newclassic monthly #5: november 2024 – the “scene”
The “scene” I’m referring to is the one directly served by this website; the contemporary classical / experimental new music community of Los Angeles. It is the scene in which I found many of my friends, which produces the music I’m most passionate about, both of which I’m trying to serve with my work, including this website, my new music series, my ensemble, my studio, and my non-profit organization.
In order to better understand my place in the community, I’m reading a couple things about “the scene;” Michael Matsuno’s “New Music Ambassadors to the World: A Biography of the California E.A.R. Unit”, Andrew Kluth’s “A Study of the Los Angeles DIY Experimental Music Scene: Reflections on the Promise of the Possible” and the book pictured, Dorothy Lamb Crawford’s biography on the series formerly called Evenings on the Roof, now named “Monday Evening Concerts.” The thoughts below reflect an incomplete reading of the material, yet were/are crucial in shaping these thoughts into, ideally, something actionable. As I keep reading, I find myself thinking about certain aspects of “the scene.”
This calendar directly serves the visibility of events in the contemporary classical / experimental sphere in order to, in broad strokes, get more people to these shows. Given the ad hoc, DIY, underfunded and volunteer nature of these events, there is no central repository or database for these kinds of things in Los Angeles. Most new music series don’t have 10 month “seasons” laid out by August. This calendar is not and can not be a perfectly updated source of all these events, especially given the “rhizomatic” nature of the communities of Los Angeles (this word is used by Kluth in his dissertation and I quite like it).
Los Angeles sprawls, and the venues which host these events are spread apart and can be difficult to get to. Even those on the east side that are relatively well served by the Metro are difficult to find; the original building which housed the wulf had patrons “buzz unit 203” to enter, a similar sign you’ll now see taped to the lobby entrance of Oracle Egg, a space which serves a similar function, crowd and location since the wulf‘s closing (less than two miles as the crow flies).
2220 Arts & Archives, one of the larger and better funded venues of this type has no signage on the outside; its main parking lot still references the Bootleg Theatre, a previous venue at the same location which closed in 2021. Betalevel is infamous for its directions asking patrons “to take a right at the dumpster” to find the venue. My own studio doesn’t do much better; despite the label on the door, the address you type into GPS takes you to the taqueria it shares the building with, leading many patrons to knock on their kitchen access door instead of mine. Koreatown’s Monkspace, the Arts District’s FRANKIE and DTLA’s Coaxial have no signage at all. At least half of these venues have no designated parking lots. Non Plus Ultra doesn’t even have an address.
Some of this is, undoubtedly, pragmatic; Automata fits 50 if you’re lucky, Betalevel is a basement, and I cap attendance in events in my studio at 35. Keeping the active community small means that the events will likely never need to relocate from their current small, inexpensive homes and can continue to present events at a low cost. It also means that the people who do attend will be kept safer. Introducing friction, or at least, not taking steps to alleviate the difficulty of getting to, finding, and attending these events, seems to intentionally cap the active community at a certain amount.
There are very valid criticisms to this; we joke amongst ourselves about playing to the same room of 20 people, and so many new pieces are played once and never again. We believe in this music, but documenting and archiving these events are a low priority for many of those who run it, so the only people who will hear a spectacular piece of music are the 30 people who were there.
But at the same time, is this something that needs a solution at all? The often inaccessible (read: noisy) aesthetics of this music itself eschews broader commercial appeal, so certainly no one’s going to get rich off of ticket sales. An underground scene, by definition, doesn’t attempt to appeal to the widest audience, it serves a counter-culture. This music historically functions outside of (American) university and institutional oversight, though 50 years of CalArts musicians and recent Noons tos Midnights might argue otherwise. And the standout music of an underground scene will find its broader audience anyway; you can listen to Hanatarash on Spotify, for fuck’s sake.
There are other things we should undoubtedly improve first (not all venues are ADA compliant, and most of the music is, to put it one way, Eurological). The very purpose of this calendar seem to point towards inviting broader audiences, but I am just as complicit in “gatekeeping” as much as anyone. Last month, a musician rented my studio for a (private) event and asked why I didn’t put out a sandwich board so that people could find the studio easier. I felt the instinctive pull towards saying “the people who want to find it, will” and that didn’t really sit right with me.
