by Donte Kirby
Ulrich Schnauss and Telequanta transported the audience to their world at Johnny Brenda’s on Wednesday night by using atmospheric music and complementary images as the vehicle.
The opening act, Telequanta, is from the East Falls area of Philadelphia, lovingly referred to as “Easy Falls” by this act. . Telequanta took the crowd on a journey that ranged from serene melodies with woodland images to dark synths and abstract images coupled with geometric shapes. The duo’s name originates from a poster by Patrick Schlitzer, the visuals side of Telequanta. J. Termini, the electronic side of the band, began collaborating with Schlitzer in 2011. When Schlitzer created an image of four people teleporting, “telequanta” came about. “The name was short hand for an amount of people teleporting. I looked it up later and tele is Greek for space and quanta means quantitative. So it worked out.” A fitting name to go along with their ethereal and spacey sound.
(credit Donte Kirby)
Termini has been using the same synthesizer for nine years. “I know I should get a new one but I just know how to make some really cool sounds with it,” he says.
Some really cool sounds worth checking out are found in The Programmable Matter EP. It can be downloaded at their website. Their new EP, Metalverse, comes out in October through the Philly-based label Data Garden Records. This is quite a label- it distributes music through digital album codes on artwork that grow into living plants.
There was a sizable crowed for Telequanta but that crowd exploded when Ulrich Schnauss hit the stage. He, too, took the crowd on a trip of dark atmospheric synths combined with images of driving down rain slicked roads and desolate mountain highways or city scapes and machinery. A true showcase to the power of an image was the one of a dancing man in sand dunes, although the beat wasn’t particularly danc-y, the crowd was dancing along anyway, motivated by the abstract dance on the screen.
Ulrich ended his set with a grand distorted glitchy crescendo then quickly left the stage into the back. The crowd went nuts from the spectacle of it. It was the longest applause I’ve ever heard live. If Ulrich Schnauss is ever in your city, I suggest you go out to see him. Like his album title suggests, A Long Way to Fall, you’re in for a musical odyssey.
