From New Music America 1990, Montreal Musiques Actuelles programme
Biota was founded in 1979 in Fort Collins, Colorado, as the Mnemonist Orchestra. Over the years, the Mnemonist Orchestra developed into Biota (the musical contingent) and Mnemonists (the visual contingent). Both Biota and Mnemonists work as one on productions of musical and visual components. The group has released nine albums, one EP, and a recent CD in addition to several cassettes and compilation ventures, on both their own Dys label and Recommended Records UK. Now in its 11th year of studio-based recording and graphic production, the Biota-Mnemonists ensemble visits Montreal Musiques Actuelles - New Music America 1990 with its first live adaptation of studio technique since 1981. Renowned for its work in the two-dimensional graphic media, the group's visual contingent will debut its motion picture efforts, with Heidi Eversley's large-screen video imagery accompanying the sonic performance.
Throughout its recording history, Biota-Mnemonists has placed as much emphasis on mixdown and related studio operations as they have on source instrument playing. The group's acoustic instrumental work can undergo radical tonal, timbral and temporal modification via its studio based electronic processing chains. Biota-Mnemonists' compositional development remains highly dependent on such interactions.
Virtually all electronic sounds generated during this performance will be derived from acoustic instrumental sources played live on this specific occasion. No pre-recorded tapes or pre-recorded digital samples will be mixed into the live sound.
Biota-Mnemonists' New Music America composition will blend two very different manifestations of the acoustic playing visible on stage:
1) the live electronic transformation of the source instrumental playing via interactive digital and analog processing, and 2) the natural, unamplified sounds of the source instruments as they emanate directly from stage.
All source instrumentation will be acoustic (excepting the electric guitars), and no electronic synthesizers or sequencers will be employed.
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