Bruce Gilbert
Bruce Gilbert | |
---|---|
Birth name | Bruce Clifford Gilbert |
Born | Editions Mego Touch Music | 18 May 1946
Bruce Clifford Gilbert (born 18 May 1946) is an English musician. One of the founding members of the influential and experimental art punk band Wire,[1] he branched out into electronic music, performance art, music production, and DJing during the band's extended periods of inactivity. He left Wire in 2004, and has since been focusing on solo work and collaborations with visual artists and fellow experimental musicians.
Education and early career
Gilbert studied
Gilbert, who always considered Wire a living sculpture rather than a musical project,[5] fondly recalls early punk gigs as events where the audience, far from being mere consumers, became part of a shared dynamic experience: "I viewed it as a bit of a laboratory, not musically but culturally, because the people were experimenting with themselves: with their behaviour, their appearance and their clothes. Everything was up for grabs."[6]
Wire released three albums between 1976 and 1979,
Later career
Between 1984 and 1991, Gilbert was commissioned to create music for a variety of film and modern dance projects,[7] by, among others, Michael Clark, Aletta Collins, and Ashley Page,[14] with excerpts appearing on his albums This Way (1984), The Shivering Man (1987) (both combined on CD as This Way to the Shivering Man), Insiding (1991) and Music for Fruit (1991).[7]
Wire re-entered the public arena on 7 June 1985 with a performance at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford,[11][15] and Gilbert contributed sounds, lyrics, and occasional vocals to the various albums, EPs, and singles released by the band between November 1986 and February 1993.[12]
In 1989, Gilbert co-produced the A.C. Marias album One of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing), sharing author credits with Angela Conway for 10 original songs (the album also contains a cover version of Canned Heat's "Time Was", first released in 1988 as a single featuring Conway, Gilbert, Barry Adamson and Rowland S. Howard).[16]
Since the 1990s, Gilbert has appeared at London techno clubs under the name DJ Beekeeper, often deejaying inside a garden shed above the dancefloor.
In March 1996, he released Ab Ovo, his first solo album not to result from external dance or film commissions. It was described in The Wire as "a forceful piece of work which sounds like nothing else around."[19]
Wire reconvened in London for a one-off performance of "Drill" to celebrate Gilbert's 50th birthday in May 1996.[19] In January 2000, Gilbert teamed up once more with Graham Lewis, and the duo contributed the sound installation Alarm to the Audible Light exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.[20] Wire entered their third incarnation on 26 February 2000 with a performance at the Royal Festival Hall.[21] In 2002, Gilbert wrote and recorded the soundtrack for "London Orbital", a film by Chris Petit and Iain Sinclair based on Sinclair's psychogeographical exploration of the M25 motorway.[22] As part of the project, Gilbert and Wire performed live at the premiere of the film and Sinclair's book at the Barbican on 25 October 2002.[23] Gilbert left Wire in 2004, after the release of the Send album, pursuing solo projects and collaborations with visual and sound artists ever since.[24]
Gilbert's 2004 album Ordier is a collection of excerpts from a 1996 live performance.[25] 2006 saw him contribute to Susan Stenger's Soundtrack for an Exhibition within the eponymous project curated by Mathieu Coupland that brought together artists from the realms of music, fine art, and film at the Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon.[26] In 2009, Gilbert released Oblivio Agitatum, which he recorded entirely at home.[27] In a review for Brainwashed, music journalist Creaig Dunton concluded that "even with his long silence, Bruce Gilbert is still an expert at shaping mini dramas and landscapes out of the raw clay of electronic music."[28]
Revisiting his collaboration with Pan Sonic as IBM in 2001, Gilbert paired up with Mika Vainio in May 2011 at the Netaudio London festival for an exclusively commissioned live performance.[29] His 2011 recording, "Monad", was published by Touch as a vinyl-only 7-inch single on 8 August.[30][31]
In October 2011, Gilbert's short story "Sliding Off the World", first released as a spoken-word piece set to atmospheric noise on the CD Touch 25 in June 2006,
Gilbert's latest release, Diluvial, was launched at Beaconsfield Art Works in London on 13 September 2013. A collaboration between Gilbert and BAW (sound and visual artists Naomi Siderfin and David Crawforth), Diluvial is a seven-piece reflection on climate change and creation stories.[34][35]
Selected discography
with Wire
See: Wire discography
with Cupol
- Like This For Ages EP (1980), 4AD
Gilbert and Lewis
- 3R4 mini-LP (1980), 4AD
- "Ends with the Sea" (1980), 4AD
with Dome
- Dome 1 (1980), Dome Records
- Dome 2 (1981), Dome Records
- Dome 3 (1981), Dome Records
- Will You Speak This Word (1982), Unition
