field effects 7: japan - US relations
friday, october 11, doors 8pm
964 natoma, sf, ca, usa
$6-10 sliding scale

The world makes music, remember to listen.

Field Effects 7offers a night of field recording-based sound art.

The seventh in a series of concerts showcasing the use of found materials and field recordings in sound art, Field Effects 7 brings together artists living and working in Japan and in the United States.

Field Effects 7 features work by artists:

tog (japan/us)

Post-digital sound art duo Tog that was formed in Tokyo in 1999 by Roddy Schrock and Robert Duckworth. The pair have performed widely in Japan and America, with events in Europe as well. Tog has worked with Mark Applebaum, Bevin Blectum, Kazumoto Endo, Fred Frith, Brent Gutzeit, Chris Penrose, Atau Tanaka, and Carl Stone. The duo will be touring Japan in December 2002.

Tog will present a work titled Fast Connection Search, built from four units of site-specific field recordings in San Francisco and Tokyo over a period of 24 hours: "in the final analysis, knowledge of the source of the sound is not the single most determinate aspect of the audio product, but it does add a richness to the listener's experience. This is just to say that the work is fundamentally based on the sonic world of these two cities even though, at times, that relationship is intentionally ambiguous, disguised, and warped." The piece will be presented by San Francisco-based member Roddy Shrock.

http://www.tognet.org

sunao inami (japan)

Sunao Inami has been working with sound and using computers to manipulate it for fifteen years. In the early 90's, he found his direction performing real-time graphics with an Amiga computer, and improvising and collaborating with artists from a variey of disciplines. In the mid-90's he focused on multimedia, and pioneered web-based performance and installation with projects such as the band "Time Control" and the online installation, "Moog Endless" (which featured a synthesizer streaming live sound for 24 hours). Sunao has a love of the analog synthesizer and wavetable synthesis: he writes for the Japanese edition of Keyboard magazine and translates synthesizer manuals into Japanese.

Sunao continues to run Cave Studios, and has toured extensively this year, performing in Europe with computer musician Kazuya Ishigami (with whom he is a member of the collective C.U.E., which also contains dancer Emi Makino); in Taiwan with dancers and other musicians; and in Japan. Documentation of many performances can be found on the Cave Studios website. Sunao also performs live twice monthly from the studio in a series titled "Live from Far East," which can be heard at the URL below.

http://www.cavestudio.com
http://www.cavestudio.com/electr-ohm
http://www.cavestudio.org/cue
http://www.cavestudio.org/cue/live_from_far_east/

metrologic (sf)

Metrologic (Todd Kurnat) writes: "I have been collaborating on a range of audio projects since the mid-nineties, mostly as a duo known as landis. since my introduction to the digital realm, i find myself taking a more solo role as a musician. armed with a guitar, MD player, microphones and a computer; i combine a number of techniques and concepts to develop my music. as metrologic i'm continuing my personal commitment to creativity and the discovery of new sounds.

"my performance for field effects 7 will consist of recordings from a camping trip in Mendacino National Forest. using the original recordings as a structure to improvise around. i will process elements putting emphasis on the sounds captured from conversation, camping gear, and the natural environment. the main objective is to combine the familiar sounds with the manipulated to create a shifting soundscape..."

http://www.siladi.com

to el paso and back { an on-site sound installation }
bill thompson (austin, tx)

Of his installation, Bill Thompson writes: "This installation is derived from numerous recordings made during frequent drives to and from El Paso. I would scan the am dial and listen to various programs broadcasted across the Texas desert from all over the country. Most of the drives occurred late at night or early in the morning so much of the programming was far from conventional. Often I would let the radio scan for half an hour or longer and just listen to different snippets of programming or radio static as I drove. These various recordings were then reworked to varying degrees (mostly on the abstract side) and prepared for the installation. The finished tracks play on multiple CD players, all set to shuffle. The result is a constantly shifting interplay of sounds combining and recombining with themselves and each other, not unlike their original state as I found them."

Experimental composer/performer Thompson founded and plays with the GATES ensemble and ThomFarriCrew regularly; is a member of Austin's New Music Co-Op, and contributed work to the online phonography list's composer's compilation, and to ven voisey's 60 degrees somewhere/somewhere else project. He runs CDR label ecoli records and recently launched the Loft concert series in Austin.

http://ecolirecords.com

The Field Effects series showcases artists who are interested in framing the hidden beauty of the everyday world: beauty on the surface, awaiting our attention. Beauty that must be delicately extracted. And beauty in potential, awaiting juxtaposition, collage, repetition and mutilation.

Seating mostly on futons to encourage comfortable deep listening. With luck we'll still be borrowing Blasthaus' beanbags (thanks, Blasthaus!).

Depending on weather, hot or cold drinks will be available. With luck, baked delights by Diane Peter.