#david darg

[kemetic-dreams]

David Ruggles was born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1810. His parents, David Sr. and Nancy Ruggles, were free African Americans. His father was born in Norwich in 1775 and worked as a journeyman blacksmith. His mother was born in 1785 in either Lyme or Norwich and worked as a caterer. Ruggles was the first of eight children.

In 1826, at the age of sixteen, Ruggles moved to New York City, where he worked as a mariner before opening a grocery store. Nearby, other African-Americans ran grocery businesses in Golden Hill (John Street east of William Street), such as Mary Simpson (1752-March 18, 1836). After 1829, abolitionist Sojourner Truth (born Isabella ("Bell") Baumfree; c. 1797 – November 26, 1883) also lived in lower Manhattan. At first, he sold liquor, then embraced temperance. He became involved in anti-slavery and the free produce movement. He was a sales agent for and contributor to The Liberator and The Emancipator, abolitionist newspapers.

After closing the grocery, Ruggles opened the first African American-owned bookstore in the United States. The bookstore was located on Lispenard Street near St. John's park in what is today the Tribeca neighborhood. Ruggles' bookstore specialized in abolitionist and feminist literature, including works by African-American abolitionist Maria Stewart. He edited a New York journal called The Mirror of Liberty, and also published a pamphlet called The Extinguisher. He also published "The Abrogation of the Seventh Commandment" in 1835, an appeal to northern women to confront husbands who kept enslaved African women as mistresses.

Ruggles was secretary of the New York Committee of Vigilance, a radical biracial organization to aid fugitive slaves, oppose slavery, and inform enslaved workers in New York about their rights in the state. New York had abolished slavery and stated that slaves voluntarily brought to the state by a master would automatically gain freedom after nine months of residence. On occasion, Ruggles went to private homes after learning that enslaved Africans were hidden there, to tell workers that they were free. In October 1838, Ruggles assisted Frederick Douglass on his journey to freedom, and reunited Douglass with his fiancé Anna Murray. Rev. James Pennington, a self-emancipated slave, married Murray and Douglass in Ruggles' home shortly thereafter. Douglass' autobiography 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass' explains "I had been in New York but a few days, when Mr. Ruggles sought me out, and very kindly took me to his boarding-house at the corner of Church and Lespenard Streets. Mr. Ruggles was then very deeply engaged in the memorable Darg case, as well as attending to a number of other fugitive slaves, devising ways and means for their successful escape; and, though watched and hemmed in on almost every side, he seemed to be more than a match for his enemies."

Ruggles was especially active against kidnapping bounty hunters (also known as "blackbirds"), who made a living by capturing free African people in the North and illegally selling them into slavery. With demand high for slaves in the Deep South, another threat was posed by men who kidnapped free blacks and sold them into slavery, as was done to Solomon Northup of Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1841. With the Vigilance Committee, Ruggles fought for fugitive slaves to have the right to jury trials and helped arrange legal assistance for them.

His activism earned him many enemies. Ruggles was physically assaulted and his bookshop was destroyed through arson. He quickly reopened his library and bookshop. There were two known attempts to kidnap him and sell him into slavery in the South. His enemies included fellow abolitionists who disagreed with his tactics. He was criticized for his role in the well-publicized Darg case of 1838, involving a Virginia slaveholder named John P. Darg and his slave, Thomas Hughes.

Ruggles suffered from ill health, which intensified following the Darg case. In 1841, his father died, and Ruggles was ailing and almost blind. In 1842, Lydia Maria Child, a fellow abolitionist and friend, arranged for him to join a radical Utopian commune called the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, in the present-day village of Florence, Massachusetts.

