mikronesia

Here’s a little ambient remix of “I’ll Take U” From Synchronized Eyes. We’re heading to the studio this weekend to get crackin’ on Infinite Sand Dunes.

Ill Take You(r) Space by mikronesia

I spend the last four days setting up the sound sculptures at the Schuylkill Center for this fall’s show. Here’s the official press release and flyer for the SCEE show and the all members show at Nexus on 9/9

GROUND PLAY: Nexus Members Show Sept. 9 – Oct. 2, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 9 / 6-9pm
Closing Party / Fundraiser: Saturday, October 2 / 7-11pm

Featuring works by all members at NEXUS with a special showcase of the work of six members for their season long show at the Schuylkill Center. This show will feature a wide array of work from all the members at NEXUS including photography, sculpture, video, dance and works on paper. 

Mark your calendars, Saturday October 2 at NEXUS Gallery we’ll be hosting a fundraiser with comedians, cakes, beer, wine and prizes. The event is help raise money to keep our gallery going. We’ll have live entertainment from comedians, sketch artists, DJ Mikronesia, raffle prizes including original artwork by NEXUS members and much more!

 Saturday October 2, 7pm-11pm
$10 suggested donation at the door

GROUND PLAY: Nexus at The Schuylkill Center 

The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
8480 Hagy’s Mill Road 
Philadelphia, PA

On View September through November 2010

Works by: Susan Abrams, Nick Cassway, Jebney Lewis, Michael McDermott, Leah Reynolds and Jennie Thwing 

Opening Reception: Sunday September 19
Ground Play / Family Friendly Activities / 4-6pm
Artists’ Tour of Ground Play, with concert and performance / 6:30-8pm

For the opening reception on September 19, there will be special shuttle bus that will run from the Crane Arts Building (1400 N. American St) to the Schuylkill Center in Roxborough. The bus will pickup at the Crane Arts Building at 4:00pm and take you the Second Site at the Schuylkill Center. The shuttle bus will return back to the Crane Arts building around 8:00pm after the performances. The bus is free, but space is limited. To reserve your seat email info@nexusphiladelphia.org with the word “shuttle” as the subject.

If you plan to drive to the opening The Schuylkill Centers asks that you park at the main Schuylkill Center building at 8480 Hagy’s Mill Road. A shuttle bus will take you around the corner to the Second Site Brolo Hill Farm (about a 20 minute walk from the main building).

In Ground Play, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education invites six artists from NEXUS Foundation to respond to the history and physical space of its Brolo Hill Farm. The work in Ground Play is an expression of the insightful ways these six artists use color, scale, sound, texture, humor, fear, storytelling and performance as their own artistic playground, coming up with new modes of expression and creating experiences meant to delight and provoke visitors. 

Ground Play will be one of a series of three environmentally-minded local events, including Manayunk EcoArts Festival on September 25th and 26th and East Falls Eco Fair on October 2, 2010.

This weekend I finished the score for my new piece Aeolus that will premiere at the Schuylkill Center on September 19. I’m very excited about this work as it combines a graphic score with traditional notation and improvisation. Here’s a snippet of one page of the score.

I’ll be delivering the scores and starting rehearsals with the quartet this week. I’m also making good progress on the wind sound sculptures. I can’t wait to see it all come together.

all set up and ready to rock jb’s. tonight at 9:30- Gemini wolf

I’ve got two exciting shows this weekend. First up Friday night Megan and I will be doing a duo set at Johnny Brenda’s. We’re opening for our neightbors and friends, Turning Violet Violet for their EP release party.

Although I’ve been saying this for years, starting this October, I am going to start official recording of Pangaea: When the Continents Were One (my long awaited opera). That being said, I plan to seriously scale back playing live and immerse myself in the studio to work on this life long dream project. You may see some solo Ghost Darling shows or shows the hot new project with Joe Hallman, Attita Taylor and Johnell Lawerence in 2010 and 2011, but for me it’s studio, studio, studio (Phil Collins style). So Gemini Wolf shows for the rest of the year and 2011 will be scarce. This may be your last chance to catch us for a while.

I’m also planning a special treat of playing my Fender Rhodes for this show. When I was a young man, I had no problem lugging the 100 pound beast up and down club steps at 2am on Tuesday night. Now that I’m old, I’ve been sticking to mostly portable MIDI gear. However, since this maybe my last rock club show in quite a while, I decided to bring the (new) Rhodes out for one last show.

The second show this weekend will be the Gears of Sand showcase at One Thousand Pulses in North Jersey. It’s been over four years since I’ve played with Bill and Ben from GoS and I’m really looking forward to this gig. It’ll be a great night of new drone, ambient and electronic with some subtle visuals. I’ve been hearing great things about the 1000 pulses series and am looking forward to heading up to play.

some times I love my job. (working on scores for the schuylkill center show)

Thanks to Bill Fox and the people who came out the Nazareth Arts Center for last Friday’s show. Bill got some video and audio, so I hope to put together some footage for people that couldn’t be there.

Coming up in about a week and half is another Mikronesia show at One Thousand Pulses. Here’s the press release.

Gears of Sand Showcase / August 7 featuring Ben Fleury-Steiner, William Fields, and Mikronesia

Gears of Sand (Gos) Recordings was launched by Ben Fleury-Steiner in 2001 originally as a philosophy (inspired by John Cage, LaMonte Young & Tetsu Inoue, among others) as well as a platform for his own musical experiments. By 2004, after “meeting” (via the Internet) a community of artists who shared his love for drone, noise, textural ambience, and other unclassifiable experimental musics, Fleury-Steiner decided to transform GoS into a vehicle for releasing works of artists he came to admire, establishing the GoS ethos as based on aural explorations without boundaries, encompassing the phrase “sounds of impermanence.” In the last few years GoS has issued over 35 releases by artists from more than a half-dozen countries from around the world.

Stylistically, the label’s releases expose quite a cornucopia of genre; there’s a bunch of talented folks at work here, and virtually the entire catalog offers a splendid sampling of gauzily atmospheric, aurally tantalizing noises. We invite you to witness three of GoS’s finest tickling the senses in varying ways and perhaps in varying combinations: whether it’s in tandem with Fleury-Steiner’s mbira-derived drones, William Fields’s mutant ambient glitch fantasies or Mikronesia’s delicately-balanced software drift, their respective Gears should mesh beautifully in the OTP listening space.

> Gears of Sand • http://www.gearsofsand.net> Ben Fleury-Steiner • http://www.myspace.com/bfsprojects> William Fields • http://www.williamfields.com> Mikronesia • http://www.mikronesia.com

________________

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: Saturday, August 7DOORS OPEN @ 7:30 PM / PERFORMANCE @ 8 PM

ADMISSION:> $15 for advance/reserve seating> $18 at the doorAdvance Ticket Sales 

This Friday, I’m excited to be playing my first show in Nazareth at THE SOUNDSCAPES CONCERT SERIES currated by Bill Fox.

I’ll be performing a (mostly) improvised set of ambient electronics and dub soundscapes. It will be my first solo Mikronesia show in quite some time. So if you’re in the area and feel like taking the trip up to Nazareth I hope to see you there!

Friday July 23
THE SOUNDSCAPES CONCERT SERIES
Nazareth Center for the Arts
30 Belvedere Street, Nazareth, PA 18064
8:00 pm (2 sets of solo Mikronesia)
$10 Suggested Donation 

I decided to take a few weeks off from the website and music stuff to rest after our European Tour. All in all it was an amazing trip through London, Berlin and Paris. We met lots of great people, played some shows, hung out, saw some art and ate lots of food. There’s a video up on Gemini Wolf’s Facebook page taken by Yvan Oiry.Yesterday we spend our first day back in the studio. I was mostly working on the computer on some technical stuff. Megan did some vocals for an upcoming Joe Hallman project, but it was good to get back into the studio. Lots of new stuff on the horizon. This summer I have two Mikronesia shows, listed below: 

Friday July 23
Nazareth Center for the Arts
30 Belvidere Street, Nazareth, PA 18064
8:00 pm

Saturday August 7
One Thousand Pulses
9 Edward PlaceWoodcliff Lake NJ 07677

Also Gemini Wolf will be playing an opening set at Johnny Brenda’s on Friday August 6. We’ll be supporting our friends and neighbors, Turning Violet Violet for their EP release party. 

The other major project I have going on this summer is a new piece of music and sound art. Six member from NEXUS will be doing at show at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.

It’s going to be wide array of sculpture, art, prints, video and music. For my part, I’m creating four wind sculptures and will have a performance of a new work, Aeolus, which is a quartet for violin, flute, guitar and percussion to harmonize with the wind sculptures. The opening reception and concert will be Sunday September 19. The Schuylkill Center is out at the edge of the city, so we’ll be running a shuttle bus from NEXUS (at 1400 American St. in Fishtown) that will pick people up at 5:00 PM and bring people back at 9:00 PM.

Getting excited and ready for our Gemini Wolf European Tour. We’ll be doing a short four city tour with some time in between shows to hang out and see the sites. We’ll be in London (with our old friend, Gemini Wolf violinist, Katie Goodrum), Berlin and Paris. Here’s a full listing of the shows if you happen to be in the area…

Jun 10 2010
Stomp Studios, London Fields Netil House
London, UK

Jun 12 2010
Madame Claude
Berlin, DE

Jun 16 2010
L’Espace B
Paris, FR

Jun 19 2010
Le Pavé d’Orsay
Paris, FR

We’ve got two shows in the next two weeks before we head out to do some shows in France and Germany this summer. 

Wendesday May 19
at Kung Fu Necktie
GROWING
You know the deal by now. Sick Brutal Drone from Brooklyn. Best dudes ever. 
GEMINI WOLF 
Gemini Wolf is psychedeltronic.
HELLO FROM THE CHILDREN OF PLANET EARTH 
Spacerock, Krautrock, Dub, Instrumental Hip-Hop, Synthgasms and Library Jams from Jeff Zeigler and Joe Patitucci
8pm. $10
128 N. Front Street (Front and Thompson) Philadelphia, PA (view map)

BENEFIT @ WORLD CAFE
Tuesday May 25
at World Cafe Live
Benefit for the Intercultural Family Services Music & Mentorship Program with
Ben Arnold, Gemini Wolf and Naeemah
7pm-10pm. $8
3025 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104

This Thursday will cap off a busy spring of film scoring, exhibitions, concerts and recording.

Thursday April 22 - 7:30 @ NEXUS (1400 N. American Street)

Please join us at NEXUS for an edifying evening of music and learning

-See the Nexus New Members exhibition which features eerie floating landscapes made of found bits and plastic bags, a giant wall of math, an 8 speaker sound and video installation with 500lbs. of cold hard stone, and a collection of subconscious photography!

