More Memphis Concrète 2018
Jun. 26th, 2018 08:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ateolfSo I was going to try to give highlights. Circuit des Yeux delivered a lot more than I was expecting. It was a really good performance. Maybe when they were going the first time on Friday I could just generally chill and let the music just take me in. Well, there was other great stuff I enjoyed, but I didn't spend as much time with it as I was continually having to run somewhere else. Starfighter Yellow Superoverdrive brought some awesome heavy loudness to start off Saturday. Andrew Raffo Dewar and Freak Effect both were the amazing electroacoustic stuff that I just die for having so I was so grateful that they played. I think the soundtrack I played went alright. Zach and I tried to keep it mostly low key and stay out of the way of the movie. But we got some good sounds. My modular may have been a little slapdash but I did a bit of theremin (thanks to Alex's loan) and that always sounds good. After the show this couple came up to me and were like that's the guy who played the theremin and the girl was all "oh my god it was so great!" and they were asking how long I've been playing theremin (hahaha) and other kinda stuff that let me know they enjoyed it and were impressed. I mean, if you have a halfway decent ear for pitch and can move you arm around, theremin's pretty easy to play (I'm not talking about Clara Rockmore playing Bach and shit, I just mean improving along with something else and playing whatever sounds like it might fit, I mean, if you miss a note you can just go woowoowoo). WGM was really awesome. Wasn't sure what Gavin was going to do as it was a different name than what I've heard him go under. Figured with the context it would be more abstract and experimental and that ended up being accurate. I already mentioned how incredible Alex Zhang Hungtai and Wolf Eyes were. I'll mention it again. I mean hell, that was a strong fucking finish to a great weekend.
Oh quickly I remembered a near disaster but one that was quickly averted thanks to Ricky being awesome. We realized on Friday that George Clanton and Negative Gemini required a subwoofer on Saturday so we scrambled to figure out that shit. Ricky had one for his installation (I haven't mentioned that yet! so I will in one second) and he was gracious enough to let us move it over when we needed it and get that low end when it was needed. Anyway, his installation was really nice. It was the most professional looking part of the whole thing (I guess he is actually a professional and working with a grant from Bell Labs). But there was a camera and it both controlled a video projection and sound as it was hooked up to his modular. You interacted with it when you walked into the main room. Pretty cool.
Oh, it turns out that Rowan, who's pregnant now, saw Wolf Eyes when they played here and she was pregnant before. So both of her babies will have now seen Wolf Eyes in utero (not a bad entrance into life, I say). Met a few new people at it. A couple guys talking to us after Wolf Eyes who had recently moved here. This girl who had a dog with her the whole time and also is relatively new to the area and found out about the modular meetups and wants in on that action which is super awesome. This guy who's a lawyer now but played percussion and studied some experimental music in college and has been thinking about getting back into that sort of thing. He gave me his card so I'm excited about that as well. Both James (IMAKEMADBEATS) and Gavin (WGM, Cities Aviv, Tire) are really into the whole thing and expressed interest in being involved in the future. So really cool. What other pieces of stuff? Man, I'm sure there's a ton. Just not finding them. I'll wrap things up more or less and I'm sure I'll have a million other posts attempting to try to scratch the surface.
There was music obtained. On Friday, I happened to get in the mail my order from the Subotnick documentary indiegogo that I contributed to over a year ago. Got some cds: Morton Subotnick: Silver Apples of the Moon • The Wild Bull, Touch • Jacob's Room, The Wild Beasts, and Music for the Double Life of Amphibians. A few artists gave out some merch. Mike Honeycutt gave me Krynge: Tuf Kld Spd Rcr and a couple cdrs of stuff. Starfigher Yellow Superoverdrive had their Transmissions Disc given away for free. Andrew Raffo Dewar gave me his stuff in thanks: v/a: Quartet Solo Series, Steve Sewell/Andrew Raffo Dewawr/Garrison Fewell: Estuaries, Andrew Raffo Dewar / John Hughes / Chad Popple: Reflejo, Andrew Raffo Dewar: Six Lines of Transformation, Andrew Raffo Dewar/Andrea Centazzo/Anne LeBaron: Encantamientos, and Andrew Raffo Dewar: Interactions Quartet. I also bought a couple from Wolf Eyes: Between EAch Blink Vol. One and Between Each Blink Vol. Two.