Applying home treatment upon hydropathic principles, he regained his health to some degree, but not his eyesight. He began practicing hydrotherapy, and by 1845, had established a "water cure" hospital in Florence. This was one of the earliest in the United States. Joel Shew and Russell Thacher Trall (R.T. Trall) had preceded him in using this type of therapy. Ruggles died in Florence in 1849, at the age of thirty-nine, due to a bowel infection

[tfc2211]

01 - Frank Zappa - Hot Poop (intro) (from 'We're Only In It For The Money', 1968) 02 - Señor Soul - The Mouse (from 'It's Your Thing' 1969 / Double Shot & Whiz - available on 'What It Is Y'all' / BGP) 03 - Rasputin's Stash - Hit It & Pass It (from 'The Devil Made Me Do It' 1974 / Gemigo - reissued in 2000 / Sequel) 04 - The Vibrations - The Man (from 'The Vibrations' Lp, 1972 / Mandala) 05 - Calypso Kings & The Soul Investigators - Compin' & Smokin' (from 'Compin' & Smokin'/Damper Down Popcorn' 7inch, 1999 / Soul Fire) 06 - The Coasters - Soul Pad (from 'Soul Pad' 7inch, 1967 / Date) 07 - The Masters - Party Time (from 'Funk spectrum - Compiled by Josh Davis and Keb Darge' 1999 / BBE) 08 - Organization - Smokey Feeling (from 'Creative Sounds of the Organization' 1974 / Wirl - available on 'Trippin' 1996 / Luv'N'Haight 09 - Sixto Rodriguez - Sugarman (from 'David Holmes presents Come & Get It U Got it', 2002 / 13 Amp) 10 - Willard Burton & The Pacifiers - Warm The Pot ('Til It's Good & Hot) (from 'Warm The Pot ('Til It's Good & Hot)' 7-inch, 1976 / Money - available on 'Superfunk 2' 2001 / BGP) 11 - The Politicians - Everything Good Is Bad (from 'The Politicians featuring McKinley Jackson' 1972 / Hot Wax)

Info : Selected and mixed by Mister Moo (T.I.M.E.C.) Artwork by Djouls, Stashboxes photos by Mister Moo

[gerardofontenelle]

Apple Arcade - A New World To Play In from Mauro Chiarello on Vimeo.

Director: Ian Pons Jewell Producer: Chris Avery @ Apple Writer: Jordan Pories Creative Director: Hamish Pinnel Art Director: Esteban Cardona Group Creative Directors: Sam Oliver & Carl Broadhurst AD Producer: Jacob Stitzel Production Company: Reset Managing Director: Dave Morrison Executive Producers: Deannie O'Neil & Jen Beitler Head of Production: JP Colombo Producer: Megan Moore Director of Photography: Mauro Chiarello Director’s Assistant: George Daniell Casting: Majo Gallardo Costume Designer: Nayeli de Alba

Production Service Company: The Lift Producer: Fuad Abded Managing Director: Avelino Rodriguez Production Manger: Israel González Cadena Unit Manager: Vladimir Espinoza Production Coordinator: Liliana Huacuja APOC: David Carretero Script: Andrea Eduardina Key PA: Juan Tovar Production Assistants: Erick Ávila, Miguel Luna, Isaac Alvarez Runner: Paulina Camacho Chaperone: Paulina Marín Chaperone: Paulina Maqueda Locations Manager: Sergio Aguilar Locations Assistants: Itzia Rojas, Rodrigo López, Eduardo Gutierrez, Andrés Macías, Juan Chávez

1st AD DGA: Robert Phillips 1st AD: Sandra Mayerstein 2nd AD Vala Cárdenas 2nd AD: Lorenza Ramos 1st AC Horacio Vega 2nd AC: Adonay Meza Camera PA: Edson Reyes DIT: Julio Cesar Gonzalez Data Manager: Hayde Medina Corona VTR Operator: Jonathan Fernando Noriega Hernández VTR Assistants: Eduardo Martinez & Miguel Valdez Wheels Operator: Felipe Pérez-Burchard Steadicam Operator: Gerardo Manjarezz Trinity Operator: Niels Lindelien Gaffer: Leonardo Julián Key Grip: Juan Antonio Aguilar López Key Grip: Jose Marcos Vilchis VFX Supervisor: Daniel "Chovy" Cordero VFX Assistants: Rafael Santana Cruz & Francisco Ruben Perez Reyes

Production Designers: Robin Brown & Margarita Laborde Hair & Make Up: Chela Olea Hair & Make Up Assistants: Yoali Cortés, Ixchel Cortés Stunt Coordinator: Tomas Guzman Art Coordinator: Katia Duarte Propmaster: Diego Téllez Decorator: Melinda Ridaura Decorator: Sandra Jalife Art Assistant: Jessica Peralta Wardrobe Coordinator: Giselle Arriaga Wardrobe Assistants: Rodrigo Montoya, Paulina Regalado, Christian Fernando, Rocelia Alexandra Graphic Design: Mireya Guerrero Renders: Hugo Jiménez Swings: Daniel Hernández, Jesús Enriquez, Aldo Márquez, Juan Cisneros, Néstor Luna, Luis Hernández, Gabriel Cabrera.

