Laura – a multiinstrumentalist who dropped by to discuss XyloVan mallet technology found a mood:
Thursday night jam
Mikaal, Hunter and a friend get into a groove in Swing City:
The Walking Beast
It’s been around for a while, troche but this is the first time we got to see it up close and in action. Biomass is completely obsessed with it, of course. Fire good. Mammoth earth-shaking alien-looking tank technology gooder.
Here’s a clip of it showing off on the Esplanade at Burning Man 2012 – watch for the weird pelvic foot that thrusts down, lifts the entire machine and pivots to help its otherwise linear drivetrain turn.
The Saucers
Our Burning Man project for this year took so much time to build that we haven’t been able to scrape together a full build log for it.
But watch this space – we’ll share some pictures of how we spun plastic plates from the 99-cent store, a handful of Chinese-made LEDs and four old backpack frames into a fullscale alien invasion.
Our mad plan to pipe otherworldly sound to all four rigs via iPod FM transmitter to FM radios and satellite speakers died an ignoble death – swallowed up by megadecibel dubstep wagons and the gargantuan party tones of the playa.
But damn if they didn’t look pretty and inspire delighted reactions from everyone they met. We even got pickled in pixels by the Org’s archival photographer.
So until we get the build log up, here’s a video of the test flight beforehand:
We’re headed to Swing City!
XyloVan just learned that we will be joining Swing City in Black Rock City this August at Burning Man 2012.
Swing City is dedicated to aerial gymnastics – and the XyloVan crew is about as buff as a plate of doughnuts.
But we’re as likely to monkey around on playground equipment as the next 5-year-old, and can’t wait to try out the rings, the silks and all the other gear.
So drop on by 9 o’Clock between C and D and serenade us while we’re nursing a likely collection of sore muscles and bruises.
Come bang on the van!
Photos from Lucidity Festival 2012 – Sparks of joy
Lucidity Festival brought a lot of joy to XyloVan.
Here’s what some of that looked like.
If you spot yourself in any of these photos, give us a shout in comments – we want to hear from you – and thanks for playing!
Rocking the mallets at Lucidity Festival 2012
Everyone brings something glowing and unique to XyloVan.
Little kids, drunks and professional percussionists hammer at the keys in a zillion different ways. People play “Chopsticks” or “Star Wars” or “Mario Bros.” or “Claire du Lune.” They goof, explore and jam.
Their music is as diverse as their faces and lives.
But the beauty of the thing is that once they start to play – without fail – every single XyloVan-ist goes to the exact same place: a moment of personal stillness and concentration where they are completely focused on the sound their hands are making, the vibrations in time and space that make up their personal experience at that very moment.
It’s a place of utter clarity, fluidity and dynamic tension. And it is invariably beautiful and humbling for us to watch.
So – these are the videos from Lucidity Festival. If you spot yourself playing anywhere in these videos, please say hi in comments below, tell us where you came from, what kind of music you play in the “real” world, and why music is important to you.
And from the bottom of our grubby hearts, thanks to everyone who played. You are inspiring, powerful and generous with your energy. We’re really glad to have met you all and we’ll see you again very soon.
Raoul’s lucid dream
I kind of want to dedicate this set of dispatches from Lucidity Fest 2012 to Raoul, a little, sparkly-eyed older Mexican fellow who strolled up at like 2 a.m. Sunday and reminded me of the power of transformative encounters with new music.
He had never seen anything like XyloVan. He kept saying, “This is … amazing” and shaking my hand – and basically he got sucked in so hard to the sounds that he could make with our van (little old him!) that he insisted on pulling up a patch of grass and trying to sleep with us.
He was super-sweet, and finally got up the courage to plink away at the keys for a few seconds. I didn’t see him for the rest of the event, and went looking for him among the late/early Dubstep stage crowd or the fire dancers, but he never turned up.
Anyway, his deep enthusiasm for the van and the music you all were making really endeared him to me. Thanks for showing me a new definition of joy, bro. Great meeting you, and maybe I’ll see you at next year’s Lucidity Fest.
Chill time
Had a little party on the van’s roof deck with Marty (left) and Crystal (right) listening to Nick down below playing keys in an impromptu jam with whoever that is on stage.
Calm, still, reflective and in the end quite revelatory. This is the atmosphere for lucid dreaming.
The hood trio
These three had a fantastic time hammering away on Keyboard #4 and bending it to their will. The gentleman on the right with the flashlight seems to want to help …