SWRM attacks Bleep Blorp
Festival of Synthesis & Electronic Music
On March 26th, UMass Lowell hosted Bleep Blorp, a Festival of Synthesis and Electronic Music. Among the performers were Berklee College of Music instructors, veterans of mod synth meet ups, students armed only with a Macbook and keyboard, and the whirling dervish psych-rock of SWRM. Hailing from Providence, SWRM are Alec and Matt from Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores. Alec has traded in his electrified accordion for a double stack of synth which he expertly juggles live on stage with his vocal duties. Matt McLaren provides the beat, with complex solos that surprise like Tonya Harding landing a triple axel.
Since the regular roadies had the weekend off, the Brothers O’Toole filled in, our muscle memory kicking in from years of loading in and out gear of venues with a variety of OSHA hazard violations. The thousand seat concert hall that is the Moloney Performing Arts Center is a damn sight better than the kinds of deathtraps our 80s and 90s punk bands played, with acoustics that made every single performer sound fantastic. I for one look forward to attending more events at Moloney.
Other highlights from the event were Timo Preece, Berklee College of Music assistant professor, collaborator with Ariana Grande, Charli XCX, and artist behind projects such as Planetary Cymatic Resonance. We were treated to some of the compositions of this later project, one of which was based on the tunings calculated from natural frequencies found in the dwarf planet Pluto.
Another Berklee professor, Kai Turnbull, performed a set manipulated loops of classical Indian vocal and instrumental samples which brought to mind tracks by Orb, Future Sound of London and Underworld.
Professor John Shirley who teaches at UMass Lowell brought his rig which included guitar and a pile of home brewed electronics and wires which would give me a mild panic attack to look at closely. I was joking backstage about switching from playing in bands to poetry because there’s no gear more complicated than a Moleskin and pen to bring to gigs.
Since I am writing this for people like you who are probably reading this through a cracked screen on a phone below a 15 percent charge, I won’t discuss every performer at Bleep Blorp, but if you were there and feel neglected, contact me and I’ll be happy to talk with you and give your project some attention here on Operation Risk You, read by HUNDREDS on Substack. Before I go see what’s for dinner, I do want to throw the spotlight on This Bliss, an electro-pop duo out of Boston comprised of Nick Zampiello and Jess Baggia. Nick and Jess run New Alliance Gallery, which is holding it down for the arts in Somerville which like Cambridge, seems intent on replacing every indie gallery, venue, practice studio and maker space with a more taxable cannabis dispensary.
For a free event with ridiculous talent, located in a first rate performance space, every one of those thousand seats should have been filled. Same goes for many of the poetry events I organize and attend - where we’ve got internationally known, award winning poets reading for sometimes three people. If you’re a person looking to “get into the business” of making music, poetry, art, or whatever, you’d be surprised at the “industry” connections waiting to be made at these unassuming community events. For those of you who are more like me, and don’t care about “monetizing your hobbies,” there are intrinsic rewards in building community with others on this path. Now, more than ever, is the time for you to get off the gaming chair, out of bed, or away from the fridge full of emotional support snacks, and show up!
Alec K. Redfearn will perform an acoustic set at the 2025 Whittier Birthplace Poetry Festival, which I am currently organizing and which will be held on August 16th from 2 to 6 PM. Please contact me if you are a poet interested in gracing the stage with a five or ten minute set.
Yeah man, I was looking up the bios of the other performers and it reads like a Who's Who of electronic music - the younger folks on stage are clearly going places. Electronic music might look easy, but as you can attest - doing it live proves that it's anything but. There's legendary Electronic groups like Salem who were just as famous for live shows being a complete disaster.
I forwarded it to someone too. It’s great!!! Thank you for writing about this jason -what a great event!