Lately, we’ve taken quite a shine to the nascent underground free folk/avant scene brewing in the Upstate New York area. There’s always been a hunger for experimental sounds in Ithaca, but the past six months have revealed many fascinating collaborations, connecting musicians from Ithaca, Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo. The upstate area has not typically been a region to boast a large number of experimental musicians, but these folks have united under their love of avant-garde music and the undeniable sense of camaraderie.
On Saturday, Nov. 10, Buffalo micro-label House of Alchemy will present Sleepwalkers Local 242, Antique Brothers, Century Plants, Stone Baby and Ithaca’s own Mirabile Dictu in concert at No Radio Records. The lineup is bi-coastal — Sleepwalkers and Antique Brothers are both based in L.A. — but their roots are in Upstate. Sleepwalkers is the solo project of Grant Capes (also of L.A.’s VxPxC; formerly of Syracuse), who uses guitar, pedals, and keyboards to create haunting guitar melodies and dense, swirling dirges.
Besides Mirabile Dictu, Rochester-based Stone Baby is the only act to have performed in Ithaca, and we found their avant-ambient guitar drones and tape manipulations to be quite blissful. They have a number of interesting CD-Rs to their name, including the Carbon Records release, Fully Render(ed) /Cloud/s, and the duo has been instrumental in solidifying this network of likeminded musicians.
We recently interviewed Cory and Jen of Stone Baby via email. The following is the awesome conversation that transcribed. Many thanks to them for taking the time to answer our questions, and to help lay the groundwork for what we think is a very interesting Upstate scene indeed. They offer us a wealth of information below, including obscure facts about various venues, labels and individuals who have contributed to this growing underground community.
Popcorn Youth: How did Stone Baby come into being? Were you working on any other projects at the time?
Cory Card: Stone Baby came into being in the early summer of ’06. I had been doing a lot of playing/experimenting with sound for my master of fine arts thesis, which dealt with relationships between sound, its production, the visual/tactile elements of producing sound and their relationship to space. As this activity moved on I became more and more interested in producing sound within a somewhat more musical context; recorded and live performance etc. So while I was working on my thesis a couple of self released cdrs came into being. The first was with my friend Pete Snyder who was also experimenting with sound in relationship and in response to his visual art. The second was a solo thing, which I put together for my thesis exhibition, entitled Walking the Loop.
After my exhibition I began sporadically playing with former Stone Baby member John, just making some impromptu noise in a studio room at school. After graduating, Jen and I, who had played together occasionally over the years, decided it was time to put an official project together, and thus Stone Baby was born; since I had been playing with John occasionally, we decided to see if he was interested in playing with us as well… so we started up as a three piece. After a few months of playing and recording we decided to add some more people to the mix, as we had many friends who were interested in the project and whom we collectively wanted to play with, bloating the band to six members at some points. Some interesting things evolved and were documented on Broken Wings and Bandages (Phantom Limb Recordings) and Used Illusions/Lost Objects (Foxglove), but as of June 2007, thanks to the prompting of Joe Tunis (Carbon Records) we moved down to our current incarnation as a two-piece, which is where we are actually happiest and that can be heard on our new Carbon release Fully Render(ed) /Cloud/s.
Popcorn Youth: Where in the Upstate area are you from? Have you perceived of any difficulties in pursuing Stone Baby because of your geographical location?
Cory: Stone Baby was born in Rochester, but Jen and I actually met in Syracuse, working at a bookstore together. We both grew up outside of Syracuse; Jen from Auburn and myself from a small town to the north called Central Square.
Jen: Our current location, like any, has its limitations. We, however, are making the necessary connections within and without, in order to pursue our project; as well as providing a means for other people with similar interests.
Popcorn Youth: With regards to the bands performing on Saturday, how did everyone get connected and get in touch?
Cory: Well this whole thing really has its roots deeply imbedded in Syracuse, though none of the current parties involved inhabit that desolate place. In brief, Adam (The House of Alchemy, Circle and the Point) and Grant (Sleepwalkers Local 242, (VxPxC), Circle and the Point, etc.) met while working at Borders in Syracuse, became housemates, and eventually Grant moved to LA. I moved back to Central Square and met Adam working at Borders, and Jen soon after. Adam moved to Buffalo, Jen and I to Rochester within a two-year time span.
