Mac music

One-man-band F.S. Blumm from Berlin played a very brief set featuring lovely (John Fahey lite) guitar finger picking accompanied by pre-recorded loops of birds chirping and street sounds operated via foot pedals. Ambient Calgon bath of electro-acoustic strum, take me away.

Chicago’s Greg Davis broadened the electronic palette, layering numerous tracks of ringing, buzzing tones and pulsating organ swells using his Mac laptop, while grainily filmed objects (raindrops on puddles, snow on buildings, power lines) flickered across the wall. Interesting, but ultimately an exercise in impersonal, droning noise—which may be the point.

Portland designer E*Rock brought a more structured set of canned beats, bloops and bleeps sequenced live in concert with his playful, Pop-art designs manipulated on the wall. Bouncy, beach blanket bingo for braniacs!

It was worth watching these sound architects play with their fancy toys if only for the curious looks from outside, including two cops on horseback who trotted by during a loud cacophony of what sounded like horny male frogs weeping en masse.