Meg Clixby and C. Spencer Yeh will be co-reading a late Saturday night slot at Triple Canopy‘s upcoming event this weekend:

“In celebration of the opening of 155 Freeman, Triple Canopy is pleased to present a marathon reading of Gertrude Stein’s enormously long and allegedly unreadable novel The Making of Americans: Being a History of a Family’s Progress. This weekend, starting on Friday at 7 p.m., an invited list of New York–based artists, writers, publishers, scholars, and other collaborators will gather in Greenpoint to perform the entirety of Stein’s text in a continuous read-in, expected to last 48 hours, more or less.”

more info:
http://canopycanopycanopy.com/updates/163

Artist Reception: Friday, January 13, 6-8 PM 

Electric Works is pleased to welcome back visual and sound artist Jim Haynes to the Project Space. Haynes creates almost-abstract images via a unique photographic and rust process. The resulting images feel like half-remembered dreams of the American landscape. Haynes is also branching out in new directions with this show: color photography is making its first appearance in his work at the gallery. This body of work not only contrasts nicely with the almost-black and white nature of his earlier work, but also reveals Haynes as a sensitive and subtle creator of photographic images, no matter the medium.

Jim Haynes lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. His work has been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Exploratorium (San Francisco), Westspace (Melbourne, Australia), Diapason (New York), Jack Straw Productions (Seattle), Works (San Jose), Eyedrum (Atlanta), The Fugitive Art Center (Nashville), and Varnish (San Francisco). He writes about sound art, noise culture, minimalism, and general music experimentation for The Wire, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Metro Pulse, The Sound Projector, and Chunklet.

For Disaster and its Opposite, Jim Haynes pushes the photographic content toward two opposing extremes, with corroded photographs on one trajectory and richly hued color photography on the other. Haynes has worked with chemically distressed photography for close to twenty years, investigating the boundaries between the man-made and the natural. In this body of work, the content of the corroded photographs is specifically of sites of disaster and destruction, including several arson and demolition sites. It should be noted that the images from aftermath of the Merapi Volcano explosion from 2010 were taken by Matt Shoemaker and used with permission. The color photographs represent an abstracted opposite of the crumbled architecture of the corroded black & white images. The vibrant blues, reds, and greens of these color field images were augmented through optical printing errors and the unpredictability of a plastic lens camera. All of the visual elements are in turn augmented by a subtle sound design from modified shortwave radio reception and crackled noise through aestheticized but decidedly lo-fidelity speaker constructions.

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Norwegian artist Lasse Marhaug is known for his torrential output of harsh noise albums, both solo and with Jazkamer, and for his excellent Pica Disc label. But few people are aware that he is as passionate about movies as he is about music. This week, Lasse checks in with a wrap-up of what he’s been viewing.

Part 9 | 12.16.11

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DRIVE (2011)
Having expectations are not good going into a film, but from the reviews and word of mouth I somehow got went into DRIVE thinking it was a 70s-like film in the vein of THE DRIVER and VANISHING POINT. It’s not. DRIVE is clearly inspired by those dark 80s LA-noir type films like TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA, 52 PICK-UP and MANHUNTER. Which is not bad. But it’s hard to shake the fact that this is a film called DRIVE, and tells the story of a guy who everybody keeps saying is an amazing driver, features very little actual driving. The anti-hero portrayed by Ryan Gosling spends more time taking care of a kid than driving. Director Nicolas Winding Refn clearly has no interest in speeding cars, as those few driving scenes are dull and shot without any hint of automobile-fetishism. Once I got past that, DRIVE is a decent Lost-Man-Seeking-Redemption-type film (Catholic Cinema?). Gosling doesn’t so much play a cold-blooded anti-hero as an emotionally damaged loner. We never get his back-story and that makes him interesting. The film suffers from being shot digitally, which despite use of the special LA-sun gives it a flat look.

TREE OF LIFE (2011)
I agree with Sean Penn.

DYLAN DOG – DEAD OF NIGHT (2010)
A perfect example how to do everything wrong. The Italian comic book Dylan Dog is a wonderfully entertaining horror series. Witty, well-written and would likely make for good cinema if just shot straight off the page as a storyboard. But the American version the detective of the supernatural relocates him from London to Louisiana (why?) and have him battle fashionable vampires and werewolves (why?). It’s obvious that this film was made to cater to the success of the True Blood TV-series (which I stopped watching after it turned into a soap-opera in season three – yes, I know, I’m slow, I should have jumped ship earlier. In fact I should never have started…) Whatever casting agent who thought a muscular 30 year old ex-Superman (Brandon Routh, looking a bit confused himself) makes for a good beat-up horror detective should be sentenced to star in the next HUMAN CENTIPEDE film.

