District of Noise

Moved!

2010-01-16T08:02:00.000-05:00

This blog is now at http://districtofnoise.org/

Sonic Circuits

2007-10-02T11:08:00.000-04:00

For those of you who missed it, or want to relive those long and crazy nights...

Stream video from the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage performance by Ida Lundén and Sara Lundén; and Arturas Bumšteinas.

Its all in your head...

2007-08-09T00:05:00.001-04:00

Negativland @ The Warehouse

2007-07-31T18:58:00.000-04:00

Legendary trickster band Negativland brings a new version of their weekly radio broadcast (Over the Edge, on the air since 1981) to the live stage for the very first time, mixing music, found sounds, found dialog, scripts, personalities, and sound effects within a "radio" theater-of-the-mind. "It's All In Your Head FM" is a two-hour-long, action-packed look at monotheism, the supernatural God concept, and the all-important role played by the human brain in our beliefs. Dr. Oslo Norway is your "radio" host, and Christianity and Islam are the featured religions, as Negativland asks you to contemplate some complex, serious, silly, and challenging ideas about human belief in this audio cut-up mix best described as a "documentary collage". "IAIYH FM" is a compelling and uniquely fun presentation of sticky theological concepts, which has actually been known to provoke arguments for days after the show is over.

Negativland
http://www.negativland.com

Since 1980, the 4 or 5 or 6 Floptops known as Negativland have been creating records, CDs, video, fine art, books, radio and live performance using appropriated sound, image and text. Mixing original materials and original music with things taken from corporately owned mass culture and the world around them, Negativland re-arranges these found bits and pieces to make them say and suggest things that they never intended to. In doing this kind of cultural archaeology and "culture jamming" (a term they coined way back in 1984), Negativland have been sued twice for copyright infringement.

Over the years Negativland's "illegal" collage and appropriation based audio and visual works have touched on many things -- pranks, media hoaxes, advertising, media literacy, the evolving art of collage, the bizarre banality of suburban existence, creative anti-corporate activism in a media saturated multi-national world, file sharing, intellectual property issues, wacky surrealism, evolving notions of art and ownership and law in a digital age, and artistic and humorous observations of mass media and mass culture.

While it is true that, after being sued, Negativland became more publicly involved in advocating significant reforms of our nation's copyright laws, Negativland are artists first and activists second. All of their art and media interventions have intended to pose both serious and silly questions about the nature of sound, media, control, ownership, propaganda and perception. Their work is now referenced and taught in many college courses in the US, has been written about in over 30 books (including NO LOGO by Naomi Klein, MEDIA VIRUS by Douglas Rushkoff, and various biographies of the band U2), cited in legal journals, and they often lecture about their work here and in Europe.

Since 1981, Negativland and an evolving cast of characters have operated "Over The Edge," a weekly radio show on KPFA FM in Berkeley, California. "Over The Edge" continues to broadcast three hours of live, found sound mixing every Thursday at midnight, West Coast time, with online access. In 1995 they released a 270-page book with 72 minute CD entitled "FAIR USE: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2." This book documented their infamous four-year long legal battle over their 1991 release of an audio piece entitled "U2". They were the subjects of Craig Baldwin's 1995 feature documentary SONIC OUTLAWS and created the soundtrack and sound design for Harold Boihem's 1997 documentary film THE AD AND THE EGO, an excellent in-depth look into the hidden agendas of the corporate ad world and the ways that we are affected by advertising. In 2004 Negativland worked with Creative Commons to write the Creative Commons Sampling License, an alternative to existing copyrights that is now in widespread use by many artists, writers, musicians, film makers, and websites. In 2005, they released the elaborately packaged NO BUSINESS (with CD, 15,000 word essay, and custom made whoopie cushion), and debuted "Negativlandland" - a large visual art show of over 80 pieces of their "fine art" works, video, and home-made electronic devices, at New York City's Gigantic Art Space. That exhibit continues to travel and appear around the country. More recently Negativland have been touring a new performance piece called "It's All In Your Head FM", a two-hour-long audio cut-up mix about monotheism, the supernatural God concept, and the all-important role played by the human brain in our beliefs. Christianity and Islam are the featured religions, as Negativland asks it's audience to contemplate some complex, serious, ridiculous, and challenging ideas about human belief in a show best described as "documentary collage."