-Learn about the fascinating, terrifying dynamics behind hysteresis, bifurcation, and environmental collapse from biological mathematician Todd Parsons!

-Enjoy a solo set of electronics and harmonium performed through an eight speaker setup by Mikronesia!

-Discover the secrets of the Shadow Self, as expressed in Jungian psychology, in a talk by psychologist Sean Duffy.

It’ll be a veritable potpourri for the mind and ears. Plus, there will be beer and snacks!

Admission is free, but there will be a small suggested donation that will go to support Penn Futures. More info on them here: www.pennfutures.org

Facebook Invite

We had a great weekend of shows for VESTED SOULS and there’s a great review of the show and music in this week’s Philadelphia Inquirer.

Once in a while a dance leaves you breathless the instant it begins. That happened Friday night at the Community Education Center (CEC) with dancer/choreographer Nora Gibson’s work for four dancers, Vested Souls. From the first sweep of Michael Reiley McDermott’s electronic score to the last sweep of Eiren Shuman’s arm, and from the first pose of Jeffrey Gunshol in third position to the last of Gibson’s small ronde de jambes, this dance held me in its thrall. I don’t think I took a full breath until about 50 minutes later.

The dance seemed separated into several sections marked by tempo changes in McDermott’s utterly absorbing music, a CD by his group Micronesia and made just for the dance. I heard cello, electronics, found noises, even some attenuated strings.

Read the rest of the review at Philly.com

I have two exciting events this weekend. The first is the opening of my first group show at NEXUS gallery. Where It Was There I Shall Be is an installation of sculpture, octophonic sound, photography and video. The second is an all weekend show of VESTED SOULS, a modern dance work for which I composed a 45 minute score of electronic and chamber music.

April 8 - May 8. Opening reception Thursday April 8, 6-9 pm
Where It Was There I Shall Be

A group show by composer/sound artist, Michael Reiley McDermott (Mikronesia) , musician/mixed media artist, Megan Cauley and filmmaker, Derek Moench.

Through an eight channel audio sound scape, looped video installation, constructions and photos, the viewer/listener is taken through a exploration into the Shadow Self. As described by Carl Jung, the Shadow Self is the hidden dissociative part of oneself. Often the dark and hidden places in our self we hate, are projected onto others and viewed as their short comings. Visually and audible the viewer is confronted with subconscious photos, sculpture, video and sound that all work in tandem in this elaborate installation.

“Everyone carries a shadow,” Jung wrote, “and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”

Also coming up at NEXUS

Thursday April 22 - 8pm

An evening of lecture and sound with mathematical biolists, Todd Parsons discussing Bifurcation, Hysteresis, Catastrophe and psychologist Sean Duffy discussing the Shadow Self. Also, sound artist, Mikronesia will perform a set of improvised and processed
harmonium through his custom built octophonic eight speaker system from Where It Was There I Shall Be.

NEXUS is located in the Crane Arts Building at 1400 N. American St, Suite 102. 2 blocks north of Girard Ave, between 2nd and 3rd streets.

Friday and Saturday, April 9-10 at 8pm and Sunday, April 11 at 3pm
VESTED SOULS

The CEC/Community Education Center is proud to present the final New Edge Resident Artists performance of its 25th Anniversary Season.  Nora Gibson, director of Nora Gibson Performance Project, unveils her evening length work entitled VESTED SOULS at the CEC where she has been a resident artist for the last nine months.  For more information call 215 387-1911 and/or see our website http://www.cecarts.org/.  Tickets are $12, $10 for students and seniors and may be purchased online at Brown Paper Tickets

VESTED SOULS, depicts “the elegant struggle of the Everyman in five vignettes.”  Gibson’s work reflects her post-modern sensibilities and her roots in classical ballet.  Evading categorization, one will see dancing in both bare feet and en pointe.  Always focused on contemporary, socially relevant themes, Gibson’s message is conveyed through a style that is formal, abstract, structural, and minimal.  VESTED SOULS was inspired by a period in Gibson’s life when she worked as an attorney and delves into a world of people who are dedicated and expert, yet deeply ambivalent about their lives, and are in a perpetual state of disconnect.  For this project Gibson has enlisted two collaborators, Michael Reiley McDermott and Clifford Greer, Jr.  McDermott has created an original music score with a wide-ranging sound palette including classical strings and piano as well as digital and mechanized sounds and lighting designer Greer lends his expertise to sculpt just the right texture and mood for the work.  Nora Gibson, Jeffrey Gunshol, Eiren Shuman, and Jessica Warchal-King will dance VESTED SOULS.

CEC
3500 Lancaster Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215 387-1911
www.cecarts.org

pandar ready to rock space 407

I had a very busy March with Paloma and Raul in San Seriffe, the Gemini Wolf remix album and getting things ready for this April. I have two major shows coming up in April.

One is my first show as a member of NEXUS gallery. It’s a group show with Jeb Lewis. For my part of the show, I’ll be collaborating with Megan Cauley and Derek Moench. I don’t want to give too much away, but our show deals with Jung’s “Shadow Self”, our show is called “Where I Was There I Shall Be”. The piece will feature an eight channel audio piece I created playing over eight speaker, some sculpture, video, found objects and videos. Here’s a flyer for the show, which opens Thursday April 8 at NEXUS.

