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Feb 112012
 

Soundcrawl 2011 Listening Room

Kyle Baker, co-founder of the Nashville sound art festival Soundcrawl, gave Theatre Intangible an exclusive scoop on an upcoming contest:

“Soundcrawl Minicrawl:

Sponsored by Zoom, Sennheiser, and Electronic Musician.

In an effort to raise funds for Soundcrawl’s 501c3 incorporation, Soundcrawl is hosting its first contest. Sound artists and composers are invited to submit audio miniatures (aiff/wav) of less than than 90 seconds. The entry fee is $10, and there are some awesome prize packages:

First Prize: 1 year digital subscription to Electronic Musician and a Zoom H4n
Second Prize: 1 year digital subscription to Electronic Musician and Sennheiser HD280 Headphones
Third Prize: 1 year digital subscription to Electronic Musician.

Additionally, the top 7 (including 1st, 2nd and 3rd)  selections will be included in a compilation EP distributed on Noisetrade.

The contest has a uniquely Soundcrawl format:

Feb 14 – Mar 26: Artists submit works via soundcrawl.org, complete the submission forms and fees:
March 26-April 1:  The top ten works are posted to Soundcrawl’s Soundcloud page for online “favoriting.” (open to the public)
The works with the most favoritings will win the prizes.
April 2: winners announced on Soundcrawl.org, prizes sent out.”

Kyle says the submissions should be aiff or wav. The call for submissions is not yet open. Join the mailing list at soundcrawl.org to be alerted when the call opens. A Zoom H4n would be a nice addition to any sound artist’s arsenal! Sound artists, get crackin’!

Oct 042011
 

Tim Kaiser live at the 2010 Circuit Benders’ Ball. Photo by Stephen Zerne.

Circuit bender, maker of esoteric and anachronistic musical devices, ambient experimental musician, and one of my favorite artists TIM KAISER is performing at Gallery F on Monday, October 10th as a part of their exhibit Figure 1: Scientists and Artists Picture the Intangible. Watch a video of Tim at the 2010 Circuit Benders’ Ball at the end of the post.

Also performing: Circuit-bender and artist JEREMY WALKER, analog/digital improv duo SANTA’S WORKSHOP, and an as-yet-named avant-jazz quartet featuring T.I participants RANDY HUNT, JAMISON SEVITS, CRAIG SCHENKER, and MATT AURAND. The unnamed quartet played in Space Waves and Art Waves at the Figure 1 opening. Hear a taste of the project on podcast 68: Space Waves. Full disclosure: I helped organize this event.

More details at the Facebook event page.

Tim Kaiser has been producing experimental art at various venues for the past 30 years. His video, installation and performance art projects have been presented in Germany, Brazil, Sweden, Hong Kong, Cuba, Canada, Philadelphia, New York and Chicago.Tim has toured his live musical performances throughout the US including New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Detroit, Tulsa, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Providence, Columbus, Asheville, Portland, St.Louis, Nashville and Duluth (the hardest gig to get!)

Jeremy Walker is a Murfreesboro based artist who combines circuit-bent instruments with analogue and digital technology. His explorations in sound present a synthesis between order and chaos through rhythmic, textural drones.

Santa’s Workshop is an experimental improv duo featuring Jeremy Bennett on the computer and Grant Parker on electric guitar. They create a form of ambient noise using guitar feedback and realtime sample manipulation. Their sound is raw, ominous and dynamic.

Figure 1: Tim Kaiser / Jeremy Walker / Santa’s Workshop / Unnamed Jazz Quartet
7-10pm, $5 suggested donation to touring band
Gallery F at Scarrit Bennet Center:
1000 19TH Ave S (Corner OF Grand) Nashville, TN 37212
615.320.4651

Oct 042011
 

Local maker collective HackNash will be meeting at Zeitgeist Gallery on Thursday, October 6th as a part of the Hillsboro Village Art Walk. It’s an open build, meaning you’re encouraged to bring an in-progress project and share ideas. Any creative project is fair game (circuit bending, robotics, crafting, 3d printing, etc). Circuit bender JEREMY WALKER will perform and answer questions about his creations. Bring a project or just stop in to check it out.

Jeremy Walker is a Murfreesboro based artist who combines circuit-bent instruments with analogue and digital technology. His explorations in sound present a synthesis between order and chaos through rhythmic, textural drones.

More details on the Facebook event page. Full disclosurer: I’m part of HackNash, and I helped organize this event. Here’s the Zeitgeist Gallery press release:

Zeitgeist will feature a HackNash installation and performance in the gallery Thursday October 6 from 5:30-8PM for First Thursday in the Village. HackNash is a community of bricoleurs dedicated to deconstructing and repurposing production electronics to create new musical or visual instruments and sound generators.Kurt Wagner and Wayne White continue in the gallery through October 22nd.
Thursday, October 6th 5:30 – 8pm (performance at 6:30)
1819 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN
Sep 292011
 

On October 1st and 2nd in the heart of the country music capital of the world – walking distance from neon signs, country cover bands, line dancing tourists, and tip bucket buskers  — downtown Nashville will waft with sounds unfamiliar. It’s fitting that SOUNDCRAWL, the year’s most challenging and innovative music festival, is happening on the turf of music’s lowest common denominator, thumbing its nose to an industry that stamps art into commodity.

The ambitious festival will envelop three downtown spaces: the Arcade, the Presbyterian Church, and the Bank Gallery. You can see the full schedule at the Soundcrawl website and find out how to get into Sunday’s ART OF THE FUTURE event FREE here.

Soundcrawl co-founder KYLE BAKER talks with Theatre Intangible about the festival’s past, present and future. For more on the crawl, check out last year’s Theatre Intangible interview with the other founder, AARON DOENGES.

