Friday, December 31, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : angus maclise

The early drummer for the Velvet Underground, Angus Maclise, artist, occultist, musician and avant-gardist of the Terry Riley ilk, was a key, though somewhat invisible figure in the development of progressive eastern influenced avant-garde electronic music. His album, Astral Collapse, exhibits a wide array of techniques and styles from spoken word and musique concrete tape manipulations to tambura influenced drones and Arp 2600 synth freak-outs that lead to Coil and Carlos Giffoni. The one track that contains Maclise's percussion, Beelzebub, is so processed so as to make it a gitchy morass of sound. Dracula, his Arp improv, is breath-taking in its free-form explorations and caustic cascades of sound. Ira Cohen's mylar twisted portrait shot presents Maclise in all his cosmic beauty, a perfectly imperfect reflection of the music's psychedelic heart tempered by the 20th century's seething electronic pulse drone smoothered under astral collapse.

Monday, December 27, 2010

A LITTLE PARANOIA IS A GOOD PROPELLER : Captain Beefheart RIP


It is not with a little surprize and much sadness that I note the passing of Don Van Vliet, better know as Captain Beefheart, a musician and visual artist who threw brickbats at convention and challenged us to make some kind of curious sense of it all. My introduction to the Captain was his album Lick My Decals Off, Baby; it threw me for a loop initially, all jerky meter, stop and start guitar and bass parts that made arcane ourobourous knotted snakes negotiating each other, and the Captain's elastic extreme multi-octave voice that was drunk with expressive potential. I must admit to confusion, but I stuck with it until suddenly I experienced a state similar to "satori," a small awakening that somehow allowed me to make sense of it all; all the pieces fit; everything made sense! I was lucky enough to meet the Captain when he performed at My Father's Place in Roslyn, N.Y. in 1980. He was affable and charming, but clearly a man possessed by his own personal muse. He kissed my then wife Lorraine and autographed a scrap of paper(see above) for her. He then went on stage to perform songs from what was then his newest opus, Doc at the Radar Station. The Captain's mixture of blues, free-jazz, and his own eccentric take on reality, art-making, and dada have always made for a satisfying poetic musical banquet of the sort not heard since he "retired" to paint. He will be missed.

"Man is a baby that doesn't accept his natural function" Don Van Vliet

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

JASON R. BUTCHER : recent sketches

s2.1-6 (recent sketches) by Jason R. Butcher

Made using the magical Buchla 200, Jason R. Butcher has concocted six pieces of compelling timbral invention, textural variation and overall "negative beauty." These are self-generating patches that while not the result of gestural actions are proof of Mr. Butcher's mastery of the complex interactions between modules, a kind of frequency painting that is simply breath-taking in it's expansive expressiveness.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

WIP : SISYPHUS IN DENIAL


What started as The New Demographic soon became a similarly evocatively titled piece, Sisyphus in Denial. (see detail) Sisyphus' endless task, similar to the prision that we make for ourselves, is the result of a protracted dellusion based on The Dream we (americans) embrace, or some acceptable popular mysticism. Instead of committing to what George Orwell called "significant mental rebellions," we, like Sisyphus, "carry on." And astondingly we do anything to carry on even if it is mind-numbingly fruitless. It seems Sisyphus' time has finally come, never to cease.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : dome 2

As Wire continued to perfect their avant-pop recipe, Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis sought a more challenging soundtrack to their collective exploratory leanings. Dome 1 appeared in 1980; so did Dome 2. But while Dome 1 was a somewhat fragmentary affair with rudimentary experiments that did not always produce anything of particular value, Dome 2 was a fully realized statement of "Dome-ness." As a visual artist producing series of conceptual drawings at the time, I was drawn to the cover art drawings of both releases. I loved the beautifully cursory "unfinished" dome drawing on the cover, rich graphite with a sketchy Dome 2 title erased into the graphite. This, unlike Dome 1, was a darkly-tinged vision. Track 2, "Long Lost Life" contained the line "...there's a dark shape growing inside" sung by Bruce Gilbert that emphatically exposed an environment filled with dread. The third track, "Breathsteps" presents an aural picture populated by a sure-footed mechanical beast plodding along buoyed by guitar/bass counterpointed beauty. All the future Dome elements are here: tribal rhythmic elements punctuated with noise bursts, snakey ourobourous guitar, abused synth vocalizations with distressed textured guitar parts disguised as arcane faux orchestrations, and song titles that suggest the pleasure obtained from rubbing up against the "other." Any Wire material that contained these sonic strategies to any extent benefited and so did we! This is music of penetrating power that continues to impress.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Sunday, December 12, 2010

