkinson (deconstructed tabletop guitar) and Thomas Lehn (analogue synth) arises from a scintillating heap of sonic detritus the way an artificial intelligence manifests itself in a Manga movie: a writhing mass of automobiles, arcade consoles, street furniture and mobile phones. Hodgkinson attacks his amplified strings with plectrum and bow, his specs glinting as he waits for the right awkward moment to kloodge a sonic shard on the side of one of Turner's amazingly vocalised motifs (at times you swear you hear collaborator Phil Minton's mucal snorts). Lehn restricts his pianism on analogue synth to pinched blurts, but still manages to resemble a switched-on Liszt. Although we itched to interrupt with applause, Konk Pack played an unbroken 45 minute set: fun debris, rollicking freakouts ... and one magical section of scrape and pling where the music seemed to play itself." - Ben Watson The Wire, April 2001
"Collectively improvised music comes in many forms, with as many degrees of success. Only some genuinely presses the envelope, pushing into a terrain where the unknown can happen and where even the best players encounter risk. On that transcendent scale, the trio Konk Pack - Tim Hodgkinson on table-top guitar and clarinet, Thomas Lehn on synthesizer, and the wondrous Roger Turner on percussion - fared best among the groups at this festival [Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, May 2000], creating music in which a barrage of discreet particles bounced around, colliding in a universe in which chance and interactivity blurred into one another. Playing at one o'clock on Saturday afternoon in the festival's smallest venue, Konk Pack established a benchmark by which other improvisers' performances would inevitably be judged." - Bill Smith, Coda Magazine, June 2000
"As for pure total improvisation, the verdict on german-english trio Konk Pack was unanimous. Even listeners unreceptive to improvised noise (bending frequencies and sound-textures via an analog synth, manipulation of a guitar on a table, free percussion, etc) were won over by these subtle sonorities superbly segued, magnificent interplay." - Alain Brunet, La Presse, Montreal, 23 May 2000
^ biographies Tim Hodgkinson | Roger Turner | Thomas Lehn © Sergei Kolosov
^ ^^ Tim Hodgkinson Increasingly lauded as a contemporary composer, with works featured at international contemporary music festivals, and a set of pieces for ensemble out on the Mode label, Hodgkinson has also a powerful commitment to intense and highly energised performance practice. In over thirty years' work he has placed himself in a series of definitive projects, whether as cofounder of the seminal Henry Cow group, as saxophonist with influential avant metal band God, or as bass clarinet soloist in the spectral compositions of Iancu Dumitrescu. His lap steel guitar playing remains completely uncategorisable bringing subdued and not so subdued echoes of rock musics and other ethnicities. www.timhodgkinson.co.uk timhodgkinson.bandcamp.com © Sergei Kolosov
^ ^^ Roger Turner Over decades Roger Turner has brought the renowned volcanic power and finely honed precision of his drum work to ensembles that have often forged real connections with musicians both sides of the Atlantic. In addition he has worked extensively in the microscopic laboratory of the acoustic duo situation where he acquired a highly developed sense of detail and of dynamic control. One of that select group of world-class players who have collectively redefined the language of contemporary percussion. In Turner's hands minute inflections of tension can shape the group's musical direction and galvanise a new level of audience experience. www.turners-site.com
© skanu mesz
