When Ben Parris isn't studying 15th- and 16th-century English Renaissance literature or fulfilling his TA duties for undergraduate English classes, he's often occupied with the experimental sounds of the digital music subculture.
Parris has "weird ways" of connecting his Ph.D studies at Hopkins with his musical interests, but don't ask him to make those links without being prepared to sacrifice a substantial amount of time for serious discussion.
"Anytime you ask a graduate student what they're working on, you're getting ready to embark on a three hour conversation," says Parris.
With his regular Wednesday night DJ residency at the Sonar Lounge in Canton, Parris has been able to share these interests - excepting, most likely, the Renaissance studies - with the Baltimore community at large. As the co-organizer of this weekend's Once.Twice Festival of Sound, the only music festival of its kind on the East Coast and comparable to similar festivals in Chicago and Montreal, Parris is taking that impact a step further.
At this year's Once.Twice Festival, 14 of the foremost local, national and international artists of the mostly digital music spectrum will be descending upon Baltimore. Video artists will accompany the musical sets with visual presentations.
Parris waxes happily about the variety of people Once.Twice hopes to reach this weekend, from modern art enthusiasts to film studies majors, and from "critical theory" devotees to people who just want to have fun.
"I want it to be an intersection between the more cerebral, high-brow, avant-garde culture and the dance music subculture and independent music culture," says Parris. "I want all these things to hopefully come together. This festival's going to be about promoting the types of music and art where all those things kind of converge."
The Once.Twice Festival was a local phenomenon founded last year by Jason Urick to promote Baltimore musicians experimenting in the electronic avant-garde. Parris met Urick, an employee at the Fells Point CD oasis Soundgarden, when he discovered that he was buying all of the electronic CDs that Urick was responsible for ordering. The two eventually decided to pool their resources and co-sponsor an expanded sequel to Urick's debut festival. This time around, they would increase the scope and magnitude of the event and invite a more geographically diverse body of artists.
The festival will start on Friday night at the Whole Gallery in Mount Vernon with artists including Brooklyn's Timeblind and the super-minimalist sounds and near-silences of 2002 Whitney Biennal participant Richard Chartier. Also included on Friday is Red Room Collective mainstay Ian Nagoski in a set to be accompanied by a video from fellow Red Room member Catherine Pancake.
"The first night is going to be more focused on really quiet, digital composition and ambient soundscape kind of stuff," says Parris. "That's going to be in a gallery space, which I think is going to be more conducive to challenging listening."
Saturday night is at the Ottobar, which will make for "a little bit more raucous and danceable" and beat-oriented atmosphere. The night features a diverse array of local and popular artists culminating in performances by the West Coast-based Sutekh and Safety Scissors, who were flown in by Once.Twice from San Francisco.
The Whole Gallery occupies the Third Floor of 405 W. Franklin St. Tickets for the April 5 show at the gallery are $9. The Ottobar, just south of campus at 2549 N. Howard St., can be reached on foot or by shuttle. Tickets for the April 6 show at the Ottobar are $14. Weekend passes cost $20. Visit http:/www.oncetwicesound.com for the full schedule.
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