From rarebeasts on flickr:
“Luna checks out the Wicks Looper and DinoAxe.”
We at CatSynth are always delighted to meet another musical cat named Luna!
You can see the actual mini jam with the Wicks Looper and DinoAxe in this video:
We recently presented this Wicks Looper in this post. I am quite fascinated by this little instruments (and not just because of the black cat logo).
From Synthiefrau on YouTube, via matrixsynth:
“Hello lovely synthfolks, my cat Cleo and my dog Susi have a funny life. They always sleeps the hole day and listening to my music;-). The sequenz comes from my Dot.com 911 Sequenzer, I play the Minimoog, Synton Syrinx, Moog Prodigy, The effects comes from the Roland Juno 60 and from Doepfer Dark Energie”
I quite like the leopard-print Minimoog and modular case.
Luna was a big hit at my performance last Thursday, where she was featured in the video 月伸1.
Here are more screenshots from her video debut:
The video quality in different sections is deliberately different, sometimes dark or grainy, sometimes really crisp, as these shots below (which were featured in previous posts that you can find here and here):
And here are some clips from the video:
The video was just part of the performance; I did live improvisation with electronic instruments to accompany it. I do have a video of the full performance, although I have not had a chance to review it. Look for a formal “CatSynth review” of the performance as well as Polly Moller’s Genesis in the near future.
Weekend Cat Blogging #247 is hosted by Nikita Cat.
The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Sniffie and the Florida Furkids.
And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.
Over the last few days, I have largely been absorbed by preparations for my next performance. This one includes a more ambitious element, a 10-minute video entitled 月神1 featuring clips of Luna as well as abstract elements reminiscent of experimental filmmakers such as Stanley Brakhage or Gerhard Richter. The video will serve as a backdrop for live electronic improvisation – it is mostly silent, though I did include some sound at various points so the audience could hear Luna’s voice.
Here are a few example frames from the video:
Some of the video clips of Luna were featured here on CatSynth in the past, including her chattering video, or playing with her blue fish toy. The abstract elements were done is a software package called Processing, a programming language for images, animation and interactions.
Musically, I will plan to focus on a mixture of the Evolver and the Octave CAT synthesizers, along with software on the iPhone and laptop. Indeed, this is the first time I will be using the CAT live, mostly because I am reluctant to move it too often.
Of course, this will only cover about one third of the full performance, so I will be drawing from my repertoire of electroacoustic improvisation to round out the remainder of the time. Although I reuse elements, there is always something new to discover in them.
For those in the Bay Area who may be interested in checking it out, the full information is below:
Full Moon Concert Series: Quickening Moon
Thursday, February 25, 8PM
Luggage Store Gallery, 1007 Market Street @ 6th Street, San Francisco.
The Full Moon Concert Series is an experimental music series offered by Outsound Presents, in partnership with the Luggage Store Gallery. Each concert explores the traditional lore of the Full Moon, and in January, the second annual “Quickening Moon” will feature new music springing to life. First up will be Amar Chaudhary in a solo electronica set (collaborating with his wonder-cat, Luna), followed by the world premiere of a new work for twelve improvisers by Polly Moller, entitled Genesis.
From AutomaticGainsay on YouTube, via matrixsynth:
“Just as you requested, here are a couple of cats getting their groove on with a number of exciting vintage analog synthesizers. “
From potterpaint2000 on YouTube, via matrixsynth:
“an improv featuring a KP3 processed Wicks Looper from Australia, a wonderful cacaphonous little device. Thanks Brian!…also a Nord Lead and a Stylophone Drumbeat”
I am not familiar with the Wicks Looper, but I did find some more info here, and another video:
Submitted by vlern via facebook:
You can click here to see the previous video of the “Vlern Clyde Cat Synthesizer”.
