In collaboration with
Polish Cultural Institute
and
Goethe Institute NYC

Unsound Festival
New York

A first for New York City, Unsound Festival New York featurs a mix of major names in electronic music with fresh discoveries, including a massive assembling of artists located east of Berlin, performing at some of New York's most interesting venues. Related visual arts, including the Warhol Series, will also be included.

Tickets to Unsound Festival New York will be sold individually by participating venues and organizations. More information on ticket purchases can be found here.

↓ Unsound Festival Schedule

UNSOUND FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

FEBRUARY 4
10:30pm
Unsound Opening
Lillevan & Vladislav Delay
Sebastian Meissner + Kwartludium = Solid State Transmitters
David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center

FEBRUARY 5
7:30 & 9:30pm
Carl Craig with Blowjob, nsi. with Kiss
The Film Society of Lincoln Center: Walter Reade Theater

10:00pm
Bunker Edition 1
featuring
Spinoza, Legowelt, Luke Hess, Newworldaquarium, Kadebostan, Jacek Sienkiewicz, Patrick Russell, Marcin Czubala, Derek Plaslaiko, Tobias
Bunker/Public Assembly

FEBRUARY 6
12:00pm
Group Show with Empire
featuring
Hanno Leichtmann, Groupshow, Jan Jelinek, Andrew Pekler
Le Poisson Rouge

2:00pm
Lillevan's screen tests studio
Lillevan creates screen tests in the Wyoming Building, inviting artists, festival organizers, and people passing by. Open to the public. Come get a screen test made, later to be used as VJ material at the Bunker club night on Friday 12th.
Wyoming Building

3:30pm
Workshop: Lillevan's screen tests
Lillevan talks about his project Screen Tests Revisited, explaining the background of Warhol’s original Screen Tests. He describes techniques employed in the project, as well as those he uses generally in his work. One of the most renowned video artists working with producers of electronic music, Lillevan is also an entertaining and informative speaker, and this workshop is not to be missed.
Wyoming Building

5:00pm
The Hidden History of the Vocoder
Music writer Dave Tompkins, author of the forthcoming book How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip Hop, presents a history of the vocoder as it has evolved from a military device into a major element in electronic music.
Wyoming Building

10:00pm
A Century of Dance Music
featuring
Ensemble LPR, Moritz von Oswald Trio, Levon Vincent
Le Poisson Rouge

FEBRUARY 7
11:00am
Kids’ Electronic Music Workshop: Session 1
Producers of electronic music show kids and young adults how to create music using simple technologies, found objects, and their own ingenuity. Participants will perform in Le Poisson Rouge on Wednesday, opening a night of experimental music.
Harvestworks

2:00pm
Panel Discussion: Music Journalism
What does it mean to write well about music? A panel of working music journalists discusses issues related to the art of music-writing, as well as the changing practice of covering music in an eclectic and diversified world. When so much is available globally, how does one search for the new? Andy Battaglia and Simon Reynolds lead a discussion with other working writers in the field.
Wyoming Building

3:30pm
Panel Discussion: The Art of The Party - The Hidden Issues
Explores hidden challenges involved in producing music events in New York, from small club parties to big concerts. This includes everything from obtaining legal U.S. work permits for international artists to dealing with agents and gatekeepers. A range of participants includes Wordless Music's Ronen Givony, The Bunker's Bryan Kasenic and artist/organizer Jessica Schmitz.
Wyoming Building

5:00pm
Panel Discussion: Who Programs Who?
How do you create sounds that have never been heard before? What is the connection between music consumption and creation? And how does technology and music-making software influence this quest? Do we program machines, or do they program us? Vladislav Delay, Sebastian Meissner, Jacek Sienkiewicz and Ezekiel Honig talk about the process of finding an original voice in electronic music.
Wyoming Building

7:00pm
Sound Postcard Exhibit Opening
During 60s and 70s Polish communism, when vinyl singles were rare, sound postcards became extremely popular. Bearing striking designs, they contained analogue recording engraved in a laminate layer. Sound quality was low, but they meant access to hit songs from the West. In Mat Schulz and Rui Silva’s exhibit, tracks are transferred to mp3’s, revealing how recording technology changes over time.
Devotion Gallery

