Racer Session #463 | Mike Gamble MeteOrchestra | March 17, 2019

Greetings, fans of the avant!

This Sunday, we welcome some friends from Portland and beyond back to the Racer stage in a new configuration: the Mike Gamble MeteOrchestra.

Mike Gamble, organizing this shindig, is a phenomenal and one-of-a-kind guitarist and composer, but we especially admire what he’s doing with and for the Creative Music Guild in Portland, an organization with goals similar to Table & Chairs. Andrew Jones and Mike Lockwood are both wonderful and busy musicians in and out of Portland, so it’s always great to hear them at Racer or otherwise. And Michelle Alany is new to the sessions, but we so look forward to hearing her work after reading great things about her projects and musical history!

It’s always great to support friends while they’re on the road, and the best way you can do that is by showing up to the gig! They even have a show at the Woodland Theater on Saturday, so you could catch ‘em twice if you wanted. But either way, make sure to get yourself to Cafe Racer this Sunday at 8pm for their set. Read on for some words from Mike on what they’ll play, and what you’ll play after.

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Mike Gamble's MeteOrchestra

Mike Gamble, guitar/projections
Michelle Alany, violin
Andrew Jones, acoustic/electric bass
Mike Lockwood-drums

I find myself continually fascinated with the potential nuance of the audio/visual connection in the interdisciplinary world. Whether it's an audio reactive visual parameter modulated by a specific frequency band, a connection between a glissando and a camera zoom, a color scheme matching the sonority of a complex poly chord, or even a traditional leitmotif that develops throughout a narrative, there are endless combinations to consider as an inter media artist. This project takes a chamber orchestra framework and investigates the connection between these two mediums, thus introducing the improvised visual component as a new player itself onstage.

After a set of semi-narrative audio-reactive films I have written and directed/edited, we will invite players to the second set where we, as a new found MeteOrcherstra, will play in the electro-acoustic video sandbox and workshop this process in several 15 minute segments. Hopefully with the help of the Racer Session team of improvisers, we can collectively reach new territories in the A/V world, and have a swell time doing so. We will welcome all instrumentalists and video artists to join us. Bring your horn, your stringed instruments, your VJ setup, or even a hard drive of iPhone videos.”