Rafael Toral Trio

Thursday, May 14, 2009 - 7:00pm - 8:00pm

Join Lisbon's critically acclaimed sound artist, Rafeal Toral, and his energetic trio comprised of C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) on Violin and Trevor Trermaine (Hair Police) on drums.  Together, the three artists will bring OSU Urban Arts Space to life, activating all its hidden sounds. Don't miss their one stop in Columbus.

This series is part of our after-work programing offered Thursday evenings. Before the show stop by Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails and ask for the Urban Artists' Special: It's very special indeed and its only $3.

To see Toral perform is akin to watching Fantasia: it is true magic. Using his handmade electrode oscillator he is, at times, like a conductor conducting invisible sounds, and, at other times, an elegant musician stroking the keys of unseen instruments

With the generous support of Direcção-Geral das Artes and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.

Image of Rafael Toral, courtesy of Cristina Cortez

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About Rafael Toral

Rafael Toral is a musician and artist. Born in Lisbon, he has been
performing live since 1984. Having attempted to study music, he
realized his path was one of exploration and discovery, to which
conventional music teaching seemed irrelevant. He learned acoustics,
electronics and music writing, having started to write music on paper
after his former fascination with graphic scores. In 1994, the record Wave Field
determined a shift in composing methods, taking from then on sound
itself as the basic matter for all music, thus rendering his work
unwriteable. Considered later in the 1990's by the Chicago Reader to
be "one of the most gifted and innovative guitarists of the decade",
he has been working on the possibilities of ambient music (variable
attention listening process) and improvisation with higher levels of
risk (using instruments or systems that behave in unpredictable ways),
among other things.

Developing solo work since 1987, with a strong focus on how sound
phenomena, ambient sound and artistic fruition are inter-related and
weaving a unique blend of references such as ambient, rock, chance and
improvisation, Toral recorded several solo CDs, two with the MIMEO
orchestra and two with com No Noise Reduction, an experimental project
with long time friend and collaborator Paulo Feliciano (see
discography). He has performed throughout Europe, Japan, Canada and
extensively in the USA, as well as with Sei Miguel, Phill Niblock,
Rhys Chatham, John Zorn, Thurston Moore, Dean Roberts, Christian
Fennesz, Lee Ranaldo and Jim O'Rourke. He has also produced rock bands
(Pop dell'Arte, Tina and the Top Ten, Supernova, Toast, Clockwork),
presented video and multimedia installations and recorded music of
Phill Niblock and John Cage.

In 1996 Toral collaborated with Rhys Chatham as curator and
coordinator for 100 guitarists in Lisbon for his performance An Angel
Moves too fast to See. In 1998 he participated in the Acqua Matrix
show at Lisbon’s Expo’98, collaborating with David Toop and an
international creative team, composing a piece for remote-controlled
boat horns.  In 1999, with Paulo Feliciano, built the “white cube”, a
light generating device interactive with sound spectrum, and
participated as guest in Sonic Youth's record NYC Ghosts and Flowers.
In 2000, again with Paulo Feliciano, participated, with the
mixed-media installation Toyzone (modified electronic toys, custom
relay circuits and multiple sensors), in “Sonic Boom – the Art of
Sound”, an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, alongside
Christian Marclay, Pan Sonic, Ryoji Ikeda and Brian Eno. In 2003 Toral
produced the first Anthology of Portuguese Electronic Music, and in
early 2005 he collaborated with Alvin Lucier, as assistant to setting
up his "Empty Vessels" installation at Serralves Museum, Porto.

Having produced video pieces since 1994, used in both live
performances and installations, his visual output has been increasing.
His installations usually have an interactive and unpredictable
behavior, often using processing of generative feedback systems, such
as Toyzone or Echo Room, a piece for delayed feedback random sound
filtering, recently installed at the ICC in Tokyo.

Between 2002 and 2004 he operated a radical change in most aspects of
his music practice and thinking, launching the so-called Space program
- a work program establishing approaches to real-time performance and
use of silence new to his past work, and including projects for many
live pieces and recordings.

About Trevor Tremaine

Trevor Tremaine is a multi-instrumentalist from Lexington, KY.  His
numerous projects run the gamut of noise to pop, improvisation to
psychedelia.  These include Hair Police, Eyes & Arms of Smoke, ARA,
and ATTEMPT.  Past collaborations have included members of Sonic
Youth, Wooden Wand, Burning Star Core, Warmer Milks, Religious Knives,
and Carlos Giffoni's Death Unit (also featuring drummer Chris Corsano
and Brian Sullivan of Mouthus).  In addition, Tremaine operates the
small-edition cassette label Rampart Tapes.

About C. Spencer Yeh

C. Spencer Yeh was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1975, and moved to the US in
1980 He studied radio/television/film at Northwestern University, and is
now based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Yeh is active both as a solo and
collaborative artist, as well as with his primary project, Burning
Star Core. As an improviser, Yeh is focused on developing a personal
vocabulary using violin, voice, and electronics. As a sound
artist/composer, Yeh works with all aspects available surrounding a
work, aurally and physically, as elements key to the cumulative
experience. He is concerned not only with the sensual aspects of
'sound organization,' but the gestural qualities as well. Yeh has
collaborated with a deep and ever-growing list of artists and groups,
including Tony Conrad, New Humans with Vito Acconci, Evan Parker,
Thurston Moore, Amy Granat with Jutta Koether, Justin Lieberman, John
Wiese, Don Dietrich and Ben Hall (as The New Monuments), Prurient, and
Jandek. He has performed at festivals and venues such as Sonar, FIMAV
at Victoriaville, Frieze Arts Fair, No Fun Fest, High Zero, the 24
Hour Drone People at Fylkingen, The Kitchen, ZKM Karlsruhe, and has
also exhibited visual art, sound, and video works internationally.

In this video Rafael Toral explains his self-made, pocket lamp instrument.

infamousmusic posted this video on YouTube on February 7, 2008.

Here is an excerpt of a live performance at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Auditório 2). Recorded by Raquel Castro.

rtoral posted this video on YouTube on August 17, 2008.

Robert Beatty and Trevor Tremaine soundcheck for Burning Star Core in the performance space of the ZKM in Karlsruhe Germany, as part of the "Between Two Deaths" festival on May 12, 2007.

Brainticket posted this video on YouTube on May 24, 2007.

Here, John Wiese and C Spencer Yeh play at Silent Barn in Brooklyn, October 19, 2007.

myshkin66 posted this video on YouTube on October 22, 2007.