The New England Phonographers Union; STU + 8GB
By SUSANNA BOLLE | December 3, 2008
Last summer the NEW ENGLAND PHONOGRAPHERS UNION (www.nephonography.org) made its live debut at Mobius Gallery. The outfit is a loose confederation of local sound artists working with raw, unprocessed location recordings of everything from industrial clank and clamor to the relatively sanguine noises of nature. The concert consisted of a series of solo sets — with union members using unprocessed sounds from their personal phonographic collections — followed by an extended improvisational jam session.
For the group's second outing, at Axiom Gallery in Jamaica Plain next Thursday, they have something quite different in mind. "The structure of the show isn't set in stone yet, but here's a possible set-up — two sets, one shorter and one longer, both sets collaborative," says member Justin Groteleuschen. "In one set we're mixing and matching multiple short segments — five and 20 seconds — as a group, and in the other set we're juxtaposing sounds pre-recorded around the Axiom with sounds of trains and people traffic during the actual performance."
And at Axiom, the phonographers should have a lot to work with. Located inside the Green Street T station, the gallery is ripe with possibilities: rumbling trains, garbled announcements, the beep-boo of those fun mind-the-door warnings.
You want something a wee bit more synthetic and danceable? DJs Flack and wayne&wax at Beat Research are hosting two masters of eight-bit music at Enormous Room. Working with the lo-fi bleeps, bloops, and crunchy beats of vintage computers and video games, STU and 8GB make truly tweaked music to move to.
NEW ENGLAND PHONOGRAPHERS UNION | Axiom Gallery, 141 Green St, Jamaica Plain | December 11 at 8 pm | $7 suggested donation | 617.653.7774 | STU + 8GB | Enormous Room, 567 Mass Ave, Cambridge | December 8: 9 pm–1 am | 21+ | free | 617.491.5550