Negativland is interested in unusual noises and images (especially ones that are found close at hand), unusual ways to restructure such things and combine them with their own music and art, and mass media transmissions which have become sources and subjects for much of their work. Negativland covets insightful humor and wackiness from anywhere, low-tech approaches whenever possible, and vital social targets of any kind. Foregoing ideological preaching, but interested in side effects, Negativland is like a subliminal cultural sampling service concerned with making art about everything we aren't supposed to notice.

Sunday, August 5
Warehouse Theater
1017 7th St NW WDC
http://www.warehousetheater.com
$15, all ages!
doors at 8pm, show at 9pm

QUEERING SOUND 07 : DIS LO CA TION

2007-07-30T10:04:00.000-04:00

Documentation and overview of this year's edition of Queering Sound Festival of Experimental Audio+Video by GLBT artists, Saturday 02 June 2007 at the Warehouse Next Door.

July-August Shows

2007-07-24T23:48:00.000-04:00

thursday, July 26

Neg-Fi
This Is My Condition
FFFFs
Ultimate VAG

611 Florida Ave. NW.
Washington, DC.

$5 / 8pm

friday, July 27

Video Hippos
Barkitecture
Flying

HOUSE SHOW
101 Harvard St.
Alexandria, VA.

8pm / bring money

Sunday, July 29

Transparent Productions Presents:

MICHAEL BISIO

1ST Set
MICHAEL BISIO – Bass

2nd Set
MICHAEL BISIO QUARTET
MICHAEL BISIO – Bass
AFRAM FEFER – Reeds
STEPHEN GAUSI – Reeds
JAY ROSEN - drums

Sangha
7014 Westmoreland Ave
Takoma Park, MD 20912
(301) 891-3214

7:00PM / $15

monday, July 30

OCDJ
Mothfight

DC9
1940 9th St. NW.
Washington, DC.

9:30pm / $8

sunday, August 5

The Electric Possible presents:

Sejayno
Aaron Leitko

George Washington University
Phillips Hall - Rm. B120
801 22nd St. NW.
Washington, DC.

8pm / $5

sunday, August 5

Negativland

Warehouse Theater
1021 7th St. NW.
Washington, DC.

$15 / doors at 8pm / All Ages

saturday, August 11

T. A. Zook
The Picture is Dead
The Bang

The Red and The Black
1212 H St. NE.
Washington, DC.

$8 / 9:30pm

wednesday, August 15

THE CUTEST PUPPY IN THE WORLD
MIKE TAMBURO
TUSK LORD
KOHOUTEK DRUM ENSEMBLE

Velvet Lounge
915 U St. NW.
Washington, DC.

9pm

thursday, August 16

Caution Curves
Capillary Action
Zdrastvootie

Velvet Lounge
915 U St. NW.
Washington, DC.

9pm

Post Show Wrap-up: Chic Nerve, Eagle-Ager, Slim Castle, Boyzone @ Velvet Lounge

2007-07-21T09:41:00.000-04:00

Thursday July 19, was billed as "an evening of dadaist performance art, interpretive dance, experimental electronic music, and accompanying visuals." Boyzone from North Carolina open and the first 5 minutes were promising. The 3 girl-3 boy ensemble generated a din of cymbal crashes, metal thumps and droning vocals. But some equipment malfunctions pushed the group into pre-workout stretching & muck making like pigs rolling in a noise mud bath. Slightly amusing, but sonically uninteresting...their 15 minute set was about 18 minutes too long.

Next up Slim Castle, (ex-Kohoutek) on electric guitar with visual projections, which to his (and the audience's) amusement didn't actually project during his set. Synth guitar marred by factory presets inspired by the worst of 80s midi samples...ugh. But things got better when he switched guitars and jammed to some rhythmic backing tapes. Way more focused and cohesive.

From the hipsterville of Brooklyn were Eagle-Ager. Cardboard costumes, vocal singing and rantting, minimal drums, tapes, and full frontal nudity. Sounds good on paper but in execution it came off as a bunch of high school thespians sneaking into the school auditorium after huffing all the paint thinner in shop class. If their performance had some direction or plot I sure couldn't tell what it was. The best portion was the rancid tape recordings of Tibet monks played on boom boxes. I am a sucker for lofi drones and chants. With some refinement and direction they could evolve into something interesting, but for now it was just shits and giggles.