BRION GYSIN : UNSUNG HERO

William S. Burroughs, an artist of no small talent and influence, oftens overshadows the accomplishments of his partner in crime, Brion Gysin whose work in a myriad of artistic forms has served to give inspiration to a number of contemporary exploratory artists. His "cut-up" method, essentially a classic surrealist game, can seemingly be applied to almost any improvised artistic form. He is probably best know as the inventor, along with a Burroughs' associate Ian Sommerville, of the "Dreamachine," whose production of a flicker effect is said to produce visions in those who freely allow the play of light on their closed eyelids. Gysin's essentially calligraphic paintings suggest musicality. He is often name-checked by Cabaret Voltaire, 23 Skidoo, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, and other "industrial" artists. Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is a living "cut-up" whose devotion to Gysin's "Third Mind/Third Being" continues to influence his/her musical/artistic production. Brion Gysin's legacy has yet to be fully appreciated though it can be seen everywhere.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Saturday, December 4, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : richard h. kirk / loopstatic

All in the spirit of wounded galaxies spinning out of control, surveilance by unknown entities, and the ever-present control machine tapping into your thoughts, Richard H. Kirk's Burroughsian LoopStatic(amine & ring modulations) is both frightening and inviting, the kind of dystopian musical vision Kirk's earlier group, Cabaret Voltaire, coaxed into existence under the guidance of William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and the dadaists. Beautifully realized, Mr. Kirk created this 1999 Touch release with an ear for dynamic contrast, and especially, finely honed moments of silence that perfectly bring the "electricity" into high relief. While Brion Gysin claims that "poets don't own words," Kirk, on the other hand, makes the utterings of preachers, politicians and assorted agents of control into deranged mantras imbued with a kind of visionary poetry cut open to expose the "truth." Like Cabaret Voltaire's later works, this is purely electronic "dance" music but with an unrelentingly dark edge where noise co-mingles with more musical beats and sounds ever negogiating the processed words of religious and militaristic zealots Mr. Kirk knows only too well.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

ELEKTRONISCHE FOR BUTCHER/HASSLER

Inspired by the mighty sounds of the Butcher/Hassler Atlanta noise duo, this piece is my way of saying thanks for their resonating help with the 200e. This is my homage to them...and thanks also to Barry Anderson for his invaluable advice.

"Loyalty to the image of beauty results in an idiosyncratic reaction against it..."
-Adorno



Monday, November 22, 2010

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Don Hassler's Activation of the 5-HT2A and Opioid Receptors is at once a noisy maelstrom, and a study of minute sonic particles that have, as the title suggests, the potential to induce pain and bliss. Mr. Hassler, hunched over his machinery, weilds the power of both the Buchla 200e and the EMS Synthi creating a music that, like Masimi Akita(Merzbow), can be an electronic sledge-hammer pummeling the listener with negative beauty. But where Masami mercilessly pummels, Hassler invites the listener to investigate minute detail, fleeting moments of carefully brushed on microscopic frequency painting. The first track scratches the listener with itchy darting pulses, while the second track starts with a sonic squall, interrupted by enveloping noise waves that press up against the listener with short gentle interludes that promise rest from the tumult. Track four, all shivering pulses and animated synth jabs that dive deep into the mix and, without warning, re-surface chasing their ourobourous tails. Track eight, The wild-type & opioid receptor, is held together with a repeated 5-note glitchy motif acting as the skeletal structure against which Hassler sculptes dive-bombing frenetic pulses. Unlike much electronic/noise music. Mr. Hassler's art BREATHES and is organically ALIVE. Ultimately, to paraphrase William Blake, Don Hassler's mersmerizing excess-driven journey leads to bliss-filled epiphany. SUPPORT THE ARTIST! More at donhassler.com/

A TANGLE OF POTENTIAL

Buchla, Serge, ::VTOL::, and Folktek...a tangle of cables that suggests potential moments of sonic epiphany...the confusion presents new opportunity!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : ike yard

