Still, Makino Takashi and Jim O’Rourke, The Seasons, 2009.
If a three-bar, bouncer-peppered, profit-centric venue like Music Hall of Williamsburg seems somewhat of stretch for a “show case” of what is ostensibly the most fiercely anti-commercial and anti-hegemonic music today, try a major metropolitan museum. Those of us who relied solely on the No Fun website for information on the lineup this year will be surprised to learn that the festival had not only one new home this year, but two — along with a brand new “Infinite Sound and Image” component, which is longhand for “film screening.” Recognizing that many of the artists on the bill this year are active outside the purely musical sphere — and, perhaps, that the noise experience in general is not only about what we hear, but, almost always also what we see and feel — Carlos Giffoni teamed with Rhizome’s ongoing “New Silent Series” for an afternoon of moving image work at the New Museum on the Bowery.
Archive for May, 2009
No Fun 2009: Infinite Sound and Image: No Fun Goes to New York’s New Museum
Saturday, May 30th, 2009No Fun Fest 2009, by PRSE and Emilie Friedlander
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
As close to a scene report as contemporary noise can afford, No Fun Fest, with Carlos Giffoni at the helm, each year confronts problems of selection. Over three nights, some 25 acts say their piece, spanning a vast geography of provocation and anomie. But how to organize such a spread?
FUCK SEPARATION: A Conversation, by Alessandro Keegan/Mattin
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
Mattin is a musician and performance artist from the Basque Country. He has produced a slew of releases under the names of Deflag Haemorrahge/Haien Kontra, Sakada, Billy Bao, and No More Music. He has also collaborated with many artists, including Drunkdriver, Margarita Garcia, Tim Goldie, Taku Unami and Tony Conrad, to name a few. His work mixes laptop electronics with politics and, in the case of Billy Bao, some harsh, deconstructed rock and roll. In the live setting, Mattin is subversive, sometimes abrasive, and always finding ways to undermind audience expectations and break the boundaries inherent to performance.
Video-Word Association of the Week
Sunday, May 10th, 2009News: Nuits noisy à la nantaise
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
Ali_Fib Gigs Comes to Brooklyn!
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
Rhys Chatham’s Astrological Advice for Musicians: May
Monday, May 4th, 2009
Visitation Rites is proud to present Rhys Chatham’s astrology column for experimental musicians, which draws on his experience as a composer and a meticulous analysis of the geometrical relationships between the sun and other planets in monthly astrological charts. Have fun reading the predictions for your sign, and do not be fooled by cheap imitations!
The Hunter Gracchus, Sacred Object of the Yiye People, Chironex Records
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
Sacred Object of the Yiye People, the debut LP from England’s The Hunter Gracchus, is a cacophony of improvisation, acoustic noise, and obscure literary and cultural references. The odd charm of the album emerges through an interplay between unconventional rhythm and hypnotic melody. Sacred Object’s Bedouin influences stand out in a number of the tracks and make it traveling, richly textured, and entirely enthralling.
Video-Word Association of the Week
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009The Reactable: “That was one of the goals: let’s allow everyone to have fun playing the instrument.”
Friday, May 1st, 2009
If you have ever heard or seen the Reactable in action, it was probably during Bjork’s 2007 tour. Largely influenced by the Moog synthesizers of the ’60s and ’70s, this new instrument is a translucent table with movable colored blocks that produces a range of rhythms, melodies, and sequences. If the Reactable has not received the mainstream recognition it warrants, this may be because it is not its tonal qualities that make it revolutionary for live performance, but its components. While its sound is unlikely to break the mold, the Reactable is a dramatic innovation in both interactive performance and music technology.
