New Media Art & Sound Summit

COTFG's annual creative music festival in Austin, TX

J.G. Thirlwell
Performing on Friday, 6/13/2014 with Noveller »
Performing on Saturday, 6/14/2014 w/ string ensemble »

JG Thirlwell is a composer/producer/performer based in Brooklyn NY. He was born in Melbourne, Australia, where he studied art at Melbourne State College for two years before moving to London in 1978. After working with experimental group Nurse With Wound, Thirlwell started making his own records in 1980, initially releasing them on his own “Self Immolation” label. He was inspired by the post-punk explosion of creativity in the UK which engendered the accessibility of DIY, as well as the writings of John Cage and systems music, among other things. He relocated to NYC in 1983, where he still lives and works today.

Thirlwell’s discography is extensive and encompasses many pseudonyms including Foetus, Steroid Maximus, Manorexia, Baby Zizanie, Wiseblood, Clint Ruin and others. If there is a common thread to his varied musical styles, it is dramatic intensity and evocative, cinematic quality. Thirlwell’s oeuvre runs the gamut from orchestrations, big band, cathartic noise-rock to abstract electronics and sound sculpture, chamber music, serial music and imaginary soundtracks – sometimes all in the same album.

In recent years, with commissions for Kronos Quartet, Bang On A Can, and his occasional eighteen piece ensemble, he has been increasingly interested electronically and sample generated music being re-scored for traditional instrumentation – played both conventionally and not (recent examples include performing with a chamber ensemble version of Manorexia). Thirlwell is also a member of the “freq_out” sound-art collective, who create on-site sound and light installations led by curator Carl Michael Von Hausswolf. In addition, Thirlwell scores “The Venture Brothers”, a hit cartoon show on Adult Swim/Cartoon Network.

Gary Wilson returns to Austin for a second appearance since his Texas debut at SXSW 2011 to peruse the rumors of his recent dreams on the whereabouts of Frank, Cindy, and Linda.
Wilson performs a specially curated set involving alternate instrument accommodations provided by Salvage Vanguard Theater and Switched On Music alongside with the full-capacity accompaniment of his Blind Dates of Texas from their very home and local intimate setting for this rare appearance of the internationally acclaimed DIY pillar of the incomparable 70’s AM avant funk soul new wave porno groove. Further rumors from the alternate realms of Church Of The Friendly Ghost and NMASS festival indicate an additional performance of the uncommonly reenacted Gary Wilson solo piano performance “Gary Saw Linda Kissing John Cage” to be featured – involving lightly arranged improvisations of extended non-musical numbers from the original You Think You Really Know Me album with alt-instrument and synth accompaniments from the Blind Dates Electronic Choir.

Noveller is the solo electric guitar project of Brooklyn-based composer and filmmaker Sarah Lipstate. Handling the guitar as her muse, Lipstate summons a sonic palette so rich as to challenge the listener to conceive of how it’s housed in a single instrument manipulated by a solitary performer.  Her one-woman guitar soundscapes have captured the attention of NPR, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, and The Wall Street Journal.

She released her first two full-length albums on Brooklyn noise label No Fun Productions in 2009. In 2010, Lipstate started her own imprint, Saffron Recordings, as a vehicle for releasing the Noveller full-length ‘Desert Fires’ and a split LP between Noveller and unFact (David Wm. Sims of the Jesus Lizard) titled ‘Bleached Valentine’.  In May 2011, she released the critically acclaimed ‘Glacial Glow’ jointly through Saffron Recordings and Weird Forest.  Her newest full-length, ‘No Dreams’, came out on October 22nd , 2013 on Important Records.

Lipstate’s festival performances include the Suoni Per Il Popolo fest in Montreal, No Fun Fest in NYC and Sweden, Decibel Festival in Seattle, Ellnora Festival in Illinois, New York Guitar Festival, Ecstatic Music Festival, Kilbi Im Exil in Zurich, and Unsound in Krakow. Noveller has toured the U.S. and internationally, at times supporting acts such as St. Vincent, Xiu Xiu, the Jesus Lizard, U.S. Girls, Aidan Baker, and Emeralds.  Lipstate has collaborated with several renowned musicians, including live improvised duo performances with Carla Bozulich (Evangelista, The Geraldine Fibbers), David Wm. Sims (the Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid), and Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth).  She has previously performed as a member of Cold Cave, Parts & Labor, and One Umbrella. Lipstate has also participated in Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Army, Ben Frost’s “Music for 6 Guitars” Ensemble, and Glenn Branca’s 100 guitar ensemble.  Lipstate joined the hit podcast Radiolab on a nationwide tour of their live show, Apocalyptical, performing a live cinematic score for their show along with fellow musicians Glenn Kotche (of Wilco) on percussion and Darin Gray on upright bass.

S U R V I V E is Kyle Dixon, Adam Jones, Mark Donica, and Michael Stein. Through series of meticulously programmed sequences, impeccably modulated signal processing, and a massive live setup that relocates the band’s synth control room onto each respective stage they occupy, the electronic quartet has quickly gathered a dedicated following both throughout the US and internationally. Between their acclaimed debut LP (Mannequin, 2012, US reissue coming 2014 c/o HOLODECK & 540 Records), their inaugural 10″ on Light Lodge Records, and a handful of obscure vinyl & tape releases, S U R V I V E has remained a fixture in the minds of discerning electronic music listeners since 2009. After touring the southeast in the spring of 2014, the band enjoyed a quickly sold out 12″ by Austin based Monofonus Press and is preparing for the completion of their second full-length LP.

Stephen Farris is an experimental sound designer based out of Houston, TX. He processes and crafts soundscapes from yesteryear’s magnetic tape varieties. His audible surrealism can be defined as an ever-changing permutation of appropriated, nostalgic, and pseudo-randomly generated environments.

