Why Gambletron Rules by Danica Evering (2016)
Gambletron
On a hilltop in Northern Ontario crisp with dry grasses, under a pale blue sky, one hot afternoon in August, my hands dripping with (maybe) vanilla icecream, I met Gambletron (absolutely). She was squinting into the sun and wearing a baseball hat (I’m pretty sure) and hanging with the tiniest dog on a woven blanket next to Johnny Forever (Johnny accompanies Gambletron with mesmerizing visuals). The dog licked my fingers (I think. Maybe this is just a romantic memory). Gambletron was open, generous, charming, and curious (I’m certain).
(If you haven’t been yet, Electric Eclectics is a humble extravaganza of experimental music and sound art in Meaford, ON that sets a hill and a half and a bit of a valley (an all-night DJ pit party grove) on fire the first weekend of every August. Directed by new Kazoodle and Guelph resident Chris Worden and roundly-respected sound artist Gordon Monahan, it is slapdash and exceptionally programmed. It is held on the property Monahan shares with artist Laura Kikauka, and whose lush and excessive found object installation practice is palpable throughout the spaces from the floor-to ceiling fun fur/record/pillow/toy/glitter extravaganza in the studio building to the main stage.)
So, the ice cream was consumed (by us or the pup) and the traces left in grass and fingers grew warm. The afternoon wore on, the sun went down, and the evening grew cold. It became close to the end of the night. Bathed in coloured light and surrounded by a twisting jumble of wires, synths, mics, pedals, radios, clocks, keyboards, telephony, a bike wheel, a theramin, and other homemade magic, Gambletron stood (I hope but sincerely doubt that this list complete).
Pulling on weft and warp of rubber-coated copper, she wove a surreal queer dance party that jolted from glitchy noise to pop loops to blippy electronics to toy noises (*kkhht* merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream *kkhhhh*). It was playful and hard and it opened up my sternum shook up my heart. And it left a green and glowing there—the bright glass eye of a toothy ceramic owl—a thrumming lantern to illuminate the inky night.
Gambletron’s a wizard of new sound. She’ll plug in your fingers and you’ll dance, shaky and electrified. And she rules (definitely).
Danica Evering is a metaphorist, imposter, and warrior queen from Cobourg, Ontario who is currently chasing an MA in Media Studies at Concordia and haphazardly skyping into Kazoo! Festival board meetings.
