At long last, a project I’ve been working on for over four years has arrived!
Recreating the sounds of extinct animals is a call to listen in the present.
Echozoo is an audio portal to the past, an invitation to the present, and an urgent message to the future. Reimagining the sounds of earth’s ancient history beyond a human scale, reconstructing the sound of extinct animals and their habitats, Echozoo connects listeners with the sounds of the distant past. Created with field recordings of living animals, these are digitally processed to re-create the sounds of their now-extinct relatives and recomposed into immersive audio experiences. These long-silenced voices are re-sounded and heard within an imagined soundscape of their habitats, encouraging us to hear imagined ecosystems together with these ancestors in a powerful meditation on nature and the current loss of biodiversity in our natural world.
Echozoo Promo
Explore the Echozoo Portal here at echozoo.org. You can listen to samples of creatures on the interactive map showing the region where these extinct creatures once lived.
You can support this largely self-financed project by buying one or more of the three-volume collection of extinction songs.
Listening Bodies was delighted to share a half-day workshop and a evening concert with the Sensing In Festival organized by Movement Artisans and the Axis Syllabus community in Berlin. In this workshop we synthesized some classic Deep Listening® exercises like Zina’s Rhythm Circle and the Tuning Meditation with some of our own inquiries like Monica’s Tuning the Ear as well as some new pieces involving the synesthesia of touch and hearing with live music by Michael. Check out more over at Listening Bodies.
Hello everyone, a quick announcement about a new piece I’ll be premiering at the Site/Sound: Revealing the Rail Park Festivalcommissioned and presented by American Composers Forum, Mural Arts Philly, and Friends of the Rail Park. The piece is called signaltonoisemeditation and will be performed by me on electronic instruments. The 45-minute piece explores the sonic history of telecommunications in Philadelphia. I have a personal family history with telephone technology as my grandmother, grandfather and both my parents worked for the phone company here in Philadelphia.
I’ll be performing at the site of the new installation by Carolyn Healy and John JH Phillips called Aspect 281. Their installation (photo below) is inspired by the history of railroad and signaling technology in Philadelphia. It’s a beautiful and immersive experience and worth experiencing on its own!
The Site/Sound Festival is fantastic and features three weeks of live music along with site-specific media installations along the path of the in-progress Rail Park. Check out some previews in the Philadelphia Inquirerand Philly Voice.
signaltonoisemeditation
Saturday Oct 19, 7:15-8:00 PM
990 Spring Garden Street (East Lot)
Philadelphia
Monica and I have spent two months living in Berlin focusing on our work and the Listening Bodiesproject. We taught a nice workshop here at Lake Studios Berlin. We’re doing a movement and sound duet this weekend at Tanzfabrik. Afterward, we will be touring and giving workshops in Croatia, Denmark, UK, Ireland, and Italy for the rest of the summer. Check out our new website for more info: Listening Bodies.
Also , I was honored to have a short remix in this latest project from Cities and Memory focused on outer space (to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the US moon landing). Hear my remix of John F. Kennedy’s famous speech about going to the Moon. Listen to Space
Hello, thank you for opening and reading this email. I know the amount of end-of-year-holiday emails can be overwhelming! TLDR
Click this link: https://igg.me/at/listeningbodies
watch and donate!
Today is Giving Tuesday. I wanted to tell you about an Indiegogo campaign I just started with my collaborator from Listening Bodies.
As I developed more and more as an artist and practitioner of
meditation, I found a natural calling for teaching and that people were
interested in my life experiences and what I was sharing.
After I completed my Deep Listening certification I found a
synthesis of my music and meditation practice where they were no longer
separate. However, one section of my practice and teaching that was
missing was body practices… until I met Monica Gentile.
Her teaching style and areas of expertise (somatic, movement, dance,
yoga (Hatha and Laughter)) fit perfectly with what I was teaching. Very
organically and effortlessly, we planted the seeds of what is a holistic
and integral practice called Listening Bodies.
We’ve taught in Philadelphia and Berlin this year and the response has
been overwhelmingly positive. We taught classes for dancers, a sound
walking class, an ASMR class and will lead a 2-day workshop in a few
weeks here in Berlin.
We have been invited to bring Listening Bodies to Mexico. We
will teach our workshop at residencies, schools and project spaces in
six locations in Mexico and two in Costa Rica. We will be paid small
fees and offered a place to stay. However, we need to pay our own travel
costs… thus the Indiegogo. A grant we were applying for did not work
out, so we’re asking for your help!
