Summer is coming, and to celebrate we’re planning a ripping northwest 3-show mini tour— June 22nd in Portland, June 23rd in Seattle, and June 24th in Vancouver BC.  Join us for the epic guitar jams of Emeralds guitarist Mark McGuire, the kosmische music of Rene Hell and Brother Raven, and the abstract machine music of Eye Myths.  And for those of you in Portland, it’s gonna be an extra special show at the historic Hollywood Theater, with Charles Berlitz joining the bill (Spencer Clark of Skaters fame), visuals by the artists, and video works by Brenna Murphy!

June 22 – Hollywood Theater – Portland, OR – 8 PM – Mark McGuire, Rene Hell, Brother Raven, Eye Myths, Charles Berlitz (Spencer Clark), Brenna Murphy (video artist)

June 23 – The Josephine – Seattle, WA – 9 PM – GT Presents: Mark McGuire, Rene Hell, Brother Raven, Eye Myths

June 24 – 360 Glen – Vancouver BC – 9 PM – Mark McGuire, Rene Hell, Brother Raven, Eye Myths

Montreal jammers HOBO CUBES, FEMMINIELLI & DAS AMORE w/ JLK will be in town this Monday for all of you Seattle folk looking for something fun to check out.  Really psyched to meet these dudes.  For those not familiar with Hobo Cult Records – check them out.  There’s a good intro to the label on the Foxy D site here: http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/?p=319.  Panabrite & Harpoon Pole Vault will be doing a special collaborative jam in celebration of our visitors arrival.  Be prepared for some serious sci-fi synth uneasiness…

May 23rd, The Josephine, 9PM
HOBO CUBES, FEMMINIELLI, DAS AMORE w/ JLK, Panabrite / Harpoon Pole Vault collab set

Just got word this morning that Matt Carlson’s recent Gift Tapes release has been reviewed in the June issue of The Wire magazine.  I’ve seen a few reviews of Gecko Dream Levels out there in cyberspace, and most of them basically warn people that it’s SO WEIRD you may have difficulty listening to it.  Check this one out from OMG Vinyl:

You may have a little harder time wrapping your ears around Matt Carlson’s offering for the newest Gift Tape batch. It is a far, far gone piece of electronic experimentation.

You’ll notice that The Wire pretty much follows suit.

For me, the weirder the record, the better… and the more I want to listen to it.  As a listener, I’m attracted to work that is challenging and hard to figure out—this is what I think distinguishes art from craft.  I am a true fan of Carlson’s bizarro world.  This tape has become my gateway to enter the deep waters of creative meditation, in search of the big, deep fish (deep-diving David Lynch fans will know what I’m talking about).

For those of you that are ready and waiting for more, keep your eyes peeled on the DRAFT website.  We’ll be issuing our first LP for Matt in the coming months, and let me tell you: this one ups it a notch on the weirdo-scale!  And for those of you in Seattle this Friday, May 13th, come check out Matt’s solo modular set at the Chapel Performance Space in Wallingford.

Gift Tapes Presents:
Outsider Electronic Music featuring Matt Carlson & RM Francis

Friday, May 13, 2011
Chapel Performance Space
4649 Sunnyside Ave. N, Seattle (50th & Sunnyside in Wallingford)
8PM sharp
$5-15 sliding scale

Gift Tapes presents a special night of outsider electronic music, featuring Matt Carlson and RM Francis. Portland-based Matt Carlson (Golden Retriever, formerly of Parenthetical Girls) will perform a set of modular synthesizer music. Carlson's very unique and warped, cartoon-like sensibility places classic analog synthesis amidst far-out video game soundworlds. His recent release for Gift Tapes, Gecko Dream Levels, has managed to turn the heads of quite a few contemporaries (see this writeup by Keith Fullerton Whitman). Opening the performance, Seattle-based RM Francis will perform new electronic works and real-time compositions for computer. Through live manipulation and time-stretching, Francis exposes the hidden artifacts of digitally generated sound, while crafting immersive environments of beauty and unpredictability. We are extremely happy to present his solo debut, having become acquainted with his work earlier in the year at prior GT events. Join us for a fresh perspective on contemporary underground electronic music.

Info/Bios:

http://gifttapes.com/gt-presents/

I wanted to hip everyone to a couple shows happening this Friday in Seattle.  The first one is an afternoon show at the Hedreen Gallery on 12th ave on Capitol Hill featuring Stella Haze – Cristin’s first show since August.  If you can take time out of work (if you work) then I highly recommend going to this – she’s been incorporating some new gear into the mix to process her voice and has been writing some killer patches!  I hear there’s free food available too…

Later that night, Sam of Debacle Records is hosting a show at the Josephine in Ballard.  It’s a super fresh lineup put together for the duo Garinncha & the Stolen Elk.  I’ve heard the recent tape they put out on Stunned Records and it’s a totally insane mix of influences, ranging from punk to free jazz to synth music, which can only lead to good things in live performance!  Also performing that night is Derek Monypeny and Seattle locals:  Megabats, Panabrite, Summon Thrull & Harpoon Pole Vault.

April 29, 2011:
Hedreen Gallery -12 NOON – House Systems presents Stella Haze

The Josephine – 9PM – Harpoon Pole Vault, Garrincha & the Stolen Elk, Panabrite, Megabats, Summon Thrull, Derek Monypeny

Fellow Seattle-based collective Portable Shrines & local label Translinguistic Other present a night of killer jams to celebrate the release of a massive new double LP compilation (includes an unreleased track by Brother Raven).  Totally sweet lineup – Saturday, April 2nd:

8:15-8:45 Brother Raven
9:00-9:30 Geist & the Sacred Ensemble
9:45-10:15 Midday Veil
10:30-11:10 Prince Rama
11:25-12:05 Eternal Tapestry
12:20-1:00 Kinski

At Lo-Fi Performance Gallery 429 Eastlake.  Hope to see the locals!

