Here is the podcast from my World of Wonder show that aired at midnight on San Francisco Community Radio.
12:00AM-12:00AM (0:48) Opening Chimes / Announcements
12:00AM-12:03AM (2:22) Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” from 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best Of (MP3, 2000)
12:03AM-12:05AM (2:46) Chris Cutler & Thomas DiMuzio “When Cracks Appear: Reappearance Of Birds” from Quake (CD, 1999)
12:05AM-12:15AM (9:35) Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics “Anglo Ethio Suit” from Inspiration Information 3 (CD, Album, Reggae, 2009) on Strut (UK)
12:15AM-12:26AM (10:47) C.O.M.A “Verdical” from Verdical (MP3, Single)
12:26AM-12:26AM Announcements
12:26AM-12:36AM (9:26) Nico “(The End)” from Classic Years (CD, 1998)
12:36AM-12:43AM (7:38) Cobblestone Jazz “Change Your Apesuit” from 23 Seconds (2007) on !K7 Records (UK)
12:43AM-12:46AM (2:16) The Work “Scream Circle” from Woof 7 Inches (Rock, 2006) on Ad Hoc Records
12:46AM-12:52AM (6:34) Fred Frith “Heart Bares” from Cheap At Half the Price (CD, 2004)
12:52AM-12:58AM (6:08) Solcircle “Uncle Bob” from Solcircle (CD, 2002)
12:58AM-1:00AM Station ID / Announcements
01:00AM-01:08AM (8:34) Bark Psychosis “The Black Meat” from Codename: Dustsucker (Rock, 2004) on Fire Records
01:08AM-01:14AM (6:05) Myrmyr “Fire Serpents Lull” from Fire Star (CD, 2012)
01:14AM-01:22AM (7:20) Oval “Textuell” from Systemisch (1996) on Thrill Jockey (USA)
01:22AM-01:32AM (10:22) Yuji Takahashi “Mimi No Ho” from Finger Light (1995) on Tzadik
01:32AM-01:39AM (7:13) Deletists “The Lure Or War And Boredom” from The Deletist (CD, 2003)
01:39AM-01:40AM Announcements
01:40AM-01:42AM (2:33) Cardiacs “The Obvious Identity” from The Special Garage Concerts Vol II (2005) on The Alphabet Business Concern (UK)
01:42AM-01:46AM (4:00) Various Artists – Buda / Ethiopiques “Ene Negn Bay Manesh – Girma Beyene” from Ethiopiques Volume 8: Swinging Addis (2000)
01:46AM-01:52AM (5:31) Duboniks “Fi Don’ Givit” from Trip Hop & Jazz 4 (1998)
01:52AM-01:57AM (5:23) Polygon Window “Polygon Window” from Surfing On Sine Waves (1992) on Warp Records
01:57AM-01:59AM (1:27) Ilkae “Push Pop Nil” from Pistachio Island (2001) on Merck Records
01:59AM-02:00AM Announcements / Closing Chimes
It’s time for our traditional end-of-the-year image. It is always a challenge to decide what to include, but we thinks this captures a few of the significant elements. 2012 was a crazy and at times and a bit nerve-wracking, but it full of richness and opportunity. I except more of the same in 2013. It’s going to be a busy and challenging year ahead, but I hope to be able to continue to keep this site going and maintain the friendships I have made here.
We close out the year with one final gig report: my performance at the CCRMA Transitions concert at Stanford University’s computer-music center. The two-night event took place in the courtyard of CCRMA’s building, with a large audience beneath the stars and between an immersive 24-channel speaker array.
I brought my piece Realignments that I had originally composed in 2011 for a 12-channel radial speaker and eight-channel hall system at CNMAT, part of my Regents Lecturer Concert there. This version, outdoors in front a large audience and clad in a provocative costume, was quite an experience, and you can see the full performance in this video:
The Transitions version of the piece was remixed to use the eight main channels of the speaker array at CCMRA. Once again, the iPad was used to move around clouds of additive-synthesis partials and trigger point sources, which were directed at different speakers of the array. The overall effect of the harmonies, sounds and immersive sound system was otherworldly. I chose this particular costume to reflect that, although I had also used it a couple of weeks earlier in my duo “Pitta of the Mind” with poet Maw Shein Win at this year’s Transbay Skronkathon. I am planning more performances with this character (but not the same costume) in the coming year.
Today we look back at the December 5 show featuring Surplus 1980 with Satya Sena and Electric Chair Repair Company at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. It was a “post punk” affair, a night of loud, intense, and creative rock music. It was also my first time playing on stage with Surplus 1980.
[Photo by Polly Moller.]
I am somewhere there in the “back line” along with Thomas Scandura on drums and Steve Lew on bass. With guitarists Melne Murphy, Moe! Staiano and Bill Wolter in front. We were loud and aggressive with a lot of percussive pounding on otherwise tonal instruments, but there was also just the right amount of complexity with metric changes and chromatic riffs. Things were also deliberately out of tune, which when combined with ring modulation and other effects made it challenging to follow in a traditional melodic sort of way. But that would not have been the point. And the audience got that, enjoying moving along with our noisy percussive lines. It was also fun to play the vintage toy piano for our improvised piece and our finale Ed Saad (though I wish the contact mic had not fallen off halfway through it).
