Blevin Blectum

Blevin Blectum (born Bevin Kelley) is an American electronic musician and multimedia composer. She is celebrated as an "icon of deviant and cerebral electronic music".[1]

Blevin Blectum
Blevin Blectum at the Mills College concert in 1999.
Background information
Birth nameBevin Kelley
Also known asD84, Synopterus
Born1971 (age 49–50)
GenresElectronic
Years active1998 – present
Associated actsSagan
Blectum from Blechdom
Websitehttp://www.blevinblectum.com/

Early life and education

She was born Bevin Kelley in 1971.[2][3] Her younger brother is musician Kelley Polar[4] and her cousin is musician Rayna Russom. Blectum studied the violin during her youth.

At Oberlin College she began making electronic music at the WOBC-FM studios. At Mills College, she partnered with Kevin Blechdom to form Blectum from Blechdom, an electronica and performance art duo.[5] In 2001, Blectum from Blechdom won an Award of Distinction for digital music at the Prix Ars Electronica.[6]

In May 2014, she graduated with a PhD in Computer Music and Multimedia from Brown University's Multimedia and Electronic Music Experiments (MEME) department. Her dissertation committee included writer Brian Evenson and playwright Erik Ehn.[7] While at Brown University she created sound and music for several of playwright Theo Goodell's works.

Career

Blectum has released many solo albums, and released a CD/DVD Unseen Forces on Matmos's Vague Terrain label as part of multimedia band Sagan with J Lesser, video producer Ryan Junell, and Wobbly.[8] In 1998 she worked at Orban testing radio processing units, in 1999 worked at Thomas Dolby's Headspace and Beatnik Inc. as a beta-tester, and in 2000 to 2004 worked as a sound designer at LeapFrog Enterprises and several smaller sound design companies in the San Francisco Bay Area.

She has commonly worked with the software Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Max/MSP/Jitter, Apogee Duet.[2]

An avid bird enthusiast, Blectum quit music for several years and worked as a registered veterinary technician at the Medical Center for Birds in Northern California,[9] before moving to Providence, Rhode Island in 2007.[3]

In 2013, she co-founded theatrical-electro-acoustic-chamber-ensemble The Traveling Bubble Ensemble with Michael Kelley, Elise Kuder, and Marjorie Gere.

In 2011 she was artist-in-residence at WORM, a Rotterdam-based institute for avant-garde music and art.

Her fifth solo LP/CD, Emblem Album, was released on Aagoo records on December 5, 2013.

In November of 2017 she released All Day I Dream About Singularity (vinyl and download) under the name Synopterus, on Darling Dada (Paris).

Late 2020 saw the release of a remix track + video, for composer Kirsten Volness's album 'River Rising'. Music by Blevin Blectum, video by Alex P Dupuis.

In 2021 she resides in Seattle, working by day as Senior UX Sound Designer for Echo Alexa Devices, and continues to perform and release music. A new solo record as well as Blectum from Blechdom ('Deep Bone') and Sagan ('Anti-Ark' on the Hausu label) albums will be released later this year.

Discography
Year Title Artist(s) Label Notes
1998 Pirate Planets as D84 (Blevin Blectum) Phthalo Records, Los Angeles, California
2002 Talon Slalom Blevin Blectum Deluxe Records, Berkeley, California [10] The artwork and video by Ryan Junell.
2004 Magic Maple Blevin Blectum Praemedia, San Francisco, California
2008 Gular Flutter Blevin Blectum Aagoo, Brooklyn, New York The artwork by China Miéville, video by Ryan Junell.
2013 Emblem Album Blevin Blectum Aagoo, Brooklyn, New York
2014 Irradiance Blevin Blectum Estuary Ltd., Providence, Rhode Island
2017 All Day I Dream About Singularity as Synopterus (Blevin Blectum) Darling Dada, Paris http://www.darlingdada.com/en/album/all-day-i-dream-about-singularity
2020 Nocturne (Psaltriparus minimus Mix) Music, Blevin Blectum, Video, Alex Dupuis Remix for Kirsten Volness' album 'River Rising' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu55wI7cH2w
[10]

References
  1. Liability, Fabien. "Chronicle: Blevin Blectum: Emblem Album". Liability. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  2. "herstory of electronic music". NerdGirls. 2014. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  3. Rodgers, Tara (2010). Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound. Duke University Press. pp. 235–242. ISBN 9780822394150 – via Google Books.
  4. Sherburne, Philip (2005-11-22). "Record Review: Kelley Polar Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 2008-01-18. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  5. Suarez, Jessica. "Pitchfork Interviews: Kevin Blechdom". Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  6. "Blevin Blectum: Gular Flutter". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  7. Kelley, Bevin L. (2014). Terms of Addition: Compositions and Strategies for Electro-Acoustic Chamber Ensemble (Thesis). Brown University. doi:10.7301/Z0610XQV.
  8. Golden, Barbara. "Conversations at the Crack o Dawn". Canadian Electroacoustic Community. KPFA 94.1 FM. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  9. Segal, Dave. "Having Birds Is "Like Living with Perpetually 4-Year-Old Dinosaurs"". The Stranger. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  10. "Blevin Blectum". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
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