TEKNOTAG

At the Advocate

March 12

Last Saturday night, the Advocate initiated sonic warfare with the city of Cambridge. Deafening explosions roared under machine gun clatter, while the drone and whine of bombers and the piercing scream of air-raid sirens echoed through the streets. In just under two-and-a-half hours, city forces managed to infiltrate the Advocate stronghold and suppress the uprising, and Cambridge residents were able to return to the quiet safety of their beds.

But while the assault lasted, it was brutal and sublime. Leading the offensive were/rupture and esp of the local Toneburst Collective. Hunched over a table laden eight turntables, mixers, speakers, samplers and a laptop, all connected by a web of cables, /rupture and esp spliced together sounds of futuristic urban warfare. They started the set with an ambient, downtempo groove purring with thick, deep bass. But the second floor of the Advocate House, the Sanctum, began swarming with people, the tempo and intensity of the beats increased, until the room was shuddering to the manic cadence and dive-bomb bass of wreckstep jungle.

But the electric /rupture and esp did not limit themselves to any one genre. They interspersed smooth experimental tip-top and ambient noise soundscapes with beat-heavy jungle paranoia. And when esp began a live set, orchestrated on his laptop, he obligated conventional genres of contemporary dance music. Looking like a mad scientist behind piles of hardware and cables, esp pushed the limits of electronic experimentation, turning the Advocate into a testing ground for revolutionary urban combat. Imagine the brain waves of William Burroughs playing Space Invaders--set to music.

Countless cigarettes and a smoke machine created a nearly impenetrable haze in which Advocate intellectuals and local hipsters writhed, bopped and boogied down. The frenetic music inspired all dimensions of dance and movement from eager couples bumping and grinding to solitary enthusiasts thrashing in ecstatic abandon. And those who did not dance reclined on couches or leaned against the walls, absorbing the room's thick energy.

The DJs/producers/rupture and esp are not new to Harvard. Jace Clayton (/rupture) and Mike Esposito (esp) started the Toneburst Collective while they were undergraduates here. The loose-knit collective spans multiple genres and media, uniting jungle, ambient and hiphop DJs and producers like DJ Flack, Embryo and Electro Organic Sound System with video-and installation-artists like Synergy Promixions. They organize numerous events in the New England area which are more like carnivals than raves or concerts, combining abstract beats, video experimentation and performance art in unorthodox spaces. A production last year, Junk, was staged in a church and featured junglists and punk rockers, with interludes of spoken word and political puppet theater. Free rice and beans were available, and the seven-hour show cost only $5. Upcoming events include Transformations in April at Boston University and Access in May at the Museum of Science. See the website (www.toneburst.com) for more information. The crew recently released their second compilation, Toneburst Collective, on the label Bliss, featuring tracks by /rupture and esp. Clayton and Esposito are also starting their own label, Soot, which should begin putting out records this summer.

The Advocate's support of artists like /rupture and esp suggests that the organization is taking a more active role in providing space for and promoting local art. Teknotag, like the Advocate's GNR8R show last February and its recent photography exhibit, Sampler, in Adams House, offered a rare glimpse into the experimental artistic underground that is too often invisible at Harvard.

Regrettably, Cambridge police did not appreciate the importance of this show. At approximately 12:30 a.m., two cops shut it down, citing the city's 11 p.m. noise ordinance. The room cleared, and /rupture and esp turned off and packed up their musical weaponry. The sonic assault may have been silenced, but it was not defeated. This revolution has only just begun.