Iannis Xenakis' Persephassa performed on Central Park Lake for MMNY 2010
New York is an exceptionally musical place every day of the year, but there's one day when it gets really musical. That's because of Make Music New York, an annual festival that takes place on the first day of summer and features hundreds upon hundreds of free concerts throughout the city.
This year Make Music New York is happening on June 21 from 10am to 10pm, and if you're musically inclined or interested in hosting a performance, you have until April 21 to register and finalize your own event. The folks at MMNY can help you coordinate your concert with others in your neighborhood, secure the necessary permits and promote it through Time Out New York, Metro New York and WNYC.
Past MMNY highlights include an amazing rowboat-based performance of Iannis Xenakis' Persephassa on Central Park Lake (check out the video clip above) and Punk Island, in which dozens of punk bands invaded Governors Island. Of course your event doesn't need to take place on an island or body of water. It could be anything from a "acoustic sidewalk setup to a full-scale amplified block party." For the last two years the festival has featured over 1,000 concerts, so sign up, tune up and hit the streets.
In 2010 Joshua Kirsch turned the 3rd Ward lobby into an incredible musical instrument with his interactive installation Sympathetic Resonance. We actually asked him to install it again when we curated Wired Magazine's holiday pop up store that winter. So for those that may not have caught his work in our lobby (or those that just want to see it again) Kirsch will be presenting Sympathetic Resonance once more this Sunday as part of the Art Mana Fest in Jersey City.
"I had a blast deciding where all the different marimba key modules would go," Kirsch says of his time with us back in 2010. "The 3rd Ward lobby provided an excellent canvas in which to explore the different possibilities." Since that installation, Kirsch has had the chance to overhaul and refine the piece to improve the functionality and durability of Sympathetic Resonance. "Also, I've added the ability to fine tune the angle of each module to a degree hundreds of times more precise," he says. "This allows me to create installations with perfectly sweeping curves, something which would have been impossible before."
For the Art Mana Fest he will also present Oculus, which features 18 leg-like extensions that can all be manipulated by turning a central hub. "I knew it would work, but I did not know exactly what it would look like until the piece was finished," Kirsch says. "What resulted in the end was something that resembled an 18-legged spider a lot more than I expected, which I really like."
For his exhibition's opening, which takes place this Sunday, March 11 from 1-5pm, Kirsch will perform a three-minute piece that he composed specifically for Sympathetic Resonance, and jazz and classical musicians will also use it in ensemble performances. "Of course, a lot of the afternoon will be left available for guests to try their hand at playing the installation," Kirsch says. "From experience, I can tell you that some 'heart and soul' will definitely make an appearance or two."
Sympathetic Resonance will be on display through April, and musicians can even enter to win a $1000 cash prize by performing their own music on Kirsch's sculpture.
David Karlins and Ear to Mind co-director Inhyun Kim meeting in the conference room.
Since its beginnings in 2010, contemporary music nonprofit Ear to Mind has relied on a typical cookie cutter blog-style website as their online home. It did the job, but with an upcoming concert at illustrious Carnegie Hall, the organization decided they'd like something more original and reflective of their adventurous artistic identity. For that they turned to 3rd Ward Web Design teacher and prolific author David Karlins.
"They felt it was essential to create a Web presence more in keeping with the creative energy and spirit of what they are all about," Karlins says. He met up with Ear to Mind co-director Inhyun Kim and worked to create an online destination that achieves just that.
"A substantial focus of my Web consulting involves working with artists, musicians, performers and particularly venues, organizations that promote the arts," Karlins says. "While my main activity is writing books and developing online teaching materials for publishers like Dummies and teaching material for Adobe, I do keep my fingers on the pulse of cutting edge Web challenges by continuing to do design projects."
Karlins' upcoming book is Web Sites for Dummies All-in-One. Here at 3rd Ward he teaches classes including Web Design with Adobe Creative Suite (both regular and condensed) and Intermediate Web Design // CSS3 and loves soaking up our positive vibes. "My meetings with the principles and people involved at 3rd Ward allow us to absorb and bounce off the diverse activity and creative energy here, and in turn feed into my work on books, my live and online classes, and the teaching materials I create here," he says.
