We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Live In Wierd

by Mark Solotroff

supported by
Harvey Morgan
Harvey Morgan thumbnail
Peter J.
Peter J. thumbnail
Iugulathor
Iugulathor thumbnail
John Roth
John Roth thumbnail
/
1.
Live In Wierd 15:00
buy track

about

In late 2007, Pieter asked me if I'd like to perform a microphone feedback set at Wierd, that winter. I'm sure that we both knew that harsh feedback would be more sonically confrontational than the weekly crowd there was used to, but it seemed like a good plan, nevertheless. Bear in mind, this was prior to when experimental, power-electronics, and noise artists played the weekly Wierd party on a more frequent basis. A date was chosen in mid-January of 2008, and on the day of the show I flew to New York with a small mixer and ten microphones. I did a quick soundcheck in the late afternoon, while the bar was being set up for the night ahead, and things sounded loud and clear over the Wierd PA. That night, as was typical, the room became more and more crowded and the dance floor filled up, as midnight approached. I made my way through the dark space to clear some space to place my mic stands in an arc and to get my show underway. As you'll hear at the beginning of the recording, there were some ringers in the audience, including James from BLOODYMINDED and Alex from Climax Denial, who were visiting from Milwaukee. That resulted in some good spirited heckling, like you'd probably hear at a BLOODYMINDED show. I let the frequencies and the volume build up slowly, resulting in an uncomfortable space filled with mild static and the sound of an industrial-sized smoke machine in overdrive. I remember that once the feedback fully kicked in, the crowd began to thin out a bit, but it was really hard to see exactly what was going on through the thick fog ("The sky is so thick with smoke"). After about ten minutes of heavy feedback, someone got in my face and yelled at me to stop. Apparently, the bouncer from Home Sweet Home felt it was way too loud and he lost his shit. My feedback performances were never meant to be confrontational or to elicit the same sort of crowd reaction as an Intrinsic Action or a BLOODYMINDED show. I imagined that they were somehow more academic in nature, but I suppose that it's all just noise to some people. Once I was done, it was only a matter of minutes before I untangled all my mic cords and packed up and people were back to dancing. While I've never felt that live recordings have done justice to these feedback shows, whether in capturing the full intensity of the frequencies at high volume, or especially the physical effects that audience members have related to me, like the pressure they felt in their inner ears or the sensation of air moving around them, I think this recording holds its own, pretty well.

credits

released December 18, 2020

Recorded live at Wierd on January 16, 2008.

Feedback performance with multiple microphones.

Recorded on MiniDisc.

Edited and mastered in December 2020.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Mark Solotroff image

Mark Solotroff Chicago, Illinois

Mark Solotroff formed the band Intrinsic Action in 1984 and he's a founding member of Anatomy Of Habit and BLOODYMINDED. His other bands include The Fortieth Day, A Vague Disquiet, Ensemble Sacrés Garçons, and Nightmares. He recorded 100 cassettes of analog synth music under the name Super Eight Loop and he releases synth-based and feedback system music under his own name. ... more

contact / help

Contact Mark Solotroff

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Mark Solotroff, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now