Clavius Productions presents the fourth annual Free Folk Phantasmagory, an autumnal celebration of improvised psychedelia, noise and various folk forms, including the first area appearance since 2002 by legendary Can vocalist Damo Suzuki:
Saturday, October 20
611 Florida Ave
http://www.claviusproductions.org 202-360-9739
$5 suggested donation
music starts at 4pm!
BYOW!
Douglas Ferguson (Austin, experimental solo guitar)
Venison Whirled (Austin, ex-Brave Combo/ST-37, experimental solo percussion)
Jonathan Horne (Austin, experimental solo guitar)
Jason Simon (DC, singer/guitarist of Dead Meadow)
Chris Grier (DC, solo experimental guitar, mem. of To Live and Shave in L.A./Ultimate VAG)
Aunt Dracula (Philly psych trio in the vein of Animal Collective/Excepter)
Great White Jenkins (Richmond folk-psych quartet)
Jorge Martins (Baltimore, mem. of Harrius, solo experimental guitar)
Eric Franklin (Baltimore, solo theremin/strings/percussion)
Google Earth (Richmond percussion/Gameboy ensemble)
Stymphalian Birds & White Stags (DC experimental solo bass, a la Thrones)
Twilight Memories of the Three Suns (DC improv psych/noise collective)
Facemat (DC improv psych/noise, mem. of Kohoutek)
True Womanhood (DC folk-psych duo)
Douglas Ferguson http://www.distilleryrecords.com/ http://www.myspace.com/douglasferguson Douglas Ferguson creates psychedelic music with ambient mood-defining textures, incorporating homemade electronic creations into layers of guitar and feedback. Has played with Rick Reed, Book of Shadows, Primordial Undermind, Tom Carter, Rubble, etc.
Venison Whirled http://www.myspace.com/venisonwhirled Venison Whirled is Lisa Cameron (ST-37, the Devil Bat, JSAS, Three Day Stubble). She uses feedback, amplified percussion, and room frequencies to methodically roast your brain with rhythmic oscillations and subterranean murmuring. Has played shows with Tom Carter, Laundry Room Squelchers, The Skaters, Susan Alcorn, Pengo, Rotten Piece, Tarantism, Pigs in the Ground, Arachnid Arcade, etc.
Venison Whirled (aka Venison World, named after some godawful storefront deer ??processing?? shack) is the solo concern of Lisa Cameron, current ST37/3 Day Stubble trap beater and ex of Glass Eye, Brave Combo, and many other Texas bands not likely to come to mind while listening to this. Given all the stuff I hear with its intensity diluted by excessive gear-shifting and pink noise digiverb, this is a blast of pure white light. There are three tracks, all improvised to tape with minimal instrumentation. First on deck is "Invocation," an unassuming beginning of Tibetan bowl/bass/bell slithering hum akin to some of the inward moan of contemporary sun gazers like Pelt or Skaters. Nice, but merely a foreshadowing of the telescopic majesty of "Crossroads," a 16-minute ray of power electronics produced by a contact mic stuck to a busted drum. Sort of like a slow motion psychedelic earthquake on planet snare. The focus of this is simply brutal and you??re just about guaranteed to be mopping drool from the corners of your mouth by minute 12. Last is "Yum," a heaping pile of single bass feedback that is what I thought Sunn o))) was going to sound like before I??d actually heard them. Amazingly enough I saw Lisa do a bunch of this stuff live 4-5 years ago and can happily report that it was fully formed even then. Just goes to show the health benefits of being embedded in the central TX cultural vacuum (and I oughta know, drifting from there to the land of rarefied hepcats)... (Volcanic Tongue)
Jonathan Horne http://www.myspace.com/hugthemosrite Jonathan Horne plays guitar and has worked with Tetuzi Akiyama, Glenn Branca, Nokie Edwards (yes, THAT Nokie Edwards), Kurt Newman, Sandy Ewen, Carl Smith, Jeheri Signfelds Atropheed Sac, Nick Hennies, Chris Cogburn, Iron Kite, Tom Carter, many more.
"I want my guitar to sound like the Ventures' '64 Mosrite sound or like an overblown sax, percussion, or a windowharp. Still can't do the birds outside just intonality, but I've had the garbage truck down since middle school."
