Matthew Carefully: Should I Sing a Song?

Matthew Carefully: Prayers and Palms

Century Plants: 1 and 2

Holland Hopson: East Virginia

Holland Hopson: My Own True Love

Holland Hopson: Born in the Desert

Holland Hopson: Bowling Green Green

Century Plants and Holland Hopson: Improvisation

Matthew Carefully and Holland Hopson: Blackjack David

Holland Hopson: Fencepost

The Post & Beam CD Release Show is almost here! Read the preview in Metroland.

Monday June 13, 8pm
The Arts Center of the Capital Region
265 River Street
Troy NY
$10 admission also gets you a copy of the CD!

Matthew Carefully, Century Plants and I hope to see you there.

Monday June 13, 8pm
The Arts Center of the Capital Region
265 River Street
Troy NY

I’m very pleased to have Century Plants and Matthew Carefully joining in on the fun.

Admission is $10 and includes one Post & Beam CD!

The Albany Sonic Arts Collective presents their first concert of 2011 with performances by some of the Capital Region’s most exciting experimental musicians including Century Plants with Matt Weston, Holland Hopson, SoundBarn and Insect Posse.

DEEP FREEZE: Experimental Music for Snowy Times
Saturday, February 19
8:00 pm
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St.
Albany NY
$5 suggested donation

This will be my first Albany show of 2011 and my last performance before heading to the Atlantic Center for the Arts for a residency with David Behrman (more on that later…). I’ll be performing a set of music for soprano sax and computer. My current plan includes a piece using a DIY plate reverb as the primary electronic sound source.

More about the artists after the jump…

About Century Plants:
ASAC members Eric Hardiman and Ray Hare have been collaborating for years as Century Plants, utilizing voice, guitar, and complex electronics setups to create haunting, evocative works.  For this performance, they will be joined by Matt Weston on percussion and electronics, sure to add a new layer of intrigue.
For more information http://www.myspace.com/centuryplants and
http://www.mattweston.com/

About Holland Hopson:
Named by Metroland as the area’s “Best Retro-Futurist,” composer Holland Hopson will present a set of his typically challenging work in a rare solo appearance on soprano saxophone and electronics. Holland is preparing for an upcoming three week residency with composer and live electronics pioneer David Behrman at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna, Florida.
For more information http://hollandhopson.com

About SoundBarn:
soundBarn (Thomas Lail and Patrick Weklar) use heavily processed and prepared guitar to construct ad-hoc compositions that span the space from spare, minimal soundscapes to full-on noise with ever-shifting rhythms, pace and moods.

soundBarn has recently collaborated with Albany Sonic Arts Collective on full-length performances of Rhys Chatham’s famed “Guitar Trio” as well as performances at The soundBarn—a project of artist/musician Lail and artist/gallerist Tara Fracalossi located on what was once Heald Orchards in Valatie, New York.

Lail formerly performed with the experimental trio Lukomski/Majer/Lail  whose improvised sound Metroland weekly recommended ”for those who are turned way on by the gloriously weird guitarscapes of Sonic Youth’s late ’90s SYR recordings, or the dreamy, sometimes atonal soundwaves of Hovercraft…”  Both Lail and Weklar were founding members of the long-ago Albany post-punk band The Fauves.
For more information http://www.soundbarn.blogspot.com

About Insect Posse:
Insect Posse are the prolific and inscrutable Mark Lunt and Chris Bassett, purveyors of noisy yet hypnotic hymns to other worlds of nothingness. This will be their first official ASAC appearance.
For more information http://www.myspace.com/insectposse

About the Albany Sonic Arts Collective:
The Albany Sonic Arts Collective (ASAC) is a grassroots organization dedicated to building a thriving community of listeners and performers of music that exists outside of traditional boundaries. The Collective supports a wide variety of music and sonic art forms, with an emphasis on those that stress freedom and exploration of new ideas. Styles include free improvisation, drone, noise, electroacoustic improvisation, electronic music, avant jazz, and many others. ASAC have been presenting regularly since November 2007. In 2008 the Albany Times Union called ASAC a “sonic bright spot” of the Capital District arts scene.

