” Golden Donna’s return to Madison! Heady electronic music to balance your groove chakra. “… trippy club-crunched double helixes .. skybath of breezy balcony themes, trap-flecked trampoline electronics, pale dream-pitched slow-rides, and diamond-headed aerodynamics … There’s a consistent looking-glass curvature to the way he bends textures and percussion, giving them this lens flare plasticity, like a warped sheen of translucent plastic … Dense but dispersed … towards warmer climes.” via100% SILK” (*From SnakeOnTheLake)
” Beautiful experimental folk from Madison’s best. “New Jersey native Julian Lynch grew up playing with members of Real Estate and Titus Andronicus in the bedroom community of Ridgewood [NJ]. He’s continued his musical career at the University of Wisconsin, where he studies ethnomusicology during the day and records every instrument he owns (clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, Moog, iPhone) at night.” via NPR Music” (*From SnakeOnTheLake)
‘The Ideating Knell’ by BC Grimm is now available on Signal Dreams!
Limited Edition CD
16 tracks 70 mins $7
Order your copy today!
ᄼᄽᄿᄽᄿᄼᄾᄼᄽᄾᄿᄽᄿᄼᄾᄼᄽᄾᄿ
A few words on the album from Signal Dreams
“ Madison, WI-based avant-jazz explorer BC Grimm is well known locally not just for his phenomenal cello work in live collaborations with artists like Julian Lynch, Spires That In The Sunset Rise, and the mighty Db Pedersen (to name just a few), but also the mind-blowing improvisational chops he showcases with his brother A.J. Grimm in cello-guitar duo The Brothers Grimm and his worldly and detailed production work as Brain Grimmer. More recently, Grimm’s work has been shifting focus toward his intriguing work with two different Chinese zithers, Guqin and Guzheng. We’re extremely proud to present ‘The Ideating Knell,’ a staggering album that combines Grimm’s deep experimentation with the zithers with his love of detailed processing. Honestly, nothing we could say about it could match the beautiful clarity of this statement from BC Grimm himself:
“‘The Ideating Knell’ is an experimental acoustic album of compositions for two ancient Chinese zithers, Guqin 古琴 & Guzheng 古筝. This record includes 6 ‘doppler phase’ pieces for guqin, emulating tape composition techniques to create the movement of sound to/from the vanishing point on the horizon line to/from the listener’s ears. There are 6 pieces for prepared guzheng using: dulcimer hammers, cajon brushes, chopsticks, mate straw, metal bowls, broken teaware, clay sculpting tools, snare wires, & seashell strands. 3 pieces revisit the title track composition from BCG’s 2011 solo guqin album, “Flock Migrates Over The Pines”: with re-recorded, reconstructed versions in two custom tunings, and a new variation on the theme in a traditional tuning. The actual notes in the composition’s score visually depict various forms & shapes of birds taking off into flight, or in formation during flight. Also, specially devised for this project is a new ‘Pentatemperment’ tuning system on guqin, which splits the octave into 5 equal steps, instead of 12 [ low to high: C-40c D0c E+40c G-20c A+20c C-40c D0c ]. Guzheng 古筝, a 21 string bridged zither spanning 4 octaves, and Guqin 古琴, a 7 string fretless zither spanning 1 octave, tune to pentatonic scales. Both instruments share a culturally important performance history stretching back about 2,500 years to the Warring States period.”
Artwork by Nathaniel Ritter. Price is postage paid in the US. Please see shipping rates for Canada/World. “
This Signal Dreams batch also includes: Troy Schafer ‘Untitled No. 1‘ & Derek Rogers ‘Prevais‘.
“The books are back, but the party’s still on. On September 19, Central Library will be STACKED.We’re filling it with art, music, and local fare. Grab a drink and check out the art displayed around the new library and be prepared to meet your “Makers.” The Bubbler at Madison Public Library is bringing in community partners to set up hands-on activities. Don’t miss the Paka Paka light show dance party on the brand new 3rd floor! We’ll have live music and DJs on every floor.“
Proceeds benefit Central Library
100 Artists/ 1 New Library / 1 Day Only
DJs | Nick Nice, Wangzoom, Doctor Oxygen w/ PAKAPAKA Lightshow
LIVE MUSIC | MAIN STAGE———————–FIRST FLOOR ———————- SECOND FLOOR 08:30 Pioneer ——————— ———————– —————– ————————– 09:15 The Wets ——————-09:00 Spires… Sunset Rise ——-09:00 Pidge Anther
10:00 Golden Donna ———— 10:00 Samantha Glass ———– 10:00 Dietrich Goesser
11:00 Trin Tran ——————- 11:00 Noxroy ———————— 11:30 DB Pedersen
12:00 Control ———————- ———————– —————-⇝w/ BCG ————-
Wrest (on tour) ———————————-|Eric Miller + BC Grimm
Jack Wright – sax ——————————–| BC Grimm – cello / 古筝 / 古琴 / 二胡
Evan Lipson – upright bass ——————–| Miller – trumpet/viola da gamba/baroque cello
Benjamin Bennett – percussion —————| “Sounds of today, instruments of antiquity!”
