08/18/03’s illustrious band:

The Evolution Control Committee

Brought to you by the ECC itself (http://evolution-control.com), whom I saw perform this past Friday evening.

I actually went to this “sound collage” show to see Datura 1.0 (www.daturaonezero.com) and the circuit-bending orchestra. Circuit bending involves rewiring various objects and running the sounds they produce through some sort of electronic maze until they come out the other side sounding decidedly different than before. Datura’s current specialty is a colorful array of Fischer Price toys whose tones are altered and amplified by a laptop computer, their cheerful tweeting morphed into disturbing growls and subsonics. The kids will definitely be seeing monsters under the bed after playing with these little trinkets. It’s the kind of thing Stephen King would come up with if he were a musician.

Datura was joined onstage by several other benders, one of whom played what looked like a miniature water heater with xylophone mallets and manipulated an electromagnetic field’s sonic output by waving his hands over it. He also, at various times during the set, strung yellow “crime scene do not cross” tape up the aisles of the theater and handed out postcards bearing photos of various cuts of meat. I got a T-bone.

Then the ECC came on. The Committee consists of just one guy, a mad scientist sporting an untamed white pompadour, a white jumpsuit and black Converse high-tops. He opened his set by asking the audience to please rise and join him in singing the national anthem. However, due to budgetary cutbacks, he said, the federal government had been forced to accept corporate sponsorship from the Oscar Mayer company, and the lyrics to our anthem had been replaced by those of “My Bologna Has a First Name,” sung to the traditional melody. With the help of his laptop, he projected the words on the screen so we could sing along, karaoke style.

Next Ev (as I call him, because I can’t remember his real name) demonstrated some remixing, cutting back and forth between familiar musical tracks to create amusing juxtapositions.

Then he got out the Thimbletron. The Thimbletron consists of a pair of white cotton gloves with a thimble mounted on each fingertip. Wires lead from each thimble up the operator’s arms and into a snarly pile of custom electronics. By touching different thimbles together, completing different circuits, Ev was able to “change the channel” from one music or voiceover track to another, or change the distortion effects, or both. The laptop projected the software programs in use, plus an oscilloscopic representation of the various soundtracks, onto the big screen for our viewing enjoyment.

All in all, it was an excellent show and an interesting glimpse at one direction in which music is evolving. For someone like me who likes plain old a cappella vocals, all this electronic stuff is a big step outside the box. It’s good to get outside now and then.

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