A handful of shows in April and another thing

April is shaping up as a busy month with a handful of shows - two performance at the Gallery Delacatessen here in Adelaide and an appearance in Melbourne with my good friend Jason Sweeney. More details soon, keep an eye on the blog.

I'm also working on a new release at the moment, something new with growls and hisses, a bit of melody too.

Panaoptique Electrical play EMU on Wednesday night

Mr Sweeney and TLR

Many thanks to our fellow artists, Austen Benjamin Trio and Klumpes Ahmed for their lovely music on Wednesday evening. Salutations to the warm receptive crowd and lots of love to Lauren for her mobile phone images.

Klumpes Ahmed, Austen Benjamin Trio, Panoptique Electrical (w/TLR) play EMU

The EMU Concert Space is hosting its first concert of 2009 with performances by Klumpes Ahmed, Austen Benjamin Trio and Panoptique Electrical. I will be performing alongside Panoptique Electrical as its alter-ego Jason Sweeney kindly asked me to.

When: Wednesday February 18th (doors 8pm)
Where: EMU Concert Space, Level 5 Shultz Building, University of Adelaide
Cost: $10

Leonard!

Wheatsheaf show video

I've uploaded a video of last Monday's performance at the Wheatsheaf. Thanks to my Lauren for the capture.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=-mXYDSjzIqY

Wheatsheaf

Last night I played a turntable/ipod set at COMA's Hipnote Spring Sessions. At nearly an hour, it was the longest set that I've played in this guise and I had been concerned whether I could sustain it for an extended period. It went reasonably well I think.

The selection of vinyl included the La Boheme 78, some 'Mantovani Ole!' (good for castanets), Trumpet A Go Go (more like marimba a go go), excerpts of Bowie's Low and Heroes as well as a dash of Blondie. The ipod touch featured for the first time, including some synth textures over vinyl crackles early on and the generative Eno/Chiver's Bloom application which got chopped and diced towards the end of the set.

Someone thought that the set worked really well, dividing it into two sections - First Half: foreboding, Second half: EROTIC. Nice to see I finished off on a good note.

Setlist (excluding segues):

The Drop
Farewell Mimi
Slow Light
Preceding Dust
Lounge Scare
Hansa
Musk
A Room For Departure

Upcoming show: 17th November 08

Performing with turntable, ipod and tape. Appearing as part of COMA's Spring Hipnote sessions, Daniel Clohesy (contemporary jazz) also performs.

When: Monday 17th November 08, doors open 8pm
Where: Wheatsheaf International Hotel, 39 George Street Thebarton
Cost: $5 (COMA members), $8 (non-)

FELT

Last night I played a set at the Felt Art Space alongside Panoptique Electrical (Jason Sweeney) and ii (Melbourne.) The art space was temporarily transformed into an ideal venue for some ambient musings on a freezing rainy evening in Adelaide.

I was very satisfied with my set which was my first public excursion in vinyl & laptop. I used my recent mini-release mimi as the template for the performance, splicing in some new material as well as some spare of the moment experiments which seemed to work and go down really well to a very receptive and friendly audience.

Jason's set under the droned guise of Panoptique was nice and consistent with layer upon layer of rich metallic textures overlaying each other and colouring the space nicely.

Unfortunately, Lauren and I had to head off after my set to attend the Helpmann Academy event so I missed the opportunity to see the guys from ii perform. However, we did see them play a lovely set the previous night at the Grace Emily providing support for Aviator Lane.

Thanks to Jon and Alex from ii and Jason as well the crew at Felt for a great and well organised evening. Jon and Alex, thanks for the invite! Looking forward to performing with you when I get over Melbourne again sometime soon!

Also, cheeers the Lauren's parents for taking my gear home, it would've been a bit cumbersome lugging around a turntable and precious vinyl for the rest of the night.

Some of the actual performance photos soon.

Quiet Blog

It's been a busy hectic week and a few days, hence few updates of late.

Weather report in brief:

- Currently preparing material for the Felt Space show on Friday. Which I'm really looking forward to.

- Currently finishing some vis art for an exhibition in a couple of weeks.

- Writing a review for Resonate.

- Mixing down some music for earthed cable and Tascam 424 (see below.)



- I've joined Last FM! My artist page is *here*, my profile is *here*.

Upcoming live performance: 8th August 2008

I will be playing a set at the Felt Space on the 8th of August 2008. Jason Sweeney and Melbourne duo ii are also performing. The much vaunted turntable will make its first public appearance and I will be performing tracks from an upcoming mini-release Mimi.