To be clear, I love playing in living rooms, or in venues where there are more people on stage than there are in the audience. The fact that most of these people are my friends mean that I always have someone to talk to at these events. But as someone who is, like all of you, a person in this community, I feel like I have a duty to make sure new people hear this music. I am continually trying to make that happen; to that effect, check out the calendar and attend events in November and bring a friend. 🙂
Further (related) reading in Marianna Ritchey’s “Composing Capital,” Michael C Heller’s “Loft Jazz,” and more.
HIGH DESERT SOUNDINGS Fundraising Party: A joyous preview of experimental excellence
As the brutal heat waves come and go and we find ourselves in autumn once more, High Desert Soundings showcased their prowess as a new music powerhouse with a deeply engaging fundraising party ahead of their 6th festival season on the weekend of October 11th. Featuring a myriad of influential artists they’ve worked with in the past, downtown attendees were also treated to your local musicians’ favorite lagers from Solarc Brewing. This event was hosted generously by Oracle Egg, but they furthered their contributions by performing an intimate and ethereal improvisation on an impressive prepared harp and piano installation fitted to their own studio. Perhaps the most surprising set of the night was a rare solo acoustic set from saxophone wizard Patrick Shiroishi. New band in town Serpentine Transmission closed the night perfectly with a deeply engaging ambient metal drone set titled “wad of clay”.
This year’s innovative programming is surely not one to be missed – High Desert Soundings is taking on the diversity and breadth of our shared understanding of new music by experimenting with a committee-model for critiquing and selecting festival submissions. In an attempt to even the field for artists who do not come from academic or contemporary classical backgrounds, they have brought on three past performers who have continued to share in and uplift the ethos of the forward-thinking organization. In addition to co-directors TJ Borden and Ethan Marks, this year’s committee also includes drone god and guitar fiend (among many other things) Nicholas Deyoe, transdiscplinary electronic artist and curator Haydeé Jimenez, and EMS Records leader and noise master Vern Avola. With close to 30 must-see artists and groups on the bill, sounds ranging from metal, noise, free jazz, new classical, all the way to hyperpop, one can certainly expect High Desert Soundings to continue to liven the starry skies of Twentynine Palms this October with joy, community, and sustained experimental excellence.
newclassic monthly #4: october 2024 – what we’ve been listening to
Jeremy Rosenstock’s anti-crystalline (2024, Falt)
Jeremy Rosenstock’s anti-crystalline, released digitally and on tape via Falt, amplifies the ghostly static hidden within deceptively voiceless volcanic materials. The tape features a composition on each side: “anti-crystalline,” a three-movement percussion trio for snare drums and obsidian as the A-side, and “post-crystalline,” a patient and coarse electronic track as its B-side. In “anti-crystalline,” Rosenstock employs the snare drum for what it is: a resonator. Yet, this transparent approach begets a beautifully opaque result, clouding scraped obsidian in a gossamer mist reminiscent of electronic processing. These electro-acoustic phantoms float naturally into the record’s electronic B-side, a brain-massaging realization of where our imaginations had wandered during “anti-crystalline.” The silences throughout the A-side remind us to listen just a little bit closer to the ostensibly static materials around us. So hold up that rock a little closer to your ear; you might be surprised with what you can hear.
Jack Herscowitz
Cassia Streb and Tim Feeney – Betwixt (2024, Harmonic Ooze Records)
I’ve heard Tim and Cassia perform together a number of times in LA, scraping and bowing and stacking and activating small objects on a table. This record is a culmination/combination/realization of their continued work together over a year or so, and I’m excited to hear that my favorite material (throwing keys on the floor) made the cut. Very lowercase (RIP Steve Roden) but that doesn’t mean it’s quiet; once you’ve acclimated to a single scraping sound, a box of ball bearings rattling feels gigantic.
Richard An
Marnie Stern – This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That
Not exactly a new release, but someone recently recommended going through Zach Hill’s enormous discography and clicking a random thing to listen to, which is how I landed on this album. Since then (two days ago) I’ve worked through nearly her entire excellent discography but there’s nothing quite like how this album opens. Comparisons to Deerhoof and the ILYs are obvious but true; also Melt-Banana and Pom Poko.
Shreddy, mathy, guitary.
