FOLKTEK SOUND AND VISION

Folktek Drumscape

The Folktek Drumscape is yet another dystopian sound generator brought to you from the gentlemen at Folktek. These artists continue to evolve and produce some of the most beautiful and uncompromising instrument/art objects currently available. I find the Drumscape to be one of their best, capable of a vast array of sounds from the lyrical to the abrasive. Housed in an antique wooden box it is a thought-provoking mix of the high-tech and seemingly luddite antique patina of history's ravaging hands. Beautiful sound and vision!

NEW NOISE

Stylophone Drumbeat

The Stylophone Drumbeat was a Christmas present with the potential to produce a lo-fi electronic din. Add a number of FX pedals and let the cacophony begin!...shades of early Cabaret Voltaire's decidedly leanly abrasive beats!

REJECT MONOCULTURE

In an age of enforced incuriousity, regional cultural homogeniety, and i-pod "listening," I've generated a suggested listening list for the coming year. These choices represent everything from left-leaning neo-folk and highly influencial electronica to under the radar experimentalism. Hunt these down and REJECT MONOCULTURE!



SyMptoms-Mordant Music
The Catalogue-Kraftwerk
OYC25-O Yuki Conjugate
Black Sheep-Julian Cope
The Third Mind Movements-Throbbing Gristle
The Drive-Pixel
Music For Fruit-Bruce Gilbert
Hymnen- Karlheinz Stockhausen
Class Insecta-Ikue Mori
The Black Series(1-12) from the Vortex Vault-Andrew Lilies




"The only free man is the man who says no." Herman Melville

ETHER^RA VIDEO "INCUNABULA"

A piece of sound manipulation utilizing a number of synths/sound generators that lumbers along slowly in the process of becoming...A work of pure serendipity in the Cageian sense enngaging pure sensation, and the "beauty" of smoothness versus the human affirmation of the rough...ALL improvised!!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuderXd8M8g

KEGEL VIDEO

Compelling new video by the brother project to ether^ra, Kegel... a kind of diptych comprised of two distinct entities, layers of sequenced sonic detrius and aleatoric frequency paint dabs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvXy6DFCd7g

BLIPTRONIC 5000 BRUITS VIDEO

More noises using the ThinkGeek Bliptronic 5000. What french movie provided the voice-over sample?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2KnktQDVnU

DICTUM & THOUGHT

"When the mode of music changes, the walls of the city shake."
-Plato

In an era of enforced incuriosity, cultural homogeniety, and the uncommited relationship of the i-pod, who is truly listening?

MORE WHITE SERIES

More

(acrylic/collage on wood 10"x7")

Just in time for the Christmas season, this painting explores our inherent glutony and how it may well define our tribal identities..."as corporations commercialize cults, I wonder...is it me?" Thank the corporation for providing endless carrots to chase and the chance to "belong." See the frightening documentary "The Corporation" for further insights into these unregulated sociopathetic behemoths! Note the cowboy reference to a recent president whose lies we did indeed buy with dire consequences!

WHITE SERIES

BURIED DREAMS


Pavlov's dog always salivated and so do we in anticipation of NEW WORTHLESS PURCHASES. The carrot is ever present and we learn to chase it eternally. In the end, we NEVER learn. What was that the Buddha said about desire..."the cause of all suffering." We fail to remember how quickly our pleasure receded after a purchase...dreams that bury us, again and again and again...

