Avi Amon | Musician

Tasked Phenomenology

Here’s a piece of sound design/sculpture that I worked on for a dance that went up this past weekend (pictures soon). While the dance was, in theory, about nothing, it was also about attempting and failing to complete a task. Our choreographers didn’t want any pitch or rhythm, so we relied on texture and density to help create a story. My collaborators and I sampled sounds of people performing tasks (scratching, opening a squeaky door, using hand-sanitizer, etc.) from around the city, and modified them until they became unrecognizable. Then we had fun layering and tinkering in Logic until we came up with what you hear above.

The dancers didn’t actually hear this - nor had we seen much of the dance - until the dress-rehearsal, so watching it come together was pleasantly surprising. At the time it might have been a bit stressful, but looking back, I think it was very cool to create things in a vacuum and let the art just work itself out.  AND it was nice to get out of the “traditional” composition world I’ve been living in for the past year.  

Choreographers: Erika Barbee, Ben Freedman, Carissa M. Landes
Composers: Avi Amon, Nikko Benson, Julia Gytri 
Set design: Stephan Moravski
Lighting: Vadim Ledvin
Costumes: Izzy Fields
Performers: Louisa Barta, Stanton Jacinto, Nick Katen, Catherine Kirk, Jayne Paley

Istanbul Tango - Music by Avi Amon

I wrote this for for my music tutorial when I was visiting my grandparents in Turkey.  Astor Piazzola was the inspiration but there’s different harmonic stuff going on in there.  We had some great musicians playing for this past weekend’s dance+music collaboration.  I’ll have pictures and audio up from that, soon.

I think a lot of young composers corner themselves into writing music that does this or that technical or harmonic thing, but we forget to think about piece’s playability or fun-level. This was a cool opportunity to write, receive feedback, and rearrange on the fly. Not a perfect recording, but who cares. You don’t get free access to pro musicians everyday…

Growl

Poetry by Kevin Hageman
Music/Beatbox by Avi Amon

I recently connected with Kevin, a local slam poet making waves in the Philly area, and we recorded this live at my house the other night.  Dude is nasty! Looking forward to more collaboration like this very soon…

Plug in your headphones.  You dig our artsy-fartsy vibe?

My Funny Valentine - Avi Amon

Had an idea this evening and decided to execute it!  Gotta pay homage to the great Jamie Cullum - be sure to let me know what you think in the comments down below.  Also, SUPER excited about the coming days and weeks…  I have my audition for the Manhattan School of Music and Nate and I will be working together on a songwriting project we’re calling The Nook.  Jazz, jazz, and more jazz, my friends.  Stay tuned….

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.

Constantly (live) - Nate Hall

Here’s a LIVE clip of ‘Constantly’ from the Official NATE HALL Listening Party!

Shout out to Avi, Adam, Bam, & Vince (and of course Bsteady & D. Rich on the vox)! I’ve got the best band in the world… FOR REAL!

Special thanks to Greg & Dave for amazing sound that night.

Make sure to go to www.NateHall.com to listen to the entire ‘SOMETHING MORE’ EP before you buy it!  ONLY $3.99!!!

What a great night.  Can’t wait to play keys in the band with these guys again!

(Source: natehall)