COLOMBIANA (2011)
I shouldn’t be disappointed. I knew it wasn’t going to be any good. I have always been attracted to Ladies With Guns On A Vengeance’-films, but the chicks nowadays aren’t as tough as they used to be a few decades ago. AVATAR-babe Zoe Saldana sure looks hot, but for a cold-blooded assassin about to wage war on Colombian drug lords she’s way too soft. (She dates a painter, ehh?) The kid playing the younger version of her in the beginning of the film has more balls.

STAKE LAND (2010)
The most frustrating bad films are those were you see a potentially good film have been fucked up in post-production. This low-budget post-apocalypse vampire production could probably have been watch-able if not for the horrendous score by Jeff Grace (who you say? I didn’t know him either, but I’m using his name here in case he googles himself) and over-use of voice-over. Filmmakers who are reading this: trust in your images. There is no need to spoon-feed us the emotions with overwrought use of music.

SHE KILLED IN ECSTACY (1971)
Another Jess Franco jewel. Soledad Miranda stars in this German-language film about a sexy widow out seek revenge on her late husband who has been wronged and driven to suicide by the science-community (well, uhm, it’s just four people, and one of them gets away at the end). Of course Soledad must have sex before she kills them. The film is wonderfully spaced-out in a Franco-kind of way. The soundtrack is funky and upbeat. Lovely sunny locations too. I grew up watching German actor Horst Tappert as a calm and logical police investigator on TV in the Derrick-series. He’s got a similar part here, except he’s trapped in a Jess Franco-universe where nothing makes much sense, making his part one of the more bizarre police characters I’ve seen in a while. I watched in ecstasy.

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Buttons are $18 (children under 4 admitted free) and are be available at dozens of locations, including Shaw’s Supermarkets, Star Market, Tedeschi’s, and Au Bon Pain. Buttons are available now at a special web price of $15 only at www.firstnight.org only through Dec. 22. For more information, call 617-542-1399 or visit the web site.

Here’s the line-up:

TIM FEENEY & VIC RAWLINGS
ERNST KAREL
JASON LESCALLEET

… curated by Intransitive figurehead HOWARD STELZER.

See you there!

http://www.facebook.com/events/204763209605701/

http://schedule.firstnight.org/?s=intransitive

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Tim Feeney & Vic Rawlings have performed as a duo since 2005. Employing highly modified cello, percussion, amplified everyday objects, naked speakers, and raw electronics, their music is unpredictable and unstable. Austere textures, gritty drones, and malevolent silences unfold slowly over a long period of time. The duo’s first CD, In Six Parts, was published on the Sedimental label in Fall 2007. Their latest release, Ithaca Recordings, is available as a free download fromhttp://thewatchfulear.com/Listen/ListenSeries03.html

Feeney is a professor of music at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Rawlings teaches guitar, banjo, ukulele, composition, and improvisation.

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Ernst Karel works with analog electronics and with location recordings, sometimes separately, sometimes in combination, to create audio pieces that move between the abstract and the documentary. Karel’s audio work also includes electroacoustic improvisation and composition; fieldwork-based academic research in the anthropology of sound; recording, mixing, and sound design for public radio and for nonfiction film and video; solo and collaborative sound installations; etc. His most recent recording is the highly acclaimed Swiss Mountain Transport Systems, a recording of the trams that carry people up mountains in Switzerland, published by Gruenrekorder (Germany). Swiss Mountain… was praised by NPR’s “All Songs Considered” as one of the best records of 2011!

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Jason Lescalleet‘s sound world occupies a space between noise, contemporary composition, and minimal electronics. Using decidedly primitive tactics and equipment (e.g. antiquated reel-to-reel recorders, damaged tape, etc.), his work focuses on extreme frequencies and microscopic audio detail.

Jason has been a member of Due Process, performed and recorded with Keith Rowe, Joe Colley, Jason Kahn, John Hudak, Bhob Rainey and Greg Kelley (both separately and as Nmperign), and most recently Graham Lambkin in their Breadwinner project which has yielded unprecedented and glorious results in the electroacoustic music of today. Lescalleet lives and works in the state of Maine.

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Intransitive Recordings is a publisher of experimental electronic music, based in Boston since 1998.