TI: What was the genesis for Soundcrawl?

Kyle: In the spring of 2009, Aaron [Doenges] and I were on his back patio discussing a festival called SOUNDWALK in Long Beach, California. At the time, their website was down, so we just envisioned partnering with the Art Crawl and assumed that that’s what their event was like, too. Afterwards, we went back to their site and realized we had created something substantially different.

TI: How has Soundcrawl evolved over the past three years?

Kyle: Well, in 2009 the vision was more “art project” than festival, you know, like the project where somebody puts pianos on street corners or something. We loved the idea that we’d take these great works and serve them up for public consumption by putting them in art galleries for one night. Since then, we’ve been driven to serve the art well, and that’s led to a more structured and independent experience.

TI: In Soundcrawl:Mainstage, sound art will take over the First Saturday Art Crawl at the Arcade. What can we expect?

Kyle: Typically, the response has been something like,  “This sounds like Star Wars!” When we first heard that in 09, we got defensive. “No! It’s ART, dangit!” Now I realize it’s a compliment. We’ve tried to run with that expression a bit.

We love the Art Crawl. We love the vibrancy and the energy of the whole event; and so our first stop is there, to present our Mainstage selections as we have in years past. The Arcade will pretty much be taken over by avant-garde audio. Continuing our embrace of emerging video art, we’re also presenting the video software Weiv on our new Soundcrawl Hologram. The software is one part game and one part art, allowing users to control aspects of the video art by using Wii controllers. It’s a lot of fun, and we’re pleased to help introduce it to Nashville.

TI: What are some of your favorite pieces playing the crawl this year?

Kyle: My favorites this year are “My Parents’ Phone Number” by Ethan Frederick Greene, and “Cloud I: Windmills I-65” by Bin Li. Both of them are inventive pieces that are very approachable. I recognize very clearly that Soundcrawl is introducing the whole genre of audio art during the Art Crawl, and it’s very pleasing to me to find works like these. They are clever and imaginative, strongly constructed, but are able to be understood at many different levels of engagement.

TI: What role does experience play? Why can’t I just download these works and listen to them on my headphones at home?

Kyle: Don’t tempt me! – Soundcrawl Internet Audio festival. . . (laughs). . .  Because we don’t experience art that way. That’s not how we use our computers. I think a great deal about audience expectations, and I’ll tell you, that there are few things humans approach with as open a mind as an art gallery. Computers are tools, we evaluate the things we use them for based on utility, I think. We tend to know what we expect when we go to a concert too. Theatre and art galleries are the two spaces where I think the audience has only a vague idea what’s going to happen and is excited (rather than fearful) to be in that position.

TI: Soundcrawl:Listening Room takes place in a bank vault. Attendees are encouraged to bring a blanket and sandwich. I think it’s safe to say this will be the world’s first bank vault experimental music picnic. What inspired this incongruous listening party?

Kyle: Well, we were looking for a space near the Art Crawl to retreat to, and Todd just opened The Bank. It’s one of those friend of a friend connections. It’s a very good thing for us, because, like I said, there are few things we approach with such an open mind as an art gallery- and we don’t want it to be a concert. You should see the space. He’s painted all the walls with just super crazy images, it adds a ton of energy to the room.

TI: Soundcrawl:Art of the Future features live performances, audio installations, visual art, and video installations. What excites you about this program?

Kyle: Art of the Future is my baby. I’ve been waiting to put something like this together for a while. My background is in theatre and production design- I even ran a haunted house when I was young. To me, Art of the Future is a pop-up new media gallery that happens to be hosting some live performances. Ultimately, I’d love to present each piece in its own installed space, but we’re still a few years away from that. I love giving the audience options and having multiple things happening at once. I love the “magic” of automated art and the personal connections we have with live performances existing in the same space.

TI: New media can often be a challenging experience. Have you had any negative responses to the works in the past Soundcrawls? How do you deal with them?

Kyle: We haven’t really had any. I suppose that’s because of the “opt-in” format we use.  If they don’t like something, they “opt-out” and go on with their evening.

TI: What about positive responses?

Kyle: What we hear most times is that people are surprised that the art is so profoundly moving. They didn’t expect to like it at all, but yet the beauty of a work touched them.

TI: You’re a graduate in Composition from Belmont University, and you won the university’s prestigious Competition Contest. How has your education shaped your composition? What was it like winning the award?

Kyle: My education has had a profound impact on my work, but a lot of my learning took place outside of school. I learned a ton when I toured with Drum and Bugle Corps during undergrad, and that sense of precision and pageantry has continued in my work. Belmont was incredibly gracious and supportive of my ideas while I was there. Winning the award was a great night, and meant that the piece was played by the orchestra. That was a lot of fun.

TI: Your album of compositions Bootcut Classical (including the sound art piece “Psychosis”) is available on Amazon.com and other outlets. How does being a composer yourself affect your selection process?

Kyle: When we listen to the submissions, I tend to root for the composer like it’s a sporting event. “Com’on man!… Awww, why’d you do that? Two-hand catch!” etc. I’m intensely focused on the internal logic and rhetoric of a piece. . . but I have a bias towards the aggressive.

TI: What else do you look for in Soundcrawl entries?

Kyle: Passion, agility & rhetoric. Say something!

TI: Who are some of your favorite artists and musicians in Nashville?

Kyle: I really like the band EASTERN BLOCK, and the Americana band FAREWELL DRIFTERS. Both groups are just incredibly talented. If there’s any justice in the music business, they’ll be headliners soon.

TI: What’s the number one thing you want people to take away from this year’s Soundcrawl?

Kyle: Wonder. I hope they walk a way with the same post-event high you get from a good play or concert. The world becomes incredibly real and different because you’re seeing it through the artist’s eyes.