^ ^^ Thomas Lehn Schooled both as a concert pianist performing contemporary repertoire and as a recording technician, Thomas Lehn deploys a huge musicality through his unique chosen outlet the analogue synthesiser. This instrument allows him extremely close and immediate contact with all aspects of sound modification - a vast gamut of living electronic sound produced with unmatched speed and fluency. Thomas Lehn simply represents a coming-of-age of electronic sound production in the domain of concert performance that sets a standard for the entire medium. He is therefore unsurprisingly an essential member of many of the most active and significant projects in this highly international and dynamic scene. www.thomaslehn.com © Laurent Orseau ^ downloads Konk Pack Info (pdf) Tech Rider (pdf) Press Photos Posters ^ tour dates upcoming dates | past dates ^ ^^ upcoming dates Wed. October 23, Prague @ Punctum / Rachot Thu. October 24, Ljubljana @ Gromka Sat. October 26, Topolò @ Juliova / Hybrida. Sun. October 27, Forli @ Area Sismica Tue. October 29, Zürich @ Das Institut - Misterioso Jazz Club Wed. October 30, Offenburg @ tba Thu. October 31, Stuttgart @ stromraum Fri. November 1, Saarbrücken @ BuckBlech-Werkstatt Sat. November 2, Hannover @ Atelier Grammophon
© Sergei Kolosov
^ past dates 2023 Tue. February 7, Prague @ punctum Mon. February 6, Leipzig @ Contemporary Insights Sun. February 5, Münster @ cuba blackbox / Stage off Limits Sat. February 4, Bonn @ Dialograum Kreuzung an St. Helena / in situ Fri. February 3, Montreuil @ Instants Chavirés 2022 Fri. March 25, Wien @ Porgy & Bess Thu. March 24, Stavanger @ Rimi/Imir Scenekunst Wed. March 23, Bergen @ Gyldenpris Kunsthall/nyMusikk Tue. March 22, Toensberg @ Nonfigurativ Musikk Mon. March 21, Trondheim @ Friform 2018 Mon. September 24, New York @ Roulette Sun. September 23, New Orleans @ Art Klub Sat. September 22, New Orleans @ AllWays Lounge Fri. September 21, Houston @ Rockefeller's Thu. September 20, Houston @ Insomnia Gallery Wed. September 19, Austin @ Imagine Art Tue. September 18, Austin @ Texas School for Blind and Visually Impaired Mon. September 17, Los Angeles @ Zebulon Sat. September 15, San Diego @ Bread & Salt Fri. September 14, Guelph @ Guelph Jazz Festival 2017 Thu. August 17, La Blanchette @ Le Bruit de la Musique 2016 Thu. October 13, Moskau @ DOM Sat. September 3, Brighton @ Fort Process Festival Fri. September 2, London @ Cafe Oto Wed. August 17, Oslo @ Cafe Mir Sat. May 21, Bologna @ Centro di Ricerca Musicale/Teatro San Leonardo 2015 Tue. April 7, Bordeaux @ Heretic Sat. April 4, Le Havre @ Fort de Tourneville Fri. April 3, Blois 2014 Sat. September 27, Paris @ L'Eglise Saint-Merry Thu. September 25, Brussels @ Les Ateliers Claus (co-production with Q-O2) Sun. June 8, Geneve @ Cave 12 Sat. June 7, St. Etienne @ Musiques Innovatrices Fri. June 6, Basel @ Hirscheneck Thu. June 5, Freiburg @ Slow Club Wed. June 4, Marseille @ GRIM 2012 Fri. December 21, Falmouth @ Jacob's Ladder Inn Wed. December 19, Brighton @ Cowley Club Tue. December 18, London @ Cafe Oto Sat. December 15, Manchester @ St Margaret's Church Fri. December 14, Newcastle @ Morden Tower Tue. December 11, Edinburgh @ Mon. December 10, Glasgow @ CCA 2011 Sun. December 11, Tours @ Le Petit Faucheux Fri. October 14, Dachau @ Gebaeude in der Altstadt Thu. October 13, Paris @ trashvortex Wed. October 12, Nantes @ Pannonica Sun. April 3, Poitiers @ Carré Blue Sat. April 2, Lille @ Festival Muzzix @ La Malterie Fri. April 1, Le Havre @ Festival Piednu Wed. March 30, Brest @ Penn Ar Jazz Tue. March 29, Montreuil @ Instants Chavires 2010 Sun. October 24, Hofheim @ Jazzkeller Thu. April 29, Le Havre @ Piednu Festival Wed. April 28, Caen Sat. April 17, New York City @ Roulette Thu. April 15, Philadelphia @ Philadelphia Art Alliance Wed. April 14, New York City @ Stone Tue. April 13, Annandale onhudson @ Bard College Mon. April 12, Rochester @ Bop Shop Sun. April 11, Buffalo @ Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Centre Fri. April 9, St. Louis @ Kerr Foundation Center Thu. April 8, Kansas City @ foundation 1221 Mon. April 5, Albuquerque @ The Kosmos Sat. April 3, Houston @ Labotanica Thu. April 1, New Orleans @ The Big Top Wed. March 31, Atlanta @ Eyedrum Tue. March 30, Columbia @ Columbia Museum of Art Mon. March 29, Chattanooga @ Theatre Mercado Sat. March 27, Knoxville @ Blue Cat's Fri. March 26, Baltimore @ 5th Dimension Thu. March 25, Hartford @ Real Art Ways 2009 Sun. December 6, Frankfurt @ mousonturm Mon. November 30, Norrkoeping @ Konstmuseum Norrkoeping 2008 Sat. October 25, Forli @ Area Sismica Fri. October 24, Palermo @ Goethe Institut Palermo Wed. October 