The Búto Flúto: Reflections on Self Derived Relics

I am Media.

I am the Media.

We are the brick wall woven into a circle.  A flat sphere with no borders.

El centro es el ojo.  Aqui los encontramos.

El Central, donde se cerra el ojo.

Si se manifica se repete.  

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The Búto Flúto

A Self Derived Ceremonial headpiece.

Made of mahogany reclaimed from an old Baptist church/ Pentecostal Church in South LA.  The Búto Flúto also consists of poplar wood, steam bent ash from the city of Long Beach, purple heart wood, a hacked Gakken Anolog Synth (SX-150), a custom pre-amp with circuit bending copper contact points, wires, a mic and speaker which is the wooden conical shape. 

It has been with me since 2008.  It has broken many times and can be fussy. 

The sound... it does some interesting things that I am still figuring.  Do to the mic and speaker in close proximity it does a feed back loop similar to most of my wooden speaker box art sculptures.  Because it is a noisy circuit (not very well insulated) It is sensitive to magnetic fields and radio waves, which add interesting behaviors coupled with its SX-150 sound. The circuit bended pre-amp has a flutey sound to it and can rise and lower in pitch when finger are slid along the copper.

There is a track playing in the back ground but most of the sound is the Búto Flúto (on a loop pedal) since it was recorded through its built in mic and speaker. The recorder was held to the speakers funnel.

It has developed it own meaning which I am still understanding.  Steeming from punk anarcho angst, indigenous stirrings, reflecting respect for the ancestral trees, experiments with electricity, now turning into a critique of transhumanistic ironical twist which requires me to add metal hardware (on a piece once only made of wood joinery) for speedy assembly and transportation, but mostly do to damage from performances or general use. A work in flux. 

I hope you get to hear it sometime.  I will be with me on tour.

Photo by Vishal Goklani

f

resh and new

2008

no syth, wings were once longer

Photos by  Jeremy Eichenbaum

2014

Photo by Brenn Lowe Graphics by josie j

Tarfest Recap- "Research in Performance, Sound, and Dissent"

Cohabitants,

With hopes of transforming each molecule and atom of the Tarfest audience with waves of undulating, random and beaten sounds, this invocation delivered.

To tilt the unbalanced unconscious was the goal. Success measured in unveiling of error for tomorrow to be recalculated.

Thanks to ones that transformed into characters of weight, appreciation for the passive willing to absorb, acknowledgment for those active but not brought to light and special thanks to two extraordinary ladies (and one life stream in utero), willing testifiers, active and transformed.

One peculiar thing. Just before the performance music was turn on in the gallery, played through the p.a. system. By the end it fused with the noise of the performance and gave a nice texture.

This video and sound objects were presented the remaining days of the show.

-DBL

Wooden form functions as a resonator feedbacking onto itself to produce a wave of undulating texture. Headpiece has a pitch bended analog synth. Piece was and exploration in control symbolism and recontextualization them.


DBRP Performing at Tarfest 2009 from DBL on Vimeo.

DVD copy now available (with extras)

Old Guy Running Exhibit

The show consisted of 2 wooden pieces one a table the other a headpiece and two performers.

The table was not a table in traditional sense but more of an organ or instrument of sorts.  It worked as a resonator.  The top barrel shaped form was made of ceramic.  Inside it was a speaker and a microphone.  The microphone ran through an electronic effects device, to an alpine car amp then to the sub-woofer speaker in the form.  The actual table was made of lumber from the urban forest of long beach.  This piece was controlled by one performer through nobs on the top of the table.

The head piece was made of reclaimed lumber from an old Baptist church/ Pentecostal church.  The headpiece also had a microphone located in the conal shaped form and a analog synth embedded in the body which also had nobs and circuit bending switches.  This piece was worn and controlled by the second performer. 

Here are some shots from the show:

Photos and Video by Jeremy Icanbomb