The Making of Abandonship

Dave Kerman / 5 UU's ABANDONSHIP (Cuneiform Records 2002)

                                                                 

 Recorded 2000-2001

Words by Dave Kerman images by Udi

During the summer of 2000 I relocated to Tel Aviv, Israel where I took a flat in the Northern Quarters district, near the old port. Udi Koomran (whom I knew thru our mutual affiliation with PRESENT)  helped to set me up , so I had my keyboards and guitars shipped quickly from Europe. As soon as they arrived I began to write music, a process which lasted about 3 ½ weeks straight. I would compose for about 18 hours, eat, sleep for 5 to 6 hours, then write more. Before we knew it, we were ready to begin the recording.

Yordei Hasira 2 studio flat

Udi's studio is his home therefore he and I were prettymuch free to do anything we pleased as far as making noise at strange hours as the neighbors didn't seem to mind a racket all too much.

Workstation set up at Udi's place

Her Axe of Choice

Typical Kerman drumkit set up

Toaster used as echo chamber

                                       
For this project I decided to play all the instruments my-self and have Deborah come to Tel Aviv to sing on the album, but she was unable to make the trip and graciously recorded the vocals in Oregon, and then sent them to us.

Through friendships made with people I met, I decided to ask a few folks to join us on this recording. Some were musicians, some were not. All turned in splendid performances.

The Players : 
Dave Kerman : instruments

Udi Koomran : engineering and computer

Deborah Perry : vocals

 

with guests: Avi Bellelli : singing

  Michal Ezrony : reciting

  Aviv Barak : percussion

  Yoram Fogel : toys

  Zahi Patish : tap-dancing

"Yordei Hasira 2" is the 2nd of 8 short, complex rhythmic sketches written in September of that year. Another 2 made it onto the disk, incorporated into other songs. This piece came about by accident as I was re-stringing a borrowed 12 string guitar. I had a click on the demo machine set up to record something new, but I be-came enchanted with the complete out-of-tune-ness with the guitar in my hands and played along to the click, all the while recording. Basically this was improvised, but seeing as how I needed to come up with something new for a solo slot at a concert to be held soon, I listened to it over and over again until it was memorized. We used noise reduction to clean up the tape and then bounced it to the hard disk. Along to that we added drums, a sound replacer track ,a micro cassette of a street vendor, Yoram winding up toy monkeys, and Michal acting stupefied.

Transferring the pre produced tapes to serve as tamplates

"Couple #3 is a...Solo?" Was inspired by Michal and her willingness to break the rules and avoid the norm. The words make reference to a story I wrote for her about a lady who enters a dance contest alone in order to show her companions that she is free to do anything she wishes in life, even at the risk of bringing untoward attention upon herself and her solitude. We wanted a unique solo section and thought it might be nice to have someone tap-dancing, so Zahi showed up, screwed some metal thingamajigs into his shoes, and cut a rug on a wooden board in the hallway. We then used short bits of tangos, waltzes and rhumbas which Udi had created on his computer for a dance piece which was never performed to fill in the holes of the main riff.

"Thoroughly Modern Atilla" is inspired by PRESENT and features guitarist RogerTrigaux in a cameo appearance that he himself could not recognize. The song is comprised of a few different sections with commonalties enough to hold it together in a cohesive manner, some ofwhich are very repetitious and build in tension as the themes progress. Until the drums enter, the main riff seems to be in a simple 6/4, yet it quickly becomes apparent that something is askew. (The timing is actually a string of 4/16 - 4/16 - 4/16- 5/16 - 7/16 , which, when added up is 24; which , in turn is 4 cycles of 6, and that's why at first you can tap your foot quite nicely to it.) The solo sections are of Aviv's hand percussion and Belleli's computer enhanced vocals. This handsome gent is Belleli.

Baleli skipped his army duty and came to do his vocals

"Penguins on Dizengoff" was written as a vehicle to remember the city-wide installment of 200 human-sized cement penguins haphazardly placed around Tel Aviv that summer as an advertising gimmick. Although the critters weighed-in at more than a ton each, at least two thieves were interested in them enough to steal a pair which were later found in their yard. I can't recall seeing a single penguin left unmolested; most were desecrated by the Israeli locals, who are always willing to show off a sense of humor: During the Intifada (Palestinian uprising) here, one smart-alek spray painted , and quite convincingly I might add, a single penguin to resemble Arafat. The mix is a wild excursion into all the new things people can do to music with a computer these days, and the music itself is supposed to remind you of how life is here: There's a happy section followed by a scary section, and then the happy section repeats. This is to represent the psyche of the penguin statues, happy in their places, petrified during the kidnap, and happy again when returned to Dizengoff street.

