(Courtesy Vital Vox Festival/www.vitalvoxfest.com)
If you like the sound of the human voice, but like it even better with a little extra oomph, the Fourth Annual Vital Vox Festival is for you.
The two-evening event, as always, features some of today’s most amazing vocal artists. But this year’s twist is called “Vox Electronics” and focuses on amazing artists who take their sound to a new level with electronic manipulation of all kinds.
It’s scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 29 and 3o, at Roulette in Brooklyn.
Monday night’s program features Philip Hamilton, Vital Vox co-artistic director Sabrina Lastman, and Sarah Bernstein with Satoshi Takeishi.
Pamela Z performs at the 2008 Bang on a Can Marathon in the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center in Manhattan. (Photo © 2008, Steven P. Marsh)
Tuesday brings in Lisa Karrer and David Simons, Vital Vox co-artistic director Sasha Bogdanowitsch and Pamela Z.
For our part, Pamela Z was our entree into the world of manipulated voice, and remains among our top two or three favorites in this arena. The things she can do to her voice with a Mac laptop and an occasional piece of percussion is pretty awesome. And when she pulls out her full arsenal — especially her Body Synth gesture controller — look out!
Other performances to look forward to are Karrer’s “Collision Theory” with video and Bernstein’s “Unearthish” on Monday and Bogdanowitsch’s new song-and-electronics cycle, “Mirror Upon Mirror” on Tuesday.
Every artist on this bill has serious vocal chops. One of them could make your top three. Why not give them a listen?
Fourth Annual Vital Vox Festival, 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29 and Tuesday, Oct. 30. Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue (at Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Information at the Vital Vox website or follow Vital Vox on Twitter. Tickets, $15/$10 for students, seniors and members available at the Roulette website.
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