Craque (aka Matt Davis) is a designer of sound, atmosphere and instruments. His music and approach is a harmonious dichotomy between fabricated and organic — the instruments, production style and music philosophy in general. Craque’s knowledge of sound generation and instinct for acoustics turns potential chaos and conflict into a musical piece. Despite the heavy use of electronics he lays out an organic, almost tactile terrain that is more of an environment than a song. His sounds are manufactured electronically [or at least heavily manipulated] by somewhat unpredictable devices — customized and stock eurorack modules, loopers, effects and the occasional acoustic instrument, and some instruments thay were invented by Craque himself. An aversion to arranging tracks and tendency towards improvisation results in ambling yet complete pieces. His work is anything but contrived, and is a practice of balance between stimulating or controlling sounds, and letting the music create itself. All the while keeping some vague idea of form in mind. Craque’s recent album “Submach Liquor” [released by Inpuj at http://craque.bandcamp.com] is a collection of 14 pieces that emulate a live set. As his instinct is to create an environment rather than a set of tracks, Craque enters a piece with a general direction in mind, then embarks on improvisation. For him, the album is ‘An awareness of spacetime as well as attention to the subtleties of his own experience that lay dormant just under the surface; the fabric of consciousness distilled in sound.’
Froarienst (a menagerie) is an interactive sound sculptures of objects, amplified and fed through sound effects and modular processing, featuring the Hunquejarp (spring and things sounding board), the Thorax (amplfied sets of wind-up music boxes), EggCig Harp (cigarbox-mounted egg slicer), amplified kalimba, and others. In celebration of a decade of Soundwalk and a century of the art of noise, there will be two parts: a large amplified triangular metal frame that participants may interacting with and a large sheet of aluminum that participants may strike and play. The menagerie of the Froarienst is a place for listeners and sounders to come together and play with some noise.