With echoes of Iron Curtain monochrome cultural intractability and emphatically cold minimal electronica, Ike Yard's 1980's angular brand of rudimentary abstract urban musical expression signposts an era of cultural greyness. Arms with Korgs, Rolands, a Synthi-AKS and a Buchla, never has the warmth of analogue been so ceaselessly cold. Expressionless to the point of psychotic, the vocals are cubist smears of sound held at bay by analogue pulses or zomboid rhythms. An uneasy calm surrounds a Munchian silent scream awaiting resolution.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

BUCHLA 200E SYSTEM #2


More banana cables and more mad sonic choices! The Buchla 200e has arrived bringing the potential for endless journeys into an ever-morphing Buchla universe. I've already spent hours playing this somewhat addictive device and I'm poised for circuited nirvana! Thanks Barry and Jason for your help and priceless information!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : incite/ ICONICITY


Incite/ Inconicity(Electroton 3"cd) is a 25 minute surprize!
In an environment filled with Raster-Noton sound-a-likes, and minimal electronic cd's that actively demonstrate that less is indeed less, Iconicity is a compelling listen, one that is populated with impressive detail. "Escape Mechanism" leads off with broken beats, belching synth lines, and unexpected vapour bursts. Monochrome mayhem ensues and then, abruptly stops. The tenor of Iconicity is set by these elements and their variation. Embued with sonic detail, evocative and disturbing, Iconicity's 5 tracks, concentrated with clustered waveforms and pulses, are simply luminous. The Wire(June 2010) stated that the title track recalled Allen Ravenstine's synth "interventions" from Pere Ubu's New Picnic Time, all aleatoric sprawling synth shreds and sprays thrown into the mix accompanied by a halting beat...a landscape of concussive vapour trailed beauty. Iconicity makes a powerful statement for minimal electronica rounded with assaultingly noisy intention worth quite a few listens.

INCOMING : buchla 200e system #2


Soon to be part of the ether^ra sonic arsenal, the Buchla 200e System #2 is a 6 module boat containing enough modular muscle to keep me endlessly exploring. Don Hassler of Hassler/Butcher fame (great guys and wonderfully creative artists), in an email to me said "...I think the system will keep you busy for a long time!" I'm sure that he is right! (The pictured system containing the following modules:250e, 261e, 281e, 291e, and a 292e, may not be in the order Don has configured them...we'll see when the system arrives!)

Thursday, November 4, 2010

::VTOL:: NOISE/SOUND MODULES

Russian synth history in the making as seen in the Corvax, the Volfram, and the Cramola,
::VTOL:: noise/sound modules that present numerous patching options and bent-circuit sonic mayhem. Finally nested together in my studio, Dimitriy's creations can now work together in unexpected, cacophonous ways free to express Russian dystopian/utopian bliss!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

NOISE/MUSIC

Russolo took noise to be an indication of life, liveliness, creativity and the unexpected.(Noise/Music-A History, Paul Hegarty,2007)

Friday, October 29, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : hassler / butcher


Purchased from artist/musician Jason R. Butcher about a week ago, Hopelessly.Convoluted Agitated.Elements, a demanding statement arising from chaotic synthesis techniques realized with the use of a pair of Buchlas and possibly an EMS Synthi, is an ear-wretching statement of sonic intention that bites into you and never lets go. Patterns poke their heads out from a sea of feedback loops that chisel and jab at you with what seems like malevalent intent. As patterns develop to speak in an arcane language similiar to the linear rantings of painter Cy Twombly's chaotic expressions, the listener, tangled in these agitated elements, is awe-struck by the negative beauty of man/machine. SUPPORT THE ARTIST! http://fastheadache.blogspot.com/

Hassler/Butcher - ConSec (EC: 34X 'OTHER PICTURE NOISE PROBLEM') from Jason R. Butcher on Vimeo.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

DRONE-SCAPE

SAMPLE & HOLD : morton subotnick


Without the use of a standard chromatic keyboard, Morton Subotnick's 1967 Silver Apples of the Moon and the next year's The Wild Bull are powerfully influencial examples of the emphatically expressive potential of early analogue electronic musical instruments. Listening to both of these works then we could hear an unknown future...Keith Fullerton Whitman's analogue synth explorations, Autechre's rythmic displacements, and Carlos Giffoni's analogue noise voyages among many...Morton Subotnick's early masterpieces are indeed classics! Thanks to Donald Buchla!