Kyle Evans (MFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago) is a sound designer, computer musician, electronic instrument creator, educator and performer. While his educational background was focused toward experimental music and sound art, his collective artistic work ranges from music technology development to multimedia installation. de/Rastra: Installation is a continued exploration in the new aesthetic possibilities of combining modern and obsolete technology. A custom computer software algorithmically composes rhythmic combinations of clicks, noise, and 60Hz sine tone harmonics, which are then broadcast, along with other synchronized video sources, to multiple cathode ray tube televisions. de/Rastra: Installation re-mediates a technology whose history is based in a one dimensional form of communication between broadcast material and receiver. The video transmission technology becomes repurposed, breaking down the device’s ‘consumption only’ nature, accenting the latent materiality of the technology over its general use as a transparent communication medium.

SYMBOL is the solo effort of producer and multi-instrumentalist Christopher Royal King. Best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the massive orchestral-rock ensemble This Will Destroy You, King has also composed and recorded scores for a host of prominent feature-films and documentaries, established Light Lodge Records, and moonlights in Austin’s amorphous ambient collective AMASA•GANA. Now on his first solitary odyssey apart from TWDY, King’s masterful ear for signal processing and affinity for corroded elegance takes free reign over a vastly expanded inventory of instrumentation. Throughout his recently released debut Online Architecture (out on HOLODECK Records), as well as in his rare live performances, King meticulously transmutes organic sound-sources through chains of modules and magnetic tape, each successive stage creating a compounded quantity of detail and decay.
soundcloud.com/lightlodge

Austin electronic musician Xander Harris has released records balancing tenebrous atmospherics with moments of high italo camp. His commingling of tonal cold wave Crowleyian sounds landed his well-received debut “Urban Gothic” on Fact Magazine’s Top 50 LPs of 2011 list. For this year’s NMASS, he will present a dark ambient set composed for laptop and synthesizer.

soundcloud.com/justin-sweatt
xanderharris.bandcamp.com

Ulnae is a collaboration between cellist and electronic instrument artist Darcy Neal, and avant chanteuse synth songstress Lily Taylor. Sean Miller provides accompaniment in the form of live interactive generative video projections. Ulnae utilizes rituals, costumes, projections, unexpected gadgets, and acoustic instrumentation in their improvised sonic excursions.

Ulnae – http://ulnaemusic.tumblr.com/
Sean P Miller – http://cargocollective.com/seanpmiller/
Darcy Neal – http://darcyneal.com/
Lily Taylor – http://www.lilytaylormusic.com/

Moonsicles is a band from Austin, Texas, who play instrumental music in a style that is yet to be determined. It might be Swamp New Age. Other times it’s closer to Celestial Metal, but very often it’s a soundtrack to an incoherent film whose characters are lost, deprived, and hallucinating miracles and monsters. Moonsicles songs are spare, inventive, lonely, minimal, pensive, gorgeous soundlands for the human ear to roam. Moonsicles is also a power group with members from some of the capital’s most provocative bands. Guitarist Aaron Russell (The Weird Weeds) distills melodies down to their essence until they seem like a smoldering frame of some burned-down behemoth; bassist Lindsey Verrill (The Weird Weeds, Dana Falconberry, Some Say Leland, McMercy Family Band) is either thwacking out Brontosaurus-sized throbs of bottom end or smiting you with shimmering frequencies; percussionist Carolyn Cunningham (Pillow Queens, Woven Bones) deconstructs rhythms with the nimbleness of a hummingbird; and keyboardist Sheila Scoville (Ichi Ni San Shi, Suspirians, No Mas Bodas) makes noises that are transcendent, insect-like, and joyful. Together the four of them play meditative instrumentals for every mood and color of the mind. This spring Moonsicles is recording an album and planning a summer tour of the West.
soundcloud.com/moonsicles

Ghostly Records recording artist Chad Mossholder delivers his unique style of organic/electronic sounds. Living somewhere between J.G.Ballard and Slavoj Zizek, his sound constructions are transcendent, thought provoking and inspiring. Chad is also a professional sound designer/composer working in the video games industry. Chad has worked on such titles as Ever Quest I+II, Planet Side I+II, and Star Wars Galaxies, Matrix Online and DC Universe Online.

cwmossholder.com

Aunt’s Analog performance will involve a combination of electronic and acoustic elements, in an attempt to create a tense but spacious sound environment. “I will have a variety of musical and non-musical objects placed around the stage. Two room microphones and two contact microphones will be plugged into a mixer and panned. Some mic signals will be clean and some affected, with moments of silence interrupted by feedback and acoustic sound. I will be creating tension using the motion of my body against the objects and within the space / field of feedback. Objects will include various pieces of percussion, metals, violin, and other resonant items/instruments to be struck or bowed. The performance will last about 20 minutes. Shrill feedback tones juxtaposed with quiet scrapes and bowed sounds will create a performance that is both meditative and jarring. Extreme highs and lows, to create a contradictory and dynamic aural / psychological sound-scape. Best enjoyed with closed eyes and open ears.” 
soundcloud.com/aunts-analog

Malloc is Matthew Thies, an electronic musician in Austin, TX. Malloc creates ambient landscapes from delicately crafted sounds, giving spectral content equal status with melody, harmony, and rhythm. Along with writing music as Malloc, Matthew has been an active performer in Austin’s eclectic electronic music world since 2002. He began as a member of the ambient noise group Numbers on the Mast, later sat in with sonic magicians Book of Shadows, and collaborated with Eric Archer as Visitor Q. With a background in computer music from Berklee and the University of Texas, Malloc draws on influences ranging from Aphex Twin to Steve Reich.
soundcloud.com/malloc

Sounding Vessels is an Austin, Texas based improvisational chamber ensemble using traditional, ethnic, manipulated, home-made and found instrumentation in electro-acoustic musics.  For NMASS, Sounding Vessels will comprise of the primary collecteif members:  Ron Carson, Dan J. Spence, Allen D. Cline. They will be performing on flute, trumpet, cello, lap steel, electric bass, marimba, gong, electric tabla, marching band percussion, water vessels and electronics.

