Electronic music reverberated through the Center for the Arts Tuesday in the first of several performances for the Music is Art series at UB.
This week's "Live @ The Center" featured electronic music with performances by David Kane and Damien Simon. Kane's Solo Electronic was exactly what the name boasts.
Electronic instruments surrounded Kane. They included keyboards, a giant alarm clock and the jewel of his collection, a Theremin. For those who have never had the pleasure, one plays a Theremin by moving hands in proximity to the instrument's antenna determining the pitch. Kane created entire electronic compositions, mastering several machines at once.
Another local techno musician, Damien Simon, has a different approach to the genre. He writes original orchestral scores then remixes them with a Toronto production company. Simon plays the guitar over top of the techno mix, creating a pleasant, uplifting style of trance music.
Sculptors, painters and figure-drawing students adorned the stage, providing constant creativity and offering complementary forms of live art.
The On the Edge Dance Company accompanied the musical performances with background dance. Unfortunately, they were more distracting than enhancing. They danced on the balcony of the stairs and onstage with a lack of style that crossed burlesque with MTV's "The Grind." It was a pop-and-lock debauchery.
The show was generally entertaining and best of all, free. It gives local artists and art lovers a place to get together over one dollar cups of java. Though the event begins at 8 p.m. music does not begin until about 9 p.m.
It's a more interesting place to sit on a Tuesday than in your dorm room, but don't be afraid to be fashionably late.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
