Sandy Ewen, Wols, Dogebbi - Sunday 05 April 2009 @ Avant Garden

(Just a reminder that this Sunday I am helping put on this lovely show.)

Signal To Noise Magazine and Sound Exchange Present:

Sandy Ewen, Wols, and Dogebbi
Sunday 5 April 2009
At Avant Garden
411 WestheimerHouston, TX 77006
832-519-1429
$6.00
7PM -10PM

Sandy Ewen - Employing various tools and techniques, Sandy Ewen coaxes sounds from her guitar that have a fragile fleeting otherworldly beauty. That may be because Austin's Ewen seems to approach the guitar less as an instrument than as a canvas. This is nothing new for fans of her band The Weird Weeds (pictured at left) - a band who Popmatters raves "can make you scratch your head, cover your ears, or dance with abandon. If you let it, though, it can also break your heart.” while Pitchfork describes them as a band that "excel at creating moods and demolishing formulaic songwriting." This evening Ewen will be performing an improvised set of music that will show why Austin 360 calls her an "improvisational guitar wunderkind."

"...seeing such unusual instrumentation used in such a genuine way is a real treat. The bows, bells, and drums littered about the stage were gradually employed to their various effects, yet at no point did anything feel unnecessary. Instead it felt like the joy of experimentation tempered by the hard-headed realism of musical invention. A friend I ran into there who swore he saw her employ an E-bow found out after the show that it was actually a piece of chalk used as a slide." - Tiny Mix Tapes (Weird Weeds review)

Artist Links:Weird Weeds ( http://www.weirdweeds.com/ )
Weird Weeds on Myspace ( http://www.myspace.com/weirdweeds )
Autobus Records ( http://www.autobusrecs.com/?page_id=11 )

Wols- Amye McCarther is one of Houston's most engaging songwriters. Her low-fi cassette recordings are essential examples of how melody, voice, and instrumentation can say more through simplicity and understatement than the most baroque of recordings. Live performances are another matter entirely as, without compromising the emotion and wit of the recordings, she surrounds herself with musicians who add color and texture to expand on the original song structures. By design the musicians - who have included Will Adams (Black Snakes & Kangaroo), Abe Houck (Hungry Villagers), Mlee Suprean (Hearts of Animals), and the lovely guitar work of brother Jake McCarther- perform without rehearsal and follow McCarther's muse to wherever it leads. It's performing without a net to be sure but that openness to the moment is what makes each performance singular and demanding of attention. (Photo John Van)

Wols ( http://www.myspace.com/wolsies )
Bonernap Cassettes ( http://www.myspace.com/bonernapcassettes )

Dogebbi - Michelle Yom incorporates her classical training as a flautist (she received a masters from NYU) with a love for improvisation and takes the flute to places most people would never expect. With a range that encompasses the classical and jazz traditions to the more abstract and experimental, it is music that celebrates the versatility of the instrument and the joy of music's communicative embrace. For this performance, Yom will be performing with Spike The Percussionist (Astrogenic Hallucinauting) a noiz freak who studied under master percussionist Dr. Norman Weinberg. Together, the duo goes by the name Doggebbi - named after a breed of monsters in Korean folklore possessing supernatural powers and a penchant for pulling pranks on humans (transforming themselves into furniture and such). It's an appropriate name for music that overflows with intelligence, energy, and mischievous wit.

Dogebbi (http://www.myspace.com/doggebi)
Michelle Yom ( http://michelleyom.com/ )
Michelle Yom ( http://www.myspace.com/michelleyomflute ) Astrogenic Hallucinauting ( http://www.myspace.com/astrogenic )

Westheimer Block Party!!!

Well we played the Westheimer Block Party this past Saturday and it was an interesting experience. I mean we've played festivals but they always seem to be indoors and we've played outdoors before but that was someone's backyard. This was outside, on a fairly wide stage with monitors and the whole shebang. So this was new territory for us and while we had a great time it was, shall we say, not our best live performance err... I mean it approached the godhead of musical experiences.

Still, despite that whole train wreck of a show the tedious crush of fans and adulation, we had a good time and a dude - who I think may be one of the Valient Thorr dudes or a damn good doppelganger - said he really dug it and someone told me a bunch of pot smokers also dug it too. So, go figure, stoners and heavy rockin' bearded dudes liked our set to at least some degree.

But lets look at the LP4 show elements in detail here:

A. Huge throng of onlookers bowing to our greatness. Clearly awed by our mighty rock.
B. What may seem like an empty 10 foot gap between band and audience is really where the time space singularity (caused by our volume) exists. Any audience member foolish enough to step too close would be sucked up into another dimension.
C.1 Not poor fashion sense, I am merely ahead of my time. Right now this may appear to be a fashion disaster but I am already told that Muccia Prada's fall line up will be following my lead.
C.2 What may have sounded like an out of tune guitar to the common person is actually a rebellion against the oppressive wohl temperiert 12 note per octave scale. Fuck Bach!
D. Charlie studied with George Balanchine and here is putting his years of rigorous dance instruction to the test. This move is known as "la singe."
E. Beer is what fuels this engine.
F. For legal reasons, I can't say what powers this engine.
G. It's not that we rushed our soundcheck and therefore Clinton couldn't hear the rest of the band. No not at all, it is that his tone is so perfect as to cause all other sounds to be phased out.

Yes, that's right if you missed this show we were freaking awesome and boy did you miss out!*

Thanks Omar and the Free press for having us,
We had fun

*On the other hand, if you saw the show - our sincerest apologies

January 31st 2009 - MV & EE, LP4 and WOLS!!! (with Eli Brumbaugh Poster)

WOW! Artist Eli Brumbaugh did this poster for us and we think it's jaw dropping! To really appreciate this poster I suggest you click on the image to enlarge it. You should make it a point to see this show as we're playing with two mind crushing bands:


MV & EE Are simply stunning! Are they playing a folky set, an trippy improvised psych set, or a heavy rocking set with The Golden Road? I have no Idea but I saw them last Year at Terrastock doing the latter two and they were freaking amazing. Highly recommended freaky psych folksters!

Wols is Amye McCarther's ragged improv beast that killed me last December. Not sure who is playing in it Will Adams (more than likely), Mlee Suprean (maybe), but whoever she drops it's gonna kill! The songs are Myspace are older songs but her skeletal compositions take wild turns and get get epic when they hit the stage. So point is don't be late!