soundingvessels.com

Benjamin Crowley, aka Artificial Earth Machine, is an Austin electronic musician who has performed original music consistently since 2011. AEM plays a variety of genres, including ambient, dance, and atmospheric sounds, using only hardware synths, drum machines, samplers, and live vocals. He is heavily influenced by other members of Austin’s incredible electronic music scene, such as Exploded Drawing and Applied Pressure.

soundcloud.com/aemachine

Christopher Petkus has been affiliated with COTFG since 2004. His projects include Mongoose, which has performed at COTFG scores of times, and Donny Who Loved Bowling, which has never performed live. He has a good story about having to crawl into a window at the old Church location to set up for a performance there. The performance you’ll hear at this year’s NMASS is made of found sounds, drones and tritones.
christopherpetkus.bandcamp.com

A performance of sound and movement by Bob Hoffnar (steel guitar), Jason Phelps (voice, movement), and Steve Parker (trombone + electronics). Through the use of slowly sweeping sine waves, steel guitar, ebow, muted trombone, voice, and electronics, we will examine simple forments of sound (through the use of muted trombone and overtone singing), audio perception (through closely tuned stereo sine tones), and resultant tones (through the use of multiphonics, ebowed steel guitar, and humming).

The trio of Sandy Ewen (guitar), Damon Smith (7 string electric upright bass, laptop) and Weasel Walter (drums) issued a 78-minute CD in early 2012, containing nothing short of alien technique and structural disruption. The music offers complete modernist abstraction with teeth and urgency. It is the sound of extreme polyphony and counterpoint, veering radically from density to space, pinprick to roar within instants. The eight pieces range from 4 to 17 minutes in length and each retain their own tight focus.

Canadian born Sandy Ewen is a rising talent hailing from Houston, Texas best known for her work with the active rock band Weird Weeds. Her vision expands upon the likeminded approaches of heralded deconstructionists like Kevin Drumm and Keith Rowe while never imitating.

Her setup is simple: a guitar, stereo amplification, distortion and various preparations. She prefers to extend the vocabulary of the instrument with raw ingenuity, eschewing the overly complicated electronic enhancements of many of her contemporaries.

In this ensemble, she is backed by the prolific improvisers Damon Smith and Weasel Walter. The duo has worked regularly as a rhythm section in varied contexts since 2006 and the music here is an excellent example of their urgent, brisk interplay. Smith is a master of the extended bass lexicon, following in the footsteps of the great Peter Kowald, forging ahead towards the beyond. Walter’s percussion is ceaselessly restless, defying logic and breaking speed records with glee.

Sandy Ewen was born in Toronto, Canada in 1985, and received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008.  Since then she has resided in Houston, TX where she pursues her musical and visual projects and her architecture license. Ewen has performed music throughout North America as a collaborative improviser and as a member the Weird Weeds. Lately, Ewen has been focusing on her visual art, frequently presenting it alongside experimental music. More info: http://www.sandyewen.com/

Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and had lessons with Bertram Turetzky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. He has also done considerable research of the ´sonic palette´ of the double bass. This has resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. He is also very influenced by visual art, film and dance. His work with director Werner Herzog (soundtracks for “Grizzly Man” & “Encounters at the end of the World” and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham dance company reflect this. He has collaborated with a wide range of musicians including Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra´s Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Birgit Ulher, Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. He worked often in the San Francisco Bay Area Creative Music Community and is now based in Houston, Texas. For more information go to: http://www.balancepointacoustics.com

Weasel Walter is best known as the drummer and primary composer for the cult punk jazz/no wave/brutal prog band, The Flying Luttenbachers. Between 1991 and 2007, the group recorded 16 full-length albums, toured Europe and the US extensively, and included such musicians as Ken Vandermark, Mick Barr, Ed Rodriguez (Deerhoof), Jeb Bishop, Jonathan Hischke (Hella) and Fred Lonberg-Holm in its ranks. Mr. Walter has also worked with other experimental rock groups like XBXRX, Behold…The Arctopus, Burmese, Lake Of Dracula and many others. Also known as an improviser, Mr. Walter has performed and/or recorded with Evan Parker, Marshall Allen, Elliott Sharp, Peter Evans, Henry Kaiser, Mary Halvorson, Marc Edwards, Nels Cline, William Hooker, Darius Jones, Jim O’Rourke, John Butcher, Vinny Golia, John Lindberg and members of ROVA among many others. He appears on over 100 commercial releases and runs the independent record label, ugEXPLODE. More info: http://nowave.pair.com/weasel_walter/

The Bradley Telcom Ensemble features performers who all utilize the Bradley Telcom Jitter and Hit Synthesizer with Frequency Translation and Harmonic Distortion Module, an obscure piece of vintage lab equipment originally used by telecom companies for testing four-wire voice band modems. These modular analog synthesizers lend themselves to abstract, tonal, and rhythmic soundscapes. For NMASS 2014, the ensemble will be comprised of sound artists Alex Keller, Christopher Royal King, and Thomas Fang.

The Bourdon Ensemble is a group of Austin ambient and drone artists with the common goal of exploring the range of acoustic instruments through the process of affecting them in different ways. Made up of R Lee Dockery, Brent Fariss, Lisa Cameron, and Jacob Green, this ensemble will be performing a long tone piece for the first time live at NMASS.

soundcloud.com/r-lee-dockery
soundcloud.com/brentfariss
soundcloud.com/jacob-phoenix-green

CotFG App Jam
App Jam will occur at various times interspersed throughout NMASS2014 weekend.This app was created by Geoff Boyd of Bentrax, LLC
How Does it Work? From the stage to your pocket, Church of the Friendly Ghost is now portable! We asked influential musicians from Austin and beyond to donate compositions in a special format: five 8-second loops per artist. Put on your headphones and browse these twenty four outrageously creative mini-compositions as they were originally assembled…

Close your eyes and wave your phone around while the mix swirls in your ears… Don’t like those vibes? Flick a ghost off the screen to swap in a new sound from a different artist… Swipe to shift the pitch down a few steps… Superego telling you to trash your current composition? Tap the reload button to replace all the tracks… This app provides all the tools for broad musical control: particular tracks can be soloed, crossfaded, and muted while groups of tracks can be favorited to save your work.

