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Concert Wed Dec 09 2015
James Hoff and the Night After the Sampling of the Death Virus @ Stony Island Arts Bank
The Stony Island Arts Bank (6760 S. Stony Island) is one of those places that might be on your radar -- once a large and beautiful bank building, it lay abandoned from the '80s until fall of 2015, when Theaster Gates and others turned it into a new arts and archive space, where performance areas will co-exist with abundant artistic and historic archives for community and scholarly use. It's open to the public six days a week, but maybe you haven't yet made your way there yet.
If not, the Rebuild Foundation, the Graham Foundation, and Lampo invite you to check out a FREE concert in the space this Saturday (December 12).
James Hoff, a New York-based performer originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, will debut a new four-channel stereo work for Chicago in the Stony Island Arts Bank at 8 p.m. To date, his work has only been released via two records on the Berlin-based label Pan, and it's very in keeping with that label's stylishly packaged but recklessly experimental aesthetic. Hoff works with malware and computer viruses, injecting them into conventional dance music structures to create disruptions, distortions, and jittering fragmentation to conventional beats, editing and pasting them into song-like sequences to beautifully woozy effect. Sometimes, the kick-snare is sharp enough to keep you moving, but suddenly the viruses start to work their magic, causing the 4/4 beats to melt and drip and puddle at your feet, thrashing around and trying to hoist themselves back up into an upright position. Fans of Autechre, Pan Sonic, and other such rhythmically adventurous electronic music will find a new thrill in Hoff's virus-damaged beatworld.
Tickets are free with RSVP. If you want to get there earlier or make a day of it, Hoff will also be hosting a talk at 2:30, also at Stony Island Arts Bank, discussing the history of artists' books and his own artist book collective, Primary Information.
