EXPERIMENTAL ARTISTS TO PERFORM AT BENEFIT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Mike Coleman, William Hertell III and Stacey Spiegel differ in how they describe their mixture of art and music.

Their band Dzong improvises over prerecorded music as overhead projectors, slide projectors and video monitors show collages and other images.

Coleman, who plays keyboards and percussion, describes it as ``a sound collage.''

Hertell, who makes the slides with Coleman and who replays the recordings during the performances, calls it ``multimedia performance art.''

``Ambient soundscapes'' is the term favored by Spiegel, who plays guitar and provides sound effects.

``It paints pictures for you like a landscape,'' Spiegel explained. ``Sometimes it is abrasive, sometimes it is soothing.''

Dzong will bring its multimedia work to the Cedar Centre, 44851 Cedar Ave., Lancaster, at 8 p.m. Saturday in a benefit for the Antelope Valley Domestic Violence Council. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Appearing with Dzong will be another Lancaster band, Funk on Dump.

``We thought they would be a good foil for what we do,'' Hertell said. ``They are a bit more whimsical.''

Dzong formed in 1994 with Spiegel, who works with the mentally disabled, and Hertell, an Antelope Valley College art student, recording improvised music.

Coleman, also an art student at the college, first joined them on the visual end, providing slides and films. Later he bought a synthesizer to join in the music making.

``We were bored with what was going on with local music and decided to do what we wanted to see done,'' Hertell said.

The name Dzong was something they just invented, but they later discovered that it was a Tibetan word which loosely translated means cloister or monastery.

``It fits the mood of what we are trying to do,'' Hertell said.

Using Spiegel's home studio equipment, the musicians first record tracks that they will play over later.

In addition to Spiegel's guitar and Coleman's keyboards, the music is made with a variety of sound effects, including a gong and an ocarina, a flute-like instrument made of clay. For one session, Spiegel recorded the sound of a kitchen faucet dripping.

``It's very experimental,'' Coleman said. ``We have an impromptu session. We mix down the session, play it during the performance and we play over that. It's layered soundscapes.''

The music form actually goes back to the 1970s. Dubbed ``kraut rock,'' it was pioneered in Germany by such bands as Can and Faust, Coleman said.

For the visual portion of the show, Hertell and Coleman produced about 100 slides. Coleman makes the collages out of a variety of images and turns them into photo slides. Hertell paints on the slides, scratches them, or puts type on them.

In addition to the performances by Dzong and Funk on Dump, a number of artists will have their works on display for the evening.