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ABQ MTV: Touch the Shovel of Turbulence

Samantha Anne Carrillo 6:41 PM ABQ MTV, Brian Fejer, Kaleb Wentzel-Fisher, North America, Of God and Science, Tenderizor, Vizual View
Things in Light is pleased to present the third episode of ABQ MTV. It's a triad, yo. Y'all keep makin' boss music and vids and we'll keep featurin' it. Deal?
First, badass/Supernormal Kaleb Wentzel-Fisher created this dark, delicious slice of desert nightlife -- or is that post-life?! -- for "Hayley's Ghost," a slice of North America from their forthcoming album, Blown Out. Watching in the dark is recommended.

Hayley's Ghost - North America from Supernormals on Vimeo.

Second, Brian Fejer created a GIF-tastic video for Tenderizor's "Touch the Sword." This video covers all the bases. I recognized GIFs from Somewhere, Leaving Las Vegas, Eraserhead, The Wizard of Oz, American Psycho, Altered States, An American Werewolf in London -- just to name a few. Plus, lots of music video and commercial GIFs, notably Shake Weight and KFC... It's very NSFW, which is likely the point. What do y'all recognize?

Touch the Sword - Tenderizor from Brian Fejer on Vimeo.

And, last but not least, check out Of God and Science's new video for "Turbulence." Produced by Vizual View, it features stunning cinematography, a tale of childhood friendship, and guys in creepy rabbit masks. Word.
Continue Reading..


ABQ MTV: Flashback Film

Samantha Anne Carrillo 12:26 PM 1980s, 1990s, Albuquerque, Cracks in the Sidewalk, music videos, punk rock, Rodger C. Venue, synth Image courtesy of cracksinthesidewalk.com/
Things in Light is psyched to present another "episode" of ABQ MTV, featuring local music videos that hark back to '86.
Our first video was broadcast live on Channel 27 in 1986. It features a musical intro by fringe-y Albuquerque new wave keyboard artist Rodger C. Venue. Then, seminal Albuquerque punk rockers Cracks in the Sidewalk share the "Leatherword." Check out youngsters Gordy Anderson (Black Maria, ex-Jerry's Kidz) Chris Partain (ex-Starsky, ex-Elephant, Star Tattoo), Judson Frondorf (designer, "PowerBook-fronter"), and Jez Velasquez (collage artist).
Was that minute-long Rodger C. Venue intro just enough to whet your appetite for synth? You're in luck, 'cause here's a Venue vid from '86, "Danger City." And there's more synth-y goodness on the Rodger C. Venue Myspace, which indicates Venue is now calling Austin home.
I would surely be remiss if I failed to include this Cracks in the Sidewalk "Down" video from '88.
And, for good measure, here's Cracks in the Sidewalk performing in '94 on 5000 Feet High (Ch. 27).


