Clavius Productions presents an intimate night of acoustic exploration and exceptional songwriting:
Tuesday, August 29
611 Florida Ave NW WDC
http://www.claviusproductions.org 8pm, $5 suggested donation
call 202-360-9739 for info
BYOD!
Larkin Grimm (Secret Eye, Providence folk/psych, ex-Dirty Projectors, played at last Terrastock)
Mike Tamburo (Music Fellowship, ex-Arco Flute Foundation/Meisha, Pittsburgh experimental solo guitar and other stringed instruments)
Pepi Ginsberg (Phily solo folksinger)
Slim Castle (Sockets, ex-Kohoutek, experimental solo electric guitar skree)
Larkin Grimm http://www.larkingrimm.com/ "Larkin Grimm (now based in Providence, RI) was born in a Memphis, TN commune and grew up in Dahlonega, Georgia in the foothills of the Appalachians with a family of singers and fiddlers.
Harpoon, her debut CD, reflects these rustic influences through a modern, psychedelic filter. Larkin's intense, ecstatic voice with swirling multi-tracked patterns recalls the richness of Illuminations-period Buffy Sainte-Marie and the sparkle of Linda Perhacs. Her instrumentation includes duclimer, pennywhistle, bells, drums, and guitar. Larkin was previously a member of the Dirty Projectors (Western Vinyl) where she astounded audiences with her mesmerizing voice. She has also played shows with folks such as Entrance, the Microphones, Viking Moses, Old Time Relijun and her brother Joe Grimm's project the Wind Up Bird. Larkin Grimm is a very special artist and
Harpoon is a truly magical recording." (Secret Eye press release)
Mike Tamburo http://www.miketamburo.com/ http://www.myspace.com/miketamburo The acoustic guitar isnâ??t a new instrument to Mike Tamburo. It was his main axe, as it were, in his former outfits, Meisha and Arco Flute Foundation, though
Beating of the Rewound Son, Tamburoâ??s solo debut, leaves his playing rather starkly unadorned by sidemen or accompaniment. Tamburoâ??s no purist, he has no qualms with regard to augmenting his pieces with other instruments, or making use of nontraditional techniques in his playing, but his emergence as a solo artist marks a turn into more folk-tinged territory for the guitarist. Comparisons in his playing can be made to the usual suspects, Fahey, Basho-Junghans, and their ilk, but Tamburo isnâ??t a straight disciple of any of the prevalent deities of acoustic guitardom.
"Adamâ??s Fruit Temptation" not only begins the disc, but itâ??s the albumâ??s highlight. Tamburo weaves expertly some of his best melodic work with subtle atmospherics and washes of delay. Itâ??s a study in well-executed transitions, a mini-suite that, while it contains a good deal of Tamburoâ??s most traditional fare, easily deters boredom or monotony. The tracks that follow sometimes diverge from this path, with Tamburoâ??s more experimental penchants taking hold. "Kremlin Krab" loops and layers piano in a shimmering weave of swimming layers. Minimalism plays a part in Tamburoâ??s work as well, though drones arenâ??t a prominent feature of his work, his use of looping and electronics touches, at times, on a more active repetition. Tamburo proves more than once that heâ??s more than capable at folk forms and melodic constructions, so the inclusion of effects, electronics, keyboard, and other interlopers into his clean unaccompanied tone are surely not there to mask his playing or muddy the waters. The albumâ??s largely successful avoidance of excess sentimentality is owed, in part, to these more varied stretches; theyâ??re also a handy way to inject variety into the disc. Tamburoâ??s clever arrangement of even his most straightforward segments provides for stimulating listening, though
Beating of the Rewound Son is never so heady it dispenses with its emotional heft.