Aunt Dracula http:www.myspace.com/auntdracula
AUNT DRACULA is a three-piece psychedelic, "all over the map brilliant," pop trio from Philadelphia, PA that consists of Scott Daly (vocals, guitars, samples, autoharp, kalimba, chimes, percussion), Dan Pell (percussion, vocals, keyboards, samples) and Ash Andrien guitars, samples, and vocals). Often compared to bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Animal Collective and the Velvet Underground, Aunt Dracula combines bubbling, slippery electronics, brutal polyrythyms and shimmery, rippling guitar textures to great effect. Top it off with their knack for vocal acrobatics and you end up with a live performance that is nothing short of a spectacle. Tapping into genres such as Tropicalia, folk, punk, free jazz, minimalisim, no wave, and electronica, Aunt Dracula's feverish stage energy and wild, yet lock-tight experimental arrangements have been garnering a steady stream of buzz since their first performances earlier this year. The band will be wrapping up a 25-plus date tour in support of their debut full length, Face Peel due out on Uniform Records in the US on November 6th. Often incorporating visual projections or performance art, live shows are always a surprise and have in the past included surreal guests such as a waffle-making werewolf.
"Rock shows are boring. Especially when it's your job to watch them. When you try to catch a few four-band bills a week, things like a quick soundcheck or a half-hour space between sets feels like a cruel eternity, and a broken string is a slap in the face.
Even once a band is up and running, a certain tedium tugs at the attention span of even the most dedicated showgoer no matter how solid the songs. (Blame beer, but only partly.)
Which is why it's a treat when a band -?? especially a Philly band playing to a home crowd -?? does something interesting, like invade the audience with handclaps and footstomps (Hoots & Hellmouth), put on a puppet show (Alphabet Army) or cover old video-game tunes (the late Chromelodeon).
Or in the case of rookie freak-pop trio Aunt Dracula, have a wolfman make waffles.
I had my doubts when a man in a full wolf suit (right down to the feet) handed me a soggy, room-temperature waffle. But other people were eating them, and I'm a sucker for peer pressure. Even the bar staff reluctantly tried them, perhaps won over by the wordless lycanthrope's slick body language.
It's a nifty trick, I thought, bringing Eggos to a show. Then I noticed the wolf making a fresh batch stageside. Aunt Dracula's nebulous songs are plenty weird on their own, but watching their lupine mascot pour a pitcher of batter into a waffle iron took it to the next level. I wasn't sure what to concentrate on: the band, the wolf or the computer-made projections on the wall above them.
Young bands often use these feats to snare the crowd's fickle attention, shelving them once they've earned a decent reputation and a reliable reserve of confidence like a kid growing up and losing faith in monsters and imaginary friends. It may seem amateurish to resort to costumes and freebies, but it's kind of awesome too, in small doses.
If nothing else, it keeps recognize the songs." (Doug Wallen)
The Great White Jenkins http://www.tgwj.com/ http://www.myspace.com/thegreatwhitejenkins Matt White - guitar, Rhodes, vocals
Andy Jenkins - guitar, wind chimes, vocals
Nate Mathews - double bass, vocals
Pinson Chanselle - drums, percussion
Formed by high school pals Matt White and Andy Jenkins in 2001, TGWJ is an ensemble of upright bass, guitars, Rhodes piano, drums and wind chimes. TGWJ is four boys who live together in a house and listen to Aretha Franklin in the kitchen while making popcorn on the stove. TGWJ sings some gospel-folk, polyrhythmic, southern-rock, avant-swamp songs and often plays with a horn section called the Hollywood Cemetery Horns. TGWJ plays shows with Akron/Family, The Clientele, Of Montreal, Decibully, Half-Handed Cloud, Marissa Nadler and Skeletons & the Girl Faced Boys, and lots of other lovely bands and recorded a CD called Where Is Thy Sting? in 2005. Living in a smaller southern city, free from the distractions of a major music scene, they are focused entirely on making the best new music possible.
In 2007, TGWJ will release a new EP entitled Mussel Souls and embark on a semi-national tour.
