November Shows
Barcelona! Paris! Berlin! Plus the return of Power Loom and special friends
It’s been a while since I’ve played a show— around two months? As I write that, I realize that’s not very long at all but I’d gotten used to the rhythm I’d fallen into since this past spring, of slow and steady touring. This changed abruptly as I began a very intense period of work in my extremely glamorous other profession as a sound engineer. It’s been an interesting autumn on the other side of the sound system but I’m looking forward to having the chance to play music again—new music, even!—over the coming weeks.
Friday, 14 November: Barcelona
This Friday, I’ve been invited to Rarefacció taking place at Hangar. This will be my first time performing in Spain and second time ever visiting Barcelona. In January 2020, I was there doing sound for Carla dal Forno. I can remember very clearly feeling like I’d really figured life out at this point— I was getting paid to travel with my friends making music… everything was possible… the future was wide open… hahahahahaha. Obviously that year ended up going a bit differently than anticipated. However, Carla remains to this day my absolute ideal boss so TRY AND KEEP UP, other artists/theaters/orchestras/venues.
Anyways I am excited for the show! Especially because I’m playing with top dogs Hugo Esquinca, Roc Jiménez de Cisneros, and the terrifically-named Coolkid2000.
Thursday, 27 November: Berlin
On 27 November, which happens to be Thanksgiving in the US, I will be debuting a new audiovisual piece made in collaboration with Kelsey Isaacs. The music is from my next record, which is coming early next year and I am sure you will hear more about shortly unless you unsubscribe from this newsletter. HOWEVER I will share some insider information here: over the last decade, the more intensively I worked on creating radio programs, the less I was interested in using vocals and language in my own music. This balance started shifting again last year, though, as I started winding down Deep Puddle and thinking about how to reintegrate my experiments with narration and sound collage into the format of “MUSIC” rather than “RADIO.” This has manifested in a collection of songs I recorded last autumn at Sternhagen Gut, and I will be playing them live for the first time at Silent Green. Even though the music is based around the human voice, it’s strange and complicated and maybe not especially engaging as a solo performance (or maybe it is? come find out for yourself), so I asked Kelsey to help translate it to the realm of the physical. I’m really into what we’ve come up with and can’t wait to put on a show.
This is also the second edition of PL Night at its new home of Silent Green, and bossman himself will be playing in the all-star trio/law firm of Behncke, Campbell & Klein. I’m sure it will be bonkers.
Saturday, 29 November: Paris
The last show of this small run is on 29 November in Paris. 12th Isle, South of North, and Tweak Soundsystem have put together a mini festival situation at Le Sample, with concerts from Vague Imaginaries, Miradasvacas, Material Things, and myself all afternoon then djs (Marathon Man, Elise, DJ Sundae and Fergus Clark) at night. I had a wonderful time in Paris earlier this year for Le Non Jazz and feel very lucky to be back so soon.
Another Important Event!
I would be REMISS not to share that Power Loom is back for its 20th edition (and fifth anniversary) on Friday, 28 November!!!!! For those who are new here or not Berlin residents, Power Loom is (was?) the series for solo electronic music Bridget Ferrill and I curated at KM28 beginning in 2020. Initially, due to circumstances of the pandemic, we focused on inviting local artists but gradually expanded our purview as travel restrictions eased up. Last summer we put Power Loom on pause due to our chaotic schedules and dysfunction when it came to finding funding BUT sometimes the stars align just so and thus it has transpired that we are BACK for a very special concert.
Performing will be two Rhode Island natives I hold near and dear: VOSP and Plastic Bag:
VOSP is the solo audio work of US artist Eric Grieshaber. Based in Providence, RI EG has been a contributing member of the east coast noise circuit in the US for over a decade, formerly developing heavy electronics as Soft Target and contributing to bizarre and obscure collaborative projects like Pool and Hand Of Food. With VOSP EG aims to create an auditory environment narrated by an existential temperament and driven by experiments in textural intricacy. A blend of field recording techniques, modular and computer synthesis result in a discomforting approach to concrete music and composition. From searing moments of intensely fried and damaged synth arrangements to near-silent, ghosted record entries, you may walk away from this work asking yourself for directions to the bottom of the ocean. See descriptors: gross, confusing, psychedelic, humor. VOSP has released material on labels such as Anathema Archive, Alien Passenger, and Hold. Additionally, EG also co-manages the small, US based abstract music label Hold with various releases by Asha Sheshadri, Ex Continent, Tongue Depressor, and others.
Plastic Bag is the weird tape noise/electronics offshoot project from Ren Schofield aka Container (Morphine, Alter, Spectrum Spools).
In addition to their solo music endeavors, Ren and Eric are members of the band (performance art troupe? improv ensemble? we can stick with “band”) Pool, alongside Alexander Tominsky aka “Chicken Man” and Christopher Forgues aka CF. They are all up there on the list of My Favorite Guys in the World. This is Eric’s first show in Berlin ever and Ren’s first time performing sans drum machine here in who knows how long… ever?? Basically, you should NOT miss it.
Doors open at 8pm and music starts at 8:30pm promptly.
One more thing:
On 26 November is my best friend (and aforementioned Power Loom co-conspirator) Bridget Ferrill’s release show for her new album Domschatzkammer, out now on Subtext. In a rare treat Liam Byrne will be joining Bridget to play her compositions for gamba live! Two other dynamic duos, Nick Klein/Angelo Harmsworth and Domingo Castillo/Jeremy Segal, will be performing as well. I am honored to announce that DJ Puddle will be providing interludes throughout the night. The show is at Bar Neun.
Sorry this was long. Is this way too much information? I thought it’s probably better to load up one letter than send a few shorter ones in a small time span… perhaps I am wrong though. Maybe I actually did not write ENOUGH! Just kidding. Please let me know what you think. I don’t want this to be annoying.
Coming up in the next dispatch: more about the record, scary bird music, getting carried away with multichannel situations, etc. Stay tuned.
Thanks for reading and listening.