Gryphon Rue: Elastic Dance and Playing The Beetles
Wednesday, November 8, 20238:00 pm
Gryphon Rue performs solo, bridging psychedelic forms of minimalism and “elastic dance.” The two-part concert also features Playing The Beetles, a trio with Rue, Ka Baird (flute, voice, electronics), and Qasim Naqvi (ARP Odyssey custom system), with projections by Benton C Bainbridge. The group will musically interpret the behavior of live beetles, a highly experimental piece treating the beetles as the score itself.
A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing.
Gryphon Rue (b. New York, NY) is an artist, composer, and musician. A crazy quilt derived from field recordings, custom synthesizers, singing saw, and harmonium, Rue’s music sweeps across forms of minimalism and elastic dance. It suggests biological actions, molecular events, psychic possession, & nourishment. Rue’s music feels like going on a trip you may have taken before, albeit not in a long, long time … his sense of dynamics and texture revealing a finely honed craftsmanship. – Pitchfork. Rue’s latest album is A Spirit Appears to a Pair of Lovers (Not Not Fun). He also performs in a duo with Merche Blasco (North of The Future, Astral Editions) and with Benton C Bainbridge, in the audiovisual duo Rue Bainbridge. His program Earmark on Montez Press Radio features emerging and established composers and sound artists. Since 2020 Rue’s performances have spanned international venues such as Fondazione ICA Milano, Hauser & Wirth, de Young Museum, Vector Hack Festival, Lafayette Electronic Arts Festival, Roulette Mixology festival, New Media Art & Sound Summit, Experimental Arts Intermedia, Microscope Gallery, Fridman Gallery, Qubit, No Moon, Nowadays.
Ka Baird is a musician, performer, composer and sound designer based in New York City. They are known for their live performances which include extended voice and microphone techniques combined with electronics and psychoacoustic interplay of flutes and other woodwinds. They create a present tense sound with a vigorous, ritualistic delivery that seeks extreme release through physical exertion and psychic extension. They have worked/collaborated with many other musicians, artists, filmmakers and choreographers, both in structured compositions and in their dedicated practice of improvisation and interdisciplinary work.
Pakistani-American drummer and composer Qasim Naqvi is perhaps best known as a founding member of acoustic trio Dawn of Midi. Outside of his work in DOM., Naqvi is an accomplished solo artist with a passion for analogue and modular synthesizer systems. His concert music has been performed/commissioned by The BBC Concert Orchestra, Jennifer Koh, The London Contemporary Orchestra, Stargaze, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Crash Ensemble, The Now Ensemble, The Erebus Ensemble, yMusic, The Helsinki Chamber Choir, Alexander Whitley, Cikada, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra(MusicNOW Season) and others. He has been a featured composer at the Musica Nova Festival in Helsinki, the Spitalfields Festival in London, Ultima Festival, Southbank Centre and the Rest is Noise Festival in Holland. Qasim’s soundtracks for film have appeared on HBO, NBC, PBS, Showtime, New York Times Op-Docs, VICE Media, at The Tribeca, Sundance, Toronto, Rotterdam and London Film Festivals, at dOCUMENTA 13 and 14, The Guggenheim Museum, The Tate Britain (Turner Prize 2018), MOMA P.S. 1, IDFA, Berlinale and others. He has worked with such notable filmmakers as Laura Poitras, Mariam Ghani, Marc Levin, Naeem Mohaiemen, Smriti Keshari, Prashant Bhargava and Erin Heidenreich. Presently, Qasim lives in Brooklyn New York and works on a variety of projects as a freelance composer and drummer. He is represented by Erased Tapes Publishing.
Benton C Bainbridge is best known for realtime media performances with custom digital, analog and optical systems of his own design. On December 31, 2021, Bainbridge founded FEED.art to support the creation, presentation and preservation of media art in downtown Erie and the interwebs. Gryphon and Benton improvise light and sound as the duo Rue Bainbridge.
“Elastic Dance” and “Playing The Beetles” were developed as part of Gryphon Rue’s Roulette 2023-24 Residency, made possible with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation. This performance is presented through Roulette’s GENERATE program, providing over 30 artists each year with in-depth creative and technical support.
Photo Lena Shkoda
Gryphon Rue: Elastic Dance and Playing The Beetles
Wednesday, November 8, 20238:00 pm
Gryphon Rue performs solo, bridging psychedelic forms of minimalism and “elastic dance.” The two-part concert also features Playing The Beetles, a trio with Rue, Ka Baird (flute, voice, electronics), and Qasim Naqvi (ARP Odyssey custom system), with projections by Benton C Bainbridge. The group will musically interpret the behavior of live beetles, a highly experimental piece treating the beetles as the score itself.
A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing.
Gryphon Rue (b. New York, NY) is an artist, composer, and musician. A crazy quilt derived from field recordings, custom synthesizers, singing saw, and harmonium, Rue’s music sweeps across forms of minimalism and elastic dance. It suggests biological actions, molecular events, psychic possession, & nourishment. Rue’s music feels like going on a trip you may have taken before, albeit not in a long, long time … his sense of dynamics and texture revealing a finely honed craftsmanship. – Pitchfork. Rue’s latest album is A Spirit Appears to a Pair of Lovers (Not Not Fun). He also performs in a duo with Merche Blasco (North of The Future, Astral Editions) and with Benton C Bainbridge, in the audiovisual duo Rue Bainbridge. His program Earmark on Montez Press Radio features emerging and established composers and sound artists. Since 2020 Rue’s performances have spanned international venues such as Fondazione ICA Milano, Hauser & Wirth, de Young Museum, Vector Hack Festival, Lafayette Electronic Arts Festival, Roulette Mixology festival, New Media Art & Sound Summit, Experimental Arts Intermedia, Microscope Gallery, Fridman Gallery, Qubit, No Moon, Nowadays.
Ka Baird is a musician, performer, composer and sound designer based in New York City. They are known for their live performances which include extended voice and microphone techniques combined with electronics and psychoacoustic interplay of flutes and other woodwinds. They create a present tense sound with a vigorous, ritualistic delivery that seeks extreme release through physical exertion and psychic extension. They have worked/collaborated with many other musicians, artists, filmmakers and choreographers, both in structured compositions and in their dedicated practice of improvisation and interdisciplinary work.
Pakistani-American drummer and composer Qasim Naqvi is perhaps best known as a founding member of acoustic trio Dawn of Midi. Outside of his work in DOM., Naqvi is an accomplished solo artist with a passion for analogue and modular synthesizer systems. His concert music has been performed/commissioned by The BBC Concert Orchestra, Jennifer Koh, The London Contemporary Orchestra, Stargaze, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Crash Ensemble, The Now Ensemble, The Erebus Ensemble, yMusic, The Helsinki Chamber Choir, Alexander Whitley, Cikada, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra(MusicNOW Season) and others. He has been a featured composer at the Musica Nova Festival in Helsinki, the Spitalfields Festival in London, Ultima Festival, Southbank Centre and the Rest is Noise Festival in Holland. Qasim’s soundtracks for film have appeared on HBO, NBC, PBS, Showtime, New York Times Op-Docs, VICE Media, at The Tribeca, Sundance, Toronto, Rotterdam and London Film Festivals, at dOCUMENTA 13 and 14, The Guggenheim Museum, The Tate Britain (Turner Prize 2018), MOMA P.S. 1, IDFA, Berlinale and others. He has worked with such notable filmmakers as Laura Poitras, Mariam Ghani, Marc Levin, Naeem Mohaiemen, Smriti Keshari, Prashant Bhargava and Erin Heidenreich. Presently, Qasim lives in Brooklyn New York and works on a variety of projects as a freelance composer and drummer. He is represented by Erased Tapes Publishing.
Benton C Bainbridge is best known for realtime media performances with custom digital, analog and optical systems of his own design. On December 31, 2021, Bainbridge founded FEED.art to support the creation, presentation and preservation of media art in downtown Erie and the interwebs. Gryphon and Benton improvise light and sound as the duo Rue Bainbridge.
Gryphon Rue at Roulette 2023 (audio)
“Elastic Dance” and “Playing The Beetles” were developed as part of Gryphon Rue’s Roulette 2023-24 Residency, made possible with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation. This performance is presented through Roulette’s GENERATE program, providing over 30 artists each year with in-depth creative and technical support.
