Category: audio art

sketches and finished works

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homewreckers and peggy baker

that post title didn’t sound quite right.

i am just finishing work on a new video for german dj trio homewreckers (that’s a still from the video there).  they asked me to do something for “the other side of town”, a track from their new CD, american ruhr.  more info later on where and when you might be able to see it.  a great quote from kodwo eshun on the result: a dialogue for a frame and an edge.

the first of a few scores this year for canada’s national treasure, dancer peggy baker is complete.  earthling will premiere @ the PUSH festival in vancouver, january 22 and 23rd are the performance dates.  more info here if you are in the vancouver area.  i will be making more music and video for peggy later this year for a new full length work.  stay tuned.

work continues on a couple of solo CDs!  slow going but i am really enjoying the minutiae of crafting the sound for these releases.

if you happen to be reading this before january 28th, come down to the tranzac in toronto, where i will be doing my first toronto performance of shruti, the field recording based audio performance i have done in germany, newfoundland, and banff.  each one is different….this performance has been programmed as part of david sait’s and michael keith’s night bazaar series.

…..reading this over i see that the holiday is over.  more to come.

the other side of town video still

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2008/2009

it has been some time since my last post, and things are starting to wrap up here @ old monkey studios.

its been pretty memorable, really (see the post before this one). but there is no point going over a list of what happened, that’s what this blog is for.

i will say that 2009 promises to be full of great projects:

*a new solo CD is in the works, as well as documentation/recording projects with ensemble polaris, evergreen club gamelan maza meze (yes!) and more.

*i will be starting the creative process with the unbelieveable peggy baker, creating audio and video for an upcoming 1/2 hour dance work.  possible CD release is being considered as well.

*robert lippok and i are in the planning stages for some canadian concerts and possibly a CD recording

*work continues on audio and video pieces that will be influenced by the drumming and recording i did in kolkata this past fall

*who the heck knows what else?  that should keep me relatively busy i should think….

all the best to you and yours.

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shruti: live performance streaming online now

the radio performance i did at the banff centre is now streaming online:

Shruti uses field recordings and video collected in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India as a starting point for a audio performance that explores the urban landscape of this great metropolis, filtered through the eyes and ears of someone intimately connected to but ultimately outside of it.  Part soundscape, part improvisation, Shruti uses a wide range of tools from the laptop to the harmonium to present an emotional and personal portrait of urban culture and personal experience.

paste this link into your mp3 player:

http://207.188.64.196:8100/listen.m3u
(update: the stream is now offline)

(in itunes, it is under the “advanced” tab.  other players, well, you’re going to have to check online for info.)

many thanks go to naomi potter and pandora syperek, the curators of the radio exhibition, and susan kennard, the banff new media institute director.

the audio stream will go from 10pm tonight (wednesday, sept. 17) until friday morning.  please tune in, and pass this on!

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audio performance/music video

things in banff are going well.  time to look ahead a little bit.

sept 20 you’ll find me @ dundas square as part of the new music marathon.  i will be part of darren copeland’s audio art curation/installation 3 sided square.  the marathon runs from 2pm-10pm, and just about anyone who is anyone in the new music community will be there either performing or generally rocking out.  you’ll hear everything from stockhausen to cage, to glass to original music from the toronto new music scene.  info here and here.

i have been asked by the berlin/bochum dj trio the homewreckers to make a music video for their upcoming CD release, which drops october 10.  the video will be done before xmas and you will be able to find it on youtube and other locations.  check out their online spaces for more information.

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radio performance @ banff centre and online

i will be doing a live radio broadcast/performance next friday @ the banff centre.  luckily, you can tune in online here:  http://www.radio90.fm/

my performance begins at 6:15 alberta time (see here to help you calculate your local time for those of you tuning in via internet).  i am as always very excited to perform this work, especially because i never know what it will be.  expect to hear field recordings from kolkata, folk music, street sounds, a track or 2 from my CD quell, and perhaps some music i have been working on here.  the banff centre has a long and illustrious association with radio art, and i am very pleased to be included on the list of great sound artists who have performed radio in the past.

tune in.

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gods on earth sept 3

perfect timing.  while i am away @ the banff centre, the video installation when the gods came down to earth goes live sept 3.  there is more information on the installation, created by filmmaker srinivas krishna, here.

it promises to be quite a startling and impressive installation.  audio will play every 1/2 hour from around 8 am to 11pm.

specifically for the audio portion, thanks are in order to john gzowski, who will do the final soundcheck for me.  also of course a big thank you to krishna for asking me to do it in the first place.

the installation is presented by the royal ontario museum’s institute for contemporary culture and the toronto international film festival’s future projections program.

please drop by and let me know how you liked it.

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skin in vancouver

just received word that skin will be programmed at cineworks’ group exhibition who will give up their distinctions? in vancouver in september 2008.  at the moment we are trying to figure out what form the work will take, but it looks likely that it will be a looping projection with the audio track on headphones, which is my ideal format.

update: the sound will be piped into the space.  skin will be looped and presented with another video by clint enns, prepare to qualify.  latest info is that this exhibition will be part of SWARM 2008, a festival of artist run centres in vancouver.  the festival and screenings will  be september 5 and/or 6.

the website and address is here.  if you are in the neighborhood please drop by.

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shruti @ harbourfront (update: with pix)

i have been selected for inclusion in the SAVAC group exhibition @ harbourfront centre, august 8-10.  a new audio installation, shruti, using binaural recordings of the tanpura, field recordings from kolkata, and sound from the harbourfront site itself, will be created for this event, part of the south asia calling festival @ harbourfront.

the exhibition is free and will feature some great art from artists tackling the theme of “re-generation”.

hope to see you there.

SAVAC website

Harbourfront South Asia Calling

UPDATE: here are some pictures from the installation.  a good time was had by all.

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sound symposium

i am at the unbelieveable sound symposium here in st john’s newfoundland.  they brought me here to install my sound piece kolkata garden.  we found a beautiful place near the “fluvarium”, in a clearing in a protected park.  it was really perfect.

i am meeting all sorts of interesting artists from a variety of disciplines.  check the website for some of them.  if you ever have a chance to get out here, do it!!!

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deep wireless

i’m at the deepwireless festival of radio art this weekend, as part of the performing quartet of myself, chantal dumas, andreas kahre, and kathleen kajioka. on tap are workshops and performances and live 12 speaker disseminations of radio pieces. i am particularly excited to see/hear tetsuo kogawa’s keynote speech and performance tomorrow morning. this festival is getting bigger and bigger, and the work of nadene and darren is really making this festival a major event in audio/radio art here in north america (and, dare i say it, internationally).

update sunday: attended tetsuo kogawa‘s lecture and performance at 9am this morning. i am completely blown away. it is rare that such a level of theoretical grounding and articulation accompanies such masterful artistic execution. or at least its rare that we get a glimpse of both sides. kudos to naisa (see link above) for a) programming kogawa san and b) creating a context for both of these sides of this amazing artist.

in other news, some media for my piece @ deepwireless can be found below.

video here (thanks to justin @ transom.org)

in performance:

tetsuo kogawa’s workshop: