NAM JUNE PSYCHE (2010-PRESENT)
In early 2010, Valerie George began recording site-specific sounds and collaborated with other experimental sound artists in the American landscape under the moniker Nam June Psyche. She used a recording studio she designed and built inside her 1983 Mercedes wagon. Valerie George exhibits digital recordings, tape sets, videos, sculptures, and photographs created with the audio-visual material collected on her journeys.
To date, Nam June Psyche has generated six albums on her label Nam June Psyche Records, all free and open to the public.
In early 2010, Valerie George began recording site-specific sounds and collaborated with other experimental sound artists in the American landscape under the moniker Nam June Psyche. She used a recording studio she designed and built inside her 1983 Mercedes wagon. Valerie George exhibits digital recordings, tape sets, videos, sculptures, and photographs created with the audio-visual material collected on her journeys.
To date, Nam June Psyche has generated six albums on her label Nam June Psyche Records, all free and open to the public.
Video Archive
Album Archive
Name June Psyche
Volume I, 2010 Nam June Psyche embarked on the first tour on June 1st, 2010. The tour aimed to travel across the United States, stopping to collaborate with artists and musicians in outdoor, primarily natural, locations. At each site, we (Anthony Hlavaty and Valerie George) gathered inherent sounds, which were used to generate an experimental soundtrack and ultimately perform live for the camera. This 16-track album is available as a free digital download. Videos and photographs are available for exhibition, and a Special Edition Box Set, including a poster by Eli Lehrhoff, a handmade zine, and a 90-minute tape, is available for distribution. Anthony Hlavaty collaborated on all tracks composed during the tour. A great thanks go out to Anthony. This album could not exist without his vast creativity and an unyielding dedication to the project. |
Name June Psyche
Volume II, 2010 Plus + Gallery invited Nam June Psyche to exhibit The Car Kit during the historical annual punk festival, THE FEST, held in Gainesville, Florida. Punk bands, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, and Scum of the Earth performed at the Gallery and were recorded with The Car Kit. This album is available as a free digital download and a Special Edition Box Set, including a handmade zine, and a 90-minute tape, is available for distribution. |
Name June Psyche
Volume III, 2011 THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB / ADD/C (Split) SLUGGO'S, PENSACOLA, FL 10.31.2011 This album is available as a free digital download and a Special Edition Box Set, including a poster, handmade zine, and a 90-minute tape, is available for distribution. |
Name June Psyche
Volume IV, 2011 SXSW - AUSTIN, TX 03.18.2011 Tom Tom Magazine & Cape Shok Festival This album is a compilation cassette box set recorded live at the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of SXSW. This 17-track album is available as a free digital download. Videos and photographs are available for exhibition, and a Special Edition Box Set, including a poster, handmade zine, and a 90-minute tape, is available for distribution.
|
Name June Psyche
Volume V, 2011 MC SWEET TEA & The Headband 2011 Tiana Hux began writing songs and performing as MC Sweet Tea in 2002, between Austin, TX and New Orleans, LA. The live shows combine performance art, burlesque, puppetry and hip hop. This body of work culminated in the 2005 release, Story. One month later, she evacuated New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina, relocated to Los Angeles, CA and then eventually returned to Austin and New Orleans. In New Orleans, 2010, MC Sweet Tea debuted Animal Ball, a fairytale hip hopera/hero's journey performance and 10 song cycle about this path. The first half of the songs on the Nam June Psyche: Volume V are from Animal Ball and the second half are from Story. Tiana Hux formed the Head Band in early 2011, in order to make this recording at Valerie George's request. This is their first performance. This album is available as a free digital download and a Special Edition Box Set, including a poster, handmade zine, and a 90-minute tape, is available for distribution. |
Name June Psyche
Volume VI, 2015 Sounding Room: Mourning the Glacier All of the live performances for Sounding Room, 2015 at Locust Projects, Miami, were recorded courtesy of Nam June Psyche. The ARCHIVE VOLUME VI/Mourning the Glacier was created by meditating on all of the artists' recurrent conversations surrounding nautical metaphors while sifting through the recorded material from all three performances. "I set out to create an aural narrative that brought to life all our emotive responses to the sounds of the the melting glacier (which can be heard as the baseline for almost every track) our experimental instruments, and the visual tone of the space. The result is an album that introduces a cast of electrified characters whose voices call to and from the sea." Valerie George This album is available as a free digital download. |
NPR INTERVIEW
(Click Photo Above)
Valerie George: Mobile Car Kit Recording
INTERVIEW BY ALEX MAIOLO FOR TAPE OP MAGAZINE
To say Pensacola, Florida based artist Valerie George is not your typical recordist would be an understatement. Rather than fighting background noise, she embraces it. Instead of building a temple of sound and hoping people would show up, she loaded everything into a biofuel-powered 1983 Mercedes 300TD wagon and took it directly to the artists. Her Car Kit is more than part art project and part recording studio, it's an instrument itself.
What is time-based media?
Art that's not a 3D or 2D object. It's any art that happens over a period of time. In the art world, we consider time-based media to be 4D.
Do you have a background in recording?
I have none! My language is shot full of holes and I use a lot of my own terms because I learn as I go. This project is my first one. I began because I'm a visual artist. That's what I studied in grad school. I'm also a musician, so I started thinking about merging the two. Drums are my main instrument and I thought about what it would be like if I mounted drums to the roof of my car. What would they sound like when the rain hit them while I drove? It was exciting to think about and naturally I thought about how to record it. I needed to build a studio in my car! My first setup was just this janky thing with contact mics on the drums, cables running through the sunroof and duct tape sealing it up to keep out the water. After making some recordings, I realized I could have fun processing and manipulating what I had captured.
Where did you get the contact mics? How did you find the gear you needed?
The mics are from this wonderful woman at Cold Gold Audio in Vancouver, Canada. I bought an old PreSonus FirePod [now FP10], which meant I had up to eight mics with which to work. I could record multiple things at once! Later I added an extra battery and switch to the car to keep me from draining it completely — so I wouldn't get stuck. I rebuilt the alternator from a John Deere tractor and installed that so I could charge all of it really fast. An inverter powers everything, including any [stompboxes] I may be using. All of the sound gets recorded into a very old Mac. I collect the tracks in GarageBand, but export them to other programs for mixing.
What other things do you keep in the car?
Various mics and effects pedals. There are contact mic rigged things, like a taped together bundle of sticks and some skateboards you can "play" the wheels on. I also have an old Roland CR-8000 CompuRhythm drum machine from the '80s. It emits some sort of EMF waves that will blow speakers, even if the amp is across the room and the output of the machine isn't hooked up! Sound somehow comes out of the amp anyway, and eventually blows the speakers. We wrapped it in 10 layers of tinfoil and it fixed the problem.
So the car was loaded and ready to go! What did you do next?
At that point I realized if I could record the drums that were mounted to my car, I could record anything else, anywhere. I got this idea to record musicians in their natural environment and videotape it at the same time. The U.S. is a beautiful place that bands have been touring for awhile. I wanted to record the landscape and work with all the brilliant musicians that were all over the country, whom I've met over the years. My bandmates and I went on tour during the summer of 2010 up the East Coast, and then along the border, through Fargo, continued to Seattle, then dropped down to Los Angeles. We stopped in towns all along the way. We recorded everyone, from Rymodee of This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb to Terry Berlier who works at Stanford and makes and plays her own musical sculptures. I've also taken trips to specific places for festivals, like South By Southwest. I do all of my recording outside.
Tell me about a typical field recording session.
Well, they are all different. On tour, I let the musicians choose the location. They would know of a beautiful place that had wonderful sounds, because they were from there. We would take background noise into consideration. I can keep the monitors out of the way of the mics and [minimize bleed], so even though I have the ability to monitor through headphones I never do....
INTERVIEW BY ALEX MAIOLO FOR TAPE OP MAGAZINE
To say Pensacola, Florida based artist Valerie George is not your typical recordist would be an understatement. Rather than fighting background noise, she embraces it. Instead of building a temple of sound and hoping people would show up, she loaded everything into a biofuel-powered 1983 Mercedes 300TD wagon and took it directly to the artists. Her Car Kit is more than part art project and part recording studio, it's an instrument itself.
What is time-based media?
Art that's not a 3D or 2D object. It's any art that happens over a period of time. In the art world, we consider time-based media to be 4D.
Do you have a background in recording?
I have none! My language is shot full of holes and I use a lot of my own terms because I learn as I go. This project is my first one. I began because I'm a visual artist. That's what I studied in grad school. I'm also a musician, so I started thinking about merging the two. Drums are my main instrument and I thought about what it would be like if I mounted drums to the roof of my car. What would they sound like when the rain hit them while I drove? It was exciting to think about and naturally I thought about how to record it. I needed to build a studio in my car! My first setup was just this janky thing with contact mics on the drums, cables running through the sunroof and duct tape sealing it up to keep out the water. After making some recordings, I realized I could have fun processing and manipulating what I had captured.
Where did you get the contact mics? How did you find the gear you needed?
The mics are from this wonderful woman at Cold Gold Audio in Vancouver, Canada. I bought an old PreSonus FirePod [now FP10], which meant I had up to eight mics with which to work. I could record multiple things at once! Later I added an extra battery and switch to the car to keep me from draining it completely — so I wouldn't get stuck. I rebuilt the alternator from a John Deere tractor and installed that so I could charge all of it really fast. An inverter powers everything, including any [stompboxes] I may be using. All of the sound gets recorded into a very old Mac. I collect the tracks in GarageBand, but export them to other programs for mixing.
What other things do you keep in the car?
Various mics and effects pedals. There are contact mic rigged things, like a taped together bundle of sticks and some skateboards you can "play" the wheels on. I also have an old Roland CR-8000 CompuRhythm drum machine from the '80s. It emits some sort of EMF waves that will blow speakers, even if the amp is across the room and the output of the machine isn't hooked up! Sound somehow comes out of the amp anyway, and eventually blows the speakers. We wrapped it in 10 layers of tinfoil and it fixed the problem.
So the car was loaded and ready to go! What did you do next?
At that point I realized if I could record the drums that were mounted to my car, I could record anything else, anywhere. I got this idea to record musicians in their natural environment and videotape it at the same time. The U.S. is a beautiful place that bands have been touring for awhile. I wanted to record the landscape and work with all the brilliant musicians that were all over the country, whom I've met over the years. My bandmates and I went on tour during the summer of 2010 up the East Coast, and then along the border, through Fargo, continued to Seattle, then dropped down to Los Angeles. We stopped in towns all along the way. We recorded everyone, from Rymodee of This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb to Terry Berlier who works at Stanford and makes and plays her own musical sculptures. I've also taken trips to specific places for festivals, like South By Southwest. I do all of my recording outside.
Tell me about a typical field recording session.
Well, they are all different. On tour, I let the musicians choose the location. They would know of a beautiful place that had wonderful sounds, because they were from there. We would take background noise into consideration. I can keep the monitors out of the way of the mics and [minimize bleed], so even though I have the ability to monitor through headphones I never do....
TOM TOM MAGAZINE - Nam June Psyche
INTERVIEW BY N/A FOR TOM TOM MAGAZINE
Tom Tom Magazine: How long have you been playing the drums?
Valerie George: I began teaching myself on my 30th birthday, so almost five years.
TTM: What got you into drumming?
VG: Many things, collecting records, growing up and living as an adult among a tight community of musicians and people who support them, but seeing Scout Niblett in San Francisco was a notable inspiration. I had always loved her organic drumming style: simple, not flashy, yet creative and engaging. She played drums and guitar simultaneously; I was awestruck and I was sold on drumming. I started snooping around for a kit to practice with. Teddy, the drummer from this Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, lent me his well-loved and well-traveled vintage Slingerland kit. I bought my own kit last year, and I oscillate between the two. Being a sculptor, a maker, I think that drums are the most beautifully crafted objects that I have ever seen or heard. I am utterly in love.
TTM: What is your current project about?
VG: A few years ago I bought a 1983 Mercedes 300TD station wagon that quickly became an obsession, and a project in and of itself as I tried to keep the heap running while converting it to bio-diesel. Simultaneously, my artistic interests were turning to research and explorations of sound as my abilities in playing music evolved. The local music scene and some inventive kids were also influences that fanned the fire. I wanted to have the ability to record video and sound projects, to make noise and play music in remote locations, but became frustrated by always being hampered by the lack of electrical sources. I could only go as far as the extension cord plugged into a “borrowed” socket would allow. I realized that my car could provide a perfect solution. I now have a rolling recording studio and PA system. The car provides unlimited possibilities. With each project, I use the car like an instrument reacting to or “being played” by my environment, therefore the meaning of each video/performance/recording produced with its help, is contingent upon the content and context.
TTM: What is your plan for the drum car?
VG: This summer, I am to take it on tour through the south east and on to San Francisco, stopping at selected remote landscapes to record songs that I compose on site. I am performing with inherent sounds of the sites, amplified with contact mics and/or hydrophones, so that each sound becomes an important textural aspect to its song. The performances will be videotaped for viewing in the gallery setting and the songs will be released on vinyl.
INTERVIEW BY N/A FOR TOM TOM MAGAZINE
Tom Tom Magazine: How long have you been playing the drums?
Valerie George: I began teaching myself on my 30th birthday, so almost five years.
TTM: What got you into drumming?
VG: Many things, collecting records, growing up and living as an adult among a tight community of musicians and people who support them, but seeing Scout Niblett in San Francisco was a notable inspiration. I had always loved her organic drumming style: simple, not flashy, yet creative and engaging. She played drums and guitar simultaneously; I was awestruck and I was sold on drumming. I started snooping around for a kit to practice with. Teddy, the drummer from this Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, lent me his well-loved and well-traveled vintage Slingerland kit. I bought my own kit last year, and I oscillate between the two. Being a sculptor, a maker, I think that drums are the most beautifully crafted objects that I have ever seen or heard. I am utterly in love.
TTM: What is your current project about?
VG: A few years ago I bought a 1983 Mercedes 300TD station wagon that quickly became an obsession, and a project in and of itself as I tried to keep the heap running while converting it to bio-diesel. Simultaneously, my artistic interests were turning to research and explorations of sound as my abilities in playing music evolved. The local music scene and some inventive kids were also influences that fanned the fire. I wanted to have the ability to record video and sound projects, to make noise and play music in remote locations, but became frustrated by always being hampered by the lack of electrical sources. I could only go as far as the extension cord plugged into a “borrowed” socket would allow. I realized that my car could provide a perfect solution. I now have a rolling recording studio and PA system. The car provides unlimited possibilities. With each project, I use the car like an instrument reacting to or “being played” by my environment, therefore the meaning of each video/performance/recording produced with its help, is contingent upon the content and context.
TTM: What is your plan for the drum car?
VG: This summer, I am to take it on tour through the south east and on to San Francisco, stopping at selected remote landscapes to record songs that I compose on site. I am performing with inherent sounds of the sites, amplified with contact mics and/or hydrophones, so that each sound becomes an important textural aspect to its song. The performances will be videotaped for viewing in the gallery setting and the songs will be released on vinyl.
Photo by John Dougherty
TTM: Was it difficult to install the drums?
VG: It was easy once I decided to abandon the original sculptural approach of fabricating a chrome drum rack to mount to the roof rack of my car. The designs never felt appropriate; they were bulky, inorganic, and limiting. It was important that the drums appear to be natural extensions of the car. I decided to let the form follow the function and utilized chrome parts manufactured specifically for drum kits. I installed new hardware on the drums themselves, and it then came together nicely.
TTM: What inspired you to put drums on your car?
VG: I was driving thru a powerful storm in Pensacola, and the sound of the rain pounding on the roof and hood made me curious to hear what that force might sound like on a finely tuned set of drums. Then I got the idea of writing a song specifically for a hurricane. Now that the drums are built, and have been tested, I am waiting for a small hurricane, if there is such a thing. I suppose I could settle for a tropical storm, but nah. When my perfect storm arrives, I’ll produce a video where I play my composition on multiple instruments from inside of the car, as it seemingly drives itself through the storm.
TTM: How does it work?
VG: A contact mic is taped to the underside of each head, run through the rain proofed (saran wrapped and duct taped) sunroof to inside of the car and plugged into the mixer. The drums are adjustable, having the ability of being positioned to be played from the roof by the rain, a sprinkler, or some brave soul, through the windows by passengers inside of the moving car, or by players standing on either side of the car when parked.
TTM: What do you anticipate the different sounds in the different landscapes to be?
VG: I have experimented in local landscapes, and in each, I focused on a different aural element: wind, water, waves, birds, leaves, other cars, –even woodpeckers. I have few expectations of what I might audibly encounter at future sites, but mostly I am excited about unpredictability of both sound and the settings that each chance provides. Sort of like aural found object compositions.
TTM: What has been the reaction to the car?
VG: Most people have a strong reaction to it in general, being that it’s a tank of a car, though in some peoples minds, a collectible one. As an instrument/art car, only my colleagues, friends, band mate and students have experienced its potential, and they love it. My family thinks that the whole thing is strange, but that’s nothing new. It’s an occupational norm. In March, I plan to take it to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas to play the outer circuit of the festival. That will be the litmus test. I’ll keep you posted, but summon the gods for rain.
TTM: What else do you do musically/artistically?
VG: Musically, drumming is my passion and is my most effortless instrument. I sing, play bass, tinker on keyboard, and make sounds on the guitar with the help of some pedals. I am trained as a visual artist, and I do everything adeptly but paint. I am a terrible painter
TTM: Do you have future plans to install drums on other vehicles?
VG: Yes, of course. A fleet of 18-wheelers covered in cowbells, NO, kidding. I do have a golf cart, which is next on the list for a mobile project. We shall see….
TTM: How do you inspire your students to come up with projects?
VG: I foster community in the classroom; my students learn to collaborate, experiment, and play. My projects are designed to encourage students to trust their instincts and their impulses, and are not limited to any particular medium once out of the foundation classes. For example, I had a student who recorded extraordinary sounds of crustaceans that he had swimming in a kiddy pool, another who taught himself how to repel and lived in a tree for three days. He videotaped himself wildly costumed, flying through the air. It was gorgeous. My students constantly amaze me with their bravery and creativity. No one would have supported these ventures as art when I was a student, and that was a problem. I teach them how to contextualize their abstracted thoughts within the framework of art and social history, not to be limited by what art was, but to be inspired by what it might become.
TTM: If money were not an issue what project would you do?
VG: Jeez, money has never been a non-issue. It is hard to imagine a world in which I could do anything. But… I would really pimp this ride! I built it pretty low budge, so I would max out its capabilities and go travel around in it until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I would seek out people in each stopping point to collaborate with and play drums to every sunset. Then, once I settled on the perfect, cool community, my best friend and I would open an art space, with an adjacent all-ages experimental practice and show venue, for artist and musicians. There would also be a furniture store somehow connected, as we are both mid-century mod geeks.
TTM: Was it difficult to install the drums?
VG: It was easy once I decided to abandon the original sculptural approach of fabricating a chrome drum rack to mount to the roof rack of my car. The designs never felt appropriate; they were bulky, inorganic, and limiting. It was important that the drums appear to be natural extensions of the car. I decided to let the form follow the function and utilized chrome parts manufactured specifically for drum kits. I installed new hardware on the drums themselves, and it then came together nicely.
TTM: What inspired you to put drums on your car?
VG: I was driving thru a powerful storm in Pensacola, and the sound of the rain pounding on the roof and hood made me curious to hear what that force might sound like on a finely tuned set of drums. Then I got the idea of writing a song specifically for a hurricane. Now that the drums are built, and have been tested, I am waiting for a small hurricane, if there is such a thing. I suppose I could settle for a tropical storm, but nah. When my perfect storm arrives, I’ll produce a video where I play my composition on multiple instruments from inside of the car, as it seemingly drives itself through the storm.
TTM: How does it work?
VG: A contact mic is taped to the underside of each head, run through the rain proofed (saran wrapped and duct taped) sunroof to inside of the car and plugged into the mixer. The drums are adjustable, having the ability of being positioned to be played from the roof by the rain, a sprinkler, or some brave soul, through the windows by passengers inside of the moving car, or by players standing on either side of the car when parked.
TTM: What do you anticipate the different sounds in the different landscapes to be?
VG: I have experimented in local landscapes, and in each, I focused on a different aural element: wind, water, waves, birds, leaves, other cars, –even woodpeckers. I have few expectations of what I might audibly encounter at future sites, but mostly I am excited about unpredictability of both sound and the settings that each chance provides. Sort of like aural found object compositions.
TTM: What has been the reaction to the car?
VG: Most people have a strong reaction to it in general, being that it’s a tank of a car, though in some peoples minds, a collectible one. As an instrument/art car, only my colleagues, friends, band mate and students have experienced its potential, and they love it. My family thinks that the whole thing is strange, but that’s nothing new. It’s an occupational norm. In March, I plan to take it to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas to play the outer circuit of the festival. That will be the litmus test. I’ll keep you posted, but summon the gods for rain.
TTM: What else do you do musically/artistically?
VG: Musically, drumming is my passion and is my most effortless instrument. I sing, play bass, tinker on keyboard, and make sounds on the guitar with the help of some pedals. I am trained as a visual artist, and I do everything adeptly but paint. I am a terrible painter
TTM: Do you have future plans to install drums on other vehicles?
VG: Yes, of course. A fleet of 18-wheelers covered in cowbells, NO, kidding. I do have a golf cart, which is next on the list for a mobile project. We shall see….
TTM: How do you inspire your students to come up with projects?
VG: I foster community in the classroom; my students learn to collaborate, experiment, and play. My projects are designed to encourage students to trust their instincts and their impulses, and are not limited to any particular medium once out of the foundation classes. For example, I had a student who recorded extraordinary sounds of crustaceans that he had swimming in a kiddy pool, another who taught himself how to repel and lived in a tree for three days. He videotaped himself wildly costumed, flying through the air. It was gorgeous. My students constantly amaze me with their bravery and creativity. No one would have supported these ventures as art when I was a student, and that was a problem. I teach them how to contextualize their abstracted thoughts within the framework of art and social history, not to be limited by what art was, but to be inspired by what it might become.
TTM: If money were not an issue what project would you do?
VG: Jeez, money has never been a non-issue. It is hard to imagine a world in which I could do anything. But… I would really pimp this ride! I built it pretty low budge, so I would max out its capabilities and go travel around in it until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I would seek out people in each stopping point to collaborate with and play drums to every sunset. Then, once I settled on the perfect, cool community, my best friend and I would open an art space, with an adjacent all-ages experimental practice and show venue, for artist and musicians. There would also be a furniture store somehow connected, as we are both mid-century mod geeks.
Review: Nam June Psyche: The Archive at Coop Gallery, Nashville
INTERVIEW BY M KELLEY FOR BURNAWAY
NASHVILLE—On view during August’s First Saturday Art Crawl, Coop Gallery—located in the historic downtown Arcade building in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee—opened Nam June Psyche: The Archive, featuring photography, recordings, and video from the 2010-2011 music-making experiment by Valerie George, with the assistance of her tour collaborator, Anthony Hlavaty, and one unusual bandmember: George’s 1983 Mercedes wagon named Sadie [Coop Gallery, August 3-31, 2013].
As a traveling performance and a literal vehicle for artistic innovation and agency, Nam June Psyche seeks to capture both the actions and context of contemporary American DIY noisemakers as an instrument for sound, influence, and effect. In this context, George (under the moniker Nam June Psyche) sees herself as an “archivist for those who are brave enough to operate outside of the parameters of popular music and culture,” and thereby records interactions and collaborations with other artists through unexpected opportunities and environmental discoveries. The fundamental basis for the Nam June Psyche project is the Car Kit: Sadie, the 1983 Mercedes Benz Wagon, ran on bio-diesel fuel and was outfitted to be a self-sufficient recording studio, specifically and custom-modified for George’s remote operations [the Mercedes was wrecked in 2011]. Among the many components of the Car Kit were amplifiers, speakers, a four channel PA system hardwired into two car batteries, an array of microphones and hydrophones, instruments, pedals, mixers, a laptop, and—as the Car Kit was also intended to be an instrument in and of itself—a drum kit modified for the roof rack of the vehicle. The resulting combination is a design intended to deliberately take advantage of both planned and ephemeral opportunities, lending itself to spontaneity and endless invention throughout the course of the journey.
Highlights from Nam June Psyche’s journey are now included in The Archive—as the project now exists—documented in a series of photographic prints, videos, and five boxed music albums with accompanying zines. Though George included the album sets at Coop Gallery for the purposes of exhibition, interested listeners can download the albums for free on the Nam June Pysche website, continuing the spirit of resource-sharing that drove the initial project. Using the Car Kit’s equipment, George and Hlavaty recorded organic sounds specific to the location they found themselves in, and then transformed the field recordings into an experimental sound track to perform live for the camera. Though the albums provide ample documentation of the resulting music, it’s clear after talking to George—who attended the Coop opening—that the real experience was being there. At these locations, where George and others created the work—from venues and DIY spaces throughout New York, Tennessee, California, and Washington, and performing at major festivals such as the annual punk THE FEST in Gainesville, Florida, and SXSW in Austin, Texas—George was enthusiastic over the welcome in the punk communities she discovered. As the Archive continues to tour, landing exhibition venues from Art Basel Miami to Worksound in Oregon, meeting new people is an expansion of the original experience that she enjoys.
And in Nashville, Coop Gallery presents this archive well. George creates a grid along one wall to display photographs documenting the landscape, the Car Kit setup, etc., which provides a clear sense of both the constraints and freedoms of working from the road, as well as a nod to the volume of sites visited throughout NJP’s journey. Projected video documentation of several interactions dominates the far gallery wall, and captures the visuals behind the sound, noise, and music from collaborations along the way.
Shot with an impeccable and professional eye, the experimental video and photos feel largely polished: the video feels like an edited music video, making all the right choices; the photography would feel at home in any culture magazine with its wide-angle vistas, intensity of expression, and slightly retro color. In some ways, the clean look contrasts the DIY approach of the trip, but overall the effect frames the work rather than distances it. Too often the raw nature of DIY—while an authentic and sometimes necessary way to expose the process and its makers—has difficulty translating to the gallery setting. Exhibitions of resulting processes can either feel unfinished or flatly-presented without documentation to flesh them out, or, worse, inflate claims of context and importance that the work may or may not support. Instead of the gallery presentation reading as an assumed posture, the final feel of Nam June Pysche: The Archive is balanced and well-curated. The exhibition choices allow the work to stand alone while simultaneously creating an approachable archive context. For a city like Nashville, where many artists embrace a do-it-yourself approach, it’s refreshing to see DIY being taken and presented seriously.
Installation image of Spilt: Bucky on Vanity, 2010, and Split: These Landscapes are our Chandeliers, 2010 : Valerie George, part of Nam June Psyche: The Split Series. Digital Ink Jet Prints, 30 x 42 inches each, with headset, courtesy the artist.
Most interesting are two photographic prints documenting the experience of the Car Kit itself: with the lens looking through the windshield, the comparatively candid images highlight the small contact mics placed on the outside of the Car as the landscape rushes past. Headsets mounted near the photographs play the recorded sounds associated with the scenes: wind howling past the car; the rain; the fuzzy recording of the driver singing along to the radio. In contrast to the video and photographic productions along the other walls, these installed combinations successfully utilize recorded audio to fill in the gaps between tour stops, thereby creating an atmosphere that is strangely soothing, familiar, and domestic. These beautifully multifaceted moments bring the experience home—an important reminder that in any long-term practice, it’s the logged hours between milestones that make the final project vibrant.
INTERVIEW BY M KELLEY FOR BURNAWAY
NASHVILLE—On view during August’s First Saturday Art Crawl, Coop Gallery—located in the historic downtown Arcade building in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee—opened Nam June Psyche: The Archive, featuring photography, recordings, and video from the 2010-2011 music-making experiment by Valerie George, with the assistance of her tour collaborator, Anthony Hlavaty, and one unusual bandmember: George’s 1983 Mercedes wagon named Sadie [Coop Gallery, August 3-31, 2013].
As a traveling performance and a literal vehicle for artistic innovation and agency, Nam June Psyche seeks to capture both the actions and context of contemporary American DIY noisemakers as an instrument for sound, influence, and effect. In this context, George (under the moniker Nam June Psyche) sees herself as an “archivist for those who are brave enough to operate outside of the parameters of popular music and culture,” and thereby records interactions and collaborations with other artists through unexpected opportunities and environmental discoveries. The fundamental basis for the Nam June Psyche project is the Car Kit: Sadie, the 1983 Mercedes Benz Wagon, ran on bio-diesel fuel and was outfitted to be a self-sufficient recording studio, specifically and custom-modified for George’s remote operations [the Mercedes was wrecked in 2011]. Among the many components of the Car Kit were amplifiers, speakers, a four channel PA system hardwired into two car batteries, an array of microphones and hydrophones, instruments, pedals, mixers, a laptop, and—as the Car Kit was also intended to be an instrument in and of itself—a drum kit modified for the roof rack of the vehicle. The resulting combination is a design intended to deliberately take advantage of both planned and ephemeral opportunities, lending itself to spontaneity and endless invention throughout the course of the journey.
Highlights from Nam June Psyche’s journey are now included in The Archive—as the project now exists—documented in a series of photographic prints, videos, and five boxed music albums with accompanying zines. Though George included the album sets at Coop Gallery for the purposes of exhibition, interested listeners can download the albums for free on the Nam June Pysche website, continuing the spirit of resource-sharing that drove the initial project. Using the Car Kit’s equipment, George and Hlavaty recorded organic sounds specific to the location they found themselves in, and then transformed the field recordings into an experimental sound track to perform live for the camera. Though the albums provide ample documentation of the resulting music, it’s clear after talking to George—who attended the Coop opening—that the real experience was being there. At these locations, where George and others created the work—from venues and DIY spaces throughout New York, Tennessee, California, and Washington, and performing at major festivals such as the annual punk THE FEST in Gainesville, Florida, and SXSW in Austin, Texas—George was enthusiastic over the welcome in the punk communities she discovered. As the Archive continues to tour, landing exhibition venues from Art Basel Miami to Worksound in Oregon, meeting new people is an expansion of the original experience that she enjoys.
And in Nashville, Coop Gallery presents this archive well. George creates a grid along one wall to display photographs documenting the landscape, the Car Kit setup, etc., which provides a clear sense of both the constraints and freedoms of working from the road, as well as a nod to the volume of sites visited throughout NJP’s journey. Projected video documentation of several interactions dominates the far gallery wall, and captures the visuals behind the sound, noise, and music from collaborations along the way.
Shot with an impeccable and professional eye, the experimental video and photos feel largely polished: the video feels like an edited music video, making all the right choices; the photography would feel at home in any culture magazine with its wide-angle vistas, intensity of expression, and slightly retro color. In some ways, the clean look contrasts the DIY approach of the trip, but overall the effect frames the work rather than distances it. Too often the raw nature of DIY—while an authentic and sometimes necessary way to expose the process and its makers—has difficulty translating to the gallery setting. Exhibitions of resulting processes can either feel unfinished or flatly-presented without documentation to flesh them out, or, worse, inflate claims of context and importance that the work may or may not support. Instead of the gallery presentation reading as an assumed posture, the final feel of Nam June Pysche: The Archive is balanced and well-curated. The exhibition choices allow the work to stand alone while simultaneously creating an approachable archive context. For a city like Nashville, where many artists embrace a do-it-yourself approach, it’s refreshing to see DIY being taken and presented seriously.
Installation image of Spilt: Bucky on Vanity, 2010, and Split: These Landscapes are our Chandeliers, 2010 : Valerie George, part of Nam June Psyche: The Split Series. Digital Ink Jet Prints, 30 x 42 inches each, with headset, courtesy the artist.
