At Le Poisson Rouge, we host a wide range of artists and events, both emerging and established. As genres offerings go, we like to think of ourselves as an equal-opportunity venue, with the potential for discovering all kinds of music. Sometimes it’s difficult to sift through the many shows we have to find something new, so we thought we’d help our friends a little with descriptions, roundups, free mp3s, mixes, and more. Herewith, a collection of upcoming shows at LPR one might broadly describe as “ambient/experimental”:
CASINO VERSUS JAPAN
file under: idm, electronic, ambient
Erik Kowalski has been experimenting with samples and recording ever since he was a kid. He started off by playing around with audio recordings he made of Miami Vice, and later taught himself how to play piano, guitar, and drums. He released his first album of baroque melodies and distorted trip-hope beats under the name Casion Versus Japan in 1998, and soon after found himself opening for Low with Charles Wyatt (Charles Atlas) accompanying him on guitar. Listen to “Aquarium,” a track off his 2002 release Whole Numbers Play The Basics, below.
Click here to buy tickets for his show on June 4th with Nudge and Signaldrift.
MARSEN JULES TRIO
file under: ambient, contemporary classical, electronic, experimental
Over the past decade, German musician and composer Marsen Jules has worked on numerous projects in the fields of ambient, contemporary classical, modern jazz, and electronic music. For his ambient chamber music group the Marsen Jules Trio, he is joined by Anwar Alam on violin and Jan-Philipp Alam on piano. Check out the video of him performing at the Node Festival in 2008 below.
Marsen Jules & Yara, Live@Node-Festival 2008, Modena, Italy from Martin Juhls on Vimeo.
Click here to buy tickets for their show on June 7th with Rafael Anton Irisarri, Attacca String Quartet, and Intermedia Innovations.
MATMOS
file under: electronic, experimental
Recording under the name Matmos, M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel have always been known for their unique choices for sound sources, which over their career has included amplified crayfish nerve tissue, human hair, plastic surgery, frozen steam thawing in the sun, latex clothing, and a steel guitar recorded in a sewer. They recently teamed up with So Percussion to record Treasure State, which will be released on June 13th. In the meantime you can download “Treasure,” the quasi-title track from the album, over here!
Click here to buy tickets for their show on June 9th with So Percussion and Lichens.
GLENN BRANCA
file under: experimental, no wave, contemporary classical
Over the course of his career, the highly influential avant-garde guitarist Glenn Branca has composed 13 symphonies (including one for 100 guitars) and has worked with the likes of Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Rhys Chatham, among many others. For his performance on June 19th at LPR, he’ll be improvising on his harmonics guitar, which is a two-bodied guitar connected by a single neck. How does that even work? Check out the video of him playing it with Paranoid Critical Revolution below!
Click here to get tickets for his show with Paranoid Critical Revolution and a full screening of the film “135 GRAND ST. 1979” by Ericka Beckman.