Exotic Hypnotic 2008: After Now

After Now: Nothing You've Heard Before @ University of Baltimore Student Center Performing Arts Theater, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Part of the Exotic Hypnotic series - in conjunction with Artscape.

Five by Andrew Cole

Jamie Schneider: oboe
Matthew Taylor: saxophone
Cameron Raecke: viola
Nathan Bontrager: cello

Seven Sketches of Beginning by Mark A. Lackey

Jennifer Holbrook: soprano
Mark Edwards: guitar

Manifestation by Samuel Burt

Ariana Lamon-Anderson: clarinet
Justin Nurin: trumpet
Neil Feather: guitaint
Paul Neidhardt: percussion, friction
Domenica Romagni: cello

With the three pieces on this program the After Now collective offered its clearest vision of what "nothing you've heard before" sounds like as composers assemble the disparate components and local resources in the realization of a creative voice.  This was most effectively realized by Samuel Burt in Manifestation as he made use of an "audio score" to unify a mixed ensemble of players from different traditions.  Players wore headphones and responded to what they heard as the sounds of Neil Feather's invented instrument, Paul Neidhardt's friction-centric percussion blended with the more "classically-inclined" wind and string players.  Even as the quality of this performance hinged heavily upon the ear-hand coordination of the performers the overall form and sound bore many of the characteristic ideas and humor of Samuel Burt.

With Five Andrew Cole realized the mileage and sonic horizons that open up within an aesthetic of reduced materials.  A handful of notes and a sense of stasis allowed the texture to blossom organically.  A direction that almost anticipates his move to the remote wilds of Wisconsin later this year.

With Seven Sketches of Beginning Mark A. Lackey turned inward toward his faith to realize the challenge of setting a wordless setting about the creation for voice and guitar.  (Two of the most challenging instruments to write for, in my opinion).  Holbrook and Edwards clearly had a feel for both the subject and the musicality of this writing.  

Exotic Hypnotic 2008: Audrey Chen and Takuro Mizuta Lippit

Audrey Chen and Takuro Mizuta Lippit (DJ Sniff) @ University of Baltimore Student Center Performing Arts Theater, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Part of the Exotic Hypnotic series - in conjunction with Artscape.

Audrey Chen: cello, voice, devices
Takuro Mizuta Lippit: turntables, electronics

Two passionate improvisers that bring the noise.  A rich, intoxicating noise slathered into every sonic crevice with gleeful abandon with ears for color and intensity.  

Audrey Chen's sonic vocabulary is by now a familiar part of the Baltimore experimental music landscape.  As familiar as her technique, extended technique and forceful lungs are, it's her collaborative prowess with different players that is so impressive as she matches and drives the intensity of any spontaneous creation.  

With this set she was well paired with Amsterdam-based turntablist DJ Sniff.  The balance between these two souls with fluctuating volume levels and focused manipulation of unstable sounds made for a dense texture of detailed sound.  The mesh of acoustic and electronic timbres ground into a singular sensibility.

Exotic Hypnotic 2008: The Peabody Consort

The Peabody Consort @ University of Baltimore Student Center Performing Arts Theater, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Part of the Exotic Hypnotic series - in conjunction with Artscape.

In a short set of Renaissance music for a quartet of string instruments (treble and bass viol de gamba, lute and pre-nineteenth century guitar) and voice the Peabody Consort gave polished performances of melodic, and often harmonically cyclical early works.  The vocalist was particularly stunning with her nearly improbable dead-on intonation.  The informal introductions of these pieces stood in sharp contrast to the rehearsed precision of the music itself.  The largely Italian and English works selected for this set suggests a wealth of varied pieces to be discovered from this era.  The degree of polish and attention to musical nuance offered by the Peabody Consort does enormous justice to these works that only encourages curiosity for both the instruments and compositions of this period.

Exotic Hypnotic 2008: The Bow Legged Gorilla

The Bow Legged Gorilla @ University of Baltimore Student Center Performing Arts Theater, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Part of the Exotic Hypnotic series - in conjunction with Artscape.

