Pulse - The Ultimate Experience

The concert is part of a series titled ArtSounds: New Music of the Capital Region that was made possible through a $41,000 grant the organization received from the New York State Music Fund in 2007 to present the experimental music series, Joel Reed, Director of the Saratoga County Arts Council, said.

Reed said over the past year the organization has worked to build upon the “buzz” for new and experimental music through the series. The concerts have been made possible largely in part to a relationship formed between the Arts Council and musicians recording under Thurston Moore’s (singer and guitarist of experimental rock group Sonic Youth) Ecstatic Peace! record label in Easthampton, Mass.

“The Arts Center has become a kind of showcase site for them,” Reed said.

According to Reed the organization also tries to include regional experimental musicians as openers or standalone presenters as well.

“We don’t feel that talent only comes from afar,” he said.

The experimental music presented during the series includes electronic composition, improv, world-music, and often times multi-media or performance art aspects. Reed said another aspect to the series is that it doesn’t occur in a “vacuum.”

“There are stupendous programs in the Albany area with whom we communicate and occasionally collaborate with, including the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy and the Albany Sonic Arts Collective,” he said.

Reed said the organization’s goals include treating the artists respectfully and supporting them professionally, and developing audiences for new music in the Saratoga/Lower Adirondack region.

“Nobody in the greater Saratoga/Lower Adirondack region is presenting anything like what we’re doing,” he said.

Musicians who are invited to perform concerts for the series are paid their asking rate and also receive free meals, room and board (if needed) and a post-concert open-house party that functions as a ‘meet and greet’ for anyone who is interested in attending.

Reed said admission to the shows is set at the accessible price of $5 and turnout includes everyone from families with young children, high-schoolers and regional college students, to aging hipsters. He added that the musicians also appreciate the quality of the Dee Sarno Theatre and the warm audiences in attendance.

“It’s a great scene,” he said. “And the musicians always comment on its good vibes.”

This Saturday’s performance will feature an acoustic and electric concert by MV & EE with the Golden Road.

The group hails from Vermont and is fronted by Matt Valentine (MV) and Erika Elder (EE).

Their music has explored, developed and investigated the lost-and-found art of what they describe as “lunar blues, sometimes fingerstyle noise/space” for a number of years.

They have performed live shows in the US and Europe, and will release their newest album Drone Trailer on Oct. 31 – one day before their performance at The Arts Center. Albany’s own Wovoka will open the show.

The concert starts at 8 p.m. and will follow the First Saturday gallery reception at The Arts Center for Conceits of Idle Hours – an exhibition of work by Gina Occhiogrosso and Katherine Patterson.

For more information call (518) 584-4132 or visit www.myspace.com/saratogaartscenter.