The Machine

Uploaded today to youtube, the below video from last Friday captures accomplished Los Angeles-based artist Llyn Foulkes performing on his "Machine" - a homemade instrument inspired by his childhood idol, Spike Jones, comprised of car and bicycle horns. Meanwhile, his feet control drums and basslines, yet he often throws in xylophone and cowbell for good measure. While the Machine may look like an invocation of Italian futurist Luigi Russolo's intonarumori, and anyone that attempts to create a whole self-sufficient ensemble out of piecemeal horns would be assumed to have a penchant for the avantgarde, indeed Foulkes dabbles in some abstract sound on occasion. Nonetheless, by and large Foulkes plays a fairly straightforward combo jazz (albeit as a soloist). He created the Machine in 1980 and now at the age of 74, has grown to focus on music and performing the Machine moreso than his visual art career. Foulkes plays his Machine on a live webcast from the Church of Art every Tuesday at 1am EST.