Spoonman

"Suits" It's easy enough to find fault with loathsome, greedy, and dishonest people. It's harder to find some sort of pity for them as they're screwing you over, and more difficult still to put ones self in their shoes in an attempt to imagine what it must be like to think they way they do. Here is as much an attempt as I could stomach. Sorry to say that as well as being a short attempt, the process became polluted with misgivings. (Hence the fact that the solo section is a chorus of hateful flies buzzing like crazy) The song was written for guitar and organ, but in the end, I decided to arrange it in a more dense fashion. The final section with the long harmonium notes integrates the rhythmic sketch, "Yordei Hasira #4" into the song.

For that songs we wanted a different
 drum ambience

"Noah's Flame" tells of how God once again calls on Noah to cover disaster. This time he must save humanity from the adverse effects stemming from the practices intrinsic to habits which destroy their own habitat. There are many computer implementations used on this song and the music changes from one thing to another as these elements kick in. Bits of long guitar notes are replaced with short blasts of screaming, and a metal-ringed salad bowl becomes the solo instrument in the shamisen section. Call me a nihilist if you will, but poor Noah loses the struggle, and at the end screams in anguish and frustration as the earth burns.

"Ringing In The New Ear" Michal Ezrony's interpretation is self-explaining. Bob Drake's version can be heard on "Crisis In Clay".

"Hill of Spring" The direct translation of the Hebrew, Tel Aviv. I wrote this song for Keren Biton to thank her for her great work on the previous disk. In the song there are both a Romeo and a Juliet, and while it is a strange love story (and indeed Keren is Juliet in my mind) the romance is not conventional love, as Romeo, her passion, is her work. Keren is one of the few female engineers in Israel, and that makes her special, and then some when you consider that the middle east is still ruled by an air of chauvinism. The solo section is influenced by the street noises one hears in the city constantly, and is quite noisy, Tel Aviv being the most hectic city one can possibly imagine. When I tried to recite "Ringing in the New Ear" outside of Udi's flat, the small earth mover made it impossible.

"Doubt Be Met"  is a song citing that logic does not always win out over determination in what may appear to be a futile battle. I sometimes examine ways in which an underdog can beat the long odds. Always, it seems, the answers come in the form of faith; so to play upon that, the song is a simple arrangement of organ and vocal. But don't be fooled into thinking I'm some sort of churchgoer, OK ?

"Belly-Up"  In the old days when you sped up someone's vocal track it would increase in pitch. (like the Chipmunks) And if you were to slow it down, the opposite rang true. With the latest technology we were able to both speed up and slow down Deborah's voice without changing either pitch or natural characteristics whatsoever. Since we managed to do both, this validates the song title, which has a double and opposite meaning. At first glance the text appears to deal with terminal self destruction , and yes, the music does self destruct in places; Yet I've left a hopeful message at the end, lest the first-person reciting would not have lived to tell the tale. The drums after the intro (sketch "Yordei Hasira #7") were originally recorded for the end of "Atilla", but we didn't use them until here, and the remainder of the drums were pieced together meticulously on the computer.

Mastering with Ran Bagnao

The eagle has landed !

