Signifying Something with Safie Flato

This is an announcement podcast. Watch it. Listen to it. 

https://frolicpressrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/journey-through-the-death-of-a-friend

Content note: This episode includes discussion of addiction, overdose, and chronic illness (diabetes) of Safie Flato. In the podcast episode, Safie Flato discusses their transition to a non-binary identity and reflects on their past as a former drug addict. They promote their podcast, urging listeners to support via Patreon or Venmo and committing to putting out one episode per month into the near future. Safie interviews Bhob Rainey about his piece "Canopy of Catastrophes," which uses sonification and audification techniques with data from asteroids, stock market predictions, and internet activity. Rainey explains his approach to creating music by integrating human and non-human elements, emphasizing the importance of intuition and learning in his process. He also touches on his work with microtonal piano compositions and collaborations with other artists.

Bhob Rainey is a composer / performer. He has a long and well-regarded history as an improviser, known for a masterful yet often understated technique that transforms the soprano saxophone into an electronic-like, textural, or percussive device. He is also known for his ongoing critique of improvisational practice, which has brought influential concepts and stylistic components into the practice as a whole. While Rainey has worked with numerous improvisers globally, he is best known for his solo work, Nmperign (with trumpeter Greg Kelley), and his direction of the improvising large ensemble, The BSC.

Rainey also works in the realm of electronic and algorithmic composition. His collaborations in this area are not only with algorithms and electrons, but also with regarded composers such as Ralf Wehowsky, Jason Lescalleet, and Chris Cooper.

In 2013, Rainey was awarded the prestigious Pew Fellowship in the Arts for his work in these areas.

Signifyingsomething.com and Patreon.com/signifyingsomething -- Venmo is @Steven-Flato-1 and last 4 digits are 5591 for verification for one-time-donations. 

Music “Five Year Plan” – Callahan & Witscher, from Sorry To Hear That https://callahanwitscher.bandcamp.com/album/sorry-to-hear-that

“I Love Music” – Callahan & Witscher, from Think Differently https://callahanwitscher.bandcamp.com/album/think-differently

“Bye Jeff” – Callahan & Witscher, from Sorry To Hear That https://callahanwitscher.bandcamp.com/album/sorry-to-hear-that

“Canopy of Catastrophes” – Bhob Rainey, from From null lands led, Starrily https://www.subvert.fm/bhob-rainey/from-null-lands-led-starrily

Support

Patreon: https://patreon.com/signifyingsomething

Bandcamp: https://signifyingsomething.bandcamp.com/

(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.

(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.

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.

(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.

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.

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. 

(This episode was originally broadcast May 17, 2017)

id m theft able is a performer and improviser from Portland, Maine. He sits somewhere in between the areas of noise, free improvisation, sound poetry, and performance art by using voice, found objects, and electronics. He has given hundreds of performances across 4 continents in settings ranging from the scummiest of squats to the fanciest of festivals. Today he brings a voice-only improvisation called ‘Bout Half a Gallon of Dripped Weight Lo$$

(This episode was originally broadcast April 25, 2017)

G Lucas Crane speaks with Steve Flato on today’s episode of Signifying Something. Crane is a sound artist, performer, and musician whose work focuses on information anxiety, media confusion, and new performance techniques for obsolete technology. He is one of the co-founders of the experimental art and performance space the Silent Barn, located in NYC. He makes collages of reconstituted sample-based sound using the medium of cassette tape and has been in bands such as Woods, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice. His solo work is released under the name Nonhorse.