Since moving to the North Shore in 1999, Scott Buchanan has slowly worked his way into the area's music scene — first as his alter ego, DJ Radio Scotvoid, then as the creative force behind the weekly "Curios Show" on WMWM-FM91.7.
These days, Buchanan creates his own SCENE — Salem's Chiptune, Electronica & Noise Extravaganza — the second installment of which will take place at Gulu-Gulu Cafe in Salem tomorrow night. Buchanan hopes both events will be precursors to an all-day electronic music festival he plans for Salem next fall.
"Scott's a local Salem fixture," Gulu-Gulu's owner, Steve Feldmann, said of Buchanan, who started the popular "Friday Night Spins" series at the cafe 21âÑ2 years ago. "He seems to know just about everybody."
Buchanan will step aside for his monthly "Friday Night Spins" slot to make room for the SCENE acts — Bubble Gum Octopus, Active Knowledge, Computer at Sea and Nuda Veritas.
Bubble Gum Octopus from New Jersey and Active Knowledge from Cape Cod are chiptune artists, which means they combine music from handheld video games — like retro Nintendo Game Boy systems — into dance tracks.
Computer at Sea from Maine bends the circuits of old Casio keyboards to create a rock show.
And Nuda Veritas, Buchanan said, is a classically trained vocalist from Burlington who uses handheld Dictaphones and tape loops in her act.
"Not all electronica is robotic and generic," Buchanan said, adding that SCENE artists are not average musicians.
"A lot of these (people) that are doing this, they are the quiet kids, not necessarily the rockers," he said. "They're the kids who learned to do these technical things."
Besides bringing musicians together, Buchanan said he reached out to graphic artists, photographers, sound engineers and lighting specialists to collaborate on SCENE.
The house DJ for the night will be Mark Johnson, aka Moon Climb the Wall, a former Salem resident. Johnson played the first SCENE event and now works with Buchanan on "Curios Show."
Johnson said he creates improvisational sound pieces with an array of distortion, delay and pitch shifting pedals, an mp3 player, a tape player, and a microcassette.
In keeping with the independent spirit of electronica, the event is free and all the acts have donated their time, according to Buchanan.
"We're trying to just get people to come and see us, that's it," he said. "It's basic; it's not about the money at all."
If you go
What: SCENE — Salem's Chiptune, Electronica & Noise Extravaganza
When: Tomorrow, 8 p.m.
Where: Gulu-Gulu Cafe, 247 Essex St., Salem
How much: Free
More information: www.gulu-gulu.com
