Tag Archives: Matt Weston

Guitar Trio at Flywheel, Swallowtail Premiere, Christoph Heeman, More!

Posted on by

Easthampton! Are you ready to rock?!

Saturday October 9 @ 8pm
Flywheel
Old Town Hall
43 Main Street (Rt. 10)
Easthampton MA

I can’t wait for Saturday night to play at Flywheel with SoundBarn and members of the Albany Sonic Arts Collective. We’ll play Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio and premiere my new work, Swallowtail. The ensemble includes the pummeling Matt Weston on drums, Eric Hardiman on electric bass, and six (!) electric guitars played by Matthew Ernst, Tara Fracalossi, Ray Hare, Thomas Lail, Patrick Wecklar, and myself).

If you’d like to follow along, you can bring your own copy of the Swallowtail score. The piece is the next installment of my glissando music series–in the tradition of glissando masters James Tenney, Alvin Lucier, Iannis Xenakis, Lois V Vierk.

And at the risk of sounding like a ginsu knife commercial…But wait, there’s more…

Surrealist noise legend Christoph Heeman will perform, as will Easthampton locals Son of Earth.

Bring hearing protection.

River of Drone II: Seven Hours of Sound at the SoundBarn

Posted on by

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.

ASAC Presents Ben Miller/Doug Van Nort Duo, Barn Owl and Shape Shifting Shepherds

Posted on by

Ben Miller

Doug Van Nort

Albany Sonic Arts Presents Ben Miller/Doug Van Nort Duo, Barn Owl and Shape Shifting Shepherds

Saturday May 1 @ 8pm
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St.
Albany NY
$5 suggested donation

More about the artists after the break.

Continue reading →

ASAC Presents MILLER/WESTON DUO, CRESPO/PITCHER DUO, SOWYDRA, CRUUDEUCES

Posted on by

Albany Sonic Arts Presents Miller/Weston Duo,  Crespo/Pitcher Duo, Sowyrda, Cruudeuces

Saturday October 24 @ 8pm
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St.
Albany NY
$5 suggested donation

  • Ben Miller plays sax, guitar, and analog electronics and was formerly in legendary Michigan group Destroy All Monsters.
  • Matt Weston lives in Albany and is the newest member of the Albany Sonic Arts Collective.  He’s an amazing percussionist and if you haven’t seen him play yet, you’re in for a treat.
  • Andy Crespo is from Western MA. and plays in Barn Owl with Matt (and Chris Cooper).  he plays bass in ways that will expand your mind.
  • Jefferson Pitcher lives in Troy and is an accomplished guitarist who has released albums on a variety of labels with collaborators Christian Kiefer, J. Matthew Gerken, and others.
  • Sam Sowydra recently moved to Albany. He is a percussionist and multi-instrumentalist who also performs as part of Baltimore musician Dan Deacon’s ensemble.
  • Cruudeuces is the solo project of Nathaniel Brennan of North Adams, MA. He has also recorded with Twin Beds and has a slew of new releases out soon on a variety of labels.

ASAC and Friends at TROY NIGHT OUT! 21st Century Celebration of Light and Art

Posted on by

Troy Night Out

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.

ASAC Presents The Synapse Brothers, Matts Weston and Davignon

Posted on by

Albany Sonic Arts presents an evening of percussive-driven electronic music featuring The Synapse Brothers (Bob Gluck, John Myers), Matt Weston and Matt Davignon.

Saturday July 25 @ 8pm
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St.
$5 suggested donation

If you’d like to study up for this show, check out Davignon’s Some Notes on Drum Machining.

Artist Bios:

The Synapse Brothers fuse together elements of electroacoustic music with improvised jazz and funk. Bob Gluck on the keyboard and electronics and John Myers playing guitars and MIDI-guitar will play live. They will be virtually accompanied by sound designer Pat Gleeson’s lustrous beats and sounds. Bob is well known for his presence on the local jazz scene. His repertoire spans jazz performance both acoustic and with electronics and free improvisation, avant-garde concert music and music for electronic expansions of acoustical instruments, including the ram¹s horn, Disklavier (computer-assisted piano) and Turkish baglama saz. Bob Gluck is Associate Professor of Music and Director of the University at Albany Electronic Music Studio.

Matt Weston has recently relocated to Albany, and we couldn’t be luckier to have such an incredible musician in our midst. Matt plays percussion and electronics, and has performed throughout the US and in Europe. He has appeared on CNN, VH1, and CBS TV. He has studied and/or collaborated with Arthur Brooks, Bill Dixon, Kevin Drumm, Milford Graves, William Parker, Jack Wright and others. He has recorded for the Tautology, Sachimay, Breaking World Records, Imvated, Crank Satori, BoxMedia, and Drag City labels. He currently records for the new 7272music label. In addition to his solo work, Weston is a member of Barn Owl (with guitarist Chris Cooper and bassist Andy Crespo); and is guitarist with Thrillpillow (with guitarist/vocalist Plum Crane, bassist/vocalist Maggie Nowinski, and drummer James Z).

Matt Davignon is an experimental musician living in Oakland, California. Since 1993, he has developed his own unique style of music, which focuses largely on textures, arrhythmic patterns and musical imperfections. Since 2004, he has been working almost exclusively with a drum machine. Instead of using it as a rhythm device, he plays the pads manually while processing the sounds through an array of effects devices and samplers, improvising music made of organic-sounding textures, hums, gurgles and crackles. Matt is also a member of the Crank Ensemble, and is the founder of the Pmocatat Ensemble. He’s active in organizing experimental & unusual music performances in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to being responsible for such events as The San Francisco Found Objects Festival, and regular DroneShift concerts, he’s one of the curators for the Luggage Store Gallery Experimental Music Series.