Our visual guru Brandon Tay shares his thoughts on audio-visual performances in this first of the series.

The Circus of Lost Souls: Breakdown of a Narrative Audiovisual Piece, in Max for Live

I really like this article because it breaks down what goes on in a true audio visual set. VJing is a language that isn’t exactly like cinema or animation but something in between and harder to define. Elements will have a co-relation to music but at the same time creating a parallel narrative from what sometimes are disparate contexts.

A piece like this really uses available technologies to create something that can only be expressed right now – data protocols sent from max for live are used to power a visual system that’s closer to a game than to an animation.

The key I guess, is to use musical accents to highlight visual ones and vice versa. What’s truely amazing about this is that the VJ isn’t performing at all during the set. The musician maintains total control of what is seen and heard.

A bit tight for my liking but I would like to see more of this kind of stuff rather than just juggling loops to a beat anytime.

Come 16 April 2011 at Home Club, we are joining forces for the first time with widely respected art-rock band, The Observatory, to push the boundaries of sonic and visual expression.

This special night will witness a live collaborative improvisational set from both acts followed by the sensorial light and noise performance by Norwegian duo, MoHa!, and the noise antics of Berlin-based London musician, Horacio Pollard.  

DJ Irk steps back up to the Solid Steel decks for the first time since winning last year’s MOTY title, bringing with him his usual knack for juxtaposing quality track sequences with detailed scratch prowess and absurd sampling.

Throw in a Bonobo track from the NinjaTune XX celebrations and a couple of UK hiphop giants on the way then it’s over to the dubstep and breaks for a solid landing.

Great mix to check out before the SYNDICATE audiovisual show featuring JPS from The Operatives on 2nd April. See you all on Saturday!
 

We’ve bagged a triple win at the annual JUICE Award!

First up, we shared the BEST PARTY SERIES AWARD together with our friendly mates over at Midnight Shift who have been championing quality house and techno. Honestly, when we first started, none of us thought it would be possible to pull off an experimental beats and bass night in Singapore. After all, which club would take the risk of investing in a box of unconventional electronica genres?

Special thanks to Home Club for believing in us and all you punters who came with open minds and ears. This would not have been possible without you!! We are truly grateful and will definitely up the game next year so you continue to get quality aural and visual experiences.

Brandon Tay, our resident visual guru, scored The BEST VISUAL ARTIST award. For every SYNDICATE event, Brandon has spent endless nights, painstakingly producing beautiful original 3D content (which sometimes only appear for a few minutes!) and setting up art installations which reshapes the physical environment the music is being heard. Definitely one of the best in Asia!

Cherry Chan also picked up Best Contribution To The Scene for the annual female DJ BootCamp, co-produced with Debbie Chia and Natalie Tan. Big ups to the relentless efforts at getting girls involved in DJing and music production.

JUICE Singapore is a fabulous monthly magazine covering the cooler aspects of local and international music, fashion and clubbing culture.

Memory flashbacks of SYNDICATE 09 when we were treated to amazing live shows by our guests: The Crazy88 and Free The Robots.

Shout outs to the XS1 Collective for their support!!

Limited free download of Kidkanevil’s Lantern Remixes

It’s the first time RBMA London 2010 alumni Kidkanevil & Daisuke Tanabe and Cherry Chan are playing together over at SYNDICATE 12. Kidkanevil is celebrating the special occasion by temporarily unlocking two tracks from his Basho Basho Remixed Remixed album.

Head over to Kidkanevil on Bandcamp for free downloads of:

• Lantern 1 (Daisuke Tanabe Remix)
• Lantern 2 (Cherry Chan + Kiat Remix)

Both tracks are only available for a limited time!

Free download of Daisuke Tanabe – CLANK

Following Kidkanevil’s freebie giveaway, Daisuke Tanabe has just gifted SYNDICATE with his lovingly-crafted track CLANK, especially since it’s his debut performance in Singapore. Come catch his beautiful sounds on 4th Dec over at Homeclub!

Download CLANK on SYNDICATE Soundcloud.

SYNDICATE 12

Daisuke Tanabe (LIVE)
Kidkanevil (LIVE + DJ)
Max Lane (LIVE)
Cherry Chan (LIVE)
Kiat (LIVE + DJ)
Sammy Panamuga (DJ)

DATE: 4 DEC 2010
TIME: 10PM till late
VENUE: Home Club, 20 Upper Circular Road, The Riverwalk

Cult shoe brand Feiyue officially launched in Singapore on 22 July 2010 with a party at L2 Space. 7 local artistes – Assembly, Hypethetic, Kult, Mark Taylor, Mind Flyer, SBTG and Zxerokool – were invited to reinvent various models of Feiyue shoes.

SYNDICATE was commissioned to present a special after-dark performance for the launch. We prepared an audiovisual installation using a modular cubic structure, original motion graphics and original music composition.

We also curated the music for the night, weaving a blend of experimental hiphop, IDM and dubstep as guests viewed the exhibits on display – a perfect fit with Feiyue’s mantra of “Flying Forward”.

Check out photos of the Feiyue reinventions on Culturepush, then read more about the artists’ inspiration for their designs on Culture Shoq.

Max Lane’s western end crew, upp/circular, presents another round of podcast that marries his two collectives together. Kiat plays the special guest this time round as the two serve their staple of bouncy beats & rumbling bass.

Heavy bass maestro Darren Dubwise takes a leftfield turn and ventures on an LA beats adventure for our SYNDICATE 11 promo mix. Featuring beats from the likes of Nosaj Thing, Free The Robots and The Glitch Mob, this promo mixtape is a musical primer for SYNDICATE’s double cities tour on the 12th & 13th November 2010.

Mark your diaries and expect no less than a mind-bending audiovisual experience alongside residents from SYNDICATE & Low End Theory. Check who’s lined-up for both gigs after the cut.

We’re looking for a padawan with creativity, technical ability and a collaborative nature to jam with our visual whiz Brandon Tay. You’ll get the chance to explore interesting art and visual projects while tanking up on free beers at SYNDICATE HQ.

You should have:

1. advanced skills in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects
2. intermediate skills in 3D packages (Cinema 4D, 3D Studio Max or Maya)
3. basic knowledge of projection/VJ/ live audio visual packages (Resolume, Modul8 or VDMX)
4. basic knowledge of either Max/Msp Jitter, Processing or Openframeworks is a plus

To Apply – email us a link to your portfolio website or an uploaded reel (less than 30MB) with your contact details.

Drop us an email too if you have any queries!