You could play a whole set with it! But in case you would rather not… the music in the app is also generative! It can be a pixel-free experience… just tap the home button to engage the auto-remix feature and listen to the jams our algorithms kick out.

How Do I Get It?

The app is called “Church of The Friendly Ghost” and is available on the iOS App Store starting today! It costs $1.99 and 100% of the proceeds go towards supporting our 2014 program. Try this URL: http://itunes.com/apps/churchofthefriendlyghost

In the app jam, participants are invited to create their own compositions using loops we have collected from our friends:

Steven Snowden, Adam Hilton, Mediums, EricMcCann, Christopher Petkus, Chalkboards, Peter Stopschinski , Matt Burnett, Derrick Fore, Bali Yaaah, Alex Keller, Dan Gentile, Steve Sachse, Eric Bohlke, brekekekexkoaxkoax, Scott Hopkins, Ellen Hutchison, SAE , Kenzie Slottow, W. Ben Alleman, LACO$TE, Henna Chou, Derivative, and many more!



Clint Enns is a video artist and filmmaker living in Toronto, Ontario. His work primarily deals with moving images created with broken and/or outdated technologies. His work has shown both nationally and internationally at festivals, alternative spaces and microcinemas.

Clint has a Master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Manitoba, and has recently received a Master’s degree in cinema and media from York University. His writings and interviews have appeared in Millennium Film Journal, Incite! Journal of Experimental Media and Spectacular Optical.
clintenns.tumblr.com/about


Continuing a series of installations for the NMASS festival (Tesseract 1, 2, and 3) that have focused on the confluence of light, sound, surface, and space, the design and art team of Clay Odom (Designer and Assistant Professor of Interior Design at The UT School of Architecture), Sean ONeill (Designer and Sound Artist) and Adam Owens (Designer and Photographer), has created a new gallery installation for the 2014 edition of the New Music and Sound Summit being held at the Salvage Vanguard Theater.

This installation will exist at Salvage Vanguard Theater from June 12th through June 14th, 2014. Below are some sample images from their in-progress work on this year’s installation:

http://onoffobject.com
https://twitter.com/onoffobject
https://twitter.com/studiomodo
http://instagram.com/snonll
http://instagram.com/nuboynow

NMASS 2014 presents a program of live projector performances, single channel videos, dual-16mm symmetries, looping noises, magical music, colorful toys, whirling gizmos, twirling toiletries, old-school media devices and new school mishaps, all arranged in a controlled cacophony by Allison Leigh Holt (a.k.a. Oilly Oowen) and Scott Stark.

Right Scott Stark, single channel video, 2008A playful study of one of the U.S.A.’s most ubiquitous symbols, and an attempt to re-invent it as a thing of problematic beauty.

Nocturnal Symmetries2014, two 16mm projectors and live audio,Images by Scott Stark, sound by Allison Leigh Holt, using field recordings by Byram Abbott.”Images untethered in dream-like urban and natural landscapes, aggravated by artificial light, lost in the gap between imperfect symmetries.”

Experiment 2Allison Leigh Holt, single channel videoExperiment 2 is a live-mixed analog video experiment made at the Experimental Television Center (ETC) in upstate New York, with footage from a modified surveillance camera. Shot in Indonesia; Boston; Manhattan; and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, CA,

LibertyScott Stark, single channel video, 2014Freedom in our America, visually sliced and diced.

Treasures of Big HouseLive performance with Scott Stark and Allison Leigh HoltMultiple digital video projections, five video cameras including a surveillance camera, looping analog and digital sounds, various toys and noise-making devices. “A playful, manic interaction between two performers with light, shadow and sound, using toys, household objects and toiletries out of control.”

http://www.oillyoowen.com/http://www.scottstark.com/


Jerome Morrison / Stephen Fishman
Installation appearing 6/12 through 6/14/2014

A loose lesson in language, communication and group dynamics, Stephen Fishman and Jerome Morrison’s piece consists of an obelisk which projects holographic images and glyphs, which respond to specific gestures and bodily movements. By communicating with other users stationed at the opposing viewing angles, the viewers can discuss what is seen and decipher the glyph. These lessons will repeat and eventually the meaning of the hieroglyphic message will appear. Close attention and collaboration will further unlock hidden messages in the piece.

jalexmorrison.com/home/
www.macandcheez.com/

Meason Wiley
Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration, a subset of modal phenomena. When sound travels through a medium such as water, regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible. The resulting patterns emerge depending on the frequency of the sound, as well as the material and size of the physical container. This installation utilizes two equidistant 8″ full-range speakers and a plate bi-amplifier housed in a custom box. A thin sheet of acrylic is placed directly on top of the speaker cones and sealed with waterproof caulk. The sounds are created utilizing phase modulation synthesis and were generated using NI Reaktor software.

www.cyclespersecond.net

Vanessa Gelvin is an Austin-based artist whose artistic practice frequently includes sound and other non-object based media. Her installation at NMASS utilizes sound from field recordings and historical and contemporary audio recordings to explore opposing ideological currents within American culture.

vanessagelvin.bandcamp.com

Bleep Labs workshop
In this solder-free workshop, students will learn about basic synthesizer building blocks and assemble an open ended synthesizer system. The kit is based around light controlled analog oscillators which interact with each other. They are then passed through a a lo-fi, Arduino based digital delay. After the workshop, users can change the code and circuit to make all kinds of glitchy, drony, noisy sounds.

No previous experience with electronics is required. All materials included. There is a $30 workshop fee to cover supplies, separate from NMASS admission, and space is limited. Please RSVP by email to drbleep@bleeplabs.com so that we can plan for the appropriate number of attendees!

Peformance on 6/14/2014
Dr. Bleep (aka John-Mike Reed) will be performing with his own noise devices along with modular synthesizer and glitched visuals.




