Dissonant Plane

FREE IN STORE PERFORMANCE
ZAIMPH
THURSDAY, JUNE 18th, 2009
7:00 PM

Zaïmph is the solo project of Marcia Bassett, a New York City artist and musician. Flaubert, in his novel Salammbô, fabricated the Zaïmph. Bassett appropriated the name in 2003, releasing a handful of CD-rs on Heavy Blossom. Later CD and LP releases have appeared on numerous independent labels such as Hospital Productions, W.M.O.r, Utech Records, Gypsy Sphinx, Volcanic Tongue, and No Fun Productions.

A drop out from the music school elite, Zaïmph uses guitar and vocals to transform traditions of song writing and noise music. After spending years of ethonographical culture studies living within the decaying framework of the USA and Europe, she currently chooses to live in an ill-coded building perched above the streets of delicately arranged trash in New York City. Zaïmph conveys an environment of industrial grit and pleasure. The sound is both seductive and laden with the doom of the coming storm.

Marcia is also a member of Hototogisu (with Matthew Bower of Skullflower), GHQ, Double Leopards, Zaika (with Tom Carter of Charalambides) and defunct Siltbreeze band un.

http://www.zaimph.org/

FREE IN STORE PERFORMANCE

6:00 PM

The second Saturday of every month is the Ballard Art Walk. Since we have been staying open for the art walk, we thought we would make it more interesting by having some live music. So come join us from 6 to 8 this Saturday. We have a little something for everyone. Sparkle Girl will do a field recording and shortwave set. Hellgrammite present their underground black metal sound. Aural Antithesis & Gohger bring prepared violin and electronics. Amphetamine Virus mix dark beat and noise. All are local acts represented on the shelves of Dissonant Plane. It is a great way to check out a variety of local underground weirdness.

Zaïmph is the awesome solo noise project of Marcia Bassett.  Heavy mysterious noise drones.  She is half of Hototogisu (with Matthew Bower), one-third of GHQ one-quarter of Double Leopards, half of Zaika (with Tom Carter) and was in Siltbreeze band un.  Marcia’s Zaimph has released some fantastic vinyl, CDs and tapes on her own Heavy Blossom label as well as great labels like No Fun, Utech, Arbor, Volcanic Tongue, and Heavy Tapes.

FREE IN STORE PERFORMANCE

SIMON WICKHAM-SMITH

JONATHAN WAY

THURSDAY, MAY 28th, 2009

7:00 PM

Simon Wickham-Smith is an English musician who has been pumping out great records for a good two decades now.  Ranging from noisy and droney to more delicate acoustic improvisations, his work has covered a wide range.  Mostly in collaboration with Richard Youngs, Simon has released a large number of classic CDs and LPs through labels such as No Fans, VHF, Majora, Forced Exposure, Fourth Dimension, Ignivomous, PseudoArcana, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Insignificant and Pogus.  They still record together, however less frequently now and more of Simon’s recent recordings have been solos.  On top of all this, Simon was a Buddhist monk in the Karma Kagyü tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and has lately been busy with translation Mongolian literature into English.  You can find out a lot more about him here:

http://www.wickhamsmith.net/

http://www.myspace.com/simonwickhamsmith

From what I gather, Simon will be providing a nice drone for his in store performance at Dissonant Plane.

Also playing a short set this night will be Jonathan Way.  Like Simon, Jonathan is also a translator of Asian texts as well as a sound artist.  So it should come as no surprise that the two became friends when Simon relocated to Seattle.  Jonathan is probably best known for playing with the Seattle Phonographers Union.  Nonetheless, he has also had a CDR released by Greg Davis’ Autumn Records and a track on the “phonography.org 7″ compilation.  For this solo performance he will be mixing recordings of snow, brush and trees and combining them with the sounds of small improvisations.

