Germ Studies is an Australian duo made up of Chris Abrahams on a DX7 synthesizer and Berlin-based Clare Cooper on a zither-like instrument called a guzheng. I was fortunate enough to see them perform at Ausland in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg on 4 June.
Posts Tagged ‘Nicholas Wells’
Germ Studies, live at Ausland in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg
Sunday, June 7th, 2009The 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.
The 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.