Friday, October 22, 2010

NEW FOLKTEK SITE


I recommend that you take a look at the new Folktek site just up and running. No longer faceless artists, Ben Houston and Arius Blaze are pictured, items are correctly identified, pictures and videos are wonderful and plentiful. Many of my one of a kind Folktek instruments/works of art are pictured in all their aesthetic beauty. Spend a protracted amount of time there, browse the numerous categories of instruments, and listen to the astounding sound samples. Purchase a piece of Folktek sound art and support the artist! http://www.folktek.com/

Saturday, October 16, 2010

ANTILIQUEFACTIONIST

With a title borrowed from the text of Williams Burrough's Naked Lunch, this improv, all buzzing bee-like sound swells and resonance from a Bugbrand Weevil processed through a ::VTOL:: Corvax captures a mood not unlike the slow movements in some Mahler symphonies, a slow prodding ever forward moving path toward the unknown...Antiliquefactionist, indeed.



Monday, October 11, 2010

MORE AURAL DESIRE

I'm the lucky owner of this Serge Creature/Seq A combo. I'd love to see/hear these devices duke it out with the Buchla 200e...now there's a dream match-up!

AURAL OBJECTS OF DESIRE




While the Buchla 200e is expensive, it provokes an immediate Pavlovian response in those of us who not only respect Don Buchla's place in the evolving history of electronic music, but are all too aware of this device's potential...the chances of sonic nirvana seem all the more closer, though our wallets are emptier! This analogue/digital hybrid, a product of the west coast school of synth design, is reputed to be able to generate sounds no other synth(or anything else!)can produce...and I believe it! Pictured are a couple of variations in module configuration of the Buchla 200e System #2.

RECENT KEGEL DEVICE

My brother recently bought a Serge TKB(touch keyboard), incorporating it into a custom-built(by him) wood cabinet along with his Serge Creature/Seq A combo. What a beautiful dystopian sound-making device! A tangled nest of banana cables has ensued suggesting the sound-morphing abilities of this mighty coming together of monstrous machines. Go to his blog http://thissecondsleep.blogspot.com/ to see it.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

COMMERCIALS

This first in a series of approximately 1 minute improvs, Commercial #1 suggests the vitality of economy in the production of electronic music and the arts overall. This open-ended series, inspired by The Residents COMMERCIAL ALBUM, presents me with the opportunity to distill my sound and enhance the various parts that make up the whole, thereby hopefully finding the essence of "the sound." Enjoy these short sketches; sometimes I may inadvertently have an sonic epiphany!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

DARK VISION

Armed with my Serge Creature/Seq A combo, a number of ::VTOL:: Cramola/Volfram sample loops, and an Alesis Ineko, I found myself spewing forth this 7 am exercise in insectoid hardware molestation!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Monday, October 4, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : software expressions


Using Iannis Xenakis' UPIC system for graphical sound synthesis, Haswell & Hecker produce a masterpiece of musical expression that finds its genesis in software only. No other instrument is used; none is needed. Using densely packed pencil drawings produced by both artists(in the vein of Sol Lewitt's beautiful pencil wall drawings), the UPIC system literally "draws" the sound, producing a mayhem that is at once playfully continuous and transient. Blackest Ever Black, while suggesting a profound morbidity, is, in spite of its frigid mathematic mother, a work of great playful overwhelming joy.
On the other hand, To Rococo Rot's abc123, a departure for them in that it is wholely laptop generated, does not express the whimsy it is proported to express. To my ears this work presents a nicely measured argument between a cold abstract sensibility and a more ear-friendly electro concern. Noise mingles with comforting sequences, walking the tightrope over potential sonic dissolution(just barely) and pleasing aural security. At just twenty minutes, it left me yearning for more.




Sunday, October 3, 2010

THE INTERNATIONAL

In classic Orson Welles style, The International opens with a murder; we have no idea how or why but we are drawn into this rainy Berlin movie opening. So begins a movie that is so breath-takingly unconcerned with commercial potential that the casual viewer unconcerned with cinema-art, but rather two hours of movie cliche to sleep to or brainless explosions may be puzzled at first. But there is more - the leading man, Clive Owen is simply a dirty, bloody dissheveled mess; Naomi Watts is no shrinking violet who should be Owen's love interest, but in the end, simply disappears. Essentially the primary antagonist, an international banking concern is so all-powerful they seem to know everything; greed and corruption and world-wide conflict and arms sales are the rules of the corporation. Armin Mueller-Stahl, a bank operative, sums up the film's idea fixe, "...do you know the difference between truth and fiction?...fiction has to make sense."

