A flashing plastic owl, a children’s toy piano and two Arts students – Daily staffer Joshua Frank and Yannick Kuch – were the musical highlights of Fridge Door Gallery’s third vernissage yesterday evening. Urban Joseph is the duo’s newly hatched brainchild. While they have been playing improv for some time, they first performed at art collective lab.synthese just over a month ago. Urban Joseph’s experimental noise is a mix between the hilariously entertaining (their last show involved Frank crawling on the floor with a flashing owl tied to his head) and musically innovative. And while the variety of plastic musical instruments suggests child-play, the aggressively loud music is anything but puerile.
Urban Joseph’s messy four-minute set at lab.synthese has evolved into a mature, 20-minute show. At The Fridge Door, Kuch called the audience to attention by switching a miniature television to “static fuzz” mode. As Kuch’s classically-trained fingers gently pawed a colourful toy guitar, Frank’s eager feet pedalled in time to his noisy bass. Although Urban Joseph’s music lacks a clearly discernible rhythm, Kuch’s laptop beats and Frank’s Buddha box chants had the vernissage attendees foot-tapping in no time.
The Fridge Door Gallery is located in Leacock 111.