(Oops!): Carried Away at Offset Needle Sound Lab

...this from the studio neighbor next to Offset Sound Lab...
" Hey Josh,

Can you and I try to figure out some way to sound proof against each others noise at some point. I have noticed we have a lot more overlapping hours these days. Last night what ever was happening between 8 and 9PM was so loud in my studio I had to leave (luckily my 8-9 student did no come yesterday). When I left my room I had to go the the third floor to get far enough away to have it just sound like a loud radio feeding back."

...getting carried away by lovely layers of feedback in the late evening.

Frantasia Fest 2009: August Is Coming! Time To Plan...

I discovered Frantasia Fest last year just 10 days prior to it's happening. A festival of "Out Music" featuring world class performers of improvised sound from New England, Pennsylvania, Georgia, NY. The event is held over 3 evenings, August 20th to the 22nd with improvisation workshops in the afternoons. These three days are preceded by "Water In The Woods", a two night fast in a beautiful forest setting. The Water In The Woods is a good opportunity to become more aquainted with some of the performers.
Festivals celebrating experimental sound performance works are fairly common these days in urban areas around the world. This particular festival is quite unique in that it takes place in the Public Library Auditorium in Livermore Falls, a delapitated mill town population 1,500 in Central Maine. What also makes this festival so unique is the caliber of talent and creative minds it attracts each year. It could not happen were it not for incredible spirit and personality of 'visionaries' Fran Szostek, his wife, and Edward.
About a 4 1/2 hour drive from Boston, this festival is a mini vacation in itself. Check out the Frantasia Festival Official MySpace page to link to past performers pages. Keep your ears to the rails regarding pre and post events around New England, hosting performers on their way to or on their way home from this year's Frantasia Festival.

Sat. June 20th, Summer Solstice Event at B789 venue, Rollinsford, NH

Offset Needle Radius hosts a Summer Solstice celebration at this new venue, B789 in Rollinsford, NH, on Saturday June 20th, 2009. Cost is sliding scale $7-10, with the first $5 going to support the venue.
The evening will kick off with sets from Zeroking, Birdorgan, and Offset Needle Radius. The evening will conclude with a collaborative offering of Sound Waves to the Sun (..will be sleeping at the time). Officially Summer Solstice is the following day, June 21, which I remind the reader, begins at 12:00 am. The Solstice has a tipping time of 1:45am, where the longer days suddenly turn and begin to shorten. We may not make it until that magic time. But we're going to give it all up for as long as we are physically able.
B789 is the realization of artistic visionary Rick Spencer. The name of the venue is simply comprised of the room numbers in the mill building that the venue occupys. In a recent conversation, Rick talked of his support of what he termed "Feeling Arts", that is, creative output derived from an artist's soul, mined out of deep, dark places, rather than being designed with marketability first in mind. Rick himself manifests his creative spirit in quite unique ways that may have not yet been explored. He has been constructing an experimental pool table that will wind its way around the venue once completed. Due to its design a new game will be borne of the traditional pool as we know it.
Please join us for this special event and bring your posse.

Upcomming Performance in Man Chest Hair

Offset Needle Radius will be playing in Manchester, NH on Saturday May 30th at the Monastery Hallway. Also performing will be Andy Fordyce, and Birdorgan. This space is an artists collective. Marc Bisson and Dei Xrist of Birdorgan continue to bring experimental improvised sounds to the Manchester area even after the demise of the Underground M.A.P. Project gallery.
Manchester is a strange and interesting town that I imagine only makes sense to someone who has spent a lot of time in Northeastern cities. Bring a donation for the artists, open mind, open ears. See you there...

Great Things You FInd

Seeking performers and performances, events, hidden secrets, and unknown treasures in the Montreal area prior to a visit in March, I came across the Montreal Sound Map. Not only a great concept, but a convenient way to compare sound quality of digital media field recorders. And if that wasn't amazing enough, New York has their own Sound Map site as well..

Images, Words on Recent Performances

Offset Needle Radius -vs- nickname: Rebel at Lily Pad April 12 2009. Photo by Eli Thompson courtesy of WowCool.

My friend and co conspirator Marc Arsenault of nickname: Rebel is a great archivist and documentationalist. He took photos documenting not only our collaborative performances and the venues that welcomed us, but the images we encountered on the two weekend trip encompassing Lowell and Cambridge Massachusetts, and Troy and Hudson, NY. See Marc's images here...

Offset Needle Radius: Letter Of Intent

Offset Needle Radius began in February of 2008 as I transitioned into solo improvised experimental performance from a lifetime of punk rock and metal influences. Where I still find comfort in these areas of music, my creative intent has shifted.
My goal as a performer, is to present a language of sound influenced by current events and states of being, both personally and globally. I pursue the goal of conveying emotion, a sense of connection with the listener beyond words. My hope is to invoke a state of deep connection through inspiring more critical level of listening than we are used to employing when exposed to more conventional styles of music.
At times quiet, meditative, slow moving, my intention is to draw witnesses into a deeper sense of hearing, ultimately inviting listeners to transcend their physical presence and moment in time.
In more intense performances, I strive to convey more difficult emotions, exorcise demons that otherwise restrict personal growth and well being.
These intentions are not merely narcissistic public exhibitions, but hopefully a shared experience between performer and audience; for this is how I relate to the performances of others.
This is not music intended for the purpose of inspiring dance or nostalgia for music from our past. It is an invitation to join in a collective transcendence of time and space, a shared departure from the present moment.

Seeking New Interaction with the World

Sighting a drop off of interest in MySpace and the continual addition of distasteful marketing trends used by the sight, Offset Needle Radius is pursuing alternative means of interaction with the world. After having viewed many groups utilizing the Blog as a means to promote and disburse information, we have arrived with our own blog to do the same.
Offset Needle Radius is the experimental sound outlet for one person, Joshua Russel Baker. Due to the proliferate use of the moniker I was given at birth, it was necessary to arrive at a sort of "band name" to promote and perform by.
As of May 2009, Offset Needle Radius has performed eleven times in the Northeast United States, recorded countless hours of improvised material, and appears on two releases to date. The first being the CD "Not Square With Zero", a departure from a lifetime of more traditional rock and pop song composition, and Offset Needle Radius /vs/ nickname: Rebel, combining forces with lifetime friend and co-survivor of a Schenectady, NY upbringing, Marc Arsenault.
Stay tuned for more information disbursing.