Audio By Carbonatix
Arguably the first person on the planet to play prepared guitar and dobro in a compositional sense, Janet Feder manipulates the strings of her instruments by attaching beads, rings, bra hooks and modified alligator clips for a host of uncommon sounds. Gongs, rattles, steel drums, marimba and Oriental percussion are just a few of the fun auditory side effects that accompany one of her avant-classical folk tunes. Colin Bricker, meanwhile, shapes and edits live digital beats on a laptop computer for a wide range of down-tempo rhythms, interlocking grooves and bizarre sonic textures. Together the pair call themselves Cowhause, creating a Teutonic-sounding instrumental duo that blurs the distinction between organic and digital. Avoiding frenetic jungle beats in favor of a more contemplative, trance-inducing brand of dub, Bricker (the mixologist behind several recordings by the Czars and a guitarist in the glam-based musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) layers dense and intricate backdrops behind Feder’s unique style of American, fat-noted finger-picking. Combining roots-oriented wanderlust, ambient technicality and a full-sized movie screen of visual projections, Cowhause headlines a creative evening of multimedia art performances on Thursday, February 27, at the Oriental Theatre; like-minded electronic duos Roger and the Way Things Go also appear. One might call the cud-chewing oddity a product of bovine inspiration.
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