Edit Company: Whitehouse Post, Los Angeles Editor: Tobias Suhm Executive Producer: Joanna Manning Post Producer: Jordan Stricklin

VFX Company: Framestore VFX Supervisor: James Rogers Senior Producer: Joe Greenberg Art Director: Carlos Vidal Lead Data Wrangler: Fabio Zapata Data Wrangler: Juan Colon Coordinator: Evan Kanter

CAST Kid in car: Ariella Covalin-Mizarahi Metro Guy: Shu Sakimoto

Chef & Waiters: Jack Morris Jean Wolf Allison Vargas

Taco Stand: Mariana Arias Emme Gonzalez Paulina Camacho Oscar Sagrado Raphael De Cecco Ivan Modragon Christian Godoy Miguel Angel

Airplane: Heidy Diaz

Popcorn Eaters: Micah Bijon Charlie Scovill

Clothes Guy: Rick Darge Bus Shelter: Yuki Oc-Noda

[funky8corners]

Ugly Things #2 (Raven Records - 1983)

Mais qui écoute encore du rock garage des 60s de nos jours? Le genre connu un petit retour en grâce au tournant des années 2000, une nouvelle génération biberonnée aux Strokes ou aux Libertines, découvrant la richesse des compilations Nuggets. Puis, la hype passant, le garage est à nouveau progressivement retombé dans l'oubli, vénéré uniquement par une poignée de connaisseurs, de petits groupes et de collectionneurs (dont de très sérieux comme DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist ou Keb Darge, ces deux derniers ayant sorti une bonne compilation du genre en 2017 sur BBE Records, The Darkside).

Mais de quoi parle-t-on exactement? Le garage est né au milieu des années 60 aux Etats-Unis et au Canada, une multitude de petits groupes adolescents se créant pour émuler les Beatles et les Stones à leur façon: pied au plancher, à grand coup de guitare fuzz, avec une mélodie basée sur quelques accords simples. Bref du punk avant l'heure. Et la fougue et l'énergie dégagées compensaient très largement les fautes d'accord, le manque de justesse du chant ou la qualité parfois approximative de la prise de son. A l'exception des Stooges ou des Seeds, très peu de ces groupes eurent du succès, ne produirent autre chose que des 45t et la plupart raccrochèrent très vite guitares et batteries. Lenny Kaye eut la bonne idée d'en compiler les meilleurs morceaux en 1972 dans une compilation appelée Nuggets, qui depuis traumatise et fait régulièrement voir la lumière à des générations de musiciens. Le succès de celle-ci a fait un certain nombre d'émules, explorant les coins les plus cachés du genre, dont la série des Ugly Things, consacrée à la scène garage australienne et néo-zélandaise.

Le volume 2 rassemble des morceaux exclusivement des années 1965 et 1966 composés par des groupes comme The La De Das, The Blue Beats, The Purple Hearts à Vyt & The World, qui n'ont rien à envier à leurs cousins du Midwest quand il s'agit d'envoyer la sauce garage. Une très bonne série à attraper les yeux fermé si vous avez la chance de tomber dessus pour un prix raisonnable.

#vinyle #garage #garagerock #rock #uglythings2 #music #compilation #australia #newzealand #lp

[poettier]

Apple Arcade - A New World To Play In from Ian Pons Jewell on Vimeo.

