Sonic Circuits benefit II

The Sonic Circuits festival of experimental music looms ever closer. Hear that rumbling in the distance? It's the sound of unique, artful, compelling, unexpected music. The perfect antidote to formula entertainment.

As reported earlier, a series of benefit shows has been launched to help defray the cost of this mighty thing. The second benefit is coming up soon, at the Pyramid Atlantic art space in Silver Spring. Click the flyer for larger version. Further details below, courtesy of the festival curator:

SONIC CIRCUITS FESTIVAL 2008
BENEFIT II
Sunday, August 24
Doors 6:30pm Music 7:00pm SHARP
admission: $5.00 at the door

PYRAMID ATLANTIC
8230 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring MD 20910
301.608.9101
located three blocks south of the silver spring metro station (red line)
INFO + DIRECTIONS: www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org

MACAROON FIVE:
Arthur Harrison is the president and CEO of Harrison Instruments, Inc., a Maryland-based company that designs and manufactures electronics for a wide range of applications, including electronic musical instruments. Arthur has over 30 years of experience with electronic music, and has performed on theremin for a decade. His work appears on numerous audio recordings and sound tracks, and he is considered one of the world's technical authorities on the theremin, with his circuit designs implemented by electronic music enthusiasts, world-over.

barsky / allison
From Insect Factory & Kohoutek on guitar and custom electronics
http://www.myspace.com/insectfactory

T.A. ZOOK
Analog sound generations with struck bowls, rainsticks, wind instruments and guitars processed through racks of loopers/fx -- an otherworldly ambience that's difficult to describe; once heard, difficult to forget. (http://www.myspace.com/tazook) Think: music from a temple in an extraterrestrial dream, emanating from the aether and enveloping you in some indescribable way.
http://www.myspace.com/tazook

[flyer design IntangibleArts]

Sonic Circuits benefit this sunday

AN EVENT NOT TO BE MISSED! This will be a special gig to benefit this year's Sonic Circuits festival of experimental music. As you can imagine, putting on these festivals is an expensive affair, with securing the venues and taking care of performers traveling from distant lands... So yes, it's a benefit. And a blitz of crucial music it shall be as well.

More on the actual festival as it approaches (late sept to early oct), but for now, the goods on Sunday's show:

PINKO COMMUNOIDS create a dynamic improvised sound between its three members, using everything from guitars and accordions to found items and bent electronics. The result is an unpredictable bath of sound which covers a wide dynamic range: everything from tickled silence to drones soaked in warm feedback. It's curious music, full of brain vitamins.

TL0741 is the solo electronic project of Pat Gillis. His sound offers a satisfying mix of the playful, the surreal, and the harsh; it never stays still for long. Over a substrate of bubbling sonic ooze (robotic magma?) you might find blasts of static, high-pitched synthetic wind, capsules of vertigo, croaking strangeness... billowing sheets of sound with an edge of menace. Good stuff.

VLT_BLK is a live collaboration between VIOLET and BLK w/ BEAR. The music of VIOLET is often harsh yet precise and delicate, using unusual items (dry ice, autoharp, turntables, aluminum foil) to build layers of monumental and very satisfying noise. Meanwhile, BLK w/ BEAR uses turntables, cello, bass, and effects to create deep drones and heavy trances that can be beautiful or saturated with paranoia. Or ideally, both.

It seems that the VLT_BLK collaboration might be a duelling-turntables situation, which could be pretty devastating.

So get yourself to the Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring on Sunday night. Support the future of Sonic Circuits and get a taste of what you'll be in for, when the festival is unleashed later this year. Check the artists' links for audio samples. Other details on the flyer.

Speaking of which, flyer design by IntangibleArts. Click the image for higher-resolution version (or here for an even higher-higher-res version), and distribute at will.

The (Swiss) Green Fairy Has Arrived

Modern Liquors is a gem of a shop, resting comfortably on the corner of 9th and M Streets NW. Jeff Harrison (at right) runs the show, and he's always been genuinely interested and helpful (a mutual respect for Icelandic vodka Reyka was established right away). As DC Liquor stores go, it's one of the greats: not large, but the stock is excellent.

Jeff hosted an absinthe tasting this afternoon, together with a representative of Kübler's American distributor. Not your typical tasting!

I had been fascinated by the mystery of absinthe for years, and finally got my first taste in February of 2007: A rather costly internet order had yielded the most complex and delicious thing I'd ever tasted (apart from my first prawn vindaloo, but that's another story). It was the Duplais Verte distilled in Switzerland, with the David Tibet-designed label. And GOD, it was marvelous.

So I've become a cheerleader for the stuff ever since. Most obsessive people become evangelists for their drug(s) of choice, don't they?

Since the ban on the domestic sale of absinthe was lifted last year, two manufacturers have surfaced. The first was Lucid, with its spooky ad campaigns playing on the allure of the drink. Initial reviews were mixed. I read somewhere that Lucid's herbal recipe had been heavily tweaked from historical absinthes "with the American palate in mind" -- this of course, did not bode well. Based on the popularity of Miller Lite and reality television, I have precious little faith in the the "American palate."

To be fair, I haven't tried Lucid yet. But honestly, when your first taste is the Gold Medal winner of the 2006 International Wine & Spirits Competition (the first Absinthe to ever win such a thing), you tend to be a bit arrogant when some punk American thing called "Lucid" appears.