The second show for this month, is a full length dance piece by Nora Gibson. I wrote and recorded all the music for the evening and I’m very happy with the way it all turned out. It’s a combination of strings, piano and grainy electronics. That show is called “Vested Souls” and will be performed April 9, 10 and 11 at the CEC, 3500 Lancaster Ave. Philadelphia, PA.

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Hello everyone, as old man winter winds down his fury, I’ve got some exciting projects coming up in March. First up is the score and soundtrack I did for the short film, Paloma and Raúl in San Serriffe directed by J Makary and performed by Janus Trio. The premier of the film will be Friday March 12 with a screening of the film and live electronic Mikronesia set remixing the sounds of Janus Trio. This event and projects will be part of Philagrafika. More info below:

The Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks is excited to present the most recent artist commission in its acclaimed program, Landmarks Exhibitions: Contemporary Projects. Paloma and Raúl in San Serriffe is a new site-specific film installation by artist/choreographer J. Makary, created with collaborating composer Michael McDermott (Mikronesia) and Brooklyn-based contemporary trio janus. Curated by Robert Wuilfe, the exhibition will be presented from March 12 to April 4, 2010, at the historic Powel House Museum, the home of eighteenth-century Philadelphia mayor Samuel Powel.

A free public opening reception on March 12 from 5pm-9pm will feature a live performance by Mikronesia at 6pm. Paloma and Raúl in San Serriffe is an Independent Project of Philagrafika 2010, Philadelphia’s international festival celebrating print in contemporary art.

Paloma and Raúl in San Serriffe
A film installation by J. Makary
March 12-April 4, 2010
Opening reception March 12, 5pm-9pm
Mikronesia set at 6pm
Powel House Museum
244 S. 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-627-0364
www.philalandmarks.org
Thurs-Sat 12-5; Sun 1-5

This weekend, Megan and I are in Nags Head, NC, researching, writing and recording some ideas for the next Gemini Wolf album. Today we explored the gigantic sand dunes of of Jockey’s Ridge State Park. We got lost for hours in the miles and miles and sand dunes and vegetation. It was like being in the desert, but it was 40 degrees out, pretty trippy. Here’s a video of us walking up a giant dune.

Go download the All Creatures compilation today! It’s over 36 tracks of artists who have played Greenline Cafe (including Mikronesia).

Download Here

Also check out this article in the Metro about the Sherman Arts show tonight.

The first SHARE of 2010 is here! Open mic / jam for digital artists. Laptopers, electronic musics and instrumentalists, just bring your portable gear with you, sign-up for solo set or jam sessions. Video artist, bring out a DVD or your laptop, we have a projection screen to show your work with musical accompaniment. http://share.dj for more info about this international event.

Ortlieb’s Jazzhaus
847 North Third St.
Philadelphia, PA

It all starts at 9PM.

Drink specials and great food all night long!

Here’s a wonderful rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” by Paper Masques from the album Oh Come All Ye earSnake, still available for all those wishing to hold on to the holiday vibe! You can check out The Paper Masques’ new lineup at Johnny Brenda’s this thursday (1/7/10).

Happy New Year!

New Music Philadelphia has added one of my compositions, “Tomas” to its web cast. “Tomas” is piece for four flutes and electronics. This recording is from a live performance at NEXUS gallery in October 2008. Enjoy and happy new year!

Some exciting news in the works! Open Light is becoming Share Philly in 2010. The legendary Multimedia jam which started in NYC in 2001 and has spread to dozens of cities around the world is coming to Philadelphia in 2010.

The details are still being worked out, but the long and short of it is the same as Open Light. Visual artists and audio artists can show up, sign up, show/play solo or with each other every Monday night at 9pm.

Tonight (12/28) we’re having a big send off the crazy kids from kilo (as human / ryat / tim conley). Come party down and celebrate them leaving Philly and wishing them well on their travels.

Ortlieb’s Tonight…Ryat (live electronic looping duo) featuring Tim Conley(Oceans Exposition/Grimace Federation), as well as Jason Fraticelli (Melody Gardo/Matisyahu) and Chris Wood (Orbit to Leslie/Grimace Federation). Many other special musical guests. Cheap booze n eats..plug in!!

And get ready for Share Philly coming Jan 4 2010.

ORTLIEB’S
3rd Street (between Brown and Poplar) Philadelphia, PA

Shermants Arts / Greenline Cafe are offering this MP3 compilation album. I donated a new Mikronesia track, “Ketut” to the comp. The download link is below.

COMP AC.zip

Tonight (12/21) at National Mechanics. The earSnake Holiday Ho Down. With Gemini Wolf, Paper Masques and Circadian Rhythms. 9 PM. Free Free Free.

Thanks to Jake and John for picking Gemini Wolf in their respective top 10s. We listened last night and were delighted to hear John picked “Wick Effect” as his #3 song of 2009 and Jake picked “Sugar” as his #1, both from Gemini Wolf’s Synchronized Eyes.

You can pick a sparkly digital version of Synchronized Eyes from the new Band Camp link, where you can name your own price.

OPEN LIGHT NIGHT. Mikroneisa live @ Ortliebs

Thanks to all the people who came out to Glasslands. It was great to see Emily and Bilwa! Thanks to the great performances by Ana Lola Roman and Behavior. Glasslands is an awesome venue tucked away in the docks of Williamsburg, great people and great vibes.