7inches to Freedom Turns One on Easter

Samantha Anne Carrillo 7:40 PM 45rpms, 7 Inches to Freedom, 7-inches, Blackbird Buvette, Derek Caterwaul, Drew Keul, Mello Sanchez, records, Tahnee Udero, viny 7inches to Freedom, Albuquerque's monthly DJ salon, turns one year old on Sunday, April 24. Held the last Sunday of every month, 7inches to Freedom was the brainchild of artist and DJ Drew Keul. When Keul moved from Austin to Albuquerque last year, he brought with him a love of music, records, and the inspiration for a monthly DJ salon. Modeled after Austin's long-running Love and a 45 record party, 7inches to Freedom came to life in the spirited atmosphere of the now-defunct 1Kind performance space (a/k/a Wunderkind, Coalmine, Rio Grande Satanical Gardens). When that space closed, the salon briefly relocated to The Spot, before finding a permanent home at Blackbird Buvette (509 Central NW). And that's where Albuquerque's hardcore vinyl enthusiasts and dabblers alike can be found tomorrow night, celebrating 7inches to Freedom's birthday.
7inches to Freedom works like this: Vinylphiles and those merely "interested in the lifestyle" bring three or more 45rpm or 7" records and sign up to play three tracks. DJ Caterwaul said, "7"s-only is the main rule - 33 or 45rpm is okay, but we don’t want DJs up there for 15 minutes at a time, so please keep it to one song/track, if there’s more than one on a 33 rpm. And no scratching! No genre specifications, no DJ egos, nothing but a love for vinyl and having a good time." After you play your first set, you can sign up again. Spinning continues in this three-track rotation all night.
Things in Light asked some of 7inches to Freedom's core organizers and enthusiasts to share their thoughts on the eve of its birthday. And here's what they said.
Tahnee Udero/DJ Tahnee: "I knew it was something I wanted to be part of when I saw the first flyer. Originally it was hosted at 1Kind, which is a testament to the attitude and people that fostered the venue. Blackbird Buvette is open to what we are doing and has been a great new home. We want to give the vinyl-collecting community a place to gather and have fun while enjoying what each other have taken the time to dig up. You don't have to call yourself a DJ to play vinyl for your friends. We can take a step back to hear and learn what our friends like."
Drew Keul: "The event is about diggin' through crates. If you dig through crates regularly, then you know what it's like to find treasures. So, it's about the love of digging and letting others hear your personal treasures. This is for people that love music, plain and simple."
DCat/DJ Caterwaul: "For me, the focus of 7inches to Freedom is definitely on the freedom. I love that it's open to any genre or source, as long as it's on 7" vinyl, and DJs have the option to go with the flow or trainwreck it, as they see fit. The short and simple list of rules that accompany this 'freedom' actually make a lot of creative room for those that want to explore it."
Mello Sanchez/DJ Mello: "7inches to Freedom is a gateway drug to record enthusiasm and collecting for those who might not have been into it. I really like the fact that it has created a unique community of record collectors and DJs who listen to all different kinds of music. We all enjoy each other's music and company. It's created an environment for Albuquerque DJs and music lovers to socialize and talk records that didn't exist before."
7inches to Freedom
Blackbird Buvette (509 Central NW)
6 p.m. 'til late


Get Your Heptagram On At Third Not-Really-Annual Crabwalk

Samantha Anne Carrillo 10:44 AM Blacker Guise, Bud Melvin, Chemtrail Pilot, chiptune, Cinik, Crabwalk, experimental, hip hop, Iceolus, Javelina, Lobsterbreath, metal, noise, P-n-J It's hard to draw a perfect heptagram. Console yourself by attending the Third Not-Really-Annual Crabwalk on Thursday evening at the P & J (202 Harvard SE). But what is a crabwalk, exactly? Event organizer DJ Caterwaul briefed Things in Light on the structure and history of the crabwalk. Crabwalks gather a diverse group of musicians - typically five, primarily local - in a performance space and then the musicians play in round-robin, usually pentagram, fashion. The audience is positioned at the center of this vortex. The musicians often band together for an improv session by the end of the performance.

"I think this is the most musically diverse of all the crabwalks that have happened. Hip hop, singer/songwriter, metal, sound collage, noise, experimental, and chiptune music are all represented here, plus some stray subgenres, I reckon," said DJ Caterwaul. This year's crabwalk features seven musical elements. It's formula is : Bud Melvin's "8-bit hacked Gameboy accompanied by banjo/uke" + Chemtrail Pilot's "lone wolf hip hop" + Cinik's "solo-experimental-[ism]" + Iceolus' "proggy high desert 'burnt sienna' metal" + Javelina's songstress Emma Arsonist + Las Cruces-based Lobsterbreath's "mad scientist culture jamming" + a guest appearance by Alan George Ledergerber's Blacker Guise.

According to Bud Melvin (the Grave of Nobody's Darling, Lionhead Bunny, Phantom Lake), "In a crabwalk, the groups form a circle as the primordial point. The audience goes wherever it will. I walk in with a plan and the plan becomes useless, as I end up changing songs at the last minute to compliment or contrast what came immediately before and what maybe my unconscious knows is next."

Cinik said, "Even though I play live occasionally, I'm still always a bit uncomfortable playing for an audience, but, for once, I feel totally comfortable because this group event has a strong purpose -- to illustrate that Albuquerque has an excellently diverse music scene. The concept is less about the traditional performer audience relationship and more about communicating what Albuquerque has going for it."

