Anton invited me to co-run The Noise Upstairs with him. And by invite, I mean, kick him in the ass, and organize a bunch of crap. Who did what is really besides the point. (It was me)
The point is that NUS is celebrating it’s two year anniversary with a bang. We’re adding a webpage, quarterly workshops, podcasts, and much much more.
If you’ve never come down to the jam night, or haven’t been in a while, no better time than now to get back into it.
Finally finished another new instrument. This one isn’t a self-standing ‘instrument’ per se, but more an instrument to play other instruments with.
It’s basically a regular whisk, just made from scratch so that every prong of the whisk is isolated, and connected to an alligator clip on the other end of the cable, so that I can make connections by striking surfaces, or touching the whisks together, or grabbing them with my hands etc…
They are particularly useful with my Ciat-Lonbarde Kitten-Nettiks, but they can be used with any electronic device that can be driven by making/braking connections (nearly everything).
For more pictures and detailed info click here.
The recording session I did with PA Tremblay back in February is finally coming into shape. The title is going to be “DRUM & BASS AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON”, and above is the cover art, as usual, by Angela Guyton. We’re still narrowing down tracks and working on general mix/edit stuff, but I’m very excited about the project. It’s all improvisations that range from textural laptop-scapes, to grimy stutter-hop, to some smooth jazz, and many other things that I can’t pretend to come up with names for (those above are inadequate enough).
We’re both very busy at the moment, but it should hopefully be out in a couple of months as, most probably, a self-released, hand silk-screened type thing.
I submitted “I AM YOUR DENSITY” to an open call for works for the Red Note ensemble, and it was one of the chosen pieces. I asked my ‘usuals’, and Angie, Anton, Ramsey, and Holly all agreed to take part, and make the drive up with me (Anton actually did the driving). Continue reading “I AM YOUR DENSITY : Live in Glasgow”
After several months of work, my band, Deaf To Van Gogh’s Ear, finally finished our EP entitled “We Call Them Accidents Because We Don’t Want Them To Happen”. It’s a five song EP and we’re having a release party at Kro Bar in Manchester on the 2nd of May. The EP will be available for sale on the night, as well as on my Store page, and the DVTGE page for £4. Continue reading “Deaf To Van Gogh’s EP Release”
After over a month of planning, and building I finished this new instrument. What this does is let me play the Sidrassi from my floor-tom, by mounting four piezo pickups inside the tom itself. I’ve already used the Sidrassi as part of my drum setup in a recording context, this only makes it easier to do live. The first performance with the Sidrassi-Tom will likely be in May, at my next solo gig.
For more pictures and detailed info click here.
After sharing a stage with PA in December, and being invited to speak at the GEM Days festival in Huddersfield, we booked some studio time at Huddersfield University.
I took my ‘drumset’ setup, which as you can see by the pictures is hardly a drumset at all. PA used his 6-string fretless bass + laptop setup which I saw him perform with originally. We improvised for just under two hours and seemed to cover everything from subtle, texture-scapes, to blasts of lo-fi meets hi-fi noise, to stuttering glitch/sludge hip-hop. I look forward to hearing it back, and seeing what will become of it. Continue reading “PA Tremblay Recording Session”
What do they all have in common?
May 15, 2009 is what. I just found out that we’re going to be performing with Extra Life at the Deaf Institute as part of Manchester’s FUTURESONIC Festival!!
I’ve been a HUGE Charlie Looker fan since the Zs and have pretty much everything he’s put out. I’m super excited just to be able to see them live, much less perform with them.
I will probably be star struck that night.
I was invited to speak at the Max/MSP symposium by PA Tremblay after sharing a stage with him in December. I did a power-point presentation on my “lo-fi meets hi-fi” setup of Ciat-Lonbarde electronics (Rollz-5 and Cocolase specifically) and Max/MSP.
It was my first time doing a PowerPoint presentation, and all in all I felt it went extremely well.
Busy with Deaf to Van Gogh’s Ear, recording an EP, and doing quite a bit of gigging. Taihanis is back from vacation and rehearsing/preparing to get back to gigging.
I AM YOUR DENSITY is away being mixed by Dan Escauriza, a dear friend who did some engineering on my first release, “The Beatles White Album”. I’ve heard a pre-mix of it and it’s sounding great. I’m so glad he’s mixing it and not me. Continue reading “Busy, Busy Bands and More”
This completes the ‘acoustic’ half of ‘Two Point Owe’. For this one I’m on Melodica, Serg is on guitar, and Hamit, my Tabla teacher, is on Tabla.
It took two sessions to get this right since we had a very limited time window with Serg moving back to the US in a week. Continue reading ““Asleep at the Monologue” Recording Session”
My poor, poor neighbors. We blasted them with noise for about five solid hours. It was a pretty exhausting session, primarily because the material is so loud/dense.
I’m working on the mixing/editing at the moment, and I am incredibly pleased with the results. Expect a ‘single’ release before the end of the year. Special thanks to Angela, Anton, Sergio, Zoë, Ramsey, Wyn, Laurence, Evan, and Adam for being a part of the recording. Continue reading ““I AM YOUR DENSITY” Recording Session”
More ‘Two Point Owe’ recording with “The Ocean’s Like Right There”. Another duo with Serg but this time we are on Namasitar and Banjo. Nearly through with the ‘acoustic’ half of the CD. Continue reading ““The Ocean’s Like Right There” Recording Session”
Just got back from performing in Aberdeen as part of the SOUND festival. Did a solo set with Angela doing live painting, and Serg joining in on a couple of pieces, including a great performance of “The Oceans Like Right There” from an upcoming CD. Continue reading “SOUND Festival Performance”
With Serg moving back soon, and a recent performance firing us up, we decided to do a studio session. We setup all the usual mics/equipment, and five video cameras and let it roll.
Expect a CD/DVD , currently titled “The Sans of Gilbert”, sometime in early 2009. Continue reading “In The Studio With Takahashi’s Shellfish Concern”