Lancasphere 6: Birds of the Cloud Forest, Noite & RiverSound 3.21.15
Lancasphere 6 represents one of the most important missions of the Lancasphere concert series: providing a platform for experimental and ambient artists to explore their creativity in front of an interested audience. Artists from both of our featured acts, Birds of the Cloud Forest and Noite, have been a part of previous Lancasphere concerts and prepared special performances built exclusively for this show. In addition to these two acts, I opened the concert with an encore presentation of RiverSound Project, a photography and music collaboration with photographer Matthew Lester that I recently performed during an installation at The Arch in Lancaster.
Here’s a link to a Facebook photo album from the event.
Birds of the Cloud Forest
A bird in the cloud forest. Photo by Aaron Spangler
I started thinking about devices that would play themselves while traveling though Europe in 1978. I kept a journal and drew a picture of one device that appeared in a dream. When I returned to West Philly I started to accumulate parts to build these devices. Soon after, my energy went into rehabbing a newly purchased house and into playing oboe in a jazz and world music trio. Gradually the boxes of parts got pushed further back down the to do list. The dreams stayed alive and supplied enough energy to drag those boxes along on four house moves, and resist their getting dumped in the trash. About four years ago Jason Mundok asked me to do some incidental music for the [Lancaster’s] 24 Hour Plays. With parenting down to a dull roar it seemed appropriate to dig around in the attic and see what was in those boxes. I pieced together some things that were the beginnings of what I am doing now.
As a homage to Frank Zappa’s piece “Toads of the Short Forest” I capriciously called the first performance “Birds of the Cloud Forest” which over time took on its own meaning. I look at the devices that play themselves as the “cloud”, a loose collection of sound molecules that do not have a defined shape or rhythm. At the moment the cloud includes three guitars that are strummed automatically and two 1980’s synthesizers. The birds are the instruments that are actively played while the cloud chugs along under its own steam. Instruments include oboe, a bamboo clarinet (inexplicably in A-flat), recorders, and an assortment of whistles. For the March 21st performance we have added an another bird, local guitarist Steve Bridgeman. Steve and I last played together in a quartet in the early 1990s. His vision and virtuosity add a unique birdsong into the cloud forest.
Another addition for this performance will be visuals some of which will be created on the spot in real time. Nancy Baum makes drawings using household materials and inks on a drawing board that will be projected as a back drop to the music. Included will be a video of shadow play; a drawing in 3D. – Tim Baum 3/8/15
Here’s Birds of the Cloud Forest at Lancasphere 2 on November 14, 2014.
Noite
Noite Tools Noite is a post modern minimalist ambient duo featuring Kyle Yuditsky and Nick Christenson. They performed a pseudo improvised set utilizing a myriad of electronic instruments and consumer electronics. Noite’s performance was complemented by a variety of eclectic projected visuals compiled by Yuditskous.
Christenson and Yuditsky have both performed during our Evolution of Sound experimental improvisation concerts and each continue to release experimental and ambient music through their own projects: Christenson as Svið Vor and Yuditsky as Karl Yuditskous.
A sample from a recent Noite session:
