PGT performs at the Second Annual Electroacoustic Barn Dance
The Department of Music at the University of Mary Washington is pleased to host the Second Annual Electroacoustic Barn Dance, a three-day festival of electronic music and art, to be held November 8-10, 2012 on the campus of the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Concert VIII: Friday, 909 Saloon, 10 PM
PGT – Terry Pender, Brad Garton & Greg Taylor
Of course the main factor for Brad and Gregory is that when computers crash and the lights go out, someone will still be sitting next to them, valiantly playing away until the world rights itself.
Another factor may be that I often supply a starting point for our improvisational forays and provide excellent fodder for them to sample, re-sample, mutate and regurgitate. For me it means that I need to keep a firm grasp on where I’ve been and to be aware of what I’ve played and how it may influence our direction down the road.
It all adds a certain sense of adventure to playing and keeps us all on our toes, firmly locked into the moment. A certain type of mindless virtuosity, for us, would be the death knell. We try to remain in lock step with an awareness that any of the three might shift gears and turn on a dime – and we are all determined to not get left behind or to leave anyone behind. It’s how we interpret the term group improvisation.
Much of my background in improvisation is derived from the Robert Fripp/Adrian Belew/King Crimson school. I served a short apprenticeship with Robert Fripp as a crafty guitarist. I have always had a passion for traditional American music and for the sound and complexities of playing the acoustic guitar and mandolin.
Brad Garton spent some of his time at Princeton University playing in Cobra ensembles directed by John Zorn and various group improvisations lead by Ben Boretz.
Gregory Taylor has a background in gamelan music and a wide purvey of the experimental music field based on his long standing position as the host of a Madison, WI based radio program, Remember Those Quiet Evenings or RTQE on station WORT every Sunday evening. Possibly the longest continuously running radio program of improvisational, electronic/ambient, and experimental music. Yes, at some level we are a live ambient band, and all three of us are very fond of the music of Brian Eno.
It’s probably best to give you a link to both Brad and Gregory’s home pages where they speak much more eloquently about their backgrounds and musical aspirations. Remember RTQE on Sunday nights – it’s now on the web and is the best source of new musical activity for the experimental music scene. I’ll be listening with you every Sunday at 10:00 EST.
Brad Garton: http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/
Gregory Taylor: http://www.rtqe.net/
Gregory’s RTQE radio show: http://www.rtqe.net/RTQE.html
I’ll finish by saying that we have been blessed with a wonderful group of friends that perform or record with us when our paths are able to cross. These would include Darwin Grosse, Dan Trueman and Maja Cerar to name just a few. Many thanks to them.
Our latest recording is available as a free download from stasisfield.com. It is called Wood Lake and the download includes Gregory Taylor’s liner notes and the design, layout and photography of John Kannenberg.
Get it here:
http://www.stasisfield.com/releases/year09/sf-9004.html
This wonderful online label of sonic planar analysis: and experimental audio and visual art also contains several other wonderful releases that PGT wholehearted endorse. Check out the whole catalog.
If the Wood Lake recording grabs you feel free to check out our previous release, temporary habitations by PGT available on the iTunes store under electronic music.
