frey

bleep

Bleep was a series of workshops run for local musicians in Wellington, New Zealand, interested in performing with electronic instruments.

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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/bleepworkshops.

bleep #3: Deadbeat

Deadbeat has agreed to come and give a presentation and lead a jam session at the next Bleep workshop. Rad.

It’s on Monday the 23rd of October (Labour Day), from 7pm, at Happy, cnr Vivian and Tory St, Wellington. Entry is by koha/donation. Bring your own musical instruments and amplifiers. There is a PA, but it’s better if everyone has their own amp..

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

11 October 2006

Press Contact: Damian Stewart, ph 027 305 4107, email damian@frey.coNOSPAM.nz

INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC MUSIC STAR TO LEAD LOCAL �BLEEP� MUSIC WORKSHOP

For the first time, the Bleep workshops will be led by an international star of the electronic music world: Montreal-based dub/techno master Scott Monteith aka Deadbeat, touching down fresh from the Red Bull Music Academy in Melbourne to present his skills at Happy on Monday the 23rd of October.

Appearing a day ahead of his gig at the San Francisco Bath House the following night, Monteith will give a short presentation explaining music-making strategies he has seen work effectively in live situations, and then workshop participants will get down to business trying them out for themselves, using their own music gear.

Monteith’s presence will lend world-class talent to local musicians. �I�ve had a fair amount of experience jamming with other people,� Monteith says, �ranging from the kind of tag team stuff I do with Steve [Beaupre] as Crackhaus, the online solution Robert [Henke, aka Monolake] and I developed for Atlantic Waves, right up to the 10 to 12 person jam sessions which Mutek events here are notorious for turning into in the wee hours of the morning.�

The workshop will be held at Happy, corner Tory and Vivian St, from 7pm on Monday 23rd of October. Entry is by koha/donation. To register or for more information, please contact Damian Stewart on 027 305 4107, email damian@frey.coNOSPAM.nz, or visit the website at http://www.frey.co.nz/bleep.

Additional information about the Bleep workshops:

This is the third in the series of Bleep workshops for people who make music with machines. The workshops aim to get likeminded people together to meet and to explore music making with others in a loosely-directed informal workshop setting.

�People shouldn’t be put off by the idea of music made using machines,� says Damian Stewart, aka Frey, the organiser of the workshops, who will be performing as support for Monteith�s Deadbeat gig the next night at the San Francisco Bath House. �If you�ve ever seen inside a piano, you’ll know that it�s a complicated mechanical device: it�s a machine. It�s the musician that makes the music – the musician playing the piano, or in our case, the musician playing the computers and the electronic machinery.�

The Bleep workshops are supported by a CreativeNZ/Wellington City Council Creative Communities grant.

The Bleep workshops have a web site at http://www.frey.co.nz/bleep

Additional information about Scott Monteith aka Deadbeat:

With music released to consistent critical acclaim on the Cynosure, Intr_version, Revolver, and ~scape labels, and having performed at Barcelona�s Sonar festival, Berlin�s Transmediale, and Montreal�s Mutek, Monteith is well-versed in the art of electronic music-making and live performance. �We are greatly honoured to have Scott here to show us what�s going on overseas,� says Damian Stewart, organiser of the Bleep workshops. �He brings international ideas to New Zealand, ideas that we would have no way of getting otherwise.�

Monteith has a web site at http://www.techno.ca/deadbeat

ENDS

bleep #2

bleep #2 is all about circuit bending. Circuit bending is the art of short-circuiting sound-making devices to make them make more interesting sounds.

There’s a great circuit bending primer at Reed Ghazala’s Art of Circuit Bending website. It’s surprisingly easy to do and heaps of fun.

For the workshop, we’ll be providing some table space and one or two soldering irons. Please bring as much of your own electronics gear as you can, because we can’t provide that much. If you want to make your bends permanent, please bring along a few dollars to cover the cost of components.

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and here’s a media release :-)

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MEDIA RELEASE
14/07/2006
Attn: Arts/Editor Reporter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLEEP CIRCUIT BENDERS MAKE FOR BLEEPING GOOD TIME

The “bleep” workshop crew, champions of music made using machines,
bring circuit bending — the art of torturing, transplanting, and
grafting electronic sound-making devices — to life in a once-only
show at Happy on Wednesday the 26th of July, at 9pm SHARP.

“We take cheap battery-powered noise-making toys, ones you can buy
from The Warehouse or The $2 Shop, and disassemble and deliberately
short circuit their electronics — teaching them to speak with the
most alien and unique new voices you have ever heard,” says Damian
‘frey’ Stewart, the organiser of the event. “Then we take them to the
stage, and see what kind of music we can make with them.”

The circuit bending show is preceded by a workshop on Sunday the 23rd
of July from 4pm — the Sunday before the show — and thanks to a
grant from the Wellington City Council’s Creative Communities funding
scheme, it is free and open to anyone who would like to join in the
torturing.

Those who just want to hear the new voices the circuits are given can
come along to watch the show, which costs $5. The show will feature
the circuits that were taken to the workshop and tortured,
transplanted, and grafted — or bent, if you prefer — engaging in
short musical duets and group performances with the aid of their
torturers, transplanters, and grafters.

Given all of the torturing of poor defenceless circuits going on,
does Stewart expect electronics rights activists to come chasing
after him? “I don’t think so. I mean, the circuits are clearly
happier when they’re making better sounds. If you were a toy phone
that could only make eight different noises wouldn’t you rather be
speaking a more interesting language? I know I would.”

This show is the second in the “bleep” series of workshops and
performances for people who make music using machines. The idea
behind the workshops, the first of which drew 18 participants, is to
get like-minded people together, to explore new musical ideas, and to
have lots of fun — and then perform the ideas explored in a live show
at Happy the following week.

“People shouldn’t be put off by the idea of music made using
machines,” says Stewart. “If you’ve ever seen inside a piano, you’ll
know that it’s a complicated mechanical device — it’s a machine.
It’s the musician that makes the music — the musician playing the
piano, or in our case, bending the circuit.”

For participants in the workshop, some componentry and equipment will
be provided, but they will need to supply their own circuit to bend.
“Something electronic and battery powered that makes sound that you
don’t mind disassembling and modifying — a toy phone, a
keyboard, a Furby doll, a speak’n’spell toy computer, anything
really.”

To register for the free workshop on Sunday the 23rd of July contact:
Damian Stewart
027 305 4107
damian@frey.co.nz
http://www.frey.co.nz/bleep

Gig details:
bleep #2: circuit benders
Wednesday 26th of July
9pm SHARP
Happy
$5 on the door

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bleep #1

while_you_were_sleeping presents

bleep

live music workshops

for people who make music
using machines

sunday june 11
4pm
wellington arts centre
abel smith st

free entry

bring machines that make music

computers synths amps toys
circuits hacks pedals tapes

please RSVP or contact Damian for more info:
027 305 4107
damian(at)frey(dot)co(dot)nz

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The idea goes like this: book a space, fill it with musicians who make noises using electric things; have a jam, work out some ideas, take it to a gig at Happy (the first is confirmed for Wednesday the 21st of June and will have a $5 waged/koha unwaged cover charge). Everyone has fun, hopefully some interesting music comes out. And then in six weeks, we do it all again.

Thanks to CreativeNZ and the Wellington City Council/Creative Communities funding scheme for grant provision.