Late next Thursday night is a screening the black metal documentary “Until the Light Takes Us“.  It’s only playing Thursday the 28th and Saturday the 30 at 11:30 PM and the directors will be there.  The film features Gylve “Fenriz” Nagell, Varg “Count Grishnackh” Vikernes, Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Blomberg, Kjetil “Frost” Haraldstad, Olve “Abbath” Eikemo, Harald “Demonaz” Nævdal, Harmony Korine, Bjarne Melgaard, Kristoffer “Garm” Rygg, and Bård “Faust” Eithun.  Plus it has music by Darkthrone, Mayhem, Burzum, Ulver, Thorns, Gorgoroth, Enslaved, Boards of Canada, Black Dice, Sunn 0))), Múm and Lesser.  Don’t miss your chance to see it on the big screen!  Details about these screenings can be found here:
http://www.nwfilmforum.org/live/page/calendar/892
and details about the movie are here:
http://www.blackmetalmovie.com/

Today’s guest blogger is yrs truly, Jim Evans of Sparkle Girl Thursday, May 21st: 7:00pm …Wind…Swept…Planes Thursday, May 28th: 7:00pm Simon Wickham-Smith and Jonathan Way As we approach one of my personal favorite holidays, May Day. We thought we would send out a new blog mentioning some of the cool things we have going on here at Dissonant Plane for the month of May.First order of business is to mention the cool instore performances we have coming up soon at the Plane.On Thursday, May 21st we’ll have ….Wind…Swept…Planes. Wind Swept Planes is the solo project of Chad Allen who also performs with Forrest Friends and Hellgrammite. Utilizing everything from scrapes, rattles, vocals, drums and guitar Chad manages to conjure up some bleak desolation in sound. What personally attracts me to the sound of WSP is the rugged mix of instruments with dark slow vocals. Listening to his great cd “The Rose, The Prickliest of Thorns” on Debacle Records I could hear elements of rough Tom Waits experimentation, the magnificent clatter of Finland’s Avarus as vocals delivered like Michael Morely.This should be a treat and you don’t want to miss out because Chad doesn’t often play out as Wind Swept Planes.Speaking of not missing out. One week later we have another instore. This time it is none other than the multitalented musician, translator and astrologer Simon Wickham-Smith! If you are not sure who Simon is this performance should open your eyes a little. Getting a handle on all the music Simon works with can be daunting. Starting with Richard Youngs in the A-Band (great stuff) his musical career has encompassed avant folk, electronic as well as truly experimental  music in a variety of releases on a multitude of labels. What is amazing is that along with a extensive discography of lovely challenging sound work  Simon has also traveled quite a bit, spent time in a monastery, is working on an astrology text focusing on intersex and transgendered people and if that is not enough to interest you he is also a leading translator of classic Mongolian literature. Whew. Come down to the store on May 28th to hear Simon perform with Jonathan Way. As for music, well, we’ve got lots. Speaking of Wind Swept Planes we not only have his cd on Debacle but also a couple of very limited cassettes handmade from the artist himself. We also have quite a few selections from the extensive catalog of Simon Wickham-Smith.Let’s not forget about the other killer shows we have going on our fair city. List courtesy of Mr. A. Moses.  

If you have been reading this blog, you’ve probably seen the name Demian Johnston a few times now.  Demian was in Playing Enemy and now is in Hemingway and Shining Ones.  However, he is also a solo artist and that is how he is best represented in our shop.  Through his label Dead Accents he’s released a pair of awesome yet contrasting cassettes.  The first we got is heavy and doomy with screaming vocals and guitar.   The latest, “Forever”, is more minimal and melodic ambient drone.  Both releases have come in beautiful packaging - not surprising as Demian is also a skilled visual artist having done artwork for the last three KTL releases, a Blue Sabbath Black Cheer 12″ and an upcoming Wolves in the Throne Room poster.  We’ve been impressed with his releases enough that we have asked him to play an in store on Friday the 3rd.  It will be a short set of about 16 to 20 minutes, but Demian will be bringing down his little stack of amps and laying down some sounds like his last cassette release.  Speaking of which, he only made 50 copies of “Forever”, of which half are already gone, so don’t miss out getting one of these beauties.  But if you want to know what we are excited about, come on down at 7 PM on the third and hear for yourself.  The event is free and will be held downstairs in Resolution Audio. 

