PHOTO BY BOB KRASNER Pulsating music
Mo.Tom.Bo! fi lls the East Village with electrifying sound
BY BOB KRASNER
An Avenue C storefront
is fi lled with people
watching two guys
hunched over their electronic
devices as another messes with
his bass and a fourth, cloaked
in a hoodie and stroking his
beard, sends seemingly random
imagery from his laptop
onto the walls.
The space is the Grace
Exhibition Center – a venue
normally devoted to Performance
Art – and the group
is Mo.Tom.Bo!, a trio (sometimes
a quartet) who are creating
a collective soundscape
that is completely improvised.
The group began with Raimundo
Atal, Kevin Emilio
Pérez and Brian Cabello, who
gave the combo it’s name.
With Cabello unavailable for
this gig (their second) special
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
guest Marc Mosteirin stepped
in on bass and synthesizer.
Atal manned a drum synthesizer
as well as a frequency
modulator. Perez made use of
a a mixer, delay, reverb and
modulation pedals and a drone
noise machine.
With only a vague idea of
what they will be creating,
the trio produced improvised
compositions that had more
beats than Lou Reed’s infamous
“Metal Machine Music”
but still lacked the melodies
of Miles Davis’ landmark
“Bitches Brew,” a touchstone
for Atal.
“Everyone does whatever
they want,” explains Atal, who
plays drums most frequently in
the beloved downtown band
Pinc Louds along with bassist
Mosteirin. “Nothing is set.
The main thing is to be open
to whatever happens.”
Mosteirin concurs. “We
didn’t decide anything beforehand,”
he says. “Rai and
Kevin made a soundscape with
plenty of space for me to misbehave
in with my bass guitar
rig, which I did quite freely. I
look at Rai for emotional reactions
to what I’m playing. He’s
pretty easy to read.”
Noting the visual component,
he states that, “sometimes
I’d start with a bass gesture
suggested to me by Juan
or Preston’s video art, and just
grow it organically. I periodically
check back with the video
for new rhythms or attacks.”
The video artists, Juan D.
Figueroa and Preston Spurlock,
were not just providing
a backdrop, they were also
infl uencing the process of the
creation of the music.
“My sound experiments are
informed by visuals and colors,”
explains Pérez. The musician,
a former actor who also
performs under the name Papo
Cucaracha Vertedero El 3ro, is
“a multidisciplinary artist with
a focus on painting, sculpture
and sound.”
Infl uenced by “the work of
Lee Scratch Perry, Brian Eno,
Suzanne Cianni and others,”
Pérez says that what he does is
” shape my sound experiments
like I shape a painting or a
sculpture.”
“The shapes infl uence the
sounds,” adds Atal. “It’s a
feedback process . We’re really
open to what is coming from
the screen. It’s all really free.”
That freedom is grounded,
though, in the beats provided
by Atal.
“I’m taking some leadership,”
he admits. “Drums have
a special place in establishing
the structure – the tempo and
the density. But it’s still so, so
much a collaboration.”
One spectator, Margalit
Cutler, had an unexpected reaction
to the experience.
“At fi rst, I was intrigued
by the chaos I was hearing,”
she mused. “Then it started
to feel unexpectedly familiar
and emotive. I was surprised
to have such an emotional reaction
to something so experimental.”
Other reactions included
deep listening, vigorous head
nodding and even some dancing.
At the end of the hourplus
set, Atal said that he “felt
lighter, like at the end of a
workout or a meditation. You
are there in the moment and
when you are out, you feel like
a different person.”
While the collective has
plans to issue some recordings,
nothing is available as of yet so
live gigs are the only way to experience
their sound.
Whatever it is can be seen
performing again this Friday,
Feb. 25, at 10 p.m. at the
Grace Exhibition Space, 182
Avenue C. It’s free, with a $10
suggested donation.
Follow Mo.Tom.Bo! on Instagram
at @mo.tom.bo
24 February 24, 2022 Schneps Media
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