For the third year in a row, Seattle plays host to this literally exceptional, now expanded four day mini-festival (three nights of performances, an afternoon lecture with composer Christina Vantzou on “Exploratory Conducting Methods and Graphic Notation” and fourth day "Subtle Listening" field recording workshop and hike conducted by composer and programmer, Kim Cascone) of precisely curated sounds by Rafael Anton Irisarri. Sounds spanning from the 'heavy' end (being the Sub in question) of the ambient, neoclassical, immersive, psychedelic and all things avant-garde, in the intimate setting of the Chapel Performance Space with a explicit audience in attendance (no loud rock bar, and hangers-on here) and a dedicated sound engineer. Exactly as a festival of these sounds, with the corresponding audience and venue should be curated, hosted and assembled. Substrata also bringing together in their annual catalog associated aesthetics, visual art, theory and photography. Check that lineup: Jacaszek - Grouper - Christina Vantzou - Kim Cascone - Noveller - Yagya - Ethernet - The Sight Below - Ken Camden - Sean Curley - Anticipating this year's festival will be equally memorable as the last!
From the Substrata site: "Substrata 1.3 is the 3rd edition of Seattle’s intimate sound & visual art weekend happening July 18 – 21, 2013. At its nucleus: an all-ages live performance program, workshop, and field recording trip within the beautiful Cascade region of the Pacific Northwest. The idea behind Substrata is to explore varying perspectives of scale though the use of sound, composition and visuals. It features three live performance showcases featuring accomplished and internationally renowned artists working within the cutting edge where structural abstraction meets physical dynamics. The performance program focuses on live electronic music: applying technology to a concert setting while incorporating traditional and non-traditional instruments. The workshop explores dilemmas within the sound arts community; the field trip engages participants and performing artists in deep listening exercises and mobile recording on site. Our goal is to create an immersive weekend experience that engages the audience in a dialog with the artists that goes beyond the constrains of traditional performer/listener interactions. Each showcase is curated to distinctly portrait different takes of the potency of minimalism, varying between weighty combinations of tonalities used to sculpt out atmospheric ambiance, or powerful dynamic structures made up of the subtlest filigree of sonic building materials. By creating compositional spaces dealing with a sense of mass, along with openness of structure, the perspective of scale and the listener’s place in relation is shifted to allow for greater a sense of place beyond the environ of the performance in the interplay of the moment and physics of the larger world. In all, Substrata is an event that fosters appreciation for our natural surroundings and creates meaningful interaction between artists/participants while exploring a new locality. As the name substrata implies, it is about subtle aesthetics that go beneath the surface and into deeper aural territories."
