Thomas Lehn
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KONK PACK
© 2023 by Kirill Polonsky
Tim Hodgkinson • lap steel guitar, electronics,
clarinet
Roger Turner • drumset & percussion
Thomas Lehn • analogue synthesizer
Roger Turner • drumset & percussion
Thomas Lehn • analogue synthesizer
about | discography | past tours & festivals | audio | reviews
| biographies | downloads | tour dates
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about
KONK PACK brings together three major figures in contemporary music. For about a quarter of century this group has amazed audiences at festivals and concerts all over the world with the sheer energy of its rapid-fire interplay, earning numerous critical accolades.
Since 1997, Konk Pack have toured regularly throughout Europe, completed four major tours of the US, and have been described by The Wire magazine's Lee Henderson as "one of the most exciting improv groups in the world." The group have released five compact discs, and performed at major music festivals from Vancouver to Belgrade. The musics they've made individually are reason enough to take note of this trio, but the music they make together leaves audiences amazed and inspired.
Budapest December 1997 @ Szünetjel
Festival
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discgraphy
Big Deep [GROB.102] - Dec. 1999 - details
Warp Out [GROB.323] - Oct. 2001 - details
off leash [GROB.654] - Oct. 2004 - details
the black hills [GROB.962] - Dec. 2010 - details
Doing The Splash [kdr003] - Nov. 2013 - details
Konk Pack on discogs
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past tours
1998: Italy
1999: Belgium, The Netherlands
2000: UK, Germany, Canada, France
2001: UK, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, USA, Austria, Netherlands, Czech Republic
2002: UK, Germany, Austria
2003: UK, Italy, Canada, France
2004: UK, France, Germany, Austria
2005 & 2006 : UK
2008: 10 Years Anniversary Tour: Netherland, Germany Italy
2009: Sweden, Germany
2010: France, USA
2011: France
2012: Scotland & England
2013: USA
2014: France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy
2015: France
2018: Canada, USA
2022: Norway (supported by Goethe-Institut Norwegen), Austria
2023: France, Germany, Czech Republic
2022 Norway
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festival appearances
Victoriaville, FIMAV 2000
Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy/F, Musique Action 2000
Mhere/F, Fruits de Mhere 2000
Wels/A, Music Unlimited 2000
Bourges/F, Synthese Festival 2001
Nickelsdorf/A, Konfrontationen 2001
Prague, Alternativa Festival 2001
Bratislava/SK, NEXT Festival 2001
Utrecht/Rotterdam, Rumor Festival 2001
Belgrade, ring ring festival 2002
Mulhouse, Jazz a Mulhouse 2002
Mhere/F, Fruits de Mhere 2003
Vancouver, Dangerous Currents Festival 2003
Nottingham, Now 2006
Barcelona, LEM 2006
Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy/F, Musique Action 2007
Frankfurt, ROT Festival 2009
Caen/F, Interstice Festival 2010
Le Havre/F, piednu Festival 2010
Lille, Muzzix 2011
Dachau/D, Jazzherbst 2011
Tours/F, Total Meeting 2011
St. Etienne/FR, Musiques Innovatrices 2014
Paris/F, CRAK Festival 2014
Le Havre/F, piednu Festival 2015
Bologna, Angelica 2016
Oslo, Blow Out 2016
Brighton/UK, Fort Process Festival 2016
Festival Le Bruit de la Musique/FR, 2017
Guelph Jazz Festival, 2018
© Andy Newcombe
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audio / video
audio
KONK PACK Prague 7 Feb 2023, live @ punctum:
punctum excerpt (2:03)
KONK PACK – the black hills (CD 2010)
1. The Welcome (excerpt 1:41)
3. The Grave (excerpt 1:40)
4. The Breakfast (excerpt 3:27)
5. Roof Party (excerpt 1:13)
6. The Trees (excerpt 3:17)
7. Gin Run (complete 6:17)
KONK PACK – off leash (CD 2004)
1. off leash (excerpt 5:43)
video
KONK PACK live in Forli/Italy @ Area Sismica 16 Nov. 2014
Forli, Italy on Sun. November 16, 2014
© Claudia Schmacke
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reviews
"Heading towards their 15th anniversary in 2012, the German-British trio Konk Pack continues to be the gold standard against which any band of electro-acoustic improvisers must be measured."
