The Missed Connections
Particulate Matter, 2016.
The Missed Connections, Hurricane, 2015.
Trash noise, 2013.
2007-2011, 2015-2016, 2020
The Missed Connections is the musical project of Amelia Marzec.
Growing up, we had a lot of musical instruments around the house. At one point there were two pianos and two organs. Later on, my father declared that the accordion was his soul instrument, which resulted in there being a hundred accordions in the house at any given moment. I studied piano and later took a sound synthesis class; but the recordings began in earnest when I started losing hearing in my left ear due to a tumor. Melodies would pop into my head, and I suddenly wanted to capture them. In the few months before a surgery that would silence that ear forever, I tried to learn as much as possible about stereo sound, but ended up listening to an album by the Postal Service over and over, "Give Up." The recordings continued in mono. They were the first time I ever used my voice as an instrument. Otherwise I used mostly acoustic instruments and physical objects to create all the sounds, with very minimal processing. I loved the physicality of vibrational resonance, maybe because my auditory perception was flat. The
recordings initially brought out my early classical and folk influences. This project inspired my Sound Booth project, which takes the experience of an intimate recording environment to a live performance. It is largely improvised, but sometimes uses a score. After beginning to work mostly with discarded technology through my New American Sweatshop project, I began using broken amps and microphones in the improvisations. This created noise and feedback, the unpredictability of which was akin to performing with other musicians. A collaboration, Particulate Matter occurred, a sound installation incorporating more of the old technology I had been working with in my art practice. I returned to recording under the name Alouette 1 for further experimentation. Overall, I am very interested in failures of communication.
Collaborators: Tim Alexander, mastering on To Be Free Again; Andy Samford, mastering on The Rumi Book; Michaelangelo, percussion and mastering on Little Disasters; Claudeland Louis, cover art for Little Disasters. The Missed Connections have also contributed to / collaborated with New Languages, Girl Named Sam, Extrusion Dies, Andy Averbuch, Matthew Gantt, and The Aeronautical Legends. Particulate Matter was Amelia Marzec and Robert Mayson.
The Missed Connections Recordings:
- Epicenter (single), RPM April 2020.
- To Be Free Again, RPM 2016.
- The Rumi Book, RPM 2011.
- Little Disasters, RPM 2010.
- Hold Still, You Say, RPM 2009.
- Gesture Sketch, RPM 2008.
- (View all albums)
All Music/Sound Performances:
- With the Sound Booth, Performance Anxiety at Chinatown Soup, NYC, January 30, 2017.
- With the Sound Booth, Abasement, at Max Fish, NYC, January 9, 2017.
- With Particulate Matter, Swale, at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6, Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 12, 2016.
- Iterations, at Panoply Performance Laboratory, Brooklyn, NY, Sept. 18, 2016.
- With Particulate Matter, Artificial Retirement, at Flux Factory, Queens, NY, Sept. 11, 2016.
- With Particulate Matter, Abasement, at Max Fish, NYC, Aug. 8, 2016.
- With Particulate Matter, Make Music New York, at McCarren Park, Brooklyn, NY, June 21, 2016.
- With the Sound Booth, Performancy Forum: Sonar and Semblance, at Panoply Performance Laboratory, Brooklyn, NY, November 19, 2015.
- With the Sound Booth, A Refuge, at Panoply Performance Laboratory, Brooklyn, NY, March 15, 2014.
- With the Sound Booth, Make Music New York, at McCarren Park, Brooklyn, NY, June 21, 2013.
- With The Missed Connections, 8th Street Festival, with the Village Alliance, NYC, June 15, 2013.
- With the Sound Booth, Music Factory, Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, NYC, December 8-11, 2012.
- Holidays for the Future, at 16 Beaver Street, NYC, May 27, 2012.
- With The Missed Connections, RPM listening party, House show, Brooklyn, NY, March, 2010.
- With The Missed Connections, RPM listening party, House show, Brooklyn, NY, March, 2009.
- With The Missed Connections, Acoustic Xmas Spectacular, at The Parlor, New Brunswick, NJ, December 27, 2008.
- With The Missed Connections, RPM listening party, Rebar, Brooklyn, NY, March 2008.
- With The Missed Connections, Sankalpah Yoga, NYC, January 2008.
- Featured Performance, with Share, at Mundial, NYC, 2006.
- UBISAC Ubiquitous Computing Systems Aesthetics Championship, Flux Factory, Queens, NY, 2004.
- Audio Visual Systems and Machines Performance Night, Parsons School of Design, NYC, 2004.
- Yearly piano recitals, Lincroft Presbyterian Church, NJ, 1986-1998.
Press, Blogs, Collaborations, Soundtracks:
- "The Co-Op Communique Volume Two Has Been Released." Down The Line Magaine, April 1, 2016.
- "The Co-Op Communique Volume Two," Compilation album, March 31, 2016.
- "Remote Hearing: Stone Soup." Free Music Archive, June 16, 2014.
- "A Rebel Dancing After All These Years," Soundtrack. Grace Graupe Pillard, May 19, 2010.
- "Missed Connections Hits The Big Times." Mennonno Sapiens, February 14th, 2010.
- "Some Girl, Some Bar, Some Other Time." NPR Music, April 22nd, 2008.