"There can be no understanding between the hand and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator."

It's been long in the planning, but the Metropolis show happens this Sunday, August 7th. Members of the Elephant 666 Orchestra and The Mooninites will collaborate to "score" the soundtrack to the 1927 silent film as it's projected onto a screen in the station lobby. Folks can come up and watch (though I'd suggest earplugs) or if you have a copy of the movie, you can synch it up at home. 11pm-1am (actually, later than 1am since the movie's more than 2 hours long).

The line-up at the moment:
Winston Parker, Lars Gotrich, Zach Smola, um, the other Mooninites guy. I'm trying to bring back an old guest for the show, too.

Questions? killthefamous@gmail.com

Aplomb! Avast! Avant!

Crisis was scaled down to two musicians this past Sunday due to the flakishness that are artistic people. :) However, after listening to the show last night on CD-R, I really liked what Drew and I (and later Jilly) accomplished. Three very sensitive room mics were set up in the center of the lobby with a keyboard on one side and a laptop plugged into an amp on the other. All other noises were created by our voices and bodies. In other words, it was like old-school Crisis: annoying using as little implements as possible.

As for this Sunday, Winston will lead the Elephant 666 Orchestra as I'm moving into a new apartment in town. I don't know what he has planned, but it might involve a saxophone, turtle wax, and circus midgets.

sunn ooooohhhhh!

For those curious, the final roster of musicians for the "rooms experiment" was:
- Jace Bartet: electric guitar, thunderous Sunn amp
- Drew Smith: drums
- Lars Gotrich: electric guitar, laptop, Realistic Concertmate 650 keyboard
- Jeff Tobias: Korg Mini, tape recorder, bass guitar
- Winston Parker: mixing board

It was loud. It was stoner-rock. It made some speakers blow.

This upcoming Sunday's show came to me this morning on the way to work: the voice. All through the rest of the week, I will record speeches and everyday activities (i.e., brushing teeth) to add to (hopefully) a large group of musicians making noise from their mouths. Voice manipulation will happen inevitably, but the E666ers can also bring up instruments for later chaos. I imagine some yelping & chanting over some mad percussion must occur.

Making rooooom on a rooooftop!

[7/16: UPDATED INFO ON PERFORMERS. SEE BELOW.]

Flagpole lies! Actually, the write-up in "Threats & Promises" was quite nice of Mr. Lamb, but we have not yet provided the soundtrack to Metropolis as written. I think, however, the information about said show was changed right before the paper went to print. The show in question is slated for August 7th and will feature The Mooninites and the Elephant 666 Orchestra (yes, half-coined by Dr. Nate Deyonkers after pounding on an out-of-tune piano last summer) collaborating.

If you happened to listen this past Sunday night, I hope you enjoyed the pre-recorded noise of Harry Partch, Borbetomagus, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Make A Rising, The Music Tapes, Psi, Hildegard, Jim O'Rourke (whose 2001's I'm happy, and I'm singing, and a 1,2,3,4 comes highly recommended), and Last Exit. Being a pop nerd, spinning such delectable abominations are quite wonderful. A couple folks were interested in the Pastor John Rydgren, the Christian psychedelic radio spots pioneer, tracks I played. They came courtesy of the mighty WFMU Blog, and you download all 19 radio spots here. "Music To Watch Girls By" is particularly creepy.

Sunday, July 17- The "Rooms Experiment" as mentioned in the last entry will be performed by the following E666ers: Winston Parker on sax & mixing board, Lars Gotrich on guitar & laptop & Casio keyboard, Jeff Tobias on Korg Mini & bass (We Versus the Shark), Zach Smola on guitar & other things (The Mooninites, Telenovela), Drew Smith on drums (Life Is A Fight), and tentatively Mitch Jones on upright bass (producer & preservation expert of the Anti-Music Collective).

Sunday 11pm-Monday 1am!

Need to get in touch? E-mail me: killthefamous@gmail.com

NO E666

No Elephant 666 Orchestra performance tonight. Last minute snafus will gobble you whole. I am, however, DJ-ing horrible noise as Crisis was originally intended. I'm currently soothed by Death Ambient.

Speaking of, can anybody imagine what monster would result from a collaboration between Peter Brotzmann and Ikue Mori? A very hideous but fucking amazing one, I'm sure.

Next week we'll have our shit together (that's the second time I've said that). I've decided the Elephant 666 Orchestra's going to attempt the "rooms experiment" once and for all. For those not in the know, this is an idea I've been kicking around for two years: have musicians all set up their own equipment in separate rooms of WUOG with doors closed and no monitors. Play. Open doors after 25 minutes. Two sets. Intimidating? Oh, yes.

Lions consuming mices with lices

I have no idea what the "theme" will be for tomorrow night's Crisis, only that Jeff Tobias (We Versus the Shark) and possibly Drew Smith (Life Is A Fight, Gasmask & Matchsticks) will join the Elephant 666 Orchestra.

We'll get our shite together for next week.

The Metropolis show has been tentatively moved back to August 7th.

?Acousti-sis!

The session with Erik Hinds went off really well. Winston and I haven't played together in a year and it felt like we never stopped and somehow got better. In the second set, Hinds brought on the sludgy metal riffs while Winston squawked the sax and I rocked a rhythmically-fractured guitar (which, unfortunately, did not come through as well on the air).

Upcoming shows...
July 3rd: An all-acoustic Crisis. Acoustic guitar, saxophone, various percussion, upright bass, zither, and any other number of unelectric instruments. We're still figuring out how to bring an upright piano to the station.

July 10th (85% sure this will happen): The Mooninites (members of Telenovela) will collaborate with the Elephant 666 Orchestra to provide the soundtrack to a projection of Fritz Lang's silent 1927 proto-sci-fi film, Metropolis, on a wall in the radio station. Folks are welcome to come up and watch our musical interpetation.

Erik Hinds, etc.

Sunday, June 26. 11pm-1am on 90.5fm...
The second guest for the Crisis! summer sessions will be Erik Hinds, who heads up the Solponticello record label and wields the mighty h'arpeggione on a reworking of Slayer's metal classic Reign In Blood out soon. He'll perform a solo set with said instrument, then will be joined for a second set by the Elephant 666 Orchestra.

Some future guests include Garbage Island, The Mooninites, and a sinewave orchestra.

night nightyo nightydrokxshb

We sometimes come out at night and see if this damn thing works.