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

BLASTED NUITS

OPEN TO CASCADING VOICES

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!

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.

SERGE 200e SYSTEM #2

BUCHLA 200e WITH STAND

BUCHLA 200e IMPROV #1

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!

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!)

::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!