November 16, 2012
Friday night live at Transistor: Max Abstrax and Terrible Spaceship. Sound by Jon Monteverde.
Max Abstrax is a DJ, electronic music composer and radio producer. His work has made its way into DJ sets around town and was featured at Lollapalooza this summer. From minimal to hugely colorful and melodic, layers combine and pulse to surprising effect. Last Record Store Day, he visited Transistor, where he found (and purchased) Critter & Guitari's Pocket Piano.
For his performance at Transistor, Max debuted all new material, incorporating the Pocket Piano into an improvised electronic Ableton performance, using found sounds, lush analog synthesizer elements, and more than a little 808 low end. Expect rhythms to be rooted in familiar four-on-the-floor patterns, but the rest is sure to become far more complex, textured and hopefully seriously tripped out.
Terrible Spaceship rediscovers media from the past and resuscitates it into a modern music and video multimedia experience. Utilizing both live and electronic instrumentation for its original scores, the band has been described by the Chicago Tribune as "equally influenced by Danny Elfman, Portishead and Orson and H.G. Welles." The band's first record, "Invaders: 1938," tells the tale of "The War of the Worlds" as presented by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater company; it is due for release as a download in early 2013. It's a terrifying story you can dance to. File under: ambient synthetic horror pop.
