Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Superior Viaduct Pop-Up Closing Party / CIRCUIT DES YEUX this Saturday at Steven Wolf Fine Arts

To end its residency at Steven Wolf Fine Arts, Superior Viaduct is having a very special event with  CIRCUIT DES YEUX performing a short set inside the gallery. Saturday March 28th, 6-9pm.

About Circuit des Yeux: “Haley Fohr knows how to dirge. There’s usually some darkness in the music she makes as Circuit des Yeux, and often a lot of it. Drop your needle anywhere within her discography and even the most upbeat songs sound deadly serious. Her early records sometimes distanced that somber tone with thick distortion or hissy echo, which added mystery. But over time her work has become clearer, and Overdue, her fourth full-length, is the most direct, immediate record she’s made. It’s also her best.
That’s because increased clarity reveals how many ways Fohr can hit the same emotional target. There’s variety in the instrumentation: dramatic, string-like synths, bittersweet acoustic strums, grinding electric guitars, and all kinds of rhythmic foundations. There’s also variety in her voice, which echoes the melancholy warble of Antony (from Antony and the Johnsons) the goth-howl of Diamanda Galas, and the chilly authority of Nico. But she also has a unique way of turning every phrase dark. It’s hard to imagine anyone else making a casual line like “rollin’ in my Nova 88” sound so grave.”

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18684-circuit-des-yeux-overdue/

http://www.circuitdesyeux.net/

http://vimeo.com/84060457

https://www.facebook.com/events/1421564078095247/?ref=br_tf


stevenwolffinearts.com

*Be sure to check out the Bay Area debut of CIRCUIT DES YEUX at White Horse Bar in Oakland on Friday, March 28th.

Some images from Bill Orcutt's performance last Saturday

Last Saturday, March 22nd, Superior Viaduct hosted a ver special and intimate set by Bill Orcutt.

Here are some images:





Orcutt is slicing open the past 150 years of popular American music,Gordon Matta-Clark-style, and attempting to read the stars by the innards that spill out. All artists should hope for a subject so broad, and results so unique, especially when they sound this good.” (James Ford on Twenty Five Songs)
 
 
“Best known as the guitarist of Miami noise-rockers Harry PussyBillOrcutt was already a significant name in experimental noise circles when he released his solo debut. Long interested in cutting-edge art, Orcutt had a Master's in English and had made several experimental short films, one of which sold to MTV in 1990. 
 
The re-emergence of guitarist Bill Orcutt is one of the most exciting and surprising recent developments in underground music. His unique playing first made an impact in the 1990s, when he was a member of the trailblazing, audience-demolishing band Harry Pussy. After five years of spewing out unrelenting noise, the trio broke up in 1997, and Orcutt moved to San Francisco, where he got a serious job, started a family, and stopped playing music with any regularity.
 
Last year, word spread that Orcutt was back, evidenced by a self-released 7" with a cover image fusing Barack Obama to Jimi Hendrix. A few months later a full LP arrived, entitled A New Way to Pay Old DebtsEven more surprising than Orcutt's return is how it sounds-- not harsh amp-overload, but raw, blues-influenced acoustic guitar, with hints of Lightnin' Hopkins, Fred McDowell, John Fahey, and Loren Connors. Yet Orcutt's signature atonality persists in the clanging, metallic ring of his vintage Kay acoustic, which holds just four strings, just as his electric guitar did in Harry Pussy.” (http://pitchfork.com/features/the-out-door/7858-the-out-door-7/2/)
 
 
 


Thursday, March 13, 2014

Superior Viaduct presents Bill Orcutt at Steven Wolf Fine Arts




As a part of "A Record Is A Record (Superior Viaduct Pop-Up Shop), a special live performance by guitarist Bill Orcutt.  Saturday, March 22nd, 6-8pm.
 
In conjunction with the exhibition "John Kilduff - Very Good Plus (VG+)"
 
 
“Orcutt is slicing open the past 150 years of popular American music,Gordon Matta-Clark-style, and attempting to read the stars by the innards that spill out. All artists should hope for a subject so broad, and results so unique, especially when they sound this good.” (James Ford on Twenty Five Songs)
 
 
“Best known as the guitarist of Miami noise-rockers Harry PussyBill Orcutt was already a significant name in experimental noise circles when he released his solo debut. Long interested in cutting-edge art, Orcutt had a Master's in English and had made several experimental short films, one of which sold to MTV in 1990. 
 
