Ok ok. I know. I said last week to tune in this week (actually that was two weeks ago). And yet, there’s still no new music to post. Why is this? Well, a few things. One was attending the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), which started early, thus disrupting my morning creative time. The other was attending no fewer than four music/dance events. The third was my choice of composition theme — to study harmony. So, while not much output was made, a lot of input was … input. I saw a ton of electronic music performed as part of the Zero One festival in San Jose, and the Bleeding Edge Festival at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga with Nathan, and a truly inspiring piece called ORBIT at the Intersection for the Arts.
It was quite interesting to see the different ways in which performers deal with doing electronic music live, in a way that an audience can relate with. Watching people on stage twiddle knobs (or finger a laptop trackpad), especially when it’s impossible to correlate the twiddling with something audible, can be a mind numbingly dull experience. Many performers add live video, projected on a large screen behind the performance, which interacts with the music in some way. Frank Bretschneider was one of the more compelling examples. His music was great to start with — strongly in the IDM domain (ore more specifically, microscopic music), but full of surprises yet with a recognizable beat. The first 5 minutes were actually very repetitive, with a blue screen and a horizontal white line that scanned down the screen in sync to a pop when it hit the top again. But just as I was ready to leave, things started shifting, and new elements, both visual and aural started to appear. The entire piece was completely abstract, but after that initial shift I was captivated. It reminded me a bit of the early German abstract animator, Oskar Fischinger. It also reminded of me how much can be done with a limited palette.
A couple of the performances also incorporated dance and acting with live music and video. The first was Troika Ranch at Zero One. Troika Ranch is a dance collective started by fellow CalArts alumns, Mark Coniglio (who was also a teacher of mine) and Dawn Stoppiello. This piece featured some stunningly beautiful synthesis of dance, with live interactive video and music. For me the most effective moments were the ones that seemed to use the technology in the most childlike manner — a dancer making “bloop” sounds which generated video bubbles which floated from the top of her head, another scene where a dancer’s movements were traced with an animated caligraphic pen, while the music shifted and swayed.
ORBIT was such a great piece because it had so much heart, and had such moments of pure stage magic. I really have to thank Ally for introducing me to it. Technology was used in service of the story and the art, rather than the other way around as these kinds of pieces can so easily slip into. I can’t really describe it and do it justice (which is sort of unfair since Saturday was its last performance; read the Chronicle review for an overview), but I will say keep an eye out for Erika Shuch and her collaborators.
So, no podcast this week, but I have a feeling all this input will be churning in my brain and will end up splattered in bits and pieces in some future posts.
“Music for Strange Moments.” They appear to be a label, but they also play artists on Ninjatune, Sub Pop and others. They seem to focus on electronica with vocals, which is a nice change after listening to hours of instrumental electronic music. They have a slightly annoying habit of playing their audiomark in the background in the middle of ever other song or so, and also using the dreaded computer voice to announce track info. Their segue music is by someone named DJ Darkhorse. It’s nice that they have created a recognizable format, but I think these could be shortened. All in all a very enjoyable and consistent podcast. The latest episode is particularly good — it’s called “Best of Part One.” Not sure what part one is, or when part two starts, but it’s groovy.
“Music mix of the best and newest sounds from the most forward-thinking record labels out there.” This is put together (monthly I think) by Jonah Sharp, who seems to be an interesting figure in the experimental and electronica scenes. Each episode seems to center around a theme (eg. acoustic guitar). I’ve listened to a couple. One was excellent. The other I just wasn’t into. Yet I’m intrigued.
“Our aim is to produce free, quality podcasts compiled from electronic compositions in various styles including ambient, IDM, electro, trance and experimental.” For a “periodic”, it’s pretty irregular of late (January, April, two in July). However, it’s good, drone-ish ambient music which sometimes goes more into the IDM territory.
“Percussion Lab is a 24/7 stream of the illest underground electronic and hip hop music. Every month we feature live and DJ sets by established and up and coming artists and DJs.” The quality of this one really depends on the particular DJ that’s “spinning” (somehow I doubt the person is really spinning vinyl for the podcast, but you never know). That being said, the last few have been solid (perhaps good enough to forgive them for the use of the old chestnut “illest”). The last episode highlighted artists playing at the 
“The streaming to escape from tomorrow. Electronica IDM Techo: from Tokyo Japan.” It made my day Friday when I discovered that my favorite internet radio station had a podcast. I’ve discovered so much great music listening to this stream over the years. Sometimes it goes so far afield that I have to switch to something else, but that’s what I like about it. It’s incredibly eclectic. If you want to challenge your ears, this is your gauntlet… eh.. thrown down.
