This is a small gallery of images collected during a recent visit to Austin and the desert area of West Texas known as Big Bend.The patterns reflect much of the arid desert-like climate which has been growing more dry and hot over the years.

Stomach of the Sky was held on July 5, 1997 at The Candy Factory in Austin, Texas. This was a continuous 4 hour single evening event that combined elements of our live performance and installation work. A dual PA was set up to allow Michael Northam and I to mix sound material through separate stereo channels. The sources were a mixture of pre-recorded material and some generated live on site. The visual elements consisted of prjection artist, Luke Savisky‘s film loops running on 6, 16mm film projectors simultaneously. Luke continuously changed out the loops from his personal stock of films. Carmen Resendez built an earthen circle around Michael and I who were sitting in the center of the room. Carmen also constructed a ceiling of leaves, provided atmospherics and the documentation which includes the photos on this page. Additional sound support was provided by Josh Ronsen.

multiple exposure photos by Carmen Resendez

INTERSECT 4 was held on Saturday August 25th 2001 at Ceremony Hall, 4100 Red River in Austin, Texas. INTERSECT 4 was a mixed media, performance event with experimental music and video works by:

philip gayle
charalambides
Ctrl Alt Dlt
frequency curtain (john grzinich, rick reed, josh ronsen)

The tradition of Intersect has been to create a temporary venue to showcase the work of local artists in a cross genre environment. Since, much of the work is experimental in nature, it lies outside the boundaries of the popular and mainstream cultural scenes and is often misrepresented or goes unnoticed. It is generally more fitting for such work to be presented as a self-produced event by the artists themselves in order to best maintain its inherent quality and character. The focus of INTERSECT 4 was on experimental music, improvisation, video and various combinations thereof. A special quadrasonic PA system will was used for the evenings performances.

Audio documents of Intersect 3 and Intersect 4 are available on CD-r from Pale-Disc Japan.

about the artists:

frequency curtain – a trio of performers (Grzinich, Reed, Ronsen) using both analogue and digital sine wave generators, processing and interventions from the radiophonic spectrum. An original piece of collaborative video work will accompany the performance.

jgrzinich – John Grzinich has been using the artistic name ‘jgrzinch’ since 1995 when he first started building his own instruments and experimenting with non-traditional recording and processing techniques for sound. Since that time he has worked in numerous artistic collaborations which have resulted in several full length CD releases and tours in both the US and Europe. He returned from Slovenia last October where he spent a year organizing and coordinating an international festival combining new media and the networking of independent cultural centers. This will be his last performance in Austin before returning to Europe where he will study at the revived Bauhaus in Dessau Germany.

Rick Reed has been in the Austin music underground since the early eighty’s when he was producing video collages with original electronic soundtracks for what was then ACTV. As of late he has been the driving force of local experimental improv group ‘The Abrasion Ensemble’. In 1998 he had the honor of having an LP of his work released on Thurston Moore’s label Ecstatic Peace called “Experimental And Improvised Music From Austin ,Texas”. Reed has also had the honor of having a CD from english noise makers AMM named after him that was recorded in Houston in 1996. Two current works are soon to be issued by Beta Lactam Ring records, one an Abrasion Ensemble reissue and another a solo release from 1985 based on the dark paintings of the late painter Mark Rothko. Reed’s performance April 7the was centered on his short wave radio and sine wave generator experiments in a piece he has described as “maximum sound from minimal means”.

Josh Ronsen has been producing juxtapositions of sound, light and movement since 1995 under the guise of Brekekekexkoaxkoax. Focusing on no one style or approach, brekekekexkoaxkoax performances have ranged from presenting Fluxus works to instrumental free-improvisation, to DJ-ing, to avant-classical composition, to action performances.

Philip Gayle: born in 1969, Houston, Texas. plays guitar, stringed instruments, and percussion. has been playing since 1980 in several rock, folk, blues, country, funk, and free improvised bands in Vermont, Utah, New Hampshire, Japan, Texas, Colorado, and elsewhere. now plays acoustic free-improvised music with waterphone, metallic objects, guitars, mandolin, ukulele, cello, viola, violin, piano, and anything else acoustic. performs over 40 times a year all over….

Charalambides formed in Houston in 1991 (and relocated to Austin in 1997), and have evolved through various configurations based on the duo of Tom & Christina Carter. Starting with 1993′s Union LP, they have released seven LPs and CDs on Philadelphia’s Siltbreeze records and on the duo’s own Wholly Other label, along with numerous other compilation appearances and CD-R releases. Since their inception, Charalambides’ primary focus has been their recordings, and until recently they have played live infrequently, giving up live performance entirely for an eighteen month period from 1996 to 1998. Over the last two years, however, the duo has gradually moved toward music of a more public nature, with recordings assuming a new role as documentation of their continuously evolving sound. Currently the duo performs (frequently extended) guitar, voice, and organ compositions and improvisations that utilize volume, space, and silence as well as other elements of experimental improvised music, folk, and psychedelic guitar rock. The group is currently preparing releases on LP, 10 inch EP, and CD for Timelag Records, Beta Lactam Ring, and Eclipse Records.

