William Basinski and Then Some

I was very impressed with the sound art performances on Friday in the Black Box Theater the first performer Nate Wheeler was interesting to listen to and also watch as well. Nate used many instruments and tools to create each piece. The most exciting was the last piece with the dancer who moved very naturally in the beginning them turned into a demon creature at the end--at least that's how I saw it. I had a hard time being able to see what Nate was doing but that allowed me to focus on the sound and the movement of the dancer. One of the best parts of his performance was the smell. I have a feeling it was unintentional and it was just someone sitting around me, but regardless it enhanced my experience by becoming ultra-natural and earthy. The cables set up around the "technology area" interestingly contrasted with the natural dance and "appearing to be natural" lighting. Occasionally, his pieces reminded me of dubstep music with the deep bass tones and pulsating rhythms.

The second artist, William Basinski, was quite the character. He was much more interested in ambient sounds created through loops. His performance was difficult to understand because I had a hard time hearing the difference in each loop that he added. I never thought I had a hard time breaking down music or sounds into segments, but I honestly couldn't tell one loop from the next. Sometimes I thought I could hear the individual parts, but they would continue for minutes even after he took them off the reel. Part of the problem could've been where I was sitting in the room. Maybe I was right underneath the speaker playing the loops. Also, it would be nice to lay down curing his performances so I wouldn't be distracted by his crazy awesome hair or attire(gold metallic shoes). I didn't realize how load the performance was until he started to fade out to end the sequence. It seamed to take forever to actually get back to silence.

Each piece of the night had their own personality and I was happy to hear how broad sound art can be.