Nicolas’ excitement about music is positively contagious. From his home in Athens, Greece, his charisma and enthusiasm has propelled multiple record labels across the planet, including his flagship, the appropriately-named Absurd. More than a label, Absurd functioned more like a magazine, cranking out beautifully and/or bizarrely packaged albums at a staggering frequency and consistency of quality. Nicolas also ran the labels Harsh Dept, Perverse Series, A Question of Re-Entry, Editions Zero, Ulan Titel, Laila (which only publishes music performed live at children’s birthday parties), OKO (similar to Laila), Hrysalida, … and is currently part of Noise Below, an organization and website aiming to promote Greek experimental music. In all that flurry of activity, the breadth of the music he publishes is astonishing. He’s produced albums of harsh noise by Incapacitants and Mlehst, deep dark ambient by Maeror Tri, free improvisation by folks like Tetuzi Akiyama, Rhodri Davies, Jon Mueller, Campbell Kneale, and Werner Durand, reissues of classic underground electronic music by P.D. and IMCA, to work by the sort of unclassifiable artists that really make my heart race: Marc Behrens, Die Feinen Trinkers bei Pinkels Daheim, Negative Entropy, Adam Sonderberg, Cassett-o-Rama, Earzumba (just to name a few). He’s also been a strong supporter of Greek musicians, publishing work by Nikos Veliotis, Loukia Katsimeri, Tasos Stamou, and Larry Gus. If you scratched your head in non-recognition a few times while scanning that list, that’s okay. In fact,  the mix of established artists and unknown international visionaries is one reason why I love Nicolas‘ publications so much and tend to trust his taste.

I first communicated with Nicolas when I was just starting out, even more unknown and obscure than I am today. He generously offered to publish a CDR of music by the trio of me, Jason Talbot, and Vic Rawlings, to which he appended a set by the trio of himself, guitarist Anastasis Grivas, and Theodore Zioutos. In an instant, I was aware of a bridge between the Boston and Athens electronic/improv scenes that I didn’t know existed, which may have been precisely his point. Then Nicolas published a collaborative CDR by me and Frans de Waard, followed by a split 7″ by me and Frans, and also a split 7″ by Skeletons Out (my band with Jay Sullivan) and nmperign. The guy apparently has no fear of losing all his money on artists who won’t earn back his investment. For that, he deserves to be knighted.

I spoke with Nicolas via email about the value of networks, his experience hosting concerts in Athens, and generally what it’s like to be so fabulously Absurd. - Howard Stelzer, 2011

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Howard Stelzer: How did you get started booking concerts? Why?

Nicolas Malevitsis: I started accidentally.  It was in early 00′s that did I chance upon Giuseppe Ielasi‘s work, liked it a lot and asked him for a release on Absurd, what was issued as 5 Tracks. That coincided with a set by Giuseppe in Small Music Theatre, a venue that backed up the vast majority of activities of the local scene for the first part of the 00′s (sadly, closed a few years ago). Back then, it was something new, vital and was looking for a reason to get involved. So Giuseppe’s release was a great chance to start losing more money. Speaking of those early days, Giuseppe did also a memorable solo set in Vinyl Microstore, a record store that for long has also been a small venue for live sets and various other activities to support our local network. It still does. Each year, they set up a festival called Yuria, during which live sets, installations or whatever take place in the store.

HS: You’ve changed the name of your organization several times over the years; Harsh Department, Absurd, Noise Below… pardon me for being a bit confused! What is the name that you use when you organize concerts? Is it an organization of several people, or just you alone?

NM: When Absurd was happening, most things were done under its umbrella.  It was also a kind of my audio calendar as well situations, good and bad times, distasters, whatever was happening was documented there.  I pick up a release, and it’s like unleashing certain pages of my soul’s corridors, so it was the most personal thing I’ve done so far. Parallel to that,  we focused more on Noise-Below, our site and database with my friend Kostis Kilimis, and things flourish under its name now.

In the city of Xanthi, events take place under Chrysallida, which is part of the non gov organisation ‘P.A.Ke.Thra.’ (Cultural & Development Center of Thrace) where 2-3 friends are involved in concert organizing.

Regarding names, disguises, etc… well, it’s like an itch that pops up here and there. Seems that ever since the late Euronymous of Mayhem and Metalion of Slayer Mag nicknamed me Nicolas Genital Grinder in early 90′s, I am in the mood of a new disguise or concept every now and then. Helps to escape the pathetic daily routine.  At times (or so far as it seems from now on), we can work with other pals as well, either as our disguises – like the recent ‘Brothers Unconnected’ that was set up with Silence Fiction Society , a team of 3 friends that do an extraordinary work the last few years around concert / events organizing. Frankly, they belong to my heroes.

But as I was saying earlier, I don’t mind under which umbrella things will be done, as long as the idea of a lot of people sharing expenses for an event works for me. In lotsa ways, closer to the aesthetic of Noise-Below, meaning things evolve and flow so that it turns into a more living organism like the what we have in mind rather than a simple documentation of something just to release or keep a note of it. Or at least so it seems in our deluded minds.

HS: Do you have a dedicated venue, or do you work in several venues? 

