Blevin Blectum
| Blevin Blectum | |
|---|---|
 Blevin Blectum at the Mills College MFA concert in 1999, Oakland CA | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bevin Kelley |
| Genres | Electronic |
| Years active | 1998 - present |
| Associated acts |
Sagan Blectum from Blechdom |
| Website | http://www.blevinblectum.com/ |
| Notable instruments | |
| laptop, violin, electronics | |
Blevin Blectum (born Bevin Kelley) is an electronic musician and multimedia composer, celebrated as an "icon of deviant and cerebral electronic music".[1]
Blectum studied the violin during her youth. At Oberlin College she began making electronic music at the WOBC-FM studios. At Mills College, she partnered with Kevin Blechdom to form Blectum from Blechdom, a performance art / vocals, laptops and samplers / electronica duo.[2] In 2001, Blectum from Blechdom won an Award of Distinction for digital music at the Prix Ars Electronica.
Blectum has released many solo albums, and released a CD/DVD Unseen Forces on Matmos's Vague Terrain label as part of multimedia band Sagan with J Lesser, video producer Ryan Junell, and Wobbly.[3] In 1998 she worked at Orban testing radio processing units, in 1999 worked at Thomas Dolby's Headspace and Beatnik Inc. as a beta-tester, and in 2000 to 2004 worked as a sound designer at LeapFrog Enterprises and several smaller sound design companies in the San Francisco bay area. An avid bird enthusiast, Blectum quit music for several years and worked as a registered veterinary technician / veterinary nurse in Northern California before moving to Providence, RI in 2007.[4]
Her brother is Kelley Polar. Her cousin is Gavin Russom. In 2013 she co-founded theatrical-electro-acoustic-chamber-ensemble The Traveling Bubble Ensemble with Michael Kelley, Elise Kuder, and Marjorie Gere.
She graduated with a PhD in Computer Music and Multimedia from Brown University's Multimedia and Electronic Music Experiments (MEME) department in May 2014. Her dissertation committee included writer Brian Evenson and playwright Erik Ehn. While at Brown she created sound and music for several of playwright Theo Goodell's works. In 2011 she was artist-in-residence at WORM, a Rotterdam-based institute for avant garde music and art. Her fifth solo LP/CD, Emblem Album, was released on Aagoo records on December 5, 2013.
Discography
- Pirate Planets (1998) Under the name D84. Phthalo Records. (Los Angeles. CA)
- Talon Slalom (2002) Deluxe Records (Berkeley, CA) (artwork and video by Ryan Junell)
- Magic Maple (2004) Praemedia (San Francisco, CA)
- Gular Flutter (2008) Aagoo (Brooklyn, NY) (artwork: China Miéville, video: Ryan Junell)
- Emblem Album (December 2013) Aagoo (Brooklyn, NY)
- Irradiance (March 2014) Estuary Ltd. (Providence, RI)
References
- ↑ Liability, Fabien. "Chronicle: Blevin Blectum: Emblem Album". Liability. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
- ↑ Suarez, Jessica. "Pitchfork Interviews: Kevin Blechdom". Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
- ↑ Golden, Barbara. "Conversations at the Crack o Dawn". Canadian Electroacoustic Community. KPFA 94.1 FM. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
- ↑ Rodgers, Tara (2010). Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound. Duke University Press. pp. 235–242. ISBN 9780822394150.
External links
- Official website
- Golden, Barbara. “Conversation with Blevin Blectum.” eContact! 12.2 — Interviews (2) (April 2010). Montréal: CEC.