I’m excited to play with members of Albany Sonic Arts Collective‘s Century Plants and Insect Posse for a performance dubbed Plants and Insects. The event is part of Troy Night Out so it’s free and drop-in friendly (how else do you say “come on by and stay as long or little as you’d like?”).

Friday, August 26, 5-9pm
The Arts Center of the Capital Region
256 River St.
Troy, NY
Free!

Photo: MisterV

I’m looking forward to floating in the River of Drone II: Seven Hours of Sound.

Sunday May 16th
12 noon to 7pm
at the SoundBarn in Valatie, NY.

The Albany Times Union wrote a preview here. Find more information on the Albany Sonic Arts Collective site or below.

Albany Sonic Arts Collective (ASAC) and The soundBarn are proud to present River of Drone II: Seven Hours of Sound. A very special, long-form event, River of Drone II is a free, seven-hour, improvised sound performance from 12 noon – 7 pm on Sunday May 16 at The soundBarn, Valatie, NY.

River of Drone II: Seven Hours of Sound is a collective sonic improvisation that will unfold and develop unlike any ordinary concert. From quiet, peaceful soundscapes to full-on noise, the ever-shifting rhythm, pace and mood will evolve as the ebb and flow of performers, energy and instrumentation progresses through the seven hour performance.

Set in a former orchard cooler with views of the Catskill Mountains, The soundBarn is a uniquely suited location for visitors to lounge, listen and linger for an hour, a few minutes or the entire performance. The audience is encouraged to make themselves comfortable and to bring pillows, chairs, food and drink. Unlike a traditional concert setting, performers will be located throughout the venue and listeners are encouraged to move around, watch the accompanying video projections, wander in and out and discover new relationships to sound through immersion, reflection, deep listening, meditation, and concentration.

We hope you will join us to listen, meditate, self-hypnotize, bliss out– or to simply enjoy a swim in the RIVER OF DRONE!

River of Drone II is a collaborative presentation of Albany Sonic Arts Collective and The soundBarn and will be presented at The soundBarn.

Featured musicians include: Jason Cosco, Matt Ernst, Tara Fracalossi, Eric Hardiman (Rambutan, Century Plants, Burnt Hills,) Ray Hare (Century Plants, Fossils From the Sun, Burnt Hills,) Holland Hopson, Thomas Lail (soundBarn,) Patrick Weklar (soundBarn) Matt Weston (Barn Owls), Mike Bullock, Linda Aubry Bullock, Mark Lunt, Chris Bassett, Jeremy Kelly, and many more special guests.
Videos by: Tara Fracalossi, Kyra Garrigue and more.

The soundBarn is a project of artist/musician Thomas Lail and artist Tara Fracalossi and is located on what was once Heald Orchards in Valatie, New York. The soundBarn is sited in a modern addition to the orchard’s 100 year old Dutch style barn. The cavernous, heavily insulated space served as the orchard’s cooler where apples and pears were over-wintered and chilled by the massive, still visible refrigeration system.

Remember the first River of Drone? Listen to some of the first River of Drone.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/invisible-city/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Metroland critic Mike Hotter has chosen last September’s Faust show at Proctors as one of his top live events for 2009:

2. Faust, Holland Hopson, Century Plants

GE Theatre at Proctors, Sept. 30

Seminal German art-rockers Faust showed why they have been championed by avant-garde musicians for more than 30 years, while hometown openers Holland Hopson and Century Plants performed amazing outré music of their own. Hopson, in particular, is a must-see performer, a musical treasure hiding right under our noses.

Hotter’s mention of us “hometown openers” is certainly welcome, though his superlatives may not be entirely deserved.

Josh Potter chose the Boredoms as his top show of the year; I was surprised that it didn’t show up in any of the other critic’s lists. Read the entire article with all the other critic’s picks.

Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down

Born in the Desert

Born in the Desert from Holland Hopson on Vimeo.