FEBRUARY 8
4:30pm
Kids’ Electronic Music Workshop: Session 2
Producers of electronic music show kids and young adults how to create music using simple technologies, found objects, and their own ingenuity. Participants will perform in Le Poisson Rouge on Wednesday, opening a night of experimental music.
Harvestworks

6:30pm
Screening: Electronic Music Movies – Session 1
A selection of films on the roots of electronic music includes the New York debut of Kara Blake's 2009 documentary The Delian Mode, exploring the life and work of pioneer Delia Derbyshire: the woman behind the distinctive Doctor Who theme music created at the BBC. Other film info coming soon.
Wyoming Building

10:00pm
Anticipate Night
The hometown-based Anticipate label presents an evening of various electro-acoustic pursuits, in both sonic and visual form. Featuring Borne, Sawako, Alexander Kaline, Ezekiel Honig and Joshue Ott.
Littlefield

FEBRUARY 9
4:30pm
Kids’ Electronic Music Workshop: Session 3
Producers of electronic music show kids and young adults how to create music using simple technologies, found objects, and their own ingenuity. Participants will perform in Le Poisson Rouge on Wednesday, opening a night of experimental music.
Harvestworks

10:00pm
Eastern Promise
Part of the Eastern Promise theme throughout the program, this night showcases 2 artists from Europe’s eastern side, Zenial and Zavoloka, and local experimental vocalist Bora Yoon.
Issue Project Room

FEBRUARY 10
4:00pm
Lillevan's screen tests studio
Lillevan creates screen tests in the Wyoming Building, inviting artists, festival organizers, and people passing by. Open to the public. Come get a screen test made, later to be used as VJ material at the Bunker club night on Friday 12th.
Wyoming Building

6:00pm
Panel Discussion: Rework, Recontextualize, Review
This panel looks at how historical avant-garde films have been used in recent music performances. Lee Renaldo and Alan Licht, of Text of Light, a project devoted to putting music to films by Stan Brakhage, meet with Lillevan as well as Hanno Leichtmann and Andrew Peckler of Groupshow, an act involved in Unsound’s Warhol series. Moderator: Andrew Lampert (Film Anthology Archives).
Wyoming Building

6:00pm
Silence and Noise Part 1 Linking Europe and North America, a showcase of impressive experimental music names. Canadian Tim Hecker is one of the world’s premier ambient artists; Austrians Radian distil post-rock to a minimalist form. New Yorkers Mountains fuse acoustic instruments and field recordings; Tape, from Sweden, work in similar territory. Opening is a unique band formed during the kids electronic music workshops!
Le Poisson Rouge

FEBRUARY 11
6:00pm
Walking Tour: Dream House
Unsound leads a walking tour to composer LaMonte Young’s Dream House in Tribeca. A discussion of the installation, in process now for 17 years, will help provide context at the Wyoming Building, followed by an experience of the work on-site, in a loft with plush carpeting, pillows on the floor, and banks of big speakers.
Wyoming Building

6:30pm
Screening: Electronic Music Movies
A selection of films on the roots of electronic music includes the New York debut of Kara Blake's 2009 documentary The Delian Mode, exploring the life and work of pioneer Delia Derbyshire: the woman behind the distinctive Doctor Who theme music created at the BBC. Other film info coming soon.
Wyoming Building

7:00pm
Górecki and Jacaszek: The Contemporary Sound World of Poland A night exploring minimalist forms in Polish music, evocative and emotional. Featuring ACME performing the works of Gorecki, and Jacaszek.
Le Poisson Rouge

10:00pm
Brooklyn Electronic Music Showcase The Unsound Treehouse party showcases live and DJ sets from three Brooklyn-based acts. Featuring new kids Blondes’ analog Balearic grooves; Neurotic Drum Band (John Selway & Elliot Taub) mixing classic house, Italo and techno; and Morgan Geist, one of New York dance music’s éminence grise, exploring the city’s history in records.
Littlefield

