Blank Forms RADIO

Aural+Nature

To conclude “Coming Together: Attica 50 Years On,” Blank Forms presented a day-long May Day radio show commemorating the 1971 Attica rebellion. Celebrating the 50th anniversaries of both Archie Shepp’s Attica Blues and Frederic Rzewski’s compositions “Attica” and “Coming Together,” the show featured key compositions and political recordings from the 1970s, including a rare concert of Rzewski’s Attica works with Julius Eastman, Sonia Sanchez reading at the prison accompanied by incarcerated poets and musicians, and a post-mortem from Bobby Seale about his participation in negotiations at the prison. Hosts Ciarán Finlayson and Lawrence Kumpf interviewed Renée Levine Packer, author of This Life of Sounds: Evenings for New Music in Buffalo (Oxford University Press, 2010); Glo Harris, wife of Beaver Harris; and Michael J. Hull, director of the film Betrayal at Attica (2021) and custodian of the digital archive of Elizabeth Fink's Attica Brothers Legal Defense evidence collection—writer Isaac Brosilow conducted an interview with Joshua Melville, son of Attica Brother Sam Melville. This event was produced in conjunction with the New York University Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions.

Coming Together: A Mayday Broadcast

The Public's Not Ready For You Yet: A Cricket Radio Show

Special guest shows from around the world.

https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/blank-forms-19th-may-2023

Blank Forms: Arbitrary Fun with Lawrence Kumpf and Lary 7 190523

Produced in conjunction with Clocktower Radio (clocktower.org).

Blank Forms' Lawrence Kumpf is joined by Limpe Fuchs for an hour of conversation and music ranging from Fuchs' krautrock group Anima-Sound through to more recent solo recordings and her collaboration with Evan Parker. They discuss the formation and dissolution of Anima-Sound, Fuchs' influences, and her relationship to free improvisation. 

Limpe Fuchs is a German sound artist and instrument builder whose vibrant performances develop from a real time engagement with the ecology of the space at hand. Using wood and granite stone rows, ringing bronze within pendulum string instruments and employing the percussion, viola and voice she studied at the Munich Conservatory she sensitizes the process of hearing through an exploration of music-making as a part of everyday life. An original member of ‘70s Krautrock duo Anima Sound, Limpe and then husband sculptor Paul Fuchs embodied a radical form of free living, farming and building instruments like the Fuchshorn, Fuchszither and Fuchsbass at a professional metal workshop in their Pfarrhof—a thousand-year-old former priest house—in rural Bavaria. In 1971 they hitched a handmade mobile home and stage to an old Hanomag tractor and toured Europe bringing their anarchic, uncompromising improvisations to an impromptu public at 19 kilometers per hour. A champion of egalitarian performance, Limpe quit the group in the ‘80s when new experimental theatre work demanded agreement with more members and she felt that her voice was being compromised. Ever since she has devoted herself to “making music while listening to the streaming of time…with simplicity and emotion”, following the influence of soundscape artists. Whether improvising solo or with other players, Limpe unfailingly coaxes an otherworldly atmosphere from the sounds and silence of her surroundings with a childlike wonder, always open to surprise.

Limpe Fuchs' Prismatic Park residency runs from October 3rd to October 8th at Madison Square Park. It is free and open to the public.

Blank Forms : : Clocktower.org

Blank Forms #20: Limpe Fuchs, Prismatic Park

A conversation between scholar and historian Amy Cimini, Yarn/Wire percussionist and Adjacencies interpreter Russell Greenberg, and Lawrence Kumpf situating Maryanne Amacher’s "Adjacencies" within the lineage of her larger body of work. They discuss the practical challenges surrounding the interpretation and re-staging of the piece 51 years after its last performance and play a variety of pertinent audio, including a rehearsal recording of "Adjacencies"’ original performance by Jan Williams and Edward Burnham, audio research material used as a model for its reinterpretation, and a selection from the later piece "City-Links..: Buffalo" demonstrating Amacher’s practice of recycling audio material from earlier work.

Blank Forms #21: Maryanne Amacher's Adjacencies

Blank Forms' Lawrence Kumpf is joined by composer Tashi Wada for a show surveying Wada's work and methodology of the past decade. They discuss Wada's time and studies with James Tenney at CalArts, his early forays into just intonation, and his close collaborations with cellist Charles Curtis and his father Yoshi Wada.

Tashi Wada is a Los Angeles-based composer and performer whose works explore harmonic overtones, resonance, and dissonance through precise tuning and a gradual change in pitch. Grounded in a belief that “music should be as direct as possible,” his compositions use apparently simple structures to generate rich and unanticipated perceptual effects. Working in relation to American experimental music, microtonal music, and so-called drone music, Wada’s practice is also informed by interdisciplinary performance and Fluxus-affiliated artists. He studied composition at CalArts with James Tenney and for many years has performed alongside his father, composer Yoshi Wada.

Blank Forms Radio

Blank Forms #22: Tashi Wada

Pre-order / pre-save: https://orcd.co/boddhisatva18
Pioneering African artist, founder of Offering Recordings and father of Ancestral Soul, Boddhi Satva returns to BBE with retrospective double album ‘18’, charting nearly two decades of groundbreaking music production.

Since releasing his debut album, Invocation, on BBE back in 2012 with Louie Vega acting as executive producer, Boddhi Satva has emerged from behind the console to become one of the most respected and recognisable producers on the planet. With a sonic palette that constantly gestures back to his native Africa and hints at a deep knowledge of folklore and spirituality, Boddhi’s mystical touch has found its way onto smash-hit pop and Zouk records, as well as the deepest of underground cuts.

Taking in over 30 musical highlights from his career so far, ‘18’ turns up hidden gems and reflects on classics, life-changing collaborations and solo successes. Satva’s creative expansion and personal journey are traced across this intricate, self-reflective collection. And the lessons learnt from this journey through music? “Success doesn’t actually change people, it magnifies their true self,” he says. “We should always be open to learning and avoid burning bridges over futile considerations.”

Speaking of learning, this album features many of the artists that waymarked Boddhi’s path over the years, from early mentors DJ Pippi, Osunlade and Alton Miller to songwriting inspirations such as Badi, Zaki Ibrahim, Maalem Hammam, Zano and Omar, to name but a few. Collaboration is a vital part of Boddhi’s creative process. As he puts it “these encounters are very, very organic and never forced. I’ve also seen some dream collaborations come to life for two simple reasons in my opinion: believing in those dreams working steadily and letting the Universe make them happen for me.”

Over the course of ‘18’, we can hear the growth and evolution of Satva’s ‘Ancestral Soul’. “Before being an actual sound,” Says Boddhi “it’s is a mind-set. I always approach my music with the intention of uplifting and healing as many souls I can. Now sound-wise I’ve always wanted my musical envelope to be open creatively but always keep its African-ness, no matter the diversity of the sound. It is important for me to add that though I’m musically very open, I believe that what gives Ancestral Soul its special energy is the fact that it’s anchored by strong roots.”

Boddhi Satva 18

Boddhi Satva - Bria's Offering

Non-profit curatorial platform for ⏳-based art.