A Woman - Sound for Choreography - Album by Ian Richter.

ALBUM RELEASE: "A WOMAN - SOUND FOR CHOREOGRAPHY II"

my second choreography soundtrack album was released earlier this year, along with 2 video edits.

FULL ALBUM >>>

i feel very humbled and grateful to have worked with a number of talented artists to make this production a reality. see credits below.

the album is a recording of the soundtrack created for a collaborative project with choreographers Hải Minh and Hoang Ha.

The piece was originally performed at the Vietnam National Opera & Ballet in Hanoi on January 8th, 2022, as part of the Antigone Project, supported by the Goethe-Institut Hanoi and Kinergie Studio.

CREDITS

Co-directors: Hoàng Hà, Minh Hải, Phạm Hương
Choreographers: Hoàng Hà, Minh Hải
Artistic advisor: Đỗ Hoàng Thi Ngọc
Performers: Minh Hải, Hoàng Hà, Trần Minh, Quay Trần, Hà Kiều Anh, Zê Ly
Music: Ian Richter
Costume: Trần Quỳnh Nhi
Make-up: Luna Nguyễn Thu Thủy
Stage props: Nguyễn Ban Ga, Nguyễn Bình Thường
Video: Đào Thu Uyên, Phạm Quang Vinh
Photo: Bach Viet Phan, Đỗ Thế Quang
Producer: Ngụy Hải An
Production assistants: Lê Tú Anh, Trịnh Ngân Hạnh
Media partner: Hanoi Grapevine

Special thanks to: Vietnam National Opera & Ballet, Nguyễn Nam, Trần Uy Đức, Red, Trương Uyên Ly, Nhung Nguyễn, Trần Kim Ngọc, Thùy Trang, Hoàng Thảo, Đỗ Minh Anh, Duy Long, Phan Đan, Zel, Hoàng Anh, Hương Ly, Mỹ Linh, Cẩm Anh, Thu Trang, Linh Phạm, Đinh Vũ Nhật Hồng, Nguyễn Diễm Thanh, Thu Giang, Alex, Mai Phương, Phương Anh

i r

June 12, 2023

BLOODY MARYS WITH AN ANGRY GODDESS - ALBUM OUT VIA CONFUSED MACHINES

Via tel aviv-based leftfield techno label confused machines comes Ian Richter’s latest studio album titled

BLOODY MARYS WITH AN ANGRY GODDESS.

ir on the album:

Creating this album was like making an incision across the chest cavity of a year’s worth of personal and collective comedy-tragedy. Parting the flesh revealed an intricately organised and chaotic structure that I’m not done exploring. The process was both an incubation and a communally connective experience, forging foreign with familiar, mysticism with science, and claustrophobia with liberation.   

for a more complete yet fairly melodramatic summary of the album, click here to read the Mixmag review.

other reviews & premieres by music blogs:

“Hyang” on Cold Experiment

“Rahu & Ketu” on Comme Des Larmes

“Lie Serum” on WhyPeopleDance

“Liễu Hạnh” by Moskalus

“She Scrys” by 𝔰𝔬𝔫𝔦𝔡𝔬𝔰 𝔰𝔲𝔟-𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔢𝔬𝔰

the album is available digitally via the usual outlets (Apple Music, Spotify, Juno, Amazon, Decks.de etc.) or directly from the label via bandcamp.

there is also a limited edition cassette tape available which looks like this:

October 1, 2021

On Destiny's Doorstep with a Knife in Your Teeth - Album by Ian Richter

SINGLE RELEASE: ON DESTINY'S DOORSTEP WITH A KNIFE IN YOUR TEETH

for this year’s Tet lunar year celebrations, i was invited by a good friend to spend the week with her family in her home town of Lang Son in northern vietnam.

it was an unforgettable week. extremely cold and wet but fuelled with high spirits, friendly faces, and plenty of shots of rice wine and chivas.

i brought my laptop to record a show for the mutant lounge artist series. the live improvisation turned out to be around 21 minutes of continuous audio which i decided to release as its own thing, calling it:

ON DESTINY’S DOORSTEP WITH A KNIFE IN YOUR TEETH.

the recording is available at all the regular streaming and digital audio outlets.

mastered at Salz Music.

artwork by IR.

August 21, 2022

"PYRAMIDA" GETS VIDEO TREATMENT

the track “pyramida” seals up my latest album BLOODY MARYS WITH AN ANGRY GODDESS and is the only track on the release that features my vocals.

it holds a number of firsts:

:: the first time i have written lyrics [see below] and sung in hebrew.

