Posts Tagged: electronic music

Tape Music Festival

Building with Lights, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco CA.

Building with Lights, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco CA.

This evening I managed to attend The San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2011. I enjoyed it immensely. There were some really wonderful pieces and an appreciative audience. Of course, many in the audience were probably participants waiting their turn on this or one of the next two nights–I recognize that this is not a hugely popular genre. Nonetheless, it was good to see a decent audience out for this kind of art. I myself would go fairly regularly to see and hear experimental music if I could, but life is different now than it was when I was in college with few real obligations and responsibilities.

In any case, the first half consisted of works by Adrian Moore, Mauricio Kagel, Paul Dresher, and bran(…)pos. It was a solid set that really showcased the power of electronic music  experienced in a good venue with a terrific multi-channel sound system. The second half was more mixed with a piece by Christian Marclay being the standout. To be fair, by the time the second half began, my ears and brain were tired and I was surely not as receptive as I was earlier in the evening. The relative accessibility of the Marclay piece, with its turntablism aesthetic, gave it a leg up at this point in the evening.

The concert was at the Southside Theater at Fort Mason Center. I have never been to this particular space before, and had not been out to Fort Mason in a couple years, so wandering the foggy cold grounds for a bit after the show was a treat in itself. The Exploratorium has some installations along the water that focus on the nature of SF Bay, and they were interesting to see.

Beyond being a consumer, I was really inspired to again be a producer. Following on yesterday’s confessional post regarding picking up the guitar again, I’m now entertaining a commitment to using the gear that has been set up and dutifully standing by for years. It has sat here day after day as if any second I would just jump in and start working again at composing electronic.

I used to compose a lot, and even naively thought of it as a career track. I wish I had pursued it more rigorously and with determination. I’d love to have a job making experimental electronic music. And making fine art photographs. And perhaps putting the two together. Can’t I just have a patron?

Liber Prologi in Vitam Beatam

The music gear is set up but just sits there collecting dust. Why? Too much photography? Too much worrying about career? Too much domestic work to do? Too much facebook? Too much everything, really. The suggestion that some or all of it should go is realistic, but devastating just the same. I started the process of paring down, and piled up some things for sale or storage.

I decided I really still want to compose, so I also finally tackled getting my audio software up and running on the brand new iMac. The good news is that the recording software, MOTU’s Digital Performer, all works on OS 10.6, despite being two major releases old. The bad news is that the patch librarian/editor software for all my old synths doesn’t. It won’t run at all, and it doesn’t look like MOTU is really supporting any more. That’ll be a headache to solve.

In the meantime I came across some ambient pieces I had been working on a couple years ago. For some reason they all have working titles derived from works by Paracelsus. Here is a rough mix of the first one.

Click the link above to show the player, then click the pointer for playback.