I Wanna Be Your Dog was released by the Stooges in 1969. A vicious cry for help, the pointillist nihilism of the vague lyrics drew many people’s eye, while others were entranced by the pouring static waterfall of distorted guitars. But hidden away under everything was a single note.
Amid the noise and the nothingness, the producer was hammering away on the one key. Proto to post, punk – and music as a whole – would struggle to ever find a comparatively slinky driving force. Rather than pounding drums, John Cale’s droning piano drove the piece forward.
Over the course of half a century, Cale has evolved into one of the most prolific and innovative figures in popular music. From folk fiddles to spoken word Welsh-tinged lilting, his influence on rock and roll is as formidable as it is often overlooked.
Working in the capacity of a producer or a musician, Cale has always fascinated with hums, whines and murmurs. The audio fidelity of the early Velvet Underground recordings are as much a tribute to his obsession with noise as they are to the band’s studio competence. Working with John Cage and Brian Eno, he has always found a way to draw the most emotion from a single sound.
In a new project with Liam Young, John Cale’s work is now being treated to a re-examination. As a man who once thought it possible to change the weather itself on a sonic whim, Cale’s work is ideally suited to be placed at the heart of the new exhibit, ‘LOOP>>60Hz : Transmissions from The Drone Orchestra.’
An audio-visual piece, audiences will be treated to the Welshman running through a series of his hits with a backing band, altering and evolving the pieces to suit the setting. The potential emotional ramification of a dragged drone are capitalised upon, with Liam Young conducting the thrumming and whirring, sculpting the sound into a sonic whole.
The aim is to explore the relationship between technology and sound. As well as the performances at the Barbican, a suite of software has been developed to allow listeners to sink into the electronic world of Cale and Young’s striking drones.
As the sixties drew to a close, the Stooges lay their claim to the multi-faceted fathers of punk music. An aural assault, the sharpness and the suddenness, the storm and the stress stole all the attention. But buried beneath, Cale played his one, driving note. The tremors of a single sound can often echo longer than any other. From analogue to digital, an old drone plays on.
Get tickets for John Cale and Liam Young at the Barbican 12 – 13 September 2014