More details to follow shortly.

Nice pictures from the Jade Monkey show

Photos courtesy of the resplendent Lauren Playfair.

Jade Monkey

In most arty-musical situations feedback is my friend, but last night it was a cruel beast that marred part of my set at the Jade Monkey. I opened with an untitled bit of real-time peppercorning which worked reasonably well, but the said feedback became too omnipresent and kind blew the structure and feel of the piece. It's a shame because I had it worked out to a tee at home when I was rehearsing - it sounded really good. The second piece was redux of a Jade Monkey favourite, The Sky Is Falling which (realised with Max) turned out quite well, aside from the glitches at the start.

Dan Varricchio and Rafael Torale also played impressive sets.

Thanks to everybody who came along, some more exciting photos are on the way.

Upcoming show at the Jade Monkey > 5.7.08

I will be playing a live sound art set at the Jade Monkey on Saturday 5th July. Starts at 9pm with other sets by Rafael Torale and Dan Verrucio. I believe the amplified peppercorn frames will probably make an appearance.

Philip Jeck, Loudness and Sinking The Titanic

Over the weekend I saw Philip Jeck perform an impressive short set at the Jade Monkey with support from Adelaide's noise rock community. I have to state from the outset that the mix was way too LOUD - it made all three support acts practically unlistenable and made sections of Philip's set physically painful to experience. I know I'm probably whining, but I'm one of those individuals who wants a pair of decent ears in twenty years time, and if excessive mixes are going to be the norm from now on I'm going to splash out a couple of hundred dollars on some moulded earplugs.

Excess volume aside, Philip's set was astounding in its simplicity of process and technique. Drawing his material from two small portable turntables, Philip would pick out a piano melody, drum groove or guitar riff with a drop/lift of the needle or locking the groove, then process it using a sample and hold and a couple of effects pedals. Throughout the 30-minute set, complex textures were built up to the point of saturation, then new material was introduced as the former receded into a crackling ether. By the last five minutes it was becoming an increasingly hypnotic spectacle, then it all came to a dramatic conclusion with a sudden mute.

I also bought a copy of 'The Sinking of The Titanic' from Philip, it's the latest (and arguably definitive) interpretation of Gavin Bryer's 1969 work. It's difficult to get hold of, but I strongly suggest checking it out.

Philip Jeck at The Jade Monkey

In what may very well be my gig of the year, reknowned UK multimedia composer and turntablist Philip Jeck plays the Jade Monkey this Saturday 17th May. I'm very excited about this - Jeck falls into a simalar category to Christian Marclay and his subversive visionary ilk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Jeck

http://www.philipjeck.com/

Chiptune party time

Chiptune delights at the Delacatessen last night. A fun fab show for all.

Dot.Ay (QLD)
Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families (NSW)
Hidden Village (SA)


Dot.Ay


Hidden Village

Hidden City at the Deli Gallery

Good show the other night from Hidden City at the Delacatessen Gallery on Thursday. Notable highlights included Stephen Whittington's spasmodic piano bursts and 320bpm atonal Rhumba, Derek Pascoe's literally spacious sax and Lauren Sutter's bit crushed guitar.

Adelaide Contemporary Music Festival

I spent the weekend attending the Adelaide Contemporary Music Festival curated by Gabriella Smart. Overall it was an entertaining (albeit 'safe') series of concerts featuring a couple of rarely heard Tristram Cary works.

As I was reviewing for the online new music publication Resonate, I'll save more in-depth observations of the festival for the copy when I get around to writing it.

Earpoke: extra

Just a note. I did record some video footage of my performance last night at Earpoke, though I forgot to change the audio input on my laptop back to the built in microphone - hence the video has no sound.

:-/ ...

Even a potential Master of Music (Technology) has the tendency to f**k up now and again.

I may do a studio based performance soon and integrate the live footage somehow.

Earpoke

Last night was EMU's end of year recital concert Earpoke. It was an enjoyable evening with an enormous program including live performances, playbacks and film presentations from music technology students. I'm sure the night was (de-)enhanced by my lucid wine fuelled MC-ing, wherein I seemed to take on the fused persona of Bryan Ferry and Shane MacGowan* - an aquired taste I'm sure. Bit like the house red actually.


Luke Harrald & Derek Pascoe, Adam Kreminski


Me performing Worgssalk


The Earpoke All-Star jam