| Electronic maestros craft new subculture
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In the corner of Noah Fleischman's Kansas City basement sits a table with electronic toys, keyboards and guitar pedals, all gutted and rewired, circuitry spilling from the casings. But he's no gadget repairman. He's a musician. Fleischman manipulates the machines - toys, instruments, talking dolls even - to make strange, dissonant sounds. He is one of many experimental artists immersed in a blossoming, do-it-yourself subculture known as circuit bending. "I like the random chaos. No two devices are the same," Fleischman said. On Web sites like eBay, circuit-bent mutant machines are hot commodities. And festivals and workshops have sprouted worldwide. Many have turned to circuit-bending creator Reed Ghazala's anti-theory.com Web site for guidance.
Dog Day cuts like a knife
Make no mistake, Dog Day is a power trio. They're a polished power trio that has a sound that rips through the speakers like a fireball. Adding an edge to cover tunes sharp enough to cut glass. Their originals are songs that are kept simple enough for everyone to get the first time around, bound tightly by strands of raw energy.Dog Day holds to the traditional power trio made popular in the 1960s. A true power trio has one lead guitar, one bass and one drummer. One of the first power trios was Buddy Holly and The Crickets, staying true to the basic formula of guitar, bass and drums. The power trio was exemplified by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. These groups laid the foundation for future power trios such as James Gang, Grand Funk Railroad, Motorhead, Green Day, King's X and Nirvana.
Punktfest 06 - Kristiansand, Norway - Day Two, August 25, 2006
When British drummer Bill Bruford stepped up to the mic for the first time during his engaging and highly playful duet with Dutch pianist Michiel Borstlap, he made the comment that “as a true road warrior, by all accounts this is an incredibly well-run festival, setting a new high bar for overall competence." And those are truthful words from someone with enough years on the road to know. While organizing any festival, especially where numerous acts will appear on the same stage, is a challenge, Punktfest has to be one of the greatest nightmares from a logistical perspective. Chapter Index
Challenges
Hanna Hukkelberg
Karl Seglem
Bill Bruford and Michiel Borstlap
Frode Gjerstad and Jan Bang
Bugge Wesseltoft
The Wagner Reloaded Project (WARP)
Challenges Almost every act incorporates electronics to some extent, so just organizing soundchecks so that acts can set up, make sure everything works, and then come back later for the show with the assumption that everything still works is a big enough task.
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