If you’ve read this far you are a dedicated and supportive person! We
need to raise $2500 for our flights from Europe and back and flights,
buses, and taxis around Mexico and Costa Rica.
If you are reading this email you may have supported my work in the
past. So now during this time of giving we are asking for more support
to help grow our family of Listening Bodies to include artists and communities in Mexico and Costa Rica.
At a minimum check out our Indiegogo page and video (the end is funny 🙂
https://igg.me/at/listeningbodies
Have a safe, peaceful and light holiday.
With love from Christmassy Berlin,
Michael and Monica
P.S. Please feel free to respond to this newsletter email. I read all
the responses and I love hearing from you. Also please feel free to add
me to your own mailing list to keep up to date with what you’re doing
and staying connected.
Good morning or evening friends. Happy
Thanksgiving to everyone in the US! I hope this day is filled with the
feelings of gratitude and abundance for the collective interdependence
of life. I am halfway through my three-month residency at GlogauAIR in Berlin and I just wanted to share some projects in my life for which I am grateful.
Spektrum Performance
When I arrived in Berlin, I performed at one of my favorite venues in Berlin: Spektrum. I gave a concert of my field recording landscapes sounds where I created a surrealists collage of environmental sounds from around the world during my travels. I also made a video of found footage from around the world wide web that I showed at the performance. I am very grateful to Aude Françoise from SCOPE, Ienke at Spektrum and DJ Solitue who presented a mix of former Liebig12 residents and for connecting me with Spektrum last year.
Scope Sessions
The second event I did was a talk on my work and process at Scope Sessions. I focused on my work synthesizing Deep Listening, meditation, Buddhist philosophies, field recording, and ambient music. I also played some samples of my work. It was very well received and help crystallize some things for me in my world. I am also very grateful to meet the host Tobias Raayoni Last.
Speaking at SCOPE Sessions
Red Bull Session
Last week was very busy for me here in Berlin! I welcomed two close friends to town at the same time. My collaborator from Mixes from the Field, Sharon Renee Stewart was in town. We met some Deep Listening friends, did some walking and field recording. At the same time, my old buddy and music legend King Britt was in town. We hung out for three days, recorded an episode for my podcast, and recorded at Red Bull Studios Berlin. I’m super grateful to King for inviting me to the recording session with Hainbach, Christina Wheeler and Clara Hill where
I got to play one of my favorite instruments, the Fender Rhodes piano!
The sessions were magical and the sound at Red Bull was extraordinary. I
can’t wait to hear the final mixes of this collaboration.
Sharon recording at Templehof
The crew at Red Bull Studios
Listening Bodies Project
This time in Berlin has allowed me to deepen my working relationship with choreographer/dancer/movement researcher Monica Genitle.
We organically came together to develop a teaching framework that
combines my music and Deep Listening practices and her somatic body
practices. We’ve done two classes here in Berlin. One at Lake Studios Berlin for dancers and one sound walk workshop at GlogauAIR and SomoS (we had a fairytale-like sound walk in the first snow of the season at night). We will do one more class exploring synesthesia and ASMR as listening body practice at Liebig12. And on Dec 10/11 we will offer a two-day workshop at Tatwerk in Berlin. We will have more exciting Listening Bodies news next week about our plans in 2019!
From the Listening Bodies Sound Walk along the Paul-Lincke-Ufer ListeningBodies.com for more information…
Once again, thank you all for your support.
Happy summer everyone. Thanks for opening this email and at least skimming the first line 😉
I had an amazing time in Europe these past two months. I did a 3-week tour with William “Bilwa” Costa which took our Un/Natural Fields project to Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Austria and Poland with support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. After that, I did another set of shows with singer Katrine Faber
in Germany and Denmark. I’m still waiting on some documentation to be
posted, but I will share some live recordings and videos soon. I have
plans to collaborate on more projects with both artists in 2019.
Faber McDermott performing at Spektrum in Berlin. Photo by Carl Krüger
I’ll be back in Berlin for a three-month residency at GlogauAIR working on and (finally) presenting a version of Echozoo this fall. Until then I’ll be in Philadelphia and I’m doing a series of workshops and concerts in the coming weeks centered around mindfulness and listening.