Cltr Alt Dlt, aka Kurt Korthals is actively engaged is the Austin electronic music scene performing under the alias, The Buddy System. He is a regular at the monthly AMODA events and moderates the Oscillate mailing list. When not composing or programming he performs only the those duties most needed to support the basic functions of life. He can also be heard weekly on his radio show: “sincerely, joe p. bear” – Wednesday nights from 1-3am on KVRX. For INTERSECT 4 he experimented with multi-channel anti-tonal minimalism.

INTERSECT 3 was held on April 7th of 2001.

Read an Austin Chronicle review of INTERSECT 3

On Saturday April 7th 2001, the third incarnation of Intersect was held at Ceremony Hall, 4100 Red River in Austin, Texas. INTERSECT 3 was a mixed media, performance event with experimental music and video works by:

jgrzinich
rick reed
brekekekexkoaxkoax
jeff filla
thom grzinich

The tradition of INTERSECT has been to create a temporary venue to showcase the work of local artists in a cross genre environment. Since, much of the work is experimental in nature, it lies outside the boundaries of the popular and mainstream cultural scenes and is often misrepresented or goes unnoticed. It is generally more fitting for such work to be presented as a self-produced event by the artists themselves in order to best maintain its inherent quality and character. The focus of INTERSECT 3 was on experimental music, sound art, short film or video and various combinations thereof.

Audio documents of Intersect 3 and Intersect 4 are available on CD-r from Pale-Disc Japan.

about the artists:

jgrzinich – John Grzinich has been using the artistic name ‘jgrzinch’ since 1995 when he first started building his own instruments and experimenting with non-traditional recording and processing techniques for sound. Since that time he has worked in numerous artistic collaborations which have resulted in several full length CD releases and tours in both the US and Europe. He recently returned from Slovenia where he spent a year organizing and coordinating an international festival combining new media and the networking of independent cultural centers. He will be presenting a recently completed video piece entitled “anamorphic eye” that will be integrated into a live sound piece.

Rick Reed has been in the Austin music underground since the early eighty’s when he was producing video collages with original electronic soundtracks for what was then ACTV. As of late he has been the driving force of local experimental improv group ‘The Abrasion Ensemble’. In 1998 he had the honor of having an LP of his work released on Thurston Moore’s label Ecstatic Peace called “Experimental And Improvised Music From Austin ,Texas”. Reed has also had the honor of having a CD from english noise makers AMM named after him that was recorded in Houston in 1996. Two current works are soon to be issued by Beta Lactam Ring records, one an Abrasion Ensemble reissue and another a solo release from 1985 based on the dark paintings of the late painter Mark Rothko. Reed’s performance April 7the was centered on his short wave radio and sine wave generator experiments in a piece he has described as “maximum sound from minimal means”.

brekekekexkoaxkoax has been producing juxtapositions of sound, light and movement since 1995. Focusing on no one style or approach, brekekekexkoaxkoax performances have ranged from presenting Fluxus works to instrumental free-improvisation, to DJ-ing, to avant-classical composition, to action performances. For this show, brekekekexkoaxkoax performed four solo pieces, two of which are on the CD. Both are alternative treatments of traditional electric instruments; guitar and bass. In addition, brekekekexkoaxkoax film#2 had its public premiere. Entitled “for carmen resendez,” it is dedicated to a beloved Austin artist and performer who now lives in Portland, Oregon.

Jeff Filla disassembles and misuses perfectly well-functioning household items to incorporate them into precarious chains of noise-making mechanisms that annoy and bewilder. His only prior performance experience has been with numerous incarnations of the Abrasion Ensemble (led by Rick Reed) since the groups inception. For his first solo performance, he presented an untitled piece of sinister sonic laboratory concatenations that teeter on the brink of collapse.

Thom Grzinich grew up playing percussion and piano. At the age of 26 he spends most of his time working with children at a private school in Austin. He feels that music aligns itself with the thought plane but the waves can be shared on all living being’s path toward the absolute. “Many waves”, he says. “I’m trying to play music and rest on what’s real”. He is currently sponsored by earth. For Intersect 3 he performed an improvised piano duet with himself entitled, “what is real in the underlying”.
Read a fine review of INTERSECT 3 by Tom Carter of Charalambides.