Electric Possible
2004 Show Log
DC's mad monthly laboratory for promethean sound experiments
New Technology, New Spirit, New Energy, New Music.
2004 Anno El Possible
Dec 5--Special Edition:::part of the DC
10th INTERNATIONAL IMPROVISATION PLUS FESTIVAL
!!SPECIAL LOCATION!!
BUILDING J, 2131 G Street, NW
(between 21st & 22nd Streets)
George Washington University
Two electro-acoustic free improvisation groups--multimedia experience with films and live improvised dance
Spaceships Panic Orbit--DC's intense electro-acoustic free improv trio incorporating laptoptronix, free jazz, homemade instruments, and power electronics in passionate, dense sonic explorations.
Indent--Electro-acoustic free improv from large group including laptoptronix, bass, guitar, pedal steel, keyboards, etc.
Washington Free Collaboration--GWU's dance and free music collective provides the dancers for this event. (Including Wendell Cooper, Nicholette Routhier, plus others)
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Nov 7--Rupert & Art, Angus Brainpan, 5dots
Rupert & Art--DC theremin duo of Rupert Chappelle and
Art
Harrison, veterans of the experimental electronics and art rock scenes
in DC. Harrison makes and sells his own theremins.
The Angus Brainpan (Alexandria, VA) Tasty post-industrial soundscapes with vintage electronics, analog FX, and guitar. Featuring one member of Northern Machine.
5dots--Solo laptoptronix from Adjective Records recording artist. "Disaster Action Kid" CD out now. Sonomu said "Something for those who like their music noisy, beaty and broken. Recommended."
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Sunday October 3--Matt Weston (MA) (with DJ Panic), Damon Holzborn
(CA), Picture is Dead Quartet (DC)
Matt Weston (with DJ Panic)
-- An amazing improvisor of free music, Weston has played drums with
numerous players in the Boston scene and beyond. Weston lives in Northampton,
Mass. DJ Panic plays vinyl LPs with a hacksaw to create improvised electronic
sounds; he will join Weston on a few pieces.
Damon Holzborn --
(CA) Damon Holzborn is an improviser and composer who works primarily with
electronics. In performance, he makes the recognizable unrecognizable,
subjecting sound sources such as guitar and field recordings to manipulation
through custom-programmed interfaces, traditional effects and interactive
processes. He is a founding member of the Trummerflora collective and co-creator
of zucasa.com, recently named one of the top 25 essential online music
resources by The Wire. Holzborn holds a degree in music from UCSD, where
he studied improvisation with George Lewis, guitar with Celin Romero, and
composition with Frederic Rzewski, Brian Ferneyhough, Will Ogden and Rand
Steiger.
MP3s
available
Holzborn has presented his work in the US, Mexico and Japan, performing
as a solo artist and with several ensembles, including Donkey (a decade-long
collaboration with musician/filmmaker Hans Fjellestad), Quibble, and Titicacaman
(with Nathan Hubbard and Marcelo Radulovich). He has performed and/or recorded
with Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Lê Quan Ninh, Eugene Chadbourne,
Matt Ingalls, Andrea Polli, DJ Marcus B, Scott Looney, Jason Robinson,
Anthony Burr, Marcos Fernandes, Marcelo Radulovich, Scott Walton, Mike
Keneally, Ellen Weller, Kristy
Cheadle, Alan Lechusza, Nathan Hubbard, Robert Montoya, Joscha Oetz,
Mike Khoury, Blaise Siwula, Nortec Collective, Jonathan Glasier and The
San Diego Art Ensemble. Holzborn also regularly creates music for dance,
often collaborating with innovative dance collective Lower Left, producing
both custom compositions and improvised performances.
Picture is Dead Quartet -- circuit bent electronics, vocal madness,
and slide show from DC-based group featuring Bryan Cornell on bent
things and circuitry, Sam Serafy on vocal narration and singing, PatrickTimony
on pedals, synths and broken guitar, and Pat Padua on dead and exhausted
imagery. "We have played on both lawns and in dark rooms. We
had orignally wished to prove that any compelling ensemble should rest
on a bed of solid archival research and, to prove it, we featured readings
of written by 18th, 19th and early 20th century institutionalized divines."
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Sunday, September 5--El Possible XVIII--New Electronix! featuring
BLK w/BEAR, 10-String Trio, The Nikolas Francis Unit
BLK w/Bear (DC)--Internationally
acclaimed sound sculptor; All Music Guide said: "His creations use
everything from dissonance to ambient sounds to offer towering, constantly
unfolding terrains of sonic inquiry." His own bio sez: Following earlier
loop and turntablism experiments during the 1970's and 80's with Louisville
KY musical improvisation group STUTTER, now under his sound art pseudonym,
BLK w/ BEAR, Washington DC-based artisan JS (Jim) Adams has created both
temporal turntable installations and laptop compositions utilizing forced
looping technique of altered vinyl recordings along with 'dead media' recording
sources such as Mutoscope 'Voice-o-Graph' and Wilcox Gay 'Recordio' discs.
