Mark Solotroff "Live In Wierd"

 

Mark Solotroff "Live In Wierd" Live Recording + T-shirt In late 2007, Pieter asked me if I'd like to perform a microphone feedback set at Wierd, that winter. I'm sure that we both knew that harsh feedback would be more sonically confrontational than the weekly crowd there was used to, but it seemed like a good plan, nevertheless. Bear in mind, this was prior to when experimental, power-electronics, and noise artists played the weekly Wierd party on a more frequent basis. A date was chosen in mid-January of 2008, and on the day of the show I flew to New York with a small mixer and ten microphones. I did a quick soundcheck in the late afternoon, while the bar was being set up for the night ahead, and things sounded loud and clear over the Wierd PA. That night, as was typical, the room became more and more crowded and the dance floor filled up, as midnight approached. I made my way through the dark space to clear some space to place my mic stands in an arc and to get my show underway. As you'll hear at the beginning of the recording, there were some ringers in the audience, including James from BLOODYMINDED and Alex from Climax Denial, who were visiting from Milwaukee. That resulted in some good spirited heckling, like you'd probably hear at a BLOODYMINDED show. I let the frequencies and the volume build up slowly, resulting in an uncomfortable space filled with mild static and the sound of an industrial-sized smoke machine in overdrive. I remember that once the feedback fully kicked in, the crowd began to thin out a bit, but it was really hard to see exactly what was going on through the thick fog ("The sky is so thick with smoke"). After about ten minutes of heavy feedback, someone got in my face and yelled at me to stop. Apparently, the bouncer from Home Sweet Home felt it was way too loud and he lost his shit. My feedback performances were never meant to be confrontational or to elicit the same sort of crowd reaction as an Intrinsic Action or a BLOODYMINDED show. I imagined that they were somehow more academic in nature, but I suppose that it's all just noise to some people. Once I was done, it was only a matter of minutes before I untangled all my mic cords and packed up and people were back to dancing. While I've never felt that live recordings have done justice to these feedback shows, whether in capturing the full intensity of the frequencies at high volume, or especially the physical effects that audience members have related to me, like the pressure they felt in their inner ears or the sensation of air moving around them, I think this recording holds its own, pretty well. Listen here: https://marksolotroff.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-wierd    Companion T-shirt, adapted from Pieter Schoolwerth's original flyer design, with his kind permission: https://BLOODYMINDED.threadless.com/designs/mark-solotroff-live-in-wierd

More AoH 11/5 photos via Wierd

A new photoset from 11/5 is up on the Wierd Flickr page. While it includes some of Mariah Karson's work that we already posted, there are many new great shots taken by esteemed Wierd photojournalist Phil Maier.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wierd/sets/72157628094469656/with/6330978046/

More Brooklyn Vegan coverage of AoH

Following the Brooklyn Vegan sponsored Anatomy of Habit show at Saint Vitus, here are posts from the NYC and Chicago sites:

Anatomy of Habit, Vaura and Rosenkopf played Saint Vitus (pics)

Anatomy of Habit played a BV-presented show in NYC, opening for Scratch Acid @ Metro!

Burning Fleshtival Recap

BLOODYMINDED
30 July 2011
Burning Fleshtival III
Red Light DistrictFar Rockaway, Queens, NY

With Raspberry Bulbs, Pharmakon, Hollow Seed, Viszk, Russian Tsarlag, VVAQRT, Deterge, Stillbirth, Yellow Tears...


BLOODYMINDED
James Moy - Synth + Mix + Vocals
Pieter Schoolwerth - Synth
Mark Solotroff - Vocals + Synth

01: LAKE STREET
02: ANGEL OF DARKNESS
03: TROPHY
04: WITHIN THE WALLS
05: GIRLFRIEND ATTEMPTS TO EXPLAIN SCHIZOPHRENIC EPISODE BY REVEALING CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE
06: IN THE MOOD
07: MIND THE GAP
08: PORN LORDS (with guest vocals by Margaret Chardiet of Pharmakon)
09: A SONG FOR LISANNE, A YOUNG MODEL
10: LEAK (Cadaver In Drag)
11: GENITAL PANIC
12: PRO-ANA
13: BLIND FURY
14: TWO DROPS OF BLOOD
15: VISITING AN EX-GIRLFRIEND IN THE HOSPITAL – AIDS WARD
16: OUTSIDE THE GATE
17: CHALK EATER
18: CHINATOWN
Encore:
19: HEAD


