Long one for ya, then back to work. Hope you are enjoying the links!

I found my way to fusion festival ( ФYЗИОН ) and back in one piece. Packed train ride up, hitch last 30k, hitch to Baltic Sea for a night on the coast, train home. Thanks to all my neighbors and ride buddies who made the trip what it was! Check the pictures and keep in touch — stop by anytime here in Berlin!

A short fusion festival 2006 review — favorite electronics: out back (pictured below — Zimbo / Petr / Antena / Orbital Dophins — absolute #1 favorite best of the fest, spoke twice with Zimbo(?), was there 5-7 hours every day Sat/Sun/Mon mornings, please add me to your list / get in touch and I’d happily bring any beeping gadgets I can find to play along, very much enjoyed!), wohnzimmer bar (best waking music around, reminded of classy small free outdoor), and radio bar (reliably good + FM + coffee). Otherwise, the live acts ruled: The Hungry Marching Band out of nyc gets my overall no-beeps fav for walking through the crowds and generally ripping it up (watch for ‘em near you — playing honk fest in boston oct 7), manu chao was loads of fun live, and another band Fussel (i think?) wearing pig costumes and making /tons/ of noise midday on the Seebuehne — you guys were awesome. ( Full music schedule in pdf ). Gripes, clean up after yourselves — the place was disgusting; more participation/costumes/theme camps/etc; whoever left the ‘Acer’ default display on the screens through sunrise is fired, period. Otherwise, great fest. Props for playing Alice (Něco z Alenky) and other Švankmajer films on the late night movie schedule.

The world cup has come and gone. The united states managed to score 1 goal (no, the italian one doesn’t count). It was a thrill to watch the spectacle on the streets of berlin, and luckily even find my way into Game 11 (Brazil v Croatia) — the first ever played in the renovated Olympic Stadium from 1936 (thank you Jeff and Amber Slack, see you again soon!). In the spirit of this audio-themed post, I’ll narrow the experience down to three main highlights. 1) The Croatian fans in the stadium blew the Brazilians away with their perfectly timed echo/response cheers across the massive stadium; 2) My favorite game-watching technique was radio-by-headphones while touring the various cafe districts /covered/ with screens when needed; 3) The absolute coolest part of being amidst so many attempted live feeds was the half to multiple second delays between the various screens / radios / etc. It was possible to stand between two cafes a few feet apart and get a good 2 second echo on a goal due to lag — absolutely hilarious. // Whenever Deutschland played, it didn’t matter where I was, the cheers on a goal were audible throughout the country.

Sonambiente wraps up this week after a month long run connecting sound + art. Wednesday’s evening with Frank Scheffer screening Sonic Acts: From Stockhausen to Squarepusher (1998) was a definite highlight. The film was quite well done; bringing together extensive interviews with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Squarepusher (Thomas Jenkinson), John Cage, Pierre Henry, Michel Waisvisz and DJ Spooky. Scheffer, who was a treat to hear speak before and after the showing, has also produced films around the likes of Frank Zappa, Gustav Mahler, and Brian Eno. He mentioned his curret production work on an Edgard Varèse film, whom he also offered in response to, “Who would you add to Sonic Acts now 8+ years later?”. Scheffer went even further and said that he finds Varèse beyond Cage, Stockhausen, or Squarepusher — if allowing a linear development in musical progression. He compared Varèse’s works to recent discoveries in quantum phsysics removing time from the picture, and implied Varèse’s incorporation of these ideas into musical structure (over 50 years ago). Great film, find it (and other Scheffer film) if you can, will push further into Varèse.

From afar, one more plug and top recommendation toward the recently discovered Shirley & Spinoza (begin with the archive!), self described: “collage, noise, experiments, thriftcore music and found sounds, concepts a go-go and earloads of wide swinging, varied unconventionality… generally in the spirit of keeping things interesting, unusual and of course, um…FUN!.” I’ve only heard a few hours, but this is an incredible collection to my tastes.

In closing, I found that germans I met were quite unsympathetic to my somewhat ecstatic descriptions and desires for 5-7am Chicken Hed sets aimed at high volume toward /camp/. Greets out to the nw crews — miss y’all.

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