Director: Ian Pons Jewell Producer: Chris Avery @ Apple Writer: Jordan Pories Creative Director: Hamish Pinnel Art Director: Esteban Cardona Group Creative Directors: Sam Oliver & Carl Broadhurst AD Producer: Jacob Stitzel Production Company: Reset Managing Director: Dave Morrison Executive Producers: Deannie O'Neil & Jen Beitler Head of Production: JP Colombo Producer: Megan Moore Director of Photography: Mauro Chiarello Director’s Assistant: George Daniell Casting: Majo Gallardo Costume Designer: Nayeli de Alba

Production Service Company: The Lift Producer: Fuad Abded Managing Director: Avelino Rodriguez Production Manger: Israel González Cadena Unit Manager: Vladimir Espinoza Production Coordinator: Liliana Huacuja APOC: David Carretero Script: Andrea Eduardina Key PA: Juan Tovar Production Assistants: Erick Ávila, Miguel Luna, Isaac Alvarez Runner: Paulina Camacho Chaperone: Paulina Marín Chaperone: Paulina Maqueda Locations Manager: Sergio Aguilar Locations Assistants: Itzia Rojas, Rodrigo López, Eduardo Gutierrez, Andrés Macías, Juan Chávez

1st AD DGA: Robert Phillips 1st AD: Sandra Mayerstein 2nd AD Vala Cárdenas 2nd AD: Lorenza Ramos 1st AC Horacio Vega 2nd AC: Adonay Meza Camera PA: Edson Reyes DIT: Julio Cesar Gonzalez Data Manager: Hayde Medina Corona VTR Operator: Jonathan Fernando Noriega Hernández VTR Assistants: Eduardo Martinez & Miguel Valdez Wheels Operator: Felipe Pérez-Burchard Steadicam Operator: Gerardo Manjarezz Trinity Operator: Niels Lindelien Gaffer: Leonardo Julián Key Grip: Juan Antonio Aguilar López Key Grip: Jose Marcos Vilchis VFX Supervisor: Daniel "Chovy" Cordero VFX Assistants: Rafael Santana Cruz & Francisco Ruben Perez Reyes

Production Designers: Robin Brown & Margarita Laborde Hair & Make Up: Chela Olea Hair & Make Up Assistants: Yoali Cortés, Ixchel Cortés Stunt Coordinator: Tomas Guzman Art Coordinator: Katia Duarte Propmaster: Diego Téllez Decorator: Melinda Ridaura Decorator: Sandra Jalife Art Assistant: Jessica Peralta Wardrobe Coordinator: Giselle Arriaga Wardrobe Assistants: Rodrigo Montoya, Paulina Regalado, Christian Fernando, Rocelia Alexandra Graphic Design: Mireya Guerrero Renders: Hugo Jiménez Swings: Daniel Hernández, Jesús Enriquez, Aldo Márquez, Juan Cisneros, Néstor Luna, Luis Hernández, Gabriel Cabrera.

Edit Company: Whitehouse Post, Los Angeles Editor: Tobias Suhm Executive Producer: Joanna Manning Post Producer: Jordan Stricklin

VFX Company: Framestore VFX Supervisor: James Rogers Senior Producer: Joe Greenberg Art Director: Carlos Vidal Lead Data Wrangler: Fabio Zapata Data Wrangler: Juan Colon Coordinator: Evan Kanter

CAST Kid in car: Ariella Covalin-Mizarahi Metro Guy: Shu Sakimoto

Chef & Waiters: Jack Morris Jean Wolf Allison Vargas

Taco Stand: Mariana Arias Emme Gonzalez Paulina Camacho Oscar Sagrado Raphael De Cecco Ivan Modragon Christian Godoy Miguel Angel

Airplane: Heidy Diaz

Popcorn Eaters: Micah Bijon Charlie Scovill

Clothes Guy: Rick Darge Bus Shelter: Yuki Oc-Noda

[cryptonewsgap]

Crypto news, Documentary Film About FTX’s High-Profile Implosion Is Already in the Works: Report

Crypto news, Documentary Film About FTX’s High-Profile Implosion Is Already in the Works: Report

A documentary about the controversial collapse of FTX and its disgraced founder Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly already in production. Variety reports that the non-fiction entertainment studio XTR is behind the project, and Oscar-nominated director David Darg is helming it. Darg is reportedly already on site in the Bahamas working on the film. Says Justin Lacob, one of the documentary’s executive…

[watchingmoviesandshit]

You Cannot Kill David Arquette (2020)

[jmunneytumbler]

New Documentary Says, Dear Wrestling: 'You Cannot Kill David Arquette', Wrestling Fires Back: Chew on This

You Cannot Kill David Arquette (CREDIT: Super LTD)

Starring: David Arquette

Directors: David Darg and Price James

Running Time: 90 Minutes

Rating: R for Wrestling Blood and Man-Butt

Release Date: August 28, 2020 (Drive-In Theaters and On Demand)

I don’t want to kill David Arquette! But it sure seems like some hardcore wresting fans do. A bit of essential background: while Arquette was promoting…

[rickchung]

You Cannot Kill David Arquette (dir. Price James & David Darg) x Fantasia 2020.

