May 9 at Bluesix: Aaron Novik’s Thorny Brocky and Sqwonk

Last Saturday, I went with friends to the Bluesix Acoustic Room. As the name suggests, this small venue in the Mission District of San Francisco presents acoustic acts. I have seen several interesting shows here, including some experimental ensembles, dance and avant-garde jazz. This show tended towards the latter, with Aaron Novik’s Thorny Brocky ensemble and special guests Sqwonk.

Sqwonk are a bass clarinet duo consisting of Jon Russell and Jeff Anderle. By their own admittance, there is not much of a repertoire for two bass clarinets. But they were able to put together a full set of composed pieces, including one by Novik. Much of their performance was quite harmonic and consonant, including power chords (check out the selection on their MySpace for an example). But there were also interesting microtones and multiphonics that one can do on a clarinet. They also played with the effects of playing unison or near unison or similar lines out of phase. Towards the end, things got quite loud (especially for such a small space as Bluesix), demonstrating the power of these instruments. I am quite partial to the clarinet family, having played the instrument in my youth and composed for Bb and bass clarinet quartet.

Aaron Novik’s Thorny Brocky began their set with bass and light percussion – drummer Jamie Moore definitely has a very light touch that several of us noticed and remarked upon. The bass and percussion were matched by Novik’s bass clarinet key clicks, and eventually by the strings. The odd-time rhythms and phrases of the first two pieces had a strong roll and undulation that was easy to get lost in. There were other moments throughout the set that caught my attention, such as the unisons between different the bass clarinet, violin and accordion, and a bass solo with ethereal accordion tones. A rhythmic moment where the ensemble switched from their syncopated rhythms into a straight swing. There were sections that evoked classical and dramatic music of the 19th century, and some softer “show-tune-like” harmonies. The set ended with what Novik described as their “metal project” – it actually sounded quite familiar, and made me recall that I had seen them at Bluesix before.

CatSynth pics: Carbon111, Studio Revamp

From carbon111, via matrixsynth:

Spot the kitty in the picture?

Carbon111 is the author of the CatSynth motivational posters we presented back in February.

In the studio revamp post, they also have a “comfy chair” picture that reminds me of Luna curled up in her favorite chair here at CatSynth HQ.

And it looks like carbon111 recently completed a track entitled Luna.

Weekend Cat Blogging #205

Luna can be quite talkative and affectionate, as can be seen in this video:

She is always quite eager to greet me when I arrive home after work or a day out.

Weekend Cat Blogging #205 is being hosted by LB and BreadChick. LB isn’t lonely when BreadChick goes to work right now, because he has “mama breadchick” to keep him company. I sometimes think Luna might enjoy some company, as I am out and about so much these days.

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos will be hosted by Samantha and Mr. Tigger at Life from a Cat’s Perspective.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at…wow, it’s also Samantha and Mr. Tigger! Go figure.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Full Moon Concerts – Flower Moon.

On Thursday, I attended the Full Moon Concerts – Flower Moon, part of the Thursday Outsound music series at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco (which I have played at many times). The series, which occurs on the Thursday closest to the full moon of every month, is curated by our friend Polly Moller.

The first half of the concert featured a duo by Theresa Wong and Kanoko Nishi. The set began with pitch extremes, high “harmonics” on the koto and low tones on the cello, at first quite distinct but converging and becoming more melodic over time. There were in fact three lines rather than two, as Wong’s vocals provided a counterpoint that was sometimes completely blended with the sound of the cello to form a chord, at other times a separate instrument. The overall sound moved from extremely percussive, with Nishi’s sometimes violent bending, striking and stretching of the strings and use of external objects such as styrofoam packing, to calm, almost “harmonic” drones. The transitions were not abrupt, but they did sometimes come unexpectedly, the listener suddenly finding himself in a completely different set of sounds. The last of these transitions went from a very loud section featuring the styrofoam and mallets set against a cello drone, and then suddenly fading out as quiet harmonics and blending into the city sounds outside.

The second half of the concert featured the ensemble Vorticella, which included Krystyna Bobrowski on horns, Erin Espeland on cello, Brenda Hutchinson on aluminum tube and vocals, and Karen Stackpole on percussion. The ensemble takes its from the vorticella, bell-shaped single-cell life forms that exist in colonies but can break off on their own at any time, an apt metaphor for group improvisation.

In taking notes for this review, I ended up drawing the following graph while listening, and I think it describes the initial section of the performance as well as any full text:

I particularly noticed how Hutchinson’s vocals as amplified and resonated by the tube sounded “electronic”, and my attention was focused on this as well as Stackpole’s metallic percussion, which ranged from conventionally “metallic sounding” to unusual squeaks and bubbling. Espeland’s cello and Bobrowski’s french horn and visually interesting kelp horns filled in the space, with either long drones or “pointed sounds” that matched the texture of the percussion and the vocals.

A later section that caught my interest were a smoother and more “linear” piece anchored by bowed gongs, with drones on the cello and horns, ending with the resonances of the gongs fading naturally. This was followed by a relatively soft section of discrete notes and hits, which came a sudden end and concluded the concert.

Fun with Highways: I-85, I-75 and I-20 in Atlanta

It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these:

This is the interchange of I-85, I-75 and I-20 in Atlanta, GA. No personal significance, though I do like how the incredibly complex curved shapes are bounded by the very rectangular city streets.

Of course, the combination of curved forms and rectangular geometry is not too uncommon here at CatSynth.

Untitled

In a medium that is designed only for speaking or broadcasting, how does one indicate listening? The time I spend listening, and viewing, and reflecting is generally lost.

Tonight I find myself thinking about one instruction set computing, the organic and geometric reflections of dim lights on metal objects, how I should really do a fun-with-highways-post and the old fashioned art of romantic letter writing, while Luna keeps a patient and quiet watch within arms reach.

And that should really be enough.