Exquisite Robot Opening with Ostraka

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

 

The Somethin’ Else Electronic Music Potluck

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.

Sound Builders: Inventor of Circuit Bending Reed Ghazala

I’m really enjoying the Sound Builder series on Motherboard.tv, but this episode is brilliant. Now if I could just get the real-time version of that sped up footage! For more about Reed Ghazala checkout his bio and sounds from his instruments on anti-theory.com.

The Visible Pocket Oscillator

I really love this instrument. It’s simple to build and operate, yet the variety of sounds possible is broader than you would expect. This is the third Posc I’ve built. The first one I assembled into a small cardboard box. Let’s call it the Cardboard Posc. I disassembled the Cardboard Posc to build a prototype sound object for a dance piece.

For my third version I decided to build it into a transparent plastic case, formerly packaging for my iPod Touch. Let’s call it the Visible Posc. Right now it’s held together with a rubber band, but I’ll probably replace it with a screw or something to open it up for battery replacement. For more checkout these posts:

Saucer Sled Synth
POSC Pocket Oscillator

Experimental Music Mondays Part 4

Part four of the Experimental Music Mondays series begins at 9:00pm on May 31, 2010 at the Kitty Cat Klub in Minneapolis with Heizerbaum & Panderton featuring Andrea Steudel from MinneapolisArtOnWheels.org, with sound artist Luke Heizerbaum (actually I don’t think that’s his real last name, but let’s go with it). Expect to see some fascinating projections including images from a microscope of a vinyl record as it spins on a turntable.

Next up is Ostracon (John Keston on electronics and Graham O’Brien on drums). We perform generative, improvisational compositions using the GMS (Gestural Music Sequencer), that converts video input into musical phrases. “Keston captures, layers, loops and processes melodic segments in real-time out of the stream of notes created by his gestural input, tailored with probability distribution algorithms. O’Brien accompanies these angular, electronic structures, with dynamic playing that, at times, verges on the chaotic. More about Ostracon can be found at audiocookbook.org and unearthedmusic.com.”

Closing the evening is Twenty Thirteen, “a trio, made up of Chris Robin Cox (Junkyard Empire, Minneapolis Free Music Society) playing electric trombone, Bryan Berry playing guitar through tons of effects and loops, and Kahlil Brewington laying down bad ass funky drums. The music is ambient, yet groovy as hell, and incorporates influences as diverse Portishead, Bitches Brew era Miles Davis, and classic hip-hop, drum n’ bass, and dub beats. It’s like nothing you have ever seen live. The band sometimes performs with a fourth member: a television, which sits facing away from the band, and channels can be changed by audience members; the band providing the soundtrack for a television they do not watch. It’s a bit of a social experiment.”