#spectrumnyc

Not my pun -- the pianist’s.  When I think of David Lang, I think of “Cheating, Lying, Stealing”.  Selections played from his piano music on Friday night are less interesting.  (But then I’ve had my ups and downs with him.  “The Little Match Girl” was outstanding, but “Anatomy Theater” was disappointing and preachy.)

The 7 Memory Pieces are etudes -- just one idea carried over a few minutes, inspired by friends of his who have passed.  They’re not as interesting as I’d like them to be, and Lang seems to agree, calling them laboratories for larger ideas.

The best pieces were the two 4-hand piano pieces -- “Before Gravity” and “Gravity”.  Here is development and a sense that there’s something more than just the effect.  Though they do just sort of stop, just like the Memory Pieces. 

I’ve never been in Spectrum NYC before.  I wonder how long it’ll last.  It’s the size of someone’s large living room and it’s packed w/ books, random instruments, some chairs and the detritus from it’s early age as a factory.  It’s about the smallest space I’ve ever been in NYC (I think there were 10 attendees, including some of his family) and apparently the owner lives in it also -- I bet.

A new band I'm putting together will do it's first show on Wednesday June 12th, 9pm at Spectrum on the Lower East Side (121 ludlow)

Excited about this one

This past weekend was the Experi-MENTAL festival V at Spectrum and Goodbye Blue Monday, presented by Pas and Alrealon Musique.  What a whirlwind then it's off to Sonic Circuits festival (now past) at The Atlas Theater in D.C. next weekend!

Here is my round-up.  I caught most of the acts.

First, in addition to music and live painting, the works of Pas leader and festival curator, Robert L. Pepper, were displayed on the wall in Spectrum.  Two of Robert's lovely paintings grace my studio room here in Jersey City.  This painting shown below, was recently shown in Mainz, Germany.

AND Live Visuals all night were from Jim Tuite, the man behind the riveting visual element behind every performance, who spends a great deal of time and effort listening to each act and selecting appropriate images and video clips to project for each band.  He also has a live cam to use, as source video for his video-mix, live feeds of the performances themselves as they are happening in real time.  You can see his work below in many of the photographs!

Onto the music!

1 - Luciernaga

The first act I saw at Experi-MENTAL Festival V was Luciernaga.  This was a little over two weeks ago now, so I don't remember the details except that he presented beautiful warm tones, sustained, to create restful harmonies.  I remember loving his choice of sounds, which I gathered were mostly analog.  It highly mellowed me out. Coincidentally Luciernaga runs Fabrica Records.

2 - Pas Musique feat. Brandstifter, Cathy Heyden, and Jung Nam Lee

Our Pas Musique set was next.  Pas was joined by special guests Brandstifter from Mainz, and Cathy Heyden from Paris.  Twas lovely to have such distinguished guests with us.  The set was accompanied by visual artist Jung Nam Lee, who began painting during Luciernaga's set, and gathered momentum in his large-scale action painting, on a canvas sheet stretched across Glenn's (Spectrum's owner) wall, as well as his wife, who's name I didn't catch.  He even got so inspired as to paint on some of us!  I enjoy playing with Pas, and even had the added challenge of some people walking well into my theremin radius. I felt it was a nice "experimental" challenge to play close to the antennae to avoid disturbance.  One has to adapt!  (Coincidentally, when I played theremin on the US premiere of Lera Auerbach's Icarus this spring, I asked for a 2 meter radius, and they gave it to me.  Guess I'm a little spoiled now! )

John 3:16

Next up was John 3:16 (founder of Alrealon Musique)- who played a very energetic set through layers of exhaustion, jet lag and sickness.  I couldn't tell at all, as I found out later about the sickness, etc.  His powerful stage presence worked well in the small loft space. The owner and founder of spectrum, Glenn Cornett expressed to me being particularly pleased as he snapped a bunch of photos of Phil writhing on the ground (which probably came out better than mine). Though I wished I could hear the guitar a little more clearly, the music has an energy that is definitely something that must be experienced live. 

4- David First with Valerie Kuehne

Then was David First, featuring Valerie Kuehne.  David played moderately high volume, bass-heavy drones, that subtly morphed in timbre more-so than in rapid chord changes.  The harmony did evolve, but more so like a pop song's harmony that had been slowed down by 3000 percent.  Valerie Kuehne chose dissonant or consonant cello drones to accompany and suit her taste.  I think by 15 minutes into the jam, everybody got on whatever wavelength they were on.  I felt surprisingly refreshed by the end of the set, though I was skeptical at the outset while they were still settling in. When they stopped, the room was dead silent, everybody smiled. 

5 - Public Speaking

Public Speaking (Jason Anthony Harris) delivered his live looping complete with heavily effected live vocals.  This vocal sound was fresh and new to me, a definite home brewed creation.  It was a more subdued set than the one I saw at Theaterlab last year, with more melancholy chord progressions and introspective melodies.  But still, he took live sounds that he created and fashioned them into beats and loops, with an ear to composition and flow. When I talked to him, Jason told me how much time he spent making sure the looping was musical, not just going on and going, out of laziness as one often sees with loop-pedal musicians.  It hit home with me, I am always thinking about that for my own live sets. It takes a little extra effort, and sometimes some boring reading and asking around, to build in some changes to the set.  But the effort was well worth it.  In any case, a beautiful end to the evening.