Electronic music has historically had a fruitful relationship to visual art. Experimental pioneer John Cage had a deep influence on his cohorts at Black Mountain College in the 50s and there's a more recent wave of crossover between electronica and art. We've seen an influx of ex-art students as musicians, like Fischerspooner and Chicks on Speed, and DJs as artists, like Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) and Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner). Carsten Nicolai produces some of the most sublime and thorough artwork dealing with electronic music, down to his dry, repetitive aesthetic tendencies.

This afternoon at Reed College, you can hear about the history and evolution of electronic music from visiting composer Bruce Bennet, who currently teaches at UC-Berkeley. Then, tomorrow, hear one of the best artists-as-musicians, Wynne Greenwood (Tracy and the Plastics) take the stage at Holocene with her alter-egos, beamed onstage via Greenwood's delightfully lowbrow videos. Some of us probably caught Greenwood at a truncated performance at PICA's late night venue during tba. Let's hope the crowd suits her better this time so she'll give us a longer show!

Bruce Bennet, "The History of Electronic Music"
Tuesday, December 6th • 4:15p • free
Reed College, Psychology Auditorium • 3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard

Tracy and the Plastics
Wednesday, December 7th • 9p • $8 advance
Holocene • 1001 SE Morrison • 503.239.7639

KB: Thank you for mentioning Carsten Nicolai and Scanner. These are artists I admire a great deal and deserve a lot more focus now and later. I've worked with Robin on my Tribryd project and met Carsten last year, and his live work, not to mention his sculptural work, is amazing. Currently I am working with a group in Seattle to possibly bring him to the Pacific Northwest next Fall. Stay tuned....