Up to now there were two ways to discover Tony Conrad: either via his experiment films, espcially THE FLICKER from 1965, or his music, especially the 2002 reissue of his collaboration with German band Faust from 1972, “Outside the Dream Syndicate“ and the record “The Ostrich“ in which Conrad played with John Cale and Lou Reed in the Velvet Underground‘s precursor band The Primitives. You need some stamina and good nerves or at least a sense of humor in both cases. THE FLICKER* consists of black and white images that are cut according to certain formal principles and create rhythmic, stroboscopic flickers that can trigger color visions and hallucinations. A psychedelic, constructivist, minimalistic masterpiece from 1965. Conrad was also a pioneer of minimalist music, experimenting with drone sounds in the late 1950s with The Dream Syndicate (John Cale, La Monte Young, Angus McLise, Marian Zazeela), which went on to influence John Cale‘s viola and the Velvet Underground sound. TONY CONRAD – COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT lets the charming and funny Conrad give a personal introduction to his work, garnering praise amongst many admirers, especially from the noise pop scene, and includes amusing conversation snippets with curators, like one who talks about recommending Conrad‘s YELLOW FILM to his consortium – a rectangle drawn on a wall. The “film“ lasts till the triangle diasppears. After the presentation, the consortium says that they would like to believe that it‘s all very important, but why is the piece so cheap?

*Available online bei realeyz.de – Turn off all the lights and stick it out!

Hannes Stein

Translation: Elinor Lewy