AND THAT'S HOW I...?

OSCILLATIONS: EIGHT CREPUSCULE TRACKS by Cabaret Voltaire

Better late than never, I say.  What I'm referring to here is the eight page primer on seminal garage, experimental,  dub-punk,  dance,  electronics band Cabaret Voltaire in the latest issue of THE WIRE.  My brother and I were discussing the conspicuous absence of a Cabs primer only a week earlier,  and somehow it materialized (thanks Tony).  It sent me listening again to the above compilation of tracks released via Begium independent Les Disques Du Crepuscule.  After being bludgeoned by recent banalities from American Idol "stars"  and lifeless productions by big name "artists",  these tracks sound like stubborn twitches from an organism with very little need of technology for life support.  This stirringly  inventive stuff melds Richard H Kirk's cavernous guitar smears with Stephen Mallinder's much-improved bass playing and heavily processed voice,  and Chris Watson's  brittle electronics/percussion.  Found voices dart in and out of many of these tracks to great effect.  Remember that much of this was released in the early eighties before those voices of authority became industrial cliches.  Tracks like "Fool's Game",  "Sluggin Fer Jesus (Parts 1-3)",  "Your Agent Man",  and "Gut Level" are among the Cab's best work. The sounds of paranoia never again seemed so prescient.  Ask the NSA.

SOMEONE SOMEWHERE IN BROOKLYN

NEW MAIL ART... Maybe?

Just spending a bit of time reminiscing about correspondence art with Gen Ken at the recreated GENERATOR in NYC gave me just the push I needed to work on some new pieces that will be physically sent via the postal system.  No digital files will be shared... how unique is that?

OPTIK: PARANOIAC

This 1963 film by director/cinematographer Freddie Francis surely puts many of Hammer's productions to shame in terms of storyline,  character development,  and cinematography.  It's black and white photography suggests the poetic isolation of Antonioni at his best,  and certainly adds to the atmospheric dread here.  There is nothing of the camp,  silliness, or color of later Hammer horrors,  and that's definitely a good thing.  Keep in mind that Francis did the wonderful black and white cinematography for David Lynch's ELEPHANT MAN (1980),  and while PARANOIC may be indebted to Hitchcock's PSYCHO (1960),  it is certainly no mere copycat.  This is a  film that thrives on surprises and plot twists,  and given the themes of death and insanity,  its understated acting and sublime visual ethic make for an atypical Hammer thriller.  Oliver Reed is simply wonderful as loony alcoholic brother Simon,  who is hellbent on driving haunted sister Eleanor (Janette Scott) mad so that he may become the sole heir to the Ashby fortune.  Aunt Harriet (Sheila Burrell) acts as a sort of protective adult,  but who is she protecting?  Oliver Reed's performance suits the material perfectly,  using subtle facial expressions, quirky gestures,  and casually delivered psychosis to flesh out a truly frightening sociopath.  When supposedly long dead (a suicide) brother Tony (Alexander Davion) returns to the family home,  Simon steps up his psychological torture of sister Eleanor.  I wouldn't want to spoil its impact,  but this is a film that gives personal instability, family dysfunctionality, and  unreality's embrace nearly a good name.  Enjoy. 

OPTIK: GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE

While this 1973 dud (also released as SEED OF TERROR) may be in the top ten of worse movies ever made,  its message to 21st century viewers seems plain to me:  maintaining our unreasonably vast "needs" is simply not sustainable.  The movie is quite the fun yuck-fest nonetheless.  A baby nursed on its mother's blood.  Hmmmmmm....

GAG

GENERATOR AT AUDIO VISUAL ARTS

From 1989 to 1992 New York based artist Gen Ken Montgomery presented the best of sound art, video,  cassette culture,  mail art,  and associated zines to a growing population of international artists,  viewers, and listeners.  GENERATOR became an essential downtown stop for a network of alternative artists.  Now (August 4 - September 1) Gen Ken's ode to independence and accessibility has been resurrected for a short time at AUDIO VISUAL ARTS (34 East 1st Street,  NYC),  and is certainly worth a visit.  I hadn't seen Ken in over twenty years,  yet his warmth and generosity were in great supply.  And it was very nice to see some of the work I'd done for ND and others on view.  Check out audiovisualarts.org for more information.  Photos courtesy Patti Giancontiero.

