Event

Sensations Fix and Protect-U at Tropicalia

Sensations Fix: Franco Falsini is founder of Sensations Fix, a prog-space rock band from the 70-80s with a heavy electronic attitude, very popular at the time. A lot of his and band work of the past has been released lately from Universal, RVNG intl, Spectrum Spool and Superior Viaduct and has been remixed by DJs and contemporary producers such as DJ Shadow to create actualized versions from their psychedelic rhythmic material. Based on these experiences, Franco has put together a system that uses electronics and controllers to create a solid music foundation, allowing the other musicians and himself to easily take off while revisiting Sensations Fix material.
Guest musicians have been a crucial part of the current live project, fitting in local musicians where the shows are taking place has been valuable. The current touring line-up includes Jackson Pollis (drummer of Real Estate) and synth wizard Collin Crowe, Franco's companion at Body Actualized where the project was first conceived.

Protect-U: Proxies for the word "synthesizer" usually imply some sort of limitation: box, rig, assembly, gear, array, machine, and so on. It's all the unfortunate legacy of the rockist lexicography. In Protect-U's hands, though, synths are liberated to contribute whatever they can toward body-moving and brain-waving. The Washington, D.C., duo - Mike Petillo (who co-runs the Future Times label along with Andrew Max D of Beautiful Swimmers) and Aaron Leitko - treats every piece of hardware as an expression of possibility, and then enjoins those circuits into its beat-driven mission. Free USA, Protect-U's first LP that came out in May 2014, is merely one high-glow reference point in a planetarium that includes various head-approved EPs, mixes and remixes, as well as a solid history of live shows where established hooks, improvised grooves and new math unite to both honor and disrupt the precepts of house and techno. Rhythms braid and unbraid, keyboard motifs shift and reverberate, and legends of the switched-on universe are summoned and re-imagined.