psi is a collaborative model developed by Jaime Fennelly (electronics), Chris Forsyth (guitar), and Fritz Welch (drums, cymbals, objects) to execute a series of musical/sound/noise projects. psi will be performing 13 concerts in the East and Midwest from November 4-20 and sparkling advance copies of their forthcoming CD Black American Flag (Evolving Ear/Aqui/humansacrifice) will be in hand.
For almost two years now, psi has been exploring the boundaries of their instruments and acoustical spaces together through praxis, psychic interaction, and ultimately, the stupor-inducing condition of performance. The resultant music is cathartic, hermetic, meditative noise that considers the dynamic interaction of three basic themes: science, magic, blues.
Tour dates are as follows:
Tue, Nov 4 Terrace Club, Princeton NJ
Wed, Nov 5 Wesleyan University, Middletown CT w/ bsc
Thu, Nov 6 ThINC, Syracuse NY
Fri, Nov 7 Soundlab, Buffalo NY
Sat, Nov 8 Oberlin College, Oberlin OH
Sun, Nov 9 Hungry Brain, Chicago IL
Tue, Nov 11 Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, St. Louis MO
Wed, Nov 12 Bloomington IN (venue tba)
Thu, Nov 13 Canterbury House, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI
Fri, Nov 14 SS Nova, Cincinnati OH
Sat, Nov 15 Nightlight, Chapel Hill NC
Sun, Nov 16 Rotunda, Philadelphia PA
Thu, Nov 20 Tonic, NYC (record release show)
"(psi) retains an overall warmth that separates them from the experimental pack." BUFFALO (NY) ARTVOICE, April 2003
"psi makes landscapes of creepy music." WASHINGTON DC CITYPAPER
"a weird, subversive, static melange of sounds." ALL MUSIC GUIDE, www.allmusic.com
"a very beautiful album of full-bodied and resistant electro-acoustics rather than the evanescent and whispered school like we otherwise often hear. Their choices are always original and personal. An album not to be missed." (8 out of 10) BLOW UP, Italy, June 2003
"The distinction between the flowers and the weeds in the fields of experimental improv may be hard to explain but it is not hard to hear. psi is a pleasing reassurance that our belief in the genre is not purely religious." - Tom Worster, www.brainwashed.com
When Scott Smallwood was 10 years old, he received his first tape recorder, and ever since he has been fascinated by the possibilities of recorded sound. Traditionally trained as a pianist and composer, Smallwood has at various times found himself composing concert music, improvising in free-music contexts, recording and manipulating field recordings, and making dance music. He is active as a composer/performer with several New York-based ensembles, including Nyquist, Brown Cuts Neighbors, and Evidence. He holds music degrees from Miami University of Ohio and Peabody Conservatory. He has performed with a variety of improvisors including Curtis Bahn, Dan Trueman, Leroy Jenkins, Joe McPhee, Phil Gelb, Todd Reynolds, and Pauline Oliveros. His work has been presented in a variety of national and international venues including the Kitchen in NYC, the Knitting Factory in NYC, Lincoln Center, Roulette, Mobius in Boston, the 2003 ICMC in Singapore, and the 2003 Conference on World Acoustic Ecology in Melbourne, Australia. He has produced numerous recordings on Wavelet Records, Televaw, and Deep Listening. From 1997-2003, he served as studio engineer and technical director at the iEAR Studios of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was also on the faculty teaching computer music and technical production. Scott is currently a doctoral fellow in the music department of Princeton University. silvertone.princeton.edu/~skot