Peep this fantastical 33-min documentary that touches on MegaFest-related themes including navigating and interpreting urban sound environments, cities as soundworks in progress, the sonic qualities of the urban machine, etc., and interviews good people from free103point9, who will perform at MEGAPOLIS the night of Saturday April 25:

Soundwalkers from raquel castro on Vimeo.

“There are some fundamental principles regarding the construction of an acoustically healthy society, one where we can exist within the sounds of life. Respect towards voice and words, sonic awareness, the awakening of the sense of hearing. To preserve the sounds that tend to fade out, while remaining open to the sounds that spring out of each technological stride. To build an aural idiom that interprets its own symbolism. To accept the silence, enforcing it in the due moments. And, above all else, to listen.”

Via GetLoFi:

An utterly insane and spooky modified Israeli gas mask is on sale at eBay now, complete with circuit bent vocal manglers. You can get into MegaFest for free if you show up wearing this. Also, everywhere else.

Buy em. Get em. Squeeze em. Stretch em. The best tickets you will ever buy in your entire life.

DO IT!

ALSO…! Don’t forget, there are a bunch of totally america workshops with limited space. You must RSVP to these guys or you’ll probably regret it for the rest of your life. Check the newly updated schmedule, especially the list of daytime workshops to see which ones need your immediate attention.

Megapolis musician Tyler Mains just pointed us to this excellent performance. Slightly yet endearingly awkward art school teens perform a piece comprised of structured nonsense words without precise pitch, composed by Adachi Tomomi. We think the guy in dreads could be putting a bit more effort into it, proving once again dreads are for lazy hippies:

Some of the rhythms and vocalizations are reminiscent of Balinese Kecak. For comparison, here’s a scene from Baraka:

Ever wonder what it would sound like to have an audio broadcast of the entire human genome? Of course you have.

Well, wonder no more. Hurry up though, the project will only last another 23 years or so when the final chromosome is read aloud (the pathetically tiny Y chromosome).

This originally came to our attention thanks to Rob Rosenthal, the radio instructor over at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Rob, incidentally, runs the excellent Saltcast — a podcast devoted to deconstructing radio stories and a great resource for aspiring audio doc creators.

MF2009 featured performer Gregory Whitehead’s recent radio opus entitled “Bring Me the Head of Philip K Dick” will be featured on BBC Radio 3 this Sunday (3/8) at 8 pm GMT or 3 pm EST; it will also be available online for the entire week following. From the BBC website (see link for the cast list):

“Gregory Whitehead’s dark, surreal and satirical drama, set in contemporary America, centres on a deadly futuristic weapon in the shape of the android head of science-fiction writer Philip K Dick. Invented by a shadowy research unit inside the Pentagon, the head - which believes it actually is Dick himself - is wreaking havoc on society and must be stopped before it finds its body.”

And from GW himself: “Featuring extraordinary performances from my Berkshire ensemble, and stunning music by Nick Zammuto and Laura Wiens.”

We’re looking for a couple ‘official’ bloggers to document MegaFest with text, photos and video. Requirements are availability for the entire weekend (evening of 24th to evening of 26th), sharp writing skills, unparalleled energy and a flair for the awesome. Benefit is a free festival pass for each blogger (natch) and a MF t-shirt. Send your pitch and previous work examples to contact at megapolisfestival.org.

It’s by no means the final product, but we’ve just added close to 30 performances, workshops, installations, and other great stuff to our official schedule.

Some of the many fine additions include: a circuit-bending workshop for building your own weird instruments, an audio-based slumber party that may or may not include “Seven Minutes in Heaven with a Microphone,” a bicycle-powered 8-track player, a performance by a typewriter orchestra, a Max Neuhaus-inspired radio station created by you, and lots lots lots lots lots lots more.

America!