Dissonant Plane

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.

Dug a few interesting goodies out of the Anomalous Records archives (unsold new stock from mail order):

• Nurse With Wound  ”Automating Volume One”  CD  (United Dairies)  $30  - long out of print World Serpent edition
• Nurse With Wound  ”Automating Volume Two”  CD  (United Dairies)  $30  - long out of print World Serpent edition
• Nurse With Wound  ”Funeral Music For Perez Prado”  CD  (United Dairies)  $30  - long out of print World Serpent edition
• Nurse With Wound  ”Large Ladies With Cake In The Oven”  CD  (United Dairies)  $30  - long out of print World Serpent edition
• Nurse With Wound  ”Live at Bar Maldoror”  CD  (United Dairies)  $30  - long out of print World Serpent edition
• Nurse With Wound  ”Rat Tapes One”  CD  (United Dairies)  $18  - 18 tracks of unreleased outtakes, ltd. 1000
• Nzetwork Down  ”1/1996/1997″  CD  (Hasikamke)  $14  - underrated Japanse noise collages w/field recordings
• Off Ramp  ”Off Chance”  CD  (Ramp Records)  $10  - wild electronics from highly treated acoustic instruments
• One Ensemble of Daniel Padden CD  (Catsup Plate Records)  $11  - solo from Volcano The Bear member, ltd. 500
• Orange Head  ”Right Into the Sun”  CDR  (Cha-Bashira)  $15  - CDR, crazy vinyl abuse from Japan
• Organum  ”Ikon”  CD EP  (Robot Records / Siren Records)  $11  - only 16 min, but absolutely beautiful and recommended
• Organum & The New Blockaders  ”Pulp”  CD  (Robot Records)  $13  - early & essential U.K. noise from 1984
• Organum & The New Blockaders  ”Salute”  CD  (Robot Records)  $12  - intense noise collab from 1984; reissue of very rare tape
• Orhanyoj  ”1. Quartett”  CDR  (IRRAH-Verlag)  $17  - CDR, atonal horn quartet informed by modern classical
• Orhanyoj  ”2. Quartett”  CDR  (IRRAH-Verlag)  $15  - CDR, atonal horn quartet informed by modern classical
• O’Rourke, Jim  ”I’m Happy, and I’m Singing and a 1,2,3,4″  CD  (Mego)  $12  - loopy sound collages
• O’Rourke, Jim & Prime,Michael & Prevost, Eddie  ”Alpha Lemur Echo Two”  CD  (Mycophile Records)  $13  - members of Sonic Youth, Morphogenesis & AMM
• Osaka Bondage  ”Volume 2″  CD  (Shambala Records)  $15  - improvised experimental illbient textures
• Ostrowski, Matthew  ”Vertebra”  CD  (Pogus Productions)  $11  - wild sound collages
• Otomo Yoshihide & Voice Crack  ”Bits, Bots and Signs”  CD  (Erstwhile Records)  $12  - wonderful spacious quiet noise electronics
• Outer Sound Project, The CD  (Ecstatic Peace)  $12  - crazy lo-fi acoustic free for all & street recordings
• O Yuki Conjugate  ”Undercurrents (In Dark Water)”  CD  (Staalplaat)  $12  - flowing ambient with tribal rhythms; now out of print
• Prevost, Eddie / Organum  ”Flayed / Crux”  CD  (Matchless Recordings)  $17  - reissue of long out of print drone LP from 1987

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.  

Apr 29 2009 9:00P

threat

@ THREAT feat. The Genitals & Emergency Hand Puppet

IRON LUNG, AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER @ squid and ink Seattle Occultural Music Festival @ The Art Church Logic Probe, NDCV, noisepoetnobody @ the abby Sparkle Girl/Shining Ones/Hemingway/This Blinding Light @ at the Josephine Seattle Occultural Music Festival @ Gallery 1412 100PIECES & Dar Sirena @ The Mars Bar Seattle Occultural Music Festival @ The Chapel Hunab Ku , B/foot Barnacle, one car per green @ el corz Seattle Occultural Music Festival @ Jewelbox Cum on feel the boobiez @ the barnhouse Abiku, J/and the Groadies +++ @ Josephine Seattle Occultual Musik Festival @ rendezvous ChickenHed Church: PLASMATONE, SOUNDS LIKE MUSTARD, SLATES, OWL DENT @ Mr Spots Chai House FORREST FRIENDS, My Empty Phantom & Derek M. Johnson @ Rendezvous Threat w/ goly grim & in the age of terminal static @ merc Seattle Occultural Music Festival @ Gallery 1412 nofun nyc Blood Fountains, Hemingway, Mamiffer, Blowupnihilist @ josephine Seattle Occultural Music Festival @ Jewelbox nofun nyc At the head of the woods, shining ones @ funhouse MELVINS Alda, FoG, @ josephine [metal] Yokia no Uta @ FULLTILT MELVINS ChickenHed Church wolf eyes / black dice @ holy mountain Blue Sabbath Black Cheer / Blue Sabbath Black Fiji @ Josephine

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.