Symposium and A/V Performances by Ezekiel Honig, Joshue Ott and David Last October 8, 2010

Join us on Friday, October 8th for a symposium moderated by Ezekiel Honig and Joshue Ott. The symposium will be followed by a sound performance series with Ezekiel Honig and Joshue Ott, David Last, and Santa.

Before the performance, Ott and Honig will lead an informal discussion and Q+A centering on their collaborative approach to improvising with a set of conceptual and content-based tools, where their individual practices meet, and how each takes advantage of an accidental precision.

Location: Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
55 Taylor St., San Francisco, CA 94102
Date & Time: Friday October 8th, 2010 - 6:30pm - 12:00pm
Cost: $5-$10 (Symposium) / $10 (A/V performances) / $15 (Symposium + A/V performances)

6:30 to 8:00 - Symposium with Ezekiel Honig and Joshue Ott
8:00 to 9:00 - Reception
9:00 to 10:00 - Ezekiel Honig and Joshue Ott
10:00 to 11:00 - David Last
11:00 to 12:00 - Santa

Ezekiel Honig

A New York City native, and founder/label manager for the Anticipate and Microcosm labels, Ezekiel Honig concentrates on his idiosyncratic brand of emotively warm electronic-acoustic music. Using the loop as more of a tool than a rule, Honig paints outside the lines, nestling into a comfortable, shared space between muted techno, melodic, event-driven ambient, downtempo and slowmotion house - using them as reference points from which to stray, rather than as steadfast frameworks. Drawing on the rich history of musique concrete, Honig looks to incorporate a material nature into his music by imbuing it with a host of field recording/found-sound sources in the search for a balance between digital software innovation and the physicality of the world around us. Using the sounds of plastic, metal, wood and air in collaboration with Rhodes, guitar, horns, piano and other instrumental origins, his music is one of contrast and contradiction, combining minimal, abstract tendencies with a core of timeless harmonics - pairing inviting, fuzzy chords with clunky and dirty "mishaps."

In addition to his studio releases and label work, Honig performs live consistently, and in this setting, strives to push beyond the boundaries of the recorded material. His improvisational approach combines loops and elements from various songs with on-the-fly arrangements, editing and effects. Viewing the recorded material as a constantly shifting body of work leaves space for serendipitous moments and leads to each set being an individualized rework, referencing and reprocessing itself as well as the song forms from which the parts emerged. As a result of this flexibility to tailor sets to the environment, his performances have been known to take the form of location-centered, rhythmic near-ambient, deep after-hours techno, or heartbeat-driven installation. Honig performs regularly in a variety of venues in NYC, from Le Poisson Rouge to inflatable bubbles, Roulette to The New Yorker Festival, and many points in between, as well as galleries and alternative spaces outside his hometown, including Mutek (Montreal, Canada), Plateaux Festival (Torun, Poland), Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro (Milan, Italy), and the Detroit Electronic Music Festival.

Joshue Ott

New York-based visualist Joshue Ott creates cinematic visual improvisations, performed live and projected in large scale. Working from hand-drawn forms manipulated in real-time with superDraw, a software instrument of his own design, Ott composes evolving images that reside somewhere between minimalism, psychedelia, and Cagean chance, delivered with an inescapably human touch. Supple yet digital, ephemeral but instantly memorable, Ott renders sound into vision, yielding an immersive multi-sensory experience that is at once immediate and synergistic, a unique visual narrative born in the moment.

Performing with musicians from all genres between classical and avant-electronica,
Ott's visuals have been featured at Unsound festival NY, Mutek, Communikey, MGfest, the Plateaux festival in Poland, the San Francisco International Film Festival, Yuri's Night Bay Area, Le Cube (Paris), the Playgrounds Audiovisual Art Festival (Netherlands), Boston Cyberarts, and the 2006 Ars Electronica Animation Festival. He has performed with the American Composer's Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; with Son Lux at MASS MoCA; with Gina Gibney Dance at the Baryshnikov Arts Center; and frequently at venues throughout New York City, including Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, the Knitting Factory, and the Stone.

David Last

David Last is a musician and visual artist living in Brooklyn, New York. With Sasha Kaline (Alka Rex), he is a founder of the Konque label and music project.

Tracks range from electronic dance music to cinematic orchestral ambience depending on the setting. This is not surprising, as he has been creating music for a variety of venues; the dancefloor, Imax film, video installation, childrens’ animation, and albums. As a result of a broad curiosity about music, each project is considered anew as its own sonic world.

David's tracks are currently released in a variety of contexts with labels like Staubgold (Berlin), Konque (NYC), and Foundsound/Unfoundsound (Berlin). He has remixed for many others including François K’s WaveTec label (NYC), indie psych-rock label The Social Registry (NYC) and Audio.NL (Rotterdam). His downtempo full-length CD "The Push Pull" is now in its second printing with The Agriculture (NYC), having gained respect from tough critics like pitchforkmedia, and generating a sizable cult following. International projects further afield of dance music have included the performance of a commissioned soundtrack for a cavern in Japan, the soundtrack to a computer animated Imax film about talking atoms, and a video/music installation in Amsterdam.

"Musically Massive," a 2009 CD release with ragga vocalist MC ZULU was a critically acclaimed departure from previous instrumental endeavors. David has also been collaborating with Japanese tech-house producer Segeke on a project called Pocket Pet. Pocket Pet has hit dancefloors with EPs on Goosehound (NYC) and Geometric Deck (Osaka). His drumming with live bands Solids and Dub Amp round out his collaborations with other musicians. David has an upcoming full length that he will be showcasing at his performance with us at Gray Area.

Besides music releases, he creates visual artwork with odd abstract cartoon characters. His artwork has appeared on packaging for music and in animated tv-show intros for MTV-Japan. His handmade books have been shown at the Metropolitan Museum and bought by MOMA. In his spare time he creates a limited edition series of illustrated sneakers, and other artworks.

Santa

Santa is a seven piece electroacoustic ensemble based in San Francisco. The group's sound is hinged upon Cullen Miller's electronics and is fully actualized with the accompaniment of trumpet, tenor and alto saxophones, alto flute, drum kit and upright bass.

Cullen Miller is an American composer, electronic musician and sound designer born in Detroit, Michigan. He is currently residing in San Francisco, California. His music is a laptop fused hybrid of aleatoric, electronica, dub, and jazz; incorporating original field recordings, programmed rhythms, fragmented vocals, synthesizers and traditional instrumentation. His compositional endeavors began by learning double bass and studying contemporary classical and jazz theory under the Netherlands based composer and bassist, Chad Langford. He utilizes and designs custom software applications that are configured in graphical environments. Miller performs periodically with San Francisco band, Santa and under his dub guise, Selande. He has released three EPs, all on the American (San Francisco) based label TwoCircles.

Miller's live performances typically consist of orchestrated acoustic instrumentation (cello, various drums and percussion, synthesizers, clarinet, dobro, electric and double bass, piano, violin, vocals, and saxophones) integrated with prepared and stochastic electronics.