I played for a long time (as is often the case when you play between four acts). I have audio tapes of my sets, so I’ll post excerpts soon. I’m really loving my APC40 controller. It’s really opened up my ability to improvise with loops, MIDI and effects in Live. Hopefully this Saturday I’ll get all the monome emulator software I’ve been struggling with figured out at the in/out fest (see below).

Today I’m staying with my friends Jason and Emmalee in Park Slope. I might check out PS-1 or the Tim Burton exibit at the Moma.

Tomorrow (12/12), all you music tech nerds in the NYC area should check out the in/out fest.  It’s all day workshops in Max, Live, Arduindo, processing, music software and hard ware. It’s at the Tank from noon til midnight.

on the bolt bus refining sets for tonight @ glasslands.

I’ve been practicing all week for my set(s) at Glasslands in Brooklyn tomorrow night. This will be my first extended Mikronesia set in a while.  It’s going to be an outstanding evening of live electronics, dance, singing, bands, guitar heroics, visual arts and very very special guests…

Bilwa and Emily from Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd are back in the U.S. for the holidays. They are fresh off their tour of Europe including Vienna, Italy, France and England. They’ll be performing one U.S. show and this is it.

Thursday Dec. 10
Glasslands
289 Kent Ave.
Brooklyn, NY [map]
with
Ana Lola Roman, Behavior, DJ Guitar Trips, Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd and Mikronesia (in the booth all night long between sets)

Facebook Event

I’m exciting to be playing a new weekly event in Philadelphia, starting tonight. Open Light Night is the brainchild of BassBoy75 and MOTM. It’s a weekly forum / open screening for filmmakers, visual artists, VJ, etc. I’ll be playing between films (and during if the artists wants it). Ortlieb’s (if you don’t) know is a classic jazz club in Philly. They’ve been catering to the mostly old school, stardard jazz crowd for sometime. With this event, and others like it, they’re trying to open things up a bit.

I’m sure each week will be different, but for now, I’ll be playing loops, textures and sounds from my laptop/APC40 and the grand piano. I hope it becomes a great network for the emerging fields of new digital experimental visuals artists (and musicians as well).

This first installment is tonight, November 30 at 9PM. The second installment will be December 14. Then starting January 4, it will be every Monday.

Ortlieb’s Jazzhaus
847 N. 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA

I feel like I’m going to writing and working a lot of the holidays! This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful to be working on such a wonderful project. I’m cleaning up and articulating string parts for a score to a new dance piece by Nora Gibson called Vested Souls. The piece won’t be heard until April 2010 at the New Edge Residency at the CEC in West Philadelphia. The second stage of this work will be the recording of the strings next week. I’m excited to have the wonderful violinists Carlos Santiago and Maura Diberardinis and cellist Eve Miller recording with me. The third stage will be arranging and melding the string parts with various electronic elements I have in the mind and syncing the music with the dance videos.

I’m also getting music together for Open Light Night this Monday night at Ortlieb’s.

I’m thankful for a healthy, happy Pandy and Schnoz (and Abbey and Miney too)

I can’t tell you how excited I am to get this! I’ve been messing with an unlocked versions of Max for a few months. But now, to be able to integrate into a Live set, is so exciting!

Gemini Wolf will be hitting WXPN and Y-ROCK Philly local this Sunday to record a short set of music. We’ll have the horns from West Philadelphia Orchestra (three of them) and percussionist Shawn Hennessey in tow. That show should probably air in December.

Also coming up in Gemini Wolf land is a show at Glasslands on Dec. 10 in Brooklyn.

This Friday Mikronesia will be performing at Over-night Sensation, a bowerbird show at Plays and Players Theater. I’ll be performing on acoustic piano and electronics. Here’s more information about the gig:

OVER-NITE SENSATION: Fall Edition
A seven part sampling of uncategorizable acts of creativity.

@ Plays and Players
1714 Delancy Street
9pm; $5- $10 sliding scale

For over three years Bowerbird has stood under the banner of “experimental” and championed the multitude of perspectives that umbrella encompasses.  OVER-NITE SENSATION offers a unique opportunity, for the seasoned and the uninitiated alike, to sample a broad array of artistic inclinations, all in one night.  Artists from Philadelphia and far beyond will beguile the audience with free jazz, electro-acoustic improvisation, free improv, inter-media video and sound works, dance, euphoric drones, and psychedelic compositions. 

1. Damon Smith - solo bass; not jazz, not not jazz; west coast style, maybe a bit upside down.
2. Phill Sheldon - unresolved investigations at the edge of Fluxus, not a little bit Yoko Ono.
3. Ian Fraser - electronic array I: analog electronic circuits, laptop, tapes, radio, etc.
4. Mike Szekely (drums), Matt Engle (bass), Matt Mitchell (keyboards/electronics); Jack Wright (saxophones) - also not jazz, not not jazz.
5. Travis Woodson - solo guitar;
6. Scott Allison - electronic array II: analog electronic circuits, laptop, tapes, radio, etc.
7. Mikronesia - piano, electronics

(order subject to change and further obfuscation)

Important notes: Note 9pm start time. Set durations will be generally between 10 - 15 minutes, making for a quicker, but not exhausting parade of performances.  Quig’s Pub, the Plays and Players on-premise speakeasy, will be offering adult beverages and other libations throughout the night.  Revelry will abound.

You can now download, read and listen to Pangaea Trinity Sun. In addition to setting the stage for the Pangaea opera, it gives a context for entire saga of my opera Pangaea (2011).