In a musical climate that seems hungry for acoustic guitarists who arenâ??t afraid to veer from the beaten path (see continued reverence of Fahey, the emergence of Basho-Junghans into the American consciousness, and the exaltation with which Sir Richard Bishopâ??s last disc was received), Mike Tamburo, in
Beating of the Rewound Son, has made an intelligent and impressive debut. (Fake Jazz)
Pepi Ginsberg http://www.myspace.com/pepiginsberg "After hearing Pepi Ginsberg's songs I can say, with conviction, that a true poet is among us. Culling from the vast histories of blues and folk music, with a bent for experimentation, Pepi takes her knowledge of language and carves a picture of reality that is nuanced and profound, born of abstraction, yet delivered in a way that any can know it. Sharp, decisive and wise beyond her years, Ginsberg moves freely between the world she has created and the world we live in, maintaining a vision that guides our understanding. Her words satiate while her voice emanates from within, conjuring the spirits of jazz and blues singers from decades past, with a strength and beauty that nails you to your seat. Pepi Ginsberg's songs demand us to hear them, speaking with a fresh tongue, truths of this generation." (Gregory Best)
Pepi Ginsberg was raised in the woods of the northeast by her Canadian mother, Karyn Issa, an artist and teacher, and later her stepfather. She spent her summers painting with her Russian grandmother and singing songs about mosquitoes to her grandfather's boisterous accordion. She attended the local public high school, occasionally acting in school plays, and writing/editing for the literary magazine, a post that Truman Capote once filled. Ginsberg moved to Philadelphia and made her days through further schooling writing poems and drawing in the back of lecture halls. During the fall mornings of her 19th year she penned the novella No Name, Colorado which may or may not be lost. Eventually disenchanted by in the university scene, Ginsberg found herself with the artists and musicians haunting Philadelphias warehouses and parks, putting on plays and dancing to gypsy music on Solstice eve. During this time Pepi wrote and recording her own songs, and by the following year compiled what would come to be her first album,
Orange Juice: Stephanie/Stephanie. Pepi moves along the parabola, understanding the craft of song to be a glorious and perpetual nearness to the thing it is, that which we are and can be. Pepi's songs delve into lyrical territory as yet uncharted, her language and song structure both inventive and complex, giving voice and context to ideas not spoken to or addressed in far too long. In a time where you cant say it that way anymore Pepi Ginsberg makes it new. Ginsberg's songs are as durable as they are true.
Slim Castle http://www.myspace.com/slimcastle Sounds that aren't scared of beauty but have some grit and backbone; something like Charles Bronson's early, furtive watercolors...
The Castle Out in Harsh West Texas is the second Sockets release from Slim Castle. We are releasing a limited first edition of 40 signed copies with hand-crafted cases by the artist. A lot of them are inside scooped-out hardcover books, like how they used to hide guns in movies. The sound of this one is all texture fetish, syncopated sandpaper. Its scratchier, dustier...A sun-scorched landscape dotted with sportscar carcasses. Bouquets of bleached longhorns. Desert light spilling through the shotgun-perforated door of a Pontiac. Harsh sounds of a West Texas dream.
Upcoming 611 Florida events: 9/16: Free Folk Phantasmagory III w/ Little Howlin' Wolf/Ilya Monosov & Preston Swirnoff (Eclipse)/PG Six/Christina Carter (of Charalambides)/Max Ochs (Takoma)/Shawn David McMillen (of Ash Castles on the Ghost Coast)/Fern Knight (VHF)/Lida Husik (Shimmy Disc)/anti:clockwise (of Tono-Bungay)/Neg-Fi (NYC noise)/The Big Huge (Secret Eye)/Death Chants (Time Lag)/Kohoutek
10/13: Ting Ting Jahe/Ben Owen/MPLD/Radio_Ruido/Radio 4x4/sc.all
11/21: Charalambides/Kohoutek/The Cutest Puppy i the World
12/2: Peter Wright (New Zealand psych/drone, Last Visible Dog)/Antony Milton (New Zealand psych/drone, Last Visible Dog)/Insect Factory
