ElectroZone
Event
Friday,
April 17, 2020
9-11
PM
I
caught ElectroZone’s online show last Friday evening. If you missed
it, don’t sweat it, the link to the archived videos is below.
Here
are my capsule reviews of the four performers:
Vishwanath
Gi
Definitely
a lot of Berlin school influence here. I'm almost tempted to compare
him to Tangerine Dream, or another ElectroZone favorite, Finite
Element. But he definitely tips his hat to 90s ambient champions like
the Orb or maybe 70s space cadet Steve Hillage. I found myself
spacing out and swaying to this performer's music, which varied in
intensity. A great, blue-black wall of sound.
Monty
Sciencist (Instagram: @SynthScienceist)
Old-school
ambient with a new school twist and vocal samples. Harold Budd-style
electronic percussion. More solid beats get into the mix as the tune
progresses. A bit more down to earth than Vishwanath Gi but
definitely influenced by the Berlin school. Just a little bit of
Kraftwerkishness is present. There are several layers in Monty’s
music, some of which is very danceable, some of which is sonorous and
dreamy. Some nice grooves here. (Scienceist is not a misspelling. Oh yes. The pants he wore as he
performed were very psychedelic!)
Shivasongster
(jeremydeprisco.net)
Think
Gary Numan, or later Ultravox. Only a bit more produced. A bit of
Merrell Fankhauser’s lyricism. Electro-metal new age? Very
danceable without smacking you over the head with the beat. His
virtual light show wasn't too shabby either! Much more accessible
stuff of the whole. He played songs rather than instrumentals, whose
lyrics centered around sci-fi themes. Some vocals had just the right
amount of vocoder processing.
Rainbow
Trash (Headliner)
This
female performer is from Montreal, Canada. She uses synths, which
were off-camera in the video feed, a Nintendo Game Boy for that 8-bit
lo-fi sound, and a very prominent Theremin. She began her set with
the sacred classic, Ave Maria. I think Wendy Carlos couldn't have
done a more interesting version of it! Her cover of a Pixies tune
(“Where Is My Mind”) delivered the goods, with the Theremin
standing in for that song’s background vocal passages! She's got a
pretty good singing voice! She played more experimental-sounding
pieces toward the end of her set.
As I
said, the videos of the show can be seen here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/595226784
And
while you’re at it, why not scoot ElectroZone a US$10.00 donation
to help the musicians make rent and to help ElectroZone put on more
of these online events? Venmo: @electrozone
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