Music

The Guest List: YACHT’s five favorite natural phenomena

According to its website, “YACHT is a band, belief system, and business conducted by Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans.” Moreover, “YACHT encourages online dissemination of all things.”

The band’s latest release, See Mystery Lights (DFA, 2009) was recorded in Marfa, Texas, a place famous for unexplained “ghost lights.” With this and the band’s straightforward mission statement in mind, ALARM asked the band to make a list of its five favorite natural phenomena.

1. Ball lightning

“Ball lightning is the true unknown — never verified, rarely photographed, used always as a catch-all for paranormal events that defy any other explanation. It’s the ghost in the machine. The great beast himself, Aleister Crowley, reportedly experienced a “dazzling globe” of ball lightning during a thunderstorm on Lake Pasquaney in 1916; he is one among many a hundred humans beings to ever see the phenomenon first-hand.”

Gallery Spotlight: Flatcolor Gallery

When Cris Cook was out of a job last May, the freelance art director / graphic designer decided that it was the perfect time to start up a gallery, and soon after, Seattle’s Flatcolor Gallery was founded. “It was in the back of my mind for a while,” he says, “and this situation kind of came up where I was like, ‘Do I go get a full-time job right away, do I freelance and start something of my own, or do I sit back and relax for a summer?’  I guess I decided to take the difficult route and just try to create something new.”

Ben Perowsky

Ben Perowsky’s Moodswing Orchestra: Cohesive Collisions of Rock and Jazz

Even after several decades of cross-pollination between the worlds of rock and jazz, it could be argued that a true (or at least natural-sounding) hybrid has yet to be invented. Ironically enough, one of the most well-blended combinations of the two genres has recently arrived in the form of drummer Ben Perowsky’s Moodswing Orchestra.

Morgan Lehman Gallery’s Opening Ceremony Sep. 9 – Oct. 9

New York’s Morgan Lehman Gallery recently moved to a 2,000-square-foot space, located at 535 West 22nd Street. To celebrate the grand opening of the new space, the gallery will hold a month-long event called Opening Ceremony, exhibiting work from 18 artists.

Participating in the show is Andrew Schoultz, featured on the cover of ALARM 17, alongside artists like David S. Allee, Laura Ball, Jaq Chartier, Emilie Clark, Alix Smith, Frohawk Two Feathers, and Paul Villinski.