David Arquette’s wildly entertaining and deeply emotional wrestling documentary proves to be a fairly insightful look at a dissatisfied and troubled but well-loved actor who desperately wants to be taken seriously again.

Tired of being a punchline, his life takes a crazy detour through the independent wrestling circuit to regain any respect he lost nearly twenty years after his notoriously ill-advised publicity stunt as WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

Screened virtually at the 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal) online.

[nofatclips-home]

Daddy’s Playground, a short film by Mitchell deQuilettes

[tfc2211]

Play ▶ Mr Moo's Hippie Funk Stash Vol 1

Tracks 01 - Frank Zappa - Hot Poop (intro) (from 'We're Only In It For The Money', 1968) 02 - Señor Soul - The Mouse (from 'It's Your Thing' 1969 / Double Shot & Whiz - available on 'What It Is Y'all' / BGP) 03 - Rasputin's Stash - Hit It & Pass It (from 'The Devil Made Me Do It' 1974 / Gemigo - reissued in 2000 / Sequel) 04 - The Vibrations - The Man (from 'The Vibrations' Lp, 1972 / Mandala) 05 - Calypso Kings & The Soul Investigators - Compin' & Smokin' (from 'Compin' & Smokin'/Damper Down Popcorn' 7inch, 1999 / Soul Fire) 06 - The Coasters - Soul Pad (from 'Soul Pad' 7inch, 1967 / Date) 07 - The Masters - Party Time (from 'Funk spectrum - Compiled by Josh Davis and Keb Darge' 1999 / BBE) 08 - Organization - Smokey Feeling (from 'Creative Sounds of the Organization' 1974 / Wirl - available on 'Trippin' 1996 / Luv'N'Haight 09 - Sixto Rodriguez - Sugarman (from 'David Holmes presents Come & Get It U Got it', 2002 / 13 Amp) 10 - Willard Burton & The Pacifiers - Warm The Pot ('Til It's Good & Hot) (from 'Warm The Pot ('Til It's Good & Hot)' 7-inch, 1976 / Money - available on 'Superfunk 2' 2001 / BGP) 11 - The Politicians - Everything Good Is Bad (from 'The Politicians featuring McKinley Jackson' 1972 / Hot Wax)

Info : Selected and mixed by Mister Moo (T.I.M.E.C.) Artwork by Djouls, Stashboxes photos by Mister Moo

Also here:  Mr_Moo-Hippie_Funk_Stash_Vol1.mp3

[apicturespeaks]

You Cannot Kill David Arquette, David Darg, Price James

[fallingsunflower]

She does?

You know this is interesting because I saw this circulating on other blogs to "prove" that people who don't like her are cold hearted, but I didn't actually look too much into it as I was busy earlier.

Here's an article on it. It's from 2017. People are referring to it as "Olivia's documentary" but she's not the director. David Darg is. Olivia is a producer. And also David was the one who went to Syria to film, not Olivia, because I saw those rumors circulating...

[zot3-flopped]

How can anyone call the woman who executive produced these documentaries a 'performative activist'? What an ignorant troll the new FHC mod is.

[animusrox]

You Cannot Kill David Arquette (2020) dir. Price James & David Darg

[dustedmagazine]

Michael Rosenstein 2020: Seeking Sojourn

What was I doing in 2010? What was I listening to? Honestly, without doing some digging, nothing springs immediately to mind. I’m guessing that ten years from now, thinking back on 2020, that won’t be the case. In mid-March, my wife and I took off on our annual winter/early spring sojourn to Provincetown, Cape Cod. When we headed out, the state of the world was tenuous. But over the course of four days, we split our time between idyllic, cold walks on the Outer Cape beaches and tracking the pandemic slide into lockdown and mayhem. We came back home to an entirely different world which has continued to spiral and swirl. This was a year where I spent far more time walking in a woods near my house, searching out a pair of barred owls and their four fledglings than I did listening to music. Focus for listening has waxed and waned and online video streams just haven’t resonated with me. But still, music has brought me some sense of solace over the course of the last year.