FEBRUARY 12
8:00pm
Silence and Noise Part 2
featuring
Nadja, Xavier Van Wersch, David Daniell
Issue Project Room

10:00pm
Bunker Edition II
A focus on evolving forms of House music, underrated DJ’s and rising stars from Europe and the U.S. featuring: Barbara Preisinger, Eric Cloutier, Mike Huckaby, DJ Qu, Petre Inspirescu, Shake and visuals by Lillevan.
Bunker / Public Assembly

FEBRUARY 13
3:30pm
Panel Discussion: Bass Mutations
How have bass-heavy forms of music shifted in recent years? Where did the genre called dubstep come from—and where is it leading? How does it differ in New York, London, Berlin, Minsk and Bucharest? Writer Mitch Strashnov (URB, Electrodrone) will lead a discussion with artists from the Bass Mutations club-night lineup.
Wyoming Building

5:00pm
Panel Discussion: Mapping Sound in Art, an Investigation
In the U.S., sound art remains a fluid catchall term for a range of acoustic activities. Conversely, in Europe, sound as art occupies narrower practical methods and concepts. Kabir Carter leads a discussion on the role of sound in the arts with curator/writer Regine Basha, philosopher/writer Christoph Cox, composer/artist Michael J. Schumacher and installation artist Asa Stjerna.
Wyoming Building

6:30pm
Dialogue: Vince Aletti
Storied disco critic Vince Aletti, one of the first to cover disco during its 1970s heyday, talks about the history of the formative dance-music as it happened in New York. Discussion focuses on Aletti’s recent anthology The Disco Files: 1973-78, as well as his memories of the scene as he saw it firsthand. In discussion with music journalist Andy Beta (Spin, Village Voice).
Wyoming Building

10:00pm
Bass Mutations
Mutating bass-heavy music with Godfather-like figure Pole, from Berlin, the central anchor, featuring TRG, Untold, Dave Q, Konque, Pavel Ambiont, FaltyDL, Pole, Sepalcure, 2562
Bunker/Public Assembly

FEBRUARY 14
3:30pm
Panel Discussion: Connections
Presentation of “Eastern Promise,” emerging from ideas integral to Unsound and its international projects - in New York, Poland, Eastern Europe. This includes “Connections," which linked Belarus and Western European electronic musicians. With “Connections” co-ordinators Stefan Betke (scape) and Mat Schulz (Unsound), as well as Pavel Ambiont (Belarus), Zenial (Poland), Petre Inspirescu (Romania).
Wyoming Building

5:00pm
Dialogue: Morton Subotnick
A talk with electronic-music pioneer Morton Subotnick, whose career goes back to the 1960s and includes some of the most important early work with modular synthesizers in the popular realm. Anecdotal talk focuses on Subotnick’s work, both as it plays into history and as it has evolved into the present. In discussion with music journalist Andy Battaglia (A.V. Club, Pitchfork).
Wyoming Building

8:00pm
Kiss & Tell Presents Queen of Hearts Valentine's Day Party
Kiss & Tell hosts well known electronic music DJs eager to play a different kind of set, filled with music outside of the genres they are known for. The gorgeous venue will be decorated in a sea of hearts, and guests are invited to dress up in festive outfits of red and white. Come help us close Unsound Festival New York with a warm, intimate event. Full line up soon.
Rose

ABOUT THE ARTIST

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Commissioned by Musiques & Recherches, Vol d’Arondes (Flight of Swallows) was realized in the Métamorphoses d’Orphée multichannel studio (Ohain, Belgium) and premiered on November 21, 1999 during the 6th International Acousmatic Festival L’Espace du son in the XL-Théâtre du Grand Midi (Brussels, Belgium).

The composer writes:

"Provence. A summer evening, the window open wide on the slowly darkening sky. Through this deep, blemishless blue, the flight of swallows: a strident, constantly changing feeding dance. The delicious night continues to fall. There are the sounds of the village preparing for the night festival; the echoes reach me. A jet begins its descent into Marignanne. How simple it all is!

