Grouper set-up?

[tchen]

I'd love to see Liz Harris (or Helen) live. I've seen pictures of her setup, but does anyone know how her shit is wired up? What is she actually doing with all those walkmen, how is she orchestrating those sounds?

[Olin]

Can't really answer any of these questions because every time I've seen her she's had a completely different setup. She was also insanely quiet every time I saw her, and while I can appreciate that it warrants a quietness from the audience, a little more intimacy and extra attention, I really wish I could have actually heard what was happening.

[tremolo3]

Pics of any of her setups? =)

Groupes is love <3

[Olin]

Usually a bunch of handheld cassette players into a mixer for her sampling, then looper(s) and delay (sometimes). I remember seeing her in Krakow and I think and she mostly just played piano. Another set of hers in London sounded a lot like Natural Snow Buildings though. The whole London concert was great, curated by Michael Gira, had Ben Frost, Grouper and a few others; was pretty cool.

[$harkToootth]

She doesn't use expensive equipment. I've read so many interviews with her. A lot of her albums were released before thrift stores and Portland made their way back into the zeitgeist. She said she scored a rhodes piano for like nothing at the beginning of the millennium.

Someone made a joke once saying Acoustic Guitar with pickup > EHX Cathedral Reverb = GROUPER....I don't think they are that far off, they just forgot a looper. Layering is essential to her sound.

But "Yes", as Ollin pointed out, lo-fi cassettes are essential. She said that they are field recordings done at a deliberately shitty quality.

RUINS took a while to grow on me but I like it a lot now. DRAGGING A DEAD DEER and THE MAN WHO DIED IN HIS BOAT are tied for a spot in my top 10 albums.

tchen, I have an Ibanez Echo Shifter and when that thing gets into self oscillation, it's like a softer oscillation reminiscent of her first three albums (pre-dragging work).

[chutneyfarmer]

Played a show with her a few years back. Lots of verbs, delays and loopers really. Couple of walkmen and her guitar going through pedals and a mixer.

Nothing too fancy at all really. I think the source material on the tapes shapes the sound a lot. Just use lots of lo-fi field recordings as a bed for the tracks and you'll be well on your way.

[Inconuucl]

DRAGGING A DEAD DEER and THE MAN WHO DIED IN HIS BOAT are tied for a spot in my top 10 albums.

Dragging a Dead Deer is an album that I trauma'd my way into not being able to listen to easily. Every time I was feeling depressed I would put it up, and it soaked up a lot of memories over the years. I still listen to it every once in a while, but I have to be mentally ready. That being said it's one of my favorite albums ever.

[$harkToootth]

THE MAN WHO DIEDIN HIS BOAT was mostly done during the DRAGGING "sessions". I find it really cool that during that period of her life she made so many great tracks. Years later DRAGGING has its own following so she's like "Well I did do more songs while I recorded that...guess I can dig them up and release them." I like when things like that happen. It's its own form of time travel. Someone was able to tap into something really special in a short period. As said, I love her other work, but there is something remarkable about those two albums.

Inconuuci, I'm kind of like that with the first three albums. When Varg Vikernes talks about BURZUM and how the music is supposed to be "a spell". That's how those first three GROUPER albums are for me. They tap into something I don't quite understand.