Wisconsin-based percussionist and composer Jon Mueller brings a spectacle of rhythm and resonance to Eyedrum on Saturday, March 1, performing “All Colors Present,” a live “Sound + Visual Meditation” set to the works of photographer Tom Lecky.
Mueller is a master of the elemental—his approach to percussion is both physical and deeply hypnotic, an exploration of repetition, texture and atmospheric weight. Over the years, he has worked with avant-garde luminaries such as Z’ev, James Plotkin, Rhys Chatham, Volcano Choir, and Pele, forever pushing the boundaries of what percussion-based music can do. He is currently working on a recording for the formerly Atlanta-based drone, minimalism, and avant-garde label Table of the Elements.
For this performance, Mueller plays two drums, wielding a pulse and a shifting sonic landscape that unfolds to the tune of Lecky’s imagery.
Lecky’s work is a meditation in its own right. His photographs tap into memory, imagination, and perception, often weaving together his own words and images with found materials, forging an abstract narrative that exists in the liminal space between experience and recollection. All Colors Present creates a visual conversation with Mueller’s constantly evolving interplay, resulting in a performance that is as much a ritual as it is a concert, where repetition and movement pull the listener into an immersive space—both grounding and transcendent.
Ipek Eginli. Photo by Steve West.
Ipek Eginli is also performing Saturday night. Eginli is a Turkish-born Atlanta transplant who has established a formidable presence amid the city’s experimental musical enclaves as a pianist, electroacoustic sound artist, and improviser who describes her works as “a process of a creation and a creation of a process.” Her performances build upon elements of electroacoustic improvisation on piano, voice, and modular synthesizers. For this show, Eginli is taking a deep dive into drones, piano, and field recordings.
$10. 8:30-11 p.m. Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery. 515 Ralph David Abernathy SW. Buy tickets here.
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One of Emory University’s Center For Ethics’ aims is to bring thoughtful people together in conversation, to talk through their efforts to be conscientious with their endeavors in a creative discipline.
Beyond giving honest credits, how does one acknowledge, even honor the artists and cultural traditions that any artist inevitably relies upon in generating their own work? David Harrington of Kronos Quartet and John Fenn of American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, discuss “The Ethics of Inspiration: Honoring Ancestors and Influences.”
This event arose from the thought that “appropriation” is a term used to mark a failure of appropriately acknowledging one’s creative sources, where “appropriate” might involve showing respect for, being generous with, even honoring the source, whether a person or a tradition. This moderated conversation is free to attend.
Thursday, January 23. 7-8 p.m. Emory University’s Rita Anne Rollins Bldg., 1531 Dickey Drive, Room 252. Click here to RSVP.
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Pylon Reenactment Society is fronted by Vanessa Briscoe Hay, whose voice brought Pylon’s kinetic energy to a fine point in the early ‘80s. With PRS, she fronts a wholly new group rounded out by guitar player Jason NeSmith, bass player Kay Stanton (Supercluster, Casper & the Cookies), and drummer Gregory Sanders (Casper & the Cookies). With their recently released debut album, Magnet Factory, the group expands upon Pylon’s angular style with a more pastoral approach in songs like “Educate me, ” “3 x 3, ” and “Fix It.”
Maybe they’ll roll out the seasonal hit (?), “Christmas Daze,” which materialized around this time last year.
Is/Ought Gap embodies the wild side of the no-frills ethos that fueled Athens’ heyday. “Artsy Peace and Love,” “Lucky 7,” “He Said,” and so many other ramped up numbers are defined by singer Bryan Cook’s razor-tongued and fun-loving invectives.
This show is a victory lap for Is/Ought Gap, who’s playing songs from this year’s long overdue discography LP, SUA, released via Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records.
CANCELED: This live appearance has been canceled, but you can hear Thurston Moore’s interview with Chad Radford on 90.1 FM/WABE’s “City Lights” on Monday, October 30 at 11 a.m. and again at 8 p.m.
From the founding member of Sonic Youth, a passionate memoir tracing the author’s life and art—from his teen years as a music obsessive in small-town Connecticut, to the formation of his legendary rock group, to 30 years of creation, experimentation, and wonder.
A Cappella Books welcomes Thurston Moore to The Plaza Theatre to discuss his new book, Sonic Life: A Memoir, on Monday, October 30, at 7 p.m. Moore will speak with your truly, Chad Radford, music journalist and author of Atlanta Record Stores: An Oral History. Moore will also perform a short musical set.
Following the conversation, The Plaza will host a screening of director Stuart Swezey’s documentary, Desolation Center, featuring performances by Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Swans, Redd Kross, Einstürzende Neubauten, and more. Moore will introduce the film.
A note on the THREE types of tickets available for this event:
Book Talk Ticket: Includes a pre-signed copy of Sonic Life + admission for the 7 p.m. book talk. ($35+tax).
Book Talk and Movie Ticket: Includes a pre-signed copy of Sonic Life + admission for the 7 p.m. book talk, and the 8:30 p.m. screening of Desolation Center. ($45+tax).
