Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Stayin Busy, DRONIN HARD

This last weekend was busy,
played a Nude Sunrise set on Friday at Chili's in Pilsen with Billy Crystal Meth, The Incredible Pyramid, and El is a Sound Of Joy. Chugged a tall boy which turned out to have couple cigarette butts in it with a couple friends. That made for some regurgitated goodies, and some great laughs.

Then Saturday after a long night of partying at Schwag City, Jay Feather and I walked most of the way to Rueben's Palace where Cave proceeded to finish melting what remained of our sleep deprived minds.

As you can guess, when I awoke at 8:30 the next morning I was anything but chipper... This was my mindset entering the 9 Media Wash 1, my first solo 12 hour drone.

Now in old hippie lore the maxim of "set & setting" is a fair warning that when attempting any mind altering activity ones mindset should be in an optimal condition. Feeling quite less than optimal, I brewed a strong cup of maté and attempted to brace my energy for the day.

Though I woke to a rough start, once I got going, the whirl of sounds throughout the room quickly soothed my nerves. I knew my journey was barely beginning.

As time went on, time only became more of a joke.


(Photo By Spiderella Crackwitch)

After 4 hours, the drone, essentially the same loop the whole time, begins to change in tone and mood, I feel as though my imagination is distorting my perception of the sounds.

After about 6 hours, it has become quite clear that my imagination has taken the drone and myself to a completely different place and time.

After about 8 hours, I feel as if I am lightly and pleasantly tripping. I have taken no drugs. Sounds pop in and out that are completely alien to the original loop. I hear people singing. At one point I swear I hear Michael Jackson.

After 10 hours, you can't remember who inherited their eyes from disneyland or what military gave you radiant skin tinted while sunbathing on an iceberg near the equator, eating half a slice of dutch apple pie using a fork with a modern design and matching picture frame which you keep the senior pictures of your would be favorite pet narhwal, Charlie, in. Then you pick out your favorite everything, and ring their doorbells to see if they maybe want to hang out and join the drone too.

The drone was created using 3 cassette tapes and a sampler playing the same 3 second loop processed through different effects amplified through separate speakers in different corners of the room.

The beauty of using the cassette tapes for this piece is that the different speeds of the tape players prevents the loops from ever perfectly matching up. Thus, with all four sources playing together, the sounds melt together and the drone sounds all together the same and entirely different every second.

The drone is also completely different depending on your location in the room. So depending on how a person reacts to the sounds and objects within the room they each create their own unique "song".

When its all done, and the drone is gone I feel almost naked. Something is missing and still a large part of me has been calmed.

The next night, tonight, which has now turned into this morning, was the first show at my friend's new space, The Waspsnest. the lineup was Tranzparents, 9, Static Swamp, & Teflon Dawn. Despite the blizzard threat creating a somewhat underwhelming turnout, everyone who was there played well and all undoubtedly got down.

I expect to stay equally as busy these next couple months preparing for the upcoming Nude Sunrise/The Great Valley Tour to SXSW in March.

Also be on the lookout for these new releases on Teslavison:
CH003 'Vending Machines IN SPACE' - 9
CH004 'Sunshine 9 Arkestar' - Sunshine 9 Arkestra
CH005 'The Third Transmission' - Meester Magpie + 9
CH006 'Twin Travoltas' - Lamella/Teflon Dawn split


Oh yeah, there's also a NS show at Ball Hall Friday!

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