Clavius Productions presents two very unique NYC art/music ensembles:
Thursday, July 20
611 Florida Ave NW
http://www.claviusproductions.org 8pm, $5 suggested donation
call 202-360-9739 for info
BYOB!
Kohoutek (DC improv polka sludge)
Skeletons & The Kings of All Cities (experimental pop from NYC, Ghostly/Shinkoyo)
Eagle-Ager (multimedia performance art from NYC)
Kohoutek http://www.claviusproductions.org/kohoutek/ Improvised psych with noise tendencies and abstraction. Sonic explorations in any combination of drums, percussion, guitar, bass, laptop, homemade electronics, field recordings, chord organ, and household appliances.
"...we were stoked to get our mitts on this self-released CD-R of smoke-blowing, heavy noise-inflected psychdrone. There's two tracks on hand, both instrumentals, with a total half hour running time: the opener, "The Burning Sea," starts off by invoking some gorgeous, bleary psychedelic noodling and skittery improv percussion with vaporous Middle Eastern melodies and twinkling chimes in the background, then slowly builds into a pulsating acid drone rock mantra akin to Skullflower hijacking Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold", throbbing single-note bass and muscular drumming laying down a limestone foundation for burning feedback-soaked guitar action to get down in an ocean of reverb. The second track, "Four More Years," is a swarm of helicopter electronics and rapid-fire improv drumming, a crackling free noise jam shooting sparks onto basement walls, sleigh bells and snakey bass drones squirming through a blizzard of buzzing cables and oscillating tones and noisy skree. These jams are righteous drone/improv/noise workouts, can't wait to hear more from Kohoutek. There's definitely much to like here for fans of Skullflower, Can, Acid Mothers Temple, etc. Comes packaged in an exquisitely handpainted/screened wallet, with the CD-R itself blasted with spraypaint." (Crucial Blast)
Skeletons & The Kings of All Cities http://www.ghostly.com/1.0/artists/skeletons/index.shtml http://www.shinkoyo.com/ http://www.myspace.com/skeletonsandthegirlfacedboys As a co-founding member of Shinkoyo records, Matt Mehlan retains the label??s core ideals of collaboration, experimentation, and unpredictability with his Skeletons project. Beginning in Oberlin, Ohio as a solo act with help from an eclectic cast of collaborators (classically-trained trombonists, punk rock drummers, a junkyard boy's choir), Skeletons has now settled comfortably into its adult body, having established the full-time band The Girl-Faced Boys (Seve, Johnny, Jason, and Carson) and forming an alliance with Ghostly. In addition to appearances at the 2004 CMJ and 2005 SxSW festivals, the group has lent live support to TV On The Radio, The Unicorns, VHS Or Beta, Animal Collective, Holger Czukay (of Can), Jackie O' Motherfucker, and Twig Harper. A major US tour is planned for summer following the release of the LP Git.
"Apparently, more interesting artists have lived in Oberlin, Ohio than the tiny city has streets.
Life and the Afterbirth is the best of the Oberlin-based Shinkoyo label??s first three intriguing releases.
Skeletons is one man, Matt Mehlan, an Oberlin Conservatory student who has a lazy voice, an ear for arranging and a knack for penning dark, subversive lyrics. First, about that lazy, breathy voice: if impersonating the Sea and Cake??s Sam Prekop is a good way to get dates, well, let??s just say that Mehlan is having a very nice senior year. Like Prekop, Mehlan strains to hit unreachable high notes, but never so much that he sounds anything but laissez-faire. He also shares Prekop??s tendency to let the instrumental parts of his songs guide his vocals, rather than the other way around. Like the Sea and Cake??s songs, Skeletons' pieces usually seem to stroll in no particular direction, with instruments often loosely following a drum groove;
Life and the Afterbirth isn??t for listeners who hate when music isn't crisp and compact.
And there, finally, is where the Prekop/Sea and Cake similarities end, and where Skeletons really starts to get interesting.
Life and the Afterbirth is far more lush than any Prekop project I??m aware of. Mehlan employs My Bloody Valentine-style distortion, noise, fusion-inspired Fender Rhodes doodlings, IDM-like textures and washes of ambient sound, all with such skill that it??s amazing that they were all done by the same person. He??s also ready with more traditional instruments, including some fine (uncredited) string and horn parts. The self-titled final track even ends with a handclap-accompanied campfire singalong.
Is it a singalong about love, or brotherhood, or campfires? No way: ??Get up to the sky, get down in the ground/Get back in your mother??s stomach.? Mehlan??s lyrics contain plenty of perverse ruminations that make the bizarre observations that surround them seem even stranger: ??My friend, he drowned in his own vomit/It was Bulls versus Celtics/This is the part of the story where your first pet dies/It was Jordan versus Bird/Pass out the boxing gloves/Take all your clothes off/Let??s fight about who wants to die more.? Lyrics like these make the apparent placidity of much of the music on the album seem curious and subversive.
Life and the Afterbirth would benefit from more direct pop hooks, and Skeletons could surely include some without interrupting Mehlan??s low-key style. That aside,
Life works on many different levels: Mehlan??s odd and vivid lyrics give the album a feeling of mystery that unifies its already-appealing parts. Skeletons and Shinkoyo are an artist and label to watch." (Charlie Wilmoth, Dusted)
Eagle-Ager http://www.eagleager.com Eagle-Ager is a multimedia art team and sculpture band:
Charlotte Gibbons - dancer/performance artist
Geoffrey Nosach - sculptor/performance artist
Stephen Cooper - composer/musician/performance artist
We all graduated from Suny Purchase in 2004 and we like to read heady books. If you see us you will likely see cardboard costumes, electronic music, ritualistic actions, absurd set peices, scrap wood, blood, fancy pants, eagles, toy firetrucks, florescent Jesus figurines, thumbs, paintings of mountains, and maybe styrofoam starfish suits.
Eagle-Ager is a performance art team that is based in NYC, who have been playing around the NYC area for the past three years. The work is a mix of puppetry, performance art, and electronic music. Influences include cartoons, art history, ancient rituals, eerie disappointments, paganism, horror, fun, simulations, questions, and nature/culture conflicts. Eagle-Ager's art team and sculpture band will be touring for the first time in July 2006. The works will likely consist of sets made of scrap wood, junky trashy puppets, cardboard man suits, ritualistic actions, birds and snakes, paintings of mountains, styrofoam starfishes, and thumbs way up, all working to construct a socially relevant absurdist profundity. Eagle-Ager strives to be a totally portable art band. The art world goes the way of the capitalist elitist. The working class shaman's reaction to this is a shared passion for cheap, powerful artwork.