In a homage the Orson Welles' "The Lady from Shanghai" there is a shoot-out at the Guggenheim Museum during a video installation utilizing mirrored glass that contemporizes the famous gun-play in the circus house of mirrors at that film's end. Beautifully shot and edited, The International is an uncompromising film that is artful and entertaining reflecting the director's knowing art-making practices.

SERGIAN LOGIC

SAMPLE & HOLD : maurizio bianchi + saverio evangelista / micromal sonorities

With cover art that suggests microscopic activities that remain sub rosa to most of us, Micromal Sonorities four tracks, all beginning with the pre-fix "micro," continue in a vein similar to MB's most recent drone inflected work, all machine bell-like drone populated with scattered microscopic events. Esplendor Geometrico's Saverio Evangelista keeps a very low profile, except on the last track. "Microcosm" where some percussive noise jabs are apparent.
This is a challenging work, but worth the effort, its simplicity evolving into a complex statement.

Monday, September 27, 2010

DIAGONAL VISION


With curious noise burst motifs from my VTOL Corvax, this improv came together quickly after recording a loop made with my Oberheim OB-1. Filled with somewhat eastern modalities, this loop provides the under-pinnings for the improv. The Dark Energy provides the percussive attack and the Serges supply the rest.

SERGE SEQ-A-DELIC


Coupled with my Serge Creature, the Seq A
is simply an amazing device filled with sonic
potential to create endless variation that can
be both disturbing or comforting, or both.

SAMPLE & HOLD : zoviet france / popular soviet songs and youth music

Though I prefer other Zoviet France efforts, Popular Soviet Songs and Youth Music, packaged in two slices of grey felt reminicient of Joseph Buey's tossed felt pieces from the late 60's, continues the earlier Zoviet France practice of packaging their work utilizing non-traditional materials-tin foil, wood, ceramics, roofing shingles, masonite and much more...Held together with a soviet military pin, the music on this 3-cd set made by these Newcastle, England noise dronologists is both contemporary and seemingly the result of some arcane alchemical ethnic ritual with titles that suggest the present day titular practices of Autechre...but I am amazed by the art-object packaging that is both collectable and a visual anomaly that my eye and cerebral cortex can feast upon.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : section 25 / the key of dreams


With drones, chants, and purposeful ambiguity filled with guitar noise and synth bursts, Section 25's The Key of Dreams(1982) seems a project aimed at the future through a lens from the past. Unlike their first Martin Hannett produced album, The Key of Dreams is on first listen an enigma. Gone are the Joy Division imitations. In their place are skeletal electronics, creative minimal guitar figures, extended Jefferson Airplane "After Bathing at Baxters" freak-out explorations and gone in a blink of the eye miniatures. Vocals are compellingly pained(some may say painful!) when they are present at all. "Always Now," clocking in at 1:50 minutes, acts as a prelude as to what there is to come-loosely played drone guitar couched in what seems to be electronics, a simple lyric/message, and echoed whispers. "Sutra" and "The Beast" are protracted explorations; "Sakura" suggests the electro-sequences of 1984's "From the Hip." What is compelling about The Key of Dreams is its total lack of commercial concern. Guitar noise and noisy electronic tid-bits make for an unqualified success none the less, much like a Cy Twombly sketch.

DARK REGION

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Friday, September 24, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : Another Merzbow Records

With the pin-matrix of the EMS Putney as the idea fixe of this recording's cover art, Another Merzbow Records presents us with an historical overview of the master's analogue and digital excessive sound sweeps. Perhaps the road of excess does indeed lead to the palace of wisdom with overdriven feedback, distressed analogue synths, and horrifying frequency stabs allowing for a hyper-transgressive sonic storm bent on asserting its dissonant power and ultimate glory. Masimi Akita, who has experimented with analogue, as well a digital devices, laptops, and home-made noise contraptions, has virtually defined the noise genre with an endless discography. I looked forward to bathing in his sea of physical electronic tumult at last year's NO FUN FESTIVAL in Brooklyn; sadly swine flu fears kept him home according to an email from him to my brother. Another Merzbow Records' 3-discs offers rare cuts that never fail to satisfy my thirst for noise and with so many cuts, never outstay their welcome...a non-stop noise party for the whole family!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

FOLKTEK BUG


The Foktek Bug is quite a wonderful device, filled with insectoid chatter, bassy howls, and smeared frequency paint dabs. This primal sound, like nothing else, evolves over time taking on the character of mysterious distant mammalian conflict to a nightmare chatter, bleak stabs of alien pulse-life, and brooding microscopic swamp grit, toothy and
menacing. This one was custom-made for me by
Ben of Folktek. See Folktek Arts for more.

