OFFICIAL BULLETIN OF THE
INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF RECORDIST INVESTIGATION
ISSUE NO. 1
JAN. 3, 1999
WELCOME!
Welcome to the first issue of The Organ Grinder's Gazette, a project of the International Bureau of Recordist Investigation - Communications Division. This publication serves as both an internal bulletin for those involved in Bureau activities and as a networking/communications tool for other individuals or groups interested in keeping up on Bureau projects or receiving information on a variety of topics of interest to the Bureau such as Dada/Surrealism (past and present), Fantastic and Visionary artists, art/magick, etc. We fully intend this newsletter to be published at least bi-monthly but, as the willing conspirators of chaos (cohorts of contingency?), we'll see what happens!
WHAT IS I.B.R.I.?
Since this is our first newsletter, a little explication about who and what we are may be in order.
The International Bureau of Recordist Investigation (I.B.R.I.) is an organization dedicated to the expansion and development of Recordism. Through its various departments (Dept. Of Recordist Audio, Dept. Of Recordist Objects, etc.) I.B.R.I. facilitates the production of Recordist works, acts as the international centre for research into the theory and practice of Recordism, disseminates information on Recordism and related subjects, and generally promotes Recordist, art, ideas, activities, etc.
Recordism can loosely be defined as an artistic ideology which is concerned with the continued development of certain forms of Fantastic Art, Literature, etc.; the investigation into and use of chance and automatic methods in current art practice; and an ongoing exploration of the connection between art and magick.
Recordism is essentially a modern variant of Surrealism with a few minor (or major, depending on who you talk to) differences, not the least of which is our desire to be called something other than Surrealists (a term which we feel is somewhat "used up", but we're open to debate on this).
Recordism was founded by W.A.Davison in 1984. The Bureau was formed on the 10th anniversary of Recordism, Dec. 5th, 1994.
RECENT EVENTS AND FUTURE PLANS
Following are a few highlights of recent Bureau activities from the past year as well as some plans for future projects.
~O~
The Dept. Of Recordist Audio (DORA) has developed a number of new instruments over the past year including "The March 22nd, 1998 Guitar", "The Crankman", and "The Ossington Berimbau". These were premiered at performances by Urban Refuse Group and Songs of the New Erotics.
DORA also produced, in conjunction with the Dept. Of Recordist Events And Situations, an installation/performance piece entitled "The John Cage", which was presented at the Cult of Po-Po's "Wasteland Condos" event, Feb. '98.
Sometime in Spring '99, DORA and the Dept. Of Recordist Film And Video, hope to present an evening of film and music with a number of local experimental music improvisers (including Urban Refuse Group) providing sound for a live cut-up/collage of classic and obscure silent movies. Details will follow as this develops.
~O~
In celebration of the 13th anniversary of Recordism, The Dept. Of Recordist Events And Situations and the Dept. Of Recordist Games presented "The First Recordist Soiree", held at the home of W.A. Davison and S.Higgins on Dec. 5th, 1997. The evening included Recordist cake, games, presentations of works from the archives (film, music, visual art), and performances by Songs of the New Erotics and fire artist Stephen Rife.
~O~
The Communications Division has been busy with various networking and promotional activities over the past year, including local radio appearances and the publication of promotional material ("A Message From The Bureau" was published in Awake: The Cult of Po-PO, Aug. '98 issue). A major communications project was also initiated last year, namely, The Virtual Bureau Of Recordism, an I.B.R.I. website which will contain information and examples of work from all the Bureau's departments and divisions as well as the Disembraining Songs record label, Songs of the New Erotics, and various other projects. Friend and web designer Charles Watson (a.k.a. Organism) has been recruited to help with this project which we hope to have up and running early this year.
~O~
There's been little time for much formal work from the Theoretical Division recently other than the usual scribblings and notes. However, some progress has been made toward the heavily revised and annotated republishing of the Dec. '94 Recordist manifesto which will perhaps see the light of day sometime in '99. The original Dec. '94 manifesto was recently acquired (along with another small promotional pamphlet and the entire Disembraining Songs catalogue) by the National Library in Ottawa.