:: the first time i have created a ‘music video’.

if you’re interested, hit the closed caption button for translation of the lyrics.

WATCH VIDEO >>>


תַּפְקִידוּ שֶׁל אַף אֶחָד לְהָגֵן עַל הַשִּׁלְדָּה. תַּפְקִידוּ שֶׁל אַף אֶחָד לְהָאִיר עוֹד נָשְׁמָה.

יֵשׁ רַק דִּמּוּי בְּמַרְאָה, שֵׁם בּוֹעֶרֶת הַאֲשָׁמָה,

בִּבְנִיַּת הַפִּירָמִידָה


כְּשֶׁדָּם נִשָּׁפֵךְ שׁוּב וְשׁוּב לָאֲדָמָה, הַזֶּרַע בּוֹקֵעַ בְּתוֹךְ שִׂנְאָה וְחֻמְצָה

,אֲבָל לְהִתְעַלֵּם נִמְצָא אֶת הַדֶּרֶךְ אֶל דְּאָגָה,

לַפִּירָמִידָה


נַרְאֶה שֶׁאֵין כְּבָר שׁוּם סִכּוּי שֶׁתִּשְׂרְדוּ אֶת הַחוֹזֶה' שֶׁתַּחְתְּמוּ עִם הַשּׁוֹטֶה, שֶׁתִּבְרְחוּ מֵהַסּוֹטֶה,

בַּמָּבוֹךְ הַפִּירָמִידָה


נִתְפַּלֵּל לַשָּׁוְא, עֲיֵפִים וּמֵרוֹצִים. נַעֲקֹב וְנִתְלוֹנֵן, מֻצְדָּקִים וּשְׁמַנְמַנִּים,

בַּכִּשּׁוּף הַפִּירָמִידָה.

הוּא מֵבִין גָּדוֹל, הוּא קוֹרֵא אֶת הָעִתּוֹן, רַק הוּא לֹא יָכֹל לִרְאוֹת, אֶת הַמִּבְנֶה הֶחָסוֹן,

הַפִּירָמִידָה


יֵשׁ עֵינַיִם שׁוֹמְרוֹת, אֲבָל הֵן לֹא עֲבוּרֵנוּ. יֵשׁ אָזְנַיִם עַל הַקִּיר, אֲבָל הֵן לֹא בַּעֲדֵנוּ.

כִּי הַמְּשִׂימָה תָּמִיד הָיְתָה, תָּמִיד נִשְׁאָרָה

,לִדְאֹג לַפִּירָמִידָה.

מֵרֹב אֲבָנִים וַחֲפָצִים הַנּוֹצְצִים,

לֹא שָׂמִים לֵב לָרִקָּבוֹן שֶׁבִּפְנִים

בְּחַדְרֵי הַפִּירָמִידָה.

לְטַפֵּס וְלַבָּנוֹת, לְהַנִּיחַ לְבֵנָה, עַל הַקֶּבֶר הַקּוֹדֵם, זֹאת מַחְשָׁבָה טְהוֹרָה,

בַּפִּירָמִידָה.לַפַּקְס עַל הַכֵּס, לְפַרְכֵּס,

וְהַכִּיס רָעֵב

October 8, 2021

"THE YOU" LIVE PERFORMANCE PROJECT

The You is a performance project launched in Vietnam in 2020. After two live events, the production was revisited, decomposed and transformed to become an online experience which was shared in the real and virtual world as an interactive digital exhibition.

Composed as an experiment, The You features the collaboration of Ian Richter (audio), Jo / Ngô Kỳ Duyên (visuals) and Đoàn Thanh Toàn (movement) under the umbrella of Undecided Productions. The online platform was developed with the keen clicks of Khai-Dang-Leo.


Tiếng Việt

The You là một dự án biểu diễn được khởi xướng tại Việt Nam vào năm 2020. Sau hai sự kiện biểu diễn live, chúng tôi đã ngồi lại cùng nhau để phân tách và chuyển đổi The You thành một trải nghiệm trực tuyến để chia sẻ với thế giới. Tuyệt vời ông mặt trời mấy bạn ơi.

Dự án thể nghiệm được hình thành trên sự hợp tác của ba nghệ sĩ: Ian Richter (âm thanh), Jo / Ngô Kỳ Duyên (hình ảnh) và Đoàn Thanh Toàn (chuyển động), dưới sự điều phối của Undecided Productions. Nền tảng trực tuyến được phát triển bởi những màn click chuột thần sầu của Khai-Dang-Leo.


