The duo of Margarida Garcia, on electric double bass, and Aki Onda, on a small set of electronics, produce subterranean space music. Her amplified cello saws deep, thick drones while Onda wrestles with intangible static and, at times, wrangles snippets of vocals captured thanks to technologically enabled eavesdropping. Garcia and Onda are heard here in a live performance recently held at Fotofono, an art space in Brooklyn, New York (MP3).
According to a brief descriptive note at the Fotofono website, Onda’s tool set consisted of “one tube amp, a Line Six and a hand-held radio.” The result of his inventive machinations might be likened to ghostly appearances, but why limit oneself to the unknowable, to the mystical, to superstition? The bits of radio noise seem all the more trenchant when thought of as just that: windows to the sound and signals that hover all around us, all the time. Garcia’s cello roots the performance in the earthy world, while Onda plucks his source material from the aether.
More on Lisbon, Portugal-born Garcia at margaridagarcia.blogspot.com, and on Japan-born Onda at akionda.net.
Also featured that night was a solo set by Byron Westbrook (electronics), as well as a quartet featuring Tucker Dulin (trombone), Bryan Eubanks (electronics), Andrew Lafkas (double bass) and mpld (aka Gill Arno, on light and processed sound from slide projectors), all of which is at the original post: fotofono.net.
Fotofono was previously featured here, back in mid-January (disquiet.com).