NM: The only dedicated venue being used is in the city of Xanthi, it’s folk museum part of F.E.X., which has some 2-3 different venues in the city. We can use any one we wish, depending on the project/artist playing live. In the city of Amphissa (central Greece), there’s the house of a friend who hosts various things that can be anything from a small theatre thing to a night with poetry or cooking, a live set, etc but is in a totally amateur thing and totally love it.  She’s a great source of inspiration for lotsa friends up there. I totally wish to have this kind of insanity in my 60′s, as she is today, and do things with her intensity and passion.

Speaking of Athens, most of the activities (at least speaking for the first part of the 00′s) took place in the (now defunct, as stated elsewhere) Small Music Theatre. Speaking for the last year or two, most things take place in Knot Gallery. Pros and cons? On one hand, you have a place and you know the people you work with. Also, you know if the venue meets your needs or not regarding everything from sound, accomodations, fee, etc.  Somehow, as it is not my job or something I earn a living out of, I prefer to work with people and venues that I know. Any time I know what is provided and what not, or if a problem occurs I know that someone will try to help if I can’t. On the other hand, I am always into doing things in various places with different people as I like a lot as an idea of an evolving network. But there’s always the possibility of a venue that might initially offer certain things, and in the end change its offer completely. Same holds, of course, for people you work with for the first time too…

HS: Tell me a bit about the music that you make yourself. Which came first for you, making music or hosting concerts? How did one lead to the other?

NM: I’ve never considered my sound construction as something serious or important. You can call it curiosity, or a spur of the moment for having a good time solo or with friends, but nothing else. In ’89 at the grind/noisecore boom, I picked up a guitar and 2 distortion pedals that were lent from a friend and made a couple of demos under the name Sickness. Then in mid 90′s, I did some recordings with a friend under the name MPD and a couple of solo ones, but mostly out of curiosity to see how things work. In the 00′s, I participated in a couple of projects, either improv or the harsh noise Old Fashioned Donkeys with my friend Panagiotis Spoulos, mostly smashing gear then making music out of it. Also solo under the name Dead Traveller, using field recordings mixed. Quite recently with Yannis of Wax Record Store, we did accidentally a grind duo, just drums and voice and look after the chance of playing live again soon.  It was a great experience. What I fancy doing at times a lot is playing with turntables or tapes, but as told you completely out of the curiosity or the fun of it, nothing special.

Hosting concerts is another activity dealing also with curiosity on how things work this way and evolve (or not) seen though as a part of an ongoing process done via Noise-Below.  It helps also to socialize as well, and to know people or bring people together (you can call it public relations or whatever). What I fancy first and most of all is producing things, be it CDs, LPs, etc and documenting things via fanzines or at times under various columns I run  here and there,  kinda extremely alcoholic with it. It is out of this process that the rest of activities emerged on the way be it music making, concert hosting or whatever.

HS: How do you decide which artists to book? Is there a process? Is it dependent on your taste alone, or are there other factors?

NM: It’s definitely a matter of taste. As I told you, it is not my job, it is my hobby. I fancy it a lot, and being a part of an ongoing process I fancy to set up for people whose work I like.  Of course, that depends on the cost as usual, cos sometimes it’s cheaper to catch a flight and crash in another country to attend a concert, rather than be in the process of arranging things here, blah blah blah… On the other hand, someone has to do the dirty job. Besides, it’s always fun to have pals here for a live set. Helps to escape at times the daily routine, but also helps to see your city under a guest’s eyes. That’s also interesting when mapping the city’s psychogeography. There’s also another factor that works with friends at least the last 6 years, children’s parties, which started as an idea of my friend Mihalis Elafros in Xanthi in 2004 to make a CD for his daughter Amaryllis for her first birthday. That was the Klimperei CD on Eclipsis/Absurd. But for the second one emerged the idea of inviting an audio artist to mix his sounds with sounds produced by the children playing, laughing, playing various toy instruments, etc. That was the Un Caddie Renverse dans l’Herbe alias Didac Lagarriga, which lead to more ideas, more parties & live sets, releases. Sometimes it’s funny to see what you can create out of the blue, and am totally into it. It’s still an ongoing process of course, as thanks to the children we reconsider lots of things of our lives and surrounding universe.

HS: How would you describe the character of Noise-Below’s musical area of interest? How do you know if something fits, or doesn’t fit, with your aesthetic? How does the music you book for concerts relate to the music you publish on Absurd, Editions Zero, Research Center for the Definition of Happiness, etc?