This piece, Trinity Sun, is the creation story of the land of Pangaea. It tells the story of a perfect race of men who lived in the oceans of Pangaea. The mother god, Aeou created them to be timeless and present. Her children gods, Soren, the god of thought, Kot the god of time and Muta, the god of matter, began dabbling in the stone menâs affairs ultimately courupting them and driving them out of the sea. Over the years, these stone men because the ancient race of man that lived on the super continent Pangaea before it split. The story and sounds are by Mikronesia and the text and narration are by Christian Rabin. This is a free release by earSnake. It can be downloaded and streamed over at archive.org, where it is hosted or here at earSnake..

Download the ZIP file of Pangaea Trinity Sun with words, image and music.

Gemini Wolf is excited to be playing an upcoming warehouse / art / dance party at FIDGET Space on October 16. It’s been a while since Megan and I have done a duo show and we’re excited to be getting back to our electronic / tribal roots. We’ll be playing some new songs, we’ll have some t-shirts, CDs and other goodies for sale and give away at the show. Here’s the offical press release from Jaamil (AKA J-Dub)

Contact: Jaamil Olawale Kosoko
Director: KOSOKO PERFORMANCE GROUP
Mobile) 919 699 2519
kosoko.performance@yahoo.com

J-LUV’S HOUSE PARTY presented by KOSOKO PERFORMANCE GROUP
in association with <fidget> will feature a wild collection of live dance, music, and performance art.

On Friday, October 16, 2009, The KOSOKO PERFORMANCE GROUP will present its first annual J-LUV’S HOUSE PARTY performance series.  This special event will feature some of Philadelphia’s finest acts in music, dance, and performance art.  The event hosted by Jaamil Kosoko and Megan Mazarick as J-LUV and DIXIE CRYSTAL will take place at <fidget> Space, 1714 N. Mascher Street. Suggested Donation is $10-$15.  Pre- show party begins at 8pm with performances starting at 9pm.

J-LUV’S HOUSE PARTY will feature performances by Da*Da*Dance, Duane Lee, KOSOKO PERFORMANCE GROUP, React/Dance, Megan Bridge, Megan Mazarick, and Melanie Stewart with live music by Gemini Wolf, Lillie Ruth Bussey, and Mendelssohn Club’s soprano vocalist Maura Caldwell. 

Founded in 2006, The KOSOKO PERFORMANCE GROUP is a Philadelphia based interdisciplinary ensemble of performers: dancers, musicians, writers, actors, and visual design artists. Our artistic mission is to push performance further through innovative and culturally diverse live performance, literary publication, youth and community outreach, and teaching.  We aim to challenge, educate, and nurture our audiences through an on-going dialogue that consistently explores new, creative approaches and processes of creating community through artistic collaboration, peer mentoring, and audience diversification.

For more information please contact Jaamil Kosoko at 919.699.2519 or via e-mail at kosoko.performance@yahoo.com

For tickets please order online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/78212

We had a great time for Zornitsa Stoyanova’s Fringe Fest show, Side By Side at the Arts Bank last night. It was a different type of performance for me combining synthesizer, looping, turntables, percussion, melodica and some physical interaction with the dancers by being someone of a “character” in the performance.

Although we didn’t win the A.W.A.R.D from LiveBoeingArts, we did have a great time and people seemed to really dig the show. I’m not sure what’s next for Side By Side or my work with HereBegin dance. They’re working on putting together a film version of the show, so hopefully I’ll post that soon. In addition, the performance of “Study 349” by Michele Stortz went really well and that professionally filmed too, so hopefully I’ll be able to post both in the coming weeks.

In the mean time, I’ll be working on more tracks in the studio. Also on the Gemini Wolf tip, we’ll be getting back to doing some more duo shows this fall as Gary heads out on tour with the Digable Planets. Our next show is a benefit show at Fidget Space on 10/17 for Jaamil Kosoko.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the studio and planning things for Fall 2009 and 2010 this summer. The heat and humidity has been bad the past couple of weeks, so it’s a good time to stay indoors and work on stuff. I’m focused on finishing up some recording projects that have been on the back burner with the Gemini Wolf release last month. Those include, an ambient album I want to record with my friend’s Juno 106 before I have to return it to him when he moves to Vermont, a “dubstep” album (we’ll see how that sounds in the end, I have about 30 tracks for this that I need to pair down) and the recording of the radio drama, Pangaea - Trinity Sun. My goal is to get all these items finished by the last week in September when I start my film scoring class at Berklee.

I’ve also got two exciting composition projects for 2010. I’ll be writing a piece for Nora Gibson’s new dance work that will be premiered at the New Edge Residency at the CEC in April 2010. I’m also very excited to be working with film maker J. Makary. This fall / winter, we’ll be collaborating on several short films in conjuction with her residency at the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks and Phlagraphika. The films that J. will create are using the Powel House as her muse with music that I’m writing now for the Janus Trio to perform as a score and in the film. There’s a lot of ideas flowing with all these desperate element, but we’re really trying to use music and film together in non-traditional ways. The premiere of this will be in March 2010.

In Gemini Wolf world, Megan and I took a much needed break from the band for the past month. We worked really hard with recording, mixing, promotion and rehearsing for the album release show last month for Synchronized Eyes. Now we’re getting back into the mix. We’ve got a few one-off duo shows this fall at Kung Fu Necktie (benefit for NEXUS) and a Little Berlin halloween show this fall. We’re also in the beginning stages of writing a new EP of songs that we hope to put out by the end of the year. We’re also slated to release a single with Mental Monkey Records in October and Megan is working on her first remix for composer Joseph Hallman.