A KIND OF NONSENSE: Hausmann Remix

ASYMMETRY (actually)

Can you imagine that This Second Sleep/A Flea in Her Ear and ether^ra/w/o vertices were this cool in 1964? This was right before our massive shift to long hair counterculture glory.  The suburban background is oddly surreal given our outfits and the seemingly animated foliage. Who's who? Who knows? I just can't be sure from this distance.  Late note:  according to ether^ra,  that's him on the right.

HAUSMANN

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: BUCHLA 158 CLONE

While makers of Buchla clones are notoriously secretive for good reason,  this powerful module screams for attention. Its two independent oscillators are continuously variable from sine to sawtooth,  and modulation is a snap using its CV and signal inputs. It easily morphs into a monster.  That this was part of Don Buchla's  first series (100) for the Electric Music Box is testament to his and Morton Subotnick's shared ideas at the San Francisco Tape Music Center.  This clone even mimics the thicker front panel divider lines so as to visually distinguish it from the 200 and 200e series.  Very nice.

MAGNIFIERS: NO WAVE by Marc Masters

Above are various topographies of despair and fear,  the New York most familiar to a musician/artist like Pat Place (see above b & w postcard 1980),  best known for her slide guitar work with the classic lineup of the Contortions ("I Can't Stand Myself " from the groundbreaking yet somehow flat NO NEW YORK compilation).These were the claustrophobic spaces from which howls of the No Wave were first heard. It was "music" that was powerful and immediate even as it abused and polarized  its few listeners,  even as one particular listener,  Brian Eno sought to castrate it. For those who weren't born to these streets,  NYC now seems  an entertainment mecca treading the banal,  a Disney-fied bit of heaven.  I assure that for a time in the 70's and 80's,  NYC,  Brooklyn, and the Bronx could be truly dangerous places to find oneself,  and for that alone,  exhilarating.  NO WAVE by Marc Masters is about the only comprehensive route to finding out about artists like DNA,  Mars,  the Contortions,  Lydia Lunch's Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Scott & Beth B, and Amos Poe. Ultimately No Wave is what punk aspired to,  but didn't quite reach.

ANOTHER

THE DREAMER HAS AWAKENED: WALTER DE MARIA

Sculptor and musician Walter DeMaria (1935-2013) passed away this past July while visiting his 100 year old mother in California.  This notoriously private artist allowed his work to speak for him,  and in doing so added both mystery and poetry to works that turned minimalist pieces into interactive marvels without using electricity (except for the beautiful and frightening LIGHTENING FIELD 1977). The NEW YORK EARTH ROOM's (1977) intoxicating smell and perceptual weight, as well as his BED OF SPIKE's (1969) dangerous invitation to disaster are equally difficult to shake off. That "isms" such as minimalism,  process art,  earth art,  and conceptualism could be given such sensual immediacy is a tribute to what he brought to the materials he used and the ideas he sought to trespass beyond transience. The Dia Art Foundation must be thanked for giving DeMaria's monumental constructs a place in the world. Also keep in mind that he played drums in an early incarnation of the Velvet Underground (with Lou Reed & John Cale) called The Druds. Art Rock for sure!

158 DEMO & READY TO ROLL

LOW ARCHITECTURE: DINGWALL AFTERBURNER BASS

The fanned-fretted Dingwall bass above may seem rather odd at first glance and somewhat tricky to play,  but in reality takes very little practice time to accommodate its radical neck design.  It is  very comfortable to play,  and because of the increased string length the bass tones can be quite commanding.  Beyond its design attributes,  the Afterburner is a woody wonder with its alder body,  maple neck,  and wenge fingerboard.

THE 158 CLONE IS COMING

 The above 158 Dual Sine/Sawtooth oscillator will soon be part of one of my Buchla systems.  I chose the red Rogans for their unlikeness to be confused with the Buchla design aesthetic,  and for ease of tweaking amongst a sea of cables. BTW,  who could afford or even find Buchla 100 modules at this point in time? I'll take mine cloned!

A TRACK