Telecorps

09/05/2024

i am presenting a free jazz/free music/free sounds show at Bantha Tea Bar on Tuesday October 1st 2024 featuring the great BARK CULTURE trio from Philly: Victor Vieira-Branco on vibraphone, John Moran on bass, and Joey Sullivan on drums. you might have heard John Moran and Joey Sullivan when they were here with the great NYC saxophonist Michael Foster.

here's a video of BARK CULTURE in action from 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gVrOrTGXNo

the two opening acts will be:

ELSINORE featuring Richard McKita and associates

and the all world total universe debut of

BOYDOZER (me, Jim Lingo, and Greg Pierce)

Jim and i have been threatening to start a band called BOYDOZER for at least a decade. and so it shall be.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1972027129922442

Bark Culture is a trio based out of Philadelphia led by Victor Vieira-Branco on vibraphone, with John Moran on bass and Joey Sullivan on drums.video: Richard...

10/25/2023

trying to remember what Telecorps did for this show. Ray-C-Ray says we did a loud, power electronics type thing. he says Michael Johnsen videotaped us and the sounds we were making distorted Michael's video--which is a lovely memory. circa 1992?

07/22/2023

Edgar Um Bucholtz recently found an audio cassette in the Telecorps archive containing a recording of three experimental "music" performances that took place at the Turmoil Room on the evening of Saturday February 4th 1995. after messaging some of the people involved with the performances on this evening, we have been able to piece together a recollection of what transpired.

side A of this cassette begins with a short set by Pittsburgh experimental duo LPN (Dave Shim & Edgar Um Bucholtz) performing with a stringed instrument trio called (for this performance) "ex-schick." this string trio consisted of Giulia Loli, Jen Saffron, and Jennifer Geller.

for this performance the string trio played on the first floor of the Turmoil Room and were heard acoustically in that gallery space by the people in that room. microphones or pick ups that were attached to these stringed instruments sent the sounds of these instruments via cables through a hole in the floor down into the basement/main performance space of the Turmoil Room and into a mixer where the sounds were processed using various FX and then amplified loudly by the sound system in that room. reverberations of these processed sounds could be heard upstairs in the first floor gallery during the performance.

on this recording you only hear the processed sounds of the string trio with LPN.

after a two minute break (during which you can hear the smalltalk of the audience in the basement) there is a 16 minute performance by LPN Unlimited Orchestra, a one-off expanded version of LPN that includes an as-yet-unidentified saxophone player.

players on this recording include:

Dave Shim - guitar, electronics
Edgar Um Bucholtz - electronics, cornet, voice
Giulia Loli - stringed instruments
Jen Saffron - violin
Jennifer Geller - violin
?????? - saxophone player

heard speaking in the audience between the two sets are Missy Galore, Gary Anderson, Alisa Dix, and as-yet-unidentified others.

digitization of side A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XB_loXe0kI

side B of this cassette contains a recording of a performance (on the same evening in the basement of the Turmoil Room) by Pittsburgh experimental trio, W+B HEIN. on this occasion they were billed as "W+B HEIN(d) Love Explosion" (or at least this is how they are billed on this cassette.) W+B HEIN was Greg Pierce, Michael Johnsen, and Eric Lipsky. for this performance, guest performers included Edgar Um Bucholtz and as-yet-unidentified others.

heard speaking on the recording are Michael Johnsen, Brian Dean Richmond, Missy Galore, Edgar Um Bucholtz, and others.

digitization of side B: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZu1KwCtSBk

The "TURMOIL ROOM"

this is a digitization of an audio cassette containing a recording of a performance by noise duo LPN (+ Ex-Schick) followed by a performance by noise ensembl...

08/20/2020

Edgar Um Bucholtz been working on digitizing the complete documentation of the Telecorps Generatour2 project. there are approximately 6 hours of video documentation and 2.5 hours of separate audio cassette recordings--as well as photo documentation, notes by the participants, and VHS recorded "runs" of the computer programs used to generate the data: 1) where in the greater Pittsburgh area 2) when during the three days chosen (November 22nd, 23rd, 24th 1991) 3) how many songs per set 4) the length of each song 5) the words/sounds voiced by me during the songs.

most but not all of the Telecorps sets performed during Generatour2 were recorded on VHS and audio cassette.

as an experiment, i decided to make mixes of one set using the VHS audio AND the cassette tape audio. i'm calling these mixes "duophonic." in the left channel is the VHS audio. in the right channel is the same song as it was recorded by the cheap audio cassette deck we enlisted for this project. using media software, i synchronized these two audio recordings as best as my patience would allow. i chose this set for this experiment not because i thought it contained the "best" performances but because it had the fewest songs.