Most interesting are two photographic prints documenting the experience of the Car Kit itself: with the lens looking through the windshield, the comparatively candid images highlight the small contact mics placed on the outside of the Car as the landscape rushes past. Headsets mounted near the photographs play the recorded sounds associated with the scenes: wind howling past the car; the rain; the fuzzy recording of the driver singing along to the radio. In contrast to the video and photographic productions along the other walls, these installed combinations successfully utilize recorded audio to fill in the gaps between tour stops, thereby creating an atmosphere that is strangely soothing, familiar, and domestic. These beautifully multifaceted moments bring the experience home—an important reminder that in any long-term practice, it’s the logged hours between milestones that make the final project vibrant.
Nam June Psyche - Valerie George
INTERVIEW BY BRYAN SPEARRY FOR AMP MAGAZINE
Valerie George has helped bring to life a band member who runs on straight biodiesel. While this project may sound ‘metal’, this precision auto prefers the calming sounds of its surroundings. Carrying a commercial grade alternator and custom power conversion allows this station wagon to function as a mobile recording studio and instrument. After traversing the United States last summer with her tour buddy Anthony Hlavaty, the functioning mastermind of NAM JUNE PSYCHE has big plans for 2011 including another tour and a box set, of tapes!
BS: You have a car in your project NAM JUNE PSYCHE. Do you find him or her to be a reliable member of the traveling experiment?
NJP: She. Her name is Sadie. She is reliable in the sense that she always cranks. But she’s also reliable in the sense that she always breaks down at some point. Well at least I know what to expect from her. She’s awesome. A great car.
BS: Since the car can’t talk will you tell me about its many surgeries and enhancements?
NJP: Yes. Obviously, I built a recording studio inside it but what the recording studio needed mostly was electricity. I installed an extra battery in the back of the car. There is a switch that can exclude it from the battery that powers the car itself so I don’t drain both batteries all at once when I’m recording. I upgraded the alternator to be twice as powerful, using an alternator from a John Deere tractor and added a 400 watt inverter to convert the DC to AC. There’s an amp for speakers and PA system that I installed. The rest of the recording stuff obviously can be taken in and out of the car but that is the permanent stuff that’s there.
BS: This is biodiesel as well, right? What kind of car is it?
NJP: It is. Sadie is a 1983 Mercedes station wagon. I did not have to convert to run it on biodiesel. You can purchase that stuff pretty much in any bigger cities and you can buy it here in Pensacola where I’m from.
BS: Have you run into any experiences on the road where you just couldn’t find fuel?
NJP: I have and in that situation I did use regular diesel, like on the interstates between larger cities. In most of the cities and larger towns we were usually able to find biodiesel.
BS: What made you want to create a mobile recording studio?
NJP: Well, it was a snowball effect. I am a visual artist and a drummer. It started out with building a drum kit that fits on the roof rack of the car because I just wanted to hear what it would sound like if I drove in rain. Once I heard it I really liked it and I wanted to be able to record it. I had to sort of figure out how to make that happen. So one thing just led to another (and) before I knew it I had this awesome thing that could roll around and record anything I wanted just about anywhere I wanted. It just turned into this very versatile experiment. I’m still finding out exactly how I can use it.
BS: How long have you been involved in the DIY community?
NJP: As a participant, as a listener, and as a viewer- since I was 15. I had a record label when I was 16 which put out one 7”. I’ve been a punk my whole life. And still am, I’d like to think. Now I am finally moving back into that scene again with a more active role. I am opening a tape label so all the albums I record out of my car will be put out on cassette tape.
BS: Oh, how old school of you! Do people even have tape players anymore? I mean…
NJP: Oh it’s…come on get with it man! It’s the new rage! It’s all the kids do is play tapes these days. It’s true! I teach 20 year olds. (laughter) They bring tapes to school.
BS: You recently recorded a record at Fest 9. How did that all come about?
NJP: I was invited by a gallery, PLUS + GALLERY, that tends to support artists that are DIY in nature to come down and show some of my work. They didn’t specify what they wanted me to show. As I was thinking about it I thought it would be really amazing if I could bring the car down and record stuff there. I thought about what the Fest is and what that means and how it has functioned over the years for Floridians and for the DIY community. I couldn’t think of a better band to ask to play that I could record and archive than THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB.
BS: Can you talk about the physical release at all?
NJP: I am in the process of getting permission to put it out as a split on cassette through Nam June Psyche. They plan to put it out as a split on vinyl from PLANET X SOUTH. It will also be on my website, namjunepsyche.com as well as via video archive once all the tracks are mixed.
BS: What was it that made you want to work with THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB?
NJP: The Fest is such an important venue for musical expression for the punk community and Florida especially. PIPE BOMB has been together for so many years and they’re so much a part of that community from Florida. They’re brilliant people, brilliant musicians and they very much live, eat, and breathe what the spirit of the Fest is. They understand what it was supposed to represent when it began and that’s why I couldn’t imagine participating in an event there without having them involved.
BS: Do you have any other projects or tours upcoming?
NJP: I do. I will be touring next year with the album that I recorded last year. I’m writing a zine, and making a cassette. It’s a box set that will also have a zine about the tour and project. It will have stickers and all kinds of great stories. Rad stuff. All of it will be handmade and screenprinted. We’ll be going on tour with that as well as all the videos and the photographs that we will exhibit in DIY galleries along the way.
BS: What was one of your favorite experiences from this project?
I couldn’t pick one particular date because the entire experience really reminded me why I became a punk and why I’m continuing to be a punk. That is the experience of walking into someone else’s community and being taken into their community with their arms wide open. People who have never met you are feeding you and offering a place to stay; strangers excited about your work and giving you the opportunity to be excited about theirs. The whole tour was great.
