Friday, September 30, 2011

STOLEN FROM THIEVES : zerozerozero

The newest in the series STOLEN FROM THIEVES that explores voice sound samples. As a child of Cabaret Voltaire and Steve Reich, I find this creative strategy a compelling and endlessly inviting music-making proposition. Look for a cd-r of these sketches soon.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

COLLABORATION

The result of a moment's spurt of creative frenzy, this video combines our love of non-tonally centered music and, seemingly the non-verbal communication apparently inherent between twins. I quite like the results. Camerawork is by my brother.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

ether^ra / DAYLIGHTSWIM

Comp 42 / DAYLIGHTSWIM by ether^ra

The 285e is quite a rewarding module and so much fun to play...an indispensible addition to any Buchla 200e system!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

LIBRARY : electronic music : systems, techniques and controls by allen strange

At the suggestion of Jason R. Butcher and several other Buchla-ites, I finally got my hands on a (pricey) copy of Allen Strange's classic 1972 tome on modular synthesis. I look forward to devouring the sections on Buchla modules and then PERHAPS my tweaking will be somewhat purposefully informed. There goes my savant status!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

ether^ra : TEN PIECES FOR BUCHLA 200e cd-r

10 Pieces for Buchla 200e further explores what seems to be the endless sonic possibilities presented by the Buchla 200e. Aided by only an intuitive sensibility and a discerning ear, I "play" this magnificent instrument....and certainly "play" is the operative word here; I'm having a great time!

Monday, September 12, 2011

NEW MODULE : Buchla 285e

With little regret and the blessings of the great Don Hassler, I traded in my Infinite Phase Shifter for the Model 285e Frequency Shifter/Balanced Modulator and Ring Mod. This is an amazing module that even right out of the box created a wide variety of sonic modulation and mayhem. Thanks to Buchla and Associates for allowing the trade that helps to tweak my evolving 200e sonic signatures.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

SAMPLE & HOLD : lehn/schmickler


It must be emphasized that to speak of a ''performance" of electronic
music is meaningless: performance and composition are here an
indissoluble act...
---Milton Babitt


Improvised music presents quite a pointed question...Where is all this going?...Rather can the musician take the listener on a journey where the ride may be challenging but with the promise of sonic events that are somehow rewarding? In a cultural universe where patience is not a ready virtue, the arts suffer. Moreover, the idea of aesthetic process goes out the window...and process is what improv is all about. The negotiating of collective music making that takes place in real time with the goal of some kind of compositional commonality that "works" (defined by the artists as they proceed), is at the core of improv.

Lehn/Schmickler's Navigation im Hypertext presents two veteran electronic improvisors doing what they do best...having a dialogue with violent eruptions, whispered asides, murmuring, and biting arguments. Recorded live at a number of venues, Lehn on EMS Synthi, Schmickler on digital synths/laptop, these pieces suggest the tension and release of Romanticism. Quiet interludes are followed by tumultuous onslaughts of sonic debris...a kind of musique concrete filled with fluid transformations, dislocations, and transitions the result of a knowing improvisory relationship between musicians and machines that can, as a result of intimately knowing each other and their instruments, create a deKooning-esque bouyant smear of sound that is both exciting and ultimately rewarding.