Apestaartje / Incunabulum Festival I
February 1, 2008
*The Apestaartje and Incunabulum labels present 2 nights of music focusing on the use of traditional instrumentation (lute, acoustic guitar etc) and styles (Baroque Music, Folk forms etc) in combination w/ contemporary experimental practices and adaptations.
james blackshaw + mountains + byron westbrook
James Blackshaw
James Blackshaw
Initially inspired by the folk/classical guitarists of the 60’s Takoma label to teach himself fingerpicking, James Blackshaw writes long-form pieces primarily for solo 12-string guitar that are heavily influenced by minimalist composers and European classical music and which use drones, overtones and repeating patterns alongside a strong inclination for melody to create music that is both intelligent, hypnotic and emotionally charged.
Born in London, England in 1981, Blackshaw has so far released five solo studio albums, one live recording and has also appeared on numerous compilations. “O True Believers” (2006, Important Records/Bo’weavil Recordings) and “The Cloud of Unknowing” (2007, Tompkins Square) received huge critical acclaim from printed and online publications including Pitchfork, The Wire, The Observer, The Times, Uncut, The Rolling Stone, Magnet and Acoustic Guitar Magazine. “The Cloud of Unknowing” was also listed as one of the 50 best albums of 2007 by The Wire (no. 24), Pitchfork (no. 34) and Uncut.
Blackshaw has toured the UK, Europe, Japan and U.S, most of Jose Gonzales, and has also played with Espers, Brightblack Morning Light, Sir Richard Bishop, Simon Finn, Marissa Nadler, Josephine Foster, Glenn Jones and many more. He has improvised live with Seiichi Yamamoto (ex-Boredoms) and recently released a collaboration with composer/lutist Jozef Van Wissem under the moniker “Brethren of The Free Spirit”.
www.jamesblackshaw.com
www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw
Mountains
Mountains is an ongoing collaboration between Apestaartje co-founders Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp. Having worked in parallel and often overlapping contexts within their respective solo projects, ‘Mountains’ was created as an outlet for live performance. They have released two critically acclaimed albums and toured throughout the US and Europe performing everywhere from festivals, art galleries, and museums to basements, hippie communes, churches, and rock clubs. Mountains has performed with Fennesz, Tony Conrad, Greg Davis, Minamo, Tape, Nicholas Collins, Carsten Nicolai, Lichens, Supersilent, Alog, etc. They have also been included in several exhibitions, most notably at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. There current performances utilize acoustic instruments and objects played through a series of both analog and digital electronics to create an extremely gradual and hypnotic listening experience. ‘Mountains Mountains Mountains’, a new LP only release will be out on the Catsup Plate label in early 2008. “Infinite sheets of grainy sound build and renew themselves to immensely pleasing effect.”
www.staartje.com
www.myspace.com/apestaartjemountains
Byron Westbrook
Byron Westbrook is a composer/sound artist living in Brooklyn, NY. He performs solo under the name CORRIDORS using a system of multiple amplifiers and video projections to create a dynamic space within a space using sound and light. He has performed with Sawako, Tony Conrad, Lichens, Anette Krebs, Soft Circle among others. He has also collaborated with Rhys Chatham in the drone metal group Essentialist (Table of the Elements), as well as performed in the ensembles of Phill Niblock, Chatham, Glenn Branca, and Jonathan Kane.
This performance will premiere a multi-channel sound piece called *68 Footsteps (x8)*, which explores the use of an acoustic guitar to unify dissimilar location recordings broadcast within a space.
www.byronwestbrook.com
8pm $10
the holy experiment + corridors + ateleia
January 11, 2008
The Holy Experiment + Byron Westbrook
Byron Westbrook is a sound/intermedia artist living in Brooklyn, NY. His work involves performance of processed instrumental and environmental recordings through a multi-channel environment with a focus on redistributing energy distilled from sound and light. In solo performances under the nameCORRIDORS, a system of multiple amplifiers is used in conjunction with PA speakers to create a dynamic space within a space using sound and video projection. He has also collaborated with Rhys Chatham in the drone metal group Essentialist (Table of the Elements), as well as performed in the ensembles of Phill Niblock, Chatham, Glenn Branca and Jonathan Kane. Releases are forthcoming in 2008 for both Corridors and Essentialist.
www.byronwestbrook.com
www.myspace.com/corridors
The Holy Experiment is the solo performance of Brooke Hamre Gillespie, who was born in Ely, Minnesota in 1979. She plays bells, Tibetan singing bowls, suling flutes, recorders, electric violin, electric guitar, and uses her voice to navigate the new worlds created through the sounds. Gillespie writes. “My work is intended to reach not only those in the immediate area who listen, but consciousness is given to the sounds and vibrations produced with insight into the idea that all vibration is interactive and that every sound created eventually makes its way through the cosmos…”
Ateleia is Brooklyn resident James Elliott. His music combines crystalline pulse with submerged aquatic drones and subtle ghost melodies, evoking the grand echo of “My Bloody Valentine” and the long-standing tradition of psychedelic minimalism while informed by contemporary electronic music. “Hypnotically gorgeous…” – Jon Dale, Stylus Magazine
8 pm $10
On January 25, ISSUE Project Room will inaugurate its new space at 110 Livingston with Gaudeamus Muziekweek, a four-day festival celebrating groundbreaking and challenging new music by emerging composers from around the world. Working in partnership ...
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