CD-R releases are available through queer musicians collective Kuma-Chan
Records [San Francisco CA] Newest release: "fahrenheit_drafts"
12-inch single on trace recordings uk . limited to 300 copies worldwide.
Previous_releases: the 2004 outmusic award-nominated 'wish for a world
without hurt' collaboration with london's rothko [trace
recordings] and 'hot hands: a tribute to throwing muses' compilation
disc [kuma-chan records]
10-String Trio
(DC)--free-improv trio releasing impressive energy thru stand up bass,
electric violin, and live remixing on "DSP thing." Their debut at the last
open Minijax event was a blast.
In their own words: "Aggressive
electro-acoustic ensemble. The Trio is a totally fresh consolidation of
local musicians who met at the monthly Volunteer CrapShoot improvisation
workshops at Redroom in Baltimore. The Trio came into being a week before
their performance at TechClub DC MiniJax 1.4 with the main idea to explore
improvised interactive and simultaneous sound processing of two stringed
instruments. The Trio decided to continue its research and to intensify
the live conversations of two strings through a manipulation of a sound
synthesis and processing."
10 String Trio is:
Paolo Valladolid /Sound Alchemist - Classically trained violist with
a passion for alternative approaches to music-making and musical conversation
with nontraditional playing techniques and equipment. Patriarch of
the 10 String Trio as a vehicle for exploration into electro-acoustic musical
communication.
Nancy McDonnell /electric violin - Former classical acoustic violin player fresh to the world of electric sounds and free-improv scene. Visual artist exploring the blends of sound with color.
Sebastian Krawczuk /bass - Mastered bowing on the bass in punk, noise and metal bands in Poland. Former member of Szczecin, Poland's free-improv/metal/jazzcore band STUCKONCEILING emerges in DC metro on electric upright bass with vacuum tubes. Distributes Musica Genera CDs in US.
The Nikolas Francis Unit --a DC based creative entity controlled by Nikolas Francis. His primary focus of work explores the use of a laptop in real-time processing of computer generated sounds, acoustic instruments and various recordings. While living in Iowa City, IA Nikolas collaborated with a number of groups including The Improviser�s Orchestra organized by Robert Paredes, and Gamut (a sound painting ensemble) led by Evan Mazunik. He currently lives in Washington DC where he performs with the improv group, Indent, and collaborates with Tyler Higgins in the Contemporary Art Duo. Nikolas is also studying auditory and visual perception at the NIH.
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Sunday, August 1--El Poss XVII
TechClub Pedal Fair II--free
event! open participation!--at GWU/Phillips Hall*
An open mic style jam for electronics musicians. Bring your effects
pedals, ideas, and axes for an evening of improvised electronics and info-swapping.
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Sunday, July 11--El Poss XVI
Power Lunch (Baltimore)--free improv mix of rock, jazz and weirdness. "They're avant but they still rock!" says Charles Cohen, Buchla synth master.
(Peter Fraize Trio was scheduled but cancelled to accomodate last m inute room changes.)
**Held in Marvin Center, Rm 226, George Washington University
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Friday, June 18--Electric Possible Special
Edition: ELECTRONIX AVANT GARDE --DUOS AND SOLOS
(special show at Millennium
Arts Center, 65 I St SW, WDC. 202/479-2572.)
Angus Brainpan--Alexandria, VA duo wowed the El Possible crowd last month with their post-industrial soundscapes played on vintage electronics and guitar. Expatriats of the NYC industrial scene, the group features one member of Northern Machine.
Caution Curves--solo laptoptronics excitement from member of Mikrobes. Showed last October's El Poss audience that Ladies Love Laptops as much as the Lads!
Facemat--punk/world music electronica duo astonished the El Possible audience last December with a set of high energy synth/noise weirdness
Violet Panic--madcap duo of homemade instruments featuring Violet on modified autoharp/turntables and DJ Panic playing vinyl LPs with a hacksaw.
View
pictures from this show! (click here)
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June 6--El Possible XV
Mantra (DC)--hot fusion
trio of drummer/percussionist Mark Merella,
keyboard/electronics wizard Jon Ozment, and Chuck Underwood on guitars
and loops. Dedicated to forging an original voice in jazz, Mantra draws
inspiration from the vibrant and fertile early period of electric jazz-
Miles Davis, Tony Williams Lifetime, and Weather Report- andmixes this
with the melodic and rhythmic freedom of the avant-garde to produce a compelling
and fresh sound. Mantra performs original compositions and their versions
of tunes by jazz greats, employing a gamut of textures from structured
to freely improvised, traditional organ trio to modern
electronic soundscapes, resulting in a powerful and persuasive new
sound.
