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David Linton: Bicameral Research Sound & Projection System with special guests – David First & Satoshi Takeishi

David Linton – interactive sound and live video
David First – guitar & electronics
Satoshi Takeishi – percussion

David Linton (born Newburgh NY 1956) is a Time based multiple media artist traveling the vectors of sound, subculture, and signal flow. He has been active in the downtown NYC experimental arts community for 30 years. Originally a percussionist, David has created sound, music, and something in between, for many collaborative dance, theater, & performance settings since his arrival in NY at the end of 1970′s. By the later 80′s – after a good deal of percussion work along side other musicians: Lee Ranaldo, Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca, Elliott Sharp among others – he was equally known for his live wired solo electro-acoustic drumkit performances as well as his soundscore productions for the Wooster Group & choreographers Karole Armitage & Steven Petronio among many others. His 1986 solo Lp “Orchesography” was an unlikely collusion of street beats, early sampling tek, and theatrical post modernism. By the early 90′s he had retired from performing in the live electro-acoustic vein to concentrate on the vocabulary of entirely electronic music and the resultant paradigm shift in performance priorities this new ‘compressed’ format suggested. Throughout the 90′s Linton became a dedicated advocate for the expansion and appreciation of realtime performance in electronic media through the design and/or production of event/environments such as ‘SoundLab’ (1996) and eventually ‘UnityGain’ (1997-present). In the later 90′s David was a key participant in Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods multimedia improvisation project “Crash Landing”.
From 2001 Linton’s fascination with instantaneous collaborative audio visual communication among select units of electronic sound and visual artists assumed the form of a live experimental television Manhattan cable/webcast project – UGTV – Unitygain Television (2001-2004) – for which he was producer/director – and occasional performer. In 2004 David embarked upon his present course with the launch of his solo audio-visual project: the Bicameral Research Sound & Projection System -
With his “Bicameral Research Sound & Projection System” (2004) Linton aims to make vibrational wave induced perceptual energy states manifest by deploying interconnected measures of electric sound & pulsing light in live action with hand manipulated objects in physical (live camera) space.
He employs an integrated recursive audio & video feedback system of his own perversely simple design modulated by freehand intervention to deliver vigorous eye, ear, and – sometimes – body shaking realtime audio visual performances from which a kind of retro-tech animist ritual “medicine show” emerges where subject and object blur. Thematically David likes to consider that within the 20th Century 60 Hz alternating electrical current gradually came to function as a primary subliminal Prana in the mass bio-energetic body/culture of human life in North America…

http://bicameral.multiply.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bicameral
http://www.youtube.com/user/bicameralresearch
http://bicameralresearch.blogspot.com/
http://www.unitygain.org/
http://pddinthetol.multiply.com/

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Pioneering new-music group, FLUX Quartet, premieres Elegies For The Afterland, a new work by eclectic composer and punk-era innovator David First, commissioned through the Meet The Composer Commissioning Music/USA program. Guitarist/composer Dom Minasi presents works from his recent CD Dissonance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder, featuring Dom Minasi on nylon string guitar, with violinist Jason Hwang, cellist Tomas Ulrich, and bassist Ken Filiano.

“Guitarist and electronic composer David First’s subtle way with drones and other extended tones reveals a musician who successfully controls the barely controllable” (K. Leander Williams, Time Out NY). Tonight, the eclectic composer and punk-era innovator premiers new music for string quartet, performed by the fearlessly dynamic new music ensemble, the FLUX Quartet.

Guitarist/composer Dom Minasi offers his own unique take on the concept of a string quartet, fashioning an ensemble that is equal parts chamber music and jazz. Comprised of players with whom Minasi has worked for many years, the music was not simply composed with a specific instrumentation in mind, but each unique player’s personality was embedded into the writing.

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Violinist and composer-improvisor Tom Chiu brings together three pioneering musicians working in digital media---David First, Elise Kermani, and Michael Schumacher---all of whom he has cultivated ongoing collaborative relationships for over a decade, as duos and in larger formats. Tonight, each composer will construct a unique sonic environment resulting from either computer generated processes or other electronic producers of sound. Chiu will create and respond in counterpoint to each environment, drawing on his groundbreaking explorations in extended techniques and new vocabularies on the violin. The resulting soundscapes with three diverse sound artists will showcase the true versatility of a storied instrument, when placed within the context of contemporary digital media. Violinist Tom Chiu has received wide acclaim for his performances as a soloist, chamber artist, and experimental improvisor. Particularly noted for his endeavors in new music, Chiu has performed over 100 premieres worldwide and has worked closely with composers such as Larry Austin, Virko Baley, Michael Byron, Annie Gosfield, David Lang, Alvin Lucier, Somei Satoh, Elliott Sharp, Roberto Sierra, Ushio Torikai, and John Zorn. Also passionately drawn to the improvisational world, he has worked with David Chesky, Bobby Few, Leroy Jenkins, Oliver Lake, Roscoe Mitchell, and Ornette Coleman, with whom he appeared at the Ornette at 75 Festival at the Walker Arts Center in 2005. His discography includes recordings for the Chesky, Cold Blue Music, Innova, Koch, Mode, Sombient, and Tzadik labels. In addition to the pure music context, Chiu has worked extensively in mixed media, and has cultivated numerous collaborations with pioneers of various genres and idioms. He has created new works in duo projects with vocal pioneer/sound-artist Joan La Barbara, conceptual balloon artist Judy Dunaway, and ambient-drone guitarist David First. He has also worked extensively in the dance world, and has composed for and/or performed with noted choreographers such as Shen Wei, Christopher Wheeldon, Eun-Me Ahn, I-Fang Wu, Clara Gibson Maxwell, and Desmond Richardson. With visionary director Lee Breuer, he has been music director and featured violinist for productions by avant theater troupe Mabou Mines. With the FLUX Quartet, of which he is founder and first violinist, Chiu has appeared at festivals and music centers worldwide, including the Melbourne Festival, the Samuel Beckett Centenary in Dublin, and When Morty Met John at Carnegie's Weill Hall, curated by La Barbara, series Artistic Director. Widely regarded as "one of the most fearless and important new-music ensembles around," (San Francisco Chronicle) the FLUX performed the sublime six-hour String Quartet No.2 by Morton Feldman (Mode Records) during the opening season of Carnegie's Zankel Hall. More information on FLUX can be found at www.fluxquartet.com.

