After a bit of a wait, Ear Spray hit second on the bill. Carlos brought a small synth, Ann sang, and I brought my waterphone and a djembe. Very minimal set up from all of us, by design. We try to squeeze the music from as little gear as possible these days. The piece that we worked up in rehearsal had me playing simple three note ostinato on the drum, alongside electronics improvisation from Carlos and Ann's vocals. Things started well, really almost mellow, as we built the vibe. At a certain point, I was to switch to waterphone; Ann gave me a volume pedal to use for it, in conjunction with a contact mic that I'd taped to its side. Somehow, the volume from the pedal was turned down in the mixer, so it was really quiet. Shades of a nightmare show at Adobe Books last year! Nooooo!!!!! I soldiered on and played the waterphone despite the frustration that I felt. Our Tascam recording shows that it was in fact audible, so I'm glad to have done so. Still, a bit unnerving for sure. Carlos was deep into his cool sound making process by this time of the set, though, so there were sounds being presented. Ann was very restrained on vocals, mostly focusing on using her Mac on the generative film that she does. Eventually I switched back to djembe to finish the piece. As mentioned, the recording has been listened to, and to me it has an almost New Age Ambient feel. Very spacious and subdued. Not exactly Brutal Sound. Some of the other acts on the bill had similar feels, though, so I guess we fit in somewhat.
Despite the glitch with the waterphone, it was an enjoyable night. Grux and Co. always do a hell of a good job with art, food, sound, everything. Happy to have been there!
Below: Ann and Carlos setting up; my Minimal rig
Below: video!
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