NM: Call it ‘experimental’ music with the meaning of difficult, adventurous, obscure musics. At least that is the what I have in mind always, as if in early 90′s that such terms were mostly used as categories, sub categories, sub categories of sub categories, or so. Like ‘reductionism’, ‘noise’, ‘industrial’, ‘contemporary’, etc.  Speaking of live sets, there are times that you can never know if the result will fit to our aesthetics. We might fancy someone that, say, sounds weird on records and crashes here for a set that will turn out a real flop. As of the releasing part, then definitely we know or at least feel we know what to expect or what to have in mind for a release. With Editions_Zero (which has reincarnated to excrete music) it’s always this kind of nihilistic noise thing.  Kostis issues on his Organized Music from Thessaloniki label more frequency improv stuff, call it ‘reductionism’ if you prefer that term or whatever. Other times it is just a matter of disguise to escape the usual routine as mentioned elsewhere. The main thing we try to do is to function and try to do Noise-Below as a living organism that is a part of a network and floats in it. Think of an octopus whose head is the main idea and each tentacle lurks in different ideas and projects.  At times the concert organizing thing is more vital, others another tentacle gets stronger (e.g publishing), or a specially creative children’s party, etc etc etc.

HS: What sort of music do personally listen to most often? Is it the same as the music you promote at concerts, or something else?

NM: Absolut! For the last 20+ years, I”ve been listening maniacally to bizarre, obscure, adventurous music, same as issued on Noise-Below. Wouldn’t release music I don’t listen to myself! Dying for electroacoustics, experimental,  musique concrete, sound poetry, free jazz / improv. Lotsa 60′s/70′s freak out psych/prog rock too. I was never that fond of post punk / new wave, though in the last decade I found myself listening also to such records too. Jazz and classical are also a love as well, a love that re-emerged a couple of years ago. It’s the same music that we book. Sure, not so much sound poetry though damned which I totally love, but luckily is upcoming for November 26 a Dylan Nyoukis & Phil Minton set and I am totally excited with it. I am totally nuts w/ the human voice in experimental musics, totally freaked (e.g. Demetrio Stratos, though he was almost one of a kind) or manipulated sometimes speaking too, but not always. I was never though much into opera. It sounds toooooo western for my eastern ass I guess, with only a few exceptions such as  some contemporary / modern recordings and I guess Maria Callas. Field recordings too. I also love a lot the sounds of birds, helps also that daily is their sound outside my window that wakes me up. Still trying to understand their language, but guess I am to dumb for it. Ethnological stuff too, but mostly freaked like the Inuit Games and Songs LP on Unesco or the Golden Rain LP on Nonesuch and such insane stuff.

HS: What do you see as your role within Athens’ community of musicians and listeners?

NM: The same as everyone’s else here. I’m just someone who listens to music maniacally, read books maniacally too. At times I watch movies, though never fanatically as I prefer to create my own dellusions in my retarted mind reading/listening than watching and participating as anyone else. In my country’s network, be it a live set that I’ll attend, a party or what the fuck, don’t think that I am doing anything more special than anyone else does.

HS: Do you feel that your city is integral to the work you do? or could you do this anywhere? Maybe another way to think about this is: how does the culture of Athens (or of Greece, or of the Mediterranean region in general) influence your outlook and curatorial choices?

NM: As of the releasing part this could be done anywhere. Just need an internet connection,  a laptop, and a post office nearby with a PO box or Post Restante. Sometimes I wish I was living in my motherland, the province of Phokis in central Greece, but sadly at the moment it seems impossible to do so, so I keep waiting to see my biggest dream materializing one day sooner or later… on the other hand, this ‘I belong nowhere’ or stranger in a strange land feeling gives a more liberal perception of things. But speaking specifically of Athens, is this kind of love / hate relation. How can you love the city you live in if you don’t hate it too? It has played its role as well in projects, releases, etc reflecting in them feelings of that moment. On a concert organizing level, you gotta keep in mind that at least from May to September or October, things gotta take place mostly outwards thanks to the heat and the weather overall. So at times, musics should fit the climate too. I guess I can’t imagine myself, for instance, listening to an extremely obscure and difficult music set under 40C+ with my fat ass sweating maniacally (I do listen such records at home under such temperatures, but I prefer a kinda different insanity compared to it when out for a live concert) so I prefer a ‘lighter’ more intense thing, or a more freaked free jazzish thing, or kinda decent bluesey or… as would sound better under such circumstances. If you get my point.

HS: Do you make money by doing this? We hear a lot about troubles with the Greek economy; how has that affected the audience for experimental music in Athens? or the artists? Have you changed anything about your concerts in response to this?

NM: Hahahah are you making fun of me? OK kidding… you know how it works. At times you get nothing, others things balance others. Door money is OK and you pay a fee or so.

Speaking of today’s situation, I guess it’s early to say much as long as the new tax legislation and salaries reductions are now slowly showing effects, so I guess that changes in response will be shown during the season sooner or later. Either way, I always try to balance tickets w/ the situation. A few years ago, a good festival may have had, let’s say, a ticket of 15 euros (speaking for more DIY view, not as a professional concert organizing team. That’s another story). Now it’ll be a 10 euro thing or less. Refering to live sets with a ticket for entrance, the donation style ones work as usual. Other times you get money from the box, you’ll have in the entrance and the bar. Others, almost nothing. However, overall it functions and at times donation is better than other methods. For me, money is the least I care for, most of it is the noise, the good time and the fun of it. If some money is to come to balance loss or whatever, it’ll come sometime sooner or later and vice versa… just a quote here too is that, keeping the current financial situation, I guess it is more important to remain dedicated to the music. The core of people, we do get involved in various activities in the country’s net at the moment and share the same enthusiasm as in the good (or what appeared to be good) times, rather if the money spent returns fully back or not.

HS: What resources does Noise Below have at its disposal? What do you offer to artists as far as gear, sound system, staff? 

NM: Financially, it is just money we earn from our jobs and also from stuff we sell here and there. Part of it, or what we afford of it, is spent on live sets, releases, etc. Usually, money that comes back from releases is recycled either into new releases or other live sets, though last couple of years this kind of cycle has its problems due to the depression, but that’s life so is not a big deal.

Speaking of gear, it depends on the venue and also the city. In the city of Xanthi for instance, a few years after facing up a lot of problems with the guy who used to rent equipment, the folk museum managed to buy gear that is OK to cover a live set, unless the artist wants extra gear or something else so either we borrow from friends or rent it. As of Athens, usually the venues have their own gear.  Holds the same of course if the artist(s) need something special or not. If is a kind of a party, fest, live set-up somewhere else (in a bar, a basement, or whatever), it depends either if someone has gear that we use or rent. More or less same happens in Thessaloniki.

Speaking of resources, pros and cons have to mention a major problem of the Greek paradox too, that should you wish a proper tour around the country that has to be done mostly in Athens, Thessaloniki and cities that lie in the eastern part of the country, central eastern, north and north eastern. Greece is like Siamese twins, only one of which has a backbone. The other just lies there. There’s no railway connection for the western part of the country, which means that even if anyone wants to set up something in a different city that lies in the western part, they need to improvise (bus, car), which also means extreme costs as well. For instance, for long the city of Ioannina has been a place that friends wanna set up things (there’s now a bar that sets up events in the city if someone wants to do something) but always keep in mind the cost for doing such a thing or how to schedule a tour starting from there. Even a live set in the city of Amphissa in a friend’s place is always a kind of a luxury having in mind travelling costs, if done by car. That’s at least to get also a small idea of the various other problems that have emerged throughout the years regarding live sets or set ups of mini tours around Greece.

HS: Do you have partners, collaborators, or corporate sponsors for hosting concerts? Do you work with city agencies, or national ones? If so, I’d love to hear about how those partnerships evolved, and in what ways you work together today, or in the past.

NM: Partners and collaborators, at times yep, especially for a couple of upcoming events like the Sudden Infant / Bill Kouligas / Balinese Beast live set on October the 15th and the upcoming Dylan Nyoukis / Phil Minton set on November the 26th. We’ve split the expenses with a couple of friends. Actually, it was solely a friend’s idea who wanted to cover all expenses by himself, but that sounds more like a financial suicide rather than earning back what he’ll spend dividing the expenses between 5 or 6 pals. It’s cool cos you get the risk of, say, 100-150 euros or less, so in case of a disaster you don’t have  a loss of a host of money, especially nowadays that things get worse after the crash of our 00′s bubble economy.

I have never worked with agents, as I’ve told you. Concert organizing has been just a side effect of the whole Noise-Below process. My great love is producing things. Another factor, though, that I gotta mention is venues or buildings, places you wanna use or are stellar to use but belong to a certain municipal authority, museum or whatever. Things get complicated if you just pop up as an individual to ask if you can use them for a day for a gig or so. There you gotta face a kinda Kafka‘s Tower situation except the bureaucracy of course, like having to crash from office to office and department to department to clear out who’s responsible for what, etc etc. So usually, the only so far solution is to pop up as a member of a certain organization, usually non profit or whatever, at least to make things function a bit better. At least for the city of Xanthi, we used to do that from the beginning, or for venues that we wanted to use there and worked. Nowadays as things function for some 5 – 6 years now, we don’t face such problems, at least there, anymore. Not even when last year we held a live set on a truck that was moving around the city’s center with people on it enjoying the happening.

HS: What are common misconceptions that artists have about working with Noise Below (or Absurd)? What do artists usually think when they come to perform in Athens?

NM: I don’t think that are any misconceptions for a long time now regarding the people we work with. Everything’s quite clear since the very beginning, so it works smoothly. Same holds when arranging with someone to come and perform in Athens, clear since the very beginning what we can afford to cover (e.g. accomodation, food, depending on the venue door money or a kind of fee, etc) so it works out too well. It is important to realize since the very beginning that we are not a kind of an institution with a hell of money on its back, or perhaps a branch of an organization that relies on certain resources. We are just a couple of individuals that we fancy certain things. Our budgets are limited for certain projects, or ideas we wanna materialize. That simple.