AMPLIFY 2020: quarantine

Without a doubt, most of my listening over the year was spent following the AMPLIFY 2020: quarantine festival. Organized by Jon Abbey, who runs the Erstwhile record label along with musicians Vanessa Rossetto and Matthew Revert, the online festival kicked off on March 20 and ran through September 20, presenting 240 newly-recorded pieces and 80 hours of music by musicians from across the globe. Most were solo contributions, with seven “blind overdubs” where two musicians with established working relationships chose track lengths in advance and submitted their recordings which were superimposed with some light mixing by Taku Unami. While the pieces are all available as free downloads on Bandcamp, that only reveals part of the story. Over the course of six months, the Facebook group grew to 3000 members, acting as a virtual gathering place for online conversations and musings with countless posts a day. Additionally, Abbey tirelessly posted an ongoing playlist which he dubbed “atmosphere” with cuts that ran the gamut from Albert Ayler to Funkadelic to Keith Hudson to Al Green with an extra-heavy helping of DJ Screw. Just tuning in to those choices and jumping on conversations was enough to save some days.

While anyone following the Erstwhile label caught some memorable submissions by expected participants, the organizers and some guest curators had more in mind than that and sub-threads developed early on. Yan Jun recruited fantastic submissions from little-known musicians from China while also contributing two pieces of his own. In addition to delivering three strong pieces, Revert brought in an Australian contingent. Rossetto delivered a festival highlight with her piece “perhaps at some time you have acted in a play, even if it was when you were a child” while also inviting a wide network of sound explorers constructing intimate sonic investigations. Abbey himself cast a wide net, probing for both established and little known musicians who had caught his attention over the years. (I’ve known Jon for a long time and was honored to be amongst those invited, contributing a piece assembled from field recordings from my Cape Cod trip.)

A number of musicians who hadn’t put out solo recordings in years, some who hadn’t had any recent releases at all, were lured back, with highlights by Greg Kelley, David Kirby, Joe Panzner, Annette Krebs and Sean Meehan. There was also a somber thread of homages to musicians who died over the last year, starting with a dedication of the entire festival to Australian percussionist Sean Baxter as well as a stirring tribute to bassist Simon H. Fell by Rhodri Davies, a dedication to Keith Tippett by Mark Wastell, and pieces commemorating Cor Fuhler by Dale Gorfinkel, Marcus Schmickler, Jim Denley, Nick Ashwood (recorded with Fuhler shortly before his death), Clare Cooper and Reinier van Houdt (whose six monthly missives delivered throughout the duration of the festival are all well worth spending time with.)

I find myself still catching up on the overwhelming array of contributions but here are a small sampling that caught my ear, though if I were to assemble this list a week from now, the choices would certainly be different.

Zhao Cong – “Homework”

homework by Zhao Cong

Yan Jun’s choice of musicians from China was uniformly superb and all are worth checking out. But Beijing-based Zhao Cong’s entry, in particular, has continued to hang with me. Her piece, constructed from two bass guitars and objects with its scrabbled detail of electronic hum, grit and glitch shot through with ringing bass strings popped out on first listen and continues to deliver.

Rie Nakajima – “carpet”

carpet by Rie Nakajima

Nakajima’s approach to sound-making, utilizing motors, mechanical devices and found objects proved the perfect tonic for pandemic listening. Her piece for AMPLIFY was recorded in her home in London “with all familiar objects I have been using at home.” The percussive piece is shot through with timbral depth, clattering along with a barely-contained momentum. Her release Karu Karu for Café Oto’s digital Takuroku lockdown series is also well worth checking out. And while I tended not to connect with online video over the course of the year, I found myself returning to Nakajima’s seven days bird songs which unfolded over the course of a week, multiple times.

Ivan Palacký – “Sanctuary”

Sanctuary by Ivan Palacký

Czech-based Ivan Palacký’s “Sanctuary” hit early on in the fest and remained a favorite. Palacký spent the first day of quarantine exploring his flat with an electromagnetic sensor, capturing the buzzes and tremors of everyday electronic devices. A few weeks later, he pulled out three knitting machines which he contact mic’d and used to improvise with the electromagnetic recordings. Palacký deftly interleaved percussive patter with wafts of static, grit and crackles, creaks and sputters and resonant thrums into an immersive piece.

