Sunday, April 23, 2006

Issue Project Room

Rain, cold and a generally univiting part of Brooklyn didn't deter about 60 people from filling up the IPR last nite. I have to say, it was one of the more fun electro gigs I've done in a long time. Todd Reynolds curated an evening of music featuring Chris Tignor from "Slow Six", Jody Elff, Luke DuBois, me and himself. There were a grand total of 6 laptops onstage and about four miles of cable.

Todd's music has really matured over the past year, and it's really wonderful to hear how he, after years of searching and pining, has finally found his voice. Chris Tignor, whom I'd never met before, has a great ambient vibe, and knows how to build his textures beautifully. Cool stuff! Jody -- who is among other things, the sound designer for Laurie Anderson's show, also can create some lovely soundscapes. Luke's new project of shortening films to about ten minutes each (sped up, but with all sorts of visual "averaging" and filtering -- the sound also is averaged into a wash) was on display with "Casablanca" during the intermission. Luke is one of the most brilliant artists I've met in a very long time.

My part was a bit of a "foil" for the rest of the sort of ambient show - I did "Drift" and "Hum" from the upcoming cd, and about 3 children and "Sha."

Last but not least, Sebastian (who's last name I am not privy to) designed this spatial sound system with about 20 speaker arrays hanging on the ceiling. The sound is controllable via Max/MSP, which he had set to sort of a random pan throughout the space. This is real surround sound.

Anyway, it was great to see so many friends and colleagues there. Like I said, I had a great time playing and hanging afterwards. Hope to get back to that space soon.

-M