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Apr 072014
 
Logo by Rachel Briggs.

Logo by Rachel Briggs.

Circuit Benders’ Ball tickets are now on sale over at FortHouston.com! The three day festival pass is $35 purchased in advance or $50 at door. Single day tickets are $15 advance or $20 at door. Workshops are $15 advance or $20 at door (if any slots remain). Those who purchase the festival pass in advance will get a sweet LED lanyard with their name on it.

Show tickets are limited to 100, so be sure to scoop yours up as soon as soon as possible. Online sales for all tickets ends Wednesday, April 9th at 11:59 p.m. If you wait later than Wednesday night, you’ll have to purchase your tickets for the higher price at the door. If you wait later than Wednesday night, you’ll have to purchase your tickets for the higher price at the door.

Before purchasing tickets, please read our Code of Conduct. CBB is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion.

Here is the schedule for performances, panels, presentations, and workshops. You can also view the schedule via Google Docs or download a printable pdf version.

You can see participant bios with clips of their work on the Artists page, full descriptions of panels & presentations on the Panels page, and full descriptions of the Workshops (with ticket links) on the Workshops page.

Performances

Friday, April 11th

7:00 PM Skoolgirl
7:25 PM Electric Inertia
7:50 PM The Tree is Base
8:15 PM Graphic Tease
8:40 PM Brady Sharp
9:05 PM Carl Oliver
9:30 PM WΛ∀E
9:55 PM Brendan Byrne
10:30 PM Hardon Collider
10:55 PM Jeff Boynton

Saturday, April 12th

7:00 PM Mike Hester
7:25 PM Cher Von Circuit Jam
7:50 PM Noise Furniture
8:15 PM Aether Jag
8:40 PM Hadals
9:05 PM Garland Villanova
9:30 PM Workshoppe Radio Phonik
9:55 PM stAllio!
10:30 PM SURVANT
11:05 PM Tim Kaiser

Sunday, April 13th

4:15 PM Tim Carey
4:35 PM Dylan Ethier
4:55 PM sugar sk*-*lls
5:15 PM Abandoned On Fire
5:35 PM b4by f4c3
6:05 PM Morgan Higby-Flowers
6:20 PM dish_drone_dish_drone_dish_drone
6:45 PM Waveshaper
7:15 PM Age

Panels & Presentations

Friday, April 11th

Panel 5:00 PM to 5:50 PM Introduction to Circuit Bending
Panel 6:00 PM to 6:50 PM Towards a Circuit Bending Standardization

Saturday, April 12th

Presentation 11:00 AM to 11:50 AM Electronic Enclosures Design
Presentation 12:00 PM to 12:50 PM Society of the Spectacle: Culture jamming, Détournement &Tactical Media
Presentation 1:00 PM to 1:50 PM Computer Models of Circuit Bending
Panel 2:00 PM to 2:50 PM Culture Jamming part 2 plus Fair Use & Artistic Appropriating
Panel 3:00 PM to 3:50 PM Glitch Art / Dirty New Media Panel
Presentation 4:00 PM to 4:50 PM SynthTable First Look
Panel 5:00 PM to 5:50 PM Bending Visually

Sunday, April 13th

Presentation 11:00 AM to 11:50 AM Knew Beat Demonstration
Presentation 12:00 PM to 12:50 PM Making Music by Code Alone
Panel 1:00 PM to 1:50 PM Structural Biases in Local Show Booking
Panel 2:00 PM to 2:50 PM Chiptune Panel

Workshops

Saturday, April 12th

11:00 AM to 12:15 PM Playdoh Vs. Lego: A Composer’s Take on Hacker-Culture
12:30 PM to 2:00 PM Piezo Mic Making
2:15 PM to 3:30 PM Hacking the Gameboy
3:45 PM to 6:15 PM Hex-Schmitt trigger Oscillator

Sunday, April 13th

11:00 AM to 12:15 PM Subverting Apple & Google
12:30 PM to 2:00 PM Bending with Photoresistors!
2:15 PM to 4:30 PM Microcontrol of a Macroworld: Physical Computing with Arduino

Here’s the schedule in block format. Download a printable pdf version here.

2014CircuitBendersBallSchedule

Apr 022014
 

Cher Von

I first met Cher Von in 2006 at a Cafe Coco open mic. At the age of 18, she was performing solo on guitar and vocals under the nom de plume Lola.* I distinctly remember being floored. This person was obviously going to “make it.”

But it took me some time to put my finger on why. It wasn’t just her unique singing style, beautiful and original as it was. Nor was it her highly original songwriting. These things are major parts of her appeal, incredibly rare gifts, but not her greatest.

A year or so later, Cher Von was standing next to me, Cody Bottoms, and a handful of other people inside the Vanderbilt college radio station WRVU. We were recording an all-vocal edition of Theater Intangible called Turn the Page. Throughout the show, Cher Von kept singing these intensely beautiful melodies. And that’s when it occurred to me.

