Open Invitation: Alternative Electronic Music Series, Utica, NY

[Andrew_Sblendorio]

I book shows at a non-profit art space in Utica, NY. If you’re in the Northeastern United States and are looking for a space to play I’d love to make contact and see if you can come to town. I’ve made contact and had a great experience with a few fellow lines members: @Claude, @carltesta, and @n-So @Claude’s group Figure From Ground came to play last year and we had a very nice time. @carltesta played in March 2019 and that was a great show as well. @n-So played in May 2019, and really impressed us with one of his first live performances. @mzero came out with his electric.kitchen duo in June 2019 and delighted us with his live drumming and cool “infinite set”. Our first show featured another lines member: @onewayness. That was certainly one to remember.

We’re open towards any kind of electronic music that is more contemplative. It’s a sit down event so dance music doesn’t really fit. Otherwise we have really run the gamut from beats to performance art to ambient to noise.

We’ve had ten shows in this series over the past three years. The idea is to pair at least one traveling artist with at least one local artist, but lately I’ve been leaning on the side of two local artists a show. We almost always do the shows on Fridays or Saturdays from 7-10, due to apartments around the venue.

We’ve almost always had live visuals accompanying the music, so if you are a visualist it would be great to hear from you. In my experience visualists are a lot harder to find.

The traveling artists take everything we make at the door, minus the 20% that gets donated to the space.

Some artists we’ve hosted in the past:
kevin greenspon, j hamilton issacs, figure from ground, onewayness, joe clark, channelling, stoke, the oracle, goddaughter, joe myers, dirt nap, sam hirsh, bulletins, carl testa, n-So, Charles Miller

and local artists:
PHUNgEYE, Zalatan, Myndsetter, Inside Voice, Craig Blask, Anthony and The Mountain, Rock Paper Elephants, Brandon Battles, Paul Crowther, and Murder Dream.

Here’s some pictures of the space during our past shows. You’ll see a mezzanine in the older photos that’s no longer there.

[healthylives]

Awesome to see this. My grandmother was born and raised in Utica, but I’ve never been.

[onewayness]

Recommended! Good people, cool space, nice vibe.

[Andrew_Sblendorio]

Didn’t know you were on here @onewayness, nice to hear from you!

@healthylives it’s a small upstate city, in a lot of ways what you would expect, but in a lot of ways not what you would expect. We have a really nice community of artists in all disciplines, and in that we have a really nice electronic scene. It’s been great doing these shows because we actually have a lot of local people who are excited to play and bring their friends.

We also have a monthly electronic night, where people play solo sets and there is a big group improvisation. That’s called White Noise Workshop (https://www.facebook.com/whitenoiseworkshop/), and it’s got a totally different vibe from the Alternative Electronic Music shows.

[n-So]

Looks like an awesome place, messaged!

[euxine]

Would you be interested in folks from further afield?

[ludvista29]

Woah very cool! I’m out in NJ. Gonna throw you a message.

[Claude]

I can happily attest to @Andrew_Sblendorio doing a great job on every front. He has a nice post here

The Rural Scene

Hi All, This is my first post! Great site with so many ideas, very inspiring. I’m very interested in anyone’s current/past experience of setting up gigs/concerts/open mics/improv etc et al., specifically in a rural area. I’m based in rural West Wales and have run a few shows and a symposium (quasi academic), and want to keep it all going-so, sustainability and the practical know how is what I am hoping to find out about. At the moment it’s a lavish hobby, great fun- after the self-induced st…

which discusses his perspective nicely.

Figure From Ground had a great experience playing at the Other Side in Utica!

[Andrew_Sblendorio]

Sure! Send me a message if you’d like to talk.

[OffLand]

Hi Andrew. I’ve got some family moving to Utica this year, so I’ll be finding myself in that area more often. Would love to set something up for later this year. I’ll contact you once I have a better idea on timing.

[Andrew_Sblendorio]

That’s not something you hear every day! Looking forward to it!!

[Brennanib]

Messaged! Sounds like a good time to me!

[Andrew_Sblendorio]

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has responded to this thread! We have two great shows now lined up for the spring and I couldn’t be more excited.

@carltesta is going to be playing this Saturday (3/9/19) along with two local artists: Tim Schram and the newly named PhairLite CMB.

Then on 5/25/19, we will be visited by @n-So. He’ll be joined by Buffalo New York’s Joe Myers, as well as Utica based electronic band Murder Dream.

I’ll be posting some pictures of the show this weekend!

[carltesta]

I had a fantastic time at The Other Side with @Andrew_Sblendorio Alexis, Tim, and Craig. What a great bunch of folks and an amazing community of interested people. Highly recommended on all fronts. Thanks so much!

[Andrew_Sblendorio]

Like @carltesta said we had a great time last night! Here’s a few pictures from the wonderful Alexis Aguam:

[Andrew_Sblendorio]

If anyone is around Utica, NY today, we’re having a great show tonight featuring @n-So, Chuck Miller doing visuals as well as an audio visual set (outofsync.info | epochfunk.com) and the Utica based electronic band Murder Dream. I’ll be playing some Jan Garbarek on vinyl…we’re going to have a fun night!

[Andrew_Sblendorio]

We had another great show last night! Here’s a few pictures courtesy of Alexis Aguam:

[Andrew_Sblendorio]

And here’s the poster for our next show! We’ve got @mzero coming out to play and I know we’re really looking forward to it:

[n-So]

Had a really great time playing there, couldn’t have asked for a better experience to play one of my first shows, @Andrew_Sblendorio made everything so easy and enjoyable and was super accommodating. Definitely hope to come back!

[CaneMan]

Ooh. I might have to trek out from Albany just to check this out. I’ve been going to the synth nights in Ithaca when I can manage. Good times, but three hours out of my way.