For those of you unfamiliar with it, Monkeytown is pretty much the premiere spot in New York for audiovisual performance/live cinema-ish stuff. It’s an intimate yet airy room with big screens on all four walls, and table seating, arranged in a square, facing inward. The end result is a very immersive environment, perfect for what Josh and I will be doing. If you haven’t seen the preview video, check it out here for an idea of what we’ll be doing. Zeke Honig will be opening for us in the first set, and modern classical composerAnna Clyne’s band, the Curly Wurlies, will be opening the second set.

Airships Fill The Sky is Boomkat’s album of the week, which is nice! Thanks to all the folks who wrote in responding to the giveaway offer. The two CD’s are currently in transit to Wisconsin and Italy. Sorry to those of you who weren’t quick enough.

A few artists I’ve been feeling lately: Kennith Kirshner and Billy Gomberg. Kirschner’s music is very abstract in nature. There’s not much discernable pulse, not much hummable melody. Each piece of his I’ve listened to seems to be exploring a single idea with a fair amount of rigor. So moving through his work gives the feeling of moving through a number of unique worlds, each tied together by consistent elements of clarity, openness, and abscence of simple tonality and rhythm. It’s nice stuff. He gives it all away for free on his web site. Billy Gomberg’s work is simarly abstract, generally pulseless, with some of the nicest fusion technical prowess, deep exploration of sound generation techniques, and general listenability that I’ve come across in a while. Gomberg will be doing a set at the upcoming Fine Diving event on July 21st in Brooklyn which I’m working to organize.

I’m about to send this out as a spam to all my friends. What the hell. Why not put it up here while I”m at it!

A few words on what I’m up to, and what the next few months hold.

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ALBUM/DVD IS DONE, AVAILABLE DIGITALLY
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Free copy to the first person who reads this and emails me (morgan@morganpackard.com).

Another free copy to the first person I’ve never met who does the same.

First, Airships Fill the Sky / Unsimulatable is done, mastered, manufactured. It’s my first solo album (the Airships part), plus a DVD documenting the very rich collaboration which has grown between myself and visualist Joshue Ott (the Unsimulatable part). The packaging is gorgeous, and I’m quite proud of the contents.

A few review quotes completely removed from context:

“it’s this sort of experimentation that keeps it leagues ahead of the pack”
~smallfish records

“lugubrious grace”
~resident advisor

“Glitchy synths and beats
Makes the dang accordion
Somewhat bearable”
~Edmonton Vue Weekly

“(dare I say it) a near perfect debut”
~WHITE_LINE

For a preview of the album and DVD, go to
http://www.anticipaterecordings.com/releases/ANT_002/index.php

For digital downloads, go to your favorite mp3 store:
beatport.com
itunes
emusic.com

To buy the physical release, including the DVD, sit tight a few weeks.

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SAVE THE DATE: “UNSIMULATABLE” RELEASE PARTY (Friday, July 6th)
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Josh and I will be performing, along with some special guests at Brooklyn’s audiovisual mecca, MonkeyTown, on Friday, July 6th. It’s going to be intimate, completely overwhelmingly immersive, and awesome. We want you to come.

monkeytownhq.com

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SAVE ANOTHER DATE: “FINE DIVING #1″ (Saturday, July 21)
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My friends and I have noticed that there’s not much going on in the city in the space in between full-on party dance music and deeply conceptual experimental stuff. We want a place where we can go hear minimalist-leaning, electronically-aware, forward-thinking music and not have to be too overly precious about it. So we’ve decided to put on an event. I’m going to be a bit hush-hush about the details, but suffice it to say we’re going to provide a very comfortable atmosphere, and some very cool, very enjoyable music. And, after the listening is done, maybe we’ll have a little party too.

Sign up for the mailing list at:

finediving.org

It’s done, and you can have it soon if you want!

Audio Preview:
http://www.anticipaterecordings.com/releases/ANT_002/index.php

Video Preview
http://www.anticipaterecordings.com/files/video/Unsimulatable_preview_1_final.mov

Back from an intense weekend at the Mutek festival. Lots of fun, but… these days fun often feels like work to me. Huge concentration of motivated, talented people there. Highlights for me were Mark Templeton and Aaron Munson’s guitar/sharpie-on-film-loop duo, Robert Henke’s ambient set, and finally meeting mr. Henke (me: I’ve wanted to shake your hand for a long time, him: well, how does it feel, me: um… fleshy). I’m feeling very busy, and questioning the value of this busy-ness. Haven’t written any music worth mentioning for months. But I’m attending to the logistical elements of life and art; making money, making connections, making things happen. Working with my friends Josh and Eva to launch a new events series, Fine Diving. First event will be July 21st. DVD release party at Monkeytown July 6th. Hopefully the very talented Anna Clyne and her Curly Wurlies will be joining us for the show. Heard some nicely played prepared piano by Hauschka which made me wonder if pursuing some similar sounds might not be a very interesting way for me to keep following the texural paths which have caught my attention while satisfying my yearning to explore tonality and melody.