Clavius Productions presents:
Saturday, December 22
611 Florida Ave NW WDC
8pm, $5 suggested donation
202-360-9739 for info
BYOW!
Escalade (psych/post-rock from Japan by way of CT, Cuckundoo Records)
Melissa Moore (solo experimental folk/psych from Baltimore)
SLim Castle (DC solo experimental electric guitar with projections, mem. of Child Ballads/ex-Kohoutek)
Stymphalian Birds & White Stags (DC solo bass excursions a la Thrones)
Escalade
http://www.escalader.net/
http://www.myspace.com/escaladers
Escalade is the songwriting output of Greg Sullivan, currently based in Tokyo. With its beginnings literally in the studio, during a stint as an assistant engineer at a rural artists' retreat, the project and its songs were then flung out on the road. Embarking on a self-imposed exile across the Pacific to New Zealand, the band's first release, and the subsequent basics for a debut album were arranged and recorded whilst living in backpacks, and at an artists' loft co-op located in a former printing press in downtown Wellington. The first images of an "escalade" were largely instilled by the image of spiraling up a never-ending stairway towards infinity -- a scene from a children's fantasy novel. Also a reference to overcoming the things lying in one's figurative way, journeys internal and external abound.
Along the way, the song "X's & O's" was cut direct-to-disc by lathe record artist Peter King, and self-released as a 10" single. With several new songs already written, the help of
Wellington's Inca studios was enlisted, and a local drum shop provided a nearby rehearsal space where rhythm parts were diligently pounded out. Due to isolation of various kinds, work on the first album began as a solo project by default. Fast-forward to a full-time life in Japan, where with the help of various players the songs blossomed slowly, pieced together like an audio jigsaw puzzle. Aiming to expand each song to its fullest capacity through the use of a wide variety of instruments, the result is a sonic palette that locks in clock-like synchronicity, yet still knows how to swing. Guitars are woven intricately into patterns that connect the dots between points of reference within each contrasting song. Their mix of spindly and droned chord-progressions leave the chromatic jazz-pop harmonies, twisted to scintillate in a daydream haze. The soundtrack to a rush up that endless staircase rings in exquisite tragedy, like the slow-motion staccati of a crystal chandelier falling to the floor.
Escalade is predominantly the work of multi-instrumentalist Greg Sullivan, a New Zealander based in Tokyo. For his debut single "X's & O's," Sullivan plots a remarkable piece of experimental rock that touches on groups such as Sonic Youth and Polvo, yet retains elements of originality.
Kicking off with a languid beat and a distant synth progression, Sullivan's laid-back vocal style soon weaves an alluring melody. But it is the guitar work here that should be most of interest, as superb No Wave inspired guitar ripples across the mix. It's not long before we are catapulted into a fantastic guitar/bass/drum workout that recalls Moore, Gordon, Ranaldo et al at their finest.
Finding a fine balance between experimentation and melody, towards the end of this track Escalade ingeniously mixes brass instrumentation
with acoustic overdubs, skewed guitar chops, screeching feedback, mobile phone chirps, hypnotic vocals and steady percussion. Totally
inventive and thoroughly engaging, this is wonderful debut record. Catch Escalade touring the UK early next month. (Angry Ape)
Melissa Moore
http://www.myspace.com/tauandtwilight
WhisPers for WoLves is the solo pysch/noise/folk project of Melissa Moore. The musician, experimental instrument builder,
installation/sound artist, and sculptor was born in Washington DC in 1975 and is now based in Baltimore, MD. Moore's gallery and performative sound work ranges from noisy fingerpicking folk guitar, invented instruments, voice, song, and electronics to music based in field
recording composition. Her composed work involves the magnification of minute sound sources, focusing attention on the physical properties of materials and unusual acoustic phenomena in a reductive and elemental way. She works with such diverse sources as field recordings, fire, water, invented instruments, electronics, percussion, wind instruments,
acoustic-folk guitar and voice. Her music and performance work often has an installation quality that belies its deep aesthetic and
philosophical considerations. Her current music project is titled "Language of the Dards" (tau and twiLight sing 100,000 songs of
Milarepa). It is a multi-part series of pieces developed around the text/teachings/songs of Indian Yogi, Milarepa. Currently there are (4)
10-minute recordings of voice/fingerpicking guitar, Nepalese oboe, and electronics. Melissa also developed and curates the Baltimore
electro-acoustic/multi-channel sound series, SoundPillow Series. She was selected to perform High Zero 2005/2007, an international experimental music festival in Baltimore, MD. She has also performed at Straulau 68, LaborSonar, and Lichtblick Kino in Berlin, Germany, Elastic Arts and Something Else Radio in Chicago, Illinois, Homemade Festival in New
York, the Redroom and 14 Karat Cabaret in Baltimore and other venues in the US. Her present work is an intersection of sound, sculpture, and installation.
Slim Castle
http://www.myspace.com/slimcastle
Slim Castle is built around a goosebump factory. The engineers examined the goosebump architecture of bad bands and transposed it to a setting with a lot more taste, stretching the most cathartic sections.
The results sometimes sound like Charles Bronson's early, furtive watercolors -- blunt, broad washes on burlap that aren't scared of beauty, but have some grit and backbone. Other more frilly tracks are laced with sketchy aural pentimenti and outlined mistake.
In live performance the recordings are stripped down and scrawled over with gestural guitar, lit with syncopated video, made rough and immediate.