??Where Is Thy Sting? is one of the year's principal Southeast surprises. A cohesive album of mid-fi acoustic ballads, Sting implies deliberate understatement on songs fleshed with Dixieland horns, backwater three-part harmonies and Van Dyke Parks-meets-Smog arrangements.? (The Independent Weekly)
"In a digital world, where arranging is becoming a lost art, Matthew White is not just keeping this tradition alive, he is expanding it. Following in the footsteps of Duke Ellington, Gil Evans and Julius Hemphill, Matthew is embracing this very American aesthetic while pushing in to the future." (Steven Bernstein)
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Sunday, October 21
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com 202-462-3213
$8, 21+, doors at 9pm
Sic Alps (San Francisco garage-psych, Animal Disguise Recordings, ex-Ropers/Henry's Dress)
Violet (DC, solo playback mechanisms, Zeromoon Records)
Guy de Bievre (Belgium, avant-garde composer/Phill Niblock collaborator/experimental solo lap steel and electronics, performing "And Above All")
Sequence Chair (DC/Philly improv psych, percussion/electronics/tapes ensemble)
Sic Alps http://www.sicalps.com/ "What can I say about this band without sounding too ridiculous or stoned? Ah well, here it goes...this stuff just has that sound, man. A timeless breath of aged freshness with a heavy vintage feel. We could call it rock, psychedelic rock, lo-fi garage pop, but when you start labeling something, the words start to supersede the sound. Just flip this on, sit back, listen for yourself and breathe it in. That's it, the sound -- it's like taking a deep breath. An honest breath of timelessness, filtered through the delay and echo of the past. A modern psychedelic classic. Honestly, it's hard to tell when this was recorded. Early-mid '60s, '70s? Something about this band...OK, enough of the voice of non-reason, I'll just tell it straight. This is the debut album by Sic Alps, recorded in 2004-5 and now getting the proper treatment courtesy of Animal Disguise. Sic Alps are the duo of Mike Donovan (ex-Ropers) and Matthew Hartman (Cat Power, Coachwhips, Total Shutdown, ex-Henry's Dress) but at the time of this recording they were a three-piece: Mike Donovan (Big Techno Werewolves, Folding Cassettes label head), Bianca Sparta (Erase Errata), and Adam Stonehouse (The Hospitals). This is their 'lost' masterpiece and defining document of modern garage-psych-rock circa 2004 San Francisco."
Violet http://www.zeromoon.com/violet/ J. Surak (aka Violet) is a veteran experimenter from Washington, DC. Since the early 1980s, he has explored the netherworld between improvisation and composition to create something between the two auditory realms of experimental music.
Since his early recordings under the name -1348-, Surak established himself in the international hometaper underground network of the 1980s, releasing tapes on the his own Watergate Tapes imprint, along with such artists as Controlled Bleeding, F/i, and Kapotte Muziek; and collaborating with such icons as Zan Hoffman, Crawling with Tarts, and John Hudak. At the same time Surak performed with the notorious DC area industrial band New Carrollton.
The 1990s found Surak living and performing in Russia. There he formed the group Sovmestnoye Predpriyatiye which created site specific works using found materials and sounds.
At the turn of the millenium Surak created a new duo, V. which quickly blew out of the its initial framework of free improv into a unit that pushed the limits of composition, constantly reinventing itself with each recording and performance. After 11 albums in 2 years, the duo disbanded, leaving Surak to further continue explorations under his solo project called Violet. Found objects, microcassettes, damaged cds, prepared acoustic instruments, and old record players are the tools of choice. Violet has collaborated with such audio and visual artists as Rebecca C. Adams, Alexei Borisov, Frans De Waard, Betrand Denzler, Michael Gendreau, Andrey Kiritchenko, Jacob Kirkegaard, Kotra, Francisco Lopez, James June Schnieder, Andreas Tilliander and many others. Since 2002 Violet has released numerous recordings in a variety of formats and has performed across the USA and Europe. Surak also produces the annual Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music in Washington DC.
Guy de Bievre http://www.guydebievre.org/ http://www.myspace.com/guydebievre Guy De Bièvre (Brussels, 1961)
Self-taught composer, arranger, musician, sound engineer and sound designer.
I seem to have decided to quit writing (late) 20th century music in 1999. Before that my music has been commissioned and/or performed by musicians such as Guy Klucevsek, Seth Josel, Anne La Berge, The Bozza Mansion Project, Gene Carl, Annette Sachs, Zivatar Trio and various local and international organizations. Polka Dots and Laser Beams was recorded by Guy Klucevsek and the Ain't Nothin' But a Polka Band and issued on CD on the Japanese Eva label and the Italian Pierrot Lunaire label; other works have been recorded and broadcasted by the Flemish Public Radio. In 2002 a collaboration with Phill Niblock was published on the Ringtones CD (Touch).
Currently, after a long period of inactivity as such, I am again active as a performer (microphone, guitar and computer), which recently issued in collaborations with composers Phill Niblock, Tom Hamilton and Peter Zummo.
As a composer/performer I now focus on experiments which combine computer, live electronics, acoustics and standard arrangement formats.
Next to all this I am freelancing as a sound engineer, sound designer and advisor, microcontroller developer for various organizations and artists and I am the curator of the audio art series Earwitness at CCNOA (Center for Contemporary Non Objective Art).