22, Hannover @ Atelier Grammophon (with Dorothea Schürch) Sun. October 19, Koeln @ Studio 672 (with Dorothea Schürch) Sat. October 18, Weikersheim @ Club W 71 Fri. October 17, Wuppertal @ Neu reformierte Kirche Thu. October 16, Amsterdam @ OT301 Wed. October 15, Tilburg @ Paradox 2007 Sat. September 15, Baarle-Nassau @ Plus-Etage Sun. May 20, Vandoeuvre @ Musique Action (with D. Schürch & R. Porenau) 2006 Tue. February 28, Liverpool @ View Two Gallery Mon. February 27, Newcastle @ University of Newcastle 2004 Mon. November 22, Koeln @ Galerie Rachelhaferkamp Sun. November 21, Karlsruhe @ Badischer Kunstverein Sat. November 20, Graz @ WIST Fri. November 19, Wien @ fluc Thu. November 18, Muenchen @ Phoenix Lounge (with Sebi Tramontana) Wed. November 17, Vandoeuvre @ CCAM Thu. April 1, Brest, F @ Penn ar Jazz Fri. February 27, London @ Deluxe Gallery Wed. February 25, Colchester @ Colchester Arts Centre 2003 Thu. October 30, Toronto @ Music Gallery Sat. October 25, Vancouver @ Vancouver East Cultural Centre Thu. March 13, Venice @ Teatro Fondamenta Nuove Sun. March 9, Exeter @ Phoenix Sat. March 8, Lancaster @ Farmers Arms Fri. March 7, Leeds @ The Adelphi Thu. March 6, Hull @ The Adelphi Wed. March 5, Sheffield @ Under the Boardwalk Mon. March 3, Liverpool @ Liverpool Arts School 2002 Fri. November 29, Prag @ Delta Klub Fri. August 30, Mulhouse @ Noumatrouff Sat. May 25, Belgrad @ Ring Ring Festival Sat. February 23, St. Johann @ Alte Gerberei Fri. February 22, Wien @ Porgy & Bess 2001 Sat. December 8, Utrecht @ SJU Jazzpodium Fri. December 7, Nijmegen @ extrapool Thu. December 6, Rotterdam @ Theater Lantaren/Venster Wed. December 5, Hofheim @ Jazzkeller Sat. December 1, Nickelsdorf @ Jazzgalerie Fri. November 30, Bratislava @ rock-pop-jaz club Thu. November 29, Prag @ Delta Klub Mon. October 22, Albuquerque @ Outpost Performance Space Thu. October 18, New Orleans @ Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center Tue. October 16, Chattanooga @ River St. Deli Mon. October 15, St. Louis @ The Forum for Contemporary Art Sun. October 14, Nashville @ Ruby Green Sat. October 13, Birmingham @ The Nick Fri. October 12, Atlanta @ Earthshaking Music Thu. October 11, Carrboro @ Skylight Exchange Wed. October 10, Baltimore @ Red Room Mon. October 8, New York @ Knitting Factory Sat. October 6, Boston @ ICA Fri. October 5, Annandale @ Bard College Thu. October 4, Ann Arbor @ The Fire Fly Club Wed. October 3, Chicago @ Empty Bottle Sun. July 22, Nickelsdorf @ Jazzgalerie (with Shelley Hirsh) Sun. June 24, Potsdam @ Filmstudio Babelsberg Sat. June 23, Potsdam @ Filmstudio Babelsberg Fri. June 22, Berlin @ Rhizom/Studio Kwiatkowski Thu. June 21, Berlin @ Kulturhaus B-Mitte Wed. June 13, Bourges @ Synthese 2001 Festival Sun. May 13, Maribor Sat. May 12, Ljubljana Fri. May 11, Zagreb @ KSET Wed. May 9, Brno @ Sklenena Louka Sat. March 17, Koeln @ Basement Fri. March 2, London @ October Gallery (with Derek Bailey) Wed. February 28, Colchester @ Colchester Arts Centre Mon. February 26, Liverpool @ Liverpool School of Art & Design Sun. February 25, Leeds @ Termite Club Sat. February 24, Sheffield Fri. February 23, Liverpool @ Blue Coats Wed. February 21, London @ Dingwalls Camden 2000 Fri. November 3, Wels @ Schlachthof Thu. November 2, Regensburg @ Jazzclub Regensburg Sun. October 29, Lyon @ Musique Cafe Sat. October 28, Grenoble @ Le 102 Fri. October 27, Montreuil @ Instants Chavires Wed. October 25, Koeln @ Gebäude 9 Sun. August 6, Mhere @ Le Bourge Thu. June 1, Vandoeuvre @ Salle de Fete Sat. May 20, Victoriaville @ Gegep Thu. May 18, Toronto @ Music Gallery Sun. February 27, Wuerzburg @ Immerhin Sat. February 26, Weikersheim @ Club W 71 Fri. February 25, Frankfurt @ Theaterhaus Wed. February 23, Koeln @ studio 672 / Stadtgarten Mon. February 7, Liverpool @ University, Art School Sun. February 6, Hull @ Timebase Fri. February 4, Leeds @ The Adelphi Thu. February 3, Sheffield @ nonpots 1999 Wed. April 7, Rotterdam @ dodorama Tue. April 6, Bruxelles @ vk Mon. April 5, Tilburg @ Paradox 1998 Sat. December 5, Roma Fri. December 4, Roccamorice @ Sussuri e grida ^ ^ updated on September 25, 2024 |
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