BS: As somebody who’s been around for a while, what advice would you give to somebody younger who has the same inspirations?
NJP: Do it. Don’t ever be afraid that you can’t do something. If you want something, just go for it. Just try. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and nothing is too big.
INTERVIEW BY BRYAN SPEARRY FOR AMP MAGAZINE
Valerie George has helped bring to life a band member who runs on straight biodiesel. While this project may sound ‘metal’, this precision auto prefers the calming sounds of its surroundings. Carrying a commercial grade alternator and custom power conversion allows this station wagon to function as a mobile recording studio and instrument. After traversing the United States last summer with her tour buddy Anthony Hlavaty, the functioning mastermind of NAM JUNE PSYCHE has big plans for 2011 including another tour and a box set, of tapes!
BS: You have a car in your project NAM JUNE PSYCHE. Do you find him or her to be a reliable member of the traveling experiment?
NJP: She. Her name is Sadie. She is reliable in the sense that she always cranks. But she’s also reliable in the sense that she always breaks down at some point. Well at least I know what to expect from her. She’s awesome. A great car.
BS: Since the car can’t talk will you tell me about its many surgeries and enhancements?
NJP: Yes. Obviously, I built a recording studio inside it but what the recording studio needed mostly was electricity. I installed an extra battery in the back of the car. There is a switch that can exclude it from the battery that powers the car itself so I don’t drain both batteries all at once when I’m recording. I upgraded the alternator to be twice as powerful, using an alternator from a John Deere tractor and added a 400 watt inverter to convert the DC to AC. There’s an amp for speakers and PA system that I installed. The rest of the recording stuff obviously can be taken in and out of the car but that is the permanent stuff that’s there.
BS: This is biodiesel as well, right? What kind of car is it?
NJP: It is. Sadie is a 1983 Mercedes station wagon. I did not have to convert to run it on biodiesel. You can purchase that stuff pretty much in any bigger cities and you can buy it here in Pensacola where I’m from.
BS: Have you run into any experiences on the road where you just couldn’t find fuel?
NJP: I have and in that situation I did use regular diesel, like on the interstates between larger cities. In most of the cities and larger towns we were usually able to find biodiesel.
BS: What made you want to create a mobile recording studio?
NJP: Well, it was a snowball effect. I am a visual artist and a drummer. It started out with building a drum kit that fits on the roof rack of the car because I just wanted to hear what it would sound like if I drove in rain. Once I heard it I really liked it and I wanted to be able to record it. I had to sort of figure out how to make that happen. So one thing just led to another (and) before I knew it I had this awesome thing that could roll around and record anything I wanted just about anywhere I wanted. It just turned into this very versatile experiment. I’m still finding out exactly how I can use it.
BS: How long have you been involved in the DIY community?
NJP: As a participant, as a listener, and as a viewer- since I was 15. I had a record label when I was 16 which put out one 7”. I’ve been a punk my whole life. And still am, I’d like to think. Now I am finally moving back into that scene again with a more active role. I am opening a tape label so all the albums I record out of my car will be put out on cassette tape.
BS: Oh, how old school of you! Do people even have tape players anymore? I mean…
NJP: Oh it’s…come on get with it man! It’s the new rage! It’s all the kids do is play tapes these days. It’s true! I teach 20 year olds. (laughter) They bring tapes to school.
BS: You recently recorded a record at Fest 9. How did that all come about?
NJP: I was invited by a gallery, PLUS + GALLERY, that tends to support artists that are DIY in nature to come down and show some of my work. They didn’t specify what they wanted me to show. As I was thinking about it I thought it would be really amazing if I could bring the car down and record stuff there. I thought about what the Fest is and what that means and how it has functioned over the years for Floridians and for the DIY community. I couldn’t think of a better band to ask to play that I could record and archive than THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB.
BS: Can you talk about the physical release at all?
NJP: I am in the process of getting permission to put it out as a split on cassette through Nam June Psyche. They plan to put it out as a split on vinyl from PLANET X SOUTH. It will also be on my website, namjunepsyche.com as well as via video archive once all the tracks are mixed.
BS: What was it that made you want to work with THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB?
NJP: The Fest is such an important venue for musical expression for the punk community and Florida especially. PIPE BOMB has been together for so many years and they’re so much a part of that community from Florida. They’re brilliant people, brilliant musicians and they very much live, eat, and breathe what the spirit of the Fest is. They understand what it was supposed to represent when it began and that’s why I couldn’t imagine participating in an event there without having them involved.
BS: Do you have any other projects or tours upcoming?
NJP: I do. I will be touring next year with the album that I recorded last year. I’m writing a zine, and making a cassette. It’s a box set that will also have a zine about the tour and project. It will have stickers and all kinds of great stories. Rad stuff. All of it will be handmade and screenprinted. We’ll be going on tour with that as well as all the videos and the photographs that we will exhibit in DIY galleries along the way.
BS: What was one of your favorite experiences from this project?
I couldn’t pick one particular date because the entire experience really reminded me why I became a punk and why I’m continuing to be a punk. That is the experience of walking into someone else’s community and being taken into their community with their arms wide open. People who have never met you are feeding you and offering a place to stay; strangers excited about your work and giving you the opportunity to be excited about theirs. The whole tour was great.
BS: As somebody who’s been around for a while, what advice would you give to somebody younger who has the same inspirations?
NJP: Do it. Don’t ever be afraid that you can’t do something. If you want something, just go for it. Just try. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and nothing is too big.