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Monday, October 22
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com 202-462-3213
$12, 21+, doors at 9pm
Damo Suzuki (of CAN) w/ Kohoutek (DC improv psych ensemble, Music Fellowship/Sockets)
The Sounds of Kaleidsocope (DC/Philly fuzzed-out psych-pop, ex-Ropers/Lilys)
Carlos Giffoni/John Wiese/Spencer Yeh (improv noise electronics/violin/vocals trio, mem. of Monotract/Bastard Noise/Burning Star Core)
Damo Suzuki http://www.damosuzuki.de/ Damo Suzuki, legendary singer with the German krautrock group Can, tours the US for the first time in four years.
An expatriate street poet inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Damo Suzuki spent the better part of the late 1960s wandering through Europe, and while busking outside a cafe in Munich in May of 1970 was discovered by Can members Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit; asked to replace the group's former frontman Malcolm Mooney, Suzuki joined them onstage that very night, making his recorded debut later that same year on the LP Soundtracks. With Suzuki in the lineup, Can produced its most enduring and innovative work, including classic LPs like 1971's Tago Mago, 1972's Ege Bamayasi and 1973's Future Days. His freeform, often improvised lyrics, sung in no one particular language, gelled with Can's rolling, psychedelic sound.
Damo returned to music in 1983, and currently leads what is known as Damo Suzuki's Network -- as he tours, he performs live improvisational music with various local musicians ("Sound Carriers") from around the world, thus building up a global 'network' of musician collaborators.
This will be Damo Suzuki's first tour of the US since 2003. The Sound Carriers in DC will be Kohoutek (Scott Verrastro, Scott Allison, Craig Garrett, Vic Salazar, Damian Languell, Damien Taylor) with C. Spencer Yeh.
Kohoutek http://www.claviusproductions.org/kohoutek/ Improvised psychedelia ranging from harsh noise to delicate melodies, inspired by the likes of Can/Amon Duul 2/Agitation Free/Krautrock, Acid Mothers Temple/Ghost/Japanese psych, Bardo Pond, Dead C, Skullflower, Trad Gras Och Stenar, Sun Ra/Art Ensemble/free jazz, Sonic Youth, MBV/shoegaze, drone, doom/sludge metal, etc. Textures and mood over technical proficiency by an ever-evolving line-up.
Some new praise from Aquarius Records regarding our soon-to-be-out-of-print New Milk collaboration CDR with Soil Sing Through Me:
"Second release we've been able to get our hands on from Soil Sing Through Me, a sort of underground freak-folk supergroup featuring members of Feathers and Sunburned Hand Of The Man, who for this disc have teamed up with DC outfit Kohoutek for an evening of communal music making. The results should be no surprise, a druggy blown-out meandering laid-back psychedelic folk free-for-all. Blasted, stoned, groovy and fucked up.
You can definitely hear more SHOTM than Feathers, or maybe it's Kohoutek who we had never heard anyway, but this is not so much folky as sort of spaced-out and trippy. Simple propulsive tribal rhythm jams and simple stripped-down rock beats are the framework for these inner-space excursions, wah guitar and slivers of silvery feedback drift to-and-fro, melodies are spread out over the proceedings like a tattered old blanket, there seem to be vocals too, but they are minimal and are usually buried under a ton of FX and psychedelic shimmer. Keyboards buzz and huge spacious expanses offer the players plenty of space to stir up subtle bits of percussive clatter, glistening flurries of blurry buzz, strange spidery little melodies all tangled up amidst the stumbling drums and rumbling bass. This definitely has a Dead C vibe, but then what improvised noise-rock psych jam doesn't? No good ones, that's for sure.
The usual suspects will eat this up. Sunburned Hand obsessives for sure need this, as do all you free-folk noise-rock cd-r freaks...LIMITED TO 200 COPIES, most likely already out-of-print. Packaged in the instantly recognizable skull and crossbones Wabana purple painted digipak."
and from Volcanic Tongue:
"New instalment of Wabana's limited to 200 CD-R series is a big band collaborative shot from these two North American psych/drug units, with Kohoutek go up against a Soil Sing Through Me line-up that features Ron Schneiderman of Sunburned Hand Of The Man. Some of the backwoods garage style of the attack has a nice Crazy Horse/Savage Sons Of Ya Ho Wha meets ballroom Kosmiche feel, with plenty of serpentine string action and upper atmosphere analogue tweaking. There's even some shots of Miles '70s electro/brass confusion, albeit transmuted in a similar style to Sunburned Hand's acid funk. All laid down with a great recorded-through-a-cheap-stereo feel."
