Maryanne Amacher in "Sisters with Transistors" (Photo: Peggy Wells, courtesy Crosstown Arts)
It’s telling that Sisters with Transistors, a new film about the female pioneers of electronic music, is noteworthy at all. The very existence of such a film reveals what a boys’ club recording engineering and audio geekery can be. It’s common knowledge among musicians, and a running joke among those few, proud women producers and engineers around town, like Dawn Hopkins or Alyssa Moore. But casual listeners may not think about those behind-the-scenes magic-makers at all, much less their gender.
Watching this film, this week’s feature at Crosstown Arthouse Film Series, will change all that. As it turns out, many of the key innovators over the past century of electronic and avant garde music have been women. Even electronic music nerds (my people!) have largely ignored this. The classic CD set, OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music (1948-1980), spans decades with 42 tracks over three discs, yet only four of those tracks feature women composers or performers.
Lisa Rovner’s documentary, released this past April in select cinemas, and now only rarely available for streaming via Metrograph.com, helps to correct such bias. Focusing on a far from exhaustive list of 10 or so innovators, Sisters with Transistors, narrated by Laurie Anderson, reveals just how critical women have been to the field.
For starters, there’s Clara Rockmore, one of the first virtuosos of the Theremin, the hundred-year-old tone generator that defined an era of science fiction soundtracks and more. There are two geniuses of the B.B.C., Delia Derbyshire (probably best known for co-creating the Doctor Who theme) and Daphne Oram. There are Bebe Barron, Pauline Oliveros (who may just have invented sampling from an LP in 1965), Maryanne Amacher, Eliane Radigue, Suzanne Ciani (master of the Buchla synthesizer who created many iconic sound effects for commercials) and Laurie Spiegel.
Indie Memphis fans who saw A Life in Waves may know Suzanne Ciani’s work, and Doctor Who fans may know Delia Derbyshire’s name, but beyond that, these are pioneers whose work deserves recognition on par with that afforded the men who’ve been recognized for decades. As one of Rovner’s subjects notes, “I just want to be introduced as a composer, and to start to point out how hard it was for women to be taken seriously as creators of music.”
Sisters with Transistors screens on Thursday, September 2, at Crosstown Theater, 7:30-9:30 p.m. $5.
Evicshen: "Very noisy, but very richly detailed and textured" (CREDIT: Arnaud Pagès)
Aside from all the punk rock, folk, blues, R&B, funk, soul and hip-hop that Memphis is known for, another scene has been gaining momentum here for some time: experimental electronic music. In 2017, this crystallized more than ever with the advent of the Memphis Concrète festival (and of course, the Memphis Flyer reported on it). If the depth and breadth of regional artists dedicated to all manner of synthesized and unorthodox music was impressive then, it’s only become more so as the festival continued to be staged every year since.
Every year except last year, of course, when COVID-19 put a stop to so many gatherings. And yet, drawing on an already-established tendency to stage shows featuring small handfuls of artists throughout the year, Memphis Concrète did just that practically as soon as lockdowns became common. Smaller virtual shows popped up at the organizers’ behest in March and April of 2020, but it was no substitute for the full-blown festivals that had been staged in and around Crosstown Concourse in previous years.
Now the festival is back in force, scheduled this Friday through Sunday. But, unlike many venues that have rushed to embrace live music again, Memphis Concrète is sticking with the virtual realm. I asked one of its principal organizers, Robert Traxler, about that and other details, and it soon became clear that, true to its innovative spirit, the festival is turning its embrace of the virtual into a positive asset.
Memphis Flyer:What will the festival look like this year, as you adhere to a wholly virtual, live-streamed approach?
Robert Traxler: It’s gonna be three days, 26 artists, a variety of genres. There will be a lot of musicians with very different approaches to music that can make you think about music differently, both local and scattered around. It’s a few hours over a whole weekend. You can drop in, drop out. There’s no cost to watch the stream on Twitch TV. It’s free, but we will have links on the website where you can donate to the artists. And all that money will go to the artists.
Would you say there’s a positive side to the virtual approach?
Yes, in that we are trying to connect with as many friends in other places as possible, to make use of the streaming format. We have one person who will be playing from Ireland, Nicholas Maloney, who’s actually from Mississippi. He played the first year of the festival as Blanket Swimming. Now he’s playing under his own name, and he’s in Ireland right now. Also, instead of waiting until people can come here, let’s let them come here virtually. True, things are opening up, but it still feels weird. I haven’t made it out to a show yet. It still seems kind of on the border. Some people might especially not want to attend a festival with a lot of artists, even now.
There are a lot of artists, spanning many styles, being featured. Who would you say the headliners are for the three nights?
On Friday, we have Duet for Theremin & Lap Steel. They played in Memphis at the Continuum Festival a few years ago. They’re from Atlanta. They’re awesome and their name describes them very well. Also on Friday, we have Disaster Trees. That’s Kim, who is Belly Full of Stars, with her husband Chris. She does a lot of ambient and drone, with a little glitch. From what I’ve heard, this new project is kind of heavy drone. Really great stuff.
Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel (Credit: Jamie Harmon)
On Saturday, we have Eve Maret. She’s from Nashville and does a lot of synth-pop. She can get dancy, disco-y. But she put out an album just a few months ago that is much more abstract and experimental. So she has a rich variety of sounds, usually synthesizer-based.
And Post Doom Romance from Chicago is also on Saturday. This is a newer industrial ambient project by Michael Boyd, who played with us a few years ago. In this project, he’s playing with Chelsea Heikes, and they work with both sounds and visuals. The visuals are a big part of their set.
On Sunday we have Pas Musique. He’s from New York, and he works in a lot of styles. A lot of it is kind of psych-based. Experimental noise and ambient and a whole slough of things. And there’s also Evicshen. She’s now in San Francisco, a noise artist who’s worked with Jessica Rylan, who had a boutique synth company called Flower Electronics a while back. They made all these weird little boxes that made all kinds of crazy noises. Evicshen is very noisy, but also very richly detailed and textured. It has a lot of layers. I’m excited because her stuff is really awesome.
Overall, it has a similar mix to what we’ve had in the past. Some we’ve had before, but also a lot of new people. We tried to get as many local people who hadn’t played the festival before as we could. I didn’t want to have too many of one thing or sound together. Everything’s spread around.
No doubt some fans will want to boogie to the bleeps. Which artists veer more into EDM territory?
For those who are more interested in the dance side of things, CEL SHADE is very rhythmic. Argiflex. Some of Luct Melod’s stuff veers more to EDM. Eve Maret is more rhythmic or even poppy sometimes. Window can get kind of dancy. Some kind of straddle that line between ambient and rhythmic, like Signals Under Tests or Paul Vinsonhaler.
Memphis Concrète 2021 runs from Friday, June 25, through Sunday, June 27, live-streaming on Twitch TV. Free.
Michal Menert, a Polish-American electronic music producer known for his experimentation with nu jazz, hip-hop, and trip-hop sounds and for his collaborations with fellow electronic artist Pretty Lights and Grateful Dead and Dead & Company percussionist Mickey Hart, makes his way to Growlers to perform a solo DJ set.
Although he’s not specifically promoting it, his latest album Slow Coast III, released in March, features a range of experimental techniques and instruments, such as the taishōgoto (a Japanese stringed instrument).
Jason MacLeod
Michal Menert
“A long time ago, we realized we’ll never have a perfectly tuned and precise studio at home, so instead of making things sound perfect and sterile, we started to purposely pursue terrible sounding things that we could refine into interesting tunes,” says Menert. “I feel lucky that I’ve been able to do things on my own terms, without having to cater to trends.”
The album, a third installment of Menert’s Slow Coast series, was inspired by his love for fantasy and for the Northern California coast.
“This installment of Slow Coast was inspired by a hazy fantasy realm I was imagining while piecing it together,” he says. “I pictured dark skies, a sorcerer returning from exile, and a world of destructive chaos desperate for magic. All of these things play out in my mind with the rocky coasts and giant redwood forests around me serving as backgrounds, even though the narrative isn’t necessarily apparent in the music itself.”
Between finding the right balance between touring and recording, Menert is looking forward to his performance in Memphis.
“One of my favorite people, Brock from Zoogma, is from there, and he’s definitely shown me a hell of a good time with great people in Memphis,” he says.
Michal Menert with Defcon Engaged, Maverick 1990, and Cel Shade at Growlers, Thursday, October 3rd, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., $15/advance, $20/door.
On Triangles: Sound in Geometry Series Vol. 1 borrows its title from a 15th-century collection of treatises by Johannes Regiomontanus. The German renaissance astronomer and mathematician, often identified as simply Regiomontanus, claimed his book would explain “all things necessary for anyone wishing to reach perfection” in his or her knowledge of the astronomical sciences. Similarly, On Triangles is a generous 17-track sampler CD showcasing electronic music and soundscapes crafted by the artists playing at this year’s Memphis Concrète Festival. It can make clearer what to expect from a three-day event devoted to experiments and improvisations in electronic sound better than any descriptive overview could ever hope to do. On Triangles is a varied collection of sonic exotica that ranges from pop-inspired and percussive to freaky and free-form.
“Memphis Concrète was a play on words,” festival organizer Robert Traxler says, explaining a desire to mix this cerebral approach to music-making with a hint of regional grit.
“Musique concrète,” the expression Traxler was riffing on when he christened the festival, describes various methods of collecting, organizing, and manipulating recorded sound in ways that aren’t restricted by traditional conventions of melody, harmony, and rhythm. The approach was employed by a variety of 20th-century European artists inspired by the idea of “acousmatic sound” — sound that’s been uncoupled visually from the original source of production. That concept was inspired, appropriately enough, by the Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, who sometimes lectured his students from behind screens, so they might focus their attention not on him, but on triangles.
