Leave it to the music theory nerds at Wesleyan to come up with the I.E. festival. A two day event that focuses on improvised electronics. Idiopreneurial Entrephonics, google it, just kidding, google has no idea what it means. It seems like it is an anagram of syllables, a syllabanagram if you will. Entrepreneurial we know, but idiophonic? It seems that term is defined as an instrument “the whole of which vibrates to produce a sound when struck, shaken, or scraped, such as a bell, gong, or rattle”. Not sure if the music I saw was idiophonic in nature, but vibrations and sound were abundant. The first artist on the Friday night bill was Bonnie Jones. Jones piece “Samesame” was billed as a multichannel sonic counternarrative. Using field recordings, circuit bent electronics, samples, and historical recordings, Jones wove a sound tapestry that was fascinating. Sitting at a folding table with computer, Jones read some passages on being a Korean-American while surround sound traffic noises filled the air. Another passage sounded like she was ripping open a package below a rotating helicopter blade. Next up was John Bischoff, founder of the League of Automatic Composers and professor at California’s legendary Mills College. Bischoff played three pieces. The first two “Bitplicity” and “Visibility Study” start with pulse wave analog circuits controlled by Bischoff that are fed into the computer and interpreted and played back. Bitplicity’s response sounded like an army of rubber band twanging while “Visibility Study” sounded like dinner conversation at R2D2’s house. There was harrumphing grandpa D2, cackling auntie D2, and even Cindy Lou D2 (who couldn’t have been no more than 2). The final piece was “Calliope” which was billed as a take-off on Leon Theremin’s realization of Henry Cowell’s concept, an instrument called The Rhythmicon which automatically reiterates its tones at rates corresponding to the ratios of selected pitch combinations. To me it sounded like a staticky AM radio getting busy with a Geiger Counter. Wesleyan is the Mills College of the East, so left of center that even the Moogs have pronouns. It was a treat to watch these extra-terrestrial sonic explorers ply their trade. I am the proud son of a higher order thinker, I realize that asking this crew for bus fare would be a problem, but having them invent a monetary system to fuel their hover-bus mass transit system, now that’s up their alley.
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