The headlining duo of Rebecca Mills & Ginger Wagg I had to bail out on. As is too often the case at the Lounge things got started way too late (especially for a weeknight) and the pacing tween acts setting up and breaking down was glacial. But I heard they were classy...

Hat tip to Amber for mobile phone photography.

Costumes, nudity, shit noise can be loads of fun if its done right. For me the yardstick by which I measure all practitioners of the genre is the Netherlands kings of shitnoise, the FCKN'BSTRDS. Watch and be inspired.

703 Noise Free Electric Band @ Strangeland Records

2007-07-14T08:30:00.000-04:00

Free open electronic improv. Friday the 13th, July, 2007.
Courtesy of Davis White.

Electric Possible

2007-07-03T23:04:00.000-04:00

The July 1st edition of Jeff Bagato's ongoing series presented three projects operating in free improv territory: Matt Weston/Tone Ghosting Duo, The Blue Prostitutes, and Brazen Robbers. The evening kicked off with Brazen Robbers, who started off on a promising note. A sudden burst of uncontrolled feedback early on seemed to knock the ensemble off kilter. They spent the rest of their set trying to regroup. At times they almost found their groove. They show promise but apparently this was their farewell show. Luckily they kept their set short.

Matt Weston and Tone Ghosting were next. Unlike their set from at 2006's Sonic Circuit Festival, this time they went through s series of short pieces, a format I think they handled quite well and at times it worked nicely. Towards the end it seemed Matt was sensing his muse wasn't smiling upon him, but Tone Ghosting, ever the trooper, wanted to forge on.

Blue Prostitutes on paper looked promising. Sam Lohman (36/Cash Slave Clique) on drums, Aaron Moore (Volcano the Bear) on drums and stuff, J. Reeve on electronics, Jason LaFarge (bass), and Vinnie Paternostro (Temple of Bon Matin) on sax and effects. Having seen the lineup in other permutations I had high hopes...and they almost delivered this time. I think the sax was low in the mix, but when the levels were ok things started to launch. Not bad, but not awe inspiring. Methinks that the stuffy nature of the room that night restricted the the group from taking us into the stratosphere. Still some interesting planets were visited.

July Shows

2007-07-01T12:59:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of Kooltronica list, here are shows happening this month in DC. Alert me if there are others. Support live noise!

sunday, July 1

The Electric Possible presents:

Matt Weston/Tone Ghosting Duo
Blue Prostitutes
Brazen Robbers

George Washington University
Phillips Hall - Rm. B120
801 22nd St. NW.
Washington, DC.

8pm / $5

Friday, July 6

Mike Tamburo (Music Fellowship)
Nick Schillace (Primitive American fingerpicker from Detroit)
Tunnels (solo experimental guitar, mem. of Jackie-O Motherfucker)
Acre
Yellow Crystal Star (psychedelic guitar noise symphonies from Tallahassee FL)
Black History Moth (percussion drone)

611 Florida
9pm/$5

saturday, July 7

Axios Records presents: Strictly Locals

Axios Duo

Strangeland Records
7203 Columbia Pike (Second Floor)
Annandale, VA.

8pm / Free

Tuesday, July 10

Ol' Scratch (VA sludge/doom)
Palace in Thunderland (stoner rock from MA)
Bundy (DC thrash-punk)

Velvet Lounge
915 U St. NW.
Washington, DC.

$8 / 9pm

wednesday, July 11

Kohoutek
Avarus
Manbeard
Cutest Puppy in the World

Velvet Lounge
915 U St. NW.
Washington, DC.

$8 / 9pm

Thursday, July 12

Richard Pinhas Trio from legendary French prog band Heldon with Jérôme Schmidt (laptop) & Antoine Paganotti (drums, current Magma vocalist)!!!
Insect Factory (CD release)

Velvet Lounge
915 U St. NW.
Washington, DC.

$8 / 9pm

thursday, July 19

Chic Nerve w/ Ginger Wagg
Eagle-Ager
Slim Castle

Velvet Lounge
915 U St. NW.
Washington, DC.

$7 / 9pm

saturday, July 21

Machinedrum
Outputmessage
Doofgoblin
Metaphysical
000000000000000

DC9
1940 9th St. NW.
Washington, DC.

$10 / 9:30pm