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As the dizzying blur
that was my weekend comes to an end, and my ears,
driven to their limits, begin to hear the normal
range of frequencies, I begin to ponder what exactly
happened. So I will use this forum to jog my memory.
It all began Friday, June
13 at Bender's Tavern in Denver, CO. It was
here that my magical electronic weekend began,
at the Transistor Electronic Sound Art
Festival, presented by Symbolic Insight.
This first of two evenings consisted of some
really great acts, the beginning of which was
Bow Shock. Residents of Colorado,
as the majority of the weekends’ artists
were, they used a number of non-electronic instruments
including a trumpet and live bass to help thicken
the electronic tunes they opened with. Too bad
the crowd was a bit sparse. All that would change
though as the friendly, neighborhood roller
derby girls (and crew) arrived, with the 8-bit
slamming of Math You in the
background.
When finally the time was
right and the crowd had peaked, GLOAM,
the Portishead-y, shoegaze/experimental band
headlined the evening with a moody, sometimes
even terrifying (in a good way) set. Kuxaan-sum
followed keeping the moodiness intact.
The second night kept the
the walls of Bender's Tavern trembling with
the 8-bit madness of Square Wail from
Washington, as event creator, bios+a+ic,
and New Mexican, The
47th Star, provided thoughtful ambient
sets with several pieces of hard-wired electronic
treasure. Some other guys played too, Glass
Gentlemen (the band I'm in). They weren't
very good. Just kidding, we did aight.
One thing that really impressed
me was the DJ sets. A few stood out in particular
for their interesting sounds, that kept heads
nodding but ears intrigued. Ron S and Relcad
both provided similarly Underworld-ly sets but
from opposite ends of the Underworld spectrum.
Two of my personal favorites from the event.
Day two brought us therottencheesekid,
with his incredibly beat-driven breakcore set.
Extremely cool and different from your typical
DJ set. Well done sirs.
Another highlight of the event
was the visual stimulation. Live painting and
drawing was provided by Eric Buckner Winfield
and Michael Garfield while music was played.
Ronnie Cramer's short films
provided a nice change of pace between some
sets, while bahiya engaged the eye with experimental
dance during bios+a+ic's set.
If you missed this year, don't
worry. Event organizer, bios+a+tic of Symbolic
Insight, plans on making this festival a mainstay
of the Colorado electronic community every year.
So go next year! Do it!
www.symbolicinsight.com/transistor
www.myspace.com/transistorfestival
>>Review
of Electronic Daisy Carnival
-Joshua Jones, Thursday,
June 19, 2008
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