“The most instantly satisfying thing about “Fundamentals” — the first saucer of vinyl that Tara Rodgers has released under her nom de techno, Analog Tara, in 15 years — is how balanced it feels. Top to bottom, this is well-crafted dance music — the kind that makes the floor feel sturdier beneath your feet while still allowing your head to get all-the-way loose.
Maybe that’s because Rodgers has spent the past two decades thinking hard about craft. She quite literally wrote the book on women in electronic music…”
“A composer and thinker who explores sound and sonic meanings from multiple angles, Analog Tara builds her tracks on analog sources and recorded loops, layering improvised sounds and melodic lines into an intricate and inquisitive design…
The author of numerous essays on music, technology and culture as well as the groundbreaking 2010 book Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound… she’ll present a keynote talk at MUTEK’s Symposium this year.”
Keynote: Monument-National, August 22, 2018, 14:00-14:45 Performance: Expérience 4, Place des Arts, August 25, 2018, 16:55 – 17:40
“Academic, musician, writer and activist Tara Rodgers revisits her Analog Tara alias for rising D.C. label 1432 R. Like fellow multidisciplinary artist Terre Thaemlitz, Rodgers’ dance floor material is warm and immersive. Body music from a heady source.”
“Inspired by Jean Toomer’s experimental 1923 text of the Harlem Renaissance, CANE explores memories of African American sharecropping held by a technologically-devised canefield.” Friday, February 16, 2018, 7 p.m., Rubenstein Arts Center, Duke University.
Performed by Tanya Wideman, Thaddeus Davis, Kalin Morrow, Amber Mayberry. Conceived by Thomas F. DeFrantz, Visual Design and Programming by Eto Otitigbe, Music by Tara Rodgers, Sound Programming by Jamie Keesecher, Additional Programming and Sound Discoveries by Jung-Eun Kim and Peter Whincop. Lighting by Jesse Belsky, Costumes by Marissa Erickson. Production Dramaturg: Jules Odendahl-James, Production Management Shireen Dickson.
Selections from the Tara Rodgers Pink Noises Riot Grrrl Collection at Fales Library.
The Tara Rodgers Pink Noises archive is now available at Fales Library & Special Collections at NYU in the Riot Grrrl Collection, which documents the evolution of the Riot Grrrl movement. The Riot Grrrl Collection focuses on personal archives of those involved in the creation of Riot Grrrl zines, music, and activism. It also includes collections from Kathleen Hanna, Joanna Fateman, Mimi Thi Nguyen, Tammy Rae Carland, Becca Albee, and more. In the introduction to the Pink Noises book, Rodgers cites the legacy of the Riot Grrrl movement as one of several motivating factors for starting the Pinknoises.com website in 2000.
From Fales Library’s description: “The Tara Rodgers Pink Noises Riot Grrrl Collection, dated 1976-2015, consists of materials created, produced, and collected by Tara Rodgers documenting her involvement in academia, critical theory, and the music industry. The collection includes correspondence, audio recordings under the name Analog Tara, audio recordings by female electronic and experimental musicians, and publications concerning feminist interests both inside and outside the music industry, including Bust, Bitch, Groove, and XLR8R and a collection of comic books featuring female superheroes (Wonder Woman, She-Hulk, Super Girl, Spider Woman). The collection also includes original writings by Rodgers, including magazine articles and academic publications, as well as other materials documenting her academic activities, such as syllabi, event programs, and program notes from educational institutions she has taught at or worked for.”
“There has been a lot of talk in the past year about the need for greater gender and racial diversity in programming from large performance organizations… For this series on building curriculum diversity, I interviewed various scholars, performers, and educators who have been creating wonderful resources that highlight these often ignored communities.
Tara Rodgers is a performer, composer, and scholar based in D.C. Her book Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound is a collection of interviews with some of the greatest minds in electronic music today. She generously agreed to an in-depth interview over email…”
“Composer, writer, and educator Tara Rodgers speaks with The Museum of Portable Sound about being an historian of synthesised sound, plus how her work in feminist media studies and the history of sound technologies led to a collection of crocheted and cross-stitched replica sound equipment.”
