Geometer Magazine has published an essay by James Wyness: Sound Art – the Politics of Representation, Truth and Listening. Wyness provides a good overview of the many art practices that fall under the Sound Art rubric with special attention given to Environmental Sound Art. A nice read–let’s hope Geometer and Wyness add links to sound files soon.
Note: sound files are here.
Albany Sonic Arts Collective presents Trauma, Herons, Sleepy Demons, Twilight of the Century.
Wednesday, January 28
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St. Albany
Doors at 7:30 pm: show at 8:00
$5 suggested donation at the door
More on the musicians from the press release after the break. Continue reading
Cycling ’74 and Ableton have provided a peek at Max for Live, the fruit of their partnership announced a few years ago. No specific release date or pricing information is available.
Cycling 74’s David Ziccarelli writes about the origin of the project and reasons for both Live and Max users to be interested. Read it here. My favorite quote:
Ultimately, it came down to this: my Cycling ’74 co-workers and I have come to believe the unique thing we have to offer the world is fundamentally about programming. In other words, we want to make edit buttons, and if we can put them in places where they have never existed before, all the better. It was clear to me that Ableton understood what it meant to have the Max environment work with their software. They weren’t just talking about more plug-ins.
Turns out that many of the new features in Max 5 were a result of Cycling’s collaboration with Ableton, such as the new timing system and presentation mode.
Check out the teaser video here.
I’m not a Live user but I have long admired the Live interface. So Max for Live may be just what I need to finally give it a try.
La MaMa e.t.c and Interpretations are presenting three recent Robert Ashley operas: Dust (1998), Celestial Excursions (2003) and Made Out of Concrete (2007/2009) beginning tonight and running through January 25. It may confound traditional opera-goers to call these operas, but there’s really no other suitable name. So go and be confounded.
Performers include Robert Ashley, Sam Ashley, Thomas Buckner, Tom Hamilton, Jacqueline Humbert, Joan La Barbara, Joan Jonas and “Blue” Gene Tyranny.
A year late, I’ve run across this review (in french) of ECFA’s Der Wald. Most accurate statement from the no-doubt innacurate BabelFish translation: “the essential obstinacy of Carl Smith.” Obstinate is a compliment here, of course.
Here’s a report on the last night of the Knitting Factory in Manhattan. Out With the Knitting Factory, In With City Winery – NYTimes.com The move to Williamsburg seems obvious, if 10 years too late. Though the smaller stage at the new location may be a good thing for the club.
I have fond memories of playing the Old Office stage with James Keepnews and attending numerous shows at the Knit. But my favorite memory of the Knit was visiting the original location on Houston Street in late 1989 for a vivid vivisection of a mannequin performed by Eugene Chadbourne. The operation involved amplified electric drills, knives, and barbie doll heads thrown into the audience. I guess it was all downhill from there…
Here’s some New Year Resolution fodder from Thelonious Monk via Steve Lacy.
Thanks to James Keepnews for sharing.
And here’s a shot of Monk’s iconic hat I took on a recent visit to the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
Thelonious Monk's Hat at the Smithsonian Museum of American History
The Albany Sonic Arts Collective is included in the Albany Times Union “’08 Year in Arts” article.
“Sonic bright spot
Last fall, a group of experimental musicians formed the Albany Sonic Arts Collective as an outlet for musicians not into strict recitations of the verse-chorus-verse structure. Soon, there were musicians coming from all corners of the Capital Region to contribute to the sonic palette. And twice this year, indie rock godfather Thurston Moore, leader of Sonic Youth, came to unleash his own twang-wangery.”
Read the full article here.
Did you ever ask Santa for a pinball machine? Did you ever hope to find a drum machine under the tree? Now both of your wishes can come true (sort of) with Pinball Drummer, a simple, standalone drum machine that uses lo-fi pinball machine samples.
Pinball Drummer Screenshot
Download Pinball Drummer (.zip file: 11.3 MB)
I made Pinball Drummer as a birthday gift for my friend Bruce. I created it using MaxMSP. The sounds originated from Bruce’s Coney Island pinball machine. It should be a cross-platform application. I’ve tested it on Macs; no experience with running it on a PC, yet.
Happy Holidays from The Field Guide!
My recent CD, With Hidden Noises, is part of the Band Posters and Music Packaging show December 5-23 at the Upstate Artists Guild Gallery in Albany. Credit, of course, goes to Travis Weller for his wonderfully tactile design.