Archival Feedback: Soundscape of the South

Archival Feedback is a collaboration headed by Emile Blair Milgrim and Thom Wheeler Castillo, collecting the sounds that characterize South Florida and inviting local sound artists and musicians to create pieces inspired by and responding to their audio collection. The full 10-track album will be available May 2, and the cassingle will be available April 14. (The cassingle was for sale at the exhibit for $5.00 as well as a handful of test pressings for $20.00.)

With Miami as my backyard as I've grown up in south Florida, Saturday's presentation of the test pressing and cassingle from Emile Milgrim and Tom Wheeler Castillo's project Archival Feedback easily immersed me in an ethereal, cosmic and very familiar realm of sound. In Locust Projects' Sounding Room, a dozen people shared plastic cups of champagne on the floor as the product of a two-year art/music collaboration unfolded.

Starting as a research endeavor, Castillo's exploration of the history of South Florida and its perception as a dual world of swamp and city turned into a "field recording" pursuit accompanied by Milgrim. Both collected environmental sounds spanning from the east to west coasts; from urban neighborhoods to traffic to beaches and the Everglades. These sounds are familiar to anyone who has lived in Miami for years or grown up here, but when taken out of context, have become arrangements of percussive patterns and mysterious melodies through a collaborative "call and response" method. On side A of the release, five field recordings create a sonic map of SoFL. Side F is comprised of five local artists' interpretations of the audio as original compositions. These five "songs" span from experiments of spatial illusion and texture to workable dance tracks. The featured artists include (in order): Felecia Chizuko Carlisle, io.ko, Fsik Huvnx, Dim Past, and Coral Morphologic (composed by Jared McKay). The cassingle includes a recording from Milgrim and Castillo titled Eleventh Street Station Whistle on side A, and an inventive, catchy track from Ortrotasce on side F.

After the test pressing played through, we moved to the front room and watched as Castillo performed Eleventh Street Station and Milgrim followed performing an improvised orchestration of sounds not on the record. Utilizing a mix of objects, traditional instruments and distortion tools, the audio experiments were demonstrated in the physical phase of the project. After releasing several editions of Archival Feedback featuring Castillo's handmade prints, Milgrim and Castillo plan to make all their field recordings public domain and continue the call and response forum to anyone who wants to create music out of their audio.

Next to the Archival Feedback setup, Felecia Chizuko Carlisle's string instrument installation hung in the front room next to several bows and drumsticks, inviting patrons to create sounds and experience what she did as she composed her response. Several thin steel strings were wrapped and clipped onto hollow metal beams in a way that allowed a variety of tones; some scratchy and loud, some smooth and radiant, some sinister and some sorrowful. Visitors were tapping, sliding, and rubbing the tools on every part of the metal surface, resulting in a cacophony of loud, haunting, unusual sounds.

Felecia is pictured furthest to the right. Before the test pressing was played, she was here explaining her thoughts about her instrument to some participants.

Emile Blair Milgrim is owner of Other Electicities label and managing partner of Sweat Records. Learn more about OE here.
Thom Wheeler Castillo is co-director of Turn-Based Press and a professional printmaker. Read about the organization here.

Look for a review of the release itself in May!
If you missed this exhibit, another one will occur May 9 in a location still to be determined. Visit Other Electricities' Facebook to keep tabs.

Girls Rock Camp: Start Them Young

On Friday March 6, the first taste of a rock revolution was offered to Miami at Churchill's Pub. Hosted by Emile Milgrim of Other Electricities and Steph Taylor of the band The State Of, several local bands brought their enthusiasm and energy to the Miami Girls Rock Camp Benefit Show. This camp is going to occur at the end of July 2015, a week-long workshop for young girls all over Miami to come meet a diverse group of peers, create a rock band, learn an instrument, and perform an original song at their first show bookending the camp. The transpiring goal of the camp is to offer a healthy outlet of expression and a channel of self-confidence for these developing ladies. A $10 cover that night from each patron will fund the camp so that the girls don't have to pay to attend. Learn more about this organization and how you may be able to help at miamigirlsrockcamp.org, facebook.com/MiamiGirlsRockCamp, and on Instagram as @miamigirlsrockcamp. You can also find videos of each performance on the Instagram as well as Facebook. Please enjoy my brief Snapchat videos of a few performances.

A few minutes after 9pm, Steph started the night with four original songs on two keyboards. Lovely electronic sound bite meditations filled the pub with great volume. Raffa Jo Harris and her guitar from Raffa & Rainer performed next, with leisurely folk-blues compositions. These women both couldn't stop smiling as they threw their energy in between electronic beats and poured their joy into the easy rhythm of strumming. This is the kind of assurance they hope to inspire in the girls who will eventually join the rock camp. Find Steph and her bandmate Nabedi at facebook.com/thestateoffanpage.

Up next was gospel-noir group Quarter Horses, who got one of the best-sized and attentive crowds of the evening. This was the first band to thunder into the pub that night with a piercing tumult of electric guitar sounds, bass that galloped through time, and a complex cascade of percussion pieces. The main vocalist's bellowing voice sung of analog angels, digital devils, sleep paralysis, sea sirens, union in matrimony, and the audacity to hope. Unlike their last previous performance - at Miami International Book Fair in October - their closing song was not cut off by a power outage, but they were able to finish with a two-minute instrumental buildup and a melodic rendition of an old Southern hymn by all three voices. Find Novy, Emile and Jon at facebook.com/quarterhorsesmia.

Photos by the author, and videos by SFBANDVIDEOS on YouTube.

Bonnie Riot, a five-piece band from Lake Worth, literally slammed into the faces of Churchill's patrons with a wall of cymbal sound and invigorated angst in the vocals of Milly La Madrid. With Andrea Salomone on bass, Josh Pono on drums, and Luis Sanabria on keys and guitar wearing an X-men shirt, the gang did an excellent job of bringing the "in your face" vibe they proclaim on their Facebook page. They had several copies of their new album Backbone, which I picked up within 2 minutes of them beginning their set. I suppose I didn't get a video or photo of them because I was literally gobsmacked by their performance and couldn't be torn away from it. Find them at facebook.com/bonnieriot and @bonnieriot. 

Album cover taken from bonnieriot.com.

Holly Hunt attracted a smaller pensive crowd of observers mostly nodding their heads to the flow of the wordless, extended, droning metal compositions. Gavin Perry stood tall and calmly in front of a tower of amps as he played, and Beatriz Monteavaro gave her absolute all, with the same confident smile as Steph and Raffa, excelling at steady powerful percussion using only one arm. I know their physical music is sold out or selling out, but I plan to purchase at some point. Find them at facebook.com/HOLLYHUNT.LTD, hollyhunt.bandcamp.com, @beatmyguest and @hollyhunt_band. 

Bleeth, a 4-piece band; Haochi Waves, with 3 members; then Sadie Hawkins closed out the show at around 1:30pm. I unfortunately was occupied at this time and did not see these groups perform in their entirety, but you can find them at facebook.com/bleethband, facebook.com/haochiwavesmusic, http://haochiwaves.bandcamp.com/, and facebook.com/sadiehawkins305. Each band included at least one female musician, as a tribute to the upcoming rock stars this camp will help nurture. If you were at the show, thank you so much for your support!