In a private residence on NYC’s Upper West Side, we recently had the pleasure of attending a thrilling performance organized by Culture Shock featuring pianist Christopher O’Riley. Renowned…
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Kishi Bashi: Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It! The imitable Kishi Bashi (aka K Ishibashi) has created yet another delightful pop song with “Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!” Set to appear on his upcoming album Lighght…
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3’Hi NYC + LON Berlin-based 3’Hi is bringing their “sweaty dance floor” vibes to New York and London this spring and, for a hint at what’s to come, check out their promo video montage culled straight…
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The Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island is a cultural institution that has been running off and on since 1959 and in its time has featured major acts from Johnny Cash to Muddy Waters. The vibe at Newport this year was quite…
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Vampire Weekend: Diane Young Any music video featuring a saxophone as a giant bong is worth spending a moment enjoying, but Vampire Weekend gives plenty of reasons to stick around and put it on repeat with “…
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A massive collaborative exhibition showcases audio-visual delights
by Naheed Simjee
A resurrected rapper by way of a hologram wasn’t the only technological breakthrough that had people talking last week. Returnees from Coachella Part I flocked downtown on Thursday night for the opening of Transmission LA: AV Club sponsored by Mercedes-Benz and The Avant/Garde Diaries at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. The visionary and creative mastermind of the festival, Beastie Boy Mike D, invited 17 multi-disciplinary artists—including Family Bookstore and Roy Choi’s Kogi Korean BBQ food truck—to create extraordinary site-specific installations that demonstrate the influence and inspiration that audio and visual art forms have on one another. The exhibition runs through 6 May 2012 with a full schedule of live performances.
“It’s the new art, a new audience, new music and new technologies all together, and it’s a wonderful fit with the fabulous new Mercedes that is being unveiled tonight,” explains Jeffrey Deitch, director of the MOCA, who has been actively involved with the project since LA was selected for this edition of the festival’s destination. The first Transmission festival was held in Berlin and curated by Dior’s new head designer, Raf Simons.
The exhibition is an immersive experience in sensory stimulation. Upon entering the massive space, seductive lights and vibrant colors tempt patrons to freely explore in every direction. Immediately, Takeshi Murata‘s zany audio loop of a game show host’s voice enthusiastically announces a series of prizes: “It’s a new car! It’s a new boat! It’s a piano!” Exhibition-goers are lured to a projection of sequentially stacked images of The Price Is Right Showcase models revealing game prizes, and a totally unexpected surprise.
Another showstopper is Ben Jones‘ stellar creation of a triangular tunnel—paneled with Tron-like neon grids and sound bites of racecars zooming by—leading to an enormous room in which computer-animated projections take over the floors and walls, as if you’re suddenly transported into a life-size version of Pole Position.
Ara Peterson and Jim Drain have created a series of hypnotic spinning fan-activated pinwheels mounted at different heights and depths. This segment of the exhibition pleasantly seems to slow things down and makes you feel as if you’ve stumbled into the control room at the Wonka Factory.
Tucked away unassumingly in a room further down is another work central to Mercedes’ vision for the project. Visitors are invited to take one of the pairs of headphones hanging from the ceiling to listen to drum and bass tracks created by Adam Horowitz (Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys), that perfectly sync up to a light performance surrounding the new Mercedes Concept Style Coupe. “The car itself is a sculpture and the original model was made out of hand clay,” says Mark Fetherston, exterior designer for Mercedes. “There’s a lot of shape and it’s an expressive design statement. We’ve taken a more artistic approach and here, we’re mixing with different people, so it’s not just a typical motor show approach. We’re trying to really attract new customers.”
The robust aroma of Miscela d’Oro Espresso beans emanates from Robert McKinley‘s coffee bar installation, based on a concept that Mike D introduced to Deitch when discussing ideas for the exhibition. Mike D and McKinley—who also served as the co-designer of the entire exhibition—are self-proclaimed coffee obsessives and consume a lot of it. “There’s been so many times where I’ve been at an exhibit and I feel like I’ve burned out at a certain point and if I could just get a cup of coffee, I could stay in the game a bit longer,” says Mike D. “I wanted to give all the people here that opportunity. We didn’t want to do it with just a cart, we wanted it to be an impressive cup of coffee, so we took it one step further and actually made it one of the installations in the space. Rob kind of went crazy, in a good way. The beans are from Naples. The coffee has a very classic Italian profile.”
