‘Sonic Series’ Unites Local, Out-of-Town Musicians

The effort to hone a distinctive artistic identity for Los Angeles continues. A new concert series offers the opportunity for local musicians to team up with out-of-town musicians for performances designed to compare and combine music from different regions.

It’s called “The Sonic Series” and, beginning tonight, is scheduled bimonthly at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) downtown. The project is a joint effort of LACE, the Independent Composers Assn. and Meet the Composer/California.

Each installment will consist of back-to-back evenings of new music by local and out-of-town artists. According to Tom Recchion, music specialist on the LACE performance committee, the series is designed to boost Los Angeles music by teaming up local musicians with performers not often seen in this area.

“The rarer experience of hearing out-of-town artists will stimulate attendance while at the same time strengthening our own scene,” Recchion explains.

“It would be great to give each artist the whole evening to himself, but this way, dividing the evening and presenting music from contrasting regions, the audience will have more to choose from and hopefully turn out in bigger numbers.”

Opening the series tonight will be the Los Angeles duo Dinosaurs with Horns, a multi-media ensemble comprising Joseph Hammer and Rick Potts. The two have been recording together since 1983 and specialize in improvised music. Collectively, they have been members of several local garage-band-like improvisation groups, including Brad Laner’s Debt of Nature and Steaming Coils.

Among instruments used in their battery are tape loops, toy instruments, outdated synthesizers, records and tapes and other unusual electronic instruments. Self-described as “Avant-schmultz,” their unique style mixes a raw rock power--somewhere between Captain Beefheart and punk rock--with an absurdist collage of other pop musics.

Splitting the bill with Dinosaurs with Horns will be Tom Cora, a New York cellist who uses digital delay, amplification and other extended cello techniques. Cora’s music reflects his intense interest in East European and Turkish folk traditions as well as the folk music he assimilated as a child growing up in Virginia--gospel, blues and the country music of Appalachia.

Friday, percussionist John Bergamo and violinist Malcolm Goldstein plan solo performances and a collaboration by the veteran improvisers. Goldstein resides in New York, while Bergamo is active in various projects locally.

“I tend to go in and out of periods of being disillusioned with the situation in this city,” Recchion admits. “We’ve tried to promote the local music community in the past with a special Sunday concert series, but we never got a good enough turnout.

“Perhaps it’s because there’s simply not enough crossing-over in this city,” he continues.

“For example, you don’t see enough visual artists at music events, and vice versa. It’s important to bring different creative forces together to strengthen things, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The series will continue in November when scheduled artists will include local percussionist Amy Knoles and the Bay Area new music group, the Hub.