The Philadelphia Fringe Festival will be upon us in a few weeks. I’ll be taking part in two shows. One of the shows, I won’t be performing, but my music will be used for the Michele Stortz piece Study349 at the Influx at Mascher show on 9/10 and 9/13. The second show I will actually be performing live with Zornitsa Stoyanova and her cast in Side By Side at the A.W.A.R.D. Show at the Arts Bank on 9/16. I’ll have more info about these shows as they approach in the next few weeks.

Thanks to everyone who made the Gemini Wolf CD Release show at Johnny Brenda’s such a success last weekend. We’ll have a video of the show up in a week or two. Until then please enjoy this amazingly trippy new video fror the Gemini Wolf song, “Sudseyfuss” from Synchronized Eyes created by Derek Moench.

From the Philadelphia Weekly

It’s the sirenlike vocals amidst Broken Social Scene-inspired synth melodies that first give you pause. But the slow morph into a bizarre Care Bear world of unnatural cheer and bliss that follows really catches the listener’s breath. And so begins Gemini Wolf ’s second full-length album, Synchronized Eyes. The morphing and melding of genres and influences continues on the album as the band laps influences from a pool that includes !!!, Fatboy Slim, the Faint and New Order. The addition of a string quartet and Afrobeat horn sections, however, turns Synchronized Eyes into a constant bag of surprises.?

Philly duo Gemini Wolf began as the project of Michael McDermott and Megan Cauley in 2005, though the two had played together previously for years. Since then, the lineup and sound has changed. The duo turned into to an all-out band on the first release, 2007’s Josiah , and then returned to a duo the following year. McDermott says, “I think we also had a little bit of a change in the direction of our sound and we wanted to document that,” resulting in the 10-song collection on Synchronized Eyes .?

This time around, the focus is more on the electronic aspect. “We didn’t want to make a total Warp Records-type album, where it’s just itchy beats with a female singing,” McDermott explains. That’s where the Afropop comes in.?

The album features a number of guest musicians, including members of local bands Shot x Shot, Normal Love and West Philadelphia Orchestra. Since McDermott and Cauley co-run the local label earSnake—which put out both Gemini Wolf and West Philadelphia Orchestra records—the decision to add a multitude of bright, brassy horns was a bit easier.?

“We tried to have more fun and funny and dancey songs, and less serious ones. I think people have enough things to be serious about right now,” says Cauley.

-Katherine Silkaitis, Philadelphia Weekly

Some nice reviews and articles are coming in about our show at Johnny Brenda’s Saturday night and our new album Synchronized Eyes. We we’ve had great reviews in the Philadelphia Weekly, The City Paper, The Metro and now on the biggest music / lifestyle blog in Philadelphia, Philebrity. Read the post below or check it out online with a free download of the track “Sugar”. (photo by: Melissa Hassey)

You could listen to Gemini Wolf’s new full-length, Synchronized Eyes, all week long and still not really be able to say what kind of band they are. We know because we just did this. But we know this much: Amidst the electronic pop and fizz banging up against the real-time instrumental and vocal vamping that brings it all together, somewhere along the line, Gemini Wolf full-on time travels. (We knew that blanket at right could do more than just fly over the suburbs.) “Sugar” invokes so many things we love it’ll be hard to get them down right here, but we’ll try: The intro vocal hook seems like it’s the too-long-in-coming response to Donna Summer’s “Love To Love You, Baby,” but then alternates into a Debbie Harry coo straight from the Autoamerican era; the wild saxes and loping instrumental passages are straight out of the Arthur Russell playbook; and that groove is straight-up “Houses In Motion.”

That’s some good company. Hope to see you at the show, spread the word

Sat July 18
Johnny Brenda’s
1201 N. Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard)
Philadelphia, PA 19125
215-739-9684
Gemini Wolf, Pink Skull, The West Philadelphia Orchestra, Bilwa
$10 - Door Sales at 8pm
8:00 PM

Gemini Wolf’s second album Synchoronized Eyes is out today! You can purchase the album through earSnake.com, on  and other digital outlets. You can also purchase the CD (along with some other goodies) at their album release party at Johnny Brenda’s this Saturday (more info below). Also keep an eye out for reviews and features about the album and the show in the Metro, Philadelphia Weekly and Philadelphia City Paper this week!

The album release party will feature an extended lineup with percussionist Shawn Hennessey (from Leana Song) Gary Dann and horns from West Philadelphia Orchestra on several tracks. Gemini Wolf’s set will also have live video and visuals from Klip Collective’s Nico. As an added bonus a certain singer in Gemini Wolf is celebrating her birthday on Saturday!

Sharring the bill with Gemini Wolf are:

Pink Skull
All star local dj based group putting forth mostly mesmerizing instrumentals with some spoken musings. Synced video projections and the pounding pulse of drums and electronic tropicalia.

West Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia’s best and most daring musicians, from all different backgrounds (jazz, classical, experimental, indie), playing music, much of it Romani, from Romania, Hungary, Serbia, and Macedonia. The group has focused recently on creating original music that draw upon all our creative resources, whether it be the voices of Jack Ohly and Petia Zamfirova, the screaming sax of Elliott Levin, or the rhythmic wit of percussionist Gregg Mervine. ‘Overflowing joy’ is the best description of the WPO party experience.

and spinning all night will be Deejay Bilwa, fresh of his residency in Mexico with Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd.

