THE AZERBAIJAN A/V CLUB
The Azerbaijan A/V Club funnels electronica and jazz through dense video collage. Video isn't a decorative element in their shows; instead the visuals and the sound are improvised together. The musicians react to the images even as the VJ apples dynamic, audio-reactive effects turn the video collage into a live visualization of the sound, creating a synaesthetic trip that McKleinfeld calls "living cinema."
The group was first assembled when VJ Daniel McKleinfeld (a.k.a. VJ Fuzzy Bastard) was invited to perform in Chris Jordan's Chinatown rooftop series, a long-running showcase for audio/visual performance. McKleinfeld assembled musicians from wildly disparate musical background: the North Carolina classical / jazz / hip-hop musician Amos Fisher; the Kaliningrad DJ Maxim Semenov (a.k.a. DJ ActivePhaze), resident DJ at the Eyewash Live Video Festival, and NYC percussionist Corey Folta.
Their different musical approaches are united by Daniel McKleinfeld's unique visuals. McKleinfeld draws heavily on images from silent cinema, imagining his unique melding of sound and image as an alternate path that sound cinema could have taken. He uses video mixing software to turn sound waves into video controllers, applying abstract textures to his rich collages.
The Azerbaijan A/V Club has performed at 5 Pointz, Spectrum NY, and is curently in residence at Goodbye Blue Monday, playing on the first and third Wednesday every month from August until October. Their first DVD will be available in September.
Samples of their work can be seen at
https://vimeo.com/album/2429506