2014 Performers

Written by

COTFG Assistant

in

J.G. Thirlwell
Performing on Friday, 6/13/2014 with Noveller »
Performing on Saturday, 6/14/2014 w/ string ensemble »

JG Thirlwell is a composer/producer/performer based in Brooklyn NY. He was born in Melbourne, Australia, where he studied art at Melbourne State College for two years before moving to London in 1978. After working with experimental group Nurse With Wound, Thirlwell started making his own records in 1980, initially releasing them on his own “Self Immolation” label. He was inspired by the post-punk explosion of creativity in the UK which engendered the accessibility of DIY, as well as the writings of John Cage and systems music, among other things. He relocated to NYC in 1983, where he still lives and works today.

Thirlwell’s discography is extensive and encompasses many pseudonyms including Foetus, Steroid Maximus, Manorexia, Baby Zizanie, Wiseblood, Clint Ruin and others. If there is a common thread to his varied musical styles, it is dramatic intensity and evocative, cinematic quality. Thirlwell’s oeuvre runs the gamut from orchestrations, big band, cathartic noise-rock to abstract electronics and sound sculpture, chamber music, serial music and imaginary soundtracks – sometimes all in the same album.

In recent years, with commissions for Kronos Quartet, Bang On A Can, and his occasional eighteen piece ensemble, he has been increasingly interested electronically and sample generated music being re-scored for traditional instrumentation – played both conventionally and not (recent examples include performing with a chamber ensemble version of Manorexia). Thirlwell is also a member of the “freq_out” sound-art collective, who create on-site sound and light installations led by curator Carl Michael Von Hausswolf. In addition, Thirlwell scores “The Venture Brothers”, a hit cartoon show on Adult Swim/Cartoon Network.

Gary Wilson returns to Austin for a second appearance since his Texas debut at SXSW 2011 to peruse the rumors of his recent dreams on the whereabouts of Frank, Cindy, and Linda.
Wilson performs a specially curated set involving alternate instrument accommodations provided by Salvage Vanguard Theater and Switched On Music alongside with the full-capacity accompaniment of his Blind Dates of Texas from their very home and local intimate setting for this rare appearance of the internationally acclaimed DIY pillar of the incomparable 70’s AM avant funk soul new wave porno groove. Further rumors from the alternate realms of Church Of The Friendly Ghost and NMASS festival indicate an additional performance of the uncommonly reenacted Gary Wilson solo piano performance “Gary Saw Linda Kissing John Cage” to be featured – involving lightly arranged improvisations of extended non-musical numbers from the original You Think You Really Know Me album with alt-instrument and synth accompaniments from the Blind Dates Electronic Choir.

Noveller is the solo electric guitar project of Brooklyn-based composer and filmmaker Sarah Lipstate. Handling the guitar as her muse, Lipstate summons a sonic palette so rich as to challenge the listener to conceive of how it’s housed in a single instrument manipulated by a solitary performer.  Her one-woman guitar soundscapes have captured the attention of NPR, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, and The Wall Street Journal.

She released her first two full-length albums on Brooklyn noise label No Fun Productions in 2009. In 2010, Lipstate started her own imprint, Saffron Recordings, as a vehicle for releasing the Noveller full-length ‘Desert Fires’ and a split LP between Noveller and unFact (David Wm. Sims of the Jesus Lizard) titled ‘Bleached Valentine’.  In May 2011, she released the critically acclaimed ‘Glacial Glow’ jointly through Saffron Recordings and Weird Forest.  Her newest full-length, ‘No Dreams’, came out on October 22nd , 2013 on Important Records.

Lipstate’s festival performances include the Suoni Per Il Popolo fest in Montreal, No Fun Fest in NYC and Sweden, Decibel Festival in Seattle, Ellnora Festival in Illinois, New York Guitar Festival, Ecstatic Music Festival, Kilbi Im Exil in Zurich, and Unsound in Krakow. Noveller has toured the U.S. and internationally, at times supporting acts such as St. Vincent, Xiu Xiu, the Jesus Lizard, U.S. Girls, Aidan Baker, and Emeralds.  Lipstate has collaborated with several renowned musicians, including live improvised duo performances with Carla Bozulich (Evangelista, The Geraldine Fibbers), David Wm. Sims (the Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid), and Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth).  She has previously performed as a member of Cold Cave, Parts & Labor, and One Umbrella. Lipstate has also participated in Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Army, Ben Frost’s “Music for 6 Guitars” Ensemble, and Glenn Branca’s 100 guitar ensemble.  Lipstate joined the hit podcast Radiolab on a nationwide tour of their live show, Apocalyptical, performing a live cinematic score for their show along with fellow musicians Glenn Kotche (of Wilco) on percussion and Darin Gray on upright bass.

S U R V I V E is Kyle Dixon, Adam Jones, Mark Donica, and Michael Stein. Through series of meticulously programmed sequences, impeccably modulated signal processing, and a massive live setup that relocates the band’s synth control room onto each respective stage they occupy, the electronic quartet has quickly gathered a dedicated following both throughout the US and internationally. Between their acclaimed debut LP (Mannequin, 2012, US reissue coming 2014 c/o HOLODECK & 540 Records), their inaugural 10″ on Light Lodge Records, and a handful of obscure vinyl & tape releases, S U R V I V E has remained a fixture in the minds of discerning electronic music listeners since 2009. After touring the southeast in the spring of 2014, the band enjoyed a quickly sold out 12″ by Austin based Monofonus Press and is preparing for the completion of their second full-length LP.

Stephen Farris is an experimental sound designer based out of Houston, TX. He processes and crafts soundscapes from yesteryear’s magnetic tape varieties. His audible surrealism can be defined as an ever-changing permutation of appropriated, nostalgic, and pseudo-randomly generated environments.