GIFT TAPES PRESENTS:

An Evening of Electronic Sound & Visuals
CORRIDORS, MILLION MISTS, MATT CARLSON & PANABRITE
October 10th, 8 PM
Gallery 1412 – 1412 18th Avenue (18th & E Union)
Admission $7

Gift Tapes will present an exciting evening of electronic sound and visuals featuring CORRIDORS, Million Mists, Matt Carlson and Panabrite. Brooklyn-based CORRIDORS mixes multichannel works from processed instrumental and environmental sound and video imagery. Portland musician Matt Carlson (member of Golden Retriever) will play a solo synth set, and Seattle solo synth acts Million Mists (Jamie Potter of Brother Raven) and Panabrite (Norm Chambers) will both make debut appearances.

CORRIDORS

Byron Westbrook (b. 1977) is an artist working with the dynamic quality of physical space using multi-channel sound and images. His audio/video performances under the name CORRIDORS involve the distribution of processed instrumental and environmental recordings through a multi-channel environment with a focus on energy distilled from sound and light. He has presented at venues such as Tonic, Roulette, The Stone, Diapason Gallery, Issue Project Room, Experimental Intermedia, Exit Art Gallery, (NYC), Les Voûtes (FR), Wien Konzerthaus (Austria), NonEvent (Boston), Sonic Circuits Festival (DC), and Institute of Intermedia (CZ). He has shared performance bills with Tony Conrad, Phill Niblock, Jandek, Sawako, Heribert Friedl, Stefan Tcherepnin, Maria Chavez, Alessandro Bosetti, Jason Kahn, Jon Mueller, and Tetuzi Akiyama, among many others. Westbrook has also collaborated with Paris-based composer and former Kitchen curator Rhys Chatham in the drone metal group Essentialist (Table of the Elements), as well as performed in the ensembles of Phill Niblock, Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca, Duane Pitre, David Watson and Jonathan Kane. He has worked as technical coordinator of Phill Niblock’s Experimental Intermedia Foundation since 2004. In 2007, he was the recipient of the Jerome Foundation Emerging Artists Commission through Roulette Intermedium. In 2008 he was an artist in residence at Hotel Pupik at Sclhoss Schrattenberg. A cd will be released in Fall 2010 on Sedimental Records. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Website: www.byronwestbrook.com

MORE INFO HERE: http://www.gifttapes.com/gt-presents/

Debacle Records will host a massive 3-day festival here in Seattle from September 17th-19th, organized by fellow Seattle label head Sam Melacon.  Check out the schedule:

Friday, September 17th @ The Josephine, 8PM
Chrome Wings, Stag Hare, Thunder Grey Pilgrim, The Dead White, Matt Carlson, Megabats, Brain Fruit

Saturday, September 18th @ The Black Lodge, 7PM sharp
John Wiese, Pete Swanson, Rene Hell, Physical Demon, Squim, Harpoon Pole Vault, Dull Knife, Demian Johnston

Sunday, September 19th @ The Josephine, 5PM sharp
Great Falls, LA Lungs, Du Hexen Hase, The Slaves, Wind Swept Planes, Marlo Eggplant, Kristian Garrard

Tomorrow, Cristin and I are headed out east for a little vacation to NYC.  Immediately following our break, I’ll be touring as Harpoon Pole Vault with Bee Mask/Chris Madak (see Deception Island label).   Super excited!  Three of these shows will feature Zaimph/Marcia Bassett, so be sure to catch those if you can.  Our NE mini-tour dates are listed below.  Hope to see some of you!  FRESH poster design by WITCHBEAM!

July 9, 2010 – Philadelphia, PA – Pageant Soloveev – HPV, Zaimph, Bee Mask.

July 10, 2010 – Brooklyn, NY – Port d’Or – HPV, Zaimph, Bee Mask.

July 11, 2010 – Burlington, VT – Firehouse Gallery – HPV, Bee Mask, A Snake in the Garden.

July 12, 2010 – Easthampton, MA – Flywheel Arts – HPV, Bee Mask.

July 13, 2010 – Providence, RI – ZACCHILLI HOUSE – HPV, Bee Mask, Arley Marks.

July 14, 2010 – Brooklyn, NY – Zebulon – HPV, Zaimph, Bee Mask, mi or and the pedestals.

Gift Tapes Presents, An evening of contemporary drone music with:
Zaimph, Jaime Fennelly & Brother Raven
June 23th (Wednesday) – 8 PM sharp
Gallery 1412 – 1412 18th Ave (18th & E Union St) – Seattle, WA 98122
$7 admission

Gift Tapes presents a night of contemporary drone music: NYC-based Zaïmph, recent Seattle transplant Jaime Fennelly, and Seattle’s Brother Raven. Zaïmph, the solo project of Marcia Bassett, combines guitar and electronics to create subtle noise music. Jaime Fennelly (of Peeeseye fame) will make his first appearance solo on the west coast, performing with a harmonium and electronics. And lastly, synth duo Brother Raven will attempt to craft the music of the cosmos with synthesizers, performing the last show of their west coast tour in their hometown.

Come hang out!!  This show is gonna be FRESH!!!