Signifying Something

(This episode was originally released October 8th, 2021)

On today's episode, Steve Flato speaks with Matt Weston. Steve and Matt discuss Matt's musical upbringing; his time studying with Milford Graves and Bill Dixon at Bennington College; his time in Chicago in the mid 90's; and Matt's trajectory over the course of his career.

Weston plays percussion and electronics, and has performed throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. He has appeared on CNN, VH1, and CBS TV. He has studied and/or collaborated with Arthur Brooks, Bill Callahan/Smog, Bill Dixon, Kevin Drumm, Paul Flaherty, Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, Mary Halvorson, Le Quan Ninh, Bob Marsh, Ben Miller (ex-Destroy All Monsters), Roger Miller (Mission of Burma), Jim O’Rourke, Jeff Parker, Jack Wright, and many others.

His work has earned critical praise from such publications as the Wire, the Village Voice, Signal To Noise, Cadence, All About Jazz, Grooves, and Bananafish. His solo works have garnered international acclaim, as have his recordings with Barn Owl, Tizzy, and Thrillpillow. He has recorded for the Tautology, Sachimay, Breaking World Records, Imvated, Crank Satori, BoxMedia, and Drag City labels. He currently records for his own 7272Music label. In addition to his solo work, Weston is currently a member of the Arthur Brooks Ensemble V; and Arc Pair with drummer Amanda Kraus.

Visit signifyingsomething.bandcamp.com to donate to the show and get a lossless download of Matt Weston's "Fear of Insomnia".

intro & background music: steve flato
"fear of insomnia" used by permission of Matt Weston

(This episode was originally broadcast September 2nd, 2021)

 

Steve Flato talks with Christina Carter (Charalambides) on today's episode of Signifying Something. During a terrible period of loss from 2008 to 2014, Christina created some of her best solo music. Much of it remains unheard to a large audience as they were released in very small editions on CD-R and never released digitally. Steve and Christina discuss her solo discography as well as her early childhood influences; the art school system; her improvisational approach to songwriting; the artist/listener relationship; a transformative live experience with Joe McPhee; the importance of participation in the artistic process; the difficulty of singing other peoples songs; the live experience and the life energy of live music, and why Christina didn't want to play live at first. Check out signifyingsomething.bandcamp.com for a free/pay-what-you-want download of the episode as well as "Poetry" from Christina's Texas Modern Exorcism album.

Intro / bed music - Steve Flato
34:25 "Centerpiece" - from Masque Femine by Christina Carter
53:50 - "Poetry" - from Texas Modern Exorcism by Christina Carter
1:05:30 - "Letter L" - from Imaginee by Christina Carter
1:09:13 - "Ascend Mem" - from Imaginational Anthem Vol 2 by Christina Carter
1:32:25 - "Ice" - from upcoming a capella record by Christina Carter
1:35:40 - "Lady Friend" - from Texas Blues Working by Christina Carter
End / bed music - Steve Flato 

Featured tracks as lossless downloads are available at our Bandcamp: signifyingsomething.bandcamp.com

(This episode was originally broadcast August 23, 2021)

 

On today's episode of Signifying Something, Steve Flato talks to Johnathan Cash (aka Sunk Cost). Johnathan formerly played under the alias Breakdancing Ronald Reagan. Since moving to Hollywood, Johnathan has been recording under the alias Sunk Cost; a love letter to Japanese and American harsh noise and experimental electronics. Eschewing the noise/comedy parody of Breakdancing Ronald Reagan, and his youth, he and Steve explore Johnny's recent changes, his shows in the Austin and Denver noise scenes, and other topics surrounding his past & future.

"Sometimes you get so deep into parody that you lose the original intention of what you were even focusing on. It's like, I was making fun of noise so much that i was like, damn, I do like noise, though... Noise is fun, that is something i'll take to my fuckin' grave. it doesn't have to be funny, but it is fun to hear. It's a cool, fun sound." - Johnathan Cash

(This episode was originally broadcast August 17, 2021)

 

On today's show, Steve Flato speaks with Seth Graham. Seth Graham is a Ohio based visual artist, composer and co-owner of Orange Milk Records with an academic background in Philosophy. He focuses on compositions which highlight tropes across a broad range of musical genres using midi data, Max MSP and samples. His intention is to manifest intersections of classical avant garde and modern popular music with compositions ranging from playful sample arrangements to dense digital synthesis. Seth Graham’s work has been published by music imprints Orange Milk, Noumenal Loom, We Time Audio. He was commissioned by the Russian Ensemble Kymatic to write 4 pieces in tribute to Philip Glass that was performed during 2017 at the Museum of Media and Arts in Moscow. He has been written about in Rolling Stone, NPR, Tiny Mix Tapes, Impose, FACT, and other publications.

We discuss Seth's discography, particularly the new record with Mari from More Eaze, "The Heart Pumps Kool-Aid" under the alias ---__--___. We also get into Seth's ultra-conservative parents and his upbringing in Japan as an English-speaking boy from Ohio; intuition in the creative process; the importance of an artistic space and managing home life with time for art and music; composition and the process behind "Gasp" and "No.00 in clean life" (Seth's previous solo albums).

Music video link for "When you're hot around the narcs" by ---__--___: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmZJgwS7oVQ

Intro Music: Steve Flato
"Julius Eastman - NY metro xylophone player (feat meteronori)" is featured after the intro.
"From The Valley" - featured track
"When you're hot around the narcs" - featured before outro
Outro music: Steve Flato 

 

Featured tracks as lossless downloads are available at our Bandcamp: signifyingsomething.bandcamp.com

Steve Flato sits down with artist and musician Jen Kutler to discuss her piece “In Loving Memory of Being Touched”. Jen Kutler is a multidisciplinary artist that often works with queerness, femininity, and intimacy. Her performances feature many of her instruments incorporated with immersive field recordings to explore common and discrepant experiences of familiar social tones in immersive sound and media environments.

Using discarded hospital equipment, Jen created this piece at the beginning of quarantine out of a yearning for one of the most basic human needs— touch. The listener hooks electrodes to their body (similar to a TENS pain relief device) and gentle shocks “touch” the listener in time to music played via WebMIDI on a website. The whole thing is housed in a clear cube filled with circuits and LED’s that connects to your computer via USB, and features a beautiful illustration of hands, reaching out to something, printed on one of the circuit boards. 

Steve and Jen discuss the process of creating and the context for "In Loving Memory of Being Touched" as well as an upcoming record (out Feb 12) that uses empathy as a device to generate sound. Previous projects have sonified the female orgasm, used vibrators as instruments, all in an attempt to re-contextualize and transform the common themes found in her work.