HS: Have you seen the nature of concert promotion change over time? If so, in what ways has it changed?

NM: At least speaking of my amateur point of view, compared to the past, mail lists, sites, blogs and Facebook/Twitter help much much more. Would add mobiles as well, though not used in the SMS type of promoting a thing. We’ve seen that at least a couple of times the last year, e.g. the Jooklo Duo/Blood Stereo gig that thanks to a comedy of errors there was no flyer or poster ready on time, out of pure accident/stupidity. But it worked out better than expected, thanks to blogs, Facebook, etc. A recent mini fest with XYSM, Bruised Lee, and Wham Jah, we held at a terrace where a friend has his recording studio worked that way. And, it works much better than it has in the past. That’s speaking mostly for Athens and Thessaloniki. In other cities that are smaller in size, things can function the traditional way: you meet a friend at a coffee shop, bar or a supermarket, you tell him the news that in a day or two a live set will take place there, he makes a couple of calls or meets another friend in a coffee shop, bar or supermarket etc etc etc.

HS: What has surprised you most about your part in the music world since you began doing this? What have you learned?

NM: I guess the simplicity of things, be it the relations with pen pals around the global net, the way to do things, or whatever. Speaking for myself, thanks to Absurd and to Noise-Below I had to become more responsible in doing things. After an almost irresponsible 90′s, I had to keep a standard program, and do things on time and proper.  If I hadn’t, I doubt if Absurd or Noise-Below would have existed, at least in the form that are known today.

But also compared to the 90′s, and this will also sound as an addition to the question of whether or not Athens is an integral part or not for my activities, one swallow does not make a summer. As more people emerged in releasing stuff, others here or now-abroad pals like Bill Kouligas of Pan, Kostis Kilimis with whom I run Noise-Below and we are tuned on the same level, Themis Pantelopoulos of Triple Bath, Panagiotis Spoulos of Phase Mag, just to name a couple… also more things (events, releases, etc) took place during the 00′s compared to the 90′s. That’s cos during the previous decade, more people got involved in what so called ‘obscure’ or ‘difficult’ musics network coming from different networks too, be it more pop, rock or whatever, carrying different backgrounds and ideas. And luckily, they were also sharing the same enthusiasm for doing things. I mean, practically cos the pros of 00′s compared to the 90′s Athens scene, at least speaking for experimental musics, is that in the 00′s a much more practical network functioned with its pros and cons, fights, and whatever being an active part of a network brings with it. Gotta add the internet as a pro here too, plus the existence of Small Music Theatre as a key venue for the local scene (at least for the first half of the previous decade). Whereas the 90′s were mostly dominated by a perception of “let’s discuss things first, see if they can work or not, analyze why this or why that” and finally things were remaining on a more theoritical, functionless level, or else shelved and nothing was happening. That’s a result a malfuctioning network, mostly if not all the times with some exceptions. Usually, I prefer when things happen, and even out of their failure to learn a lesson and go on. Sometimes, it’s nice to be at the beach staring at the sea and wonder if the water’s too cold or not to swim. But if you don’t give it a try, how will you learn?

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Check out this gallery of Absurd & Editions Zero album covers! :

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THIS SALE IS OVER… THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT, & HAPPY HOLIDAZE FROM YR PALS AT INTRANSITIVE!

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For my 9th birthday, some aunt bought me an LP of Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues. I recall hearing it for the first time… even though to my older, more experienced ears it just sounds like a good funk/pop album, my kid brain processed it as pure noise. Maybe it was David Byrne‘s voice, or the nonsense lyrics, or just the atmosphere, I dunno… but I didn’t get it. My reaction was one of embarassment. Cuz, y’know, I didn’t even know if I liked it or not. No context, really, aside from the strange video of Byrne’s face projected onto a highway. Over the next few years, I hesitantly returned to the album, steadily being able to wrap my head around the idea that these were songs.

A little later, I became obsessed with “Weird Al” Yankovic. When I was 12, he had a show on MTV called Al TV, in which he played “weird” videos. I recorded the show onto a VHS tape, then later I held a cassette walkman up to the TV speaker so that I could listen to the show on the school bus. He played all sorts of great stuff: Steinski & Mass Media, They Might be Giants (when their first album came out, and the single was Don’t Let’s Start), the Art of Noise (Paranoimia, with Max Headroom), and Fishbone (It’s a Wonderful Life). Again, most of that stuff didn’t register to me as music at all. Still, I was fascinated, so I ran out and bought every tape by every band on the show. The one that really hit me was the first Fishbone album; six songs of fast punk/reggae/dub that to my ears sounded exactly like a blur of undifferentiated noise. I listened to the tape so often that it snapped inside the shell from overuse.

