Recently, I received word that Tanglefoot - a building where I share a studio with a group of local artists - received second place as the Best Local Alternative Art Gallery in Revue Magazine’s annual Readers Choice Awards. What we did not know until the August issue hit the newsstands was who received the top honors.
With much pride, I can say it was Mexicains Sans Frontieres - an original Avenue for the Arts space where, under artist and musician Hugo Claudin, we have witnessed some of the most ground-breaking and off-the-beaten path art programs debut from his loft’s unmarked stage.
This weekend, Claudin doesn’t waste any time living up to this reputation as he welcomes to Mexicains Sans Frontieres a concert performance by Tim Kaiser.
Often described as maker-composer-performer, Kaiser’s music lives on the fringes of what could someday become common as sounds and our ears evolve.
While the tonal quality and low-tech aesthetics of what Kaiser produces via the instruments he fashions from items no one else would ever think of placing together, much less using to create sounds on a popular stage, in this venue a patron of this style of music is sure to be entertained.
Buttons and knobs on these tiny musical contraptions open, if you will, hidden gateways into notes that are often discarded by the ear as noise-based, but under Kaiser become elevated to a near rapturous experience under the layering and looping with other sounds.
So take a chance this Friday night and welcome some of the most beautiful noise your ear will try to process in this night devoted to the ambient noise genre of music.
Also performing on this evening will be Grand Rapids’ Jeremy Ensley, whose set will include tracks from his Quarterly Report series, complete with visuals. “I'm on a journey and I report back quarterly with audio and visuals,” says Ensley of his sonic series.
To listen to
Kaiser or
Ensley, please visit their websites for samples of their music.
Admission: $10.