during the three days of Generatour2, the participants varied somewhat. for this set, Shamanatrix Missy Galore operated the Panasonic SVHS video camera (which was her own.) the audio cassette deck seems to be mostly stationary. during other sets, Mr. Ernie Bullard or M. Francis Stramaglia operated the audio cassette deck. one of the benefits of making these duophonic mixes is that one is able to hear the performances from two different vantage points at the same time.

this first set of duophonic mixes are available for streaming and download via bandcamp:

https://telecorps.bandcamp.com/album/generatour2-day-2-set-3-duophonic-mixes

the video documentation for each song incorporating the duophonic mixes are available to experience via this youtube playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeTZSkKrr7-23R_6sZx0tQLlVQM-GoJ4I

for this set, Telecorps was:

Andy Vogt - noise bass, turntable, vinyl records
Sam Ward - drums
Raq. V.B. [Craig Whitman] - bass
Edgar Um Bucholtz - voice, Atari computer, software
Missy Galore - Panasonic SVHS video camera

05/01/2020

in honor of COVID-19 Bandcamp May Day, we present to you a previously unreleased track from the ancient Pittsburgh experimental sound ensemble, Telecorps. this track is culled from the recording sessions for the as-yet-unreleased Telecorps album, Mainstream Mo********er.

the recording session that this track comes from took place in the basement of a large, old house at 1237 Page Street in the Manchester neighborhood of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in the spring of 1992. the producer for this session was Kevin Y. Kim. for this recording, Telecorps included: RayCRay, Craig Whitman aka RaqVB, Oliver Kollar, Edgar Um Bucholtz, and possibly Robert Pleshar.

the photographs of Telecorps are by Jen Saffron.

(Note: This track may or may not be included on the Mainstream Mo********er album when it is released.)

from the album Mainstream Mo********er

05/07/2017

"This File Is Corrupted" by F**k Telecorps is featured on this recent Notes / Guests From Chaos podcast by Otomo Hava.

this track was performed live by Matthew Wellins, Stephen Boyle & Edgar Um Bucholtz, recorded by Margaret Cox, digitally modified by Edgar Um Bucholtz, and released by Michael Seamans on his Mind Skull label in Pittsburgh, PA in 2011.

this track starts at around 28:30 and ends around 41:00.

other artists on this podcast include Prussian Blue, Dead Reptile Shrine, Feral Society, Blood Tyrant, Marshstepper, Funeral Mongoloids, Subordinate, Wolf Eyes and Earthenwomb.

https://www.mixcloud.com/Otomo_Hava/notes-from-chaos-pages-77-78/

Tracklist: - Prussian Blue - Position III (Inverted Rose Garden CS / Beyond The Ruins / 2013) - Dead Reptile Shrine - Saga Of The Warrior Princes (Burning Black Infinity 2LP / Cocainacopia / 2008) - Feral Society - A Rat Like You (Feral Society MP3 / Self-Released / 2017) - F**k Telecorps - This Fil...

02/21/2016

two camera video documentation edit of a March 1992 performance by Telecorps in Alumni Concert Hall in the College of Fine Arts building on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University. for this performance, Telecorps was: John Riegert (dance), Andy Vogt (paintings), Ian Williams (guitars), Craig Whitman (drums), Sarah Marshall (slides), and me (text+voice.) Missy Galore + Carol Collins shot the video. Manny Theiner suggested the name of the piece, "Flibbertigibbet."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9efYidzoS8

Telecorps "Flibbertigibbet" March 1992 live at Alumni Concert Hall in the College of Fine Arts on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA ...

02/21/2016

video documentation of Telecorps' first outdoor gig using a gasoline-powered generator. it was a test for a Telecorps project that happened in November 1991 called Generatour2. this test performance is known as Generanotour1. it occurred on Sunday April 21st 1991. Telecorps was: Oliver Kollar (guitar), Andy Vogt (bass), Sam Ward (drums) and me (non-working computer and vox.) Missy Galore shot the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNC5-NPVQTo

this is Telecorps on its "1st Sortie." this occurred on Sunday April 21st 1991 on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University at 5182 Margaret Morrison Street i...

08/31/2015

the on-going digitalization of the Telecorps "99/33" performance and collaboration with the U.S. Postal Service continues...

of the 99 songs performed by Telecorps on August 13 1991, 78 were recorded, packaged and mailed to chance-determined residents of the greater Pittsburgh area. 21 were not completely packaged by the end of the performance time and were not mailed.

in the weeks that followed the performance and mailing, 10 mailed packages were returned to the Telecorps Post Office Box by the U.S. Postal Service for various reasons.

in this photo are the ten returned mailers.

the two videos below document the first two (containing cassette #48 and cassette #17) of the 10 returned mailers. videos documenting the remaining 8 mailers will be posted as they are created.

08/24/2015

cassette mailer assembly line