Last Friday, I attended an exhibition for the Artist in Residence program at Recology San Francisco (formerly known as, SF Recycling & Disposal, Inc.). Yes, this was an art opening at the SF dump. The program has been around for almost twenty years, and provides space and support for artists who work with materials from the city’s waste stream, including recycled wood, paint and metal. Pretty much anything the artists can scavenge. This exhibition marked the end of the residency for artists Erik Otto and Christina Mazza.
We first enter the gallery through an anteroom, with some smaller works including Erik Otto’s Rebuild, featuring the title word cut into scrap paper (including a musical score and furniture assembly instructions) and illuminated by a recycled light box.
Erik Otto. Rebuild, 2010. (Click to enlarge.)
The title and the materials of this piece set the tone for the show. In addition to my standing interest in text as a visual element, I liked the inclusion of music as part of its texture.
Moving into the main room, one immediately sees Otto’s Road of Prosperity (The Start of a New Beginning), with over one hundred small wooden houses suspended from the ceiling on fishing line, forming a chaotic spiral that descends towards the ground.
[Erik Otto. Road of Prosperity (The Start of a New Beginning), 2010. (Click each image to enlarge.)]
The houses, made of recycled wood, all have a similar iconic shape. Stepping back, one can see the the wooden frame at the base is itself another house. Indeed, the houses reappear throughout Otto’s work, either as central or peripheral elements, in his paintings and mixed media pieces and even in a video installation featuring recycled television sets:
Erik Otto. In the Abundance of Water, We Are Still Thirsty. (Click to enlarge.)
I am drawn to recurring icons in a series of work. So what is the significance of the houses? Certainly, they are a symbol of our current economic crisis, and a very visible part of natural and human-made disasters. Otto’s own words are informative:
My work is a narrative told by the recurring characters/elements I use often in my artwork. The house is a physical embodiment of our spiritual being. Inspired by the notion that being home is “knowing” – knowing your mind, knowing your heart – that if we know ourselves, we are always “home”, anywhere. It is often depicted in chaotic landscapes and is found seeking safety from a storm and/or rising water levels, which refer to our current social and economic climate.
His paintings, which also prominently feature the houses, include other elements such as found text, such as the “OPEN” sign in the large painting Moment of Reflection. Devotion 5 features a house (perched on stilts above a body of water) painted over book covers and a Scrabble board – certainly a powerful symbol of out-of-context text.
Erik Otto. Moment of Reflection. (Click to enlarge.)
Erik Otto. Devotion 5. (Click to enlarge.)
While Erik Otto’s work seemed to focus on discrete elements, icons and text, Christina Mazza’s pieces were about more continuous textures. Many of her finely detailed drawings feature entanglements of string or rubber bands or rope.
Christina Mazza. Construction. (Click to enlarge.)
She takes this theme of complex tangles to a larger scale with this wall piece made of shredded packing paper.
Christina Mazza. (Click to enlarge)
Mazza presents a very different texture with Redemption: SF Dump, which features a video inset in a wall made of brightly colored wood panels. Up close, one can see the imperfections, nails and slightly off angles of the the recycled wood. From a distance, it can seem a texture of precisely generated color rectangles with a moving image at the center.
Christina Mazza. Redemption:SF Dump. (Click to enlarge)
Mazza found inspiration in the discoveries she made at the dump, and documents her adventures on her blog. Looking through the images, I can see piles of discarded items that served as “subjects” for her drawings. One image which I found interesting but was not reflected in the pieces at the show was a discarded Chinese paper frame .
Christina Mazza. Chinese paper frame.
I find this image a fitting conclusion as I turn my attention to other recently visited exhibits and my own upcoming projects.
Thanks to Recology SF for providing many of the photos for this article. You can see more pieces from this exhibition and previous artists in residence at their flickr site.
Submitted by vlern:
“CIRCUIT BENT CLYDE”
From sduck409 on YouTube, via matrixsynth:
“”Bigfoot the cat gets minimal on a Roland JD-800″
Bigfoot should really join in one of our Droneshift performances!
