Since moving back to Chicago and settling in Pilsen, I’ve had the good fortune of getting to know several of the brilliant people involved with the local art community. One of these individuals is a lovely chap named Seth, who taught me how to take my photography from its exclusively digital domain and mount prints on foam core. After several weeks spent swearing with an X-Acto knife in my gluey hands, I eventually pulled together a set of 8″ x 10″ prints that I like quite a bit.
As luck would have it, Seth also runs a gallery / designer toy shop called N0T0X and he was kind enough to stock my prints. Since the Chicago Arts District hosts its gallery night on the second Friday of every month, Seth will be open for business tonight. If you’re in the Chicago area and fancy popping round for a peek at my prints, please do! Not only will you get a chance to see fantastic work from other artists—such as my friend Katie Brown—on display at N0T0X, but with a short walk around the corner you’ll also experience art from the rest of our community.
N0T0X is located at 726 W 18th Street, Chicago, IL 60616. It is generally open for the Chicago Arts District’s Second Fridays and at other times by appointment.
London fans of minimal electronic music will find themselves spending much of this week in Dalston, as Cafe Oto hosts a three-day residency featuring two of Japan’s preeminent improvisers. Each night, Otomo Yoshihide and Sachiko M will play with a different experimental luminary and as well as collaborate with each other in what is easily one of 2009′s most exciting series so far.
Equally skilled on both turntables and guitar, Yoshihide draws as much on cut-up sound technique as free jazz, while Sachiko M’s work centres on the most basic building block of synthesized sound, the sine wave generator. I recently listened to her Sine Wave Solo CD from 2000 and was shocked by how alien it still sounds nine years later. Whereas most experimental electronic music from the turn of the century sounds dated with too much garish glitch, Sine Wave Solo sounds positively fresh and timeless. If you’re hoping to hear her undiluted sound, Monday night is her only solo set, so don’t miss it!
The special guest each night will undoubtedly influence the direction the performers take. While Otomo Yoshihide will probably explore the jazzier side of his guitar with Evan Parker in the spotlight on Wednesday, I can’t imagine he’d miss the opportunity to hop behind the decks and spin alongside Technics virtuoso Christian Marclay on Tuesday. I’ve seen Marclay and Yoshihide collaborate once before, each manning their own set of turntables, and it’s nothing short of amazing.
With the stunning set of sounds Marclay and Yoshihide can extract from the much abused vinyl in their crates, augmented by Sachiko’s sine waves, if I had to pick one event to see, it would be Tuesday’s trio. Since each gig only costs £10, and a three-day pass can be had for £22, choosing just one seems a bit silly, really. It’s not every day you get some of the finest noisemakers in the world together in one place for the better part of a week, so arguably you have a moral obligation to attend at least two of these stellar gigs.
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If you’re not sold yet, here’s a small sample of the sort of sounds you can hope to hear this week. It’s the first track from Sachiko M’s Sine Wave Solo, “Don’t Move”. Not only is it one of my favourite pieces of hers, but it’s among my most loved works of experimental electronic music in general. It’s a proper mental palette cleanser, a bit like giving your brain an acid bath so it comes out all shiny and new again.
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Full schedule:
Monday, 9 March 2009 at 8pm
Otomo Yoshihide – Solo
Sachiko M – Solo
Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M and Eddie Prévost (AMM) – Trio
Tuesday, 10 March 2009 at 8pm
Filament: Otomo Yoshihide and Sachiko M
Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M and Christian Marclay – Trio
Wednesday, 11 March 2009 at 8pm
Otomo Yoshihide and John Butcher – Duo
Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, Evan Parker, John Edwards and Tony Marsh – Quintet
Anyone who knows me knows that in addition to music and photography, I love video games. Since becoming an international man of mystery (read: moving into a tiny flat in London without a telly or any home video game consoles), that love has been devoted primarily to the Nintendo DS. Within weeks of moving here two years ago, I stumbled upon a great group of social gamers that call themselves DS:London. Every few weeks they meet in a pub to drink and game using the portable console’s wifi capabilities. Through their meetups I found not only a fantastic way to build up my Bomberman skills, but also a lovely bunch of mates.
On Saturday 25 October 2008, DS:London will take on a challenge greater than the combined fury of Bowser, Ganon and a rather cross Princess Peach. To celebrate the London Games Festival 2008, these Nintendo maniacs will try for the Guinness World Record for the most people playing DS simultaneously in one room. They’re hoping to pack more than 500 people into London Metropolitan University’s Rocket Centre from 4–5 p.m., so come along and join in if you want to make gaming history. While the event is free, voluntary donations to Children In Need will be accepted and are encouraged.
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