Roth Mobot Will Recreate Their "Paris Demo" This Friday at 'Banter'

'Banter'
Friday, June 29, 8:00 PM - 1:30 AM
Reversible Eye
1103 N. California Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60622 (map)

‘Banter’ explores the sonic contributions from fine people in and around the experimental electronic and acoustic scenes while providing a forum to discuss esoteric subjects and then dance all that knowledge out in a room full of pretty pictures. For this 3-tiered explosion of culture the evening's schedule is as follows:

8:00 PM - Doors Open

8:30 PM - ROTH MOBOT, The "Paris Demo"
In a rare hybrid appearance, the Circuit Bending duo of Tommy Stephenson and Patrick McCarthy, will recreate their infamous "Paris Demo" (which brought down the house at the OFFF Festival). They will conduct a short lecture, a live demonstration of "Circuit Bending," followed by one of their unique strategically improvised "recursive jazz" performances on brand new homemade experimental electronic devices. The audience will then have a hands-on opportunity to examine the devices after the performance in an interactive Q&A session.

10:00 PM - Treasure Mammal, Live Performance

11:00 PM - Decimus, Live Performance

12:00 AM - The Drum, Live Performance

Presented by AdHoc.fm and Brent Heyl. Special thanks to PBR for providing complimentary beer!!

FREE Open Sound Lab at ESS

Friday, June 29th, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM ~FREE~

The Experimental Sound Studio

5925 North Ravenswood Ave. Chicago, IL 60660 (map)

The ESS will be opening the doors to their fantastic north-side digital studio and gallery for the first of three summer Open Sound Labs. Artists, musicians, fans, and the curious are encouraged to bring completed projects, works in progress, or just themselves to this informal Show & Tell / Project Making/ Experimental Open Mic / Studio Tour.

Have you taken a workshop at the ESS in the past and have follow-up questions? Are you thinking of taking a workshop at the ESS and have inquiries? Are you an experimental musician who just wishes to meet other artists in a constructive environment?

The ESS Open Experimental Sound Lab is the meeting place for experimental musicians and inventors of all ages to gather, work on projects, discuss their work, jam, and network.

Recent Workshop in Chicago Reader

Grab this week's Reader. Our first in a series of summer workshops has been listed in the AGENDA section (top of page 7). You can also read about it on the Reader's web site.

Summer Workshop Series Announced

Given the popularity of last summer's series of Getting Bent workshops, Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio has again enlisted Patrick McCarthy to lead another series of affordable workshops over the course of the summer of 2012. This year, in addition to the adult classes, we're offering a whole series of classes geared toward younger circuit benders, as well as informal 'Open Labs,' and an opportunity for students to show off their inventions at a culminating recital/expo.

In addition to the schedule below there are more details as to how to best prepare for the workshops on Roth Mobot's Workshops page.

Sunday, June 17th, 1:00PM - 5:00PM
Introduction to Circuit Bending (Adults)*
Take apart an old toy and make a brand new musical instrument! No previous electronics experience is required!

Sunday, June 24th, 1:00PM - 4:00PM
Introduction to Experimental Music & Instruments (Kids)
This workshop specifically designed for children ages 11 - 14 yrs. explores making your own musical instruments out of common household materials and how to create your own music on them.

Friday, June 29th, 1:00PM - 4:00PM
Open Experimental Sound Lab
The ESS Open Experimental Sound Lab is the meeting place for experimental musicians of all ages to gather, work on their projects, and discuss their work.

Sunday, July 22nd, 1:00PM - 5:00PM
Introduction to Homemade Electroacoustics (Adults)
This workshop teaches the physics of a contact mic, the simplicity of its construction from reclaimed materials, and the basics of DIY electroacoustic instrument design and construction. No previous electronics experience is required!

Friday, July 27th, 1:00PM - 4:00PM
Open Experimental Sound Lab
See above.

Sunday, July 29th, 1:00PM - 4:00PM 
Introduction to Homemade Electroacoustics (Kids)
Students ages 11- 14 will learn the basics of DIY (Do It Yourself) experimental electroacoustic musical instrument design and construction.

Sunday, August 19th, 1:00PM - 5:00PM
How to Build a Controller Oscillator (Adults)
learn how to read electronics schematics, how to assemble a homemade oscillator, and how to use it to control and trigger electronic devices.

Sunday, August 26th, 1:00PM - 5:00PM
How to Build a Vactrol Sequencer (Adults)
Various devices can be triggered in predictable (and sometimes unpredictable!) patterns using this simple circuit.

Friday, August 31, 1:00PM - 4:00PM
Open Experimental Sound Lab Recital / Expo
This final Open Lab session will culminate in a recital of devices constructed over the summer by various participants of all ages. Other instruments will be on display in an interactive exposition wherein audience members can explore homemade experimental musical devices and their sounds.

EGS5 Written Up in The Onion's AV Club

The Onion's A.V. Club has written a nice blurb about GetLoFi.com's upcoming fifth annual Experimental Garage Sale to be held on June 9th, from Noon - 6:00 PM at Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio, 5925 N Ravenswood Ave. (map)

The #EGS5 is the event for anyone interested in circuit bending, toy hacking, or experimental electronics in general.Circuit benders from all over the Midwest will come together for this FREE one-day event to sell their modified and bent gear, as well as their surplus materials (all circuit benders have a "hording problem").

Vendors: (so far...)

  GetLoFi - www.GeLoFi.com/shop

  Unatronics - www.Unatronics.org

  Roth Mobot  - www.RothMobot.com -- Including Tommy's "Blamps!"

  Hack Me Electronics - www.HackMeOpen.com

  CMKT4 - www.facebook.com/CMKT4

  Delp Tronics - www.Delptronics.com

  Tim Kaiser - www.Tim-Kaiser.org -- NOTE the "hyphen" !!

  Steven Buck - www.StevenBuck.us

  Pelzwik - www.myspace.com/pelzwik

  Mark Hoffman - www.stompthatbox.com

  None Electronics - www.nonelectronics.com

Martie Sander's & Patrick McCarthy's Final TAD Fellowship Project

Patrick McCarthy & Martie Sanders conducting the Gardentronic Synthesizer at TAD

Roth Mobot's Patrick McCarthy and Sweat Girl's Martie Sanders recently teamed up for their Teaching Artists Development Studio fellowship final project. The results were an informative report, and a community-based experiment that proved to be an elegant interactive hybrid of their art pedagogy.

Martie's and Patrick's research, and more photos, are posted on their project blog -- www.Gardentronics.blogspot.com.

Excellent Article on "Noise as Music"

After hours of interviews, and months of research, 21st century avant-garde artist Arvo Zylo has published a monumental piece on Chicago's noise scene in the April 4th edition of New City magazine.

The article, Escape from Noise: Is This Not Music? is an excellent synopsis that traces the roots and meaning of the noise movement, it's effects upon the listener, as well as its place in the ever-expanding oeuvre of music.

The article mentions Roth Mobot in the thirteenth paragraph along with a photo of the condensed version of our rig.

Under the nom de guerre "Arvo Fingers," the article's author hosts the excellent radio program, The Delirious Insomniac, on Chicago's WLUW, 88.7 FM, at Midnight on Monday nights. Tune in some evening to experience a bit of what the New City article describes. Perhaps you'll be inspired to come to a show and immerse your ears in the unexpected while supporting local artists.