The evening opened with a performance by Electric Chair Repair Company, a self-described “post-punk noise trio.”
They lived up to their description with their instrumental performance, a bit more of the traditional sound that one would expect with loud driving chords and drums and switching between fast and slow tempos. During the set. they also joined forces with guests from “The Girlfriend Experience”, who were quite entertaining.
Electric Chair Repair Company was followed by Satya Sena, a duo of Jason Hoopes on bass and Peijman Kouretchian on drums. They also had a huge column of amplifiers.
Satya Sena was impressive to say the least. Their music was full of complex and intricate rhythms and they had a full dense sound that one wouldn’t necessarily expect from just bass and drums. I found myself watching Kouretchian’s frenetic drum playing through much of the set. It was almost impossible to capture a moment where he wasn’t in motion like this:
Hoopes of course was technically strong as well, and was interesting to see him performing in a different context like this.
Overall it was a fun night of good music. Our audience (on a Wednesday night in San Francisco) was not particularly large but was certainly appreciative, and I look forward to more performances with Surplus 1980 next year.
As of this past weekend, I finally have my album Aquatic on Bandcamp. You can now stream all the tracks using the widget below – and if you feel so inclined, you can purchase one or more of the tracks.
I will be embarking some large updates to my music web infrastructure, which also should make it easier to reach from CatSynth.
November 30 is Luna’s birthday as listed in her adoption records. My ketzela is officially eight years old today. She looks all grown up and beautiful in the portrait above, but she also can still seem like a kitten, as in this photo where she receives some birthday scritches.
Please join me in wishing her a Happy Birthday!
Each trip to New York has been characterized by particular subway lines, and on this trip is was the 1 (Broadway / 7th Avenue) and A (8th Avenue Express). I usually began in the Bronx, not far from where I encountered the Bronx cat, getting on the elevated section of the 1 over Broadway.
At 168th Street, I regularly switched from the 1 to the A. This is an odd station. The tunnel for the 1 train is quite deep underground and the platform is in cavernous curved hall with old-time light fixtures.
It is an eerie place, but was the most important transfer point of this trip. The tunnel connects to the more conventional station for the A train above via elevators, the only station I know of that is arranged this way. From 168th Street southward, the A served as an efficient spine along the west side of Manhattan, connecting to Chelsea, the village, and on into Brooklyn.
This worked well, until the elevated section of the southbound 1 was closed last Monday. After weighing the options, I decided to walk the route instead. It was actually the first time I had ever walked on Broadway south of West 230th Street – in all the times I crossed the Broadway Bridge over the Harlem River, I had never done so on foot. The view from the bridge looking over towards Spuyten Duyvil and the Hudson River beyond is quite scenic.
Broadway continued south from the bridge to the Inwood section of northern Manhattan. This is another area I had never walked through before. Among the more interesting things was this mysterious looking archway behind some storefronts on Broadway near 216th Street.
I had seen it before from the elevated tracks, but now on foot I had a chance to take a closer look. It seemed to be incorporated into one of the auto-repair places, but nonetheless completely out of place from the current landscape. I posted it to Facebook and Twitter as the “mystery arch”, and a friend pointed me to some information about the arch and associated mansion. It is in fact The Seaman-Drake Arch, and its story from a grand landmark to a forgotten one is a bit sad. But it is still there, even surviving a 1970 fire, and could be restored and protected if there is enough interest. (It was still for rent as of this 2010 article).
Broadway continues south to 207th Street, where the A line begins. Before descending into the subterranean station, I saw a sign reminding us that this section of Broadway is in fact U.S. 9.. But rather than following the highway, I descend the stairs to catch the A and resume my regular journey.
The chance to explore a new neighborhood, so close to one I already knew, was an unexpected gift from what was annoying subway-line closure. I will have to come back to see more detail sometime (when it is warmer).
After the Issue Project Room show in Brooklyn last Saturday, I headed north to the Bronx. Out on the street in Riverdale in the Bronx, I came across this cat:
The cat was a bit shy, keeping a bit of distance, but not running away either. It eventually went up one driveway.
It seemed to be a pet cat, not a stray, and after several entreaties came up to me, even head-butting my hand. It is always a treat to encounter cats when out and about.
Weekend Cat Blogging Thanksgiving Edition is hosted by Jules and Vincent over at Judi’s Mind Over Matter.
The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Nikita and Elvira at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.
And the Friday Ark is hosted by the modulator.
Once again, I will be in New York this month. It has become a yearly pilgrimage of sorts, as well as time to visit with family and friends. There will be lots of art, music and urban landscape writ large. And for this in the NYC area, I will be playing a show this Thursday.
November 15, 2012. Ambient-Chaos featuring Groupthink, Amar Chaudhary, LathanFlinAli, Charity Chan.
Spectrum, 121 Ludlow, Second Floor, New York.
LathanFlinAli, Groupthink, Amar Chaudhary, Charity Chan, and Lukas Ligeti live at the Spectrum Loft Space in Manhattan. Spectrum is a new loft space dedicated to experimental and music.
The event starts early. So please be there by 7:30 to settle in and enjoy the frequencies.
I will try and post sporadically, but in the meantime I do expect to continue with live updates of NY adventures via Twitter @catsynth.