Category: nyc

KITCHEN TALK: From Minimalism to Algorithm

On Wednesday September 23, I’ll be participating in a roundtable discussion at NYC art space The Kitchen. 6:30pm. Free!

They say: Please join us as Karen Archey, Jace Clayton, Tere O’Connor, and Cheyney Thompson discuss this year’s theme: “From Minimalism into Algorithm.”

Taking place in The Kitchen theater and gallery spaces throughout the 2015-2016 season, “From Minimalism into Algorithm” sets contemporary and historical painting, sculpture, performance, and musical composition in counterpoint, proposing a new through-line for art-making during the past half century. Organized collaboratively by The Kitchen and participating artists, the exhibition takes up the legacy of Minimalist art and composition during the 1960s and 1970s—whose seriality was understood by artists and critics to correlate with the era’s industrial production and increased weight placed on the presence of the individual—as a precedent for reconsidering work by a younger generation for whom serial repetition now corresponds more directly with digital technology and the reconfiguring of our encounters with physical space through networked communication.

LAST DANCE @ New Museum’s IDEAS CITY

It’s always exciting to collaborate with Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, author the beautiful, thoughtful book Harlem Is Nowhere. This Friday, May 29, we’re staging a new work in NYC, at the New Museum’s IDEAS CITY Festival. The evening is “a performative conference in 9 acts,” ranging from dance battles to spoken word to something involving a hot air balloon; we go on promptly at 11pm.

Our contribution, The Last Dance, is a half-hour piece about the Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem, which was demolished this past March. We’ll be joined by historian Michael Henry Adams (pictured above being arrested as he protested its destruction). This article provides context.

Friday May 29. The Aula, 268 Mulberry Street. DJ Rupture, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, and Michael Henry Adams present The Last Dance, part of A Performative Conference In 9 Acts.
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for a warm up, here’s our Harlem Is Nowhere mix from 2011– that’s the Renaissance Ballroom:

NEW WORK FOR BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS

I’m excited to announce that on Thursday February 26, Bang On A Can All-Stars will premiere a new composition of mine here in NYC, as part of their People’s Commissioning Fund concert. I’ll be joining them on-stage. WNYC’s John Schaefer will host the event, which will live-stream on Q2.

The All-Stars will also perform new work by Ben Frost, Glenn Kotche (Wilco), and more. Really looking forward to this night. Tickets/info.

It’s part of the excellent Ecstatic Music Festival.

As a little warm-up, we put together a free Bandcamp download of work from all the composers. Continue reading NEW WORK FOR BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS

RED PARTY – FEB 14 – NYC

Socialist slow jams and commie techno in a room full of people who love lefty books: not to be missed! On Saturday February 14th I’m DJing the RED PARTY at Verso Books in DUMBO. Hope to see you there.

Join us for Verso’s inaugural celebration of Red Day.

With Special Guest Tariq Ali
Music by DJ Rupture

Saturday, February 14
8:30pm – 2:00am
Verso Brooklyn: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010

Beer, wine and commie books will be available to all attendees. 50% off everything for guests wearing red.

All revenue goes to the Can’t Touch This NYC Anti-Repression Committee.

♥,
Verso

WHEN GOD IS IN THE ROOM: new talk @ Union Docs this Friday

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I CAN’T STOP TALKING! Come join me this Friday, November 7th, as a I present on soundsystems & audiences at Union Docs in Brooklyn. From my experiences dancing to jungle back in the day to thoughts on Koranic recitation & improv, robots who love shape-note singing, and maybe some Billy Joel. This forms part of a series on spectatorship curated by Mathilde Walker-Billaud.

Here’s the description for my talk, called When God Is In The Room:

What’s so special about experiencing sound in a packed club? Why does music sound better when God is in the room? How did supercomputers listening to geology improve pop music? Jace Clayton (aka DJ /rupture) will explore these questions and more. From personal stories of after-hours dancing in Boston and Jamaica to a discussion of Koranic recitation in Egypt. Listening audiences considered from the body, the earth below, and the heavens above. Jace Clayton will play music, show videos and images.

Union Docs is a great space with interesting programming — if you haven’t been then you should remedy that this week! Friday, Nov. 7th, 2014. 7:30p. $9. 322 Union Ave., Williamsburg
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ENKUTATASH እንቁጣጣሽ

Remember the color-coded Homeland Security Threat Level system?
Remember how it made you feel?
I do.

My latest project is called Enkutatash እንቁጣጣሽ. It’s a participatory music performance transforming security threats into spiritual renewal. It debuts on Thursday September 11th, the Ethiopian New Year (Ethiopia uses its own calendar system) in Washington D.C. Continue reading ENKUTATASH እንቁጣጣሽ

DJ Rupture – Enero 2013 Cumbia Mix

DJ Rupture - Enero 2013 cumbia mix

A 30-minute mix of “cumbia cumbia, not nueva cumbia” that was previously only available at a NYC taco shop. My man Talacha gets on the mic as sonidero.

I used all cumbias purchased in Brooklyn, so it skews heavily towards cumbias poblanas, mexican cumbias, tunes made in the States. Shoutouts include: Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, New Jersey, Virginia, Baltimore, Las Carolinas, Ellay… kinda functions as a map of where Mexicans are strong in the US! There’s no tracklist but that’s OK because everyone is always shouting out their name anyhow…

This mix was originally available as a physical-only CD at a taco shop in the East Village, along with another 30minute mix by Sonido Martines. Here’s the post on that.

Stream or download:

If you’re hungry for more of this stuff, you are in luck, as cumbias are almost always close at hand in the Americas… For starters, the 2009 Cumbia Mix I did for Rob Da Bank’s BBC1 radio show remains popular, and my 2008 Fader Magazine feature article on cumbia remains a good introduction the genre as well as what it’s like to speed around Buenos Aires with Damas Gratis’ frontman Pablo Lescano.

PS1 future talk & New Inquiry summer fete

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On Thursday June 27th, I’ll be speaking at MoMA PS1, “on inexpensive time-travel devices and how the future might not exist.” With nice musical & visual examples. The event happens at 4pm and will be streaming from the clouds. For a warmup, check out my recent Frieze essay on Aztec-inspired ideas of cyclical time in new Mexican music.

Prior to that, at 2pm, I’m leading an open discussion about Ted Chiang’s wonderful short story, “The Story of Your Life,” accompanied by Triple Canopy editor Dan Visel.

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On Saturday June 29th, I’m DJing New Inquiry’s summer benefit! This will be my last NYC dj gig for a season or two, and I’m glad to spend it supporting Rachel & her band of braniacs. The event is sold out, although there’s a wait list for the more generous ticket range. Your money pays their writers. ‘Nuff said.