Yearly Archives for 2010

New drone music: MESSAGES "Tambura"

Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/02-tambura.mp3%5D

Download: “Tambura” – Messages (mp3)

Beautiful, eh? From Messages, available now on vinyl from De Stijl Records.

Messages are Taketo Shimada, Tres Warren and Spencer Herbst.

Promotional text: “The baby believes the womb is the Universe. At birth there is a glimmer of light and a shifting of space. I was there, but now i am Here. Then there are still but 2 things : Me and the Universe. And then what happens is Other People. From a note sounded in 1960 and held for a long time, a continuum of Sound has been sluiced along a diagonal of personal ecstasy, and some have come to call it a Drone. Surrounding the Drone is a genre, and within, wheat and chaff often commingle all too comfortably. But with tones as thick and texturally luxuriant with spiritual resonance as their long, glorious hair, Messages are the two worthy gurus currently contributing to the echo. Messages evoke the womb. And when the womb smiles, it whispers Messages, and then there is the first glimmer of Light .. ”

June 4, Lower East Side: "Homunculi" show curated by Trinie Dalton at CANADA

Longtime Arthur contributor Trinie Dalton sent this over…

Homunculi
Matt Greene, Allison Schulnik, Ruby Neri and Matthew Ronay
curated by Trinie Dalton

June 4 – July 11, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, June 4th from 6 – 8:30 PM
Canada New York

While Charles sat there in a thoughtless, vegetative stupor, completely surrendered to circulation, respiration, and the deep pulsation of his natural juices, there formed inside his perspiring body an unknown, unformulated future, like a terrible growth, pushing forth in an unknown direction.
—Bruno Schulz, Mr. Charles.

If monsters are metaphors, then we now think of the little man that Paracelsus brewed by beaker as a pocket of thought deep in the recesses of the scientist’s unconsciousness. In alchemical magic, homunculi were diminutive men under twelve inches tall who, like goat kids who pop out as walking, whinnying critters, were birthed fully-formed through the mystical transformation of sperm. Their embryonic recipe consisted of bones, sperm, skin chunks and animal hair steeped for a month in horse manure. In slightly more modern science, homunculi represent the conscious parts of our brains. But as one website essay reiterates, “homuncular arguments fall into an infinite regress, with the consciousness of each homunculus explained by ever smaller homunculini, nested like Russian dolls.” At the very root of creativity is the desire to tame, harness, and generate art made of this miniature circus material, parading through our minds like a migrant herd of wildebeests.

The artists in this show make figurative work that feels like primordial, barely changed representations of their inner-homunculi. But actually, it is their artwork itself that is a labored, half alive thing with its own life. Their art is the homunculus. Their blobby, witchy monsters are sprung forth onto canvases like the homunculus concocted to chat with Mephisto by Faust’s assistant, Wagner. Like golems, some are even sculpted out of clay. Their figures pile up, fornicate, dance, rest in awkwardly yogic poses, and generally exude respect for charmed, ancient ritual. While these works are not made on diminutive scales, each artist here makes large works that incorporate miniscule elements to express a fascination with microscopic aspects of hybrid human forms.

Allison Schulnik’s chunked out paint application compliments her studies of hoboes, clowns, gnomes, and other tricksters. As a Claymation animator, too, she gets deep into golem territory, to create an overall body of work that pays homage to James Ensor but is more playful than plagued.

Matt Greene makes drawings and paintings reveling in his own female fantasies that transform sexuality into a magical symbolism. His works become talismanic portrayals of beings that, like Hindu gods and goddesses, incorporate myriad aspects of self into unified, all-powerful forms that fuse gender, species, and archetypal character into his own sexpot ideal.

Ruby Neri could have fallen off a wagon pulled by Der Blaue Rieter group. Her visionary paintings are reconstitutions out of Bay Area funk and early twentieth century Fauvism. There is a brute physicality in her work; these are figure paintings with the bones left in. Unnatural color and form stains us with the spirit world, they are paintings to die for.

