New on Wow Cool it's the first 12" vinyl release (also first live recording release) from Scott Smallwood and Stephan Moore's EVIDENCE. 33-odd minutes at 33RPM of stellar electronic collage recorded at Troy's famous late-night Goodship Tuesday at Positively Fourth Street. On 140 gram vinyl. Cover art by Marc Arsenault. Due to the frequencies and rhythms employed on side two some rather magical patterns appear on the vinyl, as demonstrated in the additional photos here, sent from the engineer who cut the test lacquer, who said "some of the coolest designs and grooves I have ever seen. there are people that try to make records of just tones to make a lacquer design as interesting as this." Nice. The record plays great and the bass is spectacularly groovy. Enjoy the extra visuals.
There was a time in the early noughties when a little bar in Troy, New York played home to some of the most bleeding edge computer music and video work being done anywhere. Late Tuesday nights at Positively Fourth Street were a swirl of hypnotic visuals, experimental beats, and a crowd of local artists and software developers who performed for each other, trotting out their latest creations and upping the ante with every show. The event was the weekly public manifestation of an arts and technology collective called Goodship that spawned, among other things, the popular video performance software VDMX.
Sound artists Stephan Moore and Scott Smallwood's Evidence were regular performers at Goodship Tuesdays. This record is a pristine recording of their final performance at Positively 4th Street in 2004, at the top of their game as improvisors of unplanned sonic textures and abstract beat constructions. Evidence has gone on to perform internationally using objects, homemade electronics and radio broadcast equipment, with a specialization in non-traditional venues and circumstances, but this recording captures the essence of their work in a venue as comfortable as home.
"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." -- Josef Woodard (Culture Monster) review of Evidence live. The Los Angeles Times August 27, 2010
