The column of light is beamed directly into the sky. As if intended to summon some celestial visitor, the beam of photons is emitted from a circle of glowing discs, placed in the most unassuming place imaginable—a farmer’s field (don’t ET’s always land there?). This, however, isn’t some outtake from Close Encounters of the ThirdContinue reading “Paul Walde Subverts Nature as Culture”
Author Archives: Musicworks
Tristan Perich’s 1-Bit Symphony
Tristan Perich’s 1-Bit Symphony (2009–10) is an electronic composition in five movements on a single microchip housed in a CD jewel case. 1-Bit Symphony is not a recording in the traditional sense; it is a complete electronic circuit that literally performs its music once it is turned on. Programmed by the artist and assembled byContinue reading “Tristan Perich’s 1-Bit Symphony”
Matt Rogalsky
It’s supposed to be beautiful, but I can’t shake the feeling of there being something ominous about this. Imagine you’re approaching an installation by Matt Rogalsky, and down the hall you hear whispers of . . . what? something you recognize—or do you?—only to turn the corner and be greeted by the choir, like Children of theContinue reading “Matt Rogalsky”
Kyle Brenders
It’s 1999. The millennium is approaching, and Kyle Brenders, teenage saxophonist, is living the small-town Ontario version of the jazz life. He’s a member of the Bill Sherry Big Band, playing vintage swing tunes for dancers in the St. Thomas municipal arena, decades-old tunes echoing around the rafters. Brenders, who will ten years later jokeContinue reading “Kyle Brenders”
Urbanvessel and Juliet Palmer
Suit-tail-clad Juliet Palmer sits at the top of a stepladder in the middle of the diamond-shaped ring. Tonight, she’s not wearing her Canadian composer hat. Tonight, she’s a sports announcer. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Voice-Box!” she booms. You can almost imagine her clasping a vintage mike hanging from the ceiling. LeaningContinue reading “Urbanvessel and Juliet Palmer”
The Swedish Sound-Art Scene
Nadine Byrne Monochrome images of two young women—evidently sisters—stare out impassively from oval apertures that resemble Victorian cameo brooches. A gauzy ectoplasmic fabric oozes from their mouths while, in an aperture between them, their faces merge in a dreamlike blur to evoke the face of their late mother. The soundtrack to this absorbing five-minute plungeContinue reading “The Swedish Sound-Art Scene”
G20
“Down with capitalism, up with socialism!” This distorted-megaphone message is heard against a backdrop of African drumming, French resistance songs, and the constant whirr of helicopters overhead. The rally organizers direct the crowd, “Please walk slowly and peacefully out of the park and west toward City Hall, where we will start our speeches.” It isContinue reading “G20”
New Age Music—The Second Wave
I’m lying on the living-room floor. I’ve been like this for two hours, on my back, in the dark, headphones on. The record on the turntable is literally locked in its groove and producing a low-note drone that at times sounds like a whale’s moan or some sort of detuned, prepared trombone, if such aContinue reading “New Age Music—The Second Wave”
Richard Marsella
“Good evening and welcome to the Friendly Rich Show. My name is Friendly Rich. Thank you. And I’ll be your loyal host this evening. Behind me, my mystery-meat orchestra, the Lollipop People. No need to clap, kids. Tonight’s show is full of the good stuff. We got dirty crank calls, burlesque puppets, circus cartoons, aContinue reading “Richard Marsella”
The Combine Project
The Combine Project (2004-09) is a series of kinetic sound sculptures constructed from an abandoned 1964 Allis-Chalmers All-Crop combine harvester. I discovered it ten years ago on a property my wife and I purchased when we moved from Toronto to rural Ontario. The piece of outdated farm machinery was abandoned completely intact, and served asContinue reading “The Combine Project”