The Boys & Girls Club of America

Photo by Michael T. Kennedy, Ph.D.

Recently Roth Mobot was invited by Northwestern University to give one of their lecture/demonstrations of experimental musical instrument construction to a the local Science Club chapter of the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Patrick explained the principles of constructive failure, acoustic exploration, and rudimentary experimental electronics hacking to a group of approximately twenty students and their teachers.

The students have been studying how science is used in the creation and control of music and have been constructing their own instruments for the past few weeks. Their session will end in a week with a talent show of their instruments. They invited Patrick to be one of the "judges" at the show.

Read the Science Club's blog entry for more details and photos.

Roth Mobot Written up in DuPage Courier

The College of DuPage's student newspaper, the Courier, recently published an interview with Tommy and Patrick in their Arts section.

It's a nice write up, focusing on our approach to music, our re-purposing of discarded technology, and our academic focus on community building & academics.

If you have a moment give it a read and tell us what you think (you can leave comments on www.RothMobot.com).

New Monthly Lecture Series at eSymposium

photo by T Young

Saturday, 3/5/11, 12-3 PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge
3058 W Irving Park Rd.

For almost two years now various hackers, circuit benders, engineers, inventors, sculptors, and musicians have been meeting every Saturday at the weekly eSymposium, a lateral teaching/learning fab lab that focuses on experimental electronics and other DIY approaches to the "acquired technology arts."

Starting this Saturday, we will focus the first eSymposium of each month on a particular guest speaker to give an informal lecture about some technique, discovery, or passion that they have been pursuing.

This Saturday, our first speaker will be Tomer Gal (of Welcome Tomerica). He will be speaking about, and showing concrete examples of, using control voltage to synchronize various devices, different sources of control voltage, and using home made midi-to-control voltage conversion hardware to control multiple hacked and bent devices.

An excellent example of Tomer's technique in action can be heard in the audio archive of his stellar performance from this year's MEECAS.

We are currently booking lectures for this series. If you would like to be a guest speaker at the eSymposium please send a message via our Contact page.

TOYDEATH's 1st U.S. Tour Comes to Chicago!

Saturday, February 19, 10:00 PM, $7.00, 21+
The Viaduct Theatre, 3111 N Western Ave., Chicago

"...unique stage show... a deluge of circuit-bent sounds..."
~ The Chicago Reader

TOYDEATH, the cartoonish Australian-based band, bring their unique stage show to the U.S. for the first time. They exclusively use a collection of modified toys to create their music and perform fully decked in far-out costumes. 

LORD OF THE YUM YUM,
(aka Paul Velat) provides more smiles per gallon of free water than any other comedic, experimental performer who scat/throat-sings classical and popular melodies, in the greater Midwestern area. We are very lucky to have The Lord as our Host and our Master of Ceremonies for the evening!  

CMKT4, from DeKalb, IL, use guitar, bass, drums, synthesizers and circuit-bent toys to create textured anthems and crunchy, bluesy numbers bleeding into electronic, semi-improvised Kraut rock. 

ROTH MOBOT use a unique strategically improvised “recursive jazz” to control common discarded electronics and the misplaced humorous language of toys, to create symphonic soundscapes.

New Experimental Electronics Workshops

Workshops offered at
The Old Town School
Of Folk Music 
4544 N Lincoln Ave 
Register at 773-728-6000

More information on our Workshops page

 

Introduction to Circuit Bending Workshop
Sunday, February 6th, 2011, 1:00 - 4:50 PM
Take apart your old toys and make a brand new musical instrument

How to Build a Simple Contact Microphone Workshop
Sunday February 20th, 2011, 1:00- 2:50 PM
Contact mics are inexpensive, easy to build, and can be a source of new sounds for recording, art installations or live performances.

Intermediate Circuit Bending Workshop NEW!
Sunday, March 6th, 2011, 1:00 - 4:50 PM
This class will focus on the next level of electronics hacking. How to read and write electronics schematics, how to assemble and use home made oscillators to get more out of your devices. 

Build Your Own Portable Amplifier Workshop
Sunday, March 13th, 2011, 1:00 - 4:50 PM
This workshop will guide you step by step through the process of building your own standard, battery-powered, portable amplifier.

2010 - The Year In Review

2010 was a pretty good year for Roth Mobot.
Below is a list of some of the year's highlights.

None of it would be possible without your support.
From both of us - Thank you.

• We were well received in Paris
• Landed our first Chicago Elementary School gig
• Were called to audition for a program on the History channel
• Auditioned for America's Got Talent
• Conducted over seventy workshops and have added new advanced classes
• Doubled our weekly eSymposium membership
• Added to our mailing list
• Received new commissions for bent devices including Marco Benevento, and New York's School of Rock
• Mixed our first studio recording ("Stations" -- soon to be on iTunes, etc.)
• Quadrupled our followers on SoundCloud, YouTube, and Twitter
• Increased our number of live performances including our first EarthDay Virtual Concert
• Presented to a sold out crowd at TEDx Windy City
• Won the Best Presentation Award at google's ORD Camp 2010
• Were nominated for a Prix Ars Electronica Award in Austria
• Had our five year anniversary
• We were included in, and designed graphics for, a new "net label" compilation, Delete Function Vol. 1
• Conducted multiple lectures, including Columbia College and the Chicago Rotary Club
• Were involved in a University of Chicago Master's Thesis on Sociology (it received an 'A')
• We made tons of new friends
• Successfully increased the level of interactivity at the annual MEECAS
• And finally had some much-needed dental work done

LIVE at the ESS

Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio invited Roth Mobot to one of their fundraisers to demonstrate their approach to music composition on home made experimental electronic devices and circuit bent toys.

The evening began with a set by Dan Mohr on keyboards, looper, and vocals, and Adam Vida on drums. (google them, they have multiple sites each).

After Intermission, Tommy and Patrick rolled out a 20 minute improvisation on some of the themes used in Smile, SReach Out (Disconnect), and Hamburger Drive Thru.

Alex Inglizian recorded the set. He did a stunning job of capturing our sound. Nothing has been altered from the original recording.