by Jason

On June 27^th, 2017 at The Green Elephant in Dallas, TX, I walked into a concert I had been anticipating for some time. To say that I was excited to see Steve Hauschildt perform live was an understatement. What I didn’t know was the treat I was about to experience getting to hear the likes of Future Museums, Adam Pacione, and Jake Schrock play as well. I was sadly unaware of the rather large ambient scene happening in the area and I’m glad I have made some rather great friends and contacts in the scene now. The artists all brought an eclectic variety of ambient music, moving from spacey drones to the utilization of violin and guitar. That said, they all were exceptional at their craft. I also need to mention Evan Henry and Brian Tomerlin who provided visuals during the first three sets. You can see some of what they did in the pictures taken of the gig in this article. They did a great job giving visual textures to the aural ones at play.

JAKE SCHROCK

Jake Schrock opened the evening with a set of ambient/electronic music laced with some beats.  He has a very cosmic vibe to his electronic soundscapes, with pulsating bass and beautiful melodies that shift and morph as tracks continue to develop. Check out his soundcloud to get a sense of his style and intriguing compositions.

 

ADAM PACIONE

The brilliant Adam Pacione was next, with an ambient assault of continuously altering forms and tonal textures. Pacione has been an ambient artist since the 90’s in Dallas but expressed the fact that there was no scene at the time. It was difficult to find place to play live gigs. Over the past few years DAMN has come about and ambient artists like Future Museums have come up in Austin. Pacione is sort of a godfather to the local scene and his set was fabulous. It was filled with drones and incredibly creative variations, drenching the audience in beautiful aural soundscapes.

 

FUTURE MUSEUMS

Future Museums from Austin was next and their set was incredible. Utilizing violin, guitar, and synthesizers, the duo used sonic textures to play against fuzzy, delayed guitar and violin which sprinkled the set with Americana type melody lines. This ambient set was more on the experimental side and it was dynamic, with utilization of volume as a means to create emotive moments and textures to play off smooth violin and dense guitars.

 

Last was the moment for which I had waited for weeks it seemed. Steve Hauschildt was going to hit the stage. His set was brilliant, bringing his electronic minimalism mixed with his inventiveness. Moving in and out of percussive moments, he soothed with ambient waves of various textures that washed over the audience. He also had his own visuals, which were effective in giving the audience a visual interpretation of the soundscapes. Of course, it wasn’t too much in terms of interpretations, but enough to catch the eyes and really to highlight or enhance the sonic waves. It’s clear as an artist, Hauschildt is a master of his craft and he mesmerizes his audience from the stage. If you have a chance to catch him live, I highly recommend you do.

 

DAMN’s night of ambient music in a small club in Dallas should have been more populated. The musical talent in the room was enormous and their ability to translate their material to the stage brilliant. Go and buy all these artists’ works and see them live when you can.

To keep track of upcoming events through DAMN, follow them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dallasambientmusicnights/

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