Hope to see you at the show, spread the word

Sat July 18
Johnny Brenda’s
1201 N. Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard)
Philadelphia, PA 19125
215-739-9684
Gemini Wolf, Pink Skull, The West Philadelphia Orchestra, Bilwa
$10 - Door Sales at 8pm
8:00 PM

After a years of a “frames” based website, I’ve over hauled my site. This new site uses a nice WordPress template Modern Clix, a theme by Rodrigo Galindez. I’ve modified the theme considerably and I’m using ASP.NET/SQL for the site.

In addition to a better, more modern organization to the site, the entire contents of the site are searchable. I’ve also tied in some other sites I update regularly (Twitter) and no so regularly (Flickr).

So now that the new site is up and running, I should be back to updating it more often. Next week is going to be very busy with the Gemini Wolf CD release and show. I’ll be posting on that next week. We’re expecting features in the Philadelphia Weekly and The Metro as well as some online blog type places.

This weekend, I’ll be doing sound design / live treatments for Jaamil Kosoko’s new piece VIRUS at the Drake Theater in Philadelphia for the nEW Festival. The shows are

Friday June 5 @ 7PM
Saturday June 6 @ 9PM

The Drake Theater
1512 Spruce St.
Philadelphia, PA

Here’s a description of the piece from Jaamil

VIRUS
We live in a media infested world where we depend heavily on technology to survive. Electrical wires entangle themselves around the bodies of the dancers to represent the restrictive power of technology, while also making visible the invisible web of the past. The wires are both beneficial and detrimental; they provide inspiration for the future by acting as lifelines to past experiences, but also drain the psyche by not allowing the individual to become free of these experiences. The forces of technology and the past are not working separately but in tandem because technology provides a way for past experiences to be recorded. The performers are constantly negotiating these aspects of their personalities moving between the human and the robotic, the empathetic and estranged, the plugged in and the cut off.

Should be a cool performance, the theater looks and sounds great.

I spent the day yesterday recording

West Philadelphia Orchestra

six piece band version. This is the lineup that toured Mexico with last month with sax, trumpet, trombone, tuba, keys and drums. They did some Balkan inspired standards by Monk and Sun Ra as well as a couple of originals. It’ll be a fun project to mix / produce. It’s a lot more raw and loose than their full orchestral straight-up Balkan lineup I’ve seen live a few times. It’ll be interesting how far out we can go with the mixing. I always feel like jazz instrumentation albums are afraid to experiment too much in the studio. Most jazz albums just try and reproduce the exact sound of the instrument and mix, like your seeing the band at a club. I’m talking about blowing out some cones by putting a sub-bass filter on the tuba! Ya dig?

Gemini Wolf is also getting ready for the CD Release in mid-July. Here’s the spooky cover (pictured). We’ve been getting great feedback from people that have heard the album. The Philly CD Release show should be bonkers with Pink Skull, the aforementioned WPO, Bilwa and Neko at Jonny Brenda’s. Gemini Wolf is going to have a few special guests for the show too. You can hear some of the tracks streaming on our MySpace

the wonderful Brothers Quay chat about their nationally touring exhibit with poet Ish Klein
during this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival/CineFest

made possible through the support of
The University of the Arts - Philadelphia with some Mikronesia music

Film by Scott Johnston / Evil Olive 3000 and Woodshop Films

Just a last minute heads up for folks in Philly… I’ll be playing with Gemini Wolf tomorrow night at the M-Room on Girard Ave. It’s part of a night of earSnake artists including Lillie Ruth Bussey, Shawn Kilroy, Paper Masques, Gemini Wolf and special guests Mixel Pixel.

Here’s the exact information:
Saturday May 16
M Room
15 W. Girard Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19123
9PM - $8
Gemini Wolf, Lillie Ruth Bussey, Paper Masques, Shawn Kilroy and Mixel Pixel. plus DJ Baby Cow Face

Then in two weeks (June 6 and 7) I’ll be doing two performances at the Drake Theater with Jaamil Kosoko. The performance is his new work VIRUS for which I’ll be doing sound design. Hopefully I’ll remember to post more information about it as the show gets closer. More information about the show can be found at the nEW Festival’s site.

I had a great time at the two shows two weeks ago, thanks to everyone involved. Pandar and I have been cooped up in the studio (despite the beautiful Philadelphia spring weather) finishing up the new Gemini Wolf record. This one is wildly different than our last one, Josiah. Although in some ways it’s more stripped down and electronic, in other ways it’s lusher and more organic with the additional of a string quartet, a horn section, vibraphone and more analog gear.

This week we’re getting back into the swing of live shows as we ramp up for our CD Release Party in July at Johnny Brenda’s. We’re pleased to announce that our old drummer, Gary Dann, back from his India/Nepal/Thailand adventure will be playing drums with us. You can check out all the details of the shows in the performances section. Both shows will feature an all earSnake lineup (except for Mixel Pixel at the M-Room show). Here’s the run down

Saturday April 25 - eckhaus @ Kutztown

Lastly, this Saturday and Sunday you can hear some Mikronesia original music for the new Ring Dance piece at Haverford College.

Bryn Mawr College Spring Dance Concert
Saturday April 25 and Sunday April 26, 7:30 PM
Marshall Auditorium at Haverford College
370 Lancaster Ave
Haverford, PA 19041.