Kyle Evans (MFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago) is a sound designer, computer musician, electronic instrument creator, educator and performer. While his educational background was focused toward experimental music and sound art, his collective artistic work ranges from music technology development to multimedia installation. de/Rastra: Installation is a continued exploration in the new aesthetic possibilities of combining modern and obsolete technology. A custom computer software algorithmically composes rhythmic combinations of clicks, noise, and 60Hz sine tone harmonics, which are then broadcast, along with other synchronized video sources, to multiple cathode ray tube televisions. de/Rastra: Installation re-mediates a technology whose history is based in a one dimensional form of communication between broadcast material and receiver. The video transmission technology becomes repurposed, breaking down the device’s ‘consumption only’ nature, accenting the latent materiality of the technology over its general use as a transparent communication medium.

SYMBOL is the solo effort of producer and multi-instrumentalist Christopher Royal King. Best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the massive orchestral-rock ensemble This Will Destroy You, King has also composed and recorded scores for a host of prominent feature-films and documentaries, established Light Lodge Records, and moonlights in Austin’s amorphous ambient collective AMASA•GANA. Now on his first solitary odyssey apart from TWDY, King’s masterful ear for signal processing and affinity for corroded elegance takes free reign over a vastly expanded inventory of instrumentation. Throughout his recently released debut Online Architecture (out on HOLODECK Records), as well as in his rare live performances, King meticulously transmutes organic sound-sources through chains of modules and magnetic tape, each successive stage creating a compounded quantity of detail and decay.
soundcloud.com/lightlodge

Austin electronic musician Xander Harris has released records balancing tenebrous atmospherics with moments of high italo camp. His commingling of tonal cold wave Crowleyian sounds landed his well-received debut “Urban Gothic” on Fact Magazine’s Top 50 LPs of 2011 list. For this year’s NMASS, he will present a dark ambient set composed for laptop and synthesizer.

soundcloud.com/justin-sweatt
xanderharris.bandcamp.com

Ulnae is a collaboration between cellist and electronic instrument artist Darcy Neal, and avant chanteuse synth songstress Lily Taylor. Sean Miller provides accompaniment in the form of live interactive generative video projections. Ulnae utilizes rituals, costumes, projections, unexpected gadgets, and acoustic instrumentation in their improvised sonic excursions.

Ulnae – http://ulnaemusic.tumblr.com/
Sean P Miller – http://cargocollective.com/seanpmiller/
Darcy Neal – http://darcyneal.com/
Lily Taylor – http://www.lilytaylormusic.com/

Moonsicles is a band from Austin, Texas, who play instrumental music in a style that is yet to be determined. It might be Swamp New Age. Other times it’s closer to Celestial Metal, but very often it’s a soundtrack to an incoherent film whose characters are lost, deprived, and hallucinating miracles and monsters. Moonsicles songs are spare, inventive, lonely, minimal, pensive, gorgeous soundlands for the human ear to roam. Moonsicles is also a power group with members from some of the capital’s most provocative bands. Guitarist Aaron Russell (The Weird Weeds) distills melodies down to their essence until they seem like a smoldering frame of some burned-down behemoth; bassist Lindsey Verrill (The Weird Weeds, Dana Falconberry, Some Say Leland, McMercy Family Band) is either thwacking out Brontosaurus-sized throbs of bottom end or smiting you with shimmering frequencies; percussionist Carolyn Cunningham (Pillow Queens, Woven Bones) deconstructs rhythms with the nimbleness of a hummingbird; and keyboardist Sheila Scoville (Ichi Ni San Shi, Suspirians, No Mas Bodas) makes noises that are transcendent, insect-like, and joyful. Together the four of them play meditative instrumentals for every mood and color of the mind. This spring Moonsicles is recording an album and planning a summer tour of the West.
soundcloud.com/moonsicles

Ghostly Records recording artist Chad Mossholder delivers his unique style of organic/electronic sounds. Living somewhere between J.G.Ballard and Slavoj Zizek, his sound constructions are transcendent, thought provoking and inspiring. Chad is also a professional sound designer/composer working in the video games industry. Chad has worked on such titles as Ever Quest I+II, Planet Side I+II, and Star Wars Galaxies, Matrix Online and DC Universe Online.

cwmossholder.com

Aunt’s Analog performance will involve a combination of electronic and acoustic elements, in an attempt to create a tense but spacious sound environment. “I will have a variety of musical and non-musical objects placed around the stage. Two room microphones and two contact microphones will be plugged into a mixer and panned. Some mic signals will be clean and some affected, with moments of silence interrupted by feedback and acoustic sound. I will be creating tension using the motion of my body against the objects and within the space / field of feedback. Objects will include various pieces of percussion, metals, violin, and other resonant items/instruments to be struck or bowed. The performance will last about 20 minutes. Shrill feedback tones juxtaposed with quiet scrapes and bowed sounds will create a performance that is both meditative and jarring. Extreme highs and lows, to create a contradictory and dynamic aural / psychological sound-scape. Best enjoyed with closed eyes and open ears.” 
soundcloud.com/aunts-analog

Malloc is Matthew Thies, an electronic musician in Austin, TX. Malloc creates ambient landscapes from delicately crafted sounds, giving spectral content equal status with melody, harmony, and rhythm. Along with writing music as Malloc, Matthew has been an active performer in Austin’s eclectic electronic music world since 2002. He began as a member of the ambient noise group Numbers on the Mast, later sat in with sonic magicians Book of Shadows, and collaborated with Eric Archer as Visitor Q. With a background in computer music from Berklee and the University of Texas, Malloc draws on influences ranging from Aphex Twin to Steve Reich.
soundcloud.com/malloc

Sounding Vessels is an Austin, Texas based improvisational chamber ensemble using traditional, ethnic, manipulated, home-made and found instrumentation in electro-acoustic musics.  For NMASS, Sounding Vessels will comprise of the primary collecteif members:  Ron Carson, Dan J. Spence, Allen D. Cline. They will be performing on flute, trumpet, cello, lap steel, electric bass, marimba, gong, electric tabla, marching band percussion, water vessels and electronics.

