The Glass Bees

Performance: 'Venice, Brooklyn' as part of Conflux City 2009

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:13:52 PDT

mp3 (26:17)

field recordings, beach trash, weather radio, delay, etc.

Beginning early on the morning of Sunday, September 20, 2009, the Glass Bees explored areas along the coastline of southeastern Brooklyn, including Dead Horse Bay, Floyd Bennett Field, Gerritsen Beach, and Sheepshead Bay, documenting them with sound recorders, photographs, watercolor sketches, and video, and collecting distinctive objects. Our focus was on terrain that has been identified as likely to experience severe flooding in the coming decades due to the effects of climate change.

As part of the 2009 Conflux Festival, we presented an improvised performance later that afternoon on the front vestibule and stoop of Envoy Enterprises, a gallery in Chinatown, New York City. Our field recordings, visual footage, and physical detritus became the raw material for a sound collage and temporary installation. Amplified sound was broadcast into the street, and visitors were invited into the vestibule to listen more closely on headphones. All materials and sounds we presented were gathered, created, displayed, and performed within a 10-hour period.

Photographs taken in the field, as well as more photos of the performance (taken by the wonderful Ranjit Bhatnagar) are on flickr; see them as a gallery or as a slideshow.

Chris has written a longer reflection on this piece, “Some Thoughts on Venice, Brooklyn“ on his blog.

The great Peter Shapiro documented the performance and did a brief interview with Jason:

Now in its sixth year, Conflux is a New York City-wide gathering of visual and sound artists, writers, urban adventurers, and the public, created to “investigate everyday urban life through emerging artistic, technological, and social practice.”

Special thanks to Nathan McKee and everyone at Envoy Enterprises for their support.

Personnel: Chris Williams, Jason Das

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Art Social Finale

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:06:14 PDT

mp3 (10:25)

field recordings, electric guitar, stainless steel drinking cups, pavement, cello, delay, amplifiers, etc.

Recorded live at Art Social, August 1, 2009.

Photo by Aneikit Bonnel.

Personnel: Chris Williams, Jason Das

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Performance: Art Social, August 1, 2009

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:46:49 PDT

The Glass Bees love art. You probably do, too. On Saturday, August 1, we participated in curator Aneikit Bonnel’s ART SOCIAL. We performed two sets over the course of the night under the stars in her backyard in Brooklyn, just off Myrtle Avenue, not far from Fort Greene Park.

Aneikit took some photographs of the event.

We have posted an audio recording of the finale of our second set.

And here is a video of part of our performance:

From the official announcement for the event:

The ART SOCIAL finds its precedent in the concept of the ‘salon,’ a collection of eclectic artists and intellectuals who gather to engage and expand upon their passions and forms of expressions. Set in the conventional structure of Home, works of Art are presented in an intimate and accessible environment, intentionally provoking a dynamic cultural discourse.

The presenting artists include:

REBECCA BEERS MILLER displays wire and found object weavings that focus on the psychological underpinnings of process and its relation to material.

HANLY GUNN presents Deep See Circus, a visual diary in painting and sculpture provoked by emotional and environmental fluctuations starring His Majesty King Quadopus and Mighty Mighty Moonson. On land, as in the See, the circus is a perceivable reality.

CLAIRE FALKENBERG paints oil on large-scale landscape photographs, shifting a static moment to an active one.

THE GLASS BEES perform live soundscapes assembled from colliding abstract loops, ambient noise, and sudden inspiration with the use of electronics, guitar, keyboards, acoustic percussion, computer processed field recordings, and found objects.

Performance: Monkeytown, July 14, 2009

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:22:13 PDT

The Glass Bees performed alongside Lou Rossi, Carlos’ Red Shoes, and Frogwell at Monkeytown, 58 North 3rd Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on the evening of Tuesday, July 14.

We created our own dual-channel video projections for this performance.

Photo by Joshua Howard.

Every Evening, My Cousin

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:41:27 PDT

mp3 (7:13)

field recordings, cello, electric guitar, percussion, mbira, delay, amplifiers, etc.

Recorded live at Envoy Enterprises, June 26, 2009.

Photo by Lucius Kwok.

Personnel: Andrea Williams, Chris Williams, Jason Das

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The Probe

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:28:01 PDT

mp3 (12:59)

harmonica, field recordings, cello, electric guitar, Sruti Box, percussion, psaltery, mbira, delay, amplifiers, etc.

Recorded live at Envoy Enterprises, June 26, 2009.

Photo by Lucius Kwok.

Personnel: Andrea Williams, Chris Williams, Jason Das

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Salt March

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:43:22 PDT

mp3 (8:55)

field recordings, electric guitar, Bebot, percussion, delay, amplifiers, etc.

Recorded live at Envoy Enterprises, June 26, 2009.

Photo by Lucius Kwok.

Personnel: Andrea Williams, Blevin Blectum, Chris Williams, Jason Das

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Performance: Envoy Enterprises, June 26, 2009

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:10:18 PDT

Selected recordings from this performance are being released one by one. Currently available:

Salt March (collaboration with Blevin Blectum)
The Probe
Every Evening, My Cousin

Photo by Lucius Kwok.

We performed on FRIDAY, JUNE 26 at 8:00 pm at ENVOY ENTERPRISES, 131 Chrystie Street (between Delancey and Broome) on the Lower East Side, NYC.

with very special guest … BLEVIN BLECTUM!

Blevin is an electronic musician who has released many highly regarded recordings. She is also 1/2 of the groundbreaking digital duo Blectum From Blechdom who, in addition to having pretty much the greatest band name ever, won the 2001 Ars Electronica Award of Distinction in Digital Musics for their album “The Messy Jesse Fiesta.” This is like winning a Pulitzer Prize for Electronic Music, folks.

We were thrilled that Blevin agreed to make the trip down from weirdbeat Providence, RI, and that this happened in a central but off-the-beaten-path venue.

Varmint Feast

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:11:25 PDT

mp3 (2:39)

voice, electric guitar, mbira, bass guitar, percussion, field recordings, delay, amplifiers, etc.

Personnel: Andrea Williams, Chris Williams, Jason Das, Meth Jive

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Scenes From the Duck Picking Shop

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:40:25 PDT

mp3 (6:34)

voice, electric guitar, mbira, bass guitar, percussion, field recordings, delay, amplifiers, etc.

Personnel: Andrea Williams, Chris Williams, Jason Das, Meth Jive

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The Deficiencies I Share

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:15:26 PDT

mp3 (3:39)

voice, electric guitar, mbira, bass guitar, percussion, field recordings, delay, amplifiers, etc.

Personnel: Andrea Williams, Chris Williams, Jason Das, Meth Jive

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The Market Value of Hermaphrodite Frogs

glassbees@glassbees.com (The Glass Bees) — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:00:23 PDT

mp3 (4:01)

voice, electric guitar, mbira, bass guitar, percussion, field recordings, delay, amplifiers, etc.

Personnel: Andrea Williams, Chris Williams, Jason Das, Meth Jive

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