Miles Davis is credited with saying “it's not the notes you play; it's the notes you don't play," when describing some of the most experimental music he produced. And a new music festival in Richmond aims to keep that avant-garde spirit alive when it opens this weekend.
CSX, not the railroad, but the Commonwealth Sound Exchange, aims to platform the noise and experimental music genre in a city that has long loved supporting challenging music.
“It’s this idea that you can compose, you can play with sounds that don’t fall into traditional ideas about harmony and rhythm,” said CSX co-organizer Will Mullany, a Roanoke native who now calls Richmond home and runs his own experimental instrument company. Mullany said CSX is channeling the River City’s long history of loving the weird and wonderful by spotlighting both national and local talent.
“Drew Daniel is a part of the duo Matmos from Baltimore. JohnWiese, kind of abstract Grindcore project, Sissy Spasic,"
Mullany said. "They’re doing a duo.”
As for local acts, Gamelan Raga Kusuma is an Indonesian Balinese orchestra, led by University of Richmond music professor Andy McGraw.
“McGraw and the rest of the Gamelan do take a kind of exploratory approach to what they’re performing on traditional instruments.”
The Commonwealth Sound Exchange starts its three-day run at Studio Two-Three in Richmond Thursday.
Find out more about the festival, and get tickets at CSX.ORG.
