Cody Bottoms » Theatre Intangible

E014 Dracula Improv 03/28/2010

All Podcasts, Charlie Rauh, Circuit-Bending, Cody Bottoms, Craig Schenker, Film Scores, Halloween Shows, Jamison Sevits, Ken Soper, Mara Bissel, Melody Holt, pimpdaddysupreme, Post-WRVU Era, Tony Youngblood (performing) No Responses »

Mar 282010

On October 18^th, 2009, seven of us got together and created a new soundtrack to the 1931 film Dracula, directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Legosi. This is one of my favorite episodes to date. The orchestration is extremely lush, and the performers were especially good at knowing when and what to play.

Before the show, we paired a performer with a character in the film and had that performer come up with a character theme. Ken Soper on keyboard provided the theme for Dracula, for example. Things really started to get interesting when the characters interacted with each other, and the performers had to find ways to mix the themes together. Aside from coming up with some themes in advance, the show was completely improvised.

You can listen to this episode in sync with the film (and I’ll tell you how in the podcast intro) or you can just listen without the visuals. If you can get a copy of the film (and the version we use is the 2004 Universal Legacy collection dvd) I highly recommend you use it. But if you can’t get the film, don’t let that stop you from listening to the show on it’s own. The improv still works great by itself.

Dracula Improv features Ken Soper on keys and Theremin; Jamison Sevits on Fender Rhodes; Craig Schenker on saxophone and flute; Charlie Rauh on electric guitar; Cody Bottoms on percussion; Melody Holt on musical saw, autoharp, and Theremin; and myself on a circuit-bent Cool Keys keyboard, musical saw, autoharp, and wind chimes. We had a small audience that also participate by making screams, etc. They were Mara Bissel, Amanda Tucker, Pimpdaddysupreme, and Deklan. I did the live mixing and post-production. Enjoy.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17:43 — 106.9MB)

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E008 Pit of Roar 02/07/2010

All Podcasts, Cody Bottoms, Freesound, Melody Holt, Podcasts, Tony Youngblood (performing), WRVU Era 1 Response »

Feb 082010

Pit of Roar, Theatre Intangible Podcast Volume 8, originally broadcast on WRVU December 30th, 2007.

I had imagined more of a bottomless pit that roars but this roaring pit bull will have to suffice.

Cody Bottoms and Melody Holt joined me in-studio for one of my favorite and one of the most unique shows we’ve ever done. I call this type of show a Scoop & Loop show, a technique all about catching prerecorded moments and evolving them into something else, live and off-the-cuff.

My brother had just let me borrow his two Dennon cd turntables, and I wanted to do a show utilizing them. So I went to my trusty Jen Synth and Casio SK1 and started recording some tracks. But then I kept thinking to myself that it needed some sort of rhythmic talking. What profession has the most rhythmic talking? Auctioneering, of course! Thus began my search for creative commons recordings of auctioneers. And my search landed me on the profile page of Alphahog on the website, FreeSound. Alphahog had recorded several auctioneers — and it was perfect for my show. That search ignited my love of Freesound, and I pulled many other choice field recordings for this episode. Many thanks to the artists who recorded these sounds!

Here is a list of the contributors from Freesound, the web’s premiere creative commons sound effect sharing site:

Auction sounds by Alphahog; church sound by andrew1280; strange bird, gulls and waves by crk365; 3 year old singing, chickens, steps on various surfaces, streets at night, and forest by Erdie; grafton peace padoga by lgarrett; monk sounds by bondegi; church chant by shewbox; storm (him chanting), monks, and mongolian overtone practice by djgriffin; and evil incantation and footsteps in the snow by incarnadine.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:44 — 52.0MB)

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E007 Turn the Page 01/31/10

24/7, All Podcasts, Cher Von, Cody Bottoms, Gordon Roque, JJ Jones, Kri, Melody Holt, Podcasts, WRVU Era 1 Response »

Jan 312010

Turn the Page featuring Cody Bottoms, Lola Wilson, Gordon Roque, Melody Holt, JJ Jones, Kri, and 24-7. Originally broadcast on WRVU 01/13/2008.

The idea behind Turn the Page was simple. Six vocalists were presented with a group of index cards. Each card had a specific instruction for something to do with their voice. The card might say, “bark like a dog,” or, “speak German in a sinister voice.” The card might even say, “Pick up the cd player headphones and hum the melody line you hear.” (Before the show, I had recorded a few instrumentals using a Casio SK-1 keyboard.)

What results is one of our most entertaining episodes to date and by far the fan favorite. Turn the Page features the vocal talents of The Human Snowglobe JJ Jones, Lola Wilson and Cody Bottoms from A Parade, Kri, Melody Holt, Gordon Roque, and 24-7 from the Billy Goats for a brief moment at the end. Right before the show, you’ll hear an unreleased Theatre Intangible promo the band Call It Anything created when they were on the show for an artist showcase. The background music in the intro is from an episode called Blue Green Black. We’ll release both in the coming months.

If you like what you hear, please write us a review at iTunes. Enjoy!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:20 — 63.8MB)

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E003 Snails and Whales 01/03/2010

All Podcasts, Cody Bottoms, Melody Holt, Podcasts, Tony Youngblood (performing), WRVU Era 3 Responses »

Jan 032010

Snails and Whales, premiere episode of WRVU era, starring Cody Bottoms, Tony Youngblood, and Melody Holt.

I’ve been working feverishly on a new episode called The Sound of Teeth recorded a few months ago, but sadly, I wasn’t able to finish it in time for tonight’s podcast release. Look for it to be episode 4, and prepare for a good one. On the plus side, in its place, you get the very first episode we did at WRVU — Snails and Whales, originally broadcast October 21^st, 2007.

This episode features Cody Bottoms on Vocal FX Processor, Boss 202 Drum Machine, and Korg synth; and myself on . . . other stuff. (Cody has a much better memory than I do.) I think I was using my Kool Keys musical toy, circuit bent and redubbed The Pitch Fucker. I also had recorded some field recordings of water and running a wet finger down a bathroom mirror. Melody Holt was present in the studio assisting us. The show was live-mixed and then later edited by me. We named the show Snales and Whales because, well, that’s what it sounds like.

Life was rough and tumble back in the early days of ~ORE~ Theatre Intangible. The first 20 minutes of the episode are lost to legend, because I forgot to hit record on the cd recorder. We were still figuring out what the new version of ~ORE~ was even going to be. I knew I wanted to shy away from spoken word records and tv clips that were so prominent in ~ORE~ Prefab Audio Extrapolations and focus instead on soundscapes and texture. Cody ran the open mic at Café Coco where I used to play and was in an experimental rock band called A Parade. We shared an interest in making weird noises, so I asked him to be a part of this premiere broadcast. Cody went on to participate in several other episodes, probably more than any other participant. You can hear him on the Theatre Intangible podcast episode 1, The Second Annual Halloween Extravaganza.

I don’t know if it was luck or skill, but Snails and Whales set the bar pretty high for future episodes, and helped define the show’s sound and mission. It’s still one of my favorite episodes. Enjoy.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:02 — 55.1MB)

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