B.C.V.C.O.
» (British Columbia Voltage Controlled Orchestra) - All Analog Synth Ensemble
As British Columbia's first voltage controlled orchestra, BCVCO's billowing, propulsive
sound unites disparate historical threads such as 60's electronic music lab pioneers, 70's
cosmiche drone masters, and 80's synth outsiders, all for whom the analog synthesizer
is the central instrument of expression. The sextet foregoes dogmatic historical
allegiance to any one era, focusing instead on a new present, where the transitions
between themes, sounds, histories reach beyond time into new landscapes of memory
and experience.
Led by longtime Vancouver synthesist, Josh Stevenson (aka Magneticring), BCVCO
includes members from some of Vancouver's most storied acts: Scott Gubbels
(Superconductor), Jeremy Schmidt (Black Mountain) Ted Bois (Destroyer), Daniel
Presnell and Rick Smith (both of Von Bingen).
Using a battery of analog synthesizers from EMS, Oberheim, Buchla, Serge, Roland, ARP,
Yamaha, and EDP, BCVCO explores both large group improvisation, and arrangements
with equal dexterity. Sequences emerge, backed my motorik rhythms; thick drones
swell into symphonic crescendos and release in a storm of abstract tones. Each member
assumes a different voice, a different function in the orchestra, replacing staid
instrumental configurations with phased strings, bubbling bass, overdriven organ,
modular synth chaos patches, white noise percussion, and generous filter sweeps. The
resulting sounds maneuver between the epic, and the infinitesimal, between the
harmonious and the aleatoric, between nature and the inorganic.
Over the last three years, BCVCO has left audiences at the Western Front, Fake Jazz,
Music Waste, and VIVO adrift in heady, meditative zones, or transformed into a mob of
throbbing somnambulists. While the group has yet to release any recordings, a number
of releases are planned for 2010.
EMS Synthi AKA, Buchla Music Easel aka 'electro-organism', farfisa syntorchestra, Roland SH-1000 & SH-1, Oberheim 2-Voice, Moog Source, Mini-Moog, Arp Odyssey, Steiner-Parker Synthacon, Serge 'Animal Panel', Drumfire, Tympani and more!
Live at the Cobalt's Fake Jazz Wednesdays, Vancouver, Canada
Sept 12 2007.mp3
Live at the Western Front Society, Vancouver, Canada
January 11 2008.mp3