soundingvessels.com

Benjamin Crowley, aka Artificial Earth Machine, is an Austin electronic musician who has performed original music consistently since 2011. AEM plays a variety of genres, including ambient, dance, and atmospheric sounds, using only hardware synths, drum machines, samplers, and live vocals. He is heavily influenced by other members of Austin’s incredible electronic music scene, such as Exploded Drawing and Applied Pressure.

soundcloud.com/aemachine

Christopher Petkus has been affiliated with COTFG since 2004. His projects include Mongoose, which has performed at COTFG scores of times, and Donny Who Loved Bowling, which has never performed live. He has a good story about having to crawl into a window at the old Church location to set up for a performance there. The performance you’ll hear at this year’s NMASS is made of found sounds, drones and tritones.
christopherpetkus.bandcamp.com

A performance of sound and movement by Bob Hoffnar (steel guitar), Jason Phelps (voice, movement), and Steve Parker (trombone + electronics). Through the use of slowly sweeping sine waves, steel guitar, ebow, muted trombone, voice, and electronics, we will examine simple forments of sound (through the use of muted trombone and overtone singing), audio perception (through closely tuned stereo sine tones), and resultant tones (through the use of multiphonics, ebowed steel guitar, and humming).

The trio of Sandy Ewen (guitar), Damon Smith (7 string electric upright bass, laptop) and Weasel Walter (drums) issued a 78-minute CD in early 2012, containing nothing short of alien technique and structural disruption. The music offers complete modernist abstraction with teeth and urgency. It is the sound of extreme polyphony and counterpoint, veering radically from density to space, pinprick to roar within instants. The eight pieces range from 4 to 17 minutes in length and each retain their own tight focus.

Canadian born Sandy Ewen is a rising talent hailing from Houston, Texas best known for her work with the active rock band Weird Weeds. Her vision expands upon the likeminded approaches of heralded deconstructionists like Kevin Drumm and Keith Rowe while never imitating.

Her setup is simple: a guitar, stereo amplification, distortion and various preparations. She prefers to extend the vocabulary of the instrument with raw ingenuity, eschewing the overly complicated electronic enhancements of many of her contemporaries.

In this ensemble, she is backed by the prolific improvisers Damon Smith and Weasel Walter. The duo has worked regularly as a rhythm section in varied contexts since 2006 and the music here is an excellent example of their urgent, brisk interplay. Smith is a master of the extended bass lexicon, following in the footsteps of the great Peter Kowald, forging ahead towards the beyond. Walter’s percussion is ceaselessly restless, defying logic and breaking speed records with glee.

Sandy Ewen was born in Toronto, Canada in 1985, and received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008.  Since then she has resided in Houston, TX where she pursues her musical and visual projects and her architecture license. Ewen has performed music throughout North America as a collaborative improviser and as a member the Weird Weeds. Lately, Ewen has been focusing on her visual art, frequently presenting it alongside experimental music. More info: http://www.sandyewen.com/

Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and had lessons with Bertram Turetzky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. He has also done considerable research of the ´sonic palette´ of the double bass. This has resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. He is also very influenced by visual art, film and dance. His work with director Werner Herzog (soundtracks for “Grizzly Man” & “Encounters at the end of the World” and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham dance company reflect this. He has collaborated with a wide range of musicians including Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra´s Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Birgit Ulher, Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. He worked often in the San Francisco Bay Area Creative Music Community and is now based in Houston, Texas. For more information go to: http://www.balancepointacoustics.com

Weasel Walter is best known as the drummer and primary composer for the cult punk jazz/no wave/brutal prog band, The Flying Luttenbachers. Between 1991 and 2007, the group recorded 16 full-length albums, toured Europe and the US extensively, and included such musicians as Ken Vandermark, Mick Barr, Ed Rodriguez (Deerhoof), Jeb Bishop, Jonathan Hischke (Hella) and Fred Lonberg-Holm in its ranks. Mr. Walter has also worked with other experimental rock groups like XBXRX, Behold…The Arctopus, Burmese, Lake Of Dracula and many others. Also known as an improviser, Mr. Walter has performed and/or recorded with Evan Parker, Marshall Allen, Elliott Sharp, Peter Evans, Henry Kaiser, Mary Halvorson, Marc Edwards, Nels Cline, William Hooker, Darius Jones, Jim O’Rourke, John Butcher, Vinny Golia, John Lindberg and members of ROVA among many others. He appears on over 100 commercial releases and runs the independent record label, ugEXPLODE. More info: http://nowave.pair.com/weasel_walter/

The Bradley Telcom Ensemble features performers who all utilize the Bradley Telcom Jitter and Hit Synthesizer with Frequency Translation and Harmonic Distortion Module, an obscure piece of vintage lab equipment originally used by telecom companies for testing four-wire voice band modems. These modular analog synthesizers lend themselves to abstract, tonal, and rhythmic soundscapes. For NMASS 2014, the ensemble will be comprised of sound artists Alex Keller, Christopher Royal King, and Thomas Fang.

The Bourdon Ensemble is a group of Austin ambient and drone artists with the common goal of exploring the range of acoustic instruments through the process of affecting them in different ways. Made up of R Lee Dockery, Brent Fariss, Lisa Cameron, and Jacob Green, this ensemble will be performing a long tone piece for the first time live at NMASS.

soundcloud.com/r-lee-dockery
soundcloud.com/brentfariss
soundcloud.com/jacob-phoenix-green

CotFG App Jam
App Jam will occur at various times interspersed throughout NMASS2014 weekend.This app was created by Geoff Boyd of Bentrax, LLC
How Does it Work? From the stage to your pocket, Church of the Friendly Ghost is now portable! We asked influential musicians from Austin and beyond to donate compositions in a special format: five 8-second loops per artist. Put on your headphones and browse these twenty four outrageously creative mini-compositions as they were originally assembled…

Close your eyes and wave your phone around while the mix swirls in your ears… Don’t like those vibes? Flick a ghost off the screen to swap in a new sound from a different artist… Swipe to shift the pitch down a few steps… Superego telling you to trash your current composition? Tap the reload button to replace all the tracks… This app provides all the tools for broad musical control: particular tracks can be soloed, crossfaded, and muted while groups of tracks can be favorited to save your work.