Photo by Shawn Theodore, a fellow Artist in Residence
Before I get into the workshops, if you’re in Philadelphia this week,
please check out the closing party for an amazing photo and sound
installation I was honored to be a part of. I was an artist in residence
at the Village of Arts and Humanities SPACES program. As part of that residency, I created music and sound design (along with the band Ill Doots) using
people’s voices and basketball court field recordings from the
Hartranft neighborhood in North Philadelphia exploring the culture of
the past, present, and future of the courts for the show, Home Court: The Hartranft Basketball Court Revival. Check out the SPACES website for more info. The closing party is Wednesday, July 18, 6-8pm at The Village of Arts and Humanities gallery space.
The Art of Listening Springboard Studio
530 Carpenter Ln, Philadelphia, PA 19119
Sunday, July 22, 11 am – 4 pm
Suggested Donation/Danā $20 Event Info
A day-long class exploring meditative states of listening
consciousness led by composer and dharma teacher Michael Reiley
McDermott. Through listening, we can develop an intimate connection to
our environment, each other and ourselves. In this day-long retreat,
Michael will take us through listening exercises, periods of silent
meditation, Dharma talks, performance scores of singing and sounding and
a sound walk. The practices of Listening Consciousness are rooted in Theravada and Zen Buddhism, vipassana meditation, the Deep Listening techniques of Pauline Oliveros, Thich Nhat Hahn and the music and philosophy of John Cage.
No meditation or musical experience necessary. Beginners are welcome.
Healing Frequencies
with Maraliz Campos and Michael Reiley McDermott Magick City
37 Box St. Brooklyn, NY
August 4, 9pm-11:30
$15 / pre-show // $10 / door Facebook Event | Tickets
A night of healing frequencies and intentional dialog about listening, time and consciousness. Maraliz Campos
and Michael Reiley McDermott, sound practitioners/musicians, present a
discussion and concert and sound journey across aural landscapes with
filtered and reimagined field recordings from Michael’s recent travels
and artist residencies in Thailand, Myanmar, India, Germany, Latvia,
Iceland, United States and Brazil.
Part two is a meditative ambient journey from Paraguayan-American
artist Maraliz with crystal/Himalayan bowls, rattles, original samples,
synth, vocals, tuning forks, etc.
Listening Bodies
with Monica Gentile (Lake Studios Berlin) and Michael Reiley McDermott
Mascher Space Cooperative
155 Cecil B. Moore Ave. Philadelphia
August 11th, 11am – 3pm
$10 / Before August 1 // $15-20 / After August 1 Tickets | Facebook Event
A workshop exploring states of consciousness and embodiment. Open to dancers, musicians, artists, yogis, and meditators.
Hello from beautiful sunny Berlin. I just returned from Kaunas,
Lithuania where I was in rehearsals with William “Bilwa” Costa for our
upcoming tour, more on this below and this week’s overnight
sleep concert at Lake Studio Berlin!
“Meditating on Sound” in Kaunas at Pirmi Šilainiai. Photo by Daina Dieva
Overnight Sleep Concert
This Saturday I’ll be playing an overnight concert of ambient music for sleeping, dreaming, being and becoming. The space at Lake Studios Berlin is perfect for a deep night’s sleep listening subconsciously to
slowly evolving soundscapes. The space has high ceilings with long
skylights that will allow natural night elements to paint the sky. Also,
there’s a surround ceiling mounted sound system. It’s in the quiet
Friedrichshagen neighborhood of East Berlin which is very tranquil.
Please join me for a night of serene lullabies and inner exploration.
Please bring a pillow, blanket or sleeping bag. Lake Studios has plenty
of tatami mats to sleep on. Arrive at 21h to secure a spot, have some
tea and get to know the other concert goers. Music will start around
22h.
OVERNIGHT SLEEP CONCERT with MICHAEL MCDERMOTT
19 May at 21h to 20 May at 6h Lake Studios Berlin
Scharnweberstrasse 27, 12587 Berlin, Germany
15-25€ Facebook Event
The Unheard Sea
While preparing sounds for this sleep concert, I got inspired to re-score a film by friend and collaborator Alex Bond.
Alex did the live video projections for my first two sleep concerts. I
love his work and think this new music goes well with his hazy visual
dreamscape of oceanic disintegration.
