Stephan Moore & Scott Smallwood present Final Goodship Tuesday. Out Now from Wow Cool.
About Us
Wow Cool is a studio and label based in Cupertino, California. Artists include: Marc Arsenault, Brown Cuts Neighbors, Steven Cerio, evidence, Simon Gane, God Hates Computers, nickname: Rebel, and Offset Needle Radius.
Newave! is a 892 page monster collection of 80's minicomix. Art by Marc Arsenault, Sam Henderson, Ion, Wayno and scores of others. Available Right Now!
While checking in at Wow Cool East in Brooklyn this week I’ve managed to catch a taste of Blonde Redhead’s upcoming 4AD Session. It was recorded and is being mixed by our resident multi-track wrangler Mr. Andrew Gerhan. Andy has done some nice work on upcoming releases from nickname: Rebel and Brown Cuts Neighbors that you will be hearing more about soon. Enjoy the video preview of the session above of the track ‘Here Sometimes‘ (iTunes link).
Blonde Redhead’s new LP Penny Sparkle is out from 4AD in the US September 14, and is available for pre-order on Vinyl and CD.
Their hour in the spotlight was more cerebral, an evocative canvas of sounds at once abstract in origin and tinged by hints of field recordings from the “real world” (the “evidential” aspect?). Melodic motifs and fuzzy groove elements emerged and receded in the mesmeric sonic fog, and the set conjured up the sense of a journey to whereabouts unknown, but not at all unpleasant. Ambient mission accomplished.
Stephan Moore has spent the last several years touring with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as a core member of their live band, alongside such notables as Christian Wolff, Takehisa Kosugi, David Behrman, John King, and William Winant. At the same time, he has been collaborating with a number of younger choreographers to create sound scores for their performance works. To Build A Field collects the best of these pieces, drawn from six of his commissions by four very different choreographers. The CD’s title refers to Moore’s view of his role in these collaborations: designing and executing sonic structures that define the emotional and rhythmic topography of time.
He is playing in San Francisco tonight, Thursday August 26th, as part of Evidence, and you should fully check that.
Stephan Moore has spent the last five years touring with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as a core member of their live band, alongside such notables as Christian Wolff, Takehisa Kosugi, David Behrman, John King, and William Winant. At the same time, he has been collaborating with a number of younger choreographers to create sound scores for their performance works. To Build A Field collects the best of these pieces, drawn from six of his commissions by four very different choreographers. The CD’s title refers to Moore’s view of his role in these collaborations: designing and executing sonic structures that define the emotional and rhythmic topography of time.
Each track negotiates a balance between acoustic sound sources and electronics, live performance and studio composition, and human vs. algorithmic control of sound materials. Time is continually bent into new shapes, challenging the listener, and his collaborators, to think beyond the easy comforts of a regular tempo, and confront rhythm as texture instead of a reliable grid. Brooklyn-based sound artist Stephan Moore's recent musical work centers around the collection and use of real-world sound, the creation and perception of sonic environments, and technological manifestations of improvisation and interactivity. He develops his own performance software and builds point-source loudspeakers for use in his performances and sound installation work. His current ongoing collaborations include the Xenolinguistics performance project with visionary video artist Diana Reed Slattery, projects with choreographers Yanira Castro and Kimberly Young and performance artist Kyle DeCamp, sound design for the Nerve Tank theater collective, and the performing/recording duo Evidence with sound artist Scott Smallwood. He curates a concert series at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio called Experiments in the Studio, and co-curates an annual month-long Floating Points festival of performances and sound installations at the ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, pairing the permanent sixteen-channel installation of his Hemisphere speakers there with diverse artists."
Scott Smallwood and Stephan Moore’s electronic duo EVIDENCE will be celebrating the release of their new 12″ vinyl release from Wow Cool with a series of west coast shows this month. They will be performing with Vibration Institute Orchestra at the Royal/T in Culver City on Wednesday, August 25th. Next they move on up to San Francisco for a night at the Jellyfish Gallery with GoyoPOD opening on Thursday August 26th. Marc Arsenault from Wow Cool will be at that show hawking our various wares. After that, Evidence will be setting up camp at Burning Man.
Two days. Two continents. Two concerts. Two deaths by extreme stagedive.