We are pleased to be presenting an in store performance by Jason Kahn and Gust Burns.  Jason Kahn is originally from Los Angeles where he played with SST associated bands The Leaving Trains, Trotsky Icepick and Universal Congress Of.  In 1990, he relocated to Europe where he became a member of Arnold Dreyblatt’s Orchestra of Excited Strings.  From here his music started to change, becoming more quiet and restrained exploring minimal sound forms.  In 1998, he launched the label Cut in his new home Switzerland.  Between that time and the closure of the label at the beginning of this year, Cut published CDs by Repeat (a duo of Kahn and Toshimaru Nakamura), Tu m’, Jason Lescalleet, Tomas Korber, Günter Müller, Steinbrüchel, John Hudak & Bruce Tovsky, Taku Sugimoto, Norbert Möslang, Olivia Block, Gabriel Paiuk, Seth Nehil& JGrzinich, Signal Quartet, Ellen Fullman & Sean Meehan, Joe Gilmore, and Christian Weber as well as several solo discs and collaborations involving Kahn and these artists.  However, Kahn has also released a large number of solo and collaborative discs on other labels recently including Creative Sources, SIRR, For 4 Ears, (1.8)sec.records, Leerraum, Formed, Longbox, Xeric, Crouton, and/OAR, and Winds Measure Recordings.  From this long list, it should be quickly apparent that Jason Kahn’s music is widely enjoyed and in demand.  While in Seattle, he will be performing with Gust Burns.   Gust is less known the world of recorded music, but has published several fine releases on his CDR label Tone Action Family.  He’s better known locally as a regular on the free improvised circuit, and particularly as one of the organizers of the Seattle Improvised Music Festival and Gallery 1412.  In performance he often plays the inside of the piano coaxing delicate sounds one would normally not expect to hear from that instrument. For this night’s performance he will be supplementing the inside piano with electronics.  Often performing with both local and visiting international artists, he has time and again proven himself to have an excellent ear and skill for integrating with a wide variety of performance styles.  Among his collaborators have been Jeffrey Allport, Wally Shoup, Bob Marsh, and Jack Wright, and he has played music with Keith Rowe, Andrea Neumann, Tetuzi Akiyama, John Edwards and many others.

•  Thursday, April 9th starting at 7 PM downstairs in Resolution Audio - FREE

• April 9th (Thursday) @ 7:00 PM - Jason Kahn and Gust Burns
• May 28th (Thursday) @ 7:00 PM - Simon Wickham-Smith and Jonathan Way
• date to be determined - Zen Enthusia night with Levi Berner and others
• date to be determined - Matt Shoemaker
• date to be determined - …Wind Swept Plains…

All events are free and held downstairs in Resolution Audio.  More details posted soon.

Stuart Dempster, a self-described Sound Gather, will perform a short set on trombone and didjeridu using the glorious Resolution Audio sound system, followed by a new piece with guitarist Tanith Lanzillotta titled “Plain Dissonance”.

STUART DEMPSTER–Sound Gatherer–trombonist, composer, didjeriduist, et al, and Professor Emeritus at University of Washington, has recorded for numerous labels including Columbia, Nonesuch, and New Albion.  The latter includes In the Great Abbey of Clement VI at Avignon - a “cult classic” - and Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel consisting of music sources for a 1995 Merce Cunningham Dance Company commission.  Grants include:  Creative Associate at SUNYAB; Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois; Fulbright Scholar (Australia); NEA Composer Grant; US/UK and Guggenheim Fellowships.  Dempster, a leading figure in development of trombone technique and performance, published his landmark book The Modern Trombone: A Definition of Its Idioms in 1979.  A member of Cathedral Band and a founding member of Deep Listening Band, he has toured extensively and produced the first three DLB recordings.  Dempster is also known for soothing aches, pains, and psychic sores with his healing, yet playful, Sound Massage Parlor.  In June 2007 Dempster was a Deep Listening Convergence Artist in High Falls NY.  “Stuart Dempster ‘Sound Gatherer’” by Claire Sykes appears in Musicworks (#94 Spring 2006), and “Sedimental Journey” by Chris Stover appears in the International Trombone Journal (April 2006).  October 2008 saw the release of Deep Listening Band’s new high end dbl LP on TAIGA “Then & Now Now & Then” Celebrating the Band’s 20 Years.