The Brothers Grimm were lucky to share a set with Benjamin Bennett in 2012 at Audio For the Arts (> recent isthmus article) for the Surrounded By Reality series. Ben, fresh off an intensive meditative retreat, brought the house down with a fantastic sit on the floor set. Those in the control room claimed there had to have been more than just one percussionist performing in the room! He’s back in town on tour with a trio called Wrest (sax, bass, & percussion). These guys listen intently, resulting in delightfully sensitive free-improv – perfect for the Tea Room!
Wrest“The kind of music we play is called Free Improvisation, where Wrest cannot be counted on to play the same way each time. There is no typical Wrest “experience.” We are using all our imagination each show to get past what we did the night before. Free Improvisation is not a genre of music with characteristics that separate it from other musics. Rather it’s an approach to playing by musicians who would be bored representing an image of what they are. That’s why we can say, we don’t know what we’re doing until we do it. “
Described twenty years ago as an “undergrounder by design,” Jack Wright is happy to inhabit the vast territory below the radar of the professional music world. Since 1979 he has been traveling through the US and Europe in search of interesting partners and playing situations, and open to whatever might happen. Now living in a small Pennsylvania town, at 70 he is still the “Johnny Appleseed of Free Improvisation,” as Davey Williams called him back in the 80s. And he is still inspiring players outside music-school careerdom. Whenever he plays today, all that he has traversed is present, from fiery, breathless free jazz to quiet, breath-filled, and often animalistic sounds. A reviewer for the Washington Post said, “In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king”. For more info go to springgardenmusic.com, for sounds:soundcloud.com/#jackwright writings: http://jackiswright.wordpress.com/
Evan Lipson (b. 1981), now from Chatanooga, has been active as a musician since adolescence. In an on-going pursuit of all things occult and aberrant, Lipson acquired an early interest in the lateral realms of visionary & experimental music — seeking to transcend the existent paradigms of idiomatic expression. His formative experiences were in underground rock, modernist composition, freak pop, jazz, noise, as well as various modes of improvisation. Lipson cultivates a palpably intense and vehemently iconoclastic body of music. He has performed in numerous groups including Normal Love, Satanized, WREST, Psychotic Quartet, Femme Tops, Legion of Strategic Deception, Dynamite Club, and Ruins. Past tours have taken him throughout North America, as well as Brazil, Taiwan, and Japan. His music has been released on several imprints including SKiN GRAFT, UgEXPLODE, Public Eyesore, High Two, Badmaster, Caminante, New Atlantis, and Damage Rituals..
Ben Bennett, living most of the time in Columbus Ohio, started playing music as a young child, with an interest in jazz that moved steadily towards the more avant-guarde, then to free jazz, and onward into the world of free-improv. Using extended techniques involving breath and friction, as well as the time-honored tradition of hitting things with sticks, he plays an evolving pile of frame drums, pre-tuned drum heads, metal things, tubes, and other objects that can be combined and recombined to get a variety of sounds. This set-up lends itself greatly towards being crammed in a backpack, strapped to a bike, dragged along the ground, or thrown down the stairs, generally without physical or psycological damage. Recent projects besides Wrestinclude: bst.cr – trio with Ryan Jewell and Wilson Shook, Rotty What – trio with Jack Wright and John M Bennett; Central Ohio War Coalition – with Mike Shiflet, Joe Panzner, and others; duos with Ryan Jewell, Jack Callahan, and Ben Hall; and solo performances. Ben will be resident at the Spring Garden Music house during Dec. and Jan. 2012-13.
Eric Miller, gambist and cellist, plays viola da gamba and baroque cello with the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and Eliza’s Toyes, Ensemble Musical Offering, and has appeared with the Madison Bach Musicians, and many others. As a modern cellist, Eric has performed with American Players Theater. Additionally, as an accomplished trumpeter and able improvisor, Eric can be heard in settings around Southern Wisconsin such as jazz ensembles, singer/songwriters, and experimental ensembles. A passionate educator trained in the Suzuki approach, Eric maintains a large cello and trumpet studio in Madison.
FREEMAN//BORDEN//CAIN Trio (Buffalo)
Brothers Grimm recently played a Dobra Tea set with TJ Borden, which was one of our finest guest performances to date. A vast array of Contemporary & avant-garde techniques, improvised with classical precision. He is also back, on tour with a trio including cello, electronics, & sax. We can’t wait to hear what this intense, skronky, free-improv noise-trio has to offer!
YID VICIOUS Madison’s premiere quirk-fest Klezmer Ensemble, prepare for a face-melt!
August & September – Live Music Series & Festival Show Performances featuring Lovely Socialite Mrs. Thomas W. Phipps, Brothers Grimm, Sisters Three, BRAIN GRIMMER, & plenty of local friends/favorites!
Frank “Bucky” Pope featuring Dave Adler and Calvin Thorne: Bucky Pope of Madison punk greats the Tar Babies plays with his new trio.
Brian Grimm makes bizarre, hip-hop-inspired instrumentals under the name BRAIN GRIMMER (BEATS EP) and will conjure them up with help from an MPC here. “
> Preview Stream Brain Grimmer’s new 20 track (Sketches) BEATS EP 2on Arts Extract Podcast!
” The Brothers Grimm open with a set of originals, followed by Anubis Quartet, playing adventurous new music for saxophone quartet including Rasch by Franco Donatoni, New York Counterpoint by Steve Reich, and a new work for saxophone quarter and soprano by Monte Weber. “
Color Field Festival also features guest artists TIGUE percussion trio (NYC) & Clocks in Motion percussion ensemble (Mad)
