Welded sheet metal and springs have a contact-mic dialog with modular synths in a chillingly brilliant EP by Hiro Kone and Roxy Farman (Wetware). All proceeds benefit Pakistan relief, and today is Bandcamp Friday.
MVMNTS is firey, thunderous stuff – like being inside an industrial warehouse during a hurricane-slash-alien invasion. There are modular squeals and hums, twisted metal, and cascades of timbres colliding. The duo’s opus is an output of a residency at Pioneer Works, prior to a public performance there that added in more materials. Here, the EP focuses on the spring-metal instrument, welded together by Pioneer Works Technical Director Kyle Keays.
The connection to relief for Pakistan isn’t only symbolic, either – Roxy has family there and is working directly with connections on the ground to provide relief in the aftermath of the country’s catastrophic flooding. So it’s well worth sending some support (US$5 or your choice of donation or gift). They’ll turn funding back to COVID Bail Out NYC after this collection, and check their other releases while you’re shopping.
Full description with today’s updated statement:
As you know over 33 million people are currently displaced in Pakistan. A horror that is directly the result of the global norths ceaseless carbon emissions. Two years ago when the pandemic started, Roxy and I put out a small EP of our time at Pioneer Works to help raise money for Covid Bail Out NYC. We are momentarily diverting those funds today and for the next week to relief efforts in Pakistan. Roxy is currently speaking with friends families in order to determine the best way of getting funds there either through mutual aid groups and/or families directly. We will update later but for times sake and because it’s Bandcamp Friday we will take up collection now. Every cent helps. Thank you.
—-
During their August 2019 music residency at Pioneer Works, Roxy Farman (Wetware) and Hiro Kone conceived of a very large metal instrument made out of sheet metal and springs, welded together by Kyle Keays. Using contact mics attached to the instrument while playing, they could send envelope and gate triggers to the modular synth, eliciting a call and response between these two dynamically different instruments. The following is a series of experiments from that period.
These sessions were captured live in the studio at Pioneer Works, ahead of their public performance which utilized video, voice, violin, modular and the spring board instrument.
Check Pioneer Works space in Red Hook, Brooklyn – it’s a fascinating combination of science and art and community building, and a new spiritual successor to the likes of Bucky Fuller and Black Mountain College, updated with 21st-century technology and inclusivity.
And let’s check in with more from these two soon, hopefully.