bring on the newness! sky thing is john collins mccormick, an improviser and sound artist currently living in garrett, indiana whose performances and installations are built on improvisation utilizing the natural comings and goings of the people and the space as well as transducers and contact mics. his interest lies in percussive aspects of traditional instruments and extended performance techniques; the space in between improvisation and composition; and acoustic to electronic sound conversion.

john used prepared turntables, transducers, contact mics, modulators and various objects to create garbage strike, his first album for pan y rosas. the sound is something like a furnace roar and artificial cicadas with life happening in the background. metal singing. found objects vibrated with motors. phased sizzle.

get it here!

Intuition Vs. Algorithm: Then and Now
A survey and presentation of intuition and process in classic and contemporary music and art.

In collaboration with New Music Green Mill, Heaven Gallery, and the International Beethoven Project, Intuition Vs. Algorithm brings 2 days of art, music, and discussion. The focus of which has long been questioned and continues to be a hot topic: the artist’s creative process. Intuition Vs. Algorithm focuses on mathematical formula as process and the human element of an intuitive break.

Featuring:
Musicians from the International Beethoven Project’s BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL 2012
Music of composers Then and Now
Artists’ work Then and Now

: Then
Sunday, May 6th, 2012
2:00pm
The Green Mill Lounge
4802 N. Broadway Ave., Chicago, IL
works of Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Arvo Part
$5

: Now
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
7:00pm
Heaven Gallery
1550 North Milwaukee, 2nd floor, Chicago, IL
music by Jesus Duran, Spencer Hutchinson, and Sarah Ritch
art by Chicago neon artist Victoria Morris and Bloomington-based painter Spencer Hutchinson.
$10 donation asked

hey everyone, miguel garcía and lali barriere are participating in the free improvisation festival, personal – collective. there will be performances and workshops and the whole thing is directed by seijiro murayama. it’s all happening in madrid, may 11-13. as if there weren’t enough reasons to be in spain! full information here.

PERSONAL – COLLECTIVE

festival de improvisación libre dirigido por Seijiro Murayama
días 11, 12 y 13 de Mayo en Espacio Cruce ( Dr. Fourquet 5, Madrid )
El aspecto personal de involucrarse en una práctica artística siempre toma forma, también, a través del aspecto colectivo. Y dado que ( de forma especialmente clara en una actividad simultánea de grupo como es la improvisación ) tal suposición sigue siendo igualmente cierta en el intercambio de los aspectos personal y colectivo, ambos no pueden pensarse de manera separada.

Esta es la premisa en la que se basa el festival PERSONAL – COLLECTIVE, celebrado durante dos ediciones en la localidad de Ljubljana, Eslovenia, y que este año pasa a transformarse en un festival nómada, celebrándose también en Madrid durante los días 11, 12 y 13 de Mayo.

Dirigido por Seijiro Murayama, diferentes artistas, en esta edición enfocados hacia el trabajo con el sonido, trabajaran juntos y mostraran al público su proceso. Tocando juntos durante varias veces durante 3 noches, de diferentes maneras y en diferentes combinaciones, el público seguirá las progresiones y los enfrentamientos del trabajo personal y colectivo de los artistas.

El festival, totalmente autogestionado, será cumplimentado por las mañanas con un especial workshop, también abierto el público, cuyos resultados serán mostrados en la última noche del festival.

Artistas invitados:
Lali Barriere (Barcelona , objetos amplificados , www.lalibarriere.net)
Thomas Bonvalet (Alpedrete , guitarra y objetos , www.ocellemare.bandcamp.com)
Sébastien Branche (París , saxo tenor , www.sebastienbranche.com)
Miguel A. García (Gasteiz , electrónica , www.xedh.org)
Wade Matthews (Madrid , síntesis y field recordings , www.wadematthews.info)
Javier Pedreira (Madrid , guitarra preparada , www.javierpedreira.com)
Hector Rey (Bilbao , no-input mixer , www.hectorey.blogspot.com)
Artur Vidal (Londres , saxo alto , www.arturvidal.com)

Programa:
Viernes 11/05/12
apertura de puertas 19:00 comienzo 19:30
-solos y dúos de los artistas invitados

Sábado 12/05/12
apertura de puertas 19:00 comienzo 19:30
-tríos y combinaciones mayores

Domingo 13/05/12
apertura de puertas 19:00 comienzo 19:30
-concierto de los miembros del workshop
-grandes grupos

