Gen Ken Montgomery & Wolfgang Seidel

MAY DAY!

GEN KEN MONTGOMERY & WOLFGANG SEIDEL

I.
8 Track Magic (manipulated 8 Track tapes) by
Gen Ken Montgomery

II.
electronic IMPROvisation by
Gen Ken Montgomery & Wolfgang Seidel

III.
Conrad Schnitzler CONcert performed by
Wolfgang Seidel and Gen Ken Montgomery

I.

GEN KEN MONTGOMERY
8-TRACK MAGIC LIVE

Gen Ken performs electronically processed sonic sounds of the 70s conjured out of faulty 8 Track tape cartridges originally designed for playback in Lear Jets. Analog decontructivism for the mainstream.
 
In 1994, Gen Ken bought a dilapidated Led Zeppelin IV 8-Track cartridge at a yard sale for 25 cents. Caked with mud, it somehow actually played--once--and what came through the speakers was magic.  “8-Track Magic” became legendary (http://generatorsoundart.org/GL-02.html.) Since then Gen Ken has been randomly playing old beat up 8-Tracks, hoping to be struck again by sonic lightning. Gen Ken will attempt to find that Magic at ausland, using this gloriously fun, sexy, unstable tape medium originally created for the Space Age.

II.

GEN KEN MONTGOMERY & WOLFGANG SEIDEL
electronic IMPROvisation

III.

CONRAD SCHNITZLER CONcert performed by
WOLFGANG SEIDEL & GEN KEN MONTGOMERY

Wolfgang Seidel (Berlin) and Gen Ken Montgomery (New York) come together to pay tribute to the late, great Berlin composer and life artist, Conrad Schnitzler. Seidel and Montgomery have collaborated with Schnitzler for decades performing his Cassette Concerts in galleries and concert halls both in Europe and the USA.
 
At Ausland Seidel and Montgomery will create a sonic landscape improvising on vintage electronic gear to prepare the audience for a Cassette Concert by Conrad Schnitzler. A Cassette Concert consists of a group of recorded cassettes or CDs containing single tracks of a larger composition, intended for live performances. When these groups of cassettes or CDs are played simultaneously, the combined sounds constitute the basic, although variable, form of the composition. The number of simultaneously played parts is also variable--from two in its simplest form, to any number physically possible or needed. They are recorded in stereo, so for optimal listening each cassette should have its own amplification system, with the speakers placed at opposite ends of the space.
CONtinuation will be a live mix of original electronic sounds from Conrad Schnitzler's definitive and amazing oeuvre.

Biographical information:

Gen Ken Montgomery is a New York based artist and sound composer whose involvement in the Cassette Culture and Mail Art movements of the late 70s led to the creation in 1989 of Generator Sound Art Gallery in New York City.
Gen Ken spent time in Berlin in the early 80s where he met Conrad Schnitzler and Wolfgang Seidel. Gen Ken worked with Conrad Schnitzler to produce records and conduct Cassette Concerts of both Schnitzler’s and Gen Ken’s multi-channel electronic music compositions. At Generator Gen Ken regularly performed Cassette Concerts through 8 speakers surrounding the audience, in total darkness. In 2012 Gen Ken produced CON-MYTHOLOGY, a festival of films and concerts in New York City celebrating the life and work of Conrad Schnitzler.
Gen Ken continues to be involved in Mail Art, Sound Art and as The Minister of Lamination (a.k.a. Egnekn) is the world's foremost practitioner of sonic Lamination Art.

www.genkenmontgomery.com
www.generatorsoundart.org

Wolfgang Seidel is a drummer & synthesist, founding member of proto-punk band Ton Steine Scherben and long-time Conrad Schnitzler collaborator. Composer & performer.Here are video clips of Wolfgang Seidel from the Kluster/Eruption period, something solo and a Cassette Concert:

http://youtu.be/pmDTeJ3zFOA
http://youtu.be/keTjIe6tSIs
http://youtu.be/XoXcECTEjuI