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Blevin Blectum

Bevin Kelley (aka Blevin Blectum) is a multimedia artist and electronic musician, who is perhaps best-known as one-half of the absurdist performance art/computer music duo, Blectum from Blechdom. She is currently doing graduate work at Brown University’s MEME (Multimedia and Electronic Music Experiments) program, as well as collaborating with a number of experimental musicians and performance artists. In addition, she has released a slew of great solo records including the beautifully dense, Gular Flutter.

On January 06, she will perform on Rare Frequency with poet/musician, Ric Royer. Their duo project is DESPAIR DESPAIR DESPAIR. She very kindly answered a few last-minute questions by email.

What is the status of Blectum from Blechdom? Any performances planned for 2011? Will the long-awaited record on Dual Plover be coming out this year?

Blectum from Blechdom is alive and kicking. Kristin (Kevin Blechdom) is now at CalArts in Los Angeles, so it’s kicking long-distance. We have a new record that should be out in not too terribly long, not sure what label. We’ll be performing in 2011, certainly. Solid dates and release dates soon.

Could you tell me a bit about your grad studies at the MEME program at Brown? What kind of work are you doing there and how it meshes with what you do live and on record?

I’m working on learning and using new tools (both hardware and software), some instrument building, and extending what I do into deeper multimedia directions…. more video, more live control of electronic music with custom controllers, more layers of everything, more text based pieces, more theatrical spectaculars ;] I have a large performance coming up at the opening of Brown’s new Granoff Center on February 10th, and a Master’s concert called “Solar Rattle” on April 16th, also at the Granoff Center.

How did you collaboration with Ric Royer come about? Also, will you be performing together at Whitehaus, or is that a solo show?

Ric recently relocated from Baltimore to Providence. He’s in Brown’s Theater and Performance Studies PhD program. I met him a few years ago when he booked Blectum from Blechdom at the Transmodern festival. I think at the Whitehaus show we’ll perform a set together as our new project ‘DESPAIR DESPAIR DESPAIR’, and I’ll play some solo Blevin Blectum tracks also. In the next few weeks we’ll be playing as DESPAIR DESPAIR DESPAIR in Philadelphia, New York, Providence and Baltimore in a similar style of duo/solo/trio, with the addition of NONHORSE.

What projects, releases, or live shows do you currently have in the works for 2011?

(full listing to follow)

 

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