Two shows, two modes
upcoming March performances in Philadelphia
my continuing enthusiasm for wearing multiple hats…
audiovisual improvisation with William Fields: March 22 in Fishtown
Electronic musician William Fields and I are going to debut a new collaboration as on Saturday, March 22, as part of a concert hosted by The Lowpass. I got to know William’s work during 2020 (his microtonal Bewilderment record was an attention-getter). Only later did I realize that he lived near to Philadelphia, and this summer I finally had the opportunity to hear him perform and to introduce myself. It turns out that we have an enormous amount in common - we both position generative and algorithmic processes at the core of our artistic practices, and make most of our work live, improvising and interacting with software tools of our own design on stage and in real time.
Since William is able to produce a fully saturated musical texture in solo performance, and since I’m devoting an increasing amount of time to digital animation, we decided that for our first try at a collaboration I would supply visuals to match William’s audio. I’m now in the process of writing software that receives networked rhythmic and other control data from William’s musical instrument, and uses that data to trigger visual abstractions that are tightly synchronized with the ongoing music.
I wrote in the previous edition of the newsletter about learning OPENRNDR, and the challenges that appear at the base of the learning curve. Happily, I’m now far enough along with OPENRNDR that I can use it for productive work, including this project. The initial frustrations have largely receded, and I’m mostly able to enjoy the satisfying feeling of wrapping my brain around something new, amplified by the pleasure of batting ideas and code back and forth with a trusted partner like William.
The lineup for the show features Molto Ohm (releasing a new album, FEED) and Marie Ann Hedonia, and it takes place at 2223 FISH (which, in the hands of the good folks from The Lowpass, features excellent sound and projection). Saturday, March 22, 2025, 8 pm, 2223 E. Dauphin Street, Philadelphia, admission by sliding scale ($15 suggested, no one turned away). It’s been a pleasure forming this new collaboration and friendship with William, and I’d love to share the first fruits with you.
electric guitar improvisation with Thomas Schuttenhelm: March 27 in Grays Ferry
If that weren’t enough to keep me busy this month, I’m also performing an electric guitar duo with composer/performer/curator and fellow South Philadelphian Thomas Schuttenhelm on Thursday, March 27, as part of the Trepanation Series. Thomas and I have been itching to make music together for a while now, and our plan for the show revolves around playing our guitars into a live-sampling system that will reflect, refract, magnify… and maybe do some other optical lens-related things too? (I’ve lost control of this metaphor). But the idea is yet another expression of my approach to algorithms in improvisation - use a semi-autonomous electronic process to inflect and guide the human performance, and embrace the constraints that the system imposes as an opportunity to spur and inspire new and imaginative modes of play.
The bill also includes a duo from vibraphonist Victor Viera-Branco and percussionist-verging-on-dancer Toshi Makihara, which I fully expect to be stellar. Thursday, March 27, 7:30 pm, at Century (1350 S. 29th Street, Philadelphia), admission by sliding scale ($10 suggested, no one turned away). It’ll be a heavily-overdriven and polyrhythmic good time.
At the workbench
With a couple of weeks to go until these performances, I’m scurrying to get all of the software they require into place. And, uh, I need to get back to that scurrying, so I’m going to keep this section short and tease you with a few more screenshots from the animation work-in-progress:
Perhaps at some point I can write about the interactive aspects of these animations, and how I think about designing them so that they respond to the particularities of William’s music in compelling ways. But my thoughts on that topic are too jumbled and inchoate to put into writing just yet.
Nonce
I may need to have a conversation with cartoonist John Granzow about what exactly the phrase “perk up your ears” means. Then again, William and Thomas’ improvisations surely qualify as auditory caffeine-analogs…
Thanks as always for listening, watching, and reading - yours,
Christopher
Christopher Burns
sfsound.org/~cburns