Richard An
newclassic monthly #3 (2024-25 Los Angeles season preview!): september 2024
the monthlies will be bi- until richard’s morale work ethic improves (sorry!!)
it’s press release season! i’ve asked the nc.la writers to talk about of some of the upcoming concerts they’re excited about. L.A.’s social and cultural diversity extends to the kinds of music you can hear, even within the relatively narrow genre specializations of nc.la, so there’s something for everyone’s brand of “weird” music.
Jack Herscowitz: Los Angeles always provides in its breadth of musical offerings. Among my most anticipated concerts are: the legendary composer Annea Lockwood at Zebulon 9/13/24, psychedelic noise duo Yellow Swans at Zebulon 9/29/24, Chicago-based composer/sound artist Olivia Block at 2220 Arts and Archives 10/12/24, Tuesdays at Monk Space presenting the music of composer/trumpet Wadada Leo Smith on 2/11/25, and rumours of a to be announced performance of Sarah Hennies’ Thought Sectors via Monday Evening Concerts. (note from the editor: keep your eyes peeled, this information is out soon)
Anuj Bhutani: I can’t wait for LA Phil’s “Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings” curated by Pulitzer-Prize winner Ellen Reid, which is also part of the Getty’s landmark PST Art festival happening all year long. The festival promises “live performances and art installations activating every corner of the Walt Disney Concert Hall campus” with an emphasis on field recordings, along with food trucks and a beer garden! (note from the editor: Anuj is being humble, he has a show on Tuesdays at Monk Space coming up in April!)
Mason Moy: The last time I was at 2220 Arts was to see Baltimore-based justly-intuned math-rock hyphen-friendly band Horse Lords. I will be returning on October 12 to see Olivia Block perform music from her most recent release, The Mountains Pass. I’ve been lucky to experience some of her multi-channel work, but excited to see her perform live with Jon Meuller and Paige Naylor.
Richard An: It goes without saying that I’m stoked for Monday Evening Concerts‘ 85th and Piano Spheres‘ 30th seasons, both of which are celebrating their milestones with big concerts, commissions, and guest artists. High Desert Soundings always deserves some attention (their opening/fundraising event is tonight). The LA Phil’s Noon to Midnight is back, as mentioned by Anuj, and is also hosting an Unsuk Chin-curated “Seoul Festival;” I myself only recognize a few names on this list, so it’ll be good to become acquainted with a community of composers and new music performers that I’m not familiar with.
thanks for reading! here are some cats i hung out with recently
IPSA DIXIT – a stunning breakthrough in the reality of postopera
It was a warm Sunday afternoon, with Long Beach Opera set to host their closing matinee of “Ipsa Dixit” at the Art Theatre on Retro Row. Billed as a philosophy-opera, Kate Soper’s monumental work became a Pulitzer finalist back in 2017, and now, it looked for new life with the beloved experimental opera company. With James Darrah directing, Christopher Rountree as music director, and Jane Eilber choreographing a duo from the Martha Graham Dance Company, the synergy and quality of the production was undeniable from the very start.
I can think of no better place for this show than the iconic Art Theatre, history rich in its walls as the oldest single-screen hall in the city. Every detail of the Art Deco space was exemplified by clever production choices by LBO, from the dramatic lighting and the use of exit doors, to the abstraction of silent black-and-white film and the obfuscation of picture with bold blue lines. Even the dancers’ elaborate costumes were reminiscent of the prohibition era. One can only equate this unique viewing experience to a live debut screening of an experimental foreign film.
As you enter the theatre to look for your seat, you find yourself intruding upon a dance rehearsal on the satellite stage. To the delight of the audience, Leslie Andre Williams and Anna Souder can be found practicing their choreography in concert black, talking it out and making adjustments right in front of you. At this point, any preconceived notions you may have about opera were instantly obliterated. This subtle detail was powerfully engaging and proved to be a cautionary tale, a tone setter for the rest of the program, one that encourages to forget everything you knew about opera. I found their “rehearsal” was effective in making the overall experience more accessible to a less frequent crowd.
As soon as star soprano Anna Schubert sang her first words, one could not help but be mesmerized and stay that way for the entirety of the 90-minute show. “Sing” is truly an oversimplification. Beyond the role of an opera singer, Schubert was asked to be a philosopher, a narrator, a lover, a conductor, a Dadaist speech puppet, and even Socrates for a movement or two. More importantly, she was the driving force behind this high-octane, tongue-twister of a soprano part, one that she handled with brilliant lyricism and unparalleled conviction. Not to mention, she actually played almost every single instrument on stage as well.