- Ken Waxman | Jazzword | Toronto | 2010
"I've caught Konk Pack live a half dozen times through the years and have been knocked out on each & every occasion. What makes this trio special is that their music is so focused and intense, that you often feel exhilarated by listening. You can't do anything else or have any distractions while listening since you will be swept away."
- Bruce Gallanter | Onsen | August 2010
"Konk Pack boasts a line-up that springs from diverse quarters, combining to make a gloriously intuitive barrage of sounds, both soft and savage. They've been together for 13 years, facilitating empathy without banishing unpredictability. To witness both of these gigs was to marvel at a band revealing completely different aspects of their ongoing vocabulary."
- Martin Longley | All About Jazz | April 2010
"The free improvisation of the trio Konk Pack is like a blast of science — a kind of controlled chaos in the hands of experts. Being musically proficient is not enough for Konk Pack; the players feed off the collective energy and have an uncanny ability to collectively shape their abstract constructions with a keen understanding of the power of varied dynamics."
- Ernie Paik | The Pulse | Chattanooga | April 2010
"I can't think of an improvising group more explosive than this European trio - percussionist Roger Turner, guitarist Tim Hodgkinson, and synth maestro Thomas Lehn bite down hard on whatever they play, confronting even delicate passages with taut intensity. …I've seen so much free improv that some of it feels as predictable as 'Chopsticks', but these guys keep me pinned to the wall, happily anticipating the next shock."
- Peter Margasak | Chicago Reader | October 18th,
2007
"Grob label artists Konk Pack are utterly awesome. Featuring Thomas Lehn on the craziest old EMS synthi A, Tim Hodgkinson on flat guitar and Roger Turner on percussion, the show is awkwardly brilliant and defiant. With startling combinations of punkish nuisance, ingenious change-ups, and rolling, stumbling, tripping and flipping sound inventions, Konk Pack are one of the most exciting Improv groups in the world."
- Lee Henderson reviewing Vancouver Electric City in The Wire, Dec 2003
"Heralded by a release on the Grob label - Big Deep, recorded in Rome, Tilburg and Brussels - Konk Pack's appearance at a central London venue attracted a sell-out crowd. The accelerated,interactive electronica of Roger Turner (percussion), Tim Hodgkinson (deconstructed tabletop guitar) and Thomas Lehn (analogue synth) arises from a scintillating heap of sonic detritus the way an artificial intelligence manifests itself in a Manga movie: a writhing mass of automobiles, arcade consoles, street furniture and mobile phones. Hodgkinson attacks his amplified strings with plectrum and bow, his specs glinting as he waits for the right awkward moment to kloodge a sonic shard on the side of one of Turner's amazingly vocalised motifs (at times you swear you hear collaborator Phil Minton's mucal snorts). Lehn restricts his pianism on analogue synth to pinched blurts, but still manages to resemble a switched-on Liszt. Although we itched to interrupt with applause, Konk Pack played an unbroken 45 minute set: fun debris, rollicking freakouts ... and one magical section of scrape and pling where the music seemed to play itself."
- Ben Watson The Wire, April 2001
"Collectively improvised music comes in many forms, with as many degrees of success. Only some genuinely presses the envelope, pushing into a terrain where the unknown can happen and where even the best players encounter risk. On that transcendent scale, the trio Konk Pack - Tim Hodgkinson on table-top guitar and clarinet, Thomas Lehn on synthesizer, and the wondrous Roger Turner on percussion - fared best among the groups at this festival [Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, May 2000], creating music in which a barrage of discreet particles bounced around, colliding in a universe in which chance and interactivity blurred into one another. Playing at one o'clock on Saturday afternoon in the festival's smallest venue, Konk Pack established a benchmark by which other improvisers' performances would inevitably be judged."
- Bill Smith, Coda Magazine, June 2000
"As for pure total improvisation, the verdict on german-english trio Konk Pack was unanimous. Even listeners unreceptive to improvised noise (bending frequencies and sound-textures via an analog synth, manipulation of a guitar on a table, free percussion, etc) were won over by these subtle sonorities superbly segued, magnificent interplay."