Monday, September 20, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : M.B bacterie

Maurizio Bianchi began to produce electronic music in 1979, creating his art in the lo-fi world of underground cassette culture. Complete with wordy arcane liner notes that delight in "agoraphobic atomicity" and "altruistic bacterial sickness," for example, Bianchi explores decay
and the human condition armed with concrete sounds, schizoid frequencies, neural effects, eccentric sounds, and archaic loops. Released in 2006, bacterie presents us with some of his most compelling work-slabs of sonic detrius, sludgy deposits, and chilly cracked ambience, all wrapped in a definitive M.B. frequency painting.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

SERGE PERCUSSION

This improv uses the percussive potential of the Serge Creature when coupled with the Seq A to produce a bed of drum-like sounds against which sound is splattered, morphed and twisted.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

SAMPLE & HOLD : DUET EMMO "OR SO IT SEEMS"


With a wonderfully mechano-organic cover by the Quay Brothers, the trio
of B.C. Gilbert, G. Lewis, and Daniel Miller, here in their Duet Emmo form,
unleash a torrent of dystopian noise and a few electro-pop nuggets. While
some have opined this effort uneven, my estimation differs, seeing it as an
early and beautifully realized noise genre time capsule that offers glimpses
into the future from 1982. "Or So It Seems" is achingly heartfelt, Lewis'
voice filled with regret negotiating regular stabs of synth and synth noise.
The album's opener "Hill of Men" moves along like the cover's machine-
filled organic monster. "The First Person" echoes work by Gilbert and Lewis' Dome project. This album may be a "half-formed kiss" in some res-
pects, but it warrants a listen by anyone interested in the early days of the
now common noise genre...Carlos Giffoni, give it a listen...

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

SERGE NOISE

The Serge Creature coupled with the Serge Seq A presents almost endless sonic possibilities. The percussive sound is created with a Doepfer Dark Energy/Tenori-on combination in this video along with a little delay from a EH MemoryMan. I really like this improv!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Friday, September 10, 2010

KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN/multiples


Keith Fullerton Whitman's Multiples cd, subtitled stereo music for acoustic, electric and electronic
instruments, presents a compelling array of pieces for said instruments. Whitman's analogue
workouts, especially the pieces for a Serge Modular Prototype, the product of compulsive
knob-turning and patching(the Serge is a mighty
challenge; banana cable inputs/outputs serving
multiple functions depending on the patch!), are
particularly beautiful. A piece for Farfisa Compact Duo Deluxe Organ and drum suggest a busy take on Tery Riley. An acoustic guitar makes an appearance; the Buchla Music Box 100 makes memorable noises, and a Hewlett Packard Oscillator continues the analogue parade. Whitman's performances here are warm, smart
and beautifully rewarding.(see Keith Moline's
"Unstable Modules" in THE WIRE September
2010, for more info on Whitman and analogue
synthesis.)

Monday, September 6, 2010

TOTALLY WIRED DVD


To any fan of analogue synthesis, Totally Wired-A Film About Schneiders Buero, is quite a godsend. In an office block in East Berlin Mr. Schneider carries the mantle of old and new school analogue synthesis in the form of a boutique that caters to analogue freaks who want the newest incarnations of oscillator worship. Interviews with Daniel Miller, Dieter Doepfer, Jessica Ryland, and Ricardo Villalobos praise the work of Andreas Schneider and his continued passionate offering of the wares of maverick instrument builders...TVOD of the best kind!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Friday, September 3, 2010

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

RECENT LISTENINGS : XENO & OAKLANDER


Film-noir analogue fetishism presented in compelling form!...Rolands, Arps, Korgs and all sorts of retro-analogue toys argue for the defiant primacy of analogue synthesis...While the sound is not new, there is a reward to be had by giving yourself up to going back to the future.

SPLINTERY & BARBED