I’m going to go out on a limb with this one: long before the moonman, Phill Niblock arguably had the market cornered on the music video intermedia. And by this I don’t mean the concert footage, or the shot of the band jamming in the garage, but the thing that really makes MTV what it is, which is the nonsequiteur visual combined with general, or abstract sounds. The music coming over the speakers now bears no relation to the video behind Niblock’s head, except maybe it does. Beau Sievers, one of the students at Ostrava Days, asks if maybe there’s a connection between the two media. “No,” says Phill; “I’m not convinced,” says Beau, “I think the theme is work.”

This is choreography. The motion is silent, and the sound is its companion, but not necessary its analog in another medium. And in the same sense, the beauty of the motion is in the work, in the hard labor that is required but hidden. The constant circular breathing into some reed or brass instrument, and the incredible muscle control required to sustain a constant pitch of 197 Hz, ideal for the cloud of tones created: this is a dancer on one leg, arched over uncomfortably, so that grace required strength more than anything.

Except it’s not quite that either. Because the interest in Niblock’s music comes from the failures, from the imperfections in the drone. In fact, the most beautiful moments are moments of erring. The cellist shifts a finger just a bit, or a wind player takes a breath and doesn’t quite hit the pitch again instantly. These create the form of the piece.

Finally, a recent video shot in an Osaka fish market: “There was one man with an axe, chopping a huge tuna, chopping bones away from the flesh. It was amazing, like a sculptor working.”