Posted by: Justin Grotelueschen on May 28, 2005 06:07 AM | Comments (0)

Where do I begin? It was an amalgam of familiar unfamiliar sounds right from the start.

First let me note that free103point9 radio in Brooklyn, NY, in partnership with CKLN radio in Toronto, is webcasting this weekend's proceedings, including tonight's performance and all day tomorrow and Saturday. So thanks to them.

We descended into the depths of the Drake to the performance/conference room, which thankfully features a bar stocked with fine beers and liquors (not that we needed any incentive to ingest what was to come), and were led into a world of sound by the humble narrator, piped through a wicked 8-channel spatialized speaker system for pure auditory delight.

We heard excellent works by Tamara Albaitis, Yves Daoust, Milena Droumeva, and Evalyn Perry, and the Radio Theatre Performance Ensemble jumped onstage to combine various musical instruments with vocals (some straight narration, some through effects) to create compelling radioscapes, and somewhere in there was a STELLAR electroacoustic performance by Eric Leonardson on his homemade instruments. I will not lie -- some of the pieces blended together because I either was wandering around the room or not paying attention to who did what. But it was all part of the night, and it was a great one. I definitely picked out a short piece by Darren Copeland called They're Trying to Save Themselves, which I've heard before courtesy of a compilation I received here two years ago and really, really enjoy.

The first portion of the night ended with a longer piece by Steve Wadhams called War Time Comes and Goes. It was gripping through its duration, even though it was considerably longer than the other pre-produced pieces. And when the story came to an end, all that remained was the sound of water piping through the building. And the crowd was silent. I think the water threw us off. But then we figured out where we were at, regained our composure, raised our heads and clapped hands.

But our wretched souls needed further cleansing, so we the audience bowed again and subsequently were blessed and/or cursed by the twisted mantras of the Harvey Christ Radio crew. Their new book and CD are coming out in a matter of weeks, but these fountains of sanctified schtick are to be experienced first-hand. It's never too late to be baptized.

And the night ended as it should have, with a torn ticket in my pocket and a good taste in my ear and my mouth, and chicken shwarma juice on my shoe. See you all after breakfast.

More from Deep Wireless 2005 :
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