When I was about 15, I was a nut for Wax Trax! and disco crap like that. I still have a soft spot for some of it (sorry), but I clearly remember when Meat Beat Manifesto‘s Storm the Studio album came out in the US. The fourth track was a blistering howl of feedback with distorted percussion that sounded like banging on metal in a huge empty warehouse. I recall being shocked that anyone would ever put that on a record! I saw them play in Miami (opening for Nine Inch Nails, ha!), and the set was the closest thing to harsh noise that I’d experienced so far. Feedback throughout the set, a wall of grey grinding… wow! When I returned home and listened to the record again, I was disappointed to start to be able to hear tunes in it. Thus began my quest for that high… something that’d confuse me as much as Fishbone did.

I don’t remember where exactly I’d read about Swans, but I saw some review somewhere that called them a “noise band”. So I ran out and bought the current album, Burning World. Yeah… what a letdown. I didn’t know what a “noise band” was supposed to sound like, but I was pretty sure Burning World wasn’t it. Sonic Youth was making waves with Daydream Nation, so I tried that… hm, noisy in parts, but also kinda gorgeous and epic-sounding. Was that noise? I didn’t think so. Some interview with Thurston mentioned Naked City, so I picked that up. Closer. The thank-you list cited Boredoms, so I tried Pop Tatari… still not noise, what the hell! I remember thinking that whatever idea of noise I had in my head might not really exist. The next thing I found was Non (hm, getting there), Skinny Puppy VIVIsectVI(are these supposed to be songs?), and (finally!) Controlled Bleeding. Hog Floor had actual noise on it. Whew!

So that’s my trajectory towards noise: Talking Heads -> Weird Al -> Fishbone -> Meat Beat Manifesto -> Swans/Sonic Youth/Naked City/Boredoms -> Controlled Bleeding.

Like all the music I’m passionate about, Rawlings & Feeney‘s music evades description. To state a complex thing simply, they play modified cello, electronics, and percussion, and it’s improvised… but man, whatever sound you just got in your head when you read my words is not what they do. The music is sparse, but jagged and unpredictable. It’s hardly event-driven linear improv, and neither is it precious quiet minimalism. These guys work in an epic scale, creating unstable sounds in massive structures that unveil so slowly and intentionally that its depth only becomes evident once you’ve been well immersed. If you don’t believe my hyperbolic prose, go hear ‘em for yrself! Here are th’ tour dates:

Monday 10/10 7:30 Songlines, Mills College
Wednesday 10/12 8:00 SASSAS, Los Angeles, CA
Thursday 10/13 8:00 UC Santa Barbara
Friday 10/14 10 am talk, UC Santa Barbara

Feeney/Rawlings at “The Way to Go Out” from Tim Feeney on Vimeo.

Just like last time, when I opened for Controlled Bleeding, another pal from out of town coming to Boston inspiring me to pick up th’ dusty ‘ol tape decks, plug ‘em in, and try to recapture the magic. On November 7 at O’Brien’s Pub in Allston, MA (a rock bar known for dirty beer taps, cheap PBR, and a casual atmosphere) I’ll play a solo set opening up for Fossils, who are coming down all the way from Hamilton Ontario.

Fossils are a strange, terrific band that stubbornly refuses description… which is exactly what I look for in a band. Led by David Payne (with whom I made a collaborative LP called Swelter) and a changing band of Hamilton-based artists, Fossils’ prolific output recalls superficially similar folks like Sick Llama, Wolf Eyes, and kindred soul Andrew Coltrane. But the music has a perplexingly wide range… from careful electro-acoustic improvisation to diffuse non-music and field recordings to dense noise and impossibly raw, zero-fidelity tape muck, Fossils are restlessly creative guys who must wake up every day exhaling music. I once saw them in Montreal… they played a mess of tapes for five minutes, and heck if I can describe the sound with any accuracy. So great.

Anyway… I have a new composition planned, we’ll see if I can pull it off at this show.

Existence Establishment presents:

- Fossils
- Howard Stelzer
- Reuben Son
- Typical White Male
- Korriban

at O’Brien’s Pub, Allston MA
Monday, November 7th
8pm, $TBD (probably $8?)

Here’s the info you need:

NewIdeas MusicSeries 13 at PIANOS
158 Ludlow Street (btw Stanton/Rivington)
$ FREE! $

Richard Garet + Brendan Murray (9:15 pm)

Brendan Murray (8:45 pm)

Richard Garet (8:15 pm)

Michael Vincent Waller (7:30 pm)

There is a Facebook page for this event right here.