Each member of the supporting ensemble were carefully chosen, with just three heavyweights replacing an entire orchestral pit. Playing their trained instruments was no longer the sole challenge here. Beyond tackling virtuosic moments, they were each asked to push the limits of extended techniques, all the while having to shadow Schubert with their instrument and voice or engage with her verbally in theoretical debate. As the opera descended into themes of love and tragedy, flautist Rachel Beetz demonstrated her technical prowess on more than one type of flute, filling each of them with sharp slices of air, colorful bites of overtones, and keeping toe to toe with Schubert through extremely fast and difficult speech. In the midst of well-timed chaotic images behind them, the duo showed outstanding chemistry and timing in this spiraling portray of madness and despair.
In perhaps my favorite role, percussionist Sidney Hopson emerged into the character Crito, Socrates’ wealthy Athenian friend, reinterpreting their famous conversation in an attempt to convince Socrates to escape prison. Hopson and Schubert were placed on opposite sides of the marimba, against a luring backdrop of a purple dream, a vision that Socrates had before his day of execution. Carefully pacing back and forth around the keys, the duo acted out an elaborate and verbose scene with stunning ease, interspersing dialogue with hypnotic marimba lines.
Finally, it was violinist Mona Tian’s turn to shine. In the very last duo with Schubert, Tian exhibited massive stage presence on par with that of a rock star, mastering sound, placement, and choreography to support Schubert in her rhetoric and (de)construction of language. Tian can be seen shredding on her violin as Slash would on his guitar, whipping her bow like a samurai after a kill, and moaning with anguish and vibrato in the upper register of her instrument, building significant momentum for the final climax of the piece. The finale was supported by the Martha Graham dancers performing the same routine as their earlier “rehearsal”, this time with full dresses, before they changed into something even more extravagant, wandering through the crowd and confusing everyone with popcorn and soft drink in their hands.
“Ipsa Dixit” was completely transformed by Long Beach Opera in a way I’ve never seen before. A stunning examination of philosophy and art, this breakthrough opera itself can be seen as a gold standard to the genre of postopera, a term first coined by Jelena Novak to describe the reinvention of opera through new media, de-syncrhonization of image and sound, and the redefinition of sex-gender-voice relationships. However, I would argue that Soper’s masterpiece moves beyond Novak’s foundational research and goes further to ask these meaningful questions: What is opera? What makes an opera good or bad? What separates opera from other musical forms? What role should opera strive for in order to survive the rapidly changing landscape of classical music? It seems as if the closest one could get to these answers is the singular inimitable experience that is LBO’s phenomenal production of “Ipsa Dixit”.
newclassic monthly #2 (a letter from the editor): july 2024
i like setting expectations at an achievable level; i think i did that here by starting a monthly series then promptly forgetting to do the second month. sorry!
i just flew back from new york where I attended a music educator conference, and in 10 days I’m heading back out to massachusetts to attend the Bang on a Can Summer Festival; it’s an unusual amount of summer activity for me, since the last time i flew on a plane was in 2019. since i spent a lot of time on planes and in airports, I’ve been checking out a lot of new releases, so I decided to write up a series of mini reviews; new-ish releases in the contemporary-classical/improvised/experimental sphere that you should be aware of. not strictly ordered but the ones at the top are great.
Tashi Wada – What is Not Strange?
instrumental, art pop/post rock, slowly evolving textures while somehow largely inhabiting the 4-5 minute “song” track length. the synth work is awesome, particularly on track 2 “Grand Trine.”
Yarnwire – Currents Vol. 9
the yarnwire currents series showcases their incredible body of commissions over more than a decade, including and especially the layered textures in “Pitiless as the Sun” by Jordan Dykstra, which draws comparisons to the yarnwire commissions from Klaus Lang and Øyvind Torvund, which are also personal favorites. nothing is bad on this album, nothing is less than great, even.
Leilehua Lanzilotti – the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky
wollschleger’s on my mind since i just performed’s scott’s “american dream” last month but the parts i love about these pieces remind of the writing in “american dream;” repeated gestures at varying tempi, pitch bent percussion, teasing unisons with strings, and glacially paced piano. the muted flowerpot(?) on “sending messages” is incredibly captivating; i could listen to that alone for 45 minutes.