Jen and I stayed in touch with Adam over the years. We finally met Grant in Providence at Terrastock 6, its there we officially met and befriended Michael Hentz (promoter and musician in Syracuse; Hentz has been bringing amazing acts to Syracuse through his New Thing Productions for over five years now) and Matt from Binghamtom. Grant introduced us to his band the amazing (VxPxC) and basically the seeds were sort of planted there.
Around the time Adam began House of Alchemy, Stone Baby began, followed soon after by the launching of Phantom Limb. Adam’s first two releases were by the (VxPxC) and the Antique Brothers (they met at the birth of the younger). The Antique Brothers, Ged and CY are form LA and Hudson, NY respectively. Grant met them somewhere along the way when he moved to LA and they are now housemates.
As for the Century Plants, Grant and Eric Hardiman have released records by each other, and basically I met Eric through Grant via the Internet. I think that’s’ the real thing that keeps the whole scene very active, is the ridiculously easy means of communication available through the World Wide Web, though many of us live in close proximity to one another.
Popcorn Youth: What is your opinion on the level of success this scene has achieved, in terms of communication?
Cory: Though we’re all geographically separated I think the whole community, in general, is pretty close-knit, and really becoming more so. Here in Rochester, Jen and I stepped into an already established community of experimental musicians via the A|V space. They have been extremely supportive and helpful. It’s really interesting and exciting to see more of this stuff cropping up across the region and finding people that are just as interested and welcoming as the people at A|V are. Ithaca Experimental has been a big help; the enthusiasm and support of the scene over the past several moths has been a huge help.
Jen: I’m often amazed at the ever-increasing communication and growth of community. What was once a few spread out and alienated groupings of people, is now becoming a close knit interweaving of people and sound. The acts of collaboration and communal networking add a sense of empowerment to an already profound scene.
Popcorn Youth: This community that we’re discussing — would you say that this is a relatively new development would you say? Have these lines of communication always been open? If it’s a new development, why now, and why do you think that is?
Cory: As you can see through the historical development of all this, the development is both new and long running. The newness of it is mainly the fact that most of our projects are officially, no more than two years old. The communication levels have opened up quite a bit over the past six months though, and I think a lot has to do with the exposure all of us have been getting, through a larger international underground that has been going on for many many years.
Other factors at play are that many of us are involved with the Foxy Digitalis webzine, while Adam, Grant and Eric are putting out fantastic releases, thus enabling one to discover new people etc.
Popcorn Youth: How easy or hard is it to get involved?
Cory: Due to the natural development of everything I’d say it was rather easy.
Jen: I agree. Anybody can get in touch.
Popcorn Youth: Who would you cite as some of the more interesting acts in the Upstate area?
Cory: Oh man that’s going to be a long list… Locally I’d cite Joe Tunis (Carbon Records) as a major player, I really dig everything he’s done lately and he’s involved in so much that is always consistently good. Some of my personal favorite projects of his are Crush the Junta, (the Curse of Abraham disc is amazing), Entente Cordiale, and Tumul. I’d also cite Chris Reeg (an amazing musician, who plays in both Entente and Crush, as well as Ian Downey is Famous and the Oliver/Reeg duo), Pengo, Steve Baczkowski, Cameron Farash and Century Plants. Oh and the Colonel Parmesan 3” that was just released on Carbon really blows my mind.
Jen: Yeah… Cory got a lot of my favorites too! Another mind-blowing performer is the percussionist Ravi Padmanabha. His solo performances, as well as those with Steve Baczkowski, are inexpressibly profound!
Popcorn Youth: What are some resources that are, in your opinion, benefiting this scene (i.e. venues, websites, bookers, writers)?
Cory and Jen: The House of Alchemy — our good friend’s Adam and Kathryn Richards label out of Buffalo, NY.
Carbon Records — Joe Tunis’s label that’s been going strong in Rochester for over ten years. Plus a great source for distributed records.
A|V Space — really supportive group and venue, that brings some of the greatest out sounds to Rochester. Unfortunately due to some city zoning rules A|V is currently looking for a new space.
The Soundlab — great Buffalo venue, brings great larger underground acts to the area.
No Radio Records — great place to play! Saturday will be our third show there, just a good warm place, where you always feel welcome.
New Thing Productions — This one’s been going for a while too; Michael Hentz has been bringing fantastic musicians to the area for many years.
Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center — great source that brings more upper crust experimental and jazz musicians to Buffalo, which included a Tony Conrad festival last year.
Albany Sonic Arts Collective — a brand new one run by Eric Hardiman of Century Plants, putting on their first show as part of this tour!!!
Outside our direct area I also think websites and blogs like FoxyDigitalis, The Broken Face, Animal Psi, and Deep Water Acres have all helped us in one way or another, by announcing releases, reviewing stuff, and doing interviews. And there’s many more beyond that including labels that have, or are going to be putting music by us out etc. etc.
Popcorn Youth: Who would you cite as major influences for your own approach to Stone Baby?
Cory: This is a tough one, as it’s so easy to rattle off a whole bunch of names that get obscured within a cloud of names so I’m going to try and stick to things that have made a real profound impact on me, in some way: The Cure, Mark Lanegan, Dead Can Dance, Acid Bath, Glen Branca, Sonic Youth, The Dead C, Keiji Haino, Galaxy 500, Roy Montgomery, Flying Saucer Attack, Tony Conrad, John Cale (minimalist work and Paris 1919), Can (esp. Tago Mago), Captain Beefheart (Troutmask Replica and before only), Neil Young, MV and EE, Alvin Lucier, Michael Gira, Alfred Schnittke, Charalambides, Beckett, John Cage (his writings more than his music), Sounds of the Indian Snake Charmer, Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska,” Current 93, Nurse With Wound, Luigi Russolo, walking, circles, failure, Richard Long, Richard Skelton, my cat, clouds, OM.
Jen: Freud, my cat, Gate, Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet, the Vienna Actionists, language, German, Brötzmann, John Zorn, Kafka, alienation,… the list is always shifting, but these are the continous, underlying influences. As of very recently…. Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina.
Popcorn Youth: Cory, I know you write for Foxy Digitalis. Does the practice of writing about music and playing music ever interfere? Is there a dynamic between the two — is there a discourse between the two practices, i.e. one informing the other?
Cory: Writing on music and playing music never really interferes at all. It’s more of a reciprocal relationship. Writing reviews of records and interviewing musicians, forces me to listen better, and in turn by becoming a more engaged listener, I become a better player, and by playing I’m able to listen and understand how the sounds are constructed within a given recording, often times allowing insight into the music I’m analyzing.
Jen: Music is a quintessential medium in the attempt to express something that cannot be said or visually depicted. I have no desire to write about music, though I do occasional like to read the interpretations and criticism of others.
Popcorn Youth: How would you characterize your approach to improvisation? How heavily does it figure into recordings and live performances?
Cory: All our recordings and shows have been completely improvised. The way I look at playing is creating a space for myself, those I’m playing with and the listener to experience. I guess I’m more interested in creating a temporal or gestural experience based on capturing or setting a specific mood than trying to express a single idea that can easily be repeated. The space we play in also plays a big role in our approach, I enjoy and am extremely interested in responding to specific spaces, and how the sounds act within those spaces. Each place we’ve played has a particular ambience set to it and I always attempt to bring about some of those aspects into the sounds.
Jen: I cannot read or write music, nor do I have any formal training. The way I play, as well as what I play, is dependent on improv. I go into each set with a concept and then play accordingly. By being able to improv on the concept, the mood and the sense of space and time (or lack thereof) is permitted to flow as opposed to being static. In this way we are able to incorporate the physical place into the performance, through constant change.
Popcorn Youth: How long has Stone Baby been together? Have you noticed any significant changes in the time that you’ve been a part of it?
Cory and Jen: Stone Baby has been officially together for about a year and half. The changes that have come about have all been about evolution, at this point we are much more focused than we were a year ago. The biggest changes have been in the revolving cast of people that have played with us as a part of Stone Baby, and finally coming to the realization that we really function best as a duo, though there may be times when we have others occasionally join us, for recording or a show.
Popcorn Youth: What are your plans/ambitions for the future? What else can we look forward to?
Cory and Jen: For the immediate future we’re looking to keep moving forward, continue recording playing and experimenting. Release-wise we’re currently in the process of mastering our second House of Alchemy release entitled The Flâneur, which will probably be released early next year and our second full length as a duo. Next year should also see many more releases, including some very limited self released art editions, a split release with Entente Cordiale amongst others.