Bringing an urban slant to the one-man band, the Bow Legged Gorilla brings his considerable beatboxing chops into a mix that includes acoustic guitar, foot operated accordion, singing and song writing.  The interplay of words and vocal percussion adds a dimension to his groove-laden sound that allows occasional glimpses of poetry to emerge between the cracks.  The restless creative energy keeps things fresh as he stubbornly avoids folding the beats or the guitar parts into a supporting role.  Such restlessness occasionally lapsed into unfocused playing, but the hint of focus behind this sound showed enormous promise as the Gorilla hits his stride.  This was a good set that felt like an early glimpse of an emerging phenomenon.

Exotic Hypnotic 2008: Michael Formanek Ensemble

Michael Formanek Ensemble @ University of Baltimore Student Center Performing Arts Theater, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Part of the Exotic Hypnotic series - in conjunction with Artscape.

Michael Formanek: bass

John Dierker: reeds

Dave Ballou: trumpet

Marc Redman: drums

Marc Miller: guitar

Billed as "post-jazz improvised music," Michael Formanek merged the always excellent Microkingdom and 3081 groups for an expanded ensemble free improvisation tinged interpretation of a one page score.  The unifying conceptual underpinnings leaving plenty of interpretive space for fluid duos and trios to form between these creative players.  I have yet to encounter a Michael Formanek experience - live or recorded - that disappoints.  Often, his efforts are at the opposite extreme.  This performance was no exception.  Fluid, fluctuating and mature improvisation in the service of a larger sonic canvas that comes off as more than the mere sum of these impressive performers.  It's a brave post-jazz world unfolding before these ears and they are left thirsty for more.

Exotic Hypnotic 2008: Ric Royer

Ric Royer @ University of Baltimore Student Center Performing Arts Theater, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Part of the Exotic Hypnotic series - in conjunction with Artscape.

Ric Royer: story teller, medium
Bonnie Jones: devices

+ others

With an impressive sense of theatre and one of the more humorous pretenses for a freak-out - one that lulls the unsuspecting audience into an acceptance of deliberate craziness - Ric Royer took on the role of a medium as he led a performance/seance that twisted together the odd forces of the supernatural with primal, experimental expression.   Wearing a mask, and not saying a word, Bonnie Jones' array of dissembled guitar pedals became a machine for collecting and communicating with souls from beyond the veil.  Ric Royer began with a reading of a ghost story to set the tone for the performance.  He then sought to channel a writer from the beyond so that he might transmit what they have to say.  Royer claimed to be tapping into the spirit of Cormac McCarthy.  The fact that McCarthy is still alive adding to the absurdity.  With the help of two "volunteers" from the audience Royer wailed and screamed as he scribbled along a long roll of paper.  The "volunteers" offered their own interpretation of the scribbles in the form of various theatrics.  The streaming roll of paper was eventually streamed through the audience so that they might glimpse this amazing story being seanced into existence.

Exotic Hypnotic 2008: Thank You

Thank You @ University of Baltimore Student Center Performing Arts Theater, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Part of the Exotic Hypnotic series - in conjunction with Artscape.

Jeffrey McGrath

Michael Bouyaucas

Elke Wardlaw

The power noise trio of Thank You offered a groove-driven burst of kinetic release with odd touches and an ear for milking textural juice from the loud part of the sonic spectrum.  The result was rarely assaultive as the bed of anchoring drum beats holding together the multi-layered world of guitars, keyboards and voice was strangely pleasant in its details.  With a sound that was refreshingly unhinged from even a passing nod to song form this trio paints surrealist landscapes built outward from the raw sonic energy of post-punk detritus. 

Exotic Hypnotic 2008: Susan Alcorn

Susan Alcorn @ University of Baltimore Student Center Performing Arts Theater, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Part of the Exotic Hypnotic series - in conjunction with Artscape.

Susan Alcorn: pedal steel guitar

(photo credit: Alice Faye Love)

Susan Alcorn's extended technique and expanded vocabulary for the pedal steel guitar makes for an engaging listen as she roams through a territory of linear, melodic spaces punctuated by detours into joyful bursts of micro-noises through a wealth of timbres unique to this instrument.  The fretless intonation combined with a surprising volume of sound resulting from minimal physical movements led to a sound somewhere between Nashville and the sunken city of Atlantis.  The extended techniques were often extreme in their subtlety and surprising when gently coaxed into the foreground of the soundscape.  With a refined sense of pacing and formal development, this set-long improvisation made for an outstanding invocation to a day rich with experimental expression.