Scott Wollschleger – Between Breath
tasty string writing and terrifying trombone sounds. after living inside his “american dream” i’ve come to know scott’s musical language pretty well, “Between Breath” seems to “run” more, with fewer interruptions between sections
Caroline Shaw / Sō Percussion – Rectangles and Circumstance
pretty nice; scratches the ‘tigue’ itch (i miss you tigue)
tristan perich – Open Symmetry
it does what you’d expect a tristan perich piece for 3 vibraphones and 20-channel 1-bit electronics to do. if you’re not into it, it can feel same-y. if you’re into it like i am, it’s exactly what you want.
and here are some releases i didn’t get to, but will this coming month; i do have at least another 12 hours on planes to look forward to
Sarah Hennies – Motor Tapes
fuubutsushi – meridians
rhodri davies – Telyn Wrachïod
lucy liyou – +82 K-Pop Star
SAWYER’s newest batch
chris cohen – paint a room
thanks for reading!
MOLLY PEASE presents ERDE DREAMS on mental health & nature / a workshop of memories for a new audience
Summer is calling and another school year is coming to a close. As I look ahead to spending more time in nature, an opportunity presented itself to me and my colleagues at Pasadena Waldorf High School to expose our young creatives to a level of music making never experienced before, one which dabbles with open-minded improvisation and slots neatly into our collective pedagogy. It should be no surprise that the colleague I worked with to bring this field trip to fruition is Richard An, editor of the words you’re reading now, and of all the other reviews here at New Classic LA. It also helps that Ted Masur, the director of music at Waldorf, only (coincidentally?) hired instructors from CalArts to round out the program, the third being Alexander Noice. Together, we share a strong inclination to radicalize music education and free it from its shackles of longstanding elite traditions. In other words, we sought to mobilize our students to embark on a journey of off-campus excursions to engage with the new music community.
The first result was magical – a special Tuesdays @ Monk Space outing curated by Shalini Vijayan, featuring Molly Pease, M.A. Tiesenga, and Miller Wrenn, in an evocative exploration of mental health examined through essential relationships with nature. Molly proceeded to wow the audience and Waldorf visitors with an achingly gorgeous solo set in the first half. “luminescent waves” was especially vivid and giving, with the help of some clever pre-recorded vocals behind a flurry of playful ad libs. From skinny dipping with dancing plankton to innocent giggles among amorous tides, this movement truly felt like a sanctuary away from the male gaze, life reflecting off bare skin from each and every direction. Molly ended her set with “deep ocean”, creating an atmosphere of depth and tension using a variety of extended vocal techniques and abstractions. I closed my eyes and felt so strongly the distant influences of artists like Sophie, Kevin Abstract, and Pamela Z, climbing into what I could only imagine to be a new era of post-grunge / post-jazz sound, yearning to break free.
In the second half, Molly brought M.A. and Miller to the stage for a set that proves to be even more experimental, with “a leaf to stand on” being a personal favorite. Part of four “seeds” of ideas that served as loose structures for improvised opportunities, the trio showcased a blend of chemistry in sensitive moments of tutti lament, often taking turns to depart from the rest with unique expressiveness. Patterns shifted subtly, and beauty evaporated into new ideas. Miller proceeds to bury this second seed gently and lovingly with ethereal harmonics. “water mirror” is the seed that follows, and here, we are faced with an unsettling moment of suspense, a stark confrontation of the dynamic challenges within the struggles of mental health. M.A.’s contributions were significant, gracing the opening with a influx of wind sounds and overtones, possessing an uncanny ability to reify Molly’s grief while interposing new perspectives to the topic at hand. Needless to say, the crowd left the night with a renewed focus on their own mental health, as well as a deep appreciation for the physiological effects of music and nature.