According to Greg Markham (Roñoso, Iceolus, Prison of Sound), "This event shows our capacity to have seemingly contradicting genres compliment each other. Meanwhile, an audience in the middle is given a ride through five, and now with this year seven, different sonic entities. And, in the end, when all the sounds converge, we hope that if we haven't treaded upon new ground, we can all come out inspired."

The Third Not-Really-Annual Crabwalk will commence at the P&J (202 Harvard SE) on Thursday night at 8 p.m. and end by 11 p.m. All-ages. Donations for the P&J and local artists are welcome.

Scroll on for video of the artists performing at this year's Crabwalk.


Bud Melvin


Chemtrail Pilot










Alan George Ledergerber/Blacker Guise



Boom Baggage: The Haters Bring the Noise to ABQ

Samantha Anne Carrillo 10:41 AM Crank Sturgeon, KILT, noise, PCRV, Small Engine Gallery, Styrofoam Sanchez, The Haters GX Jupitter-Larsen, the founder and central protagonist of noise art project The Haters, is disappointed when people refer to The Haters' aural output as “music.” “It's noise to me, and I love noise,” said Jupitter-Larsen, “More than any type of music, noise is the most accurate metaphor for entropy.”

Entropy and decay, professional wrestling, and Jupitter-Larsen's self-created measurement lexicon have been described as primary Haters themes. According to Jupitter-Larsen, this is an accurate description. “Why I'm drawn to such, is movement. Each implies a different aspect of the nature of movement,” said Jupitter-Larsen.

Performing with sound since the late-'70s, Jupitter-Larsen has no formal training in sound, preferring to learn by experience and experimentation. “As a child 'til my late-teens, I had no interest in sound whatsoever. Even as a teen, I never listened to top 40 radio. I was more into talk radio, the nuttier the guest, the better. It wasn't 'til I discovered punk in '77. People at the time talked about punk as if was noise, but it was never noisy enough for me. After that, one thing lead to another,” said Jupitter-Larsen.

Geared toward a sociologically transmitted noise ethos, attending a Haters show is about participating in an unfamiliar communion of noise. Jupitter-Larsen notes that one of his goals for The Haters' shows is fostering cognition in the audience. By failing to conform to preconceptions of The Haters' themes, the project aims to leave audiences guessing and, by extension, thinking.

Jupitter-Larsen is most well known for his work with The Haters, which is understandable as the prolific noise project has released over 300 CDs and records since its inception and performed extensively across the globe. But Jupitter-Larsen is also a novelist, zinester, conceptual artist (working in diverse media, including radio, video, and mail), and an alt-numerologist. Jupitter-Larsen's self-created measurement lexicon includes measurements such as the polywave, the totimorphous, and the xylowave. His transexpansion numeral unit (TNU) “explores distance and separateness between linear and counting locations that do not neighbor each other.” Less arithmetic and more emotional barometer, TNU is inclusive, allowing anyone to create “personal numbers to symbolize any numeral interrelationship.”

Jupitter-Larsen has served as sound engineer for Survival Research Laboratories, employed inside agitators to instigate physical destruction of venues by audience members, and written four “noise novels.” Jupitter-Larsen's noise novels are “collection[s] of philth, poetry, & philosophy, combining different writing techniques into a literary hiss.” As of 2001, Jupitter-Larsen had performed over 3500 hours of live radio art, on 31 stations and in 11 countries.

The Haters will perform in Albuquerque at Small Engine Gallery on Thursday, April 21. Since it's a traveling show, The Haters will be using amplified suitcases. Other noise acts -- New England “fish-man hybrid”/“Dada-mainliner” Crank Sturgeon, Billings, MT-based harsh noise project Pop Culture Rape Victim, experimental electroacoustic ensemble KILT (featuring native son Raven Chacon, Bushwick, NY-based composer Bob Bellerue, and Hungarian-American vocalist and percussionist Sandor Finta), and Oakland, CA-based noise outfit Styrofoam Sanchez -- will also perform at Thursday night's show, before making a pilgrimage to this weekend's Denver Noise Fest.

Thursday, April 21, at 9 p.m.

Small Engine Gallery, 1413 Fourth SW (Barelas)

All-ages, $8


The Haters

The Haters at Neon Marshmallow Fest (Day 2, 8/20/10) from Bullart. on Vimeo.


