Sound Art + Machine Philharmonic

Using Video as Score

The Machine Philharmonic are artist-built sound robots that the audience can sometimes collaboratively operate. A locally shot video score works as a prompt to operate the sound robots. Some local materials are used to build the Machine Philharmonic.

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Kal Spelletich is a mad scientist machine and robot builder. His machinery for performances invokes the notorious San Francisco Survival Research Laboratories organization that he worked with for years.
He works with hand built sound machines that are his instruments. They produce lush beautiful phase shifting soundscapes, machine pounding rhythms and pure anarchic sounds.
No backing tapes, synths, samplers, guitars or drums.

Kal uses videos he shoots as a score. For instance, clouds roll in and a rumbling beat pulses. A closeup of the moon produces the sounds of space summoned from his machines.

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The highlight of the evening was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal_Spelletich (and a Survival Research Laboratories alumni) and his Machine Philharmonic: a wild assortment of various homemade robotic devices that created noises that he blended and manipulated to conjure an otherworldly series of polyrhythmic sonic landscapes. -Brad Stark

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Two videos are projected, one is a close up of the sound machine robots, the second is the video score I follow.

I follow certain actions in the videos. For instance, waves, pedestrians or birds in flight. The position of each item in the video will define when each robot is activated. For instance, when seagulls are in the bottom of the video bass and drum machines, the middle equates mid-range machines, the top of the video image, strings and high notes. Often all ranges will have seagulls so all robotic instruments will be played.
There is also a video projection of the machines shot up close by me as I mix the sounds.

I shoot a specific score in each city I perform in.

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In the manner of Terry Riley, Krzysztof Penderecki, Pauline, Oliveros, Steven Reich, Igor Stravinsky, Rhys Chatham, La Monte Young, Kraftwerk, The Residents, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Ligeti, John Cage, Survival Research Laboratories, and Einsturzende Neubotten.

I stand on the shoulders of Giants.

Performing with Clubfoot Orchestra

Live at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany

There will be no electric guitars, synths, backing tracks nor drums.

A collaboration with the illustrious Bryan Day!

An Album from 2020: http://www.publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php?eh=115

I’ve found myself digging into The Blessing of the ZHENGKE ZGA37RG from San Francisco-based Kal Spelletich, a man that has many siblings (is one of them named Nik?) Along with being part of a large family, Spelletich has also been prodigious within the Industrial/Noise Music scene for many years. His group Seemen definitely has a name for itself, and he’s also been involved with Survival Research Laboratories, which in and of itself should be enough of a bona fide for any fan of underground creativity. For The Blessing, Kal utilized his own talents and creativity to produce several different sound making machines. From these inventions, he’s coaxed all kinds of roars, and slides, and wobbles, and shrieks, and cries. -Mark Pino

These immersive soundscapes of assembly line whirs, the hum and grind of powerful electric motors churning gears and other knickknacks, low-register industrial rumble, and hypnotically looped discrete sound events are utterly addicting. Somewhere between the palpable physicality and passive complexity of Jean Tinguely’s audio-sculptures, the more agile collective improvisations. -Jack Davidson

Live, Oakland California October 20 How To Destroy The Universe Festival, At Spire Church. Two videos are projected as scores of the Sun & the Moon that I follow..

It is quite industrial music, pretty much all of this, but without going towards a more regular noise album, and that’s great news. – Frans de Waard

“This is the sound of machinery going bad.” -Eskaton

This energy holds beauty in the reaches of ingenious creativity. The assemble of machines from lifeless parts, the splendor of connecting consciousnesses through inanimate mediums sparked with life. The biggest or most important thought surfacing after listening to The Blessing of the ZHENGKE ZGA37RG is how congruent and fluid these sounds are. From an artist crafting all the devices used to make this sonic composition, there is no disjointedness. Noises gently ushered from inception to beauty. Rhythms slowly turning. -Robot RattleI am creating soundscapes from videos (landscape video as score) Using new videos in each city. This is sonification and inquiry into Landscape. To not look down upon to spy or judge but to interact and try to understand.

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There’s the BBC TV show Robot Wars, and that episode of The Big Bang Theory where our heroes take on Kripke and lose. So maybe that’s an indicator of a successful cultural invasion, and even a form of participation if you will. The other thing to note is that the sounds on The Blessing are not quite as threatening or dangerous as some of the above spiel might suggest – in fact for the most part it’s very engaging, and the machines sound positively happy to be alive and performing their mechanical tasks. – Ed Pinsent

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This statement suggests a deliberate departure from the typical elements often associated with musical performances, signaling a unique and potentially stripped-down musical experience. The absence of electric guitars, synths, backing tracks, and drums can create a raw and unembellished sonic landscape, placing the focus squarely on the purity of acoustic instruments or vocal performances. This deliberate choice can infuse the music with a sense of intimacy and simplicity, allowing the audience to connect with the authentic, unadorned essence of the music. Such a configuration may also evoke a sense of nostalgia, harking back to a time when music was often presented in its most organic form, devoid of the trappings of modern production techniques. This intentional departure from the norm can set the stage for a refreshing and memorable musical experience, inviting listeners to engage with the music in a new and unanticipated way.

Ha ha, asked the AI.

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The highlight of the eveni(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal_Spelletich, and a Survival Research Laboratories alumni) and his Machine Philharmonic: a wild assortment of various homemade robotic devices that created noises that he blended and manipulated to conjure an otherworldly series of polyrhythmic sonic landscapes. -Brad Stark

The moon fell from the sky, unto our lap. It was ours to orbit now.