Live w/ John Bischoff
2018-05-18 00:00:00 -0700
CNMAT presented an evening with John Bischoff, Cullen Miller, and myself.
Performances with live electronics at CNMAT
John Bischoff (b. 1949) has been active in the experimental music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 40 years as a composer, performer, and teacher. He is known for his solo constructions in real-time synthesis and the pioneering development of computer network music. He has performed across the US, and in Europe including such venues as the Festival d’Automne in Paris, Akademie der Künst in Berlin, and Fylkingen in Stockholm. He was a founding member of The League of Automatic Music Composers (1978), considered to be the world’s first computer network band. He is also a founding member of The Hub (1987), a network band that continues to expand on the network music form in new ways. Recordings of Bischoff’s work are available on Artifact, 23Five, Tzadik, Lovely, and New World Records. A solo CD on New World titled “Audio Combine” was named one of the BEST OF 2012 by WIRE magazine. He is full-time faculty in the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, Califormia.
Bischoff’s recent work incorporates custom analog circuitry in sonic exchange with laptop synthesis. As he activates the circuit in performance, the resulting tones and noises are analyzed in real-time and used to inform an extended computer response. A binding together of the analog and digital realms is the result, the unique characteristics of each medium counterpoised in time to form a hybrid sensibility. Examples include: Visibility Study (2015) which turns the familiar format of musician-processed-through-looping-pedal on its head. A noisy analog circuit becomes the player while the laptop produces a looping texture via analysis and re-synthesis of each circuit gesture; Level Shift (2017) intersects the timing of circuit actions from early in the piece against subsequent musical actions later on. The resulting counterpoint flows from the sonic interpenetration of two different parts from the same performance. A primary dynamic is found in the shifting balance between textural stability and continual change.
Jeffrey Lubow (b. 1978) is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher concerned with the space between the body and technology. His influences stem from a 20 year history with computer music and media studies, alongside various collaborations and residencies. He has collaborated with Tarek Atoui, Cullen Miller, Indy Nyles, Gabriel Dunne, Pauline Oliveros, William Winant, and others. He has premiered work at the Bergen Assembly, EMPAC, ZKM Berlin, Beirut Art Center, BAMPFA Matrix, SPARK festival, and local Bay Area venues. In 2008, Jeffrey commenced a research position at CNMAT, UC Berkeley, focusing on music technology and media programming. He currently occupies the role of Music Systems Designer at CNMAT.
Cullen Miller (b. 1986) is a sound-system artist, spatial-media designer, and curator. His projects vary in nature and typically fall within the spectrum of sound design, installation, composition, and systems design. Reared in Detroit, he relocated to San Francisco pursuing curatorial work with Gray Area Foundation, SFCMP, and to teach digital signal processing at San Francisco State University. He currently designs and constructs technical systems at Obscura Digital. He has released recordings under numerous aliases and organizes the concert series, FINITE. His performances and installations have been exhibited internationally in museums, galleries, and clubs.
Themes
- Improvisation
- Collaboration
- Spatial audio