The re-emergence of guitarist Bill Orcutt is one of the most exciting and surprising recent developments in underground music. His unique playing first made an impact in the 1990s, when he was a member of the trailblazing, audience-demolishing band Harry Pussy. After five years of spewing out unrelenting noise, the trio broke up in 1997, and Orcutt moved to San Francisco, where he got a serious job, started a family, and stopped playing music with any regularity.
 
Last year, word spread that Orcutt was back, evidenced by a self-released 7" with a cover image fusing Barack Obama to Jimi Hendrix. A few months later a full LP arrived, entitled A New Way to Pay Old DebtsEven more surprising than Orcutt's return is how it sounds-- not harsh amp-overload, but raw, blues-influenced acoustic guitar, with hints of Lightnin' Hopkins, Fred McDowell, John Fahey, and Loren Connors. Yet Orcutt's signature atonality persists in the clanging, metallic ring of his vintage Kay acoustic, which holds just four strings, just as his electric guitar did in Harry Pussy.” (http://pitchfork.com/features/the-out-door/7858-the-out-door-7/2/)
 
 
http://palilalia.com/
http://www.thewire.co.uk/video/exclusive-bill-orcutt-video?SELECT%20*%20%20FROM%20request_redirect



Superior Viaduct presents Roscoe Mitchell at Steven Wolf Fine Arts





As a part of "A Record Is A Record (Superior Viaduct Pop-Up Shop), a special live performance by legendary jazz musician Roscoe Mitchell this Saturday, March 15th,  6-8pm.  Show starts at 6:30pm.

In conjunction with the exhibition "John Kilduff - Very Good Plus (VG+)".

"
ROSCOE MITCHELL, composer and multi-instrumentalist was a major contributor to the creation of the body of musical literature that ushered in the post-Coltrane period.  He
 participated in the establishment of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and is a founding member of the world-renowned Art Ensemble of Chicago.  Mr. Mitchell has received numerous awards and grants including the National Endowment for the Arts, Wisconsin Arts Board, Vilas Foundation, University of Wisconsin-Madison and a research grant from Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, France. He founded the Creative Arts Collective (CAC) of East Lansing, Michigan and he is the founder/leader of the Sound Ensemble and a co-founder of the trio Space."
http://aacmchicago.org/roscoe-mitchell
http://www.artensembleofchicago.com/roscoe.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_Mitchell

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Record Swap - This Saturday



Please join us this upcoming Saturday March 8th, from 1-6pm, at Steven Wolf Fine Arts for a record swap hosted by Explorist International and Stranded. This is a great opportunity to grow your record collection and find some treasures. There will be vendors from all over the Bay Area with tons of LPs and 45s. 

 The Record Swap is part of the Superior Viaduct curated program happening in conjunction with the Very Good Plus (VG+) John Kilduff and A Record is a Record (A Superior Viaduct Pop-Up Shop).  




Photos from the opening installation of A Record is a Record (A Superior Viaduct Pop-Up Shop)

The Pop-Up Shop runs through March 31st.








Thursday, February 27, 2014

Ruby Ray

Part of the Superior Viaduct Pop-Up Shop curation at Steven Wolf Fine Arts is a selection of Ruby Ray photographs.  Superior Viaduct published her book From the Edge of the World: California Punk, 1977-81.

"When the first wave of punk hit the Bay Area, it signalled that the tired reign of the long-haried, hippie counterculture was coming to an end; in it's place were young, angry, shorn kids shouting about nihilism and death to corporate America with an energy you couldn't get by vibing with crystals. In the world of marginalized scenes, San Francisco provided space for the punks who never made it in the big three of New York, London, and Los Angeles. Ruby Ray, who shot photos for the legendary zine Search and Destroy, documented the disenfranchised punk world at exactly the right moment, capturing the rapid rise and fall of that initial wave; from the birth of the Dils before they ran off to Los Angeles to the death of the Sex Pistols when they crashed into the Bay.

Now, three and a half decades later, her photos are gaining newfound recognition among both the newly rebellious and the depressingly nostalgic. I came to check out her book signing in Oakland at Stranded Records, which was atteneded by Penelope Houston of the Avengers and John Doe of X. Although time has stripped the older punks of some of their energy and anger, their youthful selves live on in  records and snapshots. Stranded was crowded by middle-aged white people with sagging tattoos, so to learn more about the woman behind the camera, I sat down with her at a gay bar across the street." (from an interview with Ruby Ray on Vice's Music column)
 

Below are some of the prints available at the show.





Screamers Paul Roessler and Tomata Du Plenty on Broadway, 1978