The Ear to Mind Carnegie Hall concert that prompted Karlins' design work happens on April 19 and will feature pianist award-winning Jenny Q Chai playing a variety of music, including the world premier of a new composition by Inhyun Kim.
When we caught up with new 3rd Ward member Noah Wall back in December, we talked with him about both his award-winning web design work and his recent musical pursuits, including the September release of his album Hèloïse, which he celebrated with a scavenger hunt through Manhattan that spelled out the albums name. He also told us that he had a few more musical projects in the pipe. One of those was this video for the Hèloïse track "Blue Station," which premiered on The Fader last week.
Just as fascinating as his scavenger hunt (and, naturally, his web design work), the video employs a mysterious technology, "Colormind," which has its own equally mysterious website stating that it "uses SOUND, SHAPE, HEAT and subliminal COL☯R to condense TIME and bind EMOTIONAL RESPONSE." To demonstrate the technology, the video for "Blue Station" takes the classic Paul Newman Western Hud and "condenses" it into two and a half minutes. Here's The Fader's take:
It's dizzyingly beautiful and the swirling gradients over black-and-white are charmingly anachronistic, though reducing everybody's facial expressions to mood ring colors and debatably evocative shapes renders the actual film that whizzes by mostly illegible. Which is pretty much the fun part, how hard it is to figure out what's supposed to be simple.
Wall also has some live shows coming up. He'll be performing not to far from 3rd Ward at Diamond Mouth Surprise (30 Maujer St. #2C) this Saturday, January 14, and Williamsburg DIY venue Death By Audio on Monday, January 16. We don't know if he'll be able to recreate the Colormind phenomenon on stage, but we're sure he'll put on a fantastic show.
Noah WallWe're thrilled to introduce you to one of our new co-working desk members, web designer extraordinaire Noah Wall.
Wall started the cleverly named Knowawall in 2007, and his company quickly established itself as a leading name in creative and cutting-edge design. Clients have included iconic filmmaker David Lynch and renowned artist Maya Lin. Knowawall's website for Lynch's Interview Project received two Webby Awards for Best Documentary Series.
Working on such high-profile projects has been a unique and valuable experience. "I'm so lucky to have worked with some really talented folks," Wall says. "Many of our clients are so heavily invested in their own work that it can feel a bit like cradling someone else's child sometimes. There's also a lot of opportunity for close collaboration which I've definitely benefited from as a designer."
With plenty of impressive work under his belt, Wall has recently been taking a break from web design to focus on some personal projects, particularly his music. In September he released the album Hèloïse and created 38 Figures In Hiding, a scavenger hunt throughout New York City to promote it. "I hid 38 copies of the LP and cassette all over the city," he explains. "The locations of each corresponded to points on the Manhattan grid that, when connected, spelled out the name of the album." The project naturally attracted lots of attention, including a feature on WIRED.
Wall tells us that he has more musical projects in the works, including a couple of videos and "a 'memory catalyst' EP that includes scratch and sniff packaging for triggering memories."
Luckily, he hasn't abandoned his design exporations. "In the web world I've been trying to focus less on custom sites and pursue some web apps geared toward 'creatives,'" he says. "These ideas have been brewing for a while and should finally see the light of day in 2012!"
Either way, let's extend a hand to to Wall for taking the initiative to make these things happen. We think he'll prove a vital addition to our new co-working space.
In addition to the many mind-blowingly crafty vendors, Saturday's Handmade Holiday Craft Fair will also feature some superb live music from singer-songwriter Mieka Pauley.
If you haven't heard Pauley's music, we think her press bio sums it up nicely: "Imagine Radiohead tiptoeing silently behind Patty Griffin as she makes her way backstage. Imagine Jeff Buckley in drag, singing along loudly at a Nirvana concert. Imagine Death Cab hiding in the back of an Emily Dickinson reading."
After receiving her degree in Biological Anthropology from Harvard in 2002, Pauley didn't embark on the career path you'd expect from a typical Ivy League graduate: She threw her guitar in the trunk and hit the road. By summer's end she had won the BMI/Rock Boat Song Contest and made a serious impression at Colorado's renowned Telluride Festival. After snagging few more awards and playing major showcases like the Newport Folk Festival, Pauley was back in Boston in 2004, opening for the legendary Eric Clapton. She hasn't let up since, winning the first ever Starbucks Emerging Artist Award in 2005 and the nationwide Cosmopolitan StarLaunch competition in 2008 and sharing stages with Jason Mraz, Citizen Cope, Wyclef Jean and Black Eyed Peas, just to name a few.