Martin Kay – “Bath Time (2nd Edit)

Bath Time (2nd Edit) by Martin Kay

Through the festival, a thread developed of the pieces constructed as sonic response to the physical surroundings of isolation. Moniek Darge's gutting “Quarantine Child,” assembled from interior recordings and the desperate wail of a child, Mark Vernon's “The Dominion of Din,” woven together from field recordings from outside his Glasgow flat, cataloging exterior sounds that have annoyed him over the years and Kate Carr’s haunting “on every stair another stairway is set in negative” recorded using an old reel to reel tape and instrument recordings captured in her bathroom are three. Martin Kay’s four-part “Bath Time” delves in to that personal, interior realm, composed from recordings made in and around his bathroom during the routine that developed with his daughter’s nightly bath. The use of shifting focus, natural resonances of the room, the tub and underwater recordings transform the private, domestic activity into an increasingly abstracted aural study.

Distant Duos

The Distant Duos project that Mary Staubitz and Russ Waterhouse embarked on was also instigated by a sense of lost community. But here, the strategies employed were markedly different. The two are immersed in the DIY noise/improv New England community, spearheading shows in basements, bars, galleries and ad hoc venues and collaborating with musicians from New Haven to Portland, Maine, with all stops in between. They’ve also been instrumental in developing a network of like-minded musicians and bringing travelers through, some who have become frequent visitors. Unlike the duos in AMPLIFY, Staubitz and Waterhouse curated the 78 sessions, inviting pairs of musicians with a simple strategy. “Two remote artists record five minutes of sound while thinking about the other artist, unable to hear each other. The two tracks are combined into one.”

Released in sets of five on Bandcamp, the first on April 30 and the last on December 9, these bursts served as vital postcards. For those of us based in New England, these were both bittersweet reminders of the pre-COVID world we frequented and exultant celebrations. As someone who organized shows with the two and often played on the same bills, these really connected. (I was asked to participate, paired with Worcester-based Abdul Sherzai.) Some of the duos were longstanding partnerships (Greg Kelley and Vic Rawlings have been working together for over a decade). Some were pairings of musicians who knew each other but had likely never played together. Some participants were drawn from the deep field of regional musicians while others were recruited from across the US and Europe. With only five minutes at play, these served as sketches, vignettes or rough drafts. But keen curation and Waterhouse’s astute mixing and mastering made these hold together. Like AMPLIFY, these periodic missives kept me going through the last year.

Flip through any of the contributions and you’ll find plenty to encourage further listening. This batch, culled from the October 28th releases, provides a glimpse into the broad crew of musicians pulled in and the diverse strategies they came up with.

Adam Kohl and Mickey O’Hara

Adam Kohl and Mickey O'Hara by Distant Duos

Western Massachusetts-based Kohl (better known musically as Arkm Foam) and Worcester-based O’Hara have been performing together for a while now, and experiencing their mix of low-fi cassette manipulation and laptop generated deconstructed clatter and glitch inhabit a performance space is enthralling. This brief snapshot serves as a succinct snapshot of one of their sets.

J​.​P​.​A. Falzone and Hali Palombo

J.P.A. Falzone and Hali Palombo by Distant Duos

This mashup between J​.​P​.​A. Falzone (part of the ensemble Ordinary Affects) and composer and visual artist Hali Palombo comes across as quavering pulsations dialed in from some ethereal transmission. Listening feels like one is tuning in to an hours-long broadcast of hovering tones and fluttering waves which fuse together into shuddering oscillations.

Henry Birdsey and Mary Staubitz

Henry Birdsey and Mary Staubitz by Distant Duos

Birdsey has been developing his micro-tonal musings as part of the duo Tongue Depressor as well as his solo releases under his own name and as S.T.L.A. while Staubitz jumps from the solo sonic onslaughts of Donna Parker to a wide-ranging array of ongoing and one-off collaborations. Here field recordings of rippling water and electric pops and crackles mix with shuddering overtones of bowed metal for an engulfing sonic snapshot.