Crank Sturgeon


Pop Culture Rape Victim




Styrofoam Sanchez

Styrofoam Sanchez "Your Blood Is In Our Mouth" live from Ratskin records on Vimeo.



ABQ MTV: Local Music Videos That Rawk

Samantha Anne Carrillo 8:11 PM Fart House, Monster Paws, music videos, RAWWR, Supernormals I love music videos. And, this week, I stumbled across two new, local music videos that I absolutely lurve. Scroll on to get your ABQ A/V fix.
Local indie rawk duo Fart House seems to be following a witch house-esque search engine policy, because googling "Fart House" gets one exactly nowhere. Luckily, one-half of Fart House, uber-talented local artist Brapola! (Luke Hussack) shared this Supernormals-directed video for their song, "Song," on Facebook. Filmed at Small Engine Gallery, this video features so-bad-it's-good stand-up comedy, a couple of photogenic ducklings, face-in-hole paintings, and creative editing. And "Song" is a really good, er, song. Check it out!

"SONG" By Fart House from Supernormals on Vimeo.

Next up, check out the beautifully abstract, concretely poetic video that Molly Caldera created for RAWWR!'s "MATI."
Finally, check out the slightly older, but no less fantastic, interstellar road trip video for Monster Paws' "Ray of Light."

10 April 2011

X's and O's: Santa Fe Scribbles George Lewis Jr.'s Name On Its Trapper Keeper

Samantha Anne Carrillo 2:00 PM Corazón, George Lewis Jr., Santa Fe, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Twin Shadow My introduction to Twin Shadow was facilitated by stumbling across the Alex Markman-directed video for "Slow" during the languorous heat of July. The video, an incisive and charming casting couch parody, was interesting enough that I immediately procured Twin Shadow's debut album, Forget (4AD, 2010), and put it into rotation. Sometimes referred to as the "Mexican Morrissey" or the "Bangladeshi Bowie," Dominican Republic-born, Florida-raised, Brooklyn-based George Lewis Jr.'s Twin Shadow is pure, sweet, nostalgic new wave-pop that manages to simultaneously sound as sentimental as a preserved rose and as present-tense as a sunrise.
Via 4AD: "Twin Shadow is the nom de plume of George Lewis Jr. The troubled son of a hairdresser and a 'teacher who lived many lives,' his formative years were spent in suburban Florida. Later, George escaped and travelled north to New York, where the slow gestation of Forget took place over a duration of many months in his Brooklyn apartment. Impressed by the unknown Twin Shadow, Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear) lent his considerable talents as a co-producer, getting behind the dials to add a final flourish to the eleven tracks that would become Forget."
Check out the aforementioned video for "Slow" and Twin Shadow's new video, for "At My Heels," below. Twin Shadow will open for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, in The Fe at Corazón on Tuesday, April 12 at 7 p.m. All-ages. Bar w/ ID. $10-15.
And check out these The Pains of Being Pure at Heart vids:

03 April 2011

Tuesday's Child is Full of Rawk: Mixed Media Showcase + Doom Crawl in ABQ

Samantha Anne Carrillo 12:20 PM Albuquerque Boys Choir, Amarok, Burt's, Deathwülf, Fando, Iceolus, Jacqueline Suskin, Leeches of Lore, Let the Night Roar, Odnila G, Professor Gall, The Kosmos, Winnings, Yellow Crystal Star Do y'all have plans for Tuesday night? Don't say yes or no before you peruse these killer shows happening Tuesday night in Albuquerque!
▼ Albuquerque Boys Choir, PDX junkyard folk-steampunk jazz quintet Professor Gall, Arcata-based poet Jacqueline Suskin, and Odnila G + Yellow Crystal Star perform at Winning Coffee Co. (111 Harvard SE) at 7 p.m. All-ages. $5.

Albuquerque Boys Choir from Elena Lopez on Vimeo.

▼ Leeches of Lore, Atlanta "brutal-sludge stoner motorcycle metal" foursome Let the Night Roar, Fando, and "Daniel & Joseph's sumpnsum’n" Streights perform at The Kosmos (1715 Fifth NW) at 9 p.m. All-ages. $5.
▼ Chico, CA doom outfit Amarok (ex-Makai), "burnt sienna metal" threesome Iceolus, and "burnt crust" purveyors Deathwülf perform at Burt’s Tiki Lounge (313 Gold SW) at 10 p.m. 21+. No cover.