Pauley's debut album, 2007's Elijah Drop Your Gun, was funded entirely by donations from her fans, and she's taking the same route with her forthcoming record, which has already surpassed her fundraising goal. You can still donate, though, with perks ranging from a digital download of the album to your own intimate acoustic concert.
The success and accolades that Pauley has racked up over the past decade are a perfect example of the independent and creative spirit that we thrive on here at 3rd Ward. She's proof that you don't need to settle for a desk job or wait for a major label to come along before you can follow your dreams. Just get out there, do what you love and show the world what you've got!
Watch the video for Mieka Pauley's "All The Same Mistakes" after the jump.
Popular Mechanics recently featured GuitaR2D2, the creation of 3rd Ward member and teacher Ben Simon, as one of "7 Awesome DIY Projects" from this summer's Maker Faire--and rightfully so. With an onboard drum machine, synthesizer, microphone and amps, GuitaR2D2 is something to behold, both musically and visually. But it's just one of Simon's many amazing creations. We caught up with him to find out more about his work. Hit the jump for more.
Simon's path to becoming a "gonzo inventor," as Popularly Mechanics aptly describes him, started when he got a job working in a wood shop. "Woodworking gave me a better way to communicate with alien sparrows and some insects than I could have ever imagined," he says. "I feel compelled to play music in a way that most aligns with the energy field that is these communications. As you can probably tell, I'm still trying to figure it out!"
One of the hardest parts is an instrument's final setup. "I start with raw wood, cut fret slots and all that, and in the end it must be perfectly intonated, unless it's specified that it doesn't matter" Simon says. "It's tough and I've gotten close—I'm basically self taught. In the near future I hope to study with someone and acquire better tools."
There's a good chance that you may have encountered Simon in the subway, as that's one of his favorite places to jam with Guitar2D2, which he describes as his "one man band." "The subway has an amazing sound, and honestly I've never felt better while playing music, nor have I ever had such a warm response," he explains.
With such creativity and talent, Simon's work naturally hasn't been limited to the underground. He's even had the chance to create a piece for Paul Simon. The renowned songwriter's percussionist, Jamey Haddad, saw one one of Ben's wooden drums at Drummer's World in Times Square and asked him to build one as a gift for Paul. "Off the charts," Simon says of the experience. "It was really something else. Ya know he's just a regular guy but with the tremendous talent that's reached millions and millions of people for like millions and millions of years. Touched their hearts, reflected their lives with his music... My family are all fans and my last name is Simon too—what more could I ask for! It was like I was chosen to go to the Olympics. Everybody was watching!"
When Simon's not making instruments he's likely making music. Right now he's holding down organ duties for The Lisps, who'll be presenting a sci-fi/Civil War musical called Futurity that'll debut next year. "It's about a Civil War soldier/dreamer who creates a giant steam-powered machine to create peace and get him and everybody else out of war," he says. "The percussion alone will take you to crazytown. I'm thrilled to be included."
Want to learn some of Simon's instrument-modding skills? Sign up for his class, Electric Guitar Rescue, which starts December 1.
Check out more of Simon's creations below.
Drum Table for Paul Simon
Five String Crooked Neck
Semi-hollow V with distortion and a wind-up music box that plays the theme from "Love Story"
Purple Heart and Mahogany keyboard with '80s Yahama keyboard circuit
A little way's back, we spoke with audio development team, New Signal Process, a pack of freewheeling artists and technicians devoted to creating 21st century effects pedals. Specifically, pedals that pipe your instrument directly into your iPhone or iPad, allowing you to manipulate whatever you're playing with the touch of a finger.
Thing is, there are 10,000 apps out there that NSP pedals are compatible with, so for the discerning audiophile/musician, which ones are the most innovative (i.e. fun)?
Luckily, NSP has provided us with the creative musician's guide to the top 10 apps (complete with some pretty helpful commentary) that can turn an iPad or iPhone into a portable toolbox--for the wandering project studio and sound art installation performers of the world.
