I’m working on a MaxMSP performance patch that uses a Wacom tablet to draw light onto dancers holding light sensitive instruments. Last night we decided to apply sound to the strokes to give the illustrator another way to interact in the piece. Currently the pressure from the pen is translated into the volume and the velocity is translated into pitch. It will need some fine tuning, but I think you can get the idea from the video.
On Wednesday, July 7, 2010 my piece Chromatic Textures was shown at 6X6 #5: Mystery, an exhibition at Ciné Lab in Athens, Georgia. My work was accepted along with five other artists, “…including Denton Crawford’s eyeballs, Aaron Oldenburg’s plunge into asphyxia, and a performance streamed live over the Internet from California.” Here’s my abstract for Chromatic Textures.
Chromatic Textures is a study on the synesthetic nature of our senses of sound and sight. Video input is used to produce generative musical phrases. The visual media is analyzed by the GMS (Gestural Music Sequencer) to create the musical forms in real-time. The software includes adjustable probability distribution maps for the scale and rhythm. Adjusting these settings allows familiar structures to emerge. The settings chosen for this piece cause notes within a particular scale to play more frequently, however, it is still possible for any note within the twelve-tone chromatic system to occur. As a result, dissonant or blue notes can be heard at rare instances throughout the piece.
Continue reading
The June 28 installment of Experimental Music Mondays starts out with music from EMM regular Terr the Om (Nathan Brende). Terr the Om combines circuit bending and laptop mangling to create glistening, quirky, and bit-crushed on-the-spot compositions with a break beat sensibility.
Next is Siamese Bug made up of drummer TIm Glenn and guitarist Jeremy Ylversaker. Tim Glenn (HeatdeatH, Squidfist) and Jeremy Ylvisaker (Alpha Consumer, Dosh, Andrew Bird) have played together in Fog and Ourmine, Individually they’ve performed everywhere from Sydney Opera Hall to your nightmares. Expect to hear the sounds from contact mics on torn cymbals and vintage transistor interference through guitar pickups and pedal arrays.
The final act of the evening is by noise masters Juhyo. “JUHYO is a collaboration between Minneapolis artists Brian Kopish (Surrounded) and Bill Henson (Oblong Box). Together they create horrifyingly beautiful soundscapes of pure noise. Armed with an array of homemade oscillators, delay units, resonators, samplers and sheer volume; aimed with composition, discipline and conscious, focused intent; JUHYO exists as an entity of creative expression, freedom, subtle beauty and eardrum bleeding power.”
This Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 7-10pm I’ll be performing at the opening night reception for Exquisite Robot, artwork by members of Rogue Citizen.
I’ll be performing solo material under my Ostraka moniker. Unicorn Dream Attack is also making music at the event. This event is free, and open to the public.
“Exquisite corpse” was originally developed as a game played by prominent Surrealists in France. The artists of Rogue Citizen have embraced this format to explore their own 21st century paranoid visions.
They capture the terror and excitement of new possibilities with their shared passions for drawing, experimental imagery and abstraction, playing an old game for a new world. All work in the exhibition will be available for purchase.
Location:
Stevens Square Center for the Arts
1905 Third Avenue South
Minneapolis, Minnesota
This Friday, June 11, 2010 is the first in a series of events put on by Jon Davis called The Somethin’ Else. This instance is subtitled Odd Couples and features duets that have one artist producing electronics with a second, in contrast, mostly acoustic player. The performers include the following:
Jon Davis & Elaine Evans
Brett Bullion & Chris Smalley (Burnsville)
Steve Goldstein & Scott Fultz
Tim Glenn & Jeremy Ylvisaker (Siamese Bug)
John Keston & Graham O’Brien (Ostracon)
Adam J To & Dejen Tesfagiorgis
The event is located at the Stevens Square Center for the Arts, 1905 3rd Ave S., Minneapolis, MN (above the 3rd Ave. Market). The music starts at 7pm and goes until 10pm. All ages are welcome. A $5.00 cover is optional if you bring food or drink to share. It’s a potluck!
I’m excited to be performing at the show with my project Ostracon (John Keston on electronics and Graham O’Brien on drums) at 7:30pm. Expect to hear some angular GMS layers combined with Graham’s on-the-verge-of-chaotic drumming.