This year IHN is taking its first journey to Big Ears festival in Knoxville, TN and we prepared a number of video playlists / mixes to mark the occasion! Up first are videos from artists performing as part of 12-hour Drone (All Night Flight), communal experience inspired by Terry Riley project of the same name:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”15″]An immersive new experience featuring 19 genre-defying artists at The Standard from midnight on Saturday to noon on Sunday during the festival weekend. Experimenting with continuous tones and repetition through vocals or instrumentation, artists and listeners alike will be transported to a meditative space pushing the boundaries of time, genre, and music itself.[/perfectpullquote]
Artists
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Ben Shemie
Member of Canadian band Suuns and a solo artist who performed at Mutek. Featured in our playlist is a visual accompaniment to Enduring Love, Ben’s solo tape that came out in 2017.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”15″]Shemie’s latest concern Enduring Love, has him taming feedback and sound swells, teasing the elements into figures and forms as he rides out their fury or their fragility. A powerful improv-heavy piece of angular, ambient drone, prepare to be enveloped.
Mutek
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Further reading: Interview with Northern Transmissions
Coupler
Solo project of Ryan Norris (Lambchop, Hands Off Cuba, Lone Official)
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”15″]Atmosphere-laden, lush and addictively escapist.
Electronic Sound Magazine
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Further reading: Ravelin | Third Man Records | Wexner Center for the Arts
David Daniell
American guitarist/composer (San Augustin, Barrel, Project Qua Project) who collaborated with Loren Connors, Oren Ambarchi and Fennesz (among many others). He is also a co-founder of Antiopic label.
Further reading: Interview with Tokafi | Free Music Archive
Dream Chambers
a.k.a. Jess Chambers, electronic musician from Nashville, TN who produces ethereal pop utilizing drum machines and loops
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”15″]Maximum Wave, Dream Tech, Hardware 4 Life[/perfectpullquote]
Jess’s debut EP/tape White Roses came out in January 2018 – available via Fraternity as Vanity
Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”15″]Like smokestack lightning rolling through your subconscious [/perfectpullquote]
Further reading: Theremin World
Eli Keszler
American percussionist/composer whose produced a number of solo albums since 2008 and toured/collaborated with Jandek, Tony Conrad and Loren Connors. He is also known for his complex sound installations involving elements such as piano wire.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”15″]Keszler deserves recent attention for his large-scale sound art installations, which not only force musical ideas to interact with an acoustic environment but, in turn, for flesh-and-bone musicians to interact with both of them
Pitchfork
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Further reading: Tiny Mix Tapes | 5049 Records | Modern Drummer
Jessica Moss
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Canadian violinist and a member of A Silver Mt. Zion / Black Ox Orkestar Jessica Moss is best known as violinist, backing vocalist and co-composer with the acclaimed cult chamber-punk band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, the avant-klezmer group Black Ox Orkestar, and for her involvement in multiple records by Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista and two albums by Vic Chesnutt.
Having made six full-length albums and toured extensively with Mt. Zion from 2001-2014, Moss began performing solo work two years ago as that band went on hiatus, leading to mesmerizing solo appearances at ATP Festival, Le Guess Who? Festival, the Basilica Hudson 24-Hour Drone, the Winnipeg New Music Festival and the Montréal Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.
Constellation
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Further reading: Drowned in Sound | Interview with Clash Music
Lambda Celsius
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”15″]Dark Pop Post Punk Electronic Athens, GA Nashville, TN[/perfectpullquote]
Further reading: Flagpole | Nashville Scene | The Red & Black
Steve Gunn
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”15″]Steve Gunn is a New York-based guitarist and songwriter. With a career spanning nearly fifteen years, Steve has produced volumes of critically acclaimed solo, duo, and ensemble recordings. His albums with GHQ and longtime collaborating drummer John Truscinski represent milestones of contemporary guitar-driven, forward thinking music. Mining the catalogs of Basho, Bull, Chapman, and Sharrock, among other titans of stringed-things and record-session royalty, Steve has steadily processed these inspirations into a singular, virtuosic stream.[/perfectpullquote]
Further reading: Grantland | All Songs Considered | The New Yorker
Susan Alcorn
Pedal steel guitarist who collaborated with Pauline Oliveros, Chris Cutler, Joe McPhee and Eugene Chadbourne (among many others).
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”15″]Having started out playing guitar at the age of twelve, she quickly immersed herself in folk music, blues, and the pop music of the 1960s. A chance encounter with blues musician Muddy Waters steered her towards playing slide guitar.
Wikipedia
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Further reading: Deep Listening Institute | The Quietus | JazzLocal32
The Black Twig Pickers
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] The Black Twig Pickers are a group defined by their forward thinking approach to a type of music most often associated with times gone by. Over the course of eight full-length records, including collaborative releases with Jack Rose and Charlie Parr, a split LP with Glenn Jones, and numerous EPs and singles, the group has established itself as a collection of dedicated practitioners of old time music re-cast and shaped by their appreciation of modern improvisation, drone, and punk.
Thrill Jockey
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Travis Morgan
Experimental/noise/drone artist from Knoxville, TN who runs his own label Noise Control Corp and is heavily influenced by both old school industrial artists such as Throbbing Gristle and SPK and experimental composers such as John Cage.