- Alain Brunet, La Presse, Montreal, 23 May 2000
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biographies
Tim Hodgkinson | Roger Turner | Thomas Lehn
© Sergei Kolosov
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Tim Hodgkinson
Increasingly lauded as a contemporary composer, with works featured at international contemporary music festivals, and a set of pieces for ensemble out on the Mode label, Hodgkinson has also a powerful commitment to intense and highly energised performance practice. In over thirty years' work he has placed himself in a series of definitive projects, whether as cofounder of the seminal Henry Cow group, as saxophonist with influential avant metal band God, or as bass clarinet soloist in the spectral compositions of Iancu Dumitrescu. His lap steel guitar playing remains completely uncategorisable bringing subdued and not so subdued echoes of rock musics and other ethnicities.
www.timhodgkinson.co.uk
timhodgkinson.bandcamp.com
© Sergei Kolosov
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Roger Turner
Over decades Roger Turner has brought the renowned volcanic power and finely honed precision of his drum work to ensembles that have often forged real connections with musicians both sides of the Atlantic. In addition he has worked extensively in the microscopic laboratory of the acoustic duo situation where he acquired a highly developed sense of detail and of dynamic control. One of that select group of world-class players who have collectively redefined the language of contemporary percussion. In Turner's hands minute inflections of tension can shape the group's musical direction and galvanise a new level of audience experience.
www.turners-site.com
© skanu mesz
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Thomas Lehn
Schooled both as a concert pianist performing contemporary repertoire and as a recording technician, Thomas Lehn deploys a huge musicality through his unique chosen outlet the analogue synthesiser. This instrument allows him extremely close and immediate contact with all aspects of sound modification - a vast gamut of living electronic sound produced with unmatched speed and fluency. Thomas Lehn simply represents a coming-of-age of electronic sound production in the domain of concert performance that sets a standard for the entire medium. He is therefore unsurprisingly an essential member of many of the most active and significant projects in this highly international and dynamic scene.
www.thomaslehn.com
© Laurent Orseau
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downloads
Konk Pack Info (pdf)
Tech Rider (pdf)
Press Photos
Posters
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tour dates
upcoming dates | past dates
Tue. 1 – Mon. 7 April – UK/Scottland Tour
Tue. April 1, – open –
Wed. April 2, – open –
Thu. April 3, – open –
Fri. April 4, – open –
Sat. April 5, – open –
Sun. April 6, – open –
Mon. April 7, London @ Cafe Oto (tbc)
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upcoming dates
Mon. April 7, London @ Cafe Oto (tbc)
© Sergei Kolosov
^
past dates
2024
Sat. November 2, Hannover @ Atelier Grammophon
Fri. November 1, Saarbrücken @ BuckBlech-Werkstatt
Thu. October 31, Stuttgart @ stromraum
Wed. October 30, Offenburg @ Kesselhaus
Tue. October 29, Zürich @ Das Institut - Misterioso Jazz Club
Sun. October 27, Forli @ Area Sismica
Sat. October 26 (6pm !), Topolò @ Juliova / Hybrida.
Thu. October 24, Ljubljana @ Gromka
Wed. October 23, Prague @ Punctum / Rachot
2023
Tue. February 7, Prague @ punctum
Mon. February 6, Leipzig @ Contemporary Insights
Sun. February 5, Münster @ cuba blackbox / Stage off Limits
Sat. February 4, Bonn @ Dialograum Kreuzung an St. Helena / in situ
