Brooklyn robots programmed to strum your heart strings

Michèle De Meglio, March 13, 2007

Guitars and pianos aren’t the only instruments being used to make great music.

Brooklyn’s underground technology-driven scene is creating cutting-edge sounds with the help of computers and robots.

This new musical genre will be showcased on March 23 during the latest offering of the Tranzducer series hosted at LEMURplex, located at 461 3rd Avenue.

“We wanted to provide a resurgence in what you may call the avant-garde music scene in New York,” explained Jamie Allen, co-founder of Tranzducer and co-curator of the shows.

Each Tranzducer show, which is generally held on the third or fourth Friday of the month, has a theme featuring a trio of artists playing a similar type of music and technology mix.

The first show of the series was a rowdy rock performance and last month’s was more mellow sounds.

The upcoming show will feature a twist on classical music.

The three scheduled musicians “come out of the academic music crowd so I have a feeling it will be almost chamber music for the 21st century,” Allen said.

Accompanying the inventive music are art installations.

“I wanted to do a unique kind of event here,” Eric Singer, owner of LEMURplex and co-founder of Tranzducer, said of the series. “I wanted it to be eclectic electronic music plus gallery showings – being able to show LEMUR’s work at the same time.”

The work he’s referring to are installations fusing art and technology and musical robots built by artists associated with or taking classes at LEMURplex.

“There’s no paintings at all,” Singer said. “It’s electronic music, electronic video, and interactivity. There’s musical robots so there’s lots of things that you can play with. I’m much more into art that you can play with than art that you just stand and look at.”

Working off of that concept, past Tranzducer shows have featured special effects and gadgets controlled by event attendees.

“At the last event, we debuted several new instruments including one called the Slime-a-tron, which is a box that has a large blob of slime like the kids’ stuff that you get at Toys ‘R’ Us but it’s been specially treated so when it’s conducted – you roll it around in the box – it creates effects to the music,” Singer said.

Another gadget really gets LEMURplex visitors’ hearts pumping.

“We project a game spinner on the ground and as you run around it, it spins and activates the robots around the room,” Singer said. “It plays drum beats and it plays them as fast as you can get them to spin.”

The exhibits also provide a playful interlude between musical performances.

“We generally have three performers and there are breaks between each of them so it’s nice for people to step away from the listening experience, take a break and go see some of the installations,” Allen said.

The fusion of art, music and technology was a natural blend in today’s high-tech society.

“In the last 10 years, things have gotten a lot easier to do in that there’s been a proliferation of inexpensive tools, electronics and software that enable you to do electronic art and media art. It lets us do more,” Singer said.

And there’s more in store for Tranzducer and LEMURplex.

“My overall goal is to make this place into the coolest place in the world to see interactive electronic art,” Singer said. “In a couple of years, it will be entirely tricked out with electronics and sensors…so you walk in here and you’re amazed by the things you see.”

Tranzducer’s March 23 show will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.

To see videos of past shows, log onto www.tranzducer.com.

Learn more about LEMURplex or register for technology and robotics classes by visiting www.lemurplex.org.