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Posts tagged Holland Hopson
Shout Outs from Metroland: Best of the Capital Region 2010
Aug 2nd

Metroland Best of the Captial Region 2010; Cover photo by Alicia Solsman
Metroland’s Best of the Capital Region for 2010 came out last week and I am surprised and pleased to be included as the Best Retro-Futurist. Sure, it’s a made-up category, but it’s a good fit. Here’s what they have to say:
Composer and instrumentalist Holland Hopson has been a contributor to the region’s avant-garde music scene for the better part of 20 year—whether it’s vocal excursions that meld Gregorian chant and Dada, or soprano sax forays that come pretty close to “straight-up” jazz, the breadth and range of this iconoclast’s musical journey has always been intriguing, albeit way outside of the box. Hopson’s recent blending of traditional tunes (performed with vocals and banjo) and subtle electronics has turned him into one of the area’s most mesmerizing and memorable live performers. Catch him if you can, as his local shows tend to be few and far between.
Metroland has identified plenty of other (probably more deserving) best-of recipients including such friends and colleagues as Jason Cosco/Grab Ass Cowboys (Best Noise Wrangler); EMPAC (Best Music Curation) — this ought to read Micah Silver, in my opinion, since he is the Music Curator at EMPAC; The Sanctuary for Independent Media (Best Activist Community Arts Center); and Emily Zimmerman (Best Emerging Curator).
These accolades come on the heels of a conversation with a friend at the latest show presented by the Albany Sonic Arts Collective. We were talking about how important it is for a community of artists to receive some recognition from the local press and the concomitant pitfalls of letting it go to your head. A timely conversation for the former and hopefully we’ll avoid the latter. The ASAC event was a great set of performances, by the way, particularly from Fossils from the Sun (Ray Hare) and Family Battle Snake (Bill Kouligas).
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Sedition Edition
Jul 16th
Here are some recordings and photos from my June 19 show at Sedition Gallery in Sydney, Australia. The performance was part of the Left Coast Festival 2010.
The first set consisted of duo improvisations by Holland Hopson, fretless banjo and electronics with Mike Majkowski, double bass.
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Hopson Majkowski Improvisation 1.mp3
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Hopson Majkowski Improvisation 2.mp3
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Hopson Majkowski Improvisation 3.mp3
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Hopson Majkowski Improvisation 4.mp3
Next was a wonderful set by Kraig Grady, just tuned vibraphone and Terumi Narushima, just tuned pump organ.
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Human Mirror with The Jazz Robot and Holland Hopson
Mar 31st
I’m excited about this show on Tuesday, April 6 at Bread and Jam in Cohoes, NY featuring Human Mirror and The Jazz Robot. I’ll be opening the show with banjo and electronics. Come early; The music starts at 7pm.
Related PostsWeeping Willow Street Improvisations
Feb 2nd
Last November I spent a memorable, rainy afternoon at Travis Weller’s place performing a house concert as part of his Willow Street Concert Series. Nick Hennies wowed us with music for solo percussion including an entrancing performance of Alvin Lucier’s Silver Streetcar. I played music for fretless banjo, bent electronics and computer. Then Travis and I improvised two pieces with Travis playing his Owl, a custom-built piano wire lyre with electronics. Nick joined in for the last piece of the afternoon. The rain kept us company all along.
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091108 Willow Street Improvisation 1.mp3
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091108 Willow Street Improvisation 2.mp3
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Related PostsMetroland Mentions Faust in Best Live Shows of 2009
Jan 6th
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.
Related PostsFaust Show Videos
Nov 22nd
I’m finally putting some videos online from the Faust/Century Plants/Holland Hopson show at Proctors. A few can currently be found at YouTube and Vimeo, with another clip or two to arrive soon. These are definitely “performance documentation” videos. If you want to bring your 3-camera HD setup and skills to my next show, feel free to drop me a line!
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.
Related PostsFaust Review and Wrap Up
Oct 2nd
The Times Union published a review by Greg Haymes. The review has already attracted a few comments from readers. And go to Nippertown for the special features including photos and outtakes from the review.
Related PostsASAC and Friends at TROY NIGHT OUT! 21st Century Celebration of Light and Art
Sep 23rd
Albany Sonic Arts Collective and friends will be performing as part of “TROY NIGHT OUT! 21st Century Celebration of Light and Art” in the Black Box Theatre at The Arts Center of the Capital Region on Friday September 25 from 5 to 9pm.
Performers include
- Jason Cosco, live video projections
- G. Lucas Crane (Nonhorse and Woods), tape manipulation and electronics
- Pete Edwards (Casper Electronics), circuit bent and homemade electronic wizardy
- Eric Hardiman (Rambutan, Century Plants), guitar improv and feedback loops
- Ray Hare (Fossils From the Sun, Century Plants), guitar improv, vocals and feedback loops
- Holland Hopson, modified electric banjo and electronics from
- Matt Weston, improvised percussion and electronics
Also going on at the Arts Center will be a live video remix of local illustrators by lmnopf, live DJ’s, circuit-bending demos by Casperland, a video game showcase from 1st Playable in the Digital Artist Space, works from NYFA MARK program artists and a colossal light and sound installation in Monument Square.
Related PostsFaust show PR
Sep 6th
Here’s the PR lowdown on the upcoming Faust show – lightly edited to make it somewhat more blog-worthy.
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 30th
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.
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