Fri. February 3, Montreuil @ Instants Chavirés
2022
Fri. March 25, Wien @ Porgy & Bess
Thu. March 24, Stavanger @ Rimi/Imir Scenekunst
Wed. March 23, Bergen @ Gyldenpris Kunsthall/nyMusikk
Tue. March 22, Toensberg @ Nonfigurativ Musikk
Mon. March 21, Trondheim @ Friform
2018
Mon. September 24, New York @ Roulette
Sun. September 23, New Orleans @ Art Klub
Sat. September 22, New Orleans @ AllWays Lounge
Fri. September 21, Houston @ Rockefeller's
Thu. September 20, Houston @ Insomnia Gallery
Wed. September 19, Austin @ Imagine Art
Tue. September 18, Austin @ Texas School for Blind and Visually Impaired
Mon. September 17, Los Angeles @ Zebulon
Sat. September 15, San Diego @ Bread & Salt
Fri. September 14, Guelph @ Guelph Jazz Festival
2017
Thu. August 17, La Blanchette @ Le Bruit de la Musique
2016
Thu. October 13, Moskau @ DOM
Sat. September 3, Brighton @ Fort Process Festival
Fri. September 2, London @ Cafe Oto
Wed. August 17, Oslo @ Cafe Mir
Sat. May 21, Bologna @ Centro di Ricerca Musicale/Teatro San Leonardo
2015
Tue. April 7, Bordeaux @ Heretic
Sat. April 4, Le Havre @ Fort de Tourneville
Fri. April 3, Blois
2014
Sat. September 27, Paris @ L'Eglise Saint-Merry
Thu. September 25, Brussels @ Les Ateliers Claus (co-production with Q-O2)
Sun. June 8, Geneve @ Cave 12
Sat. June 7, St. Etienne @ Musiques Innovatrices
Fri. June 6, Basel @ Hirscheneck
Thu. June 5, Freiburg @ Slow Club
Wed. June 4, Marseille @ GRIM
2012
Fri. December 21, Falmouth @ Jacob's Ladder Inn
Wed. December 19, Brighton @ Cowley Club
Tue. December 18, London @ Cafe Oto
Sat. December 15, Manchester @ St Margaret's Church
Fri. December 14, Newcastle @ Morden Tower
Tue. December 11, Edinburgh @
Mon. December 10, Glasgow @ CCA
2011
Sun. December 11, Tours @ Le Petit Faucheux
Fri. October 14, Dachau @ Gebaeude in der Altstadt
Thu. October 13, Paris @ trashvortex
Wed. October 12, Nantes @ Pannonica
Sun. April 3, Poitiers @ Carré Blue
Sat. April 2, Lille @ Festival Muzzix @ La Malterie
Fri. April 1, Le Havre @ Festival Piednu
Wed. March 30, Brest @ Penn Ar Jazz
Tue. March 29, Montreuil @ Instants Chavires
2010
Sun. October 24, Hofheim @ Jazzkeller
Thu. April 29, Le Havre @ Piednu Festival
Wed. April 28, Caen
Sat. April 17, New York City @ Roulette
Thu. April 15, Philadelphia @ Philadelphia Art Alliance
Wed. April 14, New York City @ Stone
Tue. April 13, Annandale onhudson @ Bard College
Mon. April 12, Rochester @ Bop Shop
Sun. April 11, Buffalo @ Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Centre
Fri. April 9, St. Louis @ Kerr Foundation Center
Thu. April 8, Kansas City @ foundation 1221
Mon. April 5, Albuquerque @ The Kosmos
Sat. April 3, Houston @ Labotanica
Thu. April 1, New Orleans @ The Big Top
Wed. March 31, Atlanta @ Eyedrum
Tue. March 30, Columbia @ Columbia Museum of Art
Mon. March 29, Chattanooga @ Theatre Mercado
Sat. March 27, Knoxville @ Blue Cat's
Fri. March 26, Baltimore @ 5th Dimension
Thu. March 25, Hartford @ Real Art Ways
2009
Sun. December 6, Frankfurt @ mousonturm
Mon. November 30, Norrkoeping @ Konstmuseum Norrkoeping
2008
Sat. October 25, Forli @ Area Sismica
Fri. October 24, Palermo @ Goethe Institut Palermo
Wed. October 22, Hannover @ Atelier Grammophon (with Dorothea Schürch)
Sun. October 19, Koeln @ Studio 672 (with Dorothea Schürch)
Sat. October 18, Weikersheim @ Club W 71
Fri. October 17, Wuppertal @ Neu reformierte Kirche
Thu. October 16, Amsterdam @ OT301
Wed. October 15, Tilburg @ Paradox
2007
Sat. September 15, Baarle-Nassau @ Plus-Etage
Sun. May 20, Vandoeuvre @ Musique Action (with D. Schürch & R. Porenau)
2006
Tue. February 28, Liverpool @ View Two Gallery
Mon. February 27, Newcastle @ University of Newcastle