Ether^ra Videos on YouTube

Many ether^ra videos are available to view on YouTube. My interest in experimental cinema, along with the my personal point of view regarding the visual arts are my inspiration. As Picasso stated..."mediocre artists borrow; great artists steal." To paraphrase another relevent quote from the band Wire..."everything seems important when you don't know the beginning or the end." Ah, the absolute power of image cropping!(and stealing)

AFTER ALL, NATURE IS BETTER THAN ART

Romanesco

On a recent trip to the Union Square Green Market, my girlfriend and I purchased this other-worldly combination of beautiful logarithmic spirals...behold Romanesco Broccoli, in all its fractal glory. Mario Merz used the related Fibonacci Number Series to generate his art...John Cage the mycologist musican looked to nature for inspiration, Jackson Pollack WAS nature, and ether^ra finds an alien beauty in these spiral forms...and they are quite delicious! (photo by Pat Giancontieri)

WHITE SERIES CONTINUED

Mine, Not Mine & Certainty Only

The primacy of perception creates our own truth and we use it as a tribal weapon against all interlopers. To be so sure must certainly be a blessing, but not so in art...To be certain unfortunately, allows for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING...but to question allows for EVOLUTION...the nature of painting and life itself!

ETHER^RA CD-R's

ETHER^RA CD-R'S AVAILABLE

Presently available are 2 cd-r's that explore processed guitar and electronics prior to the introduction of Folktek gear. No laptops were used in the production of this music. Listening with headphones is advised. Cover art was designed by ether^ra. Both are available for purchase via Paypal. Please contact me via my e-mail address, potterpaint2000@yahoo.com

KEGEL CD-R

The brother project to Ether^ra, Kegel "Nine Voices" explores the poles between the atmospheric and sonic abrasion. I suggest you listen via YouTube. Thanks Arthur!

ETHER^RA STUDIO

Another view of the Folktek side of my studio containing the following Folktek pieces :

• FeedScape
• Time Scape
• Golden Keys
• TimeScape Sequencer
• Subharmonic Field
• Pluton
• Oranger
• Insectarium Bug

See my YouTube videos to see some of this gear in action!

DEVIANT SOUND MACHINES : FOLKTEK

ETHER^RA STUDIO


Arius and Ben are Folktek, makers of wonderous sound/art object/instruments capable of producing everything from sonic abrasion to the lyrical. My studio is outfitted with a collection of these incredible machines of aural desire.

WILLFUL SIMPLICITY

(acrylic/collage on wood 12" x 16")

Another painting inspired by Goya's "Los Caprichios," specifically "El Sueno de Razon Produce Monstros"...The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. Indeed!!! The text repeated on the upper left/right reads "embrace willfully stupid simplicity" as the participants shield themselves from the light of reason...sounds like recent political discourse. Check out Goya's "Disasters of War" and think about our current dystopian world...and then try to get a good night sleep?

A TUMBLE OF WORDS
(acrylic/press-type on wood 4" x 6")

This is another small piece with distressed geometry and a single line of text...we are presented with unending sonic abrasion, a Tower of Babel. Very little of this "communication" is meaningful or compelling in any way...None of it is poetry except to perhaps an Italian Futurist painter!

SMALL PAINTINGS ON WOOD

ARRIVAL FROM NO PLACE

(acrylic/press-type on wood 4" x 6")

When presented with a number of small pieces of found-wood, I produced a few paintings that allowed the entrance of color!

EXPECTATION, ANXIETY, PURCHASE

(acrylic/collage on wood 9" x 12")

Corporation subtlely influence the choices that we make EVERY day. This painting, showing a bucolic setting, hints at the heart of the so-called American Dream: a never-ending series of "choices" thrust upon us with no end in sight...and NO JOY as well!...David Lynch got it right! We've got the freedom to chase the carrot till our demographic is no longer a viable financial proposition for corporations to invest in.

RAVAGED BY APPEARANCES

(acrylic/collage on wood 6.5" x 8")

The death of my father was an epiphany; so much "refuse," very little of any value to show for 78 years of life. I was shocked at how so much was destined to fill a dumpster...this painting suggests my feelings regarding the accumulation of anonymous, meaningless crap instead of transformative objects that enhance a finite existence...oops, there goes the GNP!

The White Series

POPULAR WISDOM

(acrylic/collage on wood 6.5" x 10")

Once again,

my take on the

oblivion of conformity,

dystopian

"normality."