It says "synth" up in the credits and there were synths hooked up.  This was one of those CHAOS REIGNS type of BLOODYMINDED shows.  Trouble shooting?  There was no time for that.  After Raspberry Bulbs (who I thoroughly enjoyed!) finished, the basement space (more on that) cleared out and we got started setting up.  Within only a few minutes, I turned around from having my back to the room, while we were hooking up our gear, only to find that the place was full again.  People were jockeying for space at the front.  Right in front.  Of us.  We tried to move swiftly, as the night was running pretty late/long, and I suppose something was not double-checked in the process.  Once we got started, it was all mics, voice and feedback, and the synths basically vanished.  But we work with chaos, right?  We always have.  So we continued to motor through the set, and James swiftly began to manipulate the EQs of each mic, as I do in solo performances, to add some greater definition and differentiation to the tones.  The crowd was right up in our face, screaming, cheering, pumping fists, and making sure the energy stayed at a high level.  Fuck your synths, this is BLOODYMINDED, back in 120-degree, dank, humid, layer of beer/sweat/mud on slick white tile floor mode.  What do you do?  Not die.  We plowed along. Mics bust lips.  Large amps topple over multiple times.  One lands on my foot.  I have the swollen purple sausage toes to prove it.  Power cuts out.  We continue.  For "PORN LORDS," we bring Margaret back to the, uh, stage.  She and I layer vocals, do call-and-response... get through it.  Best intentions were that we would revisit the song that we wrote and performed together last year in Chicago -- "NOW IT IS A PRIVATE THING" -- but we had both been too busy lately to really do the song justice this time around.  We continue.  The three of us are soaked through from head to toe.  I am hemmed in but try to make my way into the crowd.  I lean more than I push.  It is too slick to gain traction.  The crowd roars out the words "AIDS WARD" as we introduce song number fifteen and that gives us the energy to reach the end.  We shut off and people started screaming for more.  Okay, fine, but what?  The loudest song title I heard was "HEAD," so a blast song was easy to switch back on and shriek through.


Our massive thanks go out to all of our friends at the Red Light District, for having us out there for this excellent event.  I am really pleased that we were finally able to do it, even if the results were a bit unpredictable.  Thanks also to all of our friends who made the long trek out to Far Rockaway, including an excellent showing from thee Wierd world.  Big thanks also to Allison and Mike for the ride back to Bushwick!!!  I personally heard/saw such great music/performances throughout the night and I met a lot of really cool, nice people.  I wish that I could have been there for Friday's sets, but the weather and air traffic control did not comply.  Regarding that, thanks to the ladies at Pumps in East Williamsburg for a fun way to salvage the latter part of Friday night!  It was great hanging out all weekend with my Wierd family, including Erin, Josh, Sean, Liz, and Kristin...and it is always hard to break away to make my flight on time...

Drowning in Waves

A nice little introduction to the world of grave wave, with text and images related to a bunch of friends. I can't keep up with the choppy current. Too many waves. Maybe I am just old world... I have been enjoying that Factory Floor record, though.

Tonight at Wierd

Re-Posting for Pieter:

Tonite's performance at WIERD will be an absolute celebration of the wild, internal, pathos-fueld battlefield of the physical body internal - of the wonderful powers inherent deep in the THROAT to be specific...yet this 21st century throat will have no voice to en-Counter as muse...but rather just present itself on stage as a smooth, long, wet and porous vessel of latenight pleasure ready to take you into the kingdom of its loins for 20 minutes of terrifyingly erotic, cold, analogue bliss...as WIERD welcomes the premiere of 'THE DESCENT' a live theatrical performance extravaganza featuring the VReturn of performance artist, adult film star and absolute master of enjoyment XXPLXT Angel, with a live musical score by our beloved young heroes and perhaps the last true hope for keeping the fantastically violent, visceral power of industrial music alive in America THROAT(Margaret Margaret Chardiet/Pharmakon + Ryan Woodhall/Yellow Tears)...this will be an evening unlike any other in WIERD history...better take a quick pic of yr dick and sext IT while its still there, as you dare to get VERY RARE...click ahhh nooo... :)))

http://www.xxplxtangyl.com/
http://www.myspace.com/noisepharmakon
http://www.yellowtears.com/

Home Sweet Home
131 Chrystie St. at Delancy
NYC

AVD on Berlin Dancefloor

Via text message from our friend Jeffrey Jinx:

"At the Xeno & Oaklander show in Berlin, waiting for the

bands to play. The DJ just played A Vague Disquiet!"

The Quietus on Wierd

From one of my daily reads: http://thequietus.com/articles/03537-analogue-alienation-the-very-rare-sound-of-weird-records