The Three Factions of GLANK || GLANK INSTRUMENTS and ACTIVATORS
GLANKtheHISTORY || INDUSTRIAL - PERCUSSIVE - ALCHEMY
"INDUSTRIAL - PERCUSSIVE - ALCHEMY"
While honing the concepts of GLANK into a performance art piece, Rudolph settled on "Industrial - Percussive - Alchemy" as a tag line.
INDUSTRIAL - the industrial aspect of GLANK is apparent on many levels: the Clean-Room-Suits, video material, verbal elements, and especially the sounds, both pre-recorded and live - all are industrial-influenced. Rudolph uses many industrial sound sources for the pre-recorded material, including assembly-line machines, engines of all types including F1 racing cars, Tesla coil sounds, and hundreds of other sources that he recorded on-site. Many of these sounds are processed and manipulated digitally for use as loops and background material. Even something as simple as an air vent hum is employed, though the original sound may be barely recognizable.
PERCUSSIVE - nearly 100% of the sounds heard both live and pre-recorded in GLANK are percussive in nature. The striking of a bass guitar string with a vibraphone mallet, the attack of an aluminum baseball bat on a steel 'thunder sheet', the rattle of aquarium rocks in a plastic vessel filled with water, a brake drum from a 1968 Ford - all are percussive.
ALCHEMY - is defined as taking something normal and turning it into something special. This relates directly to the 'found object' instruments used extensively in GLANK. Objects such as discarded Liquid Propane tanks ("Propanophones" patent pending), saw blades, artillery shells and motorcycle gears are altered, tuned, and activated. Even the 'activators' (mallets, sticks, and the like) are alchemistic: aluminum baseball bats cut and tuned so as to create a tone when striking another instrument; synthetic footballs used as mallets; vehicle suspension springs used as both instrument and activator.
The phrase "RESIST COMPARISON - PROMOTE DESCRIPTION" is also an apt one for GLANK. Rudolph prefers the use of adjectives as opposed to comparatives when describing art and music. While some may fall into the simplistic cerebral trap of comparing this concept to other performance art groups, it is important to remember that the anonymous audience interaction is integral and new.
Influences / Inspirationalists:
John Cage
Harry Partch
Bela Bartok
Edgar Varese
Charles Ives
Igor Stravinsky
Salvatore Martirano
Zack Browning
Scott Wyatt
Cal Tjader
Steve Reich
John Adams
Richard Gibbs
The Police
Nine Inch Nails
Ministry
The Chemical Brothers
Michel Gondry
Zeuss Trombone
Angry Cake
The Leonard Garment Trio
Flanders Johnson
go to clean room music site