Cher Von’s greatest gift is her ability to write fantastic melodies. Not melodies as in radio country hooks. Melodies as in the Beethoven and Debussy variety.

This insight was bolstered by every T.I. improv she did (especially this CJ Boyd artist showcase) and every performance I saw of her. It’s a running thread (another being her penchant for weirdness, something we share) in all her work. Whether as A Parade, I Am Pazuzu, Lola Koene, or Cher Von, the moniker she uses for her new EP Klik Klak, this artist knows how to write evocative melody.

With Klik Klak (now available for purchase on BandCamp), she continues to mature as an artist. Cher Von weaves pulsing chants over cut up field recordings, scratches, scrapes, splashes, cheek flicks, chimes, percussive hits on household items, and the occasional traditional instrument. The more I hear these songs, the more I see their brilliance. Perhaps the only thing standing between Cher Von and stardom is a renowned producer to help take the production value to the next level. Merrill Garbus, are you listening?

Cher Von moved from Nashville to Louisville, Kentucky a few years ago. Now she’s making waves on the Louisville music scene. But we’re fortunate to have her back for the 2014 Circuit Benders’ Ball. Her 2010 performance with Tim Kaiser and other benders was one of the highlights of the original Ball. On Saturday, April 12th at Fort Houston, she’ll conduct an improv featuring a few guest benders. On Friday, April 11th at Cafe Coco, she’ll perform songs from her new album.

Don’t miss your chance to see this one-of-a-kind talent.

* At the time she had a band called A Parade, also featuring Cody Bottoms, a talented performer in his own right who, as the host and engineer at Cafe Coco’s open mic, was at the center of a creative catalyst.

Mar 262014
 
Logo by Rachel Briggs.

Logo by Rachel Briggs.

A few weeks ago, the Nashville Scene unveiled the first round of artist announcements for the Circuit Benders’ Ball, and now it is my pleasure to announce the full artist lineup as well as the panels, presentations, and workshops!

The submissions were so strong this year that we decided to expand to three full days of programming! The Ball will begin on Friday, April 11th and continue through Sunday, April 13th. All festival programming will take place at the premiere Nashville makerspace Fort Houston located at 500 Houston Street, Nashville, TN 37203.

Performers:

With special presentations by:

Art by:

Live visuals by:

Featuring the panels:

  • Introduction to Circuit Bending
  • Making Music by Code Alone
  • Society of the Spectacle: Culture Jamming, Détournement, and Tactical Media
  • Fair Use, Artistic Appropriating, and Culture Jamming (Pt. 2)
  • Glitch Art / Dirty New Media
  • Visual Bending
  • Structural Biases in Local Show Booking
  • Chiptune Art
  • Electronic Enclosures Design
  • Computer Models of Circuit Bending
  • Towards a Circuit Bending Standardization

Featuring the workshops:

  • Playdoh Vs. Lego: A Composer’s Take on Hacker-Culture by Kyle Baker (Soundcrawl co-founder)
  • Piezo Mic Making by Christopher Lavery
  • Hacking the Gameboy by Abandoned On Fire and b4by f4c3
  • Let’s Build a Hex-Schmitt Trigger Oscillator by Christopher Lavery
  • Subverting Google by Patrick Quinn
  • Bending with Photoresistors! by Jeff Boynton
  • Microcontrol of a Macroworld: Physical Computing with Arduino by Josh Gumiela

Three day passes, single day tickets, and workshop tickets will be available soon at FortHouston.com. The three day festival pass is $35 advance or $50 at door. Single day tickets are $15 advance or $20 at door. Workshops are $15 advance or $20 at door (if any slots remain). Those who purchase the festival pass in advance will get a sweet LED lanyard with their name on it. Because of the intimate size of the space, we’re limiting the total amount of tickets to 100, so be sure to scoop yours up as soon as they go on sale. (Tentatively, Saturday, March 29th.)

We are proud to have Yazoo Brewing Company back as a sponsor. If you’re interested in sponsoring the Ball, see our sponsor guide.

Watch this space for the full schedule, panel & workshop descriptions, and spotlights on the participants. Are you excited yet? I know I am.

Mar 192014
 

Roth Mobot Circuit Bent Prayer Clock

Time is running out to donate to the 2014 Circuit Benders’ Ball Kickstarter campaign, which ends Thursday, March 20th at 1:47pm Central time. Lots of great prizes remain, including a tangible item mailing service in which artist Megan Kelley occasionally mails you custom swag for an indefinite amount of time ($100) and TWO toys circuit bent by Tom Stephenson of 2012 CBB headliner Roth Mobot ($150).

Tom bent these toys especially for CBB Kickstarter contributors, and he just posted demos!

First up is this positively evil bent prayer clock, absent a few heads:

 

And then there’s this bent “Baby Driver” toy that makes fantastic noises:

Both are still available at the time of this writing. The first to pledge $150 gets first pick. Head on over to the Kickstarter campaign and help us make this the best Ball yet!