Wichita Mind Control – Estate Capital

Wichita Mind Control – Estate Capital from Holland Hopson on Vimeo.

PROCTORS and the ALBANY SONIC ARTS COLLECTIVE

present

FAUST

Legendary “Krautrock” band featuring, and founded by, former Schenectady resident, Jean-Hervé Peron

AT PROCTORS SEPTEMBER 30^th

Schenectady, NY – Faust will perform at The GE Theatre at Proctors on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:30 P.M.

Take the danger of Velvet Underground, the playfulness of early Frank Zappa, the epic experimentation of Pink Floyd, and sprinkle in some post-WII American Jazz, and you might just come up with a sound approximating the legendary Faust.  Jean-Hervé Peron founded Faust in Germany in 1969 just one year after a stint at Schenectady’s Mont Pleasant High School.  Faust quickly became a key figure in 20th Century music, a leading the way for “Industrial” and “Post-Punk” rock and defining “Krautrock” along the way.

Along with Kraftwerk, Can and Tangerine Dream, Faust re-invented pop music and revolutionized the whole process of musical production with their mix of aggressive hypnotic grooves, satirical pop, electronic collages and delicate waves of pastoral ambience. Faust dabbled with every conceivable musical genre, sometimes simultaneously, and the music has lost none of its immediacy or relevance—it sounds as if it was recorded last week, not last decade.  Amongst those Faust have influenced include such diverse groups as Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Wilco, Pavement, The Boredoms, Joy Division, Brian Eno, Cabaret Voltaire, Einstürzende Neubauten, and a host of Industrial and Techno bands.

Faust have only made two prior brief trips to the US (in 1994 and 1999), their current line-up including original members Jean-Hervé Peron and Werner “Zappi” Diermaier, along with James Johnston (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Lydia Lunch, Gallon Drunk) and visual/video artist, painter, and musician Geraldine Swayne.

Also performing will be the following Capital Region performers, both of whom will be supported with video by Jason Cosco

Century Plants are an Albany-based experimental guitar duo that traffic in “slow motion psych drift, lazy and blown out” and have been described as “part raging metallic clang by way of the holy Shred, part meditative feedbacking in total Zen style”.  Directly influenced by the hypnotic repetition of Faust and other German rock bands of the 1970s, along with minimalism, and a range of experimental rock and noise, Eric Hardiman and Ray Hare conjure a fully improvised sound that ranges from gentle drones to “a lysergic sprawl that eventually builds to full on chaotic cacophony”.  Century Plants are highly regarded in the underground noise/psych/rock/drone scene internationally and have released music on labels from all over the globe.  Their debut LP is due out this Fall on the Music Fellowship label. http://www.myspace.com/centuryplants

Holland Hopson is a composer, improviser, and electronic artist. As an instrumentalist he performs on soprano saxophone, clawhammer banjo and electronics. He hopes someday to play the musical saw. He has held residencies at STEIM, Amsterdam; Experimental Music Studios, Krakow and Katowice, Poland; Sonic Arts Research Studio, Vancouver, Canada; and Harvestworks Digital Media Arts, New York where he developed a sound installation based on Marcel Duchamp’s With Hidden Noise. In 1993- 1994 Holland recorded environmental sounds on four continents and in over a dozen countries as a fellow of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation.  http://hollandhopson.com/

FAUST PRESS:

“Faust are essential, not just as a history lesson, but as a living legacy and as a reproach to an underachieving age.” —Melody Maker

“A radical mix of Musique Concrete, Stockhausen, the Velvet Underground, and moments of almost pastoral beauty.” —NME

“There is no group more mythical than Faust.” —Julian Cope

“Anyone who’s loved the last half-decade’s re-invention of the guitar, (Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine et al.), will instantly recognize Faust as a prime ancestor of ‘our’ music.” —Melody Maker

“Faust were first!” —Time Out

Tickets for Faust at The GE Theatre at Proctors on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:30 P.M. are $29.50. Tickets are available at Proctors Box Office, (518) 346-6204, or online at proctors.org.