electro-music.com   Dedicated to experimental electro-acoustic
and electronic music
 
    Front Page  |  Radio
 |  Media  |  Forum  |  Wiki  |  Links
Forum with support of Syndicator RSS
 FAQFAQ   CalendarCalendar   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   LinksLinks
 RegisterRegister   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in  Chat RoomChat Room 
 Forum index » Reviews, Editorials and Commentary » Reviews, Reports and Interviews
Orbital Decay and Ministry Of Inside Things at The Gathering
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Page 1 of 1 [2 Posts]
View unread posts
View new posts in the last week
Mark the topic unread :: View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
mosc
Site Admin


Joined: Jan 31, 2003
Posts: 18197
Location: Durham, NC
Audio files: 212
G2 patch files: 60

PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 11:42 am    Post subject: Orbital Decay and Ministry Of Inside Things at The Gathering
Subject description: Concert review May 20, 2006
Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Orbital Decay Opening The Gathering
On May 20, 2006 The Gathering concert in Philadelphia features local musicians Orbital Decay and The Ministry Of Inside Things. Both groups are synth/guitar duos. The event was a benefit for the The Corporation for Innovative Music and Arts of Pennsylvania, the non-profit corporation that puts on The Gatherings. See the concert's web site. This was a good concert.

Orbital Decay, Terry Furber (synths) and Scott Watkins (guitar), were in excellent form. Terry and Scott's music washes over the audience in rich waves of textures. Their set was one continuous piece - one hypnotic evolving ambient sonic experience. Terry's setup is 100% analog - most gear is vintage but he does use a new Moog Voyager. The sound is always warm.

I've seen Orbital Decay perform many times. I try to make their every performance. Terry prepares a new DVD to use for each performance. They use the video as a musical score. Unlike many space music groups which put up a video and play, Orbital Decay makes the video an integral part of the experience.

I was knocked out at the synchronization between the music and video. Orbital Decay does this better than anyone else I've ever seen. There were dramatic events on the screen with perfectly synchronized sounds. One would think the DVD had an audio track that was used as a backing track, but that would be incorrect - checked, the DVD played didn't have anything connected to it but video out. Terry and Scott play everything live - no backing tracks - nothing prerecorded. Many times during this performance I could see audience members looking at each other in amazement.

Not only is the synchronization amazing, but so is the video itself. The imagery moves from huge spacescapes to microscopic views of forest moss. Terry's videos are as good as they get.

Orbital Decay is going to play at electro-music 2006 on June 4th. If you can, do yourself a favor and go see them. Terry is putting together a special video just for the big event. Orbital Decay's CDs are for sale here on the electro-music.com store too. Get them.

The Ministry of Inside Things consists of synthesist Chuck van Zyl and electric guitarist Art Cohen. Chuck and Art are the prime movers behind The Gatherings concerts. Chuck is the host of the well know Stars End radio program on WXPN. They played several pieces, some from their new CD and some not yet released. The Ministry has their own style of space music which is very clean and transparent but I wouldn't call it minimalist. Chuck and Art have built up a large following and they loved every minute of their performance.

Jeff Townes put on a very spectacular laser light show during The Ministry's performance. It was very beautiful.

All in all, this was another excellent concert as I've come to expect from The Gatherings. Unfortunately, I think the sound reinforcement system was insufficient. There were many times during the evening that I wished it would have been louder, especially during Orbital Decay's set.

As I often do, I took some pictures.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website AIM Address
Mohoyoho



Joined: Dec 03, 2003
Posts: 1632
Location: Tennessee
Audio files: 8

PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Great review, Howard. I love both Orbital Decay and MoIT. I wish I could have been there. It will be great seeing Terry and Scott again at EM06.
_________________
Mark Mahoney
Kingsport, Tennessee
http://www.reverbnation.com/markmahoney
www.cdbaby.com/cd/markmahoney
www.cdbaby.com/cd/mmahoneympeck
http://cdbaby.com/cd/mmahoneympeck2
http://www.limitedwave.com/subterraneous/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Page 1 of 1 [2 Posts]
View unread posts
View new posts in the last week
Mark the topic unread :: View previous topic :: View next topic
 Forum index » Reviews, Editorials and Commentary » Reviews, Reports and Interviews
Jump to:  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Forum with support of Syndicator RSS
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
Copyright © 2003 through 2009 by electro-music.com - Conditions Of Use