Author: COTFG Assistant

Our 2020 summer event took place online between July 20th-25th.  The event included performances commissioned for the festival by:

Rue Bainbridge, The Kraken Quartet, Amy Knoles & David Stout,  Zachary James Watkins & Luke Judd, Phonography Austin, Nail Club, City of Dawn, Travis Weller, Transitory Sound & Movement Collective, Spectrum Ensemble, Unintentional Intersections, Master|Doctor, Paul Baker & Fez Moreno, Relative Dissonance, Howard Martin & Georgina Lewis, Juan Cisneros, Josh Ronsen & Vanessa Gelvin, claire rousay & Jacob Wick, Natalia Rocafuerte & Jeannelle Ramirez, Sarah King & Zachary Smith, Stop Motion Orchestra, PR0SC1UTT1, Charles Benjamin Russell &  Douglas Laustsen, and Q&A’s facilitated by Sonya Gonzales and Mickey Delp.

Most recently as the Production & Sound Manager for The North Door, in addition to other freelance audio work, Chris Payeur is a live sound engineer who has experience as both Front of House & Monitor Engineer. She has also worked in stage and tour management, audio mastering and editing and lead live sound for various venues, tours, and festivals.  Chris also wrote, taught, and launched the first college-accredited Live Sound class in the nation for Austin Community College. 

Her experience includes:

VENUES: Mercury/Parish, Emo’s, The Ghost Room, Frank, The North Door, 04 Center

SUB POP RECORDS:  Sound Engineer, Tour Manager, and Stage Manager

NOMAD SOUND:  Lead sound engineer, front of house, monitors, & patch

FREELANCE:  Spoon, Explosions in the Sky, The Black Angels, Tortoise, Sebadoh, Shinyribs, Iron & Wine, Glen Hansard, Okkervil River, Shearwater, Montopolis, and many more

FESTIVALS:  Lollapalooza, ACL, SXSW, Austin Psych Fest/Levitation, All Tomorrow’s Parties, Desert Daze, Old Settler’s Music Fest, Art Outside, Tour De Fat and many more

In a brief interview, we will get to know a little bit more about Chris’ life and discuss some of her insights for live performers from the perspective of a production professional.

Ciyadh Wells is a multifaceted musician who prides herself in not only being an artist but also an activist, and a scholar. Born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Wells’ passion for music developed at a young age with her involvement in choir and band. Her skillset grew the more she honed her skills in private guitar lessons. Wells’ earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education with a focus on Choral Concentration from the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee. After earning her Bachelors, Wells successfully pursued her Masters of Music in Instrumental Performance with a concentration in Applied String Pedagogy from the University of Louisville. She is currently working on her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Guitar Performance at the University of Georgia. As a scholar and educator, Wells believes everyone deserves access to art, which she advocates as being essential to society. 

As a performer, Wells’ has been a part of various national and international performances. She’s been a part of the Community Music School at the University of Georgia, Artist Affiliate of Guitar at Agnes Scott College. She has also been involved in higher education as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Georgia. She’s been recognized and awarded for her efforts as an advocate and a leader. Awards include; the Wilson Center for the Arts and Humanities Graduate Research Award, Young Artist Award at the Eastern Music Festival, Katy Garrison LGBT Student Leadership Award at the University of Louisville. 

Matt LaComette is most known by his solo recording persona Aunt’s Analog, producing mystic cut-up noise and harsh psychedelia, since 1995. The project had its official live debut in January 2005 at the original Church of the Friendly Ghost, in Austin, TX. Since then, LaComette has performed numerous shows locally, around Texas, and on several brief U.S. tours. After moving to Austin in 1999, LaComette began working with several rock and experimental groups, including local projects The Oblong Boys, Low Red Center, and Pataphysics, among others. As owner of Instincto Records (founded 2001), he has released over 100 limited edition CDrs and tapes, including five volumes of the “Austin Noise” CDr compilations.  Links: (Instincto Records,  Aunt’s Analog)

For NMASS2021 Ciyadh Wells & Matt LaComette will be performing a short improvisational duo set.

Hackberry is an audio-visual collaboration between Joey Reyes and Jordan Willis that explores cycles of stasis, movement, time, and rebirth within natural areas. From raindrop to puddle to foam to flowing creek, water accumulates and transforms, in turn transforming the world around it. Shots of the natural world are accompanied with music that similarly builds, layers, and evolves. The visuals are captured on Super 8 film, and the music is performed on cello and loop station.

