December 1st 2017 - Thin Air, The Tangent Project, The Ministry of Inside Things
The Ministry of Inside Things - Consisting of synthesist Chuck van Zyl and electric guitarist Art Cohen, Philadelphia-based The Ministry of Inside Things are considered among the most innovative of US spacemusicians today. Equally influenced by the early groundbreaking music of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Ash Ra Tempel as well as that of Pink Floyd and The Grateful Dead, their work pushes across a diverse sonic terrain. Based on live improvisation, The Ministry of Inside Things creates electronic realizations that flow from theme to theme, within the context of a composed suite of music. Through use of textures and atmospheres as well as harmony, rhythm and melody, the group transports the listener on an internal aural excursion. The Ministry of Inside Things exist outside the confines of the recording studio and in the realm of the live performance. As MoIT, Art Cohen and Chuck van Zyl continue a tradition of bringing an otherwise methodical studio based art form out into the spontaneity of the performance environment. Their third CD "Ambient Elsewhere" (2008) feels dark and isolated when compared to their two earlier releases. While "Everlasting Moment" (2003) explored the edges, dynamics and tension of space and atmosphere, and "Contact Point" (2006) embraced the more unified themes of cosmic, biospheric and macrocosmic interaction, "Ambient Elsewhere" moves through strange new territory in-between and outside of traditional Spacemusic. Drawn from a range of chilling themes, this album sonifies wintertime, desolate landscapes and the soul's midnight. Moving through the timbral badlands of the empty quarter, "Ambient Elsewhere" offers up a courageous intimacy. Always bringing their own influences and innovation to the music process, MoIT produces a sound that is uniquely individual and personal.
Veteran Spacemusic duo The Tangent Project features the ample talents of synthesist Jeff Coulter and guitarist Harrison McKay. Experimenting with sounds and textures reminiscent of the classics Rubycon and Phaedra their approach incorporates a unique sensibility and outlook. Coulter's sequencer runs, synth pads and melodies all move at different speeds while McKay's processed guitar alternates between emitting atmospheric textures and liquid lead solos. Their realizations are in constant motion, either pushing forward, or churning in stillness, or at some indistinct level in between. Coulter and McKay explore areas of both dark and light. Their music is a culmination of a lifetime worth of experience. They will be performing selections from their most recent album release, Threads.
ThinAirX is Steve Bowman playing electrified clarinet—a regular orchestral clarinet modified with aguitar pickup, and then processed through a chain of guitar pedals. Virtually every sound in a ThinAirX performance originates from the clarinet, then is pitch shifted, modulated, delayed, looped, stacked, warped, and turned upside down. No sequencers, drum machines or backing tracks. No laptop. The result is like nothing you’ve ever heard. It’s electronic music driven by the expressiveness of a wind instrument. Sometimes it sounds like a clarinet. Other times you’d never guess it was anything but a full synth-driven band. ThinAirX is spacemusic with a jam-band sensibility. But not free jams. The pieces are composed, with themes and structure and discernable musical ideas. Not scored note by note but, as with jam bands or jazz, each performance is unique, capturing the energy of the moment. The music ranges from ambient and dreamy to raucous noise. Harmonies from modal to atonal. Melodies from chromatic angularity to singing themes. Sometimes all in the same composition. Steve is a veteran electronic musician, enthralled with all the fantastic sounds that modern circuitry can generate. But it’s electronics grounded in a musical sensibility shaped by a lifetime of listening to string quartets, renaissance masses, Beethoven, Ives, Subotnick, Stockhausen, Reich, Ligeti, Zappa, Beefheart, “more Grateful Dead shows than I can count” and a degree in Music from Harvard. Before switching to the clarinet Steve played keyboards and synths—you may have heard him perform solo as Thin Air or with Art Cohen as the duo Delicate Monster.
Admission is FREE