LEMURIFORMES IN WORM

We invited the Lemuriformes to do a residency and presentation at worm. Allthough their starting point did not sound very rock n roll to our ears (Improvisation through oscillation) it turned into a very interesting project with a great live event at the end. It was about noise & electronics, improv strategies & interdisciplinary interactions. 


Some background; 
Lemuriformes is an improvisation project of Julie Dassaud (FR), Eliad Wagner (IL), Roel van Doorn (NL) and Laurens van der Wee (NL). It is a 'mixed media' project in which audio-visual live coding, painting and electronic Eclectica are used. The week of June 18 to June 23 they were guests in WORM and worked on a new piece that was presented live last sunday (june 24h).

Their starting point;
Musical movement has its origins in feedback. We are talking about 'feedback' between systems (human systems, disciplines, digital, analog systems, etc.), tools, video, contact microphone on Julie's pens.

At all levels oscillations (oscillations / vibrations) cause new actions that resonate in the connections between the parts and people who compose the system. The result is an aesthetic and challenging mix of disciplines and techniques.

Here's the interview Lukas did with Eliat before the concert, about the way Lemuriformes worked;

Here's one of the pieces; (musicians invisible, Julie doing live drawings)

Here are some photo's from the project.

Supporting act; Idan Karucci with his project; Brain Waves.
 

Yuri Landman

On the 9th of june@WORM, Yuri Landman gave one of his first workshops about his instrument called 'The Caterpillar'.  A bit of info about that;

The Caterpillar is an instrument which can be used as a noise drum guitar in the tradition of Glenn Branca’s ‘Mallet Guitars’ as well as a convenient bowed instrument or a more traditional slide guitar commonly used in country music.

With two drum sticks you can easily develop a percussive sliding technique with one stick functioning as a slide to select a pitch and with the other stick you hit the sliding stick. The instrument also functions well with drum techniques such as double strokes and bouncing.

The instrument features two pickups. It can be used as a stereo instrument and creates a beautiful audio spectrum at recording sessions when two amps are being used. A switch can change the stereo signal in a mono set up which is easier for live situations.
Three musical scales are drawn on the instrument that all together clarify the played tones and the harmonic positions. The color dotted series are equal to the system used on the Home Swinger. Two small movable bridges allow the player to select four fundamental tones.

Here are some photo's of the workshop;

(photo's by Joost & Thies)

A Question;
Can anybody that joined the workshop comment on their experiences? We would appriciate that...

The Sound We See

The Worm Studio crew aka X-Static Tics aka Henk Bakker & Lukas Simonis with help from Nina Hitz made the music and sound to a film project initiated by WORM, done by Paolo Davanzo and Lisa Marr from Los Angeles. They cooperated with  a lot of Rotterdam locals and made the 'analog' film 'The Sound We See', shot on 8mm. All filmmakers took a minute out of the 24 hours of a day. The idea being that the film was a bit like a 'City Symphony'.  For the original idea see HERE.
So we recorded a soundtrack but also did a live performance at the presentation of the film, which turned into a great party with BBQ & a very big audience @ the Scottish Church very near the worm building (never been there before, the inhabitants didn't look very scottish to me). The film will also be out on DVD with the two soundtracks; the live one, played and recorded on this evening, and the one we made in the studio.
Here are some photo's of the event. (it happened on the 25th of may)

(before the event, soundchecking)

(the audience and nina, waiting for the lights to go out)

(the screening)

WORM CREW AT POETRY INT, ROTTERDAM

The last few weeks we worked with dutch poet Saskia De Jong & Ensemble Gending on a 'retranslation' of Marinetti's Futurist Manifest. Last friday (june 15th) we performed the piece at the Poetry International festival in Rotterdam at the Schouwburg. Here's the proof, henk & lukas at the Schouwburg stage before the concert, trying to look casual.

Tobacconists

Totally forgot to post this; the Tobacconists CD on Brevity called 'Smoking Is Green'. Recorded and made partly at the worm studios last year by Frans De Waard & Scott Foust, curated by WORM Radio for VPro's cafe Sonore and also performed live at the Radio Radio Event @WORM a few months ago.

Edmund Cook in Studio

Edmund Cook was in our studio to make a track for his end presentation at the Piet Zwart Institute. He used some of our synths and collaborated with Lars Brekke on bass and Serena Lee on fingers.The bands name is IIIIIIIIIIIIII.
(Will we get the track after the presentation, Edmund?)

(Lars on the right, Edmund left)