Joey Reyes (Austin) is a cellist and composer who is trying to write the widest songs possible. Previous compositions have used loops and layers to explore things like burnout, flooded construction equipment, broken glass, and contemplations on whether cats ever occupied the death star. In the last few years Joey has collaborated with Ruby Fray (Emily Beanblossom), Lindsey Verrill, Bill Baird, Matthew Squires, and many more, in addition to his solo works. Several hours of his music can be found here.

Jordan Willis (Austin) is a photographer and filmmaker exploring found scenes within their natural constructs. He has worked in analog film for as long as he can remember. Currently, Jordan is experimenting with Super 8mm film using borrowed cameras. You can see his latest work here.

hello, hello, my friend is a new collaborative video piece by Canadian composer Christopher Whitley. The video was developed in the spring and summer 2021, in collaboration with eight musicians, writers, and composers from across North America. Combining collaborator contributions with Whitley’s own original visuals, text, and music, hello, hello, my friend is a 25-minute audio/visual reflection on connectivity, nature, and friendship. 

Christopher Whitley is a Canadian violinist, composer, and educator based in Riverdale, MD. He is a founding member of the Thalea String Quartet and releases songs as Body Surfer (christopherwhitleyviolin.com, thaleastringquartet.com, www.bodyyysuuurfer.com) 

McKenzie Bezic is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter with an interest in composing for film and television. You can reach him at [email protected].

Julia Dixon is an active performer and music educator in Austin, Texas. 

Douglas Friesen is an educator and musician based in Toronto. (soundmuseum.ca)

khat knotahaiku (korde arrington tuttle) is a lover and multi-disciplinary maker hailing from charlotte, nc. words are their primary vehicle for making. (@khatknotahaiku)

Zach Matteson is a violinist living in Austin, TX. Born to travelers, Zach grew up around the world: from Washington D.C., to Irkutsk, Russia, to Kalispell, Montana. Zach fills his time connecting with friends and family through renga and poetry. You can check out his happenings at invokesound.com or his instagram page @zmatteso

Kumiko Sakamoto is a violinist, vocalist, and educator originally from Medicine Hat, Alberta. She is a founding member of the Thalea String Quartet, and loves to connect with people through music and food. (www.kumikosakamoto.com) @kumisaka

As a classical violinist, Camille Schiess has given a wide variety of performances in her career from performing with the Santa Barbara Symphony, to playing the fiddle on Jimmy Fallon. Beyond her experience as a performer, she centers her career around teaching children and inspiring their creativity in music and maintains an ongoing private studio. (themagnoliakids.com)

Mark Sutherland is multi-instrumentalist, improviser and songwriter currently living on Galiano Island in British Columbia, Canada. To find more of his work visit, https://marksutherland.bandcamp.com/releases and https://m.soundcloud.com/short-cycles .

Just a day after ditching dentistry school, Rios found himself at a friend’s rehearsal room taking the chair to play a drum kit for the first time. His natural beat won him an invitation to a cover band. Since then, music has been Rios main source of living and expression. As he matured as a musician, inspired by the creative hunger to contribute something different, he became part of music bands where he experimented with drum kit setups and sampling pads.

 
By 2010, he was in Austin facing the difficult balancing reality of auditioning and working as a drummer. The opportunity arose to play as a street artist performing with electronics and drums in a food truck in South Congress. This led him to get gigs with bands like Love Hate Affair, Mobley, Como las Movies.

He has continued to work on different ways to make hybrid setups. Most recently in February 2020, prior to the pandemic, he made his first interactive installation called Found Sound Objects.

https://youtu.be/jLf8wxjTog4

Rios is currently working with his band Easy Compadre! and in collaboration with Héctor Tednoir and Fernando Mondragón he achieved this piece entitled:  [ Harp Strap ]

Repurposed wood
  Polycarbonate sheet
   2″ x 4′ PVC pipe
    5 ratchet straps
     1 Sure b57 mic
      1 Sure b58 mic
       1 Behringer X1204 mixer
      
Photo documentation by Ben Altenberg
Video documentation  by Héctor Tednoir