| Musician,
DJ and performance artist, Mark Edwards (aka Sparky),
demonstrates his talent as a producer of electronic music
with the release of his latest project, Uberschwartz,
a combined music video with soundtrack.
Local
producer Mark Edwards has both a music and performance
background and has been experimenting with samplers and
effects units since 1996. He began by experimenting with
the sound recordings of his Fremantle band Moustache 750,
adding samples and effects using an 8-track recorder and
a digital delay unit. From this Marks interest in electronic
music production began to develop and has grown from a
past time into a serious passion.
Since
moving to Cairns in 1999, Mark became an active member
of the local arts community collaborating with local artists
on various projects. One such collaboration was with co-producer
Hanz Jurss on the track 'Grass Hopper Dub', released under
the name The Truck Brothers on the Hot Rubber Glove album
'Fight The Drug War'.
Mark
has been associated with numerous community projects over
the years such as Diverse Dance Cairns, Mixedlollies.com
and Festival Cairns, and has performed as a DJ and solo
artist under the moniker Sparky at numerous events and
exhibitions. His latest project, Uberschwartz, is a combined
music video with an accompanying soundtrack. Mark is the
producer of both the music video and soundtrack that features
fellow artists Catrin Balck (aka Ultima 80, Sweden), Manifest
Castalette and Diverse Dance Cairns.
Uberschwartz,
meaning ‘Over Black’, is indicative of the
piece of music that Mark describes as a “goth-breaks-lounge
track”. It is part one of a music video trilogy
that Mark has installed and says he’d like to see
the clip feature on a music video program, such as Rage,
in the near future.
As
a producer, Mark uses a combination of voice and sound
recordings, samples from vinyl and an assortment of music
production software for making sound installations and
groove based music for dance floors. Mark describes the
motivation behind his work, "I am inspired by environment,
sounds and textures that create emotion. Human made sounds
that I can twist and distort into music".
During
a typical live set Mark uses his laptop computer to juggle
pre-recorded samples with beats and rhythms to produce
infectious dance floor tunes and is looking to incorporate
live sounds and vocals into future performances. So what
can audiences expect on the night? “I’d like
to take everybody on a journey to another world,”
says Mark, “For the video launch I will be doing
an electronic ambient build up to the video followed by
a rockin’ live set made up of samples taken from
the video and a few other associated sounds”.
The
Uberschwartz music video and soundtrack was launched in
conjunction with the monthly live electronica night SPARK
on Saturday 19th March @ The Tanks Art Centre Cairns.
Performing on the night was the internationally renowned
contemporary composer David Shea (NYC/Melbourne) with
local sound artists File_Error, Children of the Game and
Mark Edwards (Sparky). |
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UBERSCHWARTZ
(3.8
meg)
Language
Warning |
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The
Users Part 1 (2.8 meg) 
The
Users Part 2 (5.7 meg) 
Recorded
live at 'Spark' @ The Inbox, Cairns, October 2004 |
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Live
set excerpt from Spark at the Inbox, Cairns, December
2004 (4.5 meg)
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DJ/Producer
Sparky combines digital and analog sounds to create
site specific sound scapes. Pictured here at 'The
Upholstery' art happening 'Industria'.
Working
with local art groups 'Graft'n'Arts', 'Regional
Institute of Performing Arts', 'Diverse Dance',
'The Upholstery', 'Envirofiesta' and more Sparky
creates sound track and sound installation works.
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