Category: Performance

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Legs on the Wall – Open Source residency begins

The Red Box/Legs on the Wall, Sydney

The Macrophonics artist collective (Julian Knowles, Donna Hewitt, Wade Marynowsky, Tim Bruniges) has just commenced our Open Source media technologies residency with Sydney based physical theatre company Legs on the Wall at their Red Box development space. Background information on the project can be found here.

Macrophonics live – Brisbane Festival 2011

The residency sees the group examine a range of interface technologies and approaches to explore the nexus between theatrical performers and a four member live media ensemble. The objective is to build a responsive performance environment that will allow the theatre performers to have direct gestural input into the media control system, defining new relationships between the performance ensemble, the media design elements and the media ensemble.

We’ve broadly structured our investigation across two approaches. The first is video tracking/computer vision techniques (using the cv.jit suite of objects for Jitter) where the stage area can be analysed and moving objects tracked.

Jitter patch – cv.jit suite of ‘computer vision’ (video analysis) objects
Moving masses in the video frame are identified and then tracked

The second area of investigation is wearable garment interfaces that sense movement directly at each performer (accelerometers, pressure and flex sensors, light sensors etc) and send data wirelessly to the media ensemble. We are using the LilyPad Arduino platform for this work. The LilyPad is a small, flat implementation of the Arduino platform that can be sewn into garments. Conductive ‘thread’ can then be sewn in ‘tracks’ into the garment to form the links between the device and the attached sensors.

LilyPad Arduino

The LilyPad can be run from a battery source and can, with a bit of extra stuff, transmit data wirelessly over an ad hoc wireless network.

Lilypad arduino sewn into garment with conductive thread. Image credit: Rain Rabbit (flickr)
Donna’s LilyPad – ready for sewing
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Even As We Speak – FBi Radio Interview. Peel Session Preview

Even As We Speak after lunch, John Peel's House, UK 1993
Even As We Speak, John Peel’s House (‘Peel Mansions’), Stowmarket, UK 1993

Here is a recent interview and live to air performance from the studio of FBi Radio in Sydney on November 3, 2012 – immediately before our 20 year reunion gig at The Red Rattler. We speak about the experience of basing the band in the UK in the early 1990s, the independent scene at that time and the experience of working with John Peel. The show previews two previously unreleased tracks  ‘Falling Down the Stairs (ft. Younger Youth)’ and ‘Best Kept Secret’ recorded for the BBC in 1993, and soon to be released on the forthcoming Even As We Speak Peel/Goodier sessions release ‘Yellow Food’. We also play a stripped back in-studio live version of a further unreleased Peel Session track ‘Everywhere I Go’.

 

 

BBC Maida Vale UK Peel Session 1993-1
Even As We Speak. BBC Maida Vale UK. Peel Session 1993

 

BBC Maida Vale UK Peel Session 1993-3
Even As We Speak at BBC Maida Vale UK. Peel Session 1993

 

BBC Maida Vale UK Peel Session 1993-4
Even As We Speak at BBC Maida Vale. Peel Session 1993

 

BBC Maida Vale UK Peel Session 1993-5
Even As We Speak at BBC Maida Vale. Peel Session 1993. Tympani overdubs ‘Best Kept Secret’

 

BBC Maida Vale Studio 4. Home of Peel Sessions. Main live room 2011
BBC Maida Vale Studio 4. Home of Peel Sessions. Main live room 2011

 

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Even As We Speak live at The Red Rattler. Sydney Nov 3, 2012

To celebrate the imminent release of our John Peel and Mark Goodier BBC Sessions, Even As We Speak played a special one-off show at The Red Rattler Theatre in Sydney Australia on November 3.

Even As We Speak – Live at The Red Rattler, Sydney Australia. Nov 3, 2012

This marked the first time the band had played together since 1993 when we returned to the Australia from the UK, following the release of our final ‘Blue Eyes Deceiving Me‘ EP on the legendary Bristol/UK label Sarah Records.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of-KfBFsUiI

 

Joined by supports Alannah Russack (ex The Hummingbirds), and Living with Robert, the night brought out a bunch of die hard fans, with people even taking international flights to get to the show. Now that’s serious dedication…

Mary Wyer, Matt Love and I did an interview for FBi Radio the afternoon before the show. We talked about the experience of recording sessions for John Peel and previewed two of the tracks from the impending release. We also did a seat-of-the-pants live to air from the radio studio of the otherwise unreleased Peel Session song ‘Everywhere I Go’. Stay tuned for updates on this brand new release, which should be announced in the next fortnight or so, as soon as contracts are finalised with the BBC.

