Pretty Gritty #14

Sunday February 21, 2016

overtonal undertow

Kicking off the Pretty Gritty series for 2016 we will dive deep into the mystical oceans of overtones, and rollick rapturously on the roiling waves of resonance. Happy Axe will serenade with violin and siren-singing saw; Daniel Whiting will pummel us prettily with his granulated grandeur; Astrid Zeman will mesmerise with her infinity loops; and Clocks and Clouds will send us to an alternate universe of microtonal magic.

5.30pm-9pm
$12 full / $10 Concession
107 Projects
107 Redfern St, Redfern

Video excerpts

Pretty Gritty #14 - Clocks & Clouds from Gail Priest on Vimeo.

Pretty Gritty #14 - Daniel Whiting from Gail Priest on Vimeo.

Pretty Gritty Feb 21 - Astrid Zeman from Gail Priest on Vimeo.

Pretty Gritty #14 - Happy Axe from Gail Priest on Vimeo.

Happy Axe

Happy Axe uses violin, musical saw and vocals to create layers of sound that are beautiful, unsettling and cinematic. Organic instrumental sounds are melded with digital manipulation, looping and effecting, and sounds are generated live.

Happy Axe is the solo project of Emma Kelly (Mr Fibby, The Ellis Collective). Emma is a violinist, musical sawist and vocalist from Canberra. She grew up in the quiet bushland of Wildesmeadow, moved to Canberra to complete a classical degree in Violin, and has performed at major festivals including the Woodford Folk Festival, This Is Not Art Festival, Groovin the Moo and You Are Here, in groups ranging in styles such as electro-acoustic, folk, classical, cabaret, pop and rock. She was guest of honour at the 2015 New York City Musical Saw Festival, and in the past 12 months has had performances in Berlin, New York, Sydney, Canberra and Yass. Happy Axe just launched a debut EP, This Topia.

https://soundcloud.com/happy-axe

Daniel Whiting

Producing electronic sound and broken atmospherics, Daniel combines his instrumental background with studies in Sound Design. Merging contemporary production techniques, processing and digital editing he works with repetition, transformation, recombination and the use of improvisation and technology as a compositional device.

Daniel performs regularly within Sydney, both solo and in conjunction with other artists. His work solo work has featured in : “Variable Resistance: 10 Hours of Sound from Australia” - Curated by Philip Samartzis for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2002 and Podewil Centre for Contemporary Art in Berlin (2003), “h.phone” showcasing works composed specifically for headphones at Performance Space, Sydney in 2003. "Rivers Home - Georges River" and "Tiny Portraits - Sonic postcards from Australia's lesser known places" released through Australian label Flaming Pines

http://flamingpines.bandcamp.com

Astrid Zeman

Astrid Zeman is a vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, trombone, piano) who creates live, ambient soundscapes using a loop pedal. By plucking, tapping, scratching, strumming, knocking and singing into resonant cavities, Astrid manipulates each instrument in multiple ways to extract its full range of frequencies and textures.

Through recent explorations of her physical self as an instrument, she has learnt throat and harmonic singing alongside body percussion and mouth manipulations including tongue clicking. Her compositions often contrast organic, embodied sounds with electronic manipulations and distortions.

Her music has featured on Listen Record’s debut compilation album of all Australian female and LGBTQIA+ artists, which was released on 3rd Oct 2015. She self-released her debut EP on 13th November 2015 and in January 2016 founded and co-directed the EAROPUND Women’s Music Festival to promote greater representation of female and transgender artists in the music scene.

https://astridzeman.bandcamp.com/

https://soundcloud.com/astridzeman

Clocks & Clouds

Clocks and Clouds is comprised of core players and composers Kraig Grady and Terumi Narushima but are joined by Nathan Edwards for this show. Their totally acoustic performances feature specially retuned vibraphone and pump organ, here including other instruments of their ensemble, such as the Mesotonal (meaning ‘between tones’) Marimba.

These unique instrument – with their pure harmonic tuning – explore the beauty of room resonances via ancient sacred scales and multi-dimensional geometries. It is not uncommon for an audience to experience the sensation of harmonics sweeping through space due to the way in which sound waves from the instruments interact with the environment. The samples here provide only an idea of what is best experienced live.

http://anaphoria.com

http://anaphoriasouth.blogspot.com.au