Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Cat's Seven Year RezDay Party at Cat's Art MusikCircus

Time in Second Life is measured very much in dog years and seven years is a whole lot of them.  In almost all that time, Cat Boucher has been running a music venue and she has brought some of the medium's most progressive and unorthodox musicians to the stage.  So it was time for a party.


Deceptions Digital got it started.  Even though her work is recorded, it is all original and highly-experimental.  It would be tough to learn the names of her songs as she makes new ones so fast that keeping up would be a big challenge.


DD lit the place immediately.  I was thinking as she was playing that she uses every possible technique at her disposal in making music.  Her interest is very much in what computers can do with music and she's very good at it.

Something you'll find with performers at the MusikCircus is that they will use absolutely anything as an instrument.  If it makes sound then it's in the band.  DD is really good at this as she doesn't so much use physical instruments but rather software voices that come from who knows where and some couldn't even possibly be an actual instrument.  The mix is extraordinary and it's not done for effect but rather for exploration and, well, to start fires and make explosions.


Michi Renoir picked it up for the second set and that's Servine Genosse in the foreground in all his feathered glory.

Maestro Michi went way distant from what he usually does and did not play his keyboards but rather played his computer instead.  His plan was to deliver the show entirely from the computer and not because he had pre-precorded the songs.  I haven't talked with him about it yet but I gather he has a shareware (maybe freeware) program that permits him to map audio sequences to different key strokes on the computer.  I've been asked what the program was and I'll update after I talk with him.


What do you know, more fires started.  Cat and I are dancing in the foreground and Kasandra Barony is exploding in the center of the screen.  I believe that's Servine Genosse who is temporarily blue and red.

It was a very cool set but I don't think that as a listener it matters if the music comes from the computer or the actual synth keyboards.  It makes for a whole new way to play for the musician but listeners have kind of a musical Turing Test as in can we tell if it's the computer or the keyboards.  Ultimately what only matters on our side is does it sound cool and the set definitely did.

(Alan Turing has been famous with programmers forever.  The Turing Test is a classic in which computers can't be said to be truly matured until a person cannot tell the difference between a computer and a human on the other side of a wall.  WIKI:  Alan Turing)

Michi was deeply-apologetic for the audio going down for five or ten minutes but the set was still hugely cool.  While it was down we were chit-chatting about what might have become of him and it was a pleasant time.  When Michi realized there was a problem he got right back to playing until Reis and Aldo started their set.  Michi felt bad about the down time but he gave us an excellent set.


If you mix Brazil and Italy, don't expect to get chocolate chip cookies.  The result can be explosive or ethereal and I've never heard anyone like them.


Reis and Aldo bring their music and they also bring their visuals.  It's not enough to let off a few firecrackers, they do this instead and keep in mind this is just a still picture, the whole view is actually moving.  Medora Chevalier and Kasandra Barony are in the foreground.


Ka-boom!

Reis and Aldo dedicated the entire set to Cat and her seventh RezDay and it was a beautiful performance.

What they do varies so much as sometimes Reis says, "here is Brizzi," and then Aldo does a solo instrumental with percussion that will blow you out of your chair both in the power and the rhythms.  You can find more about his instrumental performances on his Web site:  Aldo Brizzi

Combining Aldo's compositions with the extraordinarily delicate voice of Reis seems impossible but then you hear her flying around in clouds while Aldo wraps all around her but staying very cool so he doesn't crush her.  I really don't know of another act like them.  I've heard a great many combinations of voices but none like this one and the vibe they create is always transporting.  You will go deep into the Amazon, or to Mayan pyramids or go flying about in the sky with them.  It's an extremely visual show.

And of course Cat and I danced


That's Zaphod Enoch to the right.  He's a great guy and he's equally fluent in German and English so that makes things very easy for me.  I've played for him several times and it's always been good.

Cat was feeling very good last night and that was perfect.  I hope there will be at least seven more RezDays and I'm going to be there for all of them.

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