The second variety manufactured in the States is Kübler, which is a descendant of the classic Swiss Kübler family Absinthe. The name has definite history. Instant credentials. And Kübler comes to DC today, as part of its American distribution strategy which began last May.

In Harrison's store today, samples were distributed in the traditional manner, with ice-water dripped from a handy Kübler-branded fountain onto sugarcubes through slotted spoons, into small plastic cups. The histories of absinthe and Kübler were discussed, questions answered, etc.

And the verdict on the Kübler?

I haven't had a blanche absinthe before, so the lack of green color was a little strange at first. The louche (clouding when water is added) seemed too fast. The flavor was much more anise-dominated than the other varieties I've had: It's not nearly as complex as the Duplais Verte or Balance, where you get the anise hit at first, but other flavors surface and you get a more blended finish. Kübler was a bit more one-dimensional than all that, but it was extremely pleasant and of course, it's great to have such a thing available locally now.

And at $55.00 per bottle, it's much cheaper than ordering online with the exchange-difference from Euros, plus the shipping. I've seen it mentioned online as being sold at Costco on the west coast for about $45, so these are strange days indeed.

So call this a thumbs-up for Kübler as a good introductory absinthe for the curious, and a double thumbs-up for Modern Liquor, for having such an event today.

Empanada nirvana

Praise Julia!

So I was happily putting off certain duties today, as one should on a Saturday afternoon: Dishes? Who needs 'em? Laundry? Hell, what's the point?

And besides, I can't "do anything" productive when the dog is NAPPING, can I? Gomez asleep on a Saturday afternoon??!!? It's like a rare and precious moment, like a solar eclipse! Or Haley's Comet! Or a biblical plague of locusts! Or a ride up 14th street during the afternoon rush without a dense crush of people and someone's shoulder in my mouth all the way to Irving Street!

What? Ah yes!

'tis better to bypass all those chores and catch up on email.

Friday's digest from the Columbia Heights listserv had only four messages, but the topmost item had these golden words:

---
Julia's Empanadas opened today, in the triangle area between
Park & Kenyon @ 14th St, next to Pollo Campero.
They've got some great food on hand!
---

I started trembling like a junkie instantly.

I've raved about Julia's already. And I've been going to the Dupont location regularly for a classic DC lunch on-the-hoof, and it's always a satisfying treat. Those "pillows of bliss" are cheap as hell and very tasty. As I said, Julia's deserves a place in DC's foodie paradise next to other heavy-hitters like Ben's Chili Bowl and the Florida Avenue Grill. Infact, we can just call that The Holy Trinity of DC food right there.

So I shut down the email and ran like a spastic idiot to the corner of 14th and Park.


I got my salteñas, asked if I could take a few photos inside, and spent the next few minutes munching happily whilst walking around the block like I owned the friggin' place. Like Paul Muni in the original Scarface. The world is mine.

To paraphrase Brundle-Fly:

Julia's Empanadas are inherently encouraging. They make a man a KING.


Of course everyone has their own priorities. For me, history will show that Julia's was much more meaningful than the new Target. At least in terms of repeat visits between the two places.

And a few doors down, the opening of D'vines (the beer/wine store for discriminating snobs like me who dig a Maudite now and then) will be the next big thing. Watch for that in a couple of weeks.

Links for the memories

Photo: Exquisitely restored Chevrolet Bel Air (my uneducated guess is 1956?), spotted on Sherman Avenue, NW Washington DC 11oct07.

Not much of substance to rant about, but it would be right to proclaim the newest additions to the link-list, for it is an honored place to be. Oh HELL yes. All links on IntangibleArts are personally safety-tested and are endorsed as Highly Groovy Things. A few recent inductees:

DC Soundclash is the online home of a collective of DJs currently spinning a cycle of three nights at Marx Cafe: Taking the Piss occurs on the penultimate Friday of every month and offers a mix of intelligent indie pop, early punk, psychedelic-mod-jangle-etc, amphetamine skiffle? All of the above. There's also Champion Superior Sound System (next one is 16nov), where you never know what the hell you'll hear: Caribbean spacerock nuevo-tango hip-hop psych-folk deep-funk? The mystery is the draw. The flagship event is Soundclash, on the last Friday of every month, with the best in trad Reggae, dub, and dancehall, often from choice vinyl 7" specimens lovingly hunted down by the DJs that week... The website represents all of this very well, with audio streams that preview the mixes for each gig. True DJ passion, rite.

The Gold Puppy is the new blog-home of Reya, who's previous "Gold Poppy" site was an easy favorite for its thoughtful meditations on life in a quiet Capitol Hill neighborhood. The Poppy was put to bed recently, but the bug never dies, does it? Re-launched as The Gold Puppy, her posts raise the bar for local bloggers for her quality of writing and sheer insight.

Prince of Petworth recently re-launched with a dedicated URL (no longer a wretched Blogger freebie like IntangibleArts! Ha!) and a new look. PoP represents our neighbors to the north nicely, with photos, analysis, interviews, random questions to the universe... And his dedicated tribe of Commenters keep it rocking, as well.

Delineate Design is the work of a DC graphic designer and illustrator, whose work covers marketing creative for print and web, as well as more experimental artforms and personal projects. Good stuff, I says.

The Vinyl District is an mp3 blog from another fellow graphic designer with a refreshingly diverse musical collection. Everything from Chet Baker to obscure 80s pop or 70s semi-underground punk and indie tunes. Each "morning wax" post offers a nice surprise.

BlueSausageInfant on MySpace? Great leaping Jeezus, man, what's this world coming to?