Last Wednesday, Mobtown Modern kicked off its third season at our new performance space. We had an amazing crowd, who definitely got their money’s worth with some stunning playing by special guest Todd Reynolds and the rest of the MM players.
Up next for Mobtown on October 7th is Low Art, which showcases myself on baritone and bass saxophones and our spectacular clarinetist Jennifer Everhart on bass clarinet. I’m obviously really excited about this show and a big reason is that all of the music I’m playing is stuff that I’ve wanted to play for quite some time but never got around to for whatever reason—David Lang’s Press Release, Scelsi’s Maknongan, Anubis et Nout by Gerard Grisey, and Lee Hyla’s awesome bari sax/bass clarinet duo We Speak Etruscan. Jenn’s also going to be playing some selections from Michael Lowenstern’s Ten Children.
Normally, my unending supply of bike snobbery would have me running far, far away from an event like this. But since it’s in the name of contemporary music (and the fact that I’m organizing it) makes it more than worth the possible loss of cycling cool. For those interested in participating, show up at the Metro Gallery at 3pm, where we’ll stage and instructions will be given. See you there!
This past Friday at Future Party, we unveiled Mobtown Modern’s 2009-2010 season with “A Message from the Future,” a video transmission from outerspace. It’s been an awesome two-year run with the Contemporary Museum and we’re really looking forward to a greatly expanded third season.
Mobtown Modern is wrapping up its second season at the Contemporary Museum this Wednesday with “Out To Lunch”, a show spotlighting some of music’s madmen (or at least those who’ve been accused of being nuts at one time or another). In honor of this show, we present this crazy mix tape. Click here to get it!
Mobtown Mix Tape, Vol. 6: Loony Tunes
1. “We’re All Mad Here” – Tom Waits
2. “The Substance” – Aesop Rock
3. “Going Crazy” – Jean Grae
4. “Crazy” – Gnarls Barkley
5. “Chronometrophobia” – Andre 3000
6. “Smart Went Crazy” – Atmosphere
7. “Brain Melt” – Madvillain
8. “Mad Scientist (What The Scientist Say)” – Mighty Spoiler
9. “Don’t You Remember” – Wax Tailor
10. “tick, tick…” – MF Doom
11. “Blue Flowers” – Dr. Octagon
12. “Psychology” – Dead Prez
13. “Krazy” – 2Pac
Want to ride your bike? Want to make some avant garde music? Bet you never thought you could do both at the same time. Well, here’s your chance. Mobtown Modern is inaugurating our new Summer Spectacle initiative—an annual foray into critical mass, community-based guerilla music-making—with a performance of Mauricio Kagel’s Eine Brise (‘A Breeze’) for 111 bicyclists. Once amassed, the peloton of performers will pedal around a designated Baltimore city block producing heretofore unheard sonic delights to unsuspecting ArtScape attendees.
If you’d like to be a part of this one-of-a-kind performance, send us an email and we’ll gladly tell you where to be, when to be there, and what to do. Act now! This offer is only valid for the first 111 responses.
This past Tuesday, Mobtown Modern was allowed to invade the main gallery space at the Contemporary Museum for our Sequenzathon, a marathon performance of 12 of the 14 Sequenzas by the late great Italian composer Luciano Berio. Talking to Erik before the show, I realized that with the exception of seeing Sequenza VIIb for soprano saxophone performed several times, I had never experienced any of these pieces live. So we were fortunate to have an immensely talented roster of soloists willing to tackle some of the most unforgiving solo works in their repertoire, some of which like Sequenza II for harp, Sequenza XI for guitar, and Sequenza XIII for accordion are rarely heard outside the confines of a pair of headphones. We had an amazing crowd who definitely got their money’s worth of Berio for the evening. And the reviews of the show seem to confirm that it was indeed a great night:
Next up for Mobtown Modern on May 6th is our final concert of the season, Out To Lunch. We’ll be back in our usual digs playing music by Edgard Varese, Eric Dolphy, Frank Zappa along with a rare realization of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Solo and a mind-altering performance by Sam Burt of Alvin Lucier’s Music for Solo Performer.
Visuals at new music shows can be a slippery slope. There’s the danger that the visual component is so prominent that it overshadows the music or that it’s done so poorly that it ends up detracting from the performance. I’ve seen it go both ways. Yet, when done well, adding a visual element to a performance can do a great deal to enhance the total concert experience. At least that’s what we believe at Mobtown Modern.
We’re fortunate to be in good visual hands at Mobtown thanks to video whiz-kid Guy Werner. Guy’s work is so effective because of the way it compliments the performance rather than dominating it. Nothing is ever pre-set in terms of what’s going to be happening when. Prior to each show, we send Guy recordings of the pieces that will be performed, which he uses to get conceptual ideas for his presentation of each piece. For some compositions, like Jacob TV’s Lipstick (performed by Katayoon Hodjati shown above), the thematic material is obvious. But in other cases, like Wendy Richman’s performance of Manto III by Giacinto Scelsi, the inspiration for the visual element seems to come from unexpected sources while remaining ultra-effective. During the performance, Guy draws on the samples he’s prepared and mixes a visual layer in real time as the piece unfolds, lending an improvisatory quality to the work as well as making the video layer an integral part of the experience rather than a simple “visual soundtrack”. It’s this type of engagement during the playing of the music that makes Guy’s work so compelling.
P.S. Guy also curates an annual video event at the wonderful Metro Gallery called Videopolis. And guess what? They’re currently accepting submissions! Go here to find out more.
Katayoon Hodjati performing at Mobtown Modern. Photo by Rob McIver.
With impeccable timing in advance of Mobtown Modern‘s show next week, there’s a new interview with Erik and I up at the web magazine Zeitschichten. Many thanks to Matthias Röder for the opportunity and for doing such an excellent job. Check it out.
Mobtown Modern is kicking it into high gear in advance of next week’s Sequenza-thon, our marathon performance of Berio’s Sequenzas, at the Contemporary Museum. This show will be a bit different than our previous shows in that we’ll be performing in the museum’s main gallery space, which should be awesome for a bunch of solo pieces. Two items of interest so far: the City Paper listed the show as a Critic’s Pick in this week’s issue; and the new Mobcast (“What you know about Berio?”), featuring Baltimore music blogger and indestructible new music audience member Devin Hurd telling us all about Berio, his Sequenzas, and why we should care. Listen below or click here to subscribe.
@fireball005 ditto on the RR. BikeJam is kind of lame, frankly. But if you want to race against Optum Pro Cycling you should come! #2012/05/16 follow Brian on Twitter »
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