On Friday August 20, 2010, Charles Haddon, singer for British electro-pop band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, leapt to his death from a telecommunications tower behind the main stage at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium [full story in the Guardian]
On Thursday August 19, 2010, in Saratoga, California, just a few miles from my home in Cupertino, Michael Edward Pickels plunged to the stage of the Mountain Winery during a set by the folk rock duo The Swell Season. Pickels, 32, was out on $150,000 bail at the time of his death, and scheduled to be in court on Oct. 5 on charges of assault with a firearm, domestic violence and false imprisonment. [full story in the San Jose Mercury News]
Eight years… Jame Kopta was a dear friend and brilliant artist and musician who I was very lucky to work with on numerous projects over the course of nearly 13 years. He is still very much missed. Eight years ago today he died in a drowning accident. This morning I received the (hopefully) final mix of a track from an unreleased Brown Cuts Neighbors session that is finally being prepared for release on vinyl and digitally. Wow Cool is just getting properly rolling on digitizing and making available the vast archive of work created by Brown Cuts Neighbors. There are many riches to be found there, and it will be a great day when official release dates can finally be announced. Stay tuned. It is really happening now.
In the meanwhile, the original tribute section of this site can still be viewed here. It contains photos, a message board and sound clips. Jim’s new artist page on the redesigned WowCool.com is still a work in progress.
Live! July 24, 2010 at 51 3rd Street. Troy, New York. Many more clips available from Conglomco. We still have a couple copies of the D&D CD from Bloodlink Records available. Go get yours.
I could have picked worse clips, I probably could have picked better clips. Lady Starlight may be best remembered for spreading the Schenectady accent around the globe. For those that missed it, Brown Cuts Neighbors co-founder Lady Starlight is opening for Lady Gaga on this leg of the Monster Ball Tour, spinning a devastating array of classic rock hits.
Listen to Lady Starlight’s Metal For Muthas! radio show on Viva Radio.
Dave Zagorski was a dear friend and studio collaborator to Brown Cuts Neighbors and to the late James Kopta. He died far too young and will be much missed. His recordings will live on. Please visit his home site Analog Underground and follow the links there.
The published obituary from today’s Albany Times Union is reproduced below.
David M. Zagorski
Zagorski, David M. ALBANY David Michael Zagorski, 37, died peaceful at home on July 25, 2010. He is survived by wife, Amelia; mother, Beverly; father, Rich; stepmother, Layne; brother, Rick; and sisters, Lexi Mae and Skye. David attended Shenendehowa High School and Niagara University. He enjoyed a lifetime of travel and adventure, had extraordinary talent and skill, and was a determined entrepreneur. He established Earth Traders import company, Saratoga Candle Co., Parc Candle Co., and Analog Underground Recording Studios. David was an adept carpenter. He was an artist and musician whose energy and imagination spilled into everything he did. He was a founding member of two brilliant indie rock bands: Giant Ray Soda and Tom Fiction. A ceremony celebrating David’s life will be held at Albany Rural Cemetery Chapel, Cemetery Avenue, Menands, NY 12204 at 10:00 on Saturday, July 31. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Community Hospice of Albany Co., 445 New Karner Rd., Albany, NY 12205.
Out today in the US is the debut slab from Riotgod, and it is awesome! They are fronted by our old pal Mark Sunshine and feature the rhythm section from Monster Magnet. So, yeah… Heavy and Rocking.
In 2007 Monster Magnet’s Bob Pantella and Jim Baglino created their own alternate universe under the Riotgod banner, inviting guitarist Garrett Sweeny and the estranged vocalist known only as Sunshine to travel the cosmos with them. Their achieved collective goal is “Riotgod”, their debut album containing some of the most energetic, recognizable and high quality Hard Rock this side of Mars. Dare to meet your Riotgod! The initial 1000 copies will be in digipak format with bonus tracks.
Music video for Autoautomatic from “The Target Museum.” Directed/produced/edited by Olivia Robinson & Jesse Stiles. Music by Jesse Stiles, lyrics by Jesse Ball & Jesse Stiles. Filmed in New Delhi, India.
Jesse Stiles’ long awaited debut is here on approximately 250 slabs of crazy looking vinyl. Many of the songs on this record were written while Jesse worked wearing a hazmat suit inside one of the partially destroyed buildings surrounding the ground zero site. They capture that hallucination of contradictory images and turn them into catchy and unique electronic pop masterpieces. The Target Museum was recorded on a former military base in Wendover, Utah and various parts of India.
The release party was Saturday night at 51 3rd Street in Troy, New York with Jesse, Denim & Diamonds, Stephan Moore of Evidence and Crossbow. Wish I could have attended. The last time I played at 51 3rd, Jesse was booked at the other side of town with both our shows that much the poorer for it. (Thanks for the shout-out on the Evidence LP in the show announcement, Jesse! Do you still have that old rotary metal stool of mine? It was quite musical, I hope it was of use.)