Overall the turnout at the festival was pretty good. We never packed the place but with two stages in two different rooms it was pretty alright. I project we about doubled what we did last year (unfortunately the expenses were more than doubled, but we'll see, we definitely have to be smarter next about some things if we're able to make it happen, file under living and learning).
I was back to work today. Yesterday was still pretty busy, returning pa equipment and all. Today was back to the same stuff that was being worked on when I left still unfinished. Maybe if I have some time tonight I'll do some troubleshooting. I worked a little late on it before coming home today. I didn't wake up early at all today, so that's nice. There was something else I had thought of to say while I was typing something else and then when I finished I'd already forgotten! I dunno. Everyone went on about how great Gel Set was. I unfortunately had to miss it all 'cuz I was doing my soundtrack at the same time. Anyway, we put a bold move forward now and we at least got some people's attention. Here's to experimental music in Memphis.
Oh quickly I remembered a near disaster but one that was quickly averted thanks to Ricky being awesome. We realized on Friday that George Clanton and Negative Gemini required a subwoofer on Saturday so we scrambled to figure out that shit. Ricky had one for his installation (I haven't mentioned that yet! so I will in one second) and he was gracious enough to let us move it over when we needed it and get that low end when it was needed. Anyway, his installation was really nice. It was the most professional looking part of the whole thing (I guess he is actually a professional and working with a grant from Bell Labs). But there was a camera and it both controlled a video projection and sound as it was hooked up to his modular. You interacted with it when you walked into the main room. Pretty cool.
Oh, it turns out that Rowan, who's pregnant now, saw Wolf Eyes when they played here and she was pregnant before. So both of her babies will have now seen Wolf Eyes in utero (not a bad entrance into life, I say). Met a few new people at it. A couple guys talking to us after Wolf Eyes who had recently moved here. This girl who had a dog with her the whole time and also is relatively new to the area and found out about the modular meetups and wants in on that action which is super awesome. This guy who's a lawyer now but played percussion and studied some experimental music in college and has been thinking about getting back into that sort of thing. He gave me his card so I'm excited about that as well. Both James (IMAKEMADBEATS) and Gavin (WGM, Cities Aviv, Tire) are really into the whole thing and expressed interest in being involved in the future. So really cool. What other pieces of stuff? Man, I'm sure there's a ton. Just not finding them. I'll wrap things up more or less and I'm sure I'll have a million other posts attempting to try to scratch the surface.
There was music obtained. On Friday, I happened to get in the mail my order from the Subotnick documentary indiegogo that I contributed to over a year ago. Got some cds: Morton Subotnick: Silver Apples of the Moon • The Wild Bull, Touch • Jacob's Room, The Wild Beasts, and Music for the Double Life of Amphibians. A few artists gave out some merch. Mike Honeycutt gave me Krynge: Tuf Kld Spd Rcr and a couple cdrs of stuff. Starfigher Yellow Superoverdrive had their Transmissions Disc given away for free. Andrew Raffo Dewar gave me his stuff in thanks: v/a: Quartet Solo Series, Steve Sewell/Andrew Raffo Dewawr/Garrison Fewell: Estuaries, Andrew Raffo Dewar / John Hughes / Chad Popple: Reflejo, Andrew Raffo Dewar: Six Lines of Transformation, Andrew Raffo Dewar/Andrea Centazzo/Anne LeBaron: Encantamientos, and Andrew Raffo Dewar: Interactions Quartet. I also bought a couple from Wolf Eyes: Between EAch Blink Vol. One and Between Each Blink Vol. Two.
Overall the turnout at the festival was pretty good. We never packed the place but with two stages in two different rooms it was pretty alright. I project we about doubled what we did last year (unfortunately the expenses were more than doubled, but we'll see, we definitely have to be smarter next about some things if we're able to make it happen, file under living and learning).
I was back to work today. Yesterday was still pretty busy, returning pa equipment and all. Today was back to the same stuff that was being worked on when I left still unfinished. Maybe if I have some time tonight I'll do some troubleshooting. I worked a little late on it before coming home today. I didn't wake up early at all today, so that's nice. There was something else I had thought of to say while I was typing something else and then when I finished I'd already forgotten! I dunno. Everyone went on about how great Gel Set was. I unfortunately had to miss it all 'cuz I was doing my soundtrack at the same time. Anyway, we put a bold move forward now and we at least got some people's attention. Here's to experimental music in Memphis.
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Date: 2018-06-27 03:27 am (UTC)