The experience of Nobles eXperiment interMedia Group

- Jamie Christianson

As the trite (yet very true) saying goes, "all good things must come to an end," students from Metropolitan State University’s Experimental Music class capped off their 16-week course with a final group effort performance - and a radiant one at that - on Friday, Dec. 7.

The Strange Attractors 17 Festival, produced by the program in experimental music and intermedia arts and orchestrated by David Means, the coordinator of the program, featured guest artist, Stephen Goldstein, veteran laptop composer-performer and in addition featured the students of this fall’s Experimental Music class.

Immediately after seizing the opportunity to review this show and before the ultimate performance night, I grasped the time to educate myself on this upcoming event, as I was very unfamiliar and very intrigued about the significance of Strange Attractors. You may ask yourself, as I certainly did, what are Strange Attractors?

"Strange Attractors are mysterious fields that produce wobbly figure-eight patterns depicted in recent studies of chaos theory. They border on the fringe of order and randomness... The festival celebrates aspects of chaos and attraction in the collaborative, compositional process, the interaction between performers and audience, and the spontaneous transformation of materials into forms of intermedia expression," the precedent brochere read.

I will openly admit that I had to read that bit of material a couple of times over before my thoughts registered. However, the Strange Attractors Festival has been in production since 1998. Clearly, with a 9-year run, the show substantiates success.

Hoping to get a better grip on what to expect, I scanned over the festival’s description. "A flexible and interactive environment for artists to present and discuss their work to audiences who have a unique opportunity to experience these works in diverse and creative ways."

I then left my limited knowledge of expressional art at the door and embraced the doors of Metropolitan State’s Fine Arts Studio 677 with an open mind.

The Nobles eXperiment interMedia Group consisted of Charles Bosire, Jesse Buggs, Nicholas Griffin, Jake Kirkman, Tom Schestak, Ben Turner, Dan Van Assche and David Means. They immediately permeated warmth throughout the studio’s scope with their compositions, despite the Antarctic-like weather. The group covered three pieces, entitled "Basement Beats," "Josie," and "WaterBear." Each piece carried its own identity, and "Josie" was accompanied with images displayed on an overhead projector (attributed by Mary Garvie) in the background to capture the thoughts those were unable to pinpoint during the music.

"Basement Beats," which involved all students and composers, began protracted and dissociated yet the rhythm progressively picked up pace and momentum, restlessly taking twists, turns and risks. Just when I thought that I could pinpoint the sound as reminiscent of melancholy, reggae-infused melodies, the percussion or piano would entirely change the tune and transition into funky new wave, specifically influenced by the 1970’s genre. I envisioned myself in space, listening to the stars twinkle.

The beat was consistent regardless of the change of tune, and I observed that throughout each leap into a new musical chapter, all players were always eye-to-eye. The song never became monotonous because while the music could be categorized as sounding "scattered," it was simultaneously fitting. There was a moment that Bosire incorporated resonating vocals while tapping away at the conga drums, which was unexpected and kept the mix interesting. The music tapered off then picked up pace again once he finished his profound vocals.

"Josie," was orchestrated by David Means and Stephen Goldstein. The sound was loud and twittered, bringing thoughts of a turntable gone mad to my mind. To give someone a better understanding of what that means, I scribbled these words in my notebook: "echoes, laughter and outer space."

The complex layering of psychedelic, meditative, and whimsical humming gave it an altered paradigm - minus the paradigm. In combination with the passion that Means has for music really opens eyes on how this sort of music, experimental music, can affect somebody.

While playing the digital piano he moved his fingers so meticulously and briskly and was visibly focused on perfecting each individual note with uniqueness. His body appeared to be in a convulsion-like state when the sound became faster; he would constantly stand up, sit down and rotate the playing of the piano with the synthesizer. No body part remained immobile.

Goldstein, on the other hand, played it "cool" - his stance was very composed and laid-back as he chewed gum throughout the piece. But somehow he managed to perform the computer percussion flawlessly. That’s the kind of magic created when two musical mavericks take the stage together.

"WaterBear" was the last piece of the night and with good reason. Prior to witnessing the show, audience members were given a warning of what to expect. The sheet of paper read, "WaterBear assumes no responsibility for nausea, dizziness, temporary blindness...," and an entire list of potential side effects.

Just when experimental music was starting to make sense to me, I realized that there is a magnitude of elements I wasn’t aware of. "WaterBear" was set in the studio garage. It was dark, cold and the only sources of light were Christmas lights strewn across the stage and a strobe light streaming down from the ceiling. It was a visual performance of a real panic attack. The sounds created were extremely loud, shrill and screeching - the artists were using whatever they could get their hands on to make noises. They played guitar as if they were playing a piano, they used pan lids and the amplifier as instruments and were yearning to prolong the noise, without any pause, and went as far as dropping to their knees to keep the music alive.

One portion of the song featured screaming vocals accompanied with hard beatings of the bass drum in the middle of the stage. The piece was intensely weird, but appeared to make sense to the avid experimental music fans in the audience, who nodded their heads as if in approval.

Overall, the performance was a learning experience - it opened my eyes to a whole new channel of music that I never knew existed. It was a true ride and it proved that Means is not only a skillful composer, but a skillful director.