So hit the jump now and start composing.
Smule(Creators of I Am T-Pain, Glee, Sonic Vox, Magic Piano, etc...)
These guys are, so far, the masters of creative music apps. They have bridged the worlds of computer music, pop culture, and future music creation into the beginnings of the largest world sing along ever. Smule had its start in the computer music project in Stanford, and has gone on to top the app store charts with bizarro vocal auto harmonizers and fantasy mobile phone instruments.
Glee and T-Pain are incredible apps. As is Sonic Vox. All intended to manipulate the sound of your voice, they sound especially incredible when you run a guitar or keyboard through them, or even your entire mix.
Smule's Ocarina
Besides these amazing playthrough/effect apps, they also developed Magic Piano for iPad. Perhaps one of the most fun touch screen musical experiences, the most futuristic aspect of it to me is the duet function where you can for a minute or two duet with magic pianists from all over the world. Try as I have to play an impromptu Miles Davis piece, or even a Christmas Carol, these international virtual jam sessions tend to be dominated by Cagean chance expressions and Cecil Taylor inspired micro bursts of notes. It is a mind blowing experience for any musician or non!
An app from the most famous modular synth makers ever? What more do you need to say? This app is incredible and sounds amazing. The sound quality on the play-through function is probably the best sounding of all the apps out there. And it is not just a synthesizer: It's a multi-function app and for $4.99 you get a Moog synthesizer, sampler, and delay effect.
Listen to samples of NSP playing guitar through it with a BreakOut pedal here.
Rjdj is some sort of collective of European mad men that have started what they call a "reactive music revolution."
People can create scenes that twist incoming sounds into alternate realities. These scenes are available for free (or some for cost) through Rjdj. The idea is to use the earbuds and mic that come with the phone, but running the NSP BreakOut with a guitar can get some seriously strange and twisted sounds, or, "scenes" we suppose you’d call them. Our favorite scene so far is called "Noble Choir." It is a free scene listed under the Interactive header in RjDj and is like a poor man’s guide to sounding like Derek Bailey. Ha! Check it out here.
The other, potentially even MORE amazing thing about RjDj is that you can actually download an application for free unto your computer where you can make scenes. ( These scenes are essentially apps within RjDj that you can build with a simple interface that are like effects patches - but you can set the Delays to be changed by the GPS location of your phone, or the looping functions can be organized around the touch screen of your iPad.
This thing is awesome. Have you ever spent weeks of your life and 3 weeks of your paychecks surfing eBay and Craigslist looking for all the old Maestro beatboxes and Roland Drum Machines? Bought that old organ from the GoodWill for $50 that sits in the corner of your studio? Try spending $2.99 on funk box. Comes for iPhone and iPad and you get an 808, a 909, a 606, a CR 78, an MRK 2, an ER1, and a MD SPS 1 all in one easy to use, awesome looking interface. Done.
Sampletoy is an awesome sampling tool that takes bite-sized samples from your input and lays them out visually on a grid or step system that can then be filtered and effected. It's not only instant hooks, but also 10, 15, 20 minutes gone as you lose your afternoon to an inspired improvisation.
I love this app. I never thought I would be so overjoyed to turn a guitar into a saxophone, but this one is pure joy! Like Glee or T-Pain, it is designed to be used with your voice and turn your singing into an instrument - guitar, bass, synth. But when used with an NSP BreakOut it is pure and simple saxophone guitar magic.
Check out this video of us using VoiceBand to turn Willow Smith's Whip My Hair into a hair-raising Free Jazz Saxophone improvisation:
These are a series of apps developed by a programmer/artist/composer from, I believe, upstate NY named Henry Lowengard.
His apps are wonderfully inventive, useful, and pretty mind-blowing sound art/drone tools. A few iPads and some amplifiers and your first sound installation is ready to go. Case in point, here is a quote about SrutiBox from the brilliant composer and sound theorist Pauling Oliveros:
"I wanted you to know that I have made my debut in Vienna a couple of weeks ago as an IPHONEist. I played two simultaneously - one with sruti box and the other with a variety of apps. I am enjoying sruti box immensely."
