| Profile: The Ministry of Inside Things | |
 | The Ministry Of Inside Things, consisting of electronic musician Chuck van Zyl and electric guitarist Art Cohen, are considered among the most innovative of US synthesists today. Influenced by the early music of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Ash Ra Tempel, their spacemusic has been described as linear, leading the listener across a diverse sonic terrain. Based on improvisation, The Ministry Of Inside Things creates electronic realizations that flow from theme to theme, with the experience often lasting up to two hours. Through use of textures and atmospheres as well as harmony, rhythm and melody, the group transports the audience on an internal sonic excursion. |
| Chuck van Zyl has been recording electronic music and performing live for over 20 years, but is perhaps best known for hosting one of the country's most successful radio shows of electronic music, STARS' END, for the past 25 years. van Zyl has released two CDs of spacemusic on the Centaur label, Celestial Mechanics and The Relic, plus The Sound Museum (with Gulch + Rath) out on the Groove label. His collaborative effort with Peter Gulch, Regeneration Mode, was released on their own Synkronos label. Art Cohen has been pushing the limits of the electric guitar in the studio and in live performance for well over 20 years. | 
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In addition to numerous solo projects, The Ministry Of Inside Things has performed live at Voices Beyond the Dome, Feedback, Gate To Moon Base Alpha, under the dome of the Novins Planetarium, as part of the Gatherings Concert Series, and live on broadcasts of the STAR'S END, ECHOES, GALACTIC TRAVELS, THE NOD and NOCTURNAL TRANSMISSIONS radio shows. The Ministry Of Inside Things' 2005 Winter Tour included a radio concert live on the 01.30.05 broadcast of STAR'S END as well as at the STAR'S END Fundraiser Premium Concert with Orbital Decay which took place at WXPN studios 19 March 2005. MoIT are scheduled to again perfrom live on STAR'S END in Summer 2007 on the 8 July broadcast.
Preview Statement: Contact Point by The Ministry of Inside Things
The Philadelphia based Spacemusic duo The Ministry of Inside Things exist outside the confines of the recording studio and in the realm of the live performance. As MoIT, Art Cohen (guitar) and Chuck van Zyl (synths) continue a tradition of bringing an otherwise methodical studio based artform out into the spontaneity of the performance environment. Their second CD Contact Point feels warm and earthy compared to their debut release Everlasting Moment. While their earlier album explored the edges, dynamics and tension of space and atmosphere, Contact Point presents the more unified themes of cosmic, biospheric and macrocosmic interaction. Through the use of environmental field recordings, drifting melodies and soft sonic textures set against submerged drones, billowing sequencer patterns and breezy synth and guitar lead lines, Contact Point depicts the mystery and beauty of telluric ideals. While their music touches on many of the hallmarks of Berlin-School Spacemusic, MoIT bring their own influences and innovation to the process. The result is a sound that is uniquely individual.
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The Ministry of Inside Things live on STAR'S END 01.28.01 - Photos by Jeff Towne | |
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The Ministry of Inside Things performed live on 16 June 2007 at The STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Spacemusic Festival presented by Member Supported WXPN FM in Philadelphia. This event saw the worldwide debut of Robert Rich + Ian Boddy in concert. Also appearing was Jeff Pearce and Orbital Decay.
For details please access the Festival Announcement
To mark 30 years of continuous broadcast of STAR'S END, WXPN is releasing the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD. This double CD contains over 120 minutes of live music from 12 renowned artists. The unique performances were culled from on-air in-studio radio concerts by some of our community's greatest talents. Included on the disc are previously unreleased live selections donated by: The Ministry of Inside Things, Orbital Decay, Ian Boddy, AirSculpture, Radio Massacre International, Robert Rich, Rudy Adrian, Jonn Serrie, Jeff Pearce, Saul Stokes and Steve Roach. | |
MoIT released their lastest live CD Contact Point (Synkronos Music) at their 20 May 2006 performance to benefit 
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 | The Ministry of Inside Things performed live on the 01.28.01 broadcast of STAR'S END (see photos above). The concert lasted for over an hour and touched on many of the hallmarks of spacemusic: cyclical sequencer patterns under soaring lead melodies contrasted by passages of deep synth tones and glissando guitar. Listen to the 15 minute excerpt by clicking on the link below:
Many thanks to Art Cohen and NothinBut Net for their key efforts in making this music available from this website. |
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 | Art Cohen, guitarist for The Ministry of Inside Things, took part in an in-studio interview on the 02.08.04 broadcast of STAR'S END. Along with several other points, Cohen gave insight into MoIT's approach to playing live and how this activity relates to their first CD release, the double live Everlasting Moment. Listen to the 11 minute excerpt by clicking on the link below:
Many thanks to Art Cohen and NothinBut Net for their key efforts in making this interview available from this website. |
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