Plørk, Slörk, and Ikea

The quietly active Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) invades the West Coast! What we didn't hear about the not-so-remarkable Macworld this year was that the Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk) made its public debut. Using salad bowls from ikea (oh wait, this reminds me of a Michael Zbyszynski of Berkeley's CNMAT mentioned in the nytimes in 2007) they crafted ambisonic-ish speakers. SLork made it onto the apple website, even though Brad Stone didn't feel like mentioning them on his Macworld live blog for the nytimes.

Director/composer Ge Wong has some good and innovative ideas about using the body of the laptop like an instrument (ex. using the trackpad to "bow", tilting the computer to trigger acoustic reactions)... But the whole experience kind of leaves me hanging. What's up with this bizarre (academic) phenomenon? The new "orchestra" revived through Macbooks? Interactivity and democracy through really expensive computers? Are BLOrk (Berkeley Laptop Orchestra) and MiLOrk (MIT Laptop Orchestra) next?

Computers can make music. So what? Sonically and musically, frankly, it's not that exciting. The ensemble employs sounds that were cool in the 60s and 70s sci-fi movies that used tape instead of Max MSP, but wtf, still the same sounds? It's 2009, come on. In fact, Ge Wong himself announces that SLOrk in many ways is a traditional ensemble. Personally, I would find it more interesting if these institutionally cemented laptop orchestras could finally move beyond the "traditional" (in the sense of 19th-century notions of public high culture--the zenith of the large orchestra), and come up with new sounds to fit current uses and meanings of technology and ideas about the public.


Above: Stanford composers disguised as Apple store "Geniuses"? There's a reason apple loves them.

Watch a video of SLOrk in action here!

Rabbit Deer?

To make up for my not so micro absence (or not), micropop will post a found image off the interweb for you. It's called "large rabbit deer?" Which is it? You tell me.

Rock 'n' roll vines

Just when we thought manga cool was a tacky thing for academics and government agencies propagating the expansion of Japanese soft power as a subversive means towards hello kitty-faced world domination, a suburban sister and brother who draw for a living blend guitar amps, Freddie Mercury, and old dusty vinyl, a handsome hero, and le beau vin, reinvigorating the manga world through its courtship with the deep dank world of wines. To honor Yuko and Shin Kobayashi, creators of a comic, "Drops of the Gods," micropop has inaugurated the Micropop Taste Awards. First ever taste awards go to Yuko and Shin, purveyors of grapetastic taste.

See the nytimes for a more comprehensive review of their art in "Next Week, our Hero chooses a Médoc" by Onishi Norimitsu.

Cheers.

Pure Purr Genius

Frick the cat has muy bueno style, and he knows it.
Released in 2006 by the label 45 rpm, the undying popularity of this curious piece of artistry among cult followers evidenced by its entry into the annual top 100s at independent radio stations such as KALX (UC Berkeley) attests to its pure ingenuity. Frick, pictured in all his hazy glory on the sleeve above, seduces with his lulling purrs accompanied by flamenco guitar on "El Gato" (side A), and Frick rocks you with some nasty garage rock on "Fuzzy wuz She," side B.
A micropop recommendation for the friekyest record of the decade.

Micropop's Chanteuse of the Week

Brigitte Fontaine and Art Ensemble!?

WTF?

This unlikely combo, which, I guess isn't that weird if you think about it calmly since I guess the Art Ensemble of Chicago is so cool they're everywhere (especially Paris in les 60 années), and well-connected hip Parisians comme Brigitte get to rock out with cool people.

She sounds like she looks–the OG oldschool originatress of wispy whispering intimate close-mic singing, along with that other muse of Serge called Jane Birkin.

And then there's Art Ensemble.

Pourquois?

If I had my way, the Art Ensemble would go more all out on the recording. But the album has her face on it, so I guess they had to be the back-up band.

Album: Comme à la radio
Song: Comme à la radio
Year: 1969
micropop rating: ????? out of five stars

Check it out, and let me know what you think, because mmm is totally confused.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WfVir1_Edc

Old Time Music, Libeskind, and John Zorn

While the Old Time Music Festival fiddles on in Berkeley, CA this weekend, across the billowing bay, composers and sound artists approach tradition at the new Contemporary Jewish Museum in the city of San Francisco in a very different way. In the 'yud' gallery, a "unique space featuring a 65-foot ceiling, 36 diamond-shaped skylights, and walls that converge at different angles," designed by Daniel Libeskind, John Zorn has curated a selection of new works by artists including Chris Brown, Z'ev, Lou Reed, Marina Rosenfield, Erik Friedlander, and Laurie Anderson (although Anderson's piece is situated in a different location from the other pieces). The laptop/electroacoustic pieces by Chris Brown and Marina Rosenfield were most engaging and made the best use of the spacial acoustics of architect Libeskind's fantastic space. They also seemed to attempt to make use of the spacializing possibilities offered by a the dimensions of the room. Others, like David Greenberger's narrative piece of music plus spoken word seemed to me as if they weren't especially exploring the specific problem of sound art. All in all, the exhibition is a rare work that focuses on the musical and sonic elements of the "sound" part of sound art. Traditional in theme, but contemporary in interpretation, micropop highly recommends a visit to the Aleph-Bet Sound Project, and has high hopes for future exhibits at the most exciting new museum in SF this year. And apparently, more works by Zorn himself are on the way...

Antonio Banderas' Song at Midnight

Wow. This video left me speechless. Antonio Banderas (counter tenor?) and Sarah Brightman share the stage in this obscene explosion of Andrew Lloyd Weberdom gone wild.

Things to look out for include:
2:53 – zoom in to lusty crazy eyes;
3:25 – another close-up... the erect pinky