Category Archives: Paisley Babylon news

Live Shows, Paisley Babylon news, Theremin

Paisley Babylon Joins Comfort Films and The Logan Square International Film Series “Silent Films + Loud Music”

paisley babylon aelita queen of mars

Paisley Babylon is proud to be a part of the film series “Silent Films+Loud Music” presented by Comfort Station Logan Square in Chicago, and the Logan Square International Film Series. On August 6, Paisley Babylon will be bringing live sound design, vinyl mash-ups and original music/atmospheres with theremin, sythesizer, melodica and more to accompany the silent film Aelita Queen Of Mars, a silent movie made in Russia about three years before the release of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.

This is a pretty interesting experiment for Paisley Babylon and if the performance goes well, I’ll be looking to take this show on the road to perform in other spaces with the film and others like it. Silent films like this, depending on the print, exist in the public domain and it’s a great opportunity to take a work that hasn’t gotten much love (as opposed to Nosferatu and Metropolis) and bring a new dimension to it using technology old and new.

Stay tuned for details, I’ll provide times and location information closed to the event…

–Joe Wallace

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Paisley Babylon Performs @ CIMMFest 2014

Joe Wallace Paisley Babylon CIMMFEST 2014

Paisley Babylon was added as a last-moment stand-in act for a group that couldn’t make the Friday night CIMMFest Shorts From The Winnipeg Film Festival show at Comfort Station in Chicago.

Paisley Babylon has been absent from the stage for a variety of reasons lately, but last night marked a much overdue return. The show included the usual theremin performance, but added spacey harmonica and melodica into the mix–something that’s been needed for some time.

PB has been active at StudioLab in a variety of ways…more on the strange intersection of art and PB music there in another blog post…

Paisley Babylon CIMMFEST 2014 show

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Paisley Babylon Moves Into The Bridgeport Art Center

STUDIOLABback cover

Paisley Babylon has taken up residence in StudioLab, located in Chicago’s Bridgeport Art Center. PB is working on soundtrack and sound design projects there–some interesting approaches to visual art that include paintings and drawings that require accompanying soundscapes.

PB is also putting the finishing touches on a new album release called Sex Sells, But Who’s Buying?

There is a lot going on in the PB universe…updates coming. PB is branching out more into visual art than ever before…a PB show is coming this summer.

In the meantime you can follow me on Instagram or join me on Facebook for the latest.

Audio, Gear, Live Shows, Paisley Babylon news, Theremin

Theremin Babylon At Capricon 34 Wheeling Illinois

 

theremin babylon performance

I always like to say that I am ALL of Paisley Babylon and HALF of Binary Partners, so when BP performs, technically speaking that’s Paisley Babylon up there albeit in a different band….but I am still playing the theremin.

SO, Paisley Babylon will be part of the insanity at Capricon 34 in Wheeling, Illinois when Binary Partners performs an all-ages live show on the 15th floor where the Capricon party suites are located. The show is Saturday February 8 at 9PM. More information is at

https://www.facebook.com/events/353530414774589/

–Joe Wallace

Audio, Gear, Live Shows, Paisley Babylon news, Theremin

Theremin Babylon Live In Chicago Saturday 1 Feb 2014 @Jerry’s 1938 W. Division

Joe Wallace Theremin-Paisley-Babylon-Chicago analog moogAs all of Paisley Babylon, I write a lot of music using the theremin, and as half of Binary Partners I perform live using the theremin exclusively as of late. My last five shows have featured the theremin as my main instrument, and the one coming this Saturday 1 Feb is no exception.

I will perform theremin duties once more on stage as half of Binary Partners at Jerry’s, located at 1938 W. Division Street in Chicago. This show will likely be the most insane one to date as I’m running a ridiculous number of effects pedals and creating a theremin sound so large and threatening that some could mistake it for natural phenomena.

That’s NOT to say that this is a NOISE show per se–it is NOT that–but with this setup the theremin is capable of damn near weaponized volumes of sound. I prefer to use such things as punctuation, not as the whole sentence, as it were. But the loud-quiet-loud approach worked great for The Pixies, so why not with BP?

I’ve been using the theremin more and more in my soundtrack work and it’s gratifying that more people are interested in these sounds. It should be said, I’m no Clara Rockmore–I have no interest in playing sonatas with my instrument. Call me the J.G. Thirlwell of the theremin and you’re barking up the right tree.

Come out on Saturday to Jerry’s to see what all the fuss is about.

–Joe Wallace