Matthew Ronay’s sculptures, videos, and installations commingle tribal, indigenous, and modern formalist aesthetics to invent new mysticisms and Jungian-inspired things. Whether fictionalized or real, his objects and images seem borne from an infinite well of psychological chaos. Enduring extreme costuming and physical trials, Ronay has recently begun using himself in his sculptures to return to the ritualistic purposes inherent to sacred art. In this, he is the ultimate homunculus manikin.

CANADA is located at 55 Chrystie Street between Hester and Canal Streets in New York City. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 12 to 6 p.m. For more information, please contact the gallery at 212-925-4631or at gallery@canadanewyork.com.

"Fruiting Bodies" by Brian Chippendale at Cinders Gallery, 6/4 – 7/3

“Fruiting Bodies” by Brian Chippendale

Opening reception, June 4th 7-10pm

Cinders Gallery

103 Havemeyer St.

Brooklyn, NY 11211

Brian’s hyper busy mark-making achieves a similar barrage of rhythms akin to his drum playing in the band Lightning Bolt, obsessively filling up all available space until the viewer/listener is in a state of blissful frenzy.

Brian Chippendale comes to us from Providence, RI, where he has resided for the past 13 years. As a co-founder of now legendary art warehouse Fort Thunder, Brian has been an important part of the underground music and art scene that sprouted out of the Fort and other similar collective-living spaces. In addition to art and music, Brian is known internationally for his innovative comics and has just finished a new 800 page comic called “If N’ Oof,” to be published by Picturebox this Fall.

Brian has also shown his visual art at the Macro Future Museum in Rome, the Deste Foundation in Athens and the RISD Museum as part of Wunderground: Providence 1995 to the Present. This is his first solo exhibition at Cinders.

Dave Tompkins' Vocoder Mix podcast – 'nuff said

We need more of this kind of thing…

FROM AUTHOR DAVE TOMPKINS:

BODE BREAKER
This bonus beach was engineered, with much patience, by Monk-One, winter 2010, while I sat in a fisherman’s beer chair in his basement. The mix is meant to accompany the book [Tompkins’ How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks]. Sometimes it ditches the book altogether. Sometimes it throws the book in the trunk and drives it to the middle of nowhere and burns magic hour donuts in a Piggly Wiggly parking lot.

All tracks contain some species of vocoder unless otherwise imagined. I apologize to summer, for the darkness, and the BB&Q Band, for running out of space.

STREAM: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/How-To-Wreck-A-Nice-Mix.mp3%5D

DOWNLOAD: How To Wreck A Nice Mix” (mp3, 103mb)

Excessive track listing below.

(:01) On the Beach—Neil Young
Twenty years ago, I “fell asleep” on Figure 8 Island wearing a Public Enemy hat. It had been given to me by Terminator X. When I woke in the morning, I was wearing a G N’ R hat. Two crossed pistols, a skull, and roses. Whatever maniac did this: Please return my PE hat. No questions asked.

(:12) EMS Vocoder Test (1976)
I was told this is an impression of Grover talking about the pyramids.

(:31) The Bells of St. Mary’s Condition—Bell Labs (1936)
“The true loves who come from the sea…”

The Bell Labs referred to their vocoder tests as conditions. All Bell Labs conditions here were acquired from the Werner Meyer-Eppler archives at the Institut Phonetik at Bonn, not Bell Labs. W.M.E. referred to the vocoder as a retro-transformer, thirty years before a Decepticon showed up in a Trouble Funk song.

(1:16) The Unvoiced Hiss Energy Condition—Bell Labs (1936)
Pass the conch like they used to say.

(1:32) Change the Beat—Beside & Fab Five Freddy (1982)
“If we were any fresher you’d have to slap us.”
—Fresh Market billboard, Greenville, S.C.

(1:40) Pak Man (intro)—Jonzun Crew (1983)
A song about one man’s desire to exterminate all Pac Man machines with the help of a device invented to rewire the chromatic spectrum of the universe using 17 million colors, the Suboptic Shadow World, and Sun Ra.