Matis/Morton Duo--improvisations for laptop 'tronics and guitar from Derek Morton (Mikroknytes) and Jon Matis (DC Improvisor's Collective, etc). AKA "takoma gadget collective" "two white men with machines"; "badtz maru guitar orchestra"; and "slurpee bath fetish." Debut performance!
sc.all--decelerated drones and subterranean shudders pierced by mechanical rays of light on a voyage straight to the center of your mind. Laptop 'tronics artist on scarcelight recordings.
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May 2--El Possible XIV
Birds in the Meadow (Richmond, VA) Totally
amazing laptop electronics mixing up noise and prepared piano sounds.
The Angus Brainpan (Alexandria, VA) Tasty post-industrial soundscapes with electronics and guitar. Featuring one member of Northern Machine. Their debut performance!
Matt Weston (Northampton, MA) known for his drumming with Boston-area free improvisors like Dave Gross and Mike Bullock, Matt be exploring spatial dynamics within the context of solo percussion and electronics.
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April 4--El Possible XIII--
The First Anniversary show!
Jack Wright/Reuben Radding duo + Washington
Free Collaboration
(limited edition poster by Beppi of Pretty
Beaver comix!)
Jack Wright (Easton, PA) is the legendary free improvising saxophonist who's restless travels, promiscuous musical partnerships, and outrageous extended techniques have galvanized and inspired countless musicians in the underground free improv scene nationwide. Jack has been a bold, even outrageous saxophonist, as well as an influential musical personality over the past twenty years. Continuously on tour, or organizing the next one, he has been called the Johnny Appleseed of free improvisation. As a musical explorer, his music passes through radical shifts of style and approach from one year to the next, yet always somehow identifiable as his own. The Washington Post says, "In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king". He plays alto, tenor, and soprano saxes, contra-alto clarinet, and piano, in every possible direction, but rarely what is recognizable.
Tonight Jack Wright will be joined by intense young Downtown NYC bassist Reuben Radding, who's recent release "Luminescence," is a duo project with Daniel Carter on the AUM Fidelity label. Reuben Radding is one of the most�distinctive young bassists playing improvised music today. Since his emergence in the early 90's as a busy contributor to the New York "downtown" and free jazz scenes, he has performed and recorded with many of the most important and respected names in�avant garde music in America and abroad. With a deep tone and prodigious technique, Radding draws on an astonishing range of musical languages and extended sounds in his performances, whether solo or in the countless ensembles he has been involved with.
Washington Free Collaboration is a student collective of free jazz musicians and modern dancers based around George Washington University. They exhibit the inventive, exploratory spirit of faculty sponsor Maida Withers.
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March 14--El Possible XII
EBSK (DC) --duo of John Rickman (Casio
SK-1s, electronics) and Eric Bruns (clarinet, electric bass) mix electronica,
classical and rock in delightful ways
Gerritt (Houston, TX) performs solo power electronics/harsh noise that he calls "psych-top noise" and runs Misanthropic Records. "Variant flavors determined by higher dimensions."
Human Adult Band (Houston, TX) "Junk percussion+handbuilt+modified guitars/keys+throat voice+brass sampled live+wrung around bass+drums. T.Scott's snottystreetwiseshitfaced voice words tell you like you wish you wouldn't."
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February 1--El Possible XI
The Short Life of Harry Crosby are another
great Baltimore quartet based around the legendary Red Room and featuring
John Berndt: Reeds; Paul Neidhardt: Percussion; Audrey Chen: Cello, Voice;
plus Philly's Charles Cohen: Buchla Music Easel. Nuff said. Don't miss
this.
Spanorb36 are DC's intense electro-acoustic free improv quartet incorporating electronics, free jazz, homemade instruments, and power electronics in passionate, dense sonic explorations.
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January 11--El Possible X
Harm Stryker (Richmond, VA) a totally
amazing duo playing beautifully striking abstract electronics. http://harmstryker.org
Ian Nagoski (Baltimore) is well known for his intricately structured drone making. Authorized bio: "Ian Nagoski�s earliest memories are of a Jim Walters Shell Home. Like Frank Harris before him, he is dedicating his life to a search for the elusive elk bee."
Violet Panic (DC) duo leads frenetic, exciting excursions through unique soundworlds of their homemade instruments: Violet on turntables/homemade needles/LPs/electronics and modified autoharp, and DJ Panic playing vinyl LPs with a hacksaw to create electronic sounds.
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