A few days later, we invited the trio into our instrumental class for a demonstration, workshop, and Q&A based on “erde dreams”. Our students asked meaningful questions about open improvisation and its role in jazz, as well as questions to Molly regarding her overall aesthetic choices and themes for the concert. Miller added insight to the limitations of genre labeling, shunning industrial giants like Spotify, all the while giving a hilarious micro lecture on sibilances. Next, the trio encouraged an improvised group activity using only their voices, taken from the swaying landscape just outside our classroom window, piquing the interests of the students. And finally, Miller introduced the concept of conduction (editor’s note: “conduction” distinct from “conducting,” see Butch Morris), furthering the experience they had of a guided improvisation piece I programmed in my first semester here, “Form the Fabric” by inti figgis-vizueta. It was beyond heartwarming to see how bold and curious our students were in championing new ideas and taking musical risks in uncharted waters, responding to every breath of inspiration.
I am so grateful for Molly, M.A., and Miller – three insanely talented musicians who feel so strongly in progressing new music with innovative programing and inclusive pedagogy. I am also overjoyed to have like-minded colleagues and a community in Waldorf that show immense interest, support, and funding to provide our students with the chance to dive deeper into the music community of greater Los Angeles. This is, without a doubt, classical music and education for a new audience. This is the start of something new.
WILD UP x 24 —> 24 x ARTHUR RUSSELL
FULL DISCLAIMER : This was not a classical concert. This was a disco party. And what a party it was – fully equipped with an open dance floor, a hefty disco ball shimmering above, and of course, complete with sweaty bodies. So instead of the usual stuffy review with complicated lexicon foreign to your typical household (written by yours truly), I will now attempt to do something never done before. I will craft the most serious of reviews for you by sharing some pictures from my phone, in hopes you may embody the revolutionary spirit of disco as you indulge with me (you’re welcome).
PS: This was the second sold-out performance of this show, and the first in a series of what looks to be an intriguing exploration into the many lives (and names) of Arthur Russell. I cannot wait to go back for more. Away we go!
newclassic monthly #1: may 2024
dear nc.la readers,
hello! trying out a new monthly write-up of some of our favorite listens for the previous month; some are new releases, some not.
Leslie Ting – What Brings You In (2024, People Places Records)
a dutiful introspection of self through a vicious swirl of suspension & outpour, pressed in a rare format of both stereo & binaural versions; eventually, it paralyzes into a stasis of vulnerability & honesty, which we could all use a little more of in this moment…this album isn’t quite a substitute for therapy, but it’s close.
Violet Tang
Alessandro Rovegno – Everything Loose is Traveling (2024, self released)
Alessandro Rovegno’s, Everything Loose is Traveling re-appropriates nostalgia as a tender ephemerality: forgoing romanticized mush for glitchy field recordings, stuttering synths, and fragmented melodies. The past is neither idealized nor lost, but a phantom stream flowing alongside the present. Rovegno invites us to take a dip under a mid-September’s sun.
Jack Herscowitz
Shuttle358 – Field (2018, 12k)
Recently, I’ve been relistening to an old favorite of mine that I hadn’t spent time with in a long while. I first discovered “Field” by Shuttle358 (aka Dan Abrams) while working a summer job at the UT Austin library back in 2018, just by chance. It’s one of my all time favorites. Each track sounds quite simple at first blush, but every time I sit down and really listen closely, there’s always something new to discover. He creates these simple yet intricate worlds of sound that you can dive into and get completely lost in if you wish. My favorite track from the album is “edule”. It’s a bit of an oddball, because Shuttle358 takes a synth solo about halfway through. An interesting oddity that doesn’t really occur much in the rest of his body of work.
Eric Lennartson
Erykah Badu – But You Caint Use My Phone (2015, Motown and Control Freaq)
I’ve been hooked on “but you caint use my phone” (mixtape) by erykah badu ever since I saw it in a Kyle Abraham piece last month at the Music Center. It’s such a fascinating, fun, and groovy concept album.
Anuj Bhutani
I recently met the producer who did the Atmos upmixes for a bunch of Frank Sinatra recordings, and they are unbelievable sounding. I was into Sinatra as a teenager, and it’s been rad to revisit these songs. Start with Come Fly With Me, and get yourself a pair of headphones that can handle binaural properly before you do.
Nick Norton
Smother My Ears: Kevin Drumm, Daniel Menche, Carlos Giffoni + Alex Pelly, and Peter Kolovos at 2220 Arts and Archives
Experimental music series/labels, Carlos Giffoni’s “No Fun Productions” and Peter Kolovos’ “Black Editions Group,” teamed up to present four sets at 2220 Arts and Archives on March 23rd, 2024 (with rare Southern California appearances from Kevin Drumm and Daniel Menche). Capricious, intoxicating, glacial, and prickling: the curation provided something for anyone willing to risk their ears succumbing to pummeling sheets of sound.
