763 Brannan St.
San Francisco, CA, California

http://recombinantmedia.net/calendar/blixa_alva/

Blixa Bargeld (of Einstürzende Neubauten)
and
Alva Noto (aka noto, Carsten Nicolai)

Also appearing is Kangding Ray (raster-noton)

Friday, September 28th 2007

Two presentations: 8pm and 11pm

Suggested donation $20

BLIXA BARGELD

Blixa Bargeld is probably best known as a founding member of the German group Einstürzende Neubauten and the former idiosyncratic guitarist in Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Numerous concert-tours through Europe, North- and South America, Australia and Japan. Works as composer, author, actor, singer, musician, performer and lecturer in almost any field of interpretative art.

In the 1980s Einstürzende Neubauten's frontman. a former gravedigger, bartender, and theater manager who appropriated his first name from a brand of German ballpoint pen—predicted that "the entire pop culture would change while we (Einstürzende Neubauten) would remain the same, and the day would come when our 'noise' would sound like their new 'music.'" His prediction was not too far off, evidenced by the popularity in the 1990s of what has come to be known as "industrial" music. By the mid-1990s, in fact, Einstürzende Neubauten's music seemed much tamer, due in part to the "noisification" of mainstream music, and also to the natural growth and change that is part of the band's creative process.

As Bargeld told Kenneth Laddish of Mondo 2000: "When we are at our best, our sounds form sentences as surely as words, which reinforces on another level what we are trying to express. The idea of using sound, stepping away from notes—add to this the quality of what the instrument actually is: this is burning oil. Put in a certain context, you compose a sentence dealing with burning oil."

ALVA NOTO

The German artist / musican Alvo Noto uses various media, such as sound, image, sculpture and computers as a kind of hybrid- tool to create his own microscopic view of creative processes. Working intensively in the transitional area between art and science, his world looks more like a laboratory- constantly morphing in space and time, influenced by the impulses of this media world, sound- the message as a code- becomes, the primary theme via visualised sound performance. Also known as Carsten Nicolai his work questions creativity, coincidence and artistic creative power. A lot of his works are directly linked with the natural sciences.

"In my opinion the emphasis of self-generating processes is a reaction to the claim to plan everything. many of my works underlie a rule and introduce a model as organiszing scheme to recognize chaotic movements. I am interested in both moments, they lie really close together. (...)
After his participation in important international exhibitions like documenta x and the 49th and 50th venice biennal, Nicolai's works were shown in two comprehensive solo exhibitions at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany (anti reflex) and at Neue National Galerie in Berlin, Germany (syn chron) in 2005. in 2007 he will have further extensive shows in Hamburg, Zurich and New York.
For several years now Carsten Nicolai experiments with sound under the pseudonym Noto to create his own code of signs, acoustic and visual symbols. as alva noto he leads those experiments into the field of electronic music.
Among others, Nicolai already performed as Alva Noto at Solomon R. Guggenheim museum in New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Kunsthaus Graz, and Tate Modern in London. Additionally he has projects with diverse artists such as Ryoji Ikeda (cyclo.), Mika Vainio or Thomas Knak (opto); recently he toured with ryuichi sakamoto through Europe, Australia and Asia.

Kangding Ray

Kangding Ray is David Letellier born 1978 in France. He lives and works in Berlin
He studied and graduated in architecture in rennes and Berlin and works now in different fields : music, architecture, performances, installations.

The music of Kangding Ray is situated at the crossroads of « digitality » and sensitivity. In his compositions, melodies combine with machine sounds in a subtle and rhythmic suite. He skillfully integrates guitar loops, bass lines, residual noise, acoustic instruments and digital anomalies to create a textured soundscape. This valuable musical openness is reflected in his particular way of merging pulses and emotions into slowly evolving compositions. His debut album “Stabil” was released on the German label Raster-Noton.

review extracts :
“ Stabil is a fantastic blend of intelligence and emotion, neither excessive in its activity nor tiresome in its sparsity. It slides beautifully through the mind and demands a second listening.” -Louis Goddard . CDtimes, UK

“Kangding Ray offers a fresh voice to possibilities interfacing acoustic instruments and electronics. Piano lines softly land on the surface, as simple melodies envelop each track and cloudbursts of intersecting microscopic frequencies surround one another » Robin Rimbaud . Kultureflash, UK

Official Website: http://recombinantmedia.net/calendar/blixa_alva/

Added by Rubin110 on September 7, 2007