2004
Mon. November 22, Koeln @ Galerie Rachelhaferkamp
Sun. November 21, Karlsruhe @ Badischer Kunstverein
Sat. November 20, Graz @ WIST
Fri. November 19, Wien @ fluc
Thu. November 18, Muenchen @ Phoenix Lounge (with Sebi Tramontana)
Wed. November 17, Vandoeuvre @ CCAM
Thu. April 1, Brest, F @ Penn ar Jazz
Fri. February 27, London @ Deluxe Gallery
Wed. February 25, Colchester @ Colchester Arts Centre
2003
Thu. October 30, Toronto @ Music Gallery
Sat. October 25, Vancouver @ Vancouver East Cultural Centre
Thu. March 13, Venice @ Teatro Fondamenta Nuove
Sun. March 9, Exeter @ Phoenix
Sat. March 8, Lancaster @ Farmers Arms
Fri. March 7, Leeds @ The Adelphi
Thu. March 6, Hull @ The Adelphi
Wed. March 5, Sheffield @ Under the Boardwalk
Mon. March 3, Liverpool @ Liverpool Arts School
2002
Fri. November 29, Prag @ Delta Klub
Fri. August 30, Mulhouse @ Noumatrouff
Sat. May 25, Belgrad @ Ring Ring Festival
Sat. February 23, St. Johann @ Alte Gerberei
Fri. February 22, Wien @ Porgy & Bess
2001
Sat. December 8, Utrecht @ SJU Jazzpodium
Fri. December 7, Nijmegen @ extrapool
Thu. December 6, Rotterdam @ Theater Lantaren/Venster
Wed. December 5, Hofheim @ Jazzkeller
Sat. December 1, Nickelsdorf @ Jazzgalerie
Fri. November 30, Bratislava @ rock-pop-jaz club
Thu. November 29, Prag @ Delta Klub
Mon. October 22, Albuquerque @ Outpost Performance Space
Thu. October 18, New Orleans @ Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
Tue. October 16, Chattanooga @ River St. Deli
Mon. October 15, St. Louis @ The Forum for Contemporary Art
Sun. October 14, Nashville @ Ruby Green
Sat. October 13, Birmingham @ The Nick
Fri. October 12, Atlanta @ Earthshaking Music
Thu. October 11, Carrboro @ Skylight Exchange
Wed. October 10, Baltimore @ Red Room
Mon. October 8, New York @ Knitting Factory
Sat. October 6, Boston @ ICA
Fri. October 5, Annandale @ Bard College
Thu. October 4, Ann Arbor @ The Fire Fly Club
Wed. October 3, Chicago @ Empty Bottle
Sun. July 22, Nickelsdorf @ Jazzgalerie (with Shelley Hirsh)
Sun. June 24, Potsdam @ Filmstudio Babelsberg
Sat. June 23, Potsdam @ Filmstudio Babelsberg
Fri. June 22, Berlin @ Rhizom/Studio Kwiatkowski
Thu. June 21, Berlin @ Kulturhaus B-Mitte
Wed. June 13, Bourges @ Synthese 2001 Festival
Sun. May 13, Maribor
Sat. May 12, Ljubljana
Fri. May 11, Zagreb @ KSET
Wed. May 9, Brno @ Sklenena Louka
Sat. March 17, Koeln @ Basement
Fri. March 2, London @ October Gallery (with Derek Bailey)
Wed. February 28, Colchester @ Colchester Arts Centre
Mon. February 26, Liverpool @ Liverpool School of Art & Design
Sun. February 25, Leeds @ Termite Club
Sat. February 24, Sheffield
Fri. February 23, Liverpool @ Blue Coats
Wed. February 21, London @ Dingwalls Camden
2000
Fri. November 3, Wels @ Schlachthof
Thu. November 2, Regensburg @ Jazzclub Regensburg
Sun. October 29, Lyon @ Musique Cafe
Sat. October 28, Grenoble @ Le 102
Fri. October 27, Montreuil @ Instants Chavires
Wed. October 25, Koeln @ Gebäude 9
Sun. August 6, Mhere @ Le Bourge
Thu. June 1, Vandoeuvre @ Salle de Fete
Sat. May 20, Victoriaville @ Gegep
Thu. May 18, Toronto @ Music Gallery
Sun. February 27, Wuerzburg @ Immerhin
Sat. February 26, Weikersheim @ Club W 71
Fri. February 25, Frankfurt @ Theaterhaus
Wed. February 23, Koeln @ studio 672 / Stadtgarten
Mon. February 7, Liverpool @ University, Art School
Sun. February 6, Hull @ Timebase
Fri. February 4, Leeds @ The Adelphi
Thu. February 3, Sheffield @ nonpots
1999
Wed. April 7, Rotterdam @ dodorama
Tue. April 6, Bruxelles @ vk
Mon. April 5, Tilburg @ Paradox
1998
Sat. December 5, Roma
Fri. December 4, Roccamorice @ Sussuri e grida
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updated on November 6, 2024