- Yclept (1999), WMO
- Compilations & reissues
- DOME 1-4+5, 5-LP box set (December 2011), Editions Mego[36]
with A.C. Marias
- "Drop/So", single (1980), Dome Records
- "Just Talk/No Talk", 12" single (1986), Mute
- "Time Was/Some Thing", 12" single (1989), Mute
- One of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing), album (1989), Mute
- "One of Our Girls/Vicious", 12" single (1990), Mute
Gilbert, Lewis and Mills
- Mzui (Waterloo Gallery) (1982), Cherry Red
- Pacific/Specific (1995), WMO
with Duet Emmo
- "Or So It Seems", single (1982), Mute
- Or So It Seems, album (1983), Mute
with P'o
- Whilst Climbing Thieves Vie for Attention, album (1983), Court
Gilbert/Hampson/Kendall
Orr, album (1996), Mute (Parallel Series)
with Iain Sinclair
Downriver, CD (1998), King Mob[37]
Bruce Gilbert – Ron West
"frequency variation", 12" single (1998), Sähkö Recordings
with rude mechanic
rude mechanic, 2 x CD, (recorded 1996, released 1999), Piano[38][39]
gilbertpossstenger
manchesterlondon, album (2000), WMO
with IBM
The Oval Recording, album + 7" single (2001), Mego
with Souls on Board
Souls on Board, cassette (2009), The Tapeworm[40]
with Meltaot
Souls on Board, vinyl LP (2010),
with BAW (Naomi Siderfin and David Crawforth)
Diluvial, CD (2013) Touch Music[34][35]
Solo
Albums
- To Speak (1983), Dome
- This Way (1984), Mute
- The Shivering Man (1987), Mute
- Insiding (1991), Mute
- Music for Fruit (1991), Mute
- Ab Ovo (1996), Mute
- In Esse (1997), Mute
- The Haring (1997), WMO
- Ordier (2004), Table of the Elements
- Oblivio Agitatum (2009), Editions Mego
- Ex Nihilo (2018), Editions Mego
- Compilations & reissues
- This Way to the Shivering Man (1987), Mute
- Mesmer Variations, 2 x CD (1995), Ash International[42]
- RRR 500, LP (1998), RRRecords[43]
- Antitrade, CD (1999), Ash International[44]
- Audible Light, CD (2000), Education and Exhibition Dept. at The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.[45]
- This Way (25th Anniversary Reissue) (2009), Editions Mego
- The Shivering Man (Enhanced) (2011), Editions Mego
Singles
- "Instant Shed Vol. 1" (1995), Sub Pop
- "Instant Shed Vol. 2" (1996), Ash International
- "Monad" (2011), Touch
References
- ^ ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 180-182
- ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ^ Wilson Neate & Jon Savage (22 April 2009). "Jon Savage And Wilson Neate Discuss Wire And Punk." The Quietus.
- ^ The Quietus & Wilson Neate (1 April 2009). "On Wire And Punk: An Extract From The 33 1/3 Book On Pink Flag." The Quietus.
- ^ Allmusic, retrieved 2 November 2010
- ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ^ allmusic.
- ^ a b Barry Alfonso (2000). "Contemporary Musicians. Wire." eNotes.
- ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ISBN 978-0-946719-07-5.
- ^ Staff (2011). "Us: Bruce Gilbert" Pinkflag.com.
- ^ Staff (2011). "Bruce Gilbert Discography at Discogs." Discogs.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-85712-041-0.
- ^ Adrian Searle (25 January 2000). "Electric light orchestra", The Guardian.
- ^ Shannon Zimmerman (15 September 2002)."Wire's Taut Link to the Past; The British Band May Have Left Punk Behind – but Not Its Punch." The Washington Post.
- ^ Sukhdev Sandhu (9 October 2002). "Film. On the endless road to Essex." The Telegraph.
- ^ Iain Sinclair (19 October 2002). "On the road." The Guardian.
- ISBN 978-0-85712-041-0.
- ^ Staff. "Bruce Gilbert Ordier pt. 1 video." Archived 22 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine NME.
- ^ Staff (2006). "Soundtrack for an Exhibition.", forma.org.uk.
- Fact magazine.
- ^ Creaig Dunton (18 October 2009)."Bruce Gilbert, “Oblivio Agitatum”." Brainwashed.
- ^ Sarah Reed (11 May 2011). "TS12. Make beautiful music together.", New Scientist.
- ^ Staff (8 August 2011). "TS12. Bruce Gilbert. Monad." Archived 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Touch.
- ^ Mat Smith (2011). "Bruce Gilbert. Monad.", Documentary Evidence.
- ^ Staff (2006). "Tone 25 – Touch 25." Archived 18 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Touch.
- ^ Staff (20 September 2011). "Bruce Gilbert contributes to Murmurations story anthology." The Wire.
- ^ a b Daniel Sylvester (3 September 2013). "Bruce Gilbert & BAW – Diluvial", Exclaim!.
- ^ a b Editors (27 August 2013). "Bruce Gilbert releasing Diluvial, a collaboration with BAW artists", The Wire.
- ^ Greg Barbrick (28 December 2011). "Music Review: Dome – Dome 1-4+5 Box Set", Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- ^ Staff. "Iain Sinclair – Downriver", Discogs.
- ^ Staff. "rude mechanic – pan sonic/hayley newman/david crawforth", Beaconsfield/Piano.
- ^ Staff. "rude mechanic – rude mechanic", Discogs.
- ^ The Worm. "TTW#07 – Souls on Board", The Tapeworm.
- ^ Staff. "Meltaot • Souls On Board", Discogs.
- Ash International.
- ^ Staff. "Various – RRR 500", Discogs.
- ^ Staff. "Ash 4.1 – Antitrade" Archived 5 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Ash International.
- ^ Staff. "Audible Light", WorldCat.
External links
- Bruce Gilbert discography at Discogs