RAGE Thormbones (Mattie Barbier, Weston Olencki) is a low-frequency duo whose work exists at the intersections of “fuck around” and “find out”. Their sounds bring together various de/re-constructed brass instruments and electronic synthesis + amplification, with many trips to the hardware store and the polyphonic hum of Mattie’s fabrication shop and Weston’s overworked CPU load. They produce sculpted masses of high-density sound, carving metallic resonance and subcutaneous tones to make rooms feel really heavy. They aim to shift the role of brass instruments away from vocal virtuosity and more toward their true selves as improvising organic air compressors – physically-modeled synthesis transcribed back into the acoustic domain.
RAGE has collaborated with a range of artists including Kevin Drumm, Sarah Davachi, Clara Iannotta, and British pop maverick Scott Walker. They’ve tooted their trombones everywhere from Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Darmstadt Summer Courses, Borealis Festival, and ISSUE Project Room to their favorite basements/living rooms/warehouses/crypts and more recently, as soloists with the Helsinki Philharmonic.
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