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Sep 302015
 

Saturday at Phat Bites, catch the tape release show for Lucy Stoner, a new group featuring members of Droneroom and Oceanray. The tape is being released under bassist Keith Chandler’s label Sweet Sounds. Twenty handmade, numbered copies are being released, so grab one while you can.

Chandler says Sweet Sounds focuses on, “the weirder, noisier folks; anyone who isn’t doing your standard rock music or whatever.”

The show also features Pelvis Lesly and Cosmic Yawn. Check out the streams below.

More info on the Facebook event page.

Lucy Stoner Tape Release w/ Pelvis Lesly, Cosmic Yawn
Saturday, October 3, 2015, doors at 8 p.m., music at 9 p.m., free show
@ Phat Bites Deli, 2730 b. Lebanon Pike, Donelson, TN 37214

 

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.

May 222013
 

Nightly Exchange

I’m listening to Nashville experimental artist Dylan Ethier‘s new cassette release Nightly Exchange, and my mind is being blown. Heavily-distorted synth lines rapidly tremolo through the left and right channels. It’s melodic. It’s organic. It’s meticulously constructed. It feels like a collaboration between Stockhausen, Merzbow, and Debussy. It also reminds me a bit of the brilliant Brainiac song Collide. In short, I really love it. Ethier is a Nashville musician to keep your eye on.

Of the release, Dylan’s website says,

Tape reconstruction of saturated analogue electronic patterns focusing, through fragmentation, on the exchange between lucidity and loss. An alternate version of Nightly Exchange was presented live as an interactive installation on march 9, 2012 in Nashville, TN in collaboration with the exhibition titled Nest of Trash curated by Molly Lahym. The installation involved real-time collaging of deteriorating 1/4″ tape recordings. These recordings were then looped / manipulated between three tape machines at various speeds which additionally subtly triggered synthesized video projections. Presented inside a structure of black fabric and wood, exhibitors were free to further manipulate the audio / visual content. The intent here was in utilizing found materials in the process of constructing a creative and meditative environment.

I was out of town on the night of the Nest of Trash show, and I’m really bummed I missed it! Purchase Nightly Exchange via Dylan’s website and preview Side A in the Soundcloud stream below.

We’ll keep you posted on the next time Dylan performs or does an installation. I’m in talks with him to collab on a T.I. podcast. Fingers crossed.

May 032013
 

HORSEHAIR EVERYWHERE
A few Theatre Intangible alums just released new albums. Horsehair Everywhere re-edited and remastered their 2011 Theatre Intangible improv Cuatro Ninos and just released it as side A of their new tape “When Eyes Walk.” Pick up a limited-edition copy at Goldtimers Tapes.


sugar_skulls
Ben Marcantel’s 8-bit / Gameboy project sugar sk*-*lls just released a pretty smokin’ new album called “intermission.” It’s free to download for a limited time on his Bandcamp page. Get it for free while you still can! Hear Ben on Theatre Intangible episode 47 Milk Vetch, also featuring Leslie Keffer and Scott Martin.