There is currently a Public Image Limited tour going on with John (Rotten) Lydon. In the meanwhile, or sometime, recently, there has been this odd thing shown above. A tribute band of PiL with original PiL guitarist Keith Levene absolutely shredding it on the guitar. Mr. Levene seems to be getting around a bit on the YouTube. If you care about such noodling there may be much rewards.
Sadly, The Asian Music network not so lucky. BBC Trust says that ‘the case has not been made’ for digital station’s closure. Read the full story on the Guardian’s site. This is the best news ever this year for independent music. 6Music has been very nice to Wow Cool’s artist’s and we have written about the campaign to keep them flowing here and here. Yay! More Stuart Maconie’s Freakzone! More of the excellent Tom Ravenscroft! More and More and More of original and classic indie music!
Yes. Albany, New York’s Jamboyz have released a new Album, their tenth (10th). ‘Men Don’t Change’ contains 14 tracks, including the hit song ‘Mindy’ (or ‘Mindie’). Mike and Nick from nickname: Rebel might have played on some of this. Mike says, “I played the guitars on Mindy and Nick sang some of it. I think I might have played on “Shut Up”.” Download the thing for free from the lovely Sendspace:
I was very lucky to see him perform at the Kitchen in New York City in the mid-1980s (picture above). Rammellzee surprised everyone when he suddenly came out with the album The Bi-Conicals of the Rammellzee in 2004. It was a record that seemed perfectly in place with the times. It fit in well with the works of Dälek and UK Grime like Dizzee Rascal’s “Boy In da Corner“.
No clue what is going on here. “The new version of the KTM – solid state, run off 12-v battery” Yeah. OK. Right. Scott is, of course, half of Evidence.
When I first saw a tweet of the news that Frank Sidebottom had left us today, I was pretty sure it could not mean that Chris Sievey, the man behind the enormous head, was actually dead. Maybe just taking a break or retiring the character he’d played for over a quarter century. But, no, very sadly, Chris Sievey, who had been fighting a cancer that he seemed very likely to win, died suddenly on the morning of June 21, 2010.
I’ve been deeply mired in what is some fairly obscure bits of research lately. Things like, ‘what did World War One nurses wear?’ and ‘why the hell is HD video not performing on my damn computer?’. I’ve also been digging into some of the more elusive parts of the Brown Cuts Neighbors mythos. I somehow failed to get any of the pieces I was digging for last night, but have dug up a crucial one today.
The late, great Reginald Gardiner had a nightclub act where he did sound effect renditions of wallpaper designs and trains, or so the story goes. That piece was recorded at some point and ended up on the soundtrack for “At Home Abroad“, which could be borrowed from the Schenectady Public Library, and, thus, lives on today. Now, I dug this thing up many years after Brown Cuts Neighbors had released a cassette named after this in 1994. I have no idea what the actual story is as to why that title was chosen.
Three quarters of nickname: Rebel also get it on as the band Creature Comforts. They were featured on San Francisco’s Pirate Cat Radio on Saturday, June 12 in the Cheap Hooch Show. It is highly entertaining and you should download and listen to the podcast of the broadcast now.
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Creature Comforts are playing two shows in San Francisco this month. Details on the Wow Cool events page.
Pirate Cat Radio is a studio, performance space and community asset located at 2781 21st Street, San Francisco. They provide a 24/7 program stream accessible on on the web by individual listeners. Pirate Cat Radio from time to time has been downloaded from the web and transmitted over the air as an extra-legal (unlicensed) service in Los Angeles, in Vancouver B.C., in Berlin, and in San Francisco using 87.9 fm and possibly other frequencies.
Here is Nao Bustamante’s one-hit wonder band. “Female 2 Male Adaptor” or “F2M Adaptor” or “FTM Adaptor.” I’m not sure which. I heard they only had one gig. what an awesome song, “Not a Robot” !!! Band members: Nao, Tyler Jacobsen, Jesse Stiles, and Seth Cluett. Mr T. and Fufu make a guest appearance. It’s funny how it already looks vintage with the types of phones they all have. I think it’s from 2001?
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Yes. Albany, New York’s Jamboyz have released a new Album, their tenth (10th). ‘Men Don’t Change’ contains 14 tracks, including the hit song ‘Mindy’ (or ‘Mindie’). Mike and Nick from nickname: Rebel might have played on some of this. Mike says, “I played the guitars on Mindy and Nick sang some of it. I think I might have played on “Shut Up”.” Download the thing for free from the lovely Sendspace:
