Tonight’s very special set is a duo of C. Spencer Yeh and minimalist pioneer Tony Conrad. Though Yeh has crossed Conrad’s continuum a handful of times in the past, this will be their first
time in collaboration.
Tony Conrad teaches on the media study faculty of SUNY at Buffalo. Over the last twenty years he has been especially active in video. His work with music composition and performance started while
he was a mathematics student, after which he was associated with the founding of “minimal” music and “underground” film. His movie The Flicker is one of the key early works of the “structural” film movement. His art videotapes are widely seen, and he has produced more than 250 programs for public access cable in Buffalo. Conrad performs his recent music regularly at festivals, clubs and new music venues in the US and Europe.
C. Spencer Yeh was born in Taipei, Taiwan 1975, moved to the US in 1980, and is now based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Yeh is active both as a solo and ensemble artist, as well as with his primary organized sound project, Burning Star Core. As an improviser, Yeh has focused on developing a personal vocabulary using violin, voice, and electronics. As a sound organizer/composer, Yeh works with all aspects physically and aurally available surrounding a work as elements key to a unified experience. He is concerned not only with the sensual aspects of sound, but the gestural qualities as well. Yeh has collaborated with a deep and ever-growing list of individuals and groups and has performed across the U.S.A. and Europe. He has also had selected visual art and video works presented internationally.
Emeralds are a synthesizer and guitar-based improvised drone trio from Cleveland, Ohio. In only two years, they have become one of the most talked about groups in the Midwest. Although they are often categorized as “noise” group, their music isn’t harsh at all. Emeralds concoct a heady ethereal sound that is rich in melody and ambient textures. Emeralds are on tour in support of “Solar Bridge”, their debut LP on Hanson Records. In 2008, Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace will release an LP featuring Emeralds and fellow Ohioans, Tusco Terror. Emeralds will be touring with Sam Goldberg, a solo musician who also comes from Cleveland’s fertile music scene. For this evening, Emeralds will be doing a special collaboration with Brooklyn-based synthesizer operator Carlos Giffoni; beyond his varied solo works and collaborations, he is also best known as the organizer and curator of the annual No Fun Fest in New York City.
Sam Goldberg uses an electric guitar to make music that is best described as being minimal psychedelic drone. Currently, Goldberg’s music can only be found on a handful of
cassette releases from several small independent labels including Cleveland’s Wagon label and Chicago’s Catholic Tapes.