Koid9 Interview

Koid9 Interview by Patrick Robinet
Unless one never pays attention to the production and mastering of an album, it is impossible not to have come across Udi Koomran if one pays any attention to the avant-garde end of progressive music. Many of the best albums to have emerged from that scene (most notably those by the band Present) are characterized by a sonic power that can be traced back to the same sound expert. This is a particularly busy year for Udi Koomran, as it has been for the Italian AltrOck label, with which he has increasingly been associated. One of the label's recent releases he has worked on is the long-awaited debut CD by the Alsace-based band Camembert.
What is exactly your professional job?
I am a sound engineer specializing in music production studio work.This includes recording mixing ,mastering and often some sort of involvement in production. Occasionally I also do live sound for bands or artists with whom I have worked in the studio.
What is the event that you give you the virus of sound production?
When I was 21 and just finished my military service I was planing a long trip abroad with a close friend .Then suddenly just a few weeks before our planed departure he called me up saying he has a change of plans and got a job as a tape op at a local recording studio . At that moment I had any clue about sound engineering or recording studios but his cancellation made me curious what was so appealing to him that he was willing to give up our mutual plan. At that time my uncle had an important position at the state TV and was able to help me make contact and receive a guided tour at one of the best studios in Tel Aviv at the time ( were Zingale and Atmosphera local progressive bands recorded ) .So i spent a full day at the studio watching a song being recorded overdubbed and mixed by a famous producer using some of the best session musicians of that time. Later That evening I met a friend and without hesitation announced "Now i know what I am going to do with my life "
What is your first work (live or studio production) for the progressive scene?
Although its not a "proper " typical progressive music album It is probably Tractor's Revenge's Othello ( with Roger Trigaux of Present guesting on a couple of tracks) this album was inspired by some groups such as Art Zoyd, Present, God, etc. and was released in 1999 by Musea records Gazul label.
What is your favorite work? And why?
mmm... maybe Present's Souls For Sale or 5UU's Abandonship or perhaps Ahvak - This period was exciting and we were immersed in the music to the point the outside world seized to exist .Working With Roger Trigaux and Dave Kerman were totally extreme life changing experiences for me. I learned so much. For example Roger told me his ultimate method of checking if the mix is right is if its able to make the hair at the back of your arm rise ( or give you goose bumps) Dave's spontaneous creativity and ideas have inspired me since then to always try and push the music beyond what is norm and take serious chances on the way( like the time we worked for weeks on a piece that was finally rejected cause we probably went too far with it ) .
Can you describe yourself your own way of working sound?
Well its difficult to break down the modus operendi or "method" but what I can say is that foe me music is a means of evoking emotions and by this hopefully providing the listener a deep experience that can even on rare occasions lead to some sort of mind alteration and catharsis Sound is the platform on which the music is presented to the listener. And my view is that in order to present the music in the best way the sound has to follow it and "serve" and enhance all the changes of timbre rhythm tempo dynamics etc. So the sound can hardly be static or average it has to move just as fast as the music does.
And in comparison with other avant prog producer like Bob Drake?
I admire Bob and love his unique aesthetic and signature So naturally I am flattered to be mentioned along with him. We both have honed and refined our craft in different ways most probably according to a personal vision and taste..I think that In his album The Shunned Country he reached a rare balance of opposites: fidelity precision with warmth and roundness that truly remarkable .Another of Bob's works that I love and has inspired me is NORMA & Chris Cutler's - L'Arpa e L'Asino.


Apparently you work a lot with Alt Rock. Please give me a word about your relationship?
I got to know Marcello Marinone through the Agartha prog website and we became friends later in 2007 he offered me to work with his partner Francesco Zaggo on the first Yugen album which was a very positive experience for all of us and so naturally we continued to work on a number of projects. I have great respect and appreciation for all the hard dedicated work that these people are doing all for the love of the music. This year especially I feel AltrOck has blossomed and released some extremely fine albums. And just for the record I love all things Italian ( music. coffee. food. the most beautiful language and especially Silvio Berlusconi :- ) :-)

AltrOck Productions Selection

Pierre of Camembert tells me that you spent a lot of time for their album. Do you spend same implication on others works?
Well Camembert's album was a quite demanding and challenging project -A big unusual line up with loads of percussion instruments an extensive brass section and Harp ( which is first for me !) the way the album was edited and sequenced is also quite unusual ( non stop 55 min with lots of short interludes which morph or cut into the big composition.) Plus we had some technical issues we need to sort out So it was a major work .And yes I admit it I don't compromise and don;t stop till it feels "right" and so sometimes it gets a bit crazy ( ask Pierre he will tell you ) It all depends on what the music needs but I guess my way of work is meticulous and time consuming .

Camembert - Schnörgl Attahk

What are your future productions?
Well I am now working on mixing and mastering with Panzepappa a group from Norway .Yesterday I started mastering a new project for Altrock a group from Argentine called Cucamonga very exciting stuff ! Next week I am about to start working on a new Yitzhak Yedid album ( 4th time around ) and in February I will be in Lyon to mix the show for Once Upon a Time in Belgium ( Present + Univers Zero+ Aranis ) this show will also be recorded.Also some future archive releases for Soleil Zeuhl and Cuneiform Records.