Peter Kolovos
Kolovos runs Black Editions Group, condensing the music of three previous label projects under a single roof and organizing concerts for Los Angeles based and The Rest of the World based experimental musicians. He also rips on the guitar. The ideas move in rapid fire: a timbral terrarium explodes into being only to collapse onto itself as Kolovos assembles another. These ecosystems last only for seconds, but are rich in texture, gesture, and color. Moments of immense sustained drones lull us into a sense of safety, only for Kolovos to rip them away and slingshot us elsewhere. This is uncompromisingly blazing music in its display of integrated guitar-pedal virtuosity. And damn was that tone delicious…
Carlos Giffoni + Alex Pelly
Giffoni has been active as an electronic musician and curator on both coasts since the early 2000s and Pelly is a Los Angeles-based live music visualization performer and longtime dublab affiliate. Tonight, they teamed up for easily the most convincing non-narrative audio-visual performance I’ve seen. Giffoni’s modular synth and Pelly’s modular video systems gelled so effortlessly that for the first half of the set, I couldn’t tell who was making sound and who was controlling the visuals. Pulsing overdriven oscillators informed dancing geometric streaks, but Pelly has clearly set up a largely autonomous system not limited by its musical input. As Giffoni and Pelly performed, I experienced a genuine counterpoint between video and music with my attention moving back and forth between the two. The form felt like a series of short stories, each held together by a short wobbly rope bridge: an immediate, but still substantive transition. Giffoni plays his modular brilliantly, and it was a delight to have his throbbing bitcrushed melodic clouds dance around my eardrums.
Daniel Menche
Menche, like all of the night’s performers, is a musical polyglot. Portland-based and active since the late 80’s, he has made sounds in just about any way imaginable over the past 35 years. Whereas Giffoni’s and Pelly’s set was the Calvino collection of semi-related stories, Menche’s set was the epic novel condensed into 25 minutes. It felt like something in the air had changed, as a glacial wind had fully rolled in. Metallic tones folded onto themselves to create a glimmering sonic tapestry, growing rusty as a distortion slowly kicked in over the course of the set. Each knob turn gently sailed us elsewhere, but not too far away as we traversed over Menche’s sonic topography. By the end, the distortion had morphed into a full enveloping wall until receding into a final gust of wind. In the distance, I swear I could hear a melody.
Kevin Drumm
Drumm is the only artist on the show whose work I was previously familiar with. He’s a long-time Chicago-based computer musician, tabletop guitarist, and modular synth player, so I was ready for a sonic tidal wave in whatever form deemed necessary. Today it was two laptops, in front of Drumm on an elevated stage a good 10 feet behind where the other performers had been. I didn’t realize my brain was itchy until the opening laser point 12+ kHz tones gave it the scratch that it craved. As Drumm massaged my nervous system, the audio spectrum slowly began to fill out until these pinpoint tones enwrapped my entire being. This fullness of the sound left me with the wisdom that there are many ways to saturate the audio spectrum and that noise does not necessarily imply a timbral monolith. And we sat in this fullness, with small changes jostling the texture. These modulations never appeared to threaten the soundscape’s structural integrity, but as Drumm slowly replaced part by part, I came to the realization that he’s rebuilding his sonic Ship of Theseus. I truly could have marinated in any moment of this performance for hours. And then suddenly, with a swipe of a fader and a slap of the hands on the table, it’s over. I love when pieces end like this: no coda, no spoon feeding, no bullshit. With Drumm’s facetious “booooo” at an encore chant, 3 hours of sonic smothering had come to a close.
The show reminded me that “noise music” is not an easily connotable aesthetic signifier, but rather a community: adorned with lofi scuba tanks made of pedals, synths, patches, and contact mics and committed to diving into the depths of the fully saturated audio spectrum. They’re off the deep end, but that’s because the shallows are so boring.
Kevin Drumm, Daniel Menche, Carlos Giffoni + Alex Pelly, and Peter Kolovos at 2220 Arts and Archives
No Fun Productions + Black Editions Group
March 23, 2023