This one is brought to us by our friend Dana. He has been performing with a MPC for a while with his group Dana Buoy. Now though, armed with a new iPad and NSP BreakOut, he is switching over. The main tool he is using to replace the MPC is this app BeatMaker. It is a super-intuitive sampler. Easy to program, easy to perform on--and it sounds great.
And a few honorable mentions that comprise the "tenth" of our Top 10:
Here is a collection of mind blowing apps that not only sound amazing but look amazing too. And not only do they sound and look great, but they are so much fun to play as well. To us they exemplify the very beginning of artistic and musical possibilities of the touch screen. They aren't always the most well rounded in terms of long-term performance functionality, but it is fun just to be at the beginning stages:
PASY 02; snap-grid japanese noise synth. Sounds like early Terry Riley.
Sound Thingie; lines drawn on the iPad correlate to the sounds they make.
Bubble Harp on the iPad
Bubble Harp; drawn-line bubble synth. Hard to explain
Back during our Wind-Up mixer in June, artist and 3rd Ward member Christopher Rini met the folks at BBOX Radio. They both enjoyed each other's work, and four months later they're collaborating on Biggie, Beasties, and Beyond, an exhibition at BBOX Radio. It opens this Sunday, October 30 at 5pm with a lively mix of music and art.
Hit the jump to learn more about Rini's work and the exhibition.
For the show's inspiration, Rini turned toward to two landmark Brooklyn albums, the Beastie Boys' Licensed To Ill and Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready To Die. "I picked two iconic albums that have aged in complex ways," he says. "The Beastie's debut LP featured fold out album art, which I used to love as a kid, so I took the opportunity to address the entire image, with all of its 21st century implications. It's a joke from the past that now has a sense of foreboding."
"The Biggie piece is similar, though with a more somber, final tone," he adds. "The stark composition no longer announces the arrival of arguably the best MC we've ever heard. His predictions, boasts and stories are all we have left. The text that once announced his name and boasted of his fearlessness, now simply mark his entry and exit from the world."
Rini renders these images using "wood stained glass," a style he's been exploring and honing since 2009. "It involves mostly industrial items, where the wood is engraved & burned, and then stained & dyed, usually with a polyurethane finish," he explains.
Taking up a musical theme is natural, as Rini's long been an active musician, playing with Brooklyn's The=Equation for over a decade. During Sunday's opening he'll play drums with a new group, Resonance & Behavior, who'll be making their live debut. "The instrumentation is all electronic, drums, piano and cello, and our repertoire includes Chopin, Philip Glass, Portishead and a few original compositions by our cellist, Elizabeth Glushko," he says.
Check out Biggie, Beasties, and Beyond this Sunday at BBOX Radio, which is located at the Dekalb Market. It starts at 5pm and the music kicks off at 6pm. Rini's artwork will stay up through November 9.
Hundreds of bands are playing New York this week as part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon, but there's only one showcase where you can pick up a guitar and jam, even if you're not in a band.
Organized by local music magazine The Deli, the NYC StompBox Exhibit runs through tonight, Saturday, October 22 at Googies Lounge and Ludlow Guitar in the Lower East Side. The exhibit will feature tons of different guitar effects pedals from companies both big and small. Bring your guitar along (or use one of the ones that they'll have on hand), plug into one of the pedal boards that'll be set up, and you can start wailing away like Hendrix or Clapton or whomever your favorite guitarist happens to be.
While bigger brands like Moog, Line 6 and Digitech will be represented, some awesome local companies will also be showing off their stuff. One of those is Death By Audio, a boutique hand-made effects company based in Williamsburg. Founded by Oliver Ackermann, guitarist and singer for the band A Place To Bury Strangers, Death By Audio's pedals include Robot, an "8-bit resynthesizer," Interstellar Overdriver and and Apocalypse, a five channel distortion box. They've also created custom pedals for bands including U2, Nine Inch Nails, Wilco and Lightning Bolt. Fridgebuzzz, another Brooklyn-based company, makes the Land of the Rising Fuzzz, a versatile fuzz distortion pedal. Also on hand will be pedals from Long Island's Pigtronix and New Jersey's Eventide.
The exhibition is free, but if you want to make sure you get a chance to try out the pedals, RSVP for a priority pass.
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