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David First (electric guitar/laptop) will premiere a new system of delays, tunings, loops and gestures inspired by the 108 movements found in Taoist Tai Chi in dialogue with Katherine Liberovskaya's live visuals obtained through the combination of laptop processing with a real-time closed-circuit image capture and feedback setup using surveillance equipment and reflective items
in motion - recently developed for a self-generating video-audio installation created in Milano (O'artoteca November-December 2007)


Katherine Liberovskaya is a video and media artist based in Montreal, Canada, and New York City. She has been working predominantly in experimental video since the late eighties. Over the years, she has produced many single-channel videos, video installation works and video performances
which have been presented at a wide variety of artistic venues and events around the world. As of recent years her work - in single-channel and installation video as well as performance - mainly revolves around collaborations with new music composers/sound artists, notably Phill Niblock, Al Margolis/If,Bwana, Hitoshi Kojo, Zanana, and David Watson. Since 2003 she is active in live video mixing exploring improvisation with numerous live new music/audio artists including: Margarida Garcia, Barry Weisblat, o.blaat, murmer, André Gonçalves, Monique Buzzarté, Anthony Coleman, Giuseppe Ielasi, Renato Rinaldi, Alessandro Bosetti, Audrey Chen, Jason Kahn, Marina Rosenfeld, Anne Wellmer, among others. In addition to her art practice she has concurrently been involved in the programming and organization of diverse media art events, notably with Studio XX in Montreal
(programming coordinator 1996-1998, president 2001-2003), Espace Vidéographe, Montreal and Experimental Intermedia, NY (Screen Compositions 2005, 2006, 2007) as well as the OptoSonic Tea series with Ursula Scherrer at Diapason in NYC.

David First's musical career is filled with opposites and extremes. As a composer he is known for his dense, mesmerizing drone structures which he performs sitting trance-like without seeming to move a muscle. At other times, he can be found playing guitar with his recently re-formed psychedelic punk band, Notekillers, where he is a whirling blur of hyperactive energy. First has been called "a fascinating artist with a singular technique" in The New York Times, "a bizarre cross between Hendrix and La Monte Young" in The Village Voice and "the next big thing in guitar gods" in Time Out NY. In 2007 he received a Commissioning Music USA grant from Meet the Composer, Inc. He has also received grants from the Foundation of Contemporary Performance Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Copland Foundation and the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. Upcoming projects include a 3-CD retrospective of his drone-works on the XI label and a new Notekillers recording both to be released in early 2008.

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Composer/guitarist David First will present Rocking Pipeline Witness Apologies to Dennis - a new drone-field work dedicated to the memory of his teacher Dennis Sandole, featuring Peter Zummo (trombone,) "Blue" Gene Tyranny (harmonically-tuned keyboards,) Christopher McIntyre (trombone) and First (guitar/laptop.) This work will continue First's usual concerns with various species of acoustical and metaphysical phenomena as well as attempt to make amends for his oft-regretted irresponsibilities regarding his relationship with the legendary Sandole. The New York Times calls First "a fascinating artist with a singular technique," and the Village Voice, "a bizarre cross between Hendrix and La Monte Young."

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"The duo explores the irregular overtone series produced by latex ballons, tones derived from the analytical formula that decribes the harmonics of a sphere, and nothing less than the known resonant frequencies of the earth."

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"Operation Kracpot", live data feeds from Alaska vibrating with the Earth's electro-magnetic resonance, pulsating drones designed to emulate and induce various states of brainwave activity, and a rocking band modulating all of the above with the sole purpose of making you feel really good on multiple planes. The ensemble features the composer on guitar, synthesizer and drone programming; Lisa Karrer, voice; Dafna Naphtali, laptop; Jim Pugliese, percussion; and David Simons, percussion, sampler.

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David First will premier HIGHER PLAINS DRIFTER, the opening section of 720 hour drone cycle revealing altered state secrets through molecular chicanery. Featuring Virgil Moorefield, percussion; Tom Chiu, violin; Dave Eggar, cello; and First on guitar/MIDI controller and theremin.

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"Sad Grace Monarchy", a resolution of conflicting temperaments for his large ensemble featuring Jill Burton and the World Casio Quartet.