“Last year’s festival was basically a proof of concept,” Traxler says. That event was two nights, featured primarily local and regional artists, and all events took place sequentially in Crosstown Arts’ tiny gallery space on Cleveland. This year’s festival moves across the street to the main Concourse and picks up a second stage. The event has also expanded to three nights.
The Memphis Concrète lineup features several area performers, including IMAKEMADBEATS (see cover story, p. 10), singer/songwriter Linda Heck, and DJ/recording artist Mike Honeycutt.
“I think a lot of people around Memphis probably think of Heck playing rock music,” Traxler says. But of “Right,” Heck’s sometimes dreamy, sometimes anxiety-inducing contribution to On Triangles, Traxler says Heck’s “doing something different, and it’s phenomenal. It’s the most straight-up musique concrète on the CD.”
This year’s festival brings a number of national acts to town, including Wolf Eyes, STARFIGHTER YELLOW SUPEROVERDRIVE, and former Dirty Beaches artist Alex Zhang Hungtai. Zhang moved from rock to jazz to even freer forms, creating epic soundscapes and intimate little suites that mix electronics and traditional instruments such as guitar, piano, and drums. Fans of Showtime’s Twin Peaks reboot may also recognize Zhang as a member of the show’s fictional band, Trouble.
Traxler describes Circuit des Yeux as being, “probably the most like what you might think of as a rock band.” Fronted by Haley Fohr, a singer with a multi-octave range, Circuit des Yeux’s sound can be difficult to pin down, with tracks that range from ambient burbles to guitar-driven knife-fights. “It’s an eclectic sound with pop roots,” Traxler says. “And a lot of surprises.”
There’s quite a bit of surprise built into Memphis Concrète’s lineup, including three films with electronic or electronic-friendly soundtracks that will be performed live by festival artists. “Woman in the Moon is a silent film,” Traxler says. “Those are always some of the most fun to do live soundtracks for.”
That’s just a small sample of what’s available at the Memphis Concrète Festival, which is bringing more than 30 artists to the Crosstown Concourse this weekend. On Triangles: Sound in Geometry Series Vol. 1 is available at Shangri-La Records now.
Memphis Concrète Festival at Crosstown Arts, Friday, June 22nd-Sunday, June 24th.
The historical moment that gave us punk rock was actually a series of minor aesthetic explosions that produced any number of unpredictable musical adventures. In bringing the group X__X to town, Gonerfest 14 just celebrated one such explosion that occurred around Cleveland in the late ’70s. Meanwhile, in Sheffield, England around the same time, another take on revolution was fomenting. Clock DVA was part of a movement that included Cabaret Voltaire and Heaven 17, but never achieved the commercial heights of those groups, probably because of their more industrial sound. Ultimately, Clock DVA co-founder Adi Newton, who approached his electronic experiments as “research,” struck out on his own with a more open-ended, collaborative project known as The Anti-Group. Making music consisting primarily of layered electronic noise and haunting tonalities over bass pulses, not necessarily underpinned with drum machine rhythms, The Anti-Group, aka The Anti-Group Communications (TAGC), played out more like studies in psycho-acoustics than pop entertainment.
All the more remarkable, then, that TAGC, not unlike X__X, continues to have legs. Though electronic music permeates nearly every corner of life now, it tends to fall into the same over-worn dance patterns. The search for the uncanny, which flourished when the genre was in its infancy, has dwindled as the sounds themselves become more pedestrian. Not so with the Anti-Group. The collective presents it’s expeditions into the territories of noise and tone with carefully thought-out dynamics that suggest classical compositions.
Given the renaissance of electronic weirdness that the Mid-South is experiencing these days, perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Memphians will have the chance to hear the Anti-Group in real time tomorrow at the Amurica gallery space, as they begin their first American tour. Luís Seixas, who curates the electronic music label Thisco, based in his hometown of Lisbon, has seized the moment of Newton’s recent spate of touring to bring the pioneer to Memphis. While this would be remarkable in New York, Paris, London, or Munich, it is doubly so in what many call “the largest small town in America.” While our city has long been considered the home of independent-minded musical pioneers, we can only hope that such a sense of adventure brings out fans of truly cutting-edge sonic explorations this Tuesday.
Rick Steff and Roy Berry will celebrate the release of their new album Superfluidity with a listening party and performance Friday night at Memphis Made Tap Room. Doors open at 7 p.m., followed by a listening session of Superfluidity at 8 p.m. and a performance at 9 p.m. Released on Archer Records, Superfluidity is the duo’s debut album, and is available on limited vinyl as well as CD. Stream the entire thing below, then get to Memphis Made Tap Room by 8 p.m. on Friday. The event is free.
Jason MacLeod 
