Music

Hist Soundtrack Complete /  by James belflower

I wasn’t sure if I would ever say this, but I have completed the soundtrack for my collaborative graphic novel HIST. I’m very proud of this album because it blends the rich and uncanny textures of intimate found sounds, such as the clicking of beech nut spikes, with spoken word, extending the digital materiality of the graphic novel into the sonic realm. Working with my coauthor and vocalist, Matthew Klane, over the last two years, he and I have recorded the full album, mixed it, and the mastering was recently finished by the wonderful Sam Torres at Polymouth Music. I am in the process of shopping this album to various labels and will update as soon as I place it!

Keep an eye out for updates on future performances. For now, enjoy these offerings below.

Featured
HIST cover for website.jpg
Hist Soundtrack Complete
HIST at House Poets in Philly | 2/24/23
HIST at House Poets in Philly | 2/24/23
HIST cover for website.jpg
HIST Soundtrack Excerpts On ANMLY

HIST at House Poets in Philly | 2/24/23 /  by James belflower

HIST Soundtrack Excerpts On ANMLY /  by James belflower

Thanks to the wonderful people at ANMLY mag who have an awesome hybrid creative blog, “The Markings of Music.” The editor, Olivia Muenz, was kind enough to publish excerpts from the HIST soundtrack, “Canoe Chase on the Horican,” and “Narra-mattah,” my audio/visual collaborations with Matthew Klane. Our recordings are accompanied with an interview diving in to the process behind the book and the reasoning behind a soundtrack for it. There are so many wonderful things on the blog so check them all out!

Power Electronics and Media Myth /  by James belflower

A great find today on Ubu Web: “Toward a Sound Ecstatic Electronica: The Rationale Behind Tellus Issues “Power Electronics” and “Media Myth” by Joseph Nechvatal. Though Nechvatal originally wrote the essay for Tellus #13 in the 80s Power Electronics heyday, he revised it again in 2000. I’m impressed with how apt its notion of sound as an ecstatic critique of reductive social constructions is for today’s noise music progenitors. There is a wonderful listening list also. Check it out!

Birds Wheeling Flick Audibility /  by James belflower

For me, lines of bird flight are always audible. Birds wheeling flick the quick wisps of the conductor's baton tip into the blue, they curve shimmering notes up over the top staff line, or they bend like a light arc flickering through a lens pointed into the sun. But even more than resonating with other phenomenon, bird murmurs draw me into that moment of alien self-organization where I am confronted with confluences completely outside myself. Jane Bennett calls minor experiences like this enchanting and argues that they can remind us how wonder reorients our perception toward less habituated modes of experience. What I enjoy in enchantment is that although I associate the organized kinesis of the bird's swooping with musical expressiveness, the fact that birds understand what constitutes music differently than we do means that this expression is not reducible to a culturally legible melody or form. In short, bird murmurs remind me that there is always a pressure on the cultural conditioning my hearing and vision emerge through. I find this pleasure enchanting. 

Bennett, Jane. The Enchantment of Modern Life: Attachments, Crossings, and Ethics. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001.

Canyons Tour Audio from Just Buffalo Literary Center Available /  by James belflower

Canyons Tour Audio from PS1 Performance Available /  by James belflower

Just uploaded audio from the 4th set of the Canyons reading tour. Enjoy!

Canyons Tour @ PS1 in Iowa City 10.9.16 /  by James belflower

Performance Space One

Performance Space One

The Canyons tour ended its first phase in Iowa City at Performance Space one, hosted by John Éngelbrecht. It was a lovely night. The performance artist Jillian Weise screened pointedly political videos of her alter ego Tipsy Tullivan, and poet Raj Chakrapani read from a new work that blended poetry with voice-overs of prominent public figures. Matthew and I played a longer set than previous readings and we enjoyed plugging into PS1's sound system for two reasons. One, we didn't have to lug all our equipment in and out! Two, it was vastly superior! I'll post audio of this performance over the weekend so check back soon! We are in Providence toward the end of October, so if you're in the area we hope to see you. The rest of our tour schedule is available here.