>>PREVIEW
TETRIX
Thursday, May 18
Broken City
When the little understood and largely underground local phenomenon known as Tetrix surfaces to put on one of their rare live performances, it is an event not to be missed.
Providing a multi-sensory experience that defies classification, each composition revolves around the stunning array of computerized visuals that accompany the surreal vocals of singer Neil Stanley Pockett and the artfully abstract instrumentation of Craig Faas and brothers Connor and Kristjan Gottfried. Audiences are sure to be wowed by their avant-garde approach and utterly seduced by the free "Stellar Vision Glasses" provided.
Like so many Canadian acts that have to go abroad before getting appreciated at home, Tetrix has already caught the ear of MeWe Le Disque records in Belgium who produced a vinyl LP of the band’s work last summer. Now, with numerous self-produced releases to their credit, the Tetrix four are poised, sitars and keyboards at the ready, to formally launch themselves into the public eye.
"Even though this is our seventh release, we consider it our ‘arrival album,’" explains founding member and self-professed computer guru Connor Gottfried. "We’ve had such trouble getting people interested in what we’re doing and now things are finally starting to take off....
"We’ve gone further than ever before on our new album. It represents the progression of our sound. We’ve taken static distortion to a higher plane – it is our most swirling and psychedelic album yet."
In keeping with that otherworldly theme, their latest recording, Tetrix 7, released on the band’s own Odin Audio label, is designed to resemble the special identification plaques that were attached to certain NASA spacecraft. The Voyagers and Pioneer 10 and 11 each carried a 12-inch gold anodized copper disk containing images and sounds from Earth, for the benefit of any other civilization in the galaxy who might encounter the spacecraft in the future.
These interstellar licence plates were crammed with images and sounds, including anatomical drawings of male and female human figures and a map of our solar system. Layered with genuine 24-carat gold, the new Tetrix 7 CDs have a 300-year lifetime guarantee (discs of this quality are usually reserved for medical records and the like). The CD’s sleeve is printed on retro-style gold foil board sporting the required sketches of naked humans and other things found in your typical "Galactic Groovster's Guide to the Planet Earth" (I just made that up, so don’t go looking for it).
Despite (or because of) the care, precision and expense the band went to in crafting their latest album, they would be just as happy to see fans downloading their music online as buying the physical product. The band’s well-maintained website (www.tetrix.ca) offers plenty of free music downloads along with games, pictures, forums and everything else a tuned-in technophile could desire. Drawing on a shared love of art and science, the fundamental philosophy behind Tetrix’s work obliterates the arbitrary lines that divide the two by using one to mould and facilitate the other.
"The way we construct our pieces is purely improvisational, so we had to resolve the problem of how do you take that onstage. Tetrix produced three complete albums before we ever played live," says Connor of their reclusive history.
"Making the transition to the stage forced us to be creative and go beyond generating random noise. Our light shows are intentionally geared to bring the audience into the experience…. The visuals are like some old mad scientist gone crazy."
The intergalactic greeting card concept behind their latest album speaks of the band’s desire to share their collective experiences and to express themselves in an incalculable and unlimited capacity – just as Carl Sagan described sending out those golden plaques as casting "a bottle in the cosmic ocean."
"Our motivation is purely artistic. We love showing off our extreme technical skills and Tetrix allows us to keep our focus on doing just that. We do things according to our own passion. Staging our own live performances is enough to keep us occupied at the moment. I can’t imagine the logistics of touring with all of our equipment in tow," Connor chuckles. |
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