Niblock, Phill

Niblock, Phill

Niblock For Celli / Celli Plays Niblock

Superior Viaduct

Composer, filmmaker and photographer Phill Niblock is a true pillar of the New York avant-garde. In the past 50 years, he has curated over 1,000 performances at his Centre Street loft and steadfastly built a massive, multidisciplinary body of work. While his earliest musical compositions date back to 1968, Niblock waited until the early ’80s to release any recordings. Nothin To Look At Just A Record, a powerful debut with densely layered trombones, would be the first to unfurl his unique approach to sound. The second album and perhaps the most rare in Niblock’s vast catalogue, 1984’s Niblock For Celli / Celli Plays Niblock is a meeting of two great minds. Working with reed player Joseph Celli (a composer in his own right, who has collaborated with John Cage, Pauline Oliveros and Ornette Coleman), Niblock nimbly removes the breathing pauses from Celli’s oboe and English horn to create seamless, enchanting drones. Niblock insists that his music be played loud: only in this way can one experience the visceral ringing of these long instrumental tones through the speakers and their natural overtones generated by the room. Niblock For Celli remains deeply absorbing. This first-time reissue is recommended for fans of Alvin Lucier, Yoshi Wada and Dome.

Niblock, Phill

Nothin To Look At Just A Record

Superior Viaduct

Phill Niblock has pushed the boundaries of sound and visual art for over 40 years. While dutifully producing experimental films and curating multi-media loft performances in New York’s 1960s avant-garde circles, Niblock developed a composition technique informed by American minimalists such as Tony Conrad and La Monte Young. His music consists of long instrumental tones, closely pitched together to create beat patterns and multi-tracked into dense layers. Nothin to Look At Just a Record, originally released on esteemed 20th century / jazz label India Navigation in 1982, is Niblock’s recording debut and often cited as his masterpiece. “A Trombone Piece,” the first of two side-long tracks, was recorded by Richard Lainhart and Richard Kelly (both music innovators in their own right) at SUNY Albany in the mid-’70s. Breathing pauses from instrumentalist James Fulkerson’s trombone were spliced out to unravel the drones spatially, rather than according to metered rhythm. The overall effect is mesmerizing and beautifully envelops the listener with each tonal subtlety. To celebrate Niblock’s 80th birthday, Superior Viaduct is honored to present the first-time vinyl reissue of Nothin to Look At Just a Record, a high-water mark in 20th century music and listed as #5 on Alan Licht’s Minimal Top Ten.