Here are live recordings from this spring’s Parkside performance with John Wiese, Steve Jansen and Brad Davis. This is from my buzzy, noisy Radicans project which uses small motors and soundbug transducers (audio speakers without cones) to transform ordinary objects in the performance space into speakers.
Tag Archives: Performance
The Audiovore Presents: John Wiese/Steve Jansen/Holland Hopson/Brad Davis
I’m excited about sharing the bill tomorrow night with John Wiese, Steve Jansen and Brad Davis.
Wednesday April 9, 8pm
Parkside Cafe
4036 5th Ave S
Birmingham AL 3522
I’ll be presenting my Radicans project which uses small motors and soundbug transducers to transform ordinary objects in the performance space into speakers. Tables, chairs, trashcans and windows come to life in a chorus of electronic chirping, buzzing and spinning drones.
UAB Faculty Brass performs Purple Loosestrife (Satellite)
An excerpt from the score
Wednesday January 15 7:30 pm
Birmingham Art Music Alliance presents
UAB Faculty Brass
Samford University
Brock Recital Hall
Birmingham AL
This will be the premiere performance of my brass quintet, Purple Loosestrife (Satellite). The piece functions as a distributed network of musical gestures. Each musician can influence the behavior of any of the other musicians, while simultaneously being influenced by them. No one person is more “in charge” than another. There’s also no predetermined beginning, middle or ending. I sat in on a rehearsal this weekend and loved how the ensemble was working together. I can’t wait to hear how it comes together for the performance.
Also on the program:
- Mark A. Lackey – Three Simple Prayers
- Bryan Page – now does our world descend
- Monroe Golden – Some Day
- Jan Vi?ar – Three Marches for Dr. Kaybl
- Wesley Johnson – Bluebrass Kebyar
- Ron Wray – Dance Like It Hurts
- William Price – Sans Titre VII
- Fernando Deddos – Rabecando
- Nancy Jensen – Polaris Fanfare
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Brass Quintet consists of Dr. James Zingara and Dr. Steve Roberts, trumpets, Dr. Martin Cochran, euphonium, Jeff Koonce, trombone, and Scott Robertson, tuba.
LIVE LISTENING No.1 with Jonathan Wood and Holland Hopson
Looking forward to tonight’s performance at the Dreamland Film Center in Louisville KY. Jonathan Wood and I will both perform solo sets.
Dreamland Film Center
810 E. Market St. Louisville, KY 40202
9pm
$5
Sonic Frontiers Recordings
Here are live recordings of my set from the March 2013 Sonic Frontiers concert at the Bama Theater. The concert also featured performances by Justin Peake. Our duo improvisation is included below.
Cage/Gould
Cage’s Inlets will be performed using his original shells
Saturday’s Cage/Gould concert at RPI’s EMPAC in Troy NY is the next in a long line of John Cage centenary tributes happening this year. Featuring the Rensselaer Contemporary Music Ensemble directed by Michael Century, the program includes works by John Cage juxtaposed with a recreation of part of Glenn Gould’s final piano concert.
Saturday, November 17 8pm
EMPAC Theater
Rensselaer Contemporary Music Ensemble
Cage Gould
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy NY
The french philosopher Elie During knits it all together in a pre-performance lecture (5pm) with the help of a vacuum cleaner (no kidding!) or at least the metaphor of a vacuum cleaner or the memory of the sound of a vacuum cleaner or the memory of the experience of the obliteration of all other sounds thanks to a vacuum cleaner… I guess we’ll have to go to the lecture to find out for sure.
I’ll be providing some electronic dialogues in the concert between Cage and Gould using recordings of their voices. I put together a Max patch to trigger the cues and quickly found that my old-school use of Max’s “coll” object wasn’t quite cutting it. I looked into Max’s new “dict” object as a replacement but hit a limit recalling nested hierarchical statements. So I delved into SQLite and Javascript to put together a relational database of cues and associated tags. Now I’m able to query and sort the cues at will. I can also change the content of the database (add cues, edit tags, etc.) without munging up the patch itself. Lovely!
Weekend Waltz Through Texas
I’m playing two shows in Texas this weekend: Austin on Sunday and Houston on Monday. I can’t wait to reconnect with friends in both places, hear some great music, eat some great food.