Lexie Mountain and Angela Sawyer

Lexie Mountain and Angela Sawyer by Distant Duos

Baltimore’s Lexie Mountain and Boston’s Angela Sawyer have known each other for years, so it’s no surprise that their distant connection of broken electronics and found objects clicks so well. Here, everyday detritus is elevated to a compact improvisation imbued with skittering percussive tumult, whirrs and clatter.

New Releases

When I did carve out time to listen, here’s a few that stuck with me through the year.

Toshiya Tsunoda & Taku Unami – Wovenland 2 (Erstwhile)

Wovenland 2 by Toshiya Tsunoda/Taku Unami

Working from basic field recordings, Tsunoda and Unami use the studio as an alchemical laboratory, delving into mixing and mastering tools to explore, process and transform environmental sound. In their hands, the digital artifacts of that process are as intrinsic to the results as the source material they have deconstructed. They sum it up succinctly. “Our goal is to focus on acoustic experiments. No more and no less.”

Here are some more that stuck with me in no particular order:

Rhodri Davies – Telyn Rawn (Amgen Records)

Judith Wegmann – Le Souffle Du Temps II - Reflexion (ezz-thetics)

Clara de Asís & Mara Winter – Repetition of the same dream (Another Timbre)

Takuji Naka/Tim Olive – Minouragatake (Notice Recordings)

Magnus Granberg – Come Down to Earth Where Sorrow Dwelleth –Revised version for sho, koto, prepared piano and electronics (Ftarri)

Tasting Menu – Mueller Tunnel (Full Spectrum Records)

Simon H. Fell & Mark Wastell – Virtual Company (Confront)

Xavier Charles & Bertrand Gauguet – Spectre (akousis)

Pierre-Antoine Badaroux, Seymour Wright, Jean-Luc Guionnet – Solos (Remote Resonator)

Archival Releases and Reissues

Reissues continued to pour out from record labels. Some applied studio wizardry to revive and restore previously issued material and others dug out material from the vaults that rightfully deserves to be heard. But with touring opportunities gone, the ability to collaborate in person evaporated and the monthly boon of Bandcamp Fridays, many artists also took the opportunity to dig in to their personal vaults.

Gentle Fire – Explorations (1970-1973) (Paradigm Discs)

Explorations (1970 - 1973) by Gentle Fire

This one just hit in December but quickly shot to the top of my listening pile. Working in London in the early 70s, this little-known quintet of electro-acoustic pioneers worked at the edges of composition and improvisation, putting out a single, now impossible-to-find, LP performing graphic scores of by John Cage, Earle Brown and Christian Wolff (which, in itself deserves a reissue.) If they hit listeners’ radar at all, it was due to the fact that Hugh Davies was part of the group. This 3-CD box of previously unissued material is comprised of one disc of works by Wolff, Stockhausen, Brown, Cage and Ichiyanagi, another of their own compositions and a final disc capturing an extended improvisation. Five decades later, this stuff is still essential listening.

Rhodri Davies – Archif Series (self-released)

Archif #13: BMIC 17/09/1997 by IST

Currently at number 28 and counting, Davies dug in to his archives and unearthed a passel of gems, documenting live performances and studio experiments from 1995 through 2000. From solos to various group sessions, this is all music well worth spending time with. Particularly welcome are two releases by IST (Davies, Mark Wastell, and Simon H. Fell) and one by Assumed Possibilities (Davies, Wastell, Chris Burn and Phil Durrant). One hopes there is more to be unearthed.

Cor Fuhler Conundrom label

SLEE by Cor Fuhler

The sudden passing of Cor Fuhler was a tough one in a tough year. Whether as a pianist, instrument inventor or ensemble leader, Fuhler was always bristling with ideas. As part of a group effort, the discography of his Conundrom label is now available on Bandcamp with proceeds going to his estate.

Here are some others of note in no particular order:

Albert Ayler reissue series (ezz-thetics)

Phillip Wachsmann – Writing In Water (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

Charles Mingus – @ Bremen 1964 & 1975 (Sunnyside)

Voice Crack – Glasgow 20/11/1999 (scatter)

John Butcher – On Being Observed (Weight of Wax)

Derek Bailey and Mototeru Takagi – Live at FarOut, Atsugi 1987 (NoBusiness Records)

Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley – Birdland, Neuburg 2011 (Fundacja Słuchaj)