Search - Ellen Band and David Lee Myers, Ellen Band (field recordings); David Lee Myers (feedback device) :: Two Ships

So Ellen and David ask me if I want to put out their electro-sonic collaboration. I am surprised. Not that I did not think the music would be great ? which it is. I had no clue they knew each other, much less working together. Well they do. And they are. And here is the result ? Two Ships. Enjoy. "Two heads are better than one" (sometimes) Anyone who?s ever collaborated knows that collaboration can be a mixed bag. Those of us who have done it, likely seek it out because we recognize that the combined, mutual effort, will be greater than say ? the individual parts. Also, some of us welcome the experience of joint effort. After all, music is a rather social medium and many of us enjoy the process of working together. It?s possible that collaboration can be likened to the old sandbox metaphor ? why not build it together and benefit from each other?s strengths. On the other hand, we?re only human and cooperation is not always easy to achieve especially when artistic egos are involved. It?s no secret that artists have very specific ideas about how they want their art to be realized. It might make a great book some day, to have collaborators write about their respective experiences, both successful and difficult. However, that project exceeds the limits of this context. Performances by ELLEN BAND and DAVID LEE MYERS blend sonic environments and specialized electronic circuitry. Myers generates his signature "Feedback Music" using custom-built devices that "sing their own songs". The resulting sounds represent nothing other than the free circulation of electrons within, prompting one observer to describe them as arising "from the ether". Band carefully builds swirling layers of sonorous, textural, tone/noise clusters by mixing and processing lengthy samples from her field recordings of real-world sounds. Though their individual working styles are very different, their combined effort yields lush sonic densities that continually pulse and morph while complementing and contrasting each other?s sonic expression. Sound artist and composer, Ellen Band creates works for performance, sound installation, and sound sculpture. In 2004, Portal Of Prayer, her full-length CD work was installed at Boston?s Logan International Airport and The Boston Public Library from March 2nd ? June 5th of 2004. Portal Of Prayer is the first completely audio-based work commissioned by the Institute Of Contemporary Art/Vita Brevis, Boston and is scheduled for commercial release through the ICA and Ms. Band by the end of 2005. The work received extensive reviews in the Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Boston Phoenix, and Art New England, as well as interviews and airplay on Morning Edition on WBUR (NPR Boston) and WNYC?s The Next Big Thing (NPR New York City and 100 national affiliates). Scheduled for release this spring on Pogus is Two Ships, a CD of electro-sonic collaborations with David Lee Myers. Her solo CD of sound art work, 90% Post Consumer Sound on XI Records, NYC, has received worldwide airplay! and numerous reviews. David Lee Myers is a sound and visual artist living in New York City. He has produced music based on feedback principles since 1987, using his unique "feedback machines". As Arcane Device, and more recently under his own name, Myers has had some twenty recordings released by Recommended/ReR, Generator, Silent, RRRecords, Staalplaat, and other labels. In 2003, Myers' fourth collaborative album with Hamburg's Asmus Tietchens was released on the Line label in New York, and ReR has just released Pond, a CD with legendary electronic music pioneer Tod Dockstader.