KOMA ELEKTRONIK KOMMANDER

A recent visit with Daren and Jonas at CONTROL in Brooklyn yielded the a surprise purchase, a Koma Elektronik Kommander, a simple but very effective CV/gate motion controller much like a therimin that responds to hand motions. Check YouTube for a demo...this thing is going to be a blast!

SAMPLE & HOLD : yellow swans

I met Pete Swanson, part of the now defunct noise duo YELLOW SWANS at CONTROL in Brooklyn a few weeks ago; I was taken with his smile, his engaging sense of humor and his stories. Simply put, a nice guy...who makes NOISE...torrents of noise, dystopian, crunching industrial beats, and drones that swallow huge expanses of space. While Yellow Swans is no more, their releases are worth searching out.

Bring The Neon War Home, a 2004 release, is composed of 5 pieces that evolve, morphing from Merzbow-ian tumult to cascading drones. Unlike many noise artists, Yellow Swans create music that engages through creative layered sonic variation meant to be listened to...NOT simply exercises in earplug use!

Blue Lantern Asteroid VCF

In spite of all the euro-forum noise that accompanied the introduction of BL's thru-zero oscillator recently, BL keeps producing a startling array of modules. The most recent monster is the ASTEROID VCF, a stunning jumble of knobs, outputs and modulation choices. It really is BUSY and visually over-powering!...But, what really counts is the sound.

The Asteroid VCF  can be aggressive, an in-your-face sound, that while brutal, exhibits an evolving layered sonic palette that can be easily morphed beyond recognition utilizing the myriad of ins/outs, knobs and switches. With all this, the Asteroid VCF begs to be "played," almost an instrument unto itself...quite an achievement in a euro-modular world glutted with the mundane disguised as epiphany.

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A Beast Perhaps?

Ah, the lure of glowing tubes...warm and fuzzy, filled with the promise of analogue wonder. The Metasonix R-54 SUPERMODULE VCO/VCF promises the arcane, the unimaginable and, well, the "super" that surpasses the "prosaic" out-moded sonics of Serge and Buchla modules.The gentlemen of Brooklyn's CONTROL offered me the opportunity to "play" this Metasonix beast; Jonas and I coaxed some wonderful dystopian COLOR and MORE...but more demented than Serge & Buchla masterpieces...that remains to be seen.

Goike Case & Make Noise DPO

Sample & Hold : the soft machine vol. 1

The new Sundazed re-issue/remaster of The Soft Machine's first classic bit of psycho-dada featuring Mike Ratledge, Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt had me re-living the two times I witnessed their greatness on tour with Jimi Hendrix in 1968. Ayer's We Did it Again, which lasts 3:48 on the album went on for 15-30 minutes at Stonybrook University causing the desired dada confrontational effect-boos, catcalls and audible moaning...GREAT success!!!...my brother and I seemingly the only audience members who were enjoying the spectacle of unremitting repetition!...we did it again...the war in Vietnam...we did it again...I would have thought this hotbed of countercultural ideals would have embraced this sentiment?

 The Soft Machine went on to morph into an expanded jazz outfit, the only element remaining from the original group sound was Ratledge's fuzz organ. Volume 1 remains a definitive statement-Wyatt's crazed drumming and and inviting vocals, Ayer's loopy bass playing and baritone (VERY british!) vocals, and Ratledge's  fuzzy organ explorations all come together to form a late 60's brand of challenging dada pop art that remains a playful, transgressive listen.

Sample & Hold : andrew chalk

Using only processed electric guitar and piano, the veteran sound artist Andrew Chalk has produced sound objects of profoundly compelling beauty. Lilting melodic snippets provide soft protrusions, organic still-ness and the possibility of the infinite and the intimate. These works all unfold from tightly budded to the fully flowered. Little information is given; cover art suggests visually the primacy of the small event, the chanced moment of an epiphany filled with wonder...deeply emotional and liminal.