Bevvitched: Fielded Incants Monday in ABQ

Samantha Anne Carrillo 9:57 PM Cloud Lantern, Fielded, Joseph Angelo, Luperci, The Gold House I've been listening to a lot of Kate Bush and witch house lately. That sort of musical headspace was the perfect place from which to access Fielded. Fielded is the solo project of Lindsay Powell (Ga'an, Festival). It's essentially vox-led incantatory pop. But, really, that sort of label can't do Fielded any justice. I've listened to seven or eight Fielded tunes this evening and was never bored. Fielded will perform on Monday evening at The Gold House (1817 Gold SE) with Cloud Lantern (Decca Sequence members playin' lo-fi) and Joseph Angelo (dark folk, Luperci). 8 p.m. $5. All-ages.
Fielded vinyl and cassettes are available from Catholic Tapes, at Fielded's bandcamp page or at Monday evening's show.
Friendship Bracelet says: "Church drones, beat shards, ghost town tumbleweed specters. Woulda been great for creepo-dungeon Halloween mix, could probably be used in place of "Silent Night" shit on yer Christmastime mix, assuming your Christmas party been thrown in the graveyard. I'm talkin ghost of Christmas future shit, clinkin down in a freshly dug grave, huge blue moon overhead, huge pack of coyotes howlin overhead. Long bouts of shivers."
20jazzfunkgreats says: "There has been a wealth of incantatory music recently, reminiscences of rambles across enchanted forests where the layer that separates us from the spirit world becomes translucent. Fewer have however dared to step into that glowing space. Enter Fielded, who with Demon Seed levitate there washed by the spiritual arpeggio of a thousand white witches, this is the silver statue whose weight equals the pyramid of steaming hearts that the minions of darkness pile on the other side of the cosmic scales."
Dig, below.

Fielded - Another Time from Hearsay and Hyperbole on Vimeo.

Fire Rock Walls by Fielded

Red Queen by Fielded




01 April 2011

Light Emerges: Akron/Family Perform Sunday in The Fe

Samantha Anne Carrillo 4:36 PM Akron/Family, Corazon, Delicate Steve, Santa Fe Akron/Family's newest album, S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, is markedly different from 2009's Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free. Supposedly, after hearing several deadlines whoosh by, the band delivered a CDR with four of the albums' tracks and a paranoid Post-it promising to deliver the rest of the album directly to the vinyl pressing plant, and a handwritten note that read:
"It started. a note left for us in an old abandoned space reads:
'Do Not Erase
I Was Ak'
Flourish.Flourish.Flourish. Fuck Shit Up.
We took this to heart.
Hidden out. Abandoned train station Detroit summer. Odd purple light. Rooms converted into serious makeshift portal creation zones to dimensionalize the recording fully in imagination. Honey bee mexican grocery behind. Sky is night. Song construction think back a submarine culture inspired side of Volcano futurism forested in old backbrain Japan.
Birth of early adulthood ideal tribalist experimentation before belief of the best better ways. Little dreams written in communal books. These memories recovered from old coughing hard drives, spliced infinitesimally small and reconstructed into front lobe acid punk outsider emotional music spaces. A true fantasy story that ain't no lie for direct to our fans and for the rest of 'em. All welcome and fuck 'em all or at least the rest of 'em simultaneously.
A great flourishing of friendships and joint creativity and hard work. Brought about by the still stubborn belief in a vision creative and encouraging.
Catching the Big Fish. An Eastern European blue van dream up. Follow the 12-foot yellow paper roll from SE Portland. A dream roll of visions and bulldozers organized by Future Librarians unemployed, Intoxicated, Artistic-bent, Roving Aimlessly Free of expectation 100 years later."
So, yeah, I guess it sort of sounds like that. Psych-folk-meets-art-rock is a pretty good descriptor, but words sort of fail me here. Akron/Family are wonderfully freaky. The band of Portland/New York-based drifters will perform on Sunday evening at Corazón. 7 p.m. 21+. $10-12. Delicate Steve, from New Jersey, opens.

Delicate Steve - "Wondervisions" Video (Feat. Nat Baldwin) from stereogum on Vimeo.
