by charles lear
I met up with four out of five members of Frogwell at Duff’s on Marcy Ave. and talked with them while recording on my handy Zoom H2 digital recorder. Duff’s is a Metal joint, and portions of the captured conversation with these particular art/noise/experimentalists in the midst of crushingly loud macho strang and drung might find their way into one of my own performances. I’m sure they would approve.
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Frogwell is a group of people with deep backgrounds in art and multimedia. They are:
► Robert Hardin-Sampler and various acoustic instruments such as autoharp, clay flute and bells.
► Richard Kamerman- Percussion and reel to reel.
► Tamara Yadao-Guitar, oscillators, radio transmitter.
► Bob Lukomski-Synthesis.
► Jeremy Slater-Guitar, video.
They all make heavy use of processing with Tamara, Bob, and Jeremy using laptops and pedals while Robert warps and shapes his sounds with a Kaoss Pad and Boss Sampler. Richard has an unusual approach to percussion in that he places various small motors on his drums to create vibrations that vary according to their individual speeds, powered with 9 volt batteries he connects with alligator clip patch cords. At a recent performance, the sight of them had intrigued me as I saw them hanging from the stand he had set up to hold the motors and small instruments.
The others also approach their instruments in ways that provide the spectator with interest beyond the sound they create. Tamara and Jeremy both use electric toothbrushes and shavers on their guitars and Jeremy sometimes will prepare his with butter knives and other objects stuck through the strings. Robert plays his autoharp with a pickup attached to his hand and performs cross-legged on the floor with all his instruments and processors surrounding him.
They are aware that theatricality and visual elements are important aspects of their performance and artistic expression, shown especially in that many of their venues have been art galleries. For one show, Bob performed wearing a frog costume and controlled his laptop synths using an iphone. According to him, with the accelerometer (motion detector) in the iphone he can send messages to his laptop allowing him to use gesture to trigger and control various sounds. Sometimes they use staggered entrances and exits and end the show with a single performer left onstage. In one instance, Bob literally phoned in his performance from upstate and the other members feigned “spontaneous narcolepsy” leaving him to finish the set.
Of course their sound is the biggest part of who they are as a group, and it has roots going back to the early days of experimental music. They know their history and respect those who have gone before them. Robert cites Henry Cow, John Cage, and Japanese noise bands as influences, and the band actually covered Coil at the John Balance Electronic Music Festival this past summer. They mostly improvise, but work based around the concept that each member handles a different sonic realm in terms of pitch, timbre, and texture. According to Bob, “It’s almost a painterly approach.” Tamara adds, “We also have discussed counterpoint as a part of what we do.”
[Editor's Note: I found this video byte of John Cage to be very telling]
The result is a sound that moves from melodic to drone to cacophonous. Unlike the noise bands they tend to get booked with, they don’t end up with a wash of competing instruments that tend to render most of the bands indecipherable from each other. The unanimous answer to the question of how they manage to stay out of each others way was, “Listening!” Says Robert, “It’s kind of like the Miles Davis school.” Their sound is distinct and disciplined. When I asked how others have described it, Robert replied, “Cinematic. Like the soundtrack to a movie they haven’t seen.”
Finding places to play is challenging. They exist on the fringes of many different scenes from Low bit to noise and perform in venues ranging from art galleries to subway tunnels. About the only place they truly seem at home is Monkey Town, which is one of the last venues left in this city for them and their ilk. Robert has been doing this sort of music for several years. “When I was starting out doing experimental music there were places like Tonic. There were quite a few places that have closed down that were venues for this type of thing.” Adds Richard, “New York is a funny town. You think of it as an experimental hub but there aren’t a lot of people who go out to shows.”
Despite this they feel there is a scene developing not only here but also in college towns such as Albany and New Paltz, and they’ll keep on playing for whoever wants to see them. They’re hoping to book a show in another gallery in the coming weeks and are working on a music and video DVD based around the “concept of Vrtra, which is the embodiment of evil in the Hindu cosmogony.” They are a heady bunch but their sense of deviance keeps them fun. As long as there are people out their looking for the new and unusual, Frogwell will be there to provide.