The exhibition also includes works by filmmaker Mike Mills, paintings by Sage Vaughn and Will Fowler, Justin Lowe and Jonah Freeman‘s environmental installation combining fictional narrative with artifacts, Tom Sachs‘ Jamaican sound system-inspired sculpture comprised of several speakers, an axe, a chained iPod and tape deck, video art by Cory Arcangel and Sanford Biggers and a complete build out of a social space in which Public Fiction addresses the topic of the nightclub, that will also host several nights of live performances.
So what are the challenges of putting on a show of this magnitude? Mike D explains, “What ultimately prepared me for being able to do an exhibition like this was that, on multiple occasions, the Beastie Boys had to mount fairly decent size concert tours. Really it’s this quandary of figuring out what’s the visual presentation we’re going to give our music while making it fun and exciting and new. Hopefully, it’s something that people haven’t seen or experienced before, so that’s somewhat analogous to this project. What I’ve taken away from this and have been most inspired by is really just getting to work with the individual artists here.”
“I feel like they really work in the realm of translating the idea and making it into a reality and experience that everybody shares,” says Mike D. “It’s inspiring for me, coming from a world where we have all these parameters, where you want to build something, but someone says, ‘Oh, that will never work!’ or you want to do a record cover, but the artwork isn’t going to be the right size. These artists are really in the job of just being translators of creation. We’ve managed to do this by living here for the past two weeks and working 14 hours a day.”
Mercedes is using the creative platform to redefine itself by associating with the art of tomorrow; as Deitch confirms, “This is exactly what we want to be doing at the MOCA.” Transmission LA: AV Club will run through 6 May 2012 at the Geffen Contemporary.
Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
152 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
A collaborative ensemble of musicians brings the symphony to NYC parks
The String Orchestra of Brooklyn (SOB) is committed to an inclusive approach to music-making, opening up their expert ensemble to a range of site-specific musical experiments and collaborations with musicians from around the greater New York area. Due to the orchestra’s smaller size and rotating cast of volunteer musicians, they are able to explore a more obscure repertoire and adapt to different venues. “What sets us apart from other orchestras is our versatility and willingness to try anything that’s out there,” explains executive director and founder Eli Spindel. “We have the flexibility to take risks and follow our musical curiosity wherever it might lead.”
In late 2011, the SOB collaborated with American Opera Projects, presenting Philip Glass’ Kafka-based opera “In the Penal Colony”. Many music lovers are familiar with Glass’ magnificent “Satyagraha”, but the SOB opted to bring the more obscure “Penal Colony” story to life instead, gaining the orchestra a spot on The New York Times’ Best of 2011 list.
The SOB will again team up with The Fort Greene Park Conservancy for the annual Parks Concert Series where city-dwellers may escape to enjoy a free evening of music in Fort Greene Park. The 2012 lineup will feature works by Fela Sowande, Noel Pointer, and Beethoven, taking place on 21 July 2012 at 6 p.m. in Fort Greene Park.
The SOB will also be collaborating with ISSUE Project Room on String Theories 2012. String Theories has commissioned four composers—Anthony Coleman, Eric Wubbels, Spencer Yeh, and MV Carbon—to create performances on a scale larger than what is typically possible. The composers push the boundaries of the string repertoire through extended techniques, innovations in notation and improvisation, and new approaches to writing for large ensembles. Specifically, each of the performances focuses on a playful awareness of the orchestra’s physicality. “It will definitely get a bit rowdy,” Spindel says. “The resulting musical textures will be new to much of our audience.” String Theories 2012 will happen this Saturday, 17 March 2012 at 8pm in St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn.
Keep up with the orchestra’s ever-changing repertoire and performance schedule on their blog.
Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi released his debut solo album, “Go,” earlier this month to near universal acclaim, since embarking on a world tour of theatrical stage performances to rival the epic grandeur of his album.
A collaborative effort between Jónsi’s team in Reykjavik and the London-based stage production company 59 Productions, the live show incorporates a variety of elements including film, animation, light projection and set design from core contributors Phil Eddols, Bruno Poet, Mark Grimmer, Lysander Ashton and Peter Stenhouse.
Departing from the heartrending swells and crescendos that fill Sigur Rós’ albums to the brim, the arrangements on “Go” often sound quite jubilant, calling to mind the wide-eyed exuberance of a child dashing through forests and fields. Indeed, nature and the animal kingdom in particular, are recurring motifs. Borrowing heavily from these thematic elements, the group at 59, led by creative director Leo Warner, envisioned the production as something of a visual score.
Their point of departure for the physical set design was the book 1000°C: Deyrolle (previously covered on Cool Hunting), a photographic record of the charred remains of a Parisian taxidermy shop largely destroyed in a fire two years ago. Projected onto this set, a series of filmic vignettes includes processed video footage of butterflies in flight, water in motion, and flames licking paper in concert with animated mammals, birds and insects. (Watch several “making of” videos on Jónsi’s media page.)
Does this multidisciplinary production signal a new standard for musical performance? Perhaps, fan reviews of the tour thus far include the words “mindgasm,” “transcendentally beautiful,” “astounding,” “breathtakingly beautiful,” “metamorphosis,” “ingenious,” “soul-shaking” and “spellbound” to call out just a handful. Tickets are still available for upcoming performances in the Midwest, eastern Canada and the East Coast, not to mention Europe. We suggest you grab yours now.
Check out the slide show below, featuring stills from the opening night performance in Vancouver, BC.
Portland’s influx of musicians is an adored attribute about the city. From the iconic house party to more traditional venues, Portland remains to keep their music scene fresh with an unconventional take on industry standards. Highlighted below are five interesting venues that host some of Portland’s best acts.
Portland’s newest venue is located in a classy up-and-coming southeast neighborhood known as Sellwood. The Woods intends to keep its line-up mostly acoustic and melodic, a suitable genre considering its decorous surroundings and the fact it was formerly a funeral home. Bands can play either in the main chapel area, which is where bodies were shown, or the basement, which was used for embalming and cold storage. While this knowledge could add a creepy air to the proceedings, The Woods is quickly becoming one of the hottest places to play in Portland.
The Artistery‘s all-ages shows are a great way to revisit those bittersweet teen years. Particularly since The Artistery is an actual basement, in an actual house, in southeast Portland. Don’t be fooled by the exterior, their line-up is as talented as any full-blown music hall, including performances by local favorites White Fang and Explode into Colors.
Surely one of the most spectacular venues in one of the most spectacular natural landscapes in the country, The Gorge Amphitheater seats over 25,000 people and overlooks the mighty Columbia River. Such a magnificent setting inspires truly magical performances. The Gorge has seen acts such as Neil Young, Van Halen, Phish and Ben Harper and Pearl Jam’s iconic box set Live at the Gorge was recorded there. Every year The Gorge hosts the Sasquatch Music Festival, which hosts established as well as emerging bands such as Vampire Weekend and Portland’s own Nurses.
The Old Church is a uniquely Portland venue. While it is an actual old church available for all the intended purposes, they also rent out the space for distinctly secular events. The building’s soaring ceilings and stained-glass windows offer a hushed and reverent air to everything from weekly Sunday jazz to local bands.
Portland now bears little resemblance to the rough and tough Wild West town that it used to be, but White Eagle Saloon, located in Portland’s grittier Northeast quadrant, is a great place to lift a pint in nostalgia for those days when drunken sailors were shanghaied onto waiting ships and rouged ladies of the night hollered from upstairs balconies. The saloon features nightly live music of the folk and fiddle variety, as well as a resident ghost that likes to lock unwitting female guests in the ladies restroom.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
