Wednesday, April 27, 2011

TRANSISTOR Performance

Photo by Bob
Roth Mobot was asked to perform a few of their strategically improvised recursive jazz pieces at TRANSISTOR in Chicago as the opening act for Tim Kaiser's "Numbers Station Test Pressing Tour." A huge "thank you" to audience member, Bob, for recording the performance with his iPhone. The piece is broken up into three main sections.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Cedar Rapids Eco Arts Festival 2011

Photo by BG
Roth Mobot was invited to conduct one of their circuit bending workshops in Cedar Rapids for the annual Eco Arts Festival.

The festival centers around the theme of reclaiming and re-using materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill somewhere. We represented the "electronics" contingency.

We arrived at the Cherry Building (a warehouse-sized space undergoing a creative renaissance) and were guided by our hosts to a room full of electronic toys donated by Stuff Etc. - an excellent local resale shop.

After five hours we had taught a bunch of adults and children how to "bend" toys, and were interviewed by the local news station.


Roth Mobot on TV!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Crowdsourced 1.0 @ The Empty Bottle

Sunday, April 10, 2011, 7:00 - 10:00 PM
The Empty Bottle, 1035 N Western Ave., Chicago, $3
Photo by Scott Rettberg
To the unfamiliar, "crowdsourced" means that the content that is the most popular "rises to the top" via votes--as in, the crowd chooses what's the most relevant. Threadless is a good example: only the designs that are voted hottest actually make it to production.

Electronic music fans and supporters were asked to vote on a number of submissions from Chicago artists to determine the lineup for a night of entertainment at the Empty Bottle. Approximately 600 online-votes later, the results were in, and the top four acts were picked, and will perform in order of the number of votes received.

Crowdsourced 1.0 Lineup:
dreamlogicc 9:15pm
Protman 8:30pm
Roth Mobot 7:45pm
Polyfuse 7:00pm

Tim Kaiser & Roth Mobot, Live @ TRANSISTOR

Photo by Tom Young
Friday, April 22, 8 PM
TRANSISTOR
5045 N. Clark St., Chicago
$5 suggested donationBYOB

TRANSISTOR presents experimental circuit bent performers Tim Kaiser and Roth Mobot. According to Art Tape, "Tim Kaiser not only creates compelling musical soundscapes, but he does it all with instruments he has built -- truly hand-made music for the atmospheric aficionado." Says Kaiser, “My music is atmospheric; I’m not as concerned with melody or rhythm as I am with texture and feeling… …perhaps I’m creating a kind of folk music from the future.” (Source: Theatre Intangible interview with Tim Kaiser). More of Tim's work at www.TimKaiser.org.
Photo by Tom Young
Roth Mobot's Patrick McCarthy and Tommy Stephenson have been transforming music composition from an activity of composition and "correct duplication" to exploration and "sonic discovery" with their strategically improvised "recursive jazz" performed on home made experimental and circuit bent devices since 2005. More at www.RothMobot.com.