ELECTRONIC MUSIC SET TO ROCK OUT AT FESTIVAL SECOND CONCERT TO STAR PIONEER OF THE GENRE.Byline: Daily News LANCASTER -- The Antelope Valley's first electronic rock festival and an electronic music electronic music or electro-acoustic music, term for compositions that utilize the capacities of electronic media for creating and altering sounds. Initially, a distinction must be made between the technological development of electronic instruments and the music conceived to utilize the inherent advantages of these instruments. Experiments in electronic tone production began soon after the invention of the vacuum tube. pioneer will be featured in two concerts in downtown Lancaster. The festival will feature Alaska Highway Alaska Highway, all-weather road, 1,523 mi (2,451 km) long, extending NW from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Fairbanks, Alaska. An extension of an existing Canadian road between Dawson Creek and Edmonton, Alta., the Alaska Highway was constructed (Mar.–Sept., 1942) by U.S. troops as a supply route to military forces in Alaska during World War II. It was a significant engineering feat because of the difficulties of terrain and weather., JAF, and RoMak and the Space Pirates at 8 p.m. Friday at Cedar Centre, 44845 Cedar Ave. Electronic musician Robert Rich will perform in one of his two Southern California appearances at 8 p.m. May 25 at the Cedar Centre. Both the festival and Rich's concert are produced by Praisong Productions in conjunction with Alienearmusic.com and sponsored in part by Guitar Center in Palmdale. Festival headliner Alaska Highway consists of its British founder and programmer, Moose, and collaborator Anthony J. Roumanis, who contributes compositions and vocals. Their debut album is ``Attitudes of a Difficult Mind.'' Based in Fresno, JAF was founded and is fronted by Joseph Anthony, who says he started by tweaking out bizarre sounds on a cheap Casio keyboard. JAF in December 2004 added a live drummer, Rico Rodriguez, and now is in the process of completing its first album produced. RoMak & the Space Pirates was named the Rock City News Awards' Outstanding New Wave Band for 2005 and recently received first place at the Orange County Music Awards for Best Electronic Rock band. Rich has created more than two dozen albums and helped define the genres of ambient music, dark-ambient, tribal and trance, festival and concert promoter and music journalist Lorraine Kay says. Part of Rich's unique sound comes from using home-made acoustic and electronic instruments, microtonal tunings, computer-based signal processing, chaotic systems and feedback networks, Kay said. Rich began building his own analog synthesizers in 1976, when he was 13, and later studied at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. His first album, Sunyata sunyata (sh  n`yətə) [Skt.,=emptiness], one of the main tenets of Mahayana Buddhism, first presented by the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna-paramita) scriptures (1st cent. B.C. on) and later systematized by the Madhyamika school., was released in 1982. He also records with his group, Amoeba a·moe·bas or a·moe·bae (-b  ) 1. A genus of protozoa of the class Sarcodina or Rhizopoda. 2. Any of several genera of protozoa that are parasitic in humans, especially Entamoeba. , and has performed in caves, cathedrals, planetaria, art galleries and concert halls throughout Europe and North America. His all-night Sleep Concerts, first performed in 1982, became legendary in the San Francisco area, Kay said. In 1996, he revived his all-night concert format, playing Sleep Concerts for live and radio audiences across the U.S. during a three-month tour. In 2001, Rich released the seven-hour DVD ``Somnium,'' a studio distillation of the Sleep Concert experience, possibly the longest continuous piece of music ever released. Rich is on tour to promote his most recent CD, titled ``Electric Ladder.'' Tickets for both shows are available online at www.alienearmusic.com for $15 or at the door for $20. Students with student identification cards can purchase tickets at the door for $15. For more information, visit www.alienearmusic.com. Also for information or for sponsorship, call Praisong Productions at (661) 723-0266. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion