Smash and Teeny expand the frontiers of improvisation and sound art through their innovative use of electroacoustics, prepared electric guitar, everyday widgets, and the sublime, illusive tones of the shô. One of "Canada's more original musical voices" (Eye Weekly), they create a musical expression rich in timbre, lyricism and subtlety. In his unusual approach to the guitar, Nilan Perera utilizes preparations of assorted paraphernalia such as swizzle sticks, paper clips, metal brushes and the like, as well as feedback and a variety of electronic effects. His explorations of sound infuse timbre, melodic gesture and cyclic contour with reminiscences of the blues, Hendrix, Partch, Sri Lankan folk music and beyond, drawing on his activities as avant-jazz guitarist, sound explorer and composer. Sarah Peebles integrates sounds she has gathered from natural habitats and cityscapes in North America and Japan into her improvisations. She gathers and alters her own sounds on the fly, which run the gamut from dust pans, modulated railway sounds and snow, to hummingbirds, ignited vapors and cicadas. She also draws upon the sustained tones of the shô, the Japanese mouth-organ noted for its unique timbre and tendency to 'throw' sound in unexpected ways.
Perera and Peebles have worked together as the duo "Smash and Teeny" since 1991 and with the Toronto-based trio "Cinnamon Sphere" (with Chung Gong Ha, calligrapher) since 1995, performing and rec …
Smash and Teeny expand the frontiers of improvisation and sound art through their innovative use of electroacoustics, prepared electric guitar, everyday widgets, and the sublime, illusive tones of the shô. One of "Canada's more original musical voices" (Eye Weekly), they create a musical expression rich in timbre, lyricism and subtlety. In his unusual approach to the guitar, Nilan Perera utilizes preparations of assorted paraphernalia such as swizzle sticks, paper clips, metal brushes and the like, as well as feedback and a variety of electronic effects. His explorations of sound infuse timbre, melodic gesture and cyclic contour with reminiscences of the blues, Hendrix, Partch, Sri Lankan folk music and beyond, drawing on his activities as avant-jazz guitarist, sound explorer and composer. Sarah Peebles integrates sounds she has gathered from natural habitats and cityscapes in North America and Japan into her improvisations. She gathers and alters her own sounds on the fly, which run the gamut from dust pans, modulated railway sounds and snow, to hummingbirds, ignited vapors and cicadas. She also draws upon the sustained tones of the shô, the Japanese mouth-organ noted for its unique timbre and tendency to 'throw' sound in unexpected ways.
Perera and Peebles have worked together as the duo "Smash and Teeny" since 1991 and with the Toronto-based trio "Cinnamon Sphere" (with Chung Gong Ha, calligrapher) since 1995, performing and recording in Europe, Canada, the U.S. and Japan, and collaborating with such exceptional artists as John Butcher, David Toop, Jin Hi Kim, Evan Parker, Kô Ishikawa, Darren Copeland, Sumihisa Arima, and Tomomi Adachi. Venues have included the CCA (Glasgow), the ICA and BBC3 (London), Paradox (Netherlands), Music Gallery (Toronto), Kobe International Festival of Modern Music (Japan), The Outpost (New Mexico) and Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT, Montréal). Their new double-CD, "Gathering", with guest John Butcher, is out on Spool (May, 2004).
In addition to their 2003 European tour, Smash and Teeny have performed at the Kobe International Festival of Modern Music, Space Alta, Plan B (Yokohama, Tokyo), The Outpost (Albuquerque, NM) and Strange Attractors Festival (MN). Their first recording together (as Cinnamon Sphere), "Hover", received exceptional praise from The Wire (March, 2001; full review at sarahpeebles.net), and their music, available on CD and video, is fully catalogued under the Recordings and Cinnamon Sphere sections at sarahpeebles.net.
Contact Nilan Perera here [synaptic_circus at yahoo dot com] and Sarah Peebles here [sarahpeebles at g mail dot com].