Continue reading →

"The unemployment rate for the 16-to-24 age group reached a record 19.6 percent in April, double the national average."

From the May 31, 2010 New York Times, “Job Outlook for Teenagers Worsens”:

The unemployment rate for the 16-to-24 age group reached a record 19.6 percent in April, double the national average. For those job seekers, said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, “This is the worst year, definitely since the early ’80s recession and very likely since the Great Depression.”

Or as researchers at Northeastern University, who issued a report in April on youth unemployment, put it, “The summer job outlook does not appear to be very bright in the absence of a massive new summer jobs intervention.”

Still, the poor numbers this year are not solely a symptom of the continued weak economy. For generations, government data shows, at least half of all teenagers were in the labor force in June, July and August. Starting this decade, though, the number of employed teenagers began to drop, and by 2009, less than a third of teenagers had jobs. This year, the number could fall below 30 percent.

That is a stark contrast to the job market for recent college graduates seeking full-time employment — a market where this is actually a slight increase from this time last year.

There is no simple explanation for the large drop-off in summer jobs this decade, though experts say that more high school students are choosing to volunteer and do internships to burnish their college applications. But the Northeastern researchers said a large number of youths had been left out of the work force and wanted to get back in.

The forecast for this summer is so dire that high school students took to the streets this year in Washington, Boston and New York to push lawmakers to come up with money for summer youth jobs programs as Congress did last year, allocating $1.2 billion for a program for low-income youths.

On Friday, the House passed a measure that included the summer jobs provision, though its future in the Senate this week is uncertain.

The Northeastern researchers estimated that an additional $1 billion federal infusion would create some 300,000 job slots this summer, barely putting a dent in the demand for jobs.

Read the whole article: New York Times

TONIGHT, Wed June 2, Brooklyn 8pm: $8 ALL-AGES BENEFIT for the victims of BP's oil catastrophe (co-presented by Arthur Magazine)

Bruce Vilanch still has his hair, as far as we know… but Willie Nelson cut his pigtails? Hmm. Well, every follicle counts in mopping up this BP mess.

Also counting is this emergency benefit concert going down tonight, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2 at Shea Stadium in Brooklyn, pulled together with care and attention by Solid PR.
More info on all the bands, the cause and the beneficiaries follow.

Do Earth a solid and attend if you can. It will be CATHARTIC. Transport by bicycle is encouraged. T-shirts and posters will be available for benefit purchase, courtesy Enemy Ink.

And if you can’t attend, do your own. Cuz there are a whole lotta victims, and it’s gonna get even worse when the Gulf of Mexico catches fire, like the Cuyahoga used to in Cleveland…

Who: Zs / Child Abuse / Controlled Bleeding / Cellular Chaos / DJ 1000TimesYes
What: A benefit to help the victims of the Gulf oil spill disaster
Where: Shea Stadium (20 Meadow St) Brooklyn, NY
When: Wednesday, June 2nd, 8pm
How much: $8
ALL AGES ALL AGES ALL AGES

Over the past few weeks, Solid PR has been saddened to hear of the devastation brought on by the recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and have tried to think of ways we could help those affected and shine a brighter light on the situation as a whole.

It’s been reported that to date more that 30 million gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf affecting an area of more than 4,900 square miles, and leaking at a rate speculated at being hundreds of thousands, to millions of barrels of oil per day. It’s also reported that there is a likelihood of the oil making its way into the “loop current” taking the spill from the Gulf, around the Florida Keys and Miami, and up the East Coast. Just today, yet another major news source reported the size of the slick to be that of a small country, currently threatening Louisiana’s fishing and coastal tourism industries, in addition to destroying its various nature reserves, and possibly affecting the state’s fragile marshes for decades.