Another work from the archives of the Theoretical Division, "The Para-Gardist Picto-Manifesto", was recently published in the Fall issue of Rampike magazine (Vol. 10, No. 1).
"Kook Dance at X Hundred Feet"
S.O.T.N.E. live at "Into The
Wasteland", Aug. 22/98 (photo by S.Higgins)
Songs of the New Erotics premiered three entirely new performance pieces last year. On April 8, S.O.T.N.E. was invited to perform at an event called "Songscapes", presented by Toronto Nomad Territories and held at The Music Gallery. The event featured over a dozen performers, each presenting short pieces based loosely on the use of songs or sounds. S.O.T.N.E. presented a piece entitled "Windbag".
On Aug. 22, S.O.T.N.E. presented a piece entitled "Kook Dance At X Hundred Feet" at the "Into The Wasteland" event which was held in a large open area of unused land in downtown Toronto. The event was curated by Jubal Brown and Istvan Kantor and was part of the "7a11d Festival of Performance Art".
S.O.T.N.E. also performed at another Wasteland event, "Samhain In Wasteland" (curated by Jubal Brown and Stephen Rife), which took place in an abandoned abattoir on Oct. 31st. S.O.T.N.E.'s contribution was entitled "A Poetry Found In The Dark Edges Of Science".
In addition to these new pieces,S.O.T.N.E. restaged two older works. "Baron Brainscapes" made another unannounced and uninvited appearance, this time at an event called "Dwellers At The Threshold", curated by Luis Jacob and held in the lobby of the Power Plant, Toronto, on June 3rd.
On June 11th, S.O.T.N.E. performed for the second time the "...an example of Recordist word art as demonstrated by Songs of the New Erotics (please forgive my typing)" piece, this time titled "One Hundred Maggots". The piece is based on the live creation of an automatic text to the accompaniment of amplified typewriter and feedback noise. "One Hundred Maggots" was presented at "Extreme Noise", another event curated by Jubal Brown and held at the Weave club in downtown Toronto. Also on the bill for the evening was Detroit's Hearing Trumpet (see announcements section).
S.O.T.N.E. appeared on two cassette releases last year, both from U.R.G. member Kevin Paisley's Mutant Cactus label. The first, an excerpt from the live recording of "Shadows And Subterfuge" (as performed at Guelph University, Sept. 16/97) was included on the compilation "Drones, Thrones, and Autognomes". The second, a studio composition entitled "Careful Slumber/Fitful Life", was included as a bonus track on the second Urban Refuse Group tape "U.R.G. 2 (Transmission)".
Also released last year was a video demo tape of three S.O.T.N.E. performance documents. The tape was produced by the Bureau's recording label, Disembraining Songs, who looks after the promotion and coordination of performances and recordings by S.O.T.N.E., Urban Refuse Group, and several other projects. Although the demo is not an official Disembraining Songs release, it is available to archives, museums, and other permanent collections or to curators and events coordinators interested in the work of Songs of the New Erotics. Since its release in Oct., the tape has already found its way into the archives of Le Lieu, Centre En Art Actuel in Quebec City and the library of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
And finally, work continues on two full-length S.O.T.N.E. releases including the long-awaited "Human Voice Soup", a CD of S.O.T.N.E. studio recordings to be released by Ottawa-based label Musicus Phycus and a special-edition cassette release of S.O.T.N.E. live recordings, possibly to be released by Luis Jacob's Galerie Largeness series.
~O~
Urban Refuse Group has kept busy with numerous recordings and performances throughout '98. On Aug. 29th the improvising collective appeared at "Birdworks", an outdoor performance event curated by Jhave and held in a vacant lot in downtown Toronto (footage from this performance is being incorporated into a short film for possible broadcast on CBC television). On Aug. 1st U.R.G. appeared at the Idler Pub Improvisers Series, an ongoing series of concerts hosted by the Idler Pub and coordinated by Ronda Rindoni.
U.R.G. has also provided live improvised soundtracks for films at a number of film events over the past year including The Annual Pleasure Dome Open Screening (July 17), a travelling exhibition called "The Super Super-8 Film Festival" (originating in San Diego)(Dec. 14/97), and the films of John Porter on two seperate occasions -