You could play a whole set with it! But in case you would rather not… the music in the app is also generative! It can be a pixel-free experience… just tap the home button to engage the auto-remix feature and listen to the jams our algorithms kick out.

How Do I Get It?

The app is called “Church of The Friendly Ghost” and is available on the iOS App Store starting today! It costs $1.99 and 100% of the proceeds go towards supporting our 2014 program. Try this URL: http://itunes.com/apps/churchofthefriendlyghost

In the app jam, participants are invited to create their own compositions using loops we have collected from our friends:

Steven Snowden, Adam Hilton, Mediums, EricMcCann, Christopher Petkus, Chalkboards, Peter Stopschinski , Matt Burnett, Derrick Fore, Bali Yaaah, Alex Keller, Dan Gentile, Steve Sachse, Eric Bohlke, brekekekexkoaxkoax, Scott Hopkins, Ellen Hutchison, SAE , Kenzie Slottow, W. Ben Alleman, LACO$TE, Henna Chou, Derivative, and many more!



Clint Enns is a video artist and filmmaker living in Toronto, Ontario. His work primarily deals with moving images created with broken and/or outdated technologies. His work has shown both nationally and internationally at festivals, alternative spaces and microcinemas.

Clint has a Master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Manitoba, and has recently received a Master’s degree in cinema and media from York University. His writings and interviews have appeared in Millennium Film Journal, Incite! Journal of Experimental Media and Spectacular Optical.
clintenns.tumblr.com/about


Continuing a series of installations for the NMASS festival (Tesseract 1, 2, and 3) that have focused on the confluence of light, sound, surface, and space, the design and art team of Clay Odom (Designer and Assistant Professor of Interior Design at The UT School of Architecture), Sean ONeill (Designer and Sound Artist) and Adam Owens (Designer and Photographer), has created a new gallery installation for the 2014 edition of the New Music and Sound Summit being held at the Salvage Vanguard Theater.

This installation will exist at Salvage Vanguard Theater from June 12th through June 14th, 2014. Below are some sample images from their in-progress work on this year’s installation:

http://onoffobject.com
https://twitter.com/onoffobject
https://twitter.com/studiomodo
http://instagram.com/snonll
http://instagram.com/nuboynow

NMASS 2014 presents a program of live projector performances, single channel videos, dual-16mm symmetries, looping noises, magical music, colorful toys, whirling gizmos, twirling toiletries, old-school media devices and new school mishaps, all arranged in a controlled cacophony by Allison Leigh Holt (a.k.a. Oilly Oowen) and Scott Stark.

Right Scott Stark, single channel video, 2008A playful study of one of the U.S.A.’s most ubiquitous symbols, and an attempt to re-invent it as a thing of problematic beauty.

Nocturnal Symmetries2014, two 16mm projectors and live audio,Images by Scott Stark, sound by Allison Leigh Holt, using field recordings by Byram Abbott.”Images untethered in dream-like urban and natural landscapes, aggravated by artificial light, lost in the gap between imperfect symmetries.”

Experiment 2Allison Leigh Holt, single channel videoExperiment 2 is a live-mixed analog video experiment made at the Experimental Television Center (ETC) in upstate New York, with footage from a modified surveillance camera. Shot in Indonesia; Boston; Manhattan; and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, CA,

LibertyScott Stark, single channel video, 2014Freedom in our America, visually sliced and diced.

Treasures of Big HouseLive performance with Scott Stark and Allison Leigh HoltMultiple digital video projections, five video cameras including a surveillance camera, looping analog and digital sounds, various toys and noise-making devices. “A playful, manic interaction between two performers with light, shadow and sound, using toys, household objects and toiletries out of control.”

http://www.oillyoowen.com/http://www.scottstark.com/


Jerome Morrison / Stephen Fishman
Installation appearing 6/12 through 6/14/2014

A loose lesson in language, communication and group dynamics, Stephen Fishman and Jerome Morrison’s piece consists of an obelisk which projects holographic images and glyphs, which respond to specific gestures and bodily movements. By communicating with other users stationed at the opposing viewing angles, the viewers can discuss what is seen and decipher the glyph. These lessons will repeat and eventually the meaning of the hieroglyphic message will appear. Close attention and collaboration will further unlock hidden messages in the piece.

jalexmorrison.com/home/
www.macandcheez.com/

Meason Wiley
Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration, a subset of modal phenomena. When sound travels through a medium such as water, regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible. The resulting patterns emerge depending on the frequency of the sound, as well as the material and size of the physical container. This installation utilizes two equidistant 8″ full-range speakers and a plate bi-amplifier housed in a custom box. A thin sheet of acrylic is placed directly on top of the speaker cones and sealed with waterproof caulk. The sounds are created utilizing phase modulation synthesis and were generated using NI Reaktor software.

www.cyclespersecond.net

Vanessa Gelvin is an Austin-based artist whose artistic practice frequently includes sound and other non-object based media. Her installation at NMASS utilizes sound from field recordings and historical and contemporary audio recordings to explore opposing ideological currents within American culture.

vanessagelvin.bandcamp.com

Bleep Labs workshop
In this solder-free workshop, students will learn about basic synthesizer building blocks and assemble an open ended synthesizer system. The kit is based around light controlled analog oscillators which interact with each other. They are then passed through a a lo-fi, Arduino based digital delay. After the workshop, users can change the code and circuit to make all kinds of glitchy, drony, noisy sounds.

No previous experience with electronics is required. All materials included. There is a $30 workshop fee to cover supplies, separate from NMASS admission, and space is limited. Please RSVP by email to drbleep@bleeplabs.com so that we can plan for the appropriate number of attendees!

Peformance on 6/14/2014
Dr. Bleep (aka John-Mike Reed) will be performing with his own noise devices along with modular synthesizer and glitched visuals.




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