Entrada 1 dia: 5€
Abono 3 dias: 12€
Lugar: Espacio Cruce (Dr. Fourquet 5, Madrid)

Durante las mañanas de los dias 11, 12 y 13, en el mismo espacio Cruce, Seijiro Murayama realizara un taller de improvisación, abierto al público. Para participar como alumno, escribir al e-mail www.xedh.org (at) gmail (dot) com , incluyendo breve texto de motivación. Precio: 30€

Paralelamente, del 28 de mayo al 1 de junio se celebrara un nuevo taller, mas extenso, en el espacio Azala (Alava). Mas información en: http://www.azala.es/es/lantegiak-lab-seminarios/pagina_1/2012/05/28/improvisacion-libre.html

it’s may day! and the newness is from florconvenas, sound explorer mariela arzadun’s solo project. mariela is an improviser, experimental musician and visual artist from buenos aires who focuses on field recordings, soundscapes, drones, poetry, collage and concrete music. she runs the amor loco netlabel and comprises half of the free improvisation duo, criadero en seres, both with leandro ramírez.

to create ley en das, mariela mixed together various elements such as: field recordings, keyboards, voices, barking dogs, cars, hail, glass, and hand tools. the sound world is: a simple melody of automated factory labor to establish the setting. squelch. itinerant droid poetry. tones pulse a slow dance to the pitter-patter of machinery. metronomic mutiny. rain music. voices and shimmer sines ascend and descend in swirl haze wash. turbines powering up, satellites responding. get it here.

Rather than bring to a mind a more familiar collaborative setup – with musicians either arranged facing eachother, or all projecting outward toward their audience – Clarifications Of The Concept Of Object evokes a sense of being directly imposed upon as an individual, and being communicated to as an audience of one. Everything is up close, and had the album occupied physical space rather than imaginary headspace, one would no doubt have to duck and weave to avoid being struck by a teetering cymbal, the bell of a swooping clarinet, or one of the album’s odds-and-ends objects (which sound like cellophane, squeaky polystyrene and other flimsy, clanky materials). The listener is surrounded by sound, exposed to all sorts of timbral micro-detail as a result. Lips smack prior to a hollow wheeze of sax, while tom drum skins are stifled with the soft palms of hands, forbidden to resonate and cutting abruptly into a premature silence.

It’s a “quiet” album, retaining an unsteady balance between tension and release, presence and absence. Dead air is left to linger for seconds at a time, before the hurried clicks and snaps of cassette desk come clattering in as though overcome by an impatient instinct to fill the audio void. What helps Clarifications… retain interest throughout is the way in which new sounds are tricked into the picture – be it an alternate playing technique or a new object/instrument altogether – and within the context of such intricacy and minute detail, the impact of the unfamiliar is startling. While Gris takes the opportunity to tease listener expectation and launch a few surprises, there’s a sense that he could have pushed this aspect even further, as nothing beats those moments at which the listener expectation is upturned and suddenly left to wrestle with an unrecognisable sound.

original is here.

Untitled from Carlos Pechant on Vimeo.

tuesday april 24th. chicago. museum of contemporary art. 6.30pm. plastic crimewave vision celestial guitarkestra! details from sir pcw:

OK kids, TOMORROW/Tuesday is the Plastic Crimewave Vision Celestial Guitarkestra at the MCA at 6:30pm, come down by 6pm and bring a guitar or similar instrument and ecstatically rock the place w/a fearsome communal band including members of ONO, Strychnine, Panicsville, White/Light, Magic Key/Aleks and the Drummer, Moonrises, Pisspisspissmoanmoanmoan/Running, etc…you can pad your “CV” w/MCA concert experience or just get lost in the “E” chord cosmic ceremony…come one come all, and tell yer friends!

wednesday april 25th. chicago. empty bottle. 9.30pm. piss piss piss moan moan moan! also playing – spanyurd and pontiak.

thursday april 26th. buenos aires. virasoro bar. 21.30pm. ada rave quartet!

SABADO 21:

Concierto de Orvonton + Las Barbas Indómitas + Dj Saldefrutas

http://www.sinewavelover.com/

http://www.lasbarbasindomitas.bandcamp.com/

http://www.lajustaentropia.com/

Hora: 20:00 h
Lugar: Niu Espai Artistic, C/Almogavers 208, Metro Llacuna (http://www.niubcn.com/)
Entrada: Colaboración Voluntaria.