PLAYING LAPTOP MUSIC AT THE VIETNAM NATIONAL OPERA & BALLET

𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧.

while in hanoi i had the pleasure of collaborating with choreographers Hải Minh and Hoang Ha, and a troupe of inspired dancers.

our version of "a | woman" debuted at the Vietnam National Opera & Ballet in Hanoi, and is loosely based upon Sophocles' play "Antigone".

a cinematic version exists somewhere on the interwebs.

i will be releasing an album version of the piece as a sequel to my first “sound for choreography” album which was released in 2016.

the album will consist of 7 tracks.

enjoying some of the world's strongest coffee during soundcheck...

August 21, 2022

Ian Richter at Vietnam National Opera & Ballet

IR WITH LIVE SET AND SELECTION FOR MUTANT LOUNGE

For the festival of Tết I was invited by a friend to accompany her on a trip back to her hometown in Northern Vietnam. It was cold, and rainy, and dark. But my host family’s kindness was immense, and the days were filled with lots of homemade traditional food, and a pretty constant string of shots of either Rượu (rice-based moonshine) or chivas.

Since we spent a lot of the time indoors, it was a good opportunity to mess around with some field recordings and various other audio scraps in the form of beats, or instrumental samples I had of myself disrespecting some stringed instrument or whatever.

I put everything together into a big phat ableton project and recorded a live improvised take while under the covers, as seen in the image.

The result was featured in a radio-style show called Mutant Lounge, which also includes a few personal musical selections and some reluctant talk by yours truly.

About Mutant Lounge:

Mutant Lounge started in 2015 as an underground community, giving space for live electronic music performance, gathering people who use hardware or computer based systems to perform music of any genre. Now, in 2021, it has been relaunched as a showcase for Vietnamese, foreign born Vietnamese or Vietnam-based artists who work with electronic music or sound in anyway. The aim is to promote, increase awareness of, and help grow this side of the music scene in Vietnam.

the show >>>

THE DAY I MET CYNDI LAUPER

well, i didn't really meet her in the physical-situational sense of the word, but i did read the lyrics of a song she sung in the eighties. 

and mashed it up with some sounds from the excellent In Aeturnum Vale (for which i apologise). 

here's the result of that rendezvous...

March 29, 2016

LOVING THE ANNA LOU-LOU

music is weird. live performances only heighten the true liquid nature of the realm of sound. i see performance as ceremonial. ritualistic. i often feel the eyes and body consciousness of people in the audience. it's a sublime form of communication. a multi-directional transfer of emotional data. 

the gig at anna-loulou was normal in that it was weird. but it must have been ok since the day after i had a nice case of post-gig debbie-downerism. that's always a good sign. if you're feeling down, maybe it's because you felt really really good before and it's just your brain taking a bit longer than usual to compensate for those drained chemicals. give your brain a break.

i r

March 26, 2016

"LIVE AT HANUT 31" VIDEO RELEASE PARTY ON MY COUCH

i performed a continuous piece with my synths and some vocals at a small theatre down the road. it's a good place; used to be a store; clothing, or shoes maybe. now it's a very intimate performance space that seats about 20 people. they don't have beer. but they don't have a bathroom either so i guess it evens out.

my good friend and occasional partner-in-art-crime nimrod gershoni filmed the piece while another friend nir hermelin, brought on to help with the sound (thanks nir!), played around with his phone. it was an experience.

anyway, nimrod really sunk his teeth into the footage and now we have this pseudo music-performance video which is quite trippy and dark. both things we like.

you can watch it here.

the video was included by john doran in his "playlist" column in the guardia. regardless of my mentioning, it's a good column to peruse over if you're in the mood for some alt middle east.

i r

November 29, 2015

Glitched image of musician Ian Richter.

OFFICIAL IAN RICHTER WEBSITE LAUNCH - YIPPEE

THE INTERNET IS IMPORTANT. YOU ARE IMPORTANT. KEEP ON BELIEVING.

after years of mucking about with crappy profile pages on half-assed social network experiments, i somehow gathered the patience to set up a website. thanks to advances in internet technology, it took about 35 minutes. i've been putting it off for about 5 years.

this will hopefully act as a source of information about my musical endeavours, mostly projects that i have worked on alone, but also collaborations. check back for updates on releases, videos, shows blah blah blah.

i am extremely excited. i hope you are too. actually, if you are a human and not a google bot reading this right now, i might even smile. pity i will never know.

i r

November 29, 2015