Sensitive Chaos @ MGFest and City Skies Shows July 11 & 12

I'll be performing as Sensitive Chaos twice on the weekend of July 11th and 12 with shows at Saturday night's City Skies 09 Electronic Music event @ Kavarna in Decatur, GA and Sunday night's MGFest09 (Motion Graphics Fest) @ The Creative Circus in Atlanta, GA.

My set at City Skies will start at 8pm and other fantastic performers that night are Pink Kodiak, reklein, and Mark Mahoney. Kavarna is located at 707 East Lake Drive, Decatur, GA 30030. More info can be found at CitySkies.com.

I'm really excited about the MGFest show. I'll be performing from 9:30-11pm for an extra long set, and my set visuals will be provided by Integrated Visions, an Atlanta, GA based VJ team founded by Michelle Penland and Bryan Dodson in 2002.

After graduating from the art school at the University of Georgia, Michelle and Bryan began experimenting with collaborative visual arts, searching for a technique that would allow them to collaborate with visual art similar to the way Jazz musicians collaborate with sound. This experimentation led them to discover the unlimited possibilities of VJing. In addition to allowing Michelle and Bryan the opportunity to collaborate with each other, VJing has allowed them the opportunity to collaborate with countless artists from different disciplines including musicians, dancers, actors and directors.

Since 2002, Integrated Visions has performed live video projections along side many internationally recognized artists including DJ Qbert, Richard Devine, Carl Cox, Infected Mushroom, Deep Dish, the Juice Crew and The Roots. Their work can also be seen on tour this summer with Very Disco, a Daft Punk Tribute. Read more!

Kluster 2008 CD Released

KLUSTER 2008 NOW AVAILABLE!

BERLIN * ATLANTA * TOKYO * GLOBAL PLAYING

Following up to last year’s successful Kluster 2007 metal can release, Conrad Schnitzler strikes again with another metal can offering Kluster 2008, with previous Kluster members, Michael Thomas Roe and Masato Ooyama.

Kluster 2008 has as its subtitle "The Three Olympic Cities Mix". This not only suggests that the three cities where each member is located are Olympic Cities, but also the underlying keyword "Global Playing", which is essential to the Kluster experience.

“It was the absolute Connection for the idea of KLUSTER in this time: Global playing together without being on the same place. Every artist makes his own mix in the Kluster-intention. This means democracy and variety,” says Conrad Schnitzler.

The work of Kluster 2008 is now available in a limited edition (200 COPIES) special open faced metal can. Each can contains a special inlay card personally designed and hand cut by Conrad, himself.

Price is $25 plus $3 shipping North America (domestic) and $5 international. Orders can be made direct to the artists. Just send an email to mthom@mindspring.com. Or send a Paypal to the same address.

CON-Tribute (official site): http://fancymoon.com/con_s/

Thank you to all of our friends!

Kluster 2008: (2009 Real Vine Music) Tracks 01 – 32

Performed by: Conrad Schnitzler in Berlin, Germany; Michael Thomas Roe in Atlanta, U.S.A.; Masato Ooyama (Ooy) in Tokyo, Japan Read more!

The Happenstance

The Happenstance is a yearly musical event in Atlanta, Georgia. They select 30 musicians, make them meet early in the morning at a local rock club, randomly divide them into 5 piece bands, and send them off to create a 20 minute set of music which they will perform that evening. It's thoroughly entertaining, entirely random, and more than a little bit insane. Oh yeah, it's for a good cause. Past charities include The Atlanta Community Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity and The New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund.

Come watch some of the best independent musicians in Atlanta create something unique, fun, and for a great cause. The Happenstance is organized by Brian Fletcher (Luigi) and Jeff Holt (Silent Kids, Georgia Fireflies) with help from various other local musicians. Learn more at thehappenstance.com.

The past four years of performances can be heard and downloaded here:

http://www.thehappenstance.podomatic.com/ Read more!

Four Questions: Kim Ware of The Good Graces

Kim Ware has operated an indie label called eskimo kiss records since 2000 as well as played drums in countless bands (most recently Mary O. Harrison and Chickens and Pigs, and best known for her time spent in the Wilmington, NC indie trio Pacer), and now also fronts The Good Graces, which she started in early 2007 after acquiring a $90 guitar from a flea market. Ephemeral Radio checks in with the indie powerhouse.

Question 1: What's up with The Good Graces?

Wow, lots. But I'll give you the short version and resist trying to be clever and/or saying something silly like "fighting crimes." We're playing shows... a few coming up in town at Kavarna and also in Athens for the annual Athens Popfest. Also releasing our debut CD Sunset Over Saxapahaw this fall.


Question 2: What's it like going from the back of the drum kit to the front of the band singing and playing guitar?

Oh wow it is SO different. I had gotten really comfortable on drums, having been a drummer in different bands for about 15 years now. I guess for me the main difference is with drums I never feel like I'm the main focus, I'm more just the gel that holds everything together.

But singing and playing guitar, I'm really putting myself out there; I think for most people the main thing they focus on when listening to music is the vocals and melody, so for me the biggest difference is just getting accustomed to feeling like what I'm doing is the bigger focus rather than something that is sort of in the background.

Don't get me wrong, I think the drummer really is integral to the band keeping it together and things sounding good. So that's a little bit of pressure I guess but it's nothing compared to being up there playing MY songs, singing words that I wrote about my own experiences.

Question 3: What's your favorite thing about the Georgia music scene? Your least favorite thing?

My favorite thing is the diversity. On any night of the week you can go to a different bar, hear something completely different than the night before but walk away impressed by what you just heard. I don't even get out that much, but when i do I'm blown away by all the opportunities there are here to see some really great music. It's really hard for me to pick a least favorite thing, because I really do see so many positive things going on with the scene here.

So I guess I'd say maybe my favorite thing is also my least favorite. Sometimes there's so much going on that I get overwhelmed. I'm the type of person that feels like I have to take advantage of all the cool stuff going on, otherwise I'll feel like I'm missing out on something. So I think that's the curse of living in a larger city; sometimes it can just wear me out!

Question 4: Tell us about the recording process for your new CD.

Well, I did a portion of it with Jerry Kee at his studio in Mebane, NC. Jerry is amazing and has produced records for practically anybody who's anybody in the NC indierock scene... Superchunk, Polvo, Kingsbury Manx, all sorts of folks. I did a few songs with him and John McNicholas, who plays guitar with me, joined me for that session.

The rest I recorded with Jay Manley, also in NC. Jay plays guitar for an awesome power pop band called Velvet, he and his wife (and band-mate) Jane used to live in Wilmington where I'm from, and I put out their first record on eskimo kiss.

Anyway, they have this amazing home studio in an old farmhouse in the middle of the woods. It was such a relaxed, fun experience hanging out with them, I ended up doing a few more songs there than I had planned because the whole experience was just very inspiring.

For both sessions I laid down the foundation of the songs, which is vocals and the acoustic guitar. Then we all added various bits and pieces to sort of bring the songs to life...that was the funnest part, adding some of my ideas and seeing what the others could bring to the table. I'm really excited about it; some songs stay sort of stripped down and true to how they originated, but some of them really did venture into new territories that I had not even imagined, which I think is the coolest part about collaboration.
Read more!