New album coming out on Music Fellowship any day now...
(The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope http://www.myspace.com/thesoundsofkaleidoscope (The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope are a noise-pop band, begun by Damien C. Taylor in late 1995. After years of light touring, perpetual lineup changes and a slew of four-track cassettes, Damien was joined by brothers John Dugan on drums (Chisel, Piper Cub, Heartworms, Perfect Panther, etc) and Mike Dugan on bass (the Beans, Thee Snuff Project) for a July 2000 reording session at Kurt Heasley's SoundeSpeake Studio. These demos led to what would form the current core of the band, Alex Hacker (Lilys, the Ropers, the Still) on drums and Douglas Bailey (the Ropers, the Justines, the Still) on bass and harmonies and yielded the band's first two EPs, 2001's These Are... and 2003's Can and Do What They Will.
2003 saw the addition of Edward Donohue (the Carlsonics) on rhythm guitar and Brian Kalkbrenner (the Failed Henry Winkler Pilot) on Farfisa and percussion, and found them recording their first full-length recording From Where You Were to How You Got There. In early 2004, Michael Hirst joined, adding more guitar; Edward left later that year.
Since their inception, (The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope have collaborated with and provided music for numerous artists, art collectives, and artworks. In 2002, (The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope provided music for the Washington, DC opening of Ledelle Moe's "Dogs" installation, co-billed a record release party with an installation by notorious mixed-media art collective Decatur Blue at the Signal 66 gallery in 2003, and performed at the Hirshhorn Gallery's opening for Douglas Gordon's 24 Hour Psycho event.
Though the band still practice a light touring regiment, they have favorably shared stages along the East Coast with Luna, the Fall, Lilys, Canyon, Relay, Swirlies, the Tyde, Velocity Girl, Black Ox Orkestar, Mazarin, J. Mascis and the Fog, Weird War, Kohoutek, Grey Daturas, and Miminokoto, and have provided support and backing duties for Cotton Casino, formerly of Japanese psych outfit Acid Mothers Temple.
(The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope's new album From Where You Were to How You Got There will be available in July 2005 through Alex's own Hackshop Records. They are currently preparing new materal to be recorded early next year, and planning a tour for late summer 2005.
"Imagine that Wire, post-154, had not broken up but rather agreed to become a backing band for a coherent Syd Barrett and attempted to record pop music. If they gave it a good go it would have sounded something like this. The band combined some of the mood and sound of early Pink Floyd with the minimalist guitar tones of Sonic Youth and Wire."
Carlos Giffoni http://www.carlosgiffoni.com/ http://www.myspace.com/carlosgiffoni Carlos Giffoni is a Venezuelan artist who resides in the New York City area. Carlos has been applying various types of synthesis, extreme modular manipulation, rewired instruments, and live re-sampling to the composition of electronic music pieces, as well as improvising live with local and international experimental musicians; he is currently applying digital technologies to create interactive pieces that combine sound and visuals, using java applets, computer vision techniques, Open GL and audio synthesis with C++. Carlos is also the organizer of the No Fun Fest, a 3-day event in Brooklyn showcasing respected sound artists from all over the world.
John Wiese http://www.john-wiese.com/ John Wiese is a solo artist and serial collaborator from Los Angeles, California.
His ongoing projects include LHD and Sissy Spacek, with plenty of freelance work with many artists as diverse as Sunno))), Wolf Eyes, Merzbow, Dave Phillips, Smegma, Kevin Drumm, Cattle Decapitation, and C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core). He has toured extensively throughout the world, covering Europe, Scandinavia and
Australia as a member of Sunno))), the UK as part of the Free Noise tour (a tentet including Evan Parker, C. Spencer Yeh, Yellow Swans, etc.), the United States alongside Wolf Eyes, and recently performed in the 52nd Venice Biennale with artist Nico Vascellari.
C. Spencer Yeh http://www.dronedisco.com/ http://www.myspace.com/cspenceryeh Cincinnati native C. Spencer Yeh has been releasing records under the Burning Star Core moniker since 1993. A classically trained violinist, Yeh is the center of the amorphous free noise group whose past collaborators have included: Comets on Fire, Hototogisu, Chris Corsano and Thurston Moore. Operator Dead... finds BxC as an extremely loud four-piece who waste no time and get right down to business creating massive, looping, head-splitting drones and titanic walls of sound. Calculated and controlled; the intensity builds and builds only to crash down into free-noise, psychedelic fury -- sounding something like the universe imploding in on itself, only captured inside a run-down Kentucky recording space. (Forced Exposure)
