Author: Mike

XFest 2021 Online Schedule

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Source: XFest.

XFEST WHERE YOU ARE
ORGANIZERS: DEI XHRIST, WALTER WRIGHT
TECH: GREGORY KOWALSKI
ASSIST: AL MARGOLIS, MARY ANN KEARNS
In the interest of continued safety, we will be using an online platform allow performers to work together, apart. Performers will collaborate from their individual spaces, and their video feeds will be broadcast live.

February 26, 2021 Stream: Friday 8pm – 10:15pm EST
8:10pm Set 1: Michael Barrett, Nick Bohun, Craig Chin, Christopher Strunk
8:45pm Set 2: Bonnie Kane, Katherine Liberovskaya, Tracy Lisk, Craig Pedersen, Andrea Pensado
9:20pm Set 3: Craig Douglas, Curt Haworth, Joe Mygan, Irman Peck
9:55pm Set 4: Mitchel K Ahern, Kat Dobbins, Loren Groenendaal, JB Ledoux

February 27, 2021 Stream: Session 1: 3pm – 4:40pm EST
3:10pm Set 5: Kat Dobbins, Richard Harrison, Mia Zabelka, Mitchel K Ahern
3:45pm Set 6: David Birchall, Emmanuel Lalande, Marko Wunderlich, Tracy Lisk
4:20pm Set 7: Birgit Goldbourne, Linda Jankowska, Arnaud Le Mindu, Al Margolis

February 27, 2021 Stream: Session 2: 8pm – 10:15pm EST
8:10pm Set 8: Sophie Leetmaa, Al Margolis, Ras Moshe Burnett, Ophra Wolf
8:45pm Set 9: Id M Theft Able, Joe Brown, Callie Chapman, Bbob Drake
9:20pm Set 10: Allie Berger, Duane Ingalls, Angela Sawyer, Sam Wenc
9:55pm Set 11: Federico Balducci, Rick Breault, Peter Chamberlain, Psychedelic Snakeskin

Dusted Reviews

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Source: Dusted.

Doug McKechnie — San Francisco Moog: 1968-72 (VG+ Records)

Camera — Prosthuman (Bureau B)

Joshua Abrams’ Cloud Script — Cloud Script (Rogue Art)

Archie Shepp and Jason Moran — Let My People Go (Archieball)

A Winged Victory for the Sullen — Invisible Cities (Artificial Pinearch Manufacturing)

Hafez Modirzadeh Profiled

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Source: Bandcamp Daily.

By combining Persian overtones and harmonies with jazz structures, Modirzadeh started formalizing his own musical system, which he dubbed ‘chromodality,’ while studying at Wesleyan University. (Anthony Braxton was on his dissertation committee.) He worked on it throughout the 1990s and early 2000s on a series of independent releases, then signed with Pi Recordings for 2012’s Post-Chromodal Out!, a collection of 27, mostly short, linked pieces performed by trumpeter Amir El-Saffar, pianist Vijay Iyer, bassist Ken Filiano, and drummer Royal Hartigan, plus a few guests. The music swings at times, but lurches sideways at others, and while the harmonies between the horns aren’t “Persian” in any clichéd way, they have a keening quality that nods to Middle Eastern music while also drawing on the sharp-edged interplay between Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry in 1959.

AMN Reviews: BRUIT ≤ – The Machine Is Burning And Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again (2021; Elusive Sound)

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French post-rock / chamber-rock quartet BRUIT ≤ offers four tracks of dense cinematic walls and acoustic interludes on their new release, The Machine Is Burning And Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again. Consisting of an unusual lineup – Théophile Antolinos on electric and acoustic guitar, Luc Blanchot on cello, Julien Aoufi on drums, and Clément Libes on bass and violin – the group manages to carve out a niche between rock, classical, and drone that is both unusual and compelling.

Despite the stated instrumentation above, there seems to be a distinct synth, keyboard, or bass pedal presence as well, adding to BRUIT ≤’s over-the-top, thick electric guitar chording. Coupled with cello/violin drones, themes, and motifs, these elements sum to powerful earth-shaking crescendos, with details that can best be appreciated when the volume is high. Even so, there are several passages where Antolinos switches to acoustic and is frequently accompanied by inobtrusive spoken-word lyrics (French or English) when he does. These more introspective moments are largely melancholy and subtly contrapuntal with layered melodies that slowly build to further high points.

The Machine Is Burning And Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again will be out digitally on April 2, and shortly thereafter on vinyl. This is a prime example of finely-crafted orchestral rock. BRUIT ≤ nailed it.

New Residents Box Reviewed

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Source: Cult MTL.

While the image of wearing giant eyeballs on their shoulders has indeed bubbled up into the corners of mainstream culture, not many can point to the giant leaps they’ve made for underground music and art. Since their inception in the early ’70s, this “eyeball band” have thumbed their noses at celebrity culture throughout their lengthy career by operating in the shadows of anonymity while trailblazing avant-garde music with cutting edge theatre. Their label Ralph Records remains a maverick among artist-run indie labels since they released Meet the Residents in 1972 and have now released over 30 records from the Residents and many other avant-garde artists. While remaining ahead of the curve with technology — mounting numerous themed tours with daring and cutting edge production — the Residents have documented both their early and recent film experiments as well as live shows with nine DVDs.

New Circum-Disc Releases

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Source: CIRCUM-DISC.

_UNK – NOW_
We don’t really know how to pronounce _UNK or which letter is missing… ! _UNK invites, leaves open and then tries to create surprise, starting with its name proposed as an enigma but also through the music that the quartet gives to hear.

MORE SOMA – HONDENDODENDANS
The MORE SOMA trio is composed of a saxophone, alternately alto or baritone, a double bass and drums. The MORE SOMA trio composes the music in real time. The MORE SOMA trio likes it when it beats…