Aman Amun

Just some of the latest juice.  Thanks Flagpole!

“Aman Amun: Brian McGaw, AKA Aman Amun, might be something of a prodigy. Although I haven’t seen his work yet,  the glow in his eyes when he talks about his musical endeavors is invigorating, and his elaborate plans have impressed me more than any press release that’s come across my desk. As a student of interactive new media, he has been able to use his major as an outlet for his experimentations. So it’s fitting that his first live performance is part of an interactive exit show at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. McGaw has basically hand-crafted a new interface for triggering and manipulating sounds. What you’ll see on Friday is  McGaw singing and playing guitar with two screens behind him. One huge screen will feature the usual sorts of visual stimulation moving in conjunction with the music, while the smaller screen actually serves as an interactive instrument that McGaw has programmed to trigger, manipulate and record samples. In order to interact with this screen, he has designed a glove (sounds a little like the pre-Wii NES Power Glove) with LED lights embedded in each finger tip. The glove, combined with Wiimote Whiteboard technology and a program he wrote for his computer, will

be used to build each song. The circular nature of his work is fascinating: the music will make visuals and interacting with those visuals will make music. I cannot wait to see how this all comes together. I’ve had a glimpse of this kind of technology online, but it’s thrilling to know a student right here in town is on the cutting edge of electronic music. “If you go see someone like Daft Punk,” says McGaw,” you have no idea what they’re doing – pushing buttons in that huge pyramid of equipment. What I am trying to do is take something that’s normally hidden and show it to the audience in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing.” Many of the tracks will be based around tunes from his record Waxing, which you can download at www.amanamun.com. The showcase itself is called “Touch My Project” and it starts at 7 p.m. with Aman Amun going on stage around 9 p.m. This is a free event! (Lamar Doodd School of Art Room S150, Friday 1) “