Sunday, September 2 8pm
Austin Museum of Digital Art (AMODA) Performance Series
Bill Thompson, Holland Hopson, Rick Reed
Gates Ensemble
Waller Creek School
4100 Red River Street
Austin TX
This will be a treat. A reunion of the Gates Ensemble along with solo sets by Bill Thompson, myself and Rick Reed. Yowzer! It’s been 6 years since I last played an AMODA show and I have some great memories of the series: Stephen Vitiello, Phill Niblock, Olivia Block, Keith Fullerton Whitman. I’m happy to be part of the series again.
Monday, September 3 7pm
They, Who Sound
Holland Hopson
Sonia Flores
Avant Garden
411 Westheimer
Houston TX
Then on to Houston for the next installment of They, Who Sound with Sonia Flores.
I’ll be performing music for banjo and electronics in both places–my Redneck Tech schtick. Come on out; I’d love to see you there.
ASAC Presents Ben Miller, Holland Hopson, Barn Owl, Claymation
The Albany Sonic Arts Collective presents Ben Miller, Holland Hopson, Barn Owl and Claymation.
Saturday, June 16
8:00 pm
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St.
Albany NY
$5 suggested donation
This will likely be my last ASAC show as an Albany resident. I’m pleased to share the occasion with:
Ben Miller – alto sax, tapes, the zoo, voice and projection in support of a new release on Living Records. Ben has performed at ASAC a few other times, and was formerly a member of Destroy All Monsters, Sproton Layer, and other units. He’s one of the best out there, and you shouldn’t miss this performance.
Barn Owl – amazing trio of improvising musicians extraordinaire. Matt Weston on drums/percussion, Andy Crespo on bass, and Chris Cooper on prepare guitar/electronics. You’re always in for a treat with these guys.
Claymation – solo electric guitar improvisation from C. Baird Buchanan. We’re excited to have Baird bring his solo project to ASAC for the first time.
51 3rd Recordings – Everyone Looks to a Sumatran, Virginian Curlew
Here are live recordings of my set from November’s show at 51 3rd Street that also included performances by Keir Neuringer and Rambutan (Eric Hardiman). It’s an eclectic set beginning with a slightly dysfunctional performance of
[audio:111129_01_everyone_looks_to_the_sky.mp3]
Everyone Looks to the Sky
No one but me would know that the computer is responding to my playing differently than anticipated. Such is the fun of interactive computer music: you just have to work with it, ride with it, fight it, respond to the moment, change your plans. In this case, the conception of the piece is already so circumscribed that the content of the work is hardly changed, though the form is clearly different–and maybe more dramatic as a result.
[audio:111129_02_batak_batak.mp3]
Batak Batak
A recent binge of Indonesian music led me to dust off this piece. I never felt I had worked out the sax part enough when the piece was new, which might account for why I shelved it. Revisiting the piece, I discovered very few indications of what I had intended for the sax part–little more than a scribbled microtonal scale. There’s clearly still work to do here, but I’m less bothered than I might have been in the past by the elliptical playing.
[audio:111129_03_east_virginia.mp3]
East Virginia
This has become one of my go-to banjo pieces; a surefire way to find my place on the instrument.
[audio:111129_04_curlew.mp3]
Curlew
A brand-new piece getting its first public airing. I learn so much by performing new material and can’t wait to revise this tune as a result. Yet another song with bird imagery (YASWBI).
Keir Neuringer, Holland Hopson, Rambutan, Living Things at 51 3rd
Tomorrow night! I went halfway around the world to Sydney, Australia where I heard about Keir Neuringer who only lives a few hours away. His last appearance at 51 3rd was great. I’m looking forward to hearing him play again.
Wednesday 11/30/11 @ 8pm
51 3rd St.
Troy, NY (former Troy Bike Rescue)
KEIR NEURINGER
composes & improvises acoustic & electronic music, writes socio-political performance texts & essays, & creates interdisciplinary artworks. Keir will play farfisa organ & drums (at the same time!), sing, and play saxophone & electronic…s. intense post-punk songwriter, playing songs off the new Afghanistan album Conquistadors.
HOLLAND HOPSON
is a local avant-gardist and member of the Albany Sonic Arts Collective. Well-versed in a wide variety of musical styles, from the most traditional to the most experimental, Holland will sew together these different musical worlds with pieces for solo banjo and electronics (off his 2011 release Post & Beam), as well as pieces for solo saxophone and electronics.
RAMBUTAN
is local noise/drone wizard Eric Hardiman, member of the Albany Sonic Arts Collective, local psych-rock collective Burnt Hills, and proprietor of TAPE DRIFT records, Albany’s most experimental music label. Eric will be performing a mind-bending set of improvised solo electronics…
intermission videos by LIVING THINGS