Movie Ticket: Admission to the 8:30 p.m. screening of Desolation Center. ($20 + tax)
About the Book Thurston Moore moved to Manhattan’s East Village in 1978 with a yearning for music. He wanted to be immersed in downtown New York’s sights and sounds—the feral energy of its nightclubs, the angular roar of its bands, the magnetic personalities within its orbit. But more than anything, he wanted to make music—to create indelible sounds that would move, provoke, and inspire.
His dream came to life in 1981 with the formation of Sonic Youth, a band Moore co-founded with Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo. Sonic Youth became a fixture in New York’s burgeoning No Wave scene—an avant-garde collision of art and sound, poetry and punk. The band would evolve from critical darlings to commercial heavyweights, headlining festivals around the globe while helping introduce listeners to such artists as Nirvana, Hole, and Pavement and playing alongside such icons as Neil Young and Iggy Pop. Through it all, Moore maintained an unwavering love of music: the new, the unheralded, the challenging, the irresistible.
In the spirit of Just Kids, Sonic Life offers a window into the trajectory of a celebrated artist and a tribute to an era of explosive creativity. It presents a firsthand account of New York in a defining cultural moment, a history of alternative rock as it was birthed and came to dominate airwaves, and a love letter to music, whatever the form. This is a story for anyone who has ever felt touched by sound—who knows the way the right song at the right moment can change the course of a life.
About the Author Thurston Moore is a founding member of Sonic Youth, a band born in New York in 1981 that spent 30 years at the vanguard of alternative rock, influencing and inspiring such acts as Nirvana, Pavement, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Bloody Valentine, and Beck. The band’s album Daydream Nation was chosen by the Library of Congress for historical preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2006. Moore is involved in publishing and poetry and teaches at the Summer Writing Workshop at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. He divides his time between the USA and England.
About the Film Desolation Center is the previously untold story of a series of early ’80s guerrilla music and art performance happenings in Southern California that are recognized to have inspired Burning Man, Lollapalooza, and Coachella, collective experiences that have become key elements of popular culture in the 21st century. The feature documentary splices interviews and rare performance footage of Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Swans, Redd Kross, Einstürzende Neubauten, Survival Research Laboratories, Savage Republic and more, documenting a time when pushing the boundaries of music, art, and performance felt almost like an unspoken obligation.
Directed by Stuart Swezey, the creator and principal organizer of these unique events, Desolation Center demonstrates how the risky, and at times even reckless, actions of a few outsiders can unintentionally lead to seismic cultural shifts. Combining Swezey’s exclusive access to never-before-seen archival video, live audio recordings, and stills woven together with new cinematically shot interviews, verité footage and animated sequences, Desolation Center captures the spirit of the turbulent times from which these events emerged.
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After two years in the void, Emory University’s DIY fest returns on Thursday, April 7. Check out live music from Loony and the debut of El Matador (feat. Katy Graves from Catfight, Randy Gue of Final Offering, and Chris Pollette).
Stations will be set up for silkscreening T-shirts, making buttons, woodblock prints, learning how to write graffiti with Mad Clout, and more + Randy’s famous tower of pizza will be in full effect. Come hungry and pre game for the Spits show at the Earl later that night.
Free. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Emory’s Visual Arts Building and Campus Life Pavillion. 700 Peavine Creek Drive.Parking is available in the Peavine Parking Deck at 22 Eagle Row.
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Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery has announced a new location opening in early 2021 at 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd., in a historic industrial corridor near the West End, Pittsburgh, Mechanicsville, and Adair Park.
In a press release issued September 29, Eyedrum states that this new location will feature a “flexible 3,000 square-foot interior including a small dedicated gallery, an outdoor stage, and a courtyard for programming.”
The press release also states that Eyedrum will carry on with its legacy as “a home to underserved, emerging artists, musicians, filmmakers, and writers. In times of uncertainty, members of the community need arts spaces now more than ever.”
In June of 2018, Eyedrum, along with fellow DIY arts and music space Mammal were forced to close after a nearby fire on Broad Street SW left one man dead. Soon after, both business were forced to leave their Downtown locations permanently.
Two years later, Eyedrum’s announcement comes as a beacon of hope for an underserved community of artists and musicians. In a 2011 CL cover story that I co-authored with Wyatt Williams, title Eyedrum: An Oral History, we described that scene as “those willing to embrace music and arts that are as contemptuous as they were conscientious. Indie rock acts as varied as Oneida, Don Caballero, and the Black Heart Procession to Simeon Coxe of the Silver Apples to DJ Cut Chemist all performed there amid exhibitions with titles such as The Penis Show, Switch, and Liquid Smoke.”
With the recent closure of the Bakery in Oakland City, Atlanta needs a venue that this community can call home, now more than ever.
515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd.
Eyedrum’s new home sits adjacent to Parts Authority, an automobile parts and supplies facility.
Deisha Oliver, a member of Eyedrum’s board of directors, says the gallery and performance venue is renting “a 3,000 square foot portion of 515. The building owner has been so kind as to do the needed build out of our portion of that space.”
To keep Eyedrum’s endeavors moving forward, an effort to raise funds is underway, with plans to facilitate virtual programming, and to support the staff and curatorial budget for the next five years. A new website is planned for launch soon, which will offer membership options.
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