Blondes, James Campbell, I.U.D.

CAT: CH001
April 20, 2015

On August 31, 2013, for the opening of Wade Guyton’s exhibition at Kunsthalle Zurich, Blondes, James Campbell, and I.U.D. each performed in front of one Guyton’s expansive canvases. This 4 LP vinyl record acts as a catalogue for the four gallery exhibition with a double gatefold that unfolds to present a model of the installation on the second floor of the museum. Each record contains one performance from the night, and corresponds directly to the painting in front of which the performance took place.

Filled with organic growth and decay, Blondes find ways of creating a sonic environment that feels removed from the artificial perfection of computers. In this performance they’ve reacted to the room of the Kunsthalle, reinterpreting the tracks from their celebrated album Swisher, restraining the percussion to make room for washes of reverb and textured melody.

James Campbell’s performance explores the resonance of the space. Filtered amplifiers concentrate pools of room tones that pulse under minimal percussion. By processing his drums and sequenced oscillators through delay feedback he produces a skittering phase interference moiré. Sparse and entrancing, Campbell’s drumming obliterates into powerful drone.

I.U.D. are Lizzi Bougatsos and Sadie Laska, who drum up a fierce sound over lots of fractured noise, primal percussion and abstract vocals while Spencer Sweeney accompanies on guitar and drums. Their Kunsthalle performance was a welcome blast of pungent discord. Previous releases on Social Registry include: Dead Womb 7” and The Proper Sex LP. I.U.D. has been described as, “A welcome blast of pungent discord driven by a lurid sexuality that feels both filthy and funny.”