We at Solid PR care about the delicate ecosystem of our planet and have decided to put together a last minute event to help raise awareness and help those affected by the Gulf oil spill disaster. All proceeds from this event will go to The Greater New Orleans Foundation put in place to offer assistance to those in need of help. If you’re interested in learning more, please visit http://www.gnof.org. More information on The Greater New Orleans Foundation below.

* This event is being presented in conjunction with our friends at Arthur Magazine.
Please feel free to spread the word and we look forward to seeing you.

About the bands:

Zs
Brooklyn’s veteran avant-garde band Zs have been causing quite a stir and raising a ton of eyebrows as of late with its brand of jazz-fusion, prog, industrial, punk, no wave, and drone stylings, most recently catching the attention of The NY Times who said of the band’s new album, “These pieces are all brain-benders; they’re conceptual art objects that set form and content against each other – like, say, a perfect birthday cake made out of sawdust, or a perfect hammer made out of bird feathers.” – Zs latest album, “New Slaves,” is out now on The Social Registry.
myspace.com/zstheband

Child Abuse
New York’s Child Abuse have just released their latest album, “Cut and Run,” on Lovepump United (currently home to the likes of Health and Clipd Beaks, and run in part by Genghis Tron frontman Mookie Singerman) to wild accolades. The band plays a completely twisted and manic form of industrial-strength grindcore and put on one of the most brutally unreal live shows around. Child Abuse is a definite must see each and every time they take the stage.
myspace.com/childabuse

Controlled Bleeding
Dating back to 1987, New York’s Controlled Bleeding are probably best known as being one of the earliest pioneers in the industrial and noise scenes, which included their appearance on the legendary Wax Trax “Black Box” box set alongside bands like Coil, Ministry, Clock DVA and others; although, as stated on the band’s Wikipedia page, “Controlled Bleeding’s sound is confusingly varied from album to album and has contained elements of dub, free jazz, noise, prog, sacred music, dark ambient, classical and musique concrète. To their own detriment, the group has never cared much about generating or maintaining an audience, but just sort of does whatever inspires them in the moment.” We have a feeling we’re all going to be treated to something extra special as the band is recently back together and performing as a duo for the first time.
myspace.com/controlledbleeding

Weasel Walter’s Cellular Chaos
Very little is known about the latest project from experimental hero Weasel Walter, dubbed Cellular Chaos, but if Mr. Walter is involved you can pretty much guarantee mind-blowing great times are in your future. The band has already performed alongside the likes of Liturgy and White Mice, and we hear the material shreds, so needless to say we’re very excited.

About The Greater New Orleans Foundation
The Greater New Orleans Foundation is one of the oldest and largest philanthropic organizations in the region. Every day, the Foundation joins other foundations, nonprofit organizations, community leaders, and government officials to address the needs of the community and build consensus for solutions. Together with our family of donors, the Foundation has invested over $100 million in our region since it opened its doors over 25 years ago to respond to community needs. The ultimate goal of the Greater New Orleans Foundation is to create a resilient, sustainable, vibrant community in which individuals and families flourish and in which the special character of the New Orleans region and its people is preserved, celebrated, and given the means to develop. We believe the Foundation has a critical role to play in attaining this goal, as community leader and convener; as champion of civil society; and as supporter of effective nonprofit leaders and organizations. By serving as a philanthropic partner to members of the donor community, we can help add meaning and value to the giving of individuals, families and institutions, increasing the effectiveness of their philanthropy and connecting them with the very best nonprofit work in Greater New Orleans and surrounding regions.
gnof.org

For more information, visit:
www.solidpr.com

NEW SPIRITUAL MUSIC: Daniel Higgs "Hoofprints on the Ceiling of Your Mind"

Above: Daniel Higgs – Waggon – Offenbach, Germany – 2009-10-20 | © Laurent Orseau

Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/01-Hoofprints-On-The-Ceiling-Of-Your-Mind-Disc-1-.mp3%5D

Download: “Hoofprints On The Ceiling Of Your Mind”—Daniel Higgs (mp3) (twenty-nine mb)

From Say God, available now from Thrill Jockey on double vinyl and double cd. More info here.