The music went from dark to light; from something familiar to something unknown. The transitions were seamless and aligned perfectly with the unique and novel footage playing around him on TV screens of varied and even tubular models. Multi-instrumentalist, Eric Schaffer, weaves loops and plays along with ideas on an array of instruments in Cypress Hills, CA. My favorite device being a miniature xylophone built into a box that he is seen not only playing with a piece of metal but also by singing directly into its pickup. We see him play this machine and then adjust knobs on the side of it to get the level, tamber and delay just right.
The tones continue to ebb and flow in surround sound in the dark back room of the coolest video gallery you’ve ever experienced. Eric lets the music ride as he steps to the front to speak to the owner about levels, lights a joint and gets tipped from someone passing through giving him a thumbs-up. Somehow the videos pause in this moment and the static on the screens matches exactly with the repeated scrubbing sound that is the shortest looped theme of the night. We’re barely halfway through the set at 1:20 minutes of 3 hours. I’m elated because the trance aspect or Eric’s work puts me in an elevated state. I come prepared with blue-light blocking glasses and comfortable clothing and sit in one of the classic red theatre chairs that are arranged in twos along the wall. I drink the water I brought and am grateful the weather is mild tonight as the gallery tends to mirror the outside temperature.
The clicks and whisps somehow create a tempo that Eric meticulously counts a long, 7-beat bar before pressing the loop pedal at the exact moment to set a new ambient phrase. He started the night with an acoustic guitar and has since moved from synth to electric guitar and back. People continue to come and go, some invitees, some from the bar next door and some locals who simply heard music from the sidewalk. Everyone seems equally surprised and impressed, taking their phones out to capture the moment or closing their eyes and swaying to the pulsating music.
I take a moment to stretch my legs and wander into the front half of the store where the owner, Michael Arden, talks with locals as he choses the next VHS tape to stream throughout the gallery. Here one can play with varying degrees of video technology from an AI amplified art book Michael has written to direct feedback loop channels, mini televisions and a VJ mixer streaming video footage to toggle to your hearts desire.
The end of the set brings the most uplifting theme yet, garnering energized moments of dancing, clapping and phonating from members of the audience. And just as easy as it began, it ends. I buy an “Impossible Inevitable Volume 2” cassette tape for my drive home and the rhythms take me down the 110 a little after midnight as fog from the impending storm sets in.