I’m very excited to team up with my old colleague and friend William
“Bilwa” Costa for a tour through the Baltics and Central Europe.
Un/natural Fields is a new project in which Michael McDermott and
William “Bilwa” Costa juxtapose two solo projects, the organic imagined
landscapes of the McDermott’s Echozoo works in progress and
Costa’s unnatural field recordings. Together they create an imaginary
listening experience akin to magical realism.
Madame Claude, Berlin, Germany May 21 MOKS, Mooste, Estonia May 24 MIM stuudio, Tallinn, Estonia May 25 UNDER / Electronic Musik Festival, Riga, Latvia May 26 Skaņas dienas (Sound Days) Festival, Liepaja, Latvia May 30 – June 2 BB 15, Linz, Austria, June 5 Rozkurz, Wroclaw, Poland, June 7 Osobliwy Poniedziałek, Krakow, Poland, June 8 Kolonia Artystów, Gdaǹks, Poland, June 10
Good morning or evening friends. Below are some events I’m involved with and news about the release of a new Landscapes album. Thank you for your continued support and interest in my musical adventures!
Nora Gibson Contemporary Ballet presents HUMAN
I am really excited for this next chapter in my long collaboration with
one of the most exciting choreographers working in contemporary ballet.
This science fiction influenced ballet has stunning digital video,
beautiful lighting, strong dancers, intricate choreography and an
engulphing score that wraps you up like an electric blanket. Not to be
missed!
April 20, 21, 8:00 PM & April 22, 3:00 PM (with artist Q&A)
Performance Garage
1515 Brandywine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130 Tickets
What Do Opossums Dreams Sound Like?
I’m happy to be collaborating with an old friend, Liza Goodell from Spiral Q Puppet Theater
on this show. She has built a giant opossum sculpture that people are
invited to lie down in. Inside will be my soundtrack of what I imagine
an opossum’s dreams sound like while he’s “playing dead”. Plus they’ll
be work by Katie Parry, Tom Parry, and Marina Borker.
ST. BERNARD LION: AN ARTISTIC EXPLORATION OF NEIGHBORHOOD FOLKLORE April 20 – May 18, 2018
Opening reception Friday, April 20th, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
University City Arts League
4226 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104 More Info
Still from William Fields’ visuals for Landscapes LiveLandscapes 3, Uttarakhand
If you missed my Landscapes show at the Rotunda (see the photo above from the show with William Fields’ brilliant real-time projections) and wanted to hear part of my surrealists’ field recordings creations from North India, I just released an album on Bandcamp, Landscapes 3: Uttarakhand with gorgeous artwork by my fellow PECAH resident Isabel Moreno.
Lastly, for those who are into meditation or would like to learn more, I’ll be teaching four classes at Springboard Studio
this week and next. This is a great class for beginners or experienced
meditators who want to go deeper into the classic Buddhist text of the Satipatthāna Sutta. Each class will have periods of silent meditation, teaching, and discussion.
Satipattāna: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
Wednesday, April 18, 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Sunday, April 22, 7:30 – 9:00 PM
Wednesday, April 25, 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Sunday, April 29, 7:30 – 9:00 PM
Springboard Studio
530 Carpenter Lane, West Mt. Airy
Hello everyone, I’m back from three months of traveling, listening,
creating, sharing and exploring in Thailand, Myanmar and India. I’m
excited to be back in Philadelphia for the month and looking forward to
sharing lots of sounds with the world!
Recording in Manila, India in the foothills of the Himalayas.
First up, two events the weekend of April 13, a solo concert and a day-long retreat / sleep concert!
I’ll be playing a solo show at Event Horizon at the Rotunda. For this show I’ll be joined by my old friend and artistic collaborator William Fields on real-time visuals. This show will feature a live presentation of my Landscapes work.
In this series I work with field recordings from environments and
decontextualize them using “sonic photography” techniques to explore the
intersection of inner and outer landscapes realized through memory,
emotion, time and place. This show will feature recordings and sonic
memories from Thailand, Myanmar and India.
I can’t wait to experience these sounds on the nice sound system at the
Rotunda and with Bill’s realtime visuals, it’s going to be something
else! (Below is an image of Bill’s work, check out his website williamfields.com for more of his amazing AV work).
Event Horizon Friday April 13, 8pm
Juan Garces, BEEP, Mikronesia w/ William Fields
The Rotunda
4014 Walnut St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
