Musicians Joao M. Da Silva & Russ Alderson On This Saturday’s Concert At Prospect Range, Kensington’s Creative Community & More

This Saturday, February 28, the Kensington-based musician Joao M. Da Silva, of Luciernaga, and Russ Alderson, of Xanthocephalus, are helping to bring numerous talented performers from across Brooklyn to a performance space in our area (Prospect Range in Windsor Terrace) for a relaxed evening that they’re hoping will be about meeting new – and seeing old – friends and learning about the creative roots that grow in our own back yard.

Presented by Experiments at Prospect Range and Fabrica Records, which is owned by Joao, the evening of experimental and ambient musicians will kick off at 8pm at Prospect Range, a performance hall located at 1226 Prospect Avenue in Windsor Terrace. Among the musicians who will be playing include: Bob Bellerue, Lazurite, JS Truchy, KHF, Middle Grey, Glass Frog, Xanthocephalus, and Luciernaga (which means firefly in Spanish). You can see more information about the show here.

We wanted to find out more about the show, for which there’s a $5 suggested donation (and if you want to drink, you’re welcome to – but the venue is BYOB) – and Joao and Russ were gracious enough to answer our questions about the performance, our neighborhood’s creative community, and more.

Tell us more about this event! What can people expect from the evening?

Russ Alderson (RA): Listeners will be treated to many different types of sounds ranging from purely electronic to electro-acoustic. Each act will have their own approach to improvised composition. Some will produce more ambient and atmospheric sounds while others will offer a harder and more direct sensibility. Bob Bellerue is one of the longstanding standard bearers of noise and experimental music and he will be debuting some of his latest work using the baby grand piano. JS Truchy will be coming down from Montreal to perform his compositions that combine electronics and voice. There should be a lot of great variety. We are able to support multiple acts in a short span by using the front and back rooms to maximum efficiency.

Joao Da Silva (JS): Doors are at 8:00pm and all are welcome. This is a safe space, but people should be aware that it can get loud so they should bring earplugs. Also, some money to donate for the artists ($5 suggested donation) and so they can purchase some of the artists’ merchandise. It’s also BYOB; no beverages are sold on the premises.

We see that Experiments at Prospect Range and Fabrica Records are helping to present this evening of music. Can you tell us more about what Experiments at Prospect Range is?

RA: Experiments at Prospect Range is an ongoing series of experimental music events that I help produce with other musicians. Prospect Range offers an intimate and informal setting that feels somewhere between a DIY loft space and a local art gallery. It removes a lot of the pretense of a typical New York venue which a lot of musicians and audience members find comforting. I started producing shows there because I had been using the room as a studio and loved it so much that I wanted to share it with others. We’ve had some of the best people in the experimental/noise scene come through here and the music has been absolutely first rate.

What about Fabrica Records? That’s a label based in Kensington? It seems like there are a number of independent record labels that call the Kensington area home – what do you think draws them to our neighborhood?

JS: I started Fabrica Records in 2010 as a means to release and distribute the unusual music I was making at the time under the Luciernaga name. I had played in a few hardcore punk bands in a former life while living in Santiago, Chile and later Washington, D.C. but I was now living in NYC, didn’t know a lot people and, more importantly, I was no longer interested in the song-based format that most blues/rock-based bands operate under. I had already been doing prepared guitar experiments since high school and was an avid listener of a lot of experimental, avant-garde, and noise music. It seemed like a natural thing to get into. It was either that or playing solo folk music which I really don’t think I have the chops for. Gradually, the label expanded into also releasing music made by friends of mine and other artists whose works I enjoy. I began releasing very limited edition cassettes and then later expanded into also doing CD and vinyl records, still in very limited numbers. Everything I do is in small numbers, not because I’m purposefully trying to keep things out of reach but because there really isn’t a large demand this kind of music. Very few of the artists I work with are career musicians, although in an ideal world I wish they could afford to be! The label really opened up a lot of doors for me and allowed me to discover a great community of like-minded people around the world who were interested in listening to new and different things and who are also eager to collaborate. Some of those people are now some of my closest friends.

[pullquote]I also appreciate that it can bring people out to discover other neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is so much more than DUMBO, Williamsburg and Bushwick.[/pullquote]

Kensington is probably one of the best neighborhoods I have ever lived in, period. The label began while I was still living in Gowanus and the somewhat unhealthy and dreary surroundings of the neighborhood (this was before Dinosaur BBQ, Whole Foods and all the new restaurants on 3rd Ave.) really contributed to some of the early sounds and aesthetics of the label. It was ok for a while but we lived next to an auto repair shop and across the street from a Holiday Inn Express. The air was toxic, the hotel was noisy (in a bad way!) and on hot summer days you could smell the Gowanus Canal. My partner and I wanted to move somewhere affordable, nicer, quiet, and ideally closer to Prospect Park. Kensington, Lefferts Gardens, Windsor Terrace, South Slope, and Ditmas Park were the neighborhoods we were most interested in. Needless to say, Windsor Terrace and South Slope were not at all within our price range. We ended up finding a great 2 BR about 2 blocks away from Prospect Park where we pay less in monthly rent for more space, more sunlight, great air quality, better landlords, and pleasantly quiet nights. I live on a very quiet tree-lined street among a really friendly and diverse community of people from Poland, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Mexico, etc. As a Chilean and first generation immigrant to the U.S. it’s a great place to live. I feel welcome, safe and can regularly use my native tongue as well as savor foods and smells from around the globe. The only down side is how unreliable and crowded the F train always is.

We see all the artists involved are Brooklyn based – are many of them from the neighborhood? How did you connect with them? And for those who may be unfamiliar with them, how would you describe their music?

JS: Most of the artists who will be performing are Brooklynites, with the exception of JS Truchy, who will be visiting from Canada. I’m not really sure if any of them live in the area aside from Russell and I. But I do know quite a few of them live in Bushwick. Russell and I know them all because they all basically move within the same circuit. Bob Bellerue who is one of the artists we booked this show around because he’s never played Prospect Range is someone who has contributed a lot to the local experimental music scene. He’s been involved in two record labels, regularly books shows at the collectively-run Silent Barn, organizes the annual Ende Tymes festival and treats people’s ears to both beautiful and sometimes mind-melting sounds.

This kind of setting, where there are a number of musicians and neighbors all getting together in an intimate setting – that must produce a pretty neat kind of dynamic between the audience and musicians? And between the musicians themselves?

RA: Given the neighborhood and its reputation for being a tucked away haven for working people and their families, Prospect Avenue is one of the last places you would expect to find a music venue at all, much less one that produces some pretty unusual sounds. When I first started hosting shows there, I did not know how that mix of the Bushwick art scene and Windsor Terrace folks would take shape. The typical experimental show audience generally does not include parents with their young children but we’ve had that mix often and I think that makes our shows stand out. It knocks down the preconception that experimental music is only for a certain type of person when in reality it’s for anyone with an open set of ears.

JS: I also appreciate that it can bring people out to discover other neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is so much more than DUMBO, Williamsburg and Bushwick, although a lot of the entertainment media may not agree. Prospect Range is particularly attractive to me because it has the feel of a community center instead of a club/bar or other traditional commercial music venues whose main focus is turning a profit from alcohol and ticket sales. When I co-host shows there I like to make sure that it’s a comfortable space and where artists are under no pressure to sell tickets, there are an opening acts or headlines, and the event’s success is not based on how much money everyone made but on simply how good people end up feeling at the end of the night. We co-hosted another show last year where artists where invited to improvise in a duo with another artist and it was a great experience.