Even as We Speak. Live at the Red Rattler. Sydney Australia. Nov 3, 2012.
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The Waiting Room, Brisbane Nov 22, 2012

The Waiting Room - Nov 22, 2012

 

 

Hinterland + Anonymeye + Julian Knowles + Puzhaki

Join us at The Waiting Room in Brisbane’s West End for this diverse show featuring artists from Sydney, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast. Don’t miss how four men use four different approaches to create a million unusual sounds – all in one Thursday night.

HINTERLANDT is a Sydney-based solo act juggling numerous instruments, sounds and influences. Hinterlandt has toured internationally and released truckloads of material. In his first-ever Brisbane show, Hinterlandt mastermind Jochen Gutsch presents his brand new album “Cartography” on Laughing Outlaw Records.

Info: http://www.hinterlandt.net/

Listen: http://soundcloud.com/hinterland

ANONYMEYE is the nom de musique of Andrew Tuttle. Anonymeye reconfigures various organic and mechanic musics within a sonic framework akin to an abstract musical Esperanto. Utilising electronic and acoustic instrumentation including acoustic guitar, computer, banjo, and synthesiser, Anonymeye straddles and blurs boundaries between improvisation and composition, experimentation and song-form, and melody and dissonance.

Info: http://www.anonymeye.com/
Listen: http://anonymeye.bandcamp.com/

JULIAN KNOWLES has been creating pretty, ambient electronic noise for 20 years as a solo artist and with the iconic field recording group, Social Interiors. His work crosses every musical boundary possible – experimental, post-rock, ambient, field – and is fuelled by destroyed analog media, guitars and laptops.

Info: http://www.julianknowles.net/

PUZAHKI is the alias of Gold Coast based electronic music producer Craig Parry. Puzahki’s preceding reputation lies in breakcore & jungle however his current musical focus is instrumental hiphop and abstract turntablism. He has just released a 7 track EP titled Emergency Exit, has a full length mix album coming out on Ender Records and is about to self release a 3 track split single with Chupi.

Info: http://puzahki.net/

THE WAITING ROOM is a community-minded DIY music and arts space located at 11 Browning Street, West End, Brisbane.

https://www.facebook.com/WaitingRoomBrisbane

Julian Knowles. Live. The Waiting Room Brisbane. Image: Craig Parry

 

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Legs On the Wall – Open Source residency

Legs On The Wall

 

http://youtu.be/LlsILg_usOo

 

I’ve just been advised that our Macrophonics collective will be one of two artist groups in residence at Legs On The Wall in Sydney in Nov/Dec 2012 as part of their Open Source program.

Legs On the Wall - Open Source program
Legs On the Wall – Open Source program

This project is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts and provides and opportunity for artists working with media technologies to undertake a month long residency with the company to explore  an aspect of  digital media in theatre/performance contexts.

The group proposes that for Open Source we build on the work and momentum of Macrophonics in 2011 by establishing a group collaboration framework to explore the use of sensing technologies and instruments in a theatrical context. Each artist brings a different skill set and, in combination, they represent an extremely broad capability across sound and visual media technologies and physical computing. Much of our work to date has focused on sensing in an ‘instrumental music’ fashion, drawing upon music models for performer/technological interaction. In this project we would examine the ways in which we could work with live theatre performers as agents within a multi-performer sensing project.  Video tracking, position, distance and touch sensors would be used to create a responsive space for performance. The performance space would output data as a result of the performer’s movement and this data would be drawn upon by the Macrophonics team to create a responsive sound and media scape. The objective would be to augment the expressive range of the theatre performer by situating them in a responsive environment. Specifically to explore and define new direct relationships between the theatre performers, musicians and media artists who traditionally work with a network of indirect or interpretive relationships with one another.

Read more about this project here.