"It is a moment of pure, contemplative happiness, barely disturbed by a few familiar cares, which are quickly chased away. I think of Verlaine’s 'The sky above the roof, so blue, so calm…'

"This is music of memory: connotative, certainly, but not representational. It evokes and continues a previous work, Drôles d’oiseaux (1985-86), which provided some of the material for it.

"The space, too, belongs to memory."

· · ·

Phonurgie

Commissioned by Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Phonurgie, 4th of the 4 works in the Cycle du son, was realized in 1998 in the Syter studio of Ina-GRM (Paris, France) and the composer’s studio. It premiered on September 25th, 1998 as part of the Inventionen ’98 festival (Berlin, Germany).

The composer writes:

"Phonurgie: making, working, and creating sound, presents, fifty years after the first gropings, and at the verge of the century under examination, one of the current states of this new art, which has become an independent art of sounds.

"Unlike the other pieces in the Cycle, Phonurgie quotes no more than a passing subject of Schaefferian study, bringing the sound of this legacy to a close; on the other hand, the first part, Objets retrouvés, draws all of its material and its structure from it. Paraphrased elements from Novars can, of course, be found — elements that themselves paraphrase Étude aux objets, making them commentaries on commentaries — while the opening and conclusion make reference to AvatArsSon. Nevertheless, in this fourth homage, the allusions to the origins melt away before the original propositions; filiation is not renounced, but here the child, finally grown, reveals its identity.

"While technology may have changed considerably and the 'sound color' may no longer be the same, morphological thought and writing still remain, in all of their many forms, true to the ‘spirit’ of the first concerts de bruit (concerts of noise)."

· · ·

En cuerdas

En cuerdas was realized in the composer’s studio in 1998 and was premiered on May 15, 1998 at the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville (Québec). It was commissioned by Arturo Parra with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. Special thanks to Arturo Parra, whose many textures and sounds make up the materials of this piece, as well as Ina-GRM.

The composer writes:

"Commissioned by the Colombian guitarist Arturo Parra, En cuerdas (In the Strings) is the version for solo tape of Sol y sombra… L’espace des spectres, a work for guitar and tape that was co-written with Parra. The composition heard here is completely independent from that work.

"Its sonic environment nevertheless remains one of strings that are plucked, rubbed and struck; but these are strings have been made virtual, transformed by computer processes and multiplied by electroacoustic writing. These are morphological variations that have been obtained primarily through the use of a variety of instruments of the SYTER system at Ina-GRM (Paris, France).

"Within this formal framework and the preliminary choices made with the software, I left myself, as always, a great deal of room for improvised séquences-jeux.

"Certainly, these moments of pure intuition do not involve the sense of vertigo and the irreparable risks that are found in real improvisation, for the choices are made afterward, allowing only those ‘magic moments’ to remain. Half-way between chance and will, this is perhaps an attempt to reconcile Pascal’s 'spirit of fineness and spirit of geometry.'"

· · ·

Premières traces du Choucas

Premières traces du Choucas was realized in 2006 in the composer’s studio in Avignon (France) and was first premiered on October 21, 2006 during the 13th International Acousmatic Festival L’Espace du son (Brussels, Belgium), then on November 2, 2006, the composer’s 80th birthday, during the Akousma (3) festival at Monument-national’s Studio Hydro-Québec in Montréal. Premières traces du Choucas was co-commissioned by Réseaux, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, and Musiques & Recherches (Belgium).

The composer writes:

"Premières traces du Choucas (First Traces of the Jackdaw) is a second preliminary work for Le cri du Choucas, a long work in progress about Franz Kafka’s world, works, and character.

"'Kavka' is the Czech word for 'jackdaw' ('choucas' in French), a kind of crow whose image adorned the storefront of Hermann Kafka, Franz's father. The title came from the strong animal symbolics found in the works of Kafka: a deep, solitary, never-empathic, often-muted cry one can hear in each one of his novels and tales, even in the slightest fragmentary story. As for the capital C attributed to Choucas in my title, it confirms the presence of a proper noun.

"No text yet in these Premières traces du Choucas, but you will find sonic research on and an impressionistic approach to the Kafkaian themes highlighted in the writings of Marthe Robert."

SITES

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