New Live Music!

It's been a while since I posted. I've had many ideas for reviving this Blog but for now I'll just start with where it all matters: The music and people.




At the end of February 2020 my friend and local Philadelphia EMusic veteran SteveO and I got together and set up some gear and just improvised for the evening. On a whim I recorded it and when I went back to the files and mixed things it reminded me a lot of the 1990s live Music For Isolation Tanks coffeehouse gigs I did (now available as the Caffeine album) . Sure some of the gear has changed and while our styles have evolved setting up a limited amount of gear and making the most of it is pretty much what I always did.

These jams include some old favorites of mine in gear (hell-O Juno106!) but also some of my DAEDSound.com  circuit bent gizmos that weren't  around in the 90s.

SteveO is the founder and leader of many Philadelphia Electronic bands including the brilliant Punch Drunk  and Klockenhouzer as well as the bass player in the Goth/Doom Metal Band The Worst Ones.

You can see some of Punch Drunk's theatrical and aural mayhem online and still buy their compilation CD  on amazon.  or listen on Spotify.  Here's a great example of what made them so unique and exciting:

We did two jams for a Looong time and I edited them down (believe it or not!) The link is a free download of two songs totaling over 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Try the Tube Shot Darling...

Electronic music comes in many forms and is used for all purposes. In the 1980s one such purpose was a super sexy computer voiced pinball machine called Xenon. This was the first pinball machine to use a new and improved voice board allowing multiple and longer samples to run as the player turned on the machine and started flipping away. It also was distinguished as being the first female voiced pinball machine which makes sense since the sound design was done by none other that sound and synthesizer pioneer Susan Ciani.

By 1980 Ciani was both a classically trained musician and a critically acclaimed early adopter of electronic music instruments and composition. While trying to make her mark she lived in NY and combined her unique vision and skill set in the emerging field of commercial sound design. Of her commercial work she is probably most famous for the "pop and pour" sound of a Coca-Cola can being opened. She had accomplished many firsts including being featured on the cover of  fledgling Contemporary Keyboard magazine

Ciani's weapon of choice was an early Buchla modular and early examples of her work on this can be heard at her own excellent web page here: http://sevwave.com/electronic%20music.html


But it was the company Ballys and their new Pinball project Xenon that would carve out even more groundbreaking work using the new (at the time) technology of sampling. With the invention of new memory chips which could store larger amounts of recorded sound the new Pinball machines could talk to the player. And who better than the playful and creative Ciani to make the machine come to life? This was the 1970s after all so it almost made sense for an over-the-top sexy robot design to moan when you slide a quarter in it or for the Alien blinking lights to invite the player with an encouraging breathy "Welcome to Xenon" upon start up.

The full story is captured with all it's humor, ground breaking tech, and the combination of both Ciani's vision and sense of fun in this short documentary made back in the day: 




The Kickstarter funded documentary A Life in Waves on Ciani and her journey is currently showing at festivals and will be commercially released soon. In addition to her years as a classical pianist and composer she is also now performing Electronic music again including a recent concert for the Women and technology exhibition Making/Breaking the Binary: Women, Art & Technology (1968–1985)  and the upcoming Don Buchla Memorial concerts next week. 

I encourage everyone to keep up on her still full schedule and dig deep into the back catalog of this innovative and unique musician and composer who not only broke ground for women, Electronic music, and commercial sound design but did so without every compromising her spirit, creativity, or sense of joy. 

Tilt on!

New Track? Sure it is...

What's a Mashup?

 
Sometimes things come out of playing with an instrument. I recently picked up a Roland TB-03 and while fiddling with the usual 303esque features I started to concentrate more on the trance like nature of throwing something into a delay and then moving it around. The TB-03 has a limited but practical internal delay and , well, this little synth line came out. I had some time on my hands so i took it down to the lab and added some analog drum machines to go with the minimal lead.

The samples came at the end and just seemed to go with the whole TKK/Revco vibe I do in my project MegoDETH so there you go.  Given it was more trancey and mellow like the 1990s Music For Isolation Tanks Nature/Nurture recordings I decided to credit it as a mashup of the two bands. Seemed just as silly as the song itself.

Sometimes you just gotta play... on!

Articulate. Noise.

Q: "What's your relationship with sound?"
A: "Complicated"

That says a mouthful. I've been interested in "noise" since I started recording and have mixed in what I call "sound sculptures" in almost every project of mine from ambient to beat driven tracks to full on harsh ... well, noise.  I started this blog to exorcise what is it about sound that drives me and explore further. Whether it's recording, performing, or simply going nuts in the studio for an hour and then turning everything off and going about my day sound and noise is always just around the corner. 

For those who are not familiar with Power Electronics, Noise, Dark Ambient or whatever related label or genre it evokes NY artist Pharmakon breaks it down in this excellent interview:

Her latest full length album is available on Sacred Bones Records:

For my part I'm still chipping away at my current sound/Noise project:




And occasionally I revisit sounds I made over twenty years ago*:

Or just sit down and record what instrument is up and running in the studio at the moment: 

"Noise" music, like music itself doesn't know genres or boundaries. It can be emotional, visceral, cerebral, or simply beautiful. There are no limits and the best of it refuses to be one thing at a time. It is complicated but for some equally rewarding. 

Bang and scrape on. 

* Being me I can never resist making something as unmarketable as possible. The last track on this Power Electronics or "noise" ep is a soft, quiet, piano based melodic composition. If you make it through the first three you end up there. I'll leave it to the listener to decide if that's a good thing or not.

“I have always been outside, and I’ve chosen to remain there" - Don Buchla

Don Buchla, Musical Instrument and Control interface inventor, engineer, and unique visionary passed away this month at the age of 79. 

Photo by Yotsuba&!

The NY Times obituary captures a bit of the flavor of his life and legacy and can be found here: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/arts/music/don-buchla-dead.html

I spoke with the man once and had the opportunity to see both he and his instruments and controllers perform in concert. He was drole, irreverent, quiet, and if you paid attention, funny. He eschewed the term "synthesizer" instead preferring to call his inventions "instruments" and even as he went away from traditional keyboard structures and western scale playing he always focused on the whole of an instrument as a vehicle to allow the player to make music. Indeed his most famous instrument was a portable collection of electronic mayhem he called the "Music Easel" which encouraged the user to mix colors of sound and paint something new. 

He wasn't a product of Hippie culture but he certainly contributed and drove it (literally and figuratively, he was behind the scenes in the Merry Pranksters and was on the famous van). He always lived and invented on the outside of what was expected both as a designer and in his business with financial gain being low on his list of priorities. During the beginning years of the analog synth revival he continued to focus on digital instruments that didn't make sound themselves but instead allowed users to play any instrument in a completely new and unique way.  His Marimba Lumina took midi controllers to a new level and created a percussion interface that could play crescendos and drones as well as hits and notes:

Not content to even touch an instrument Buchla invented the Lightening Controller which used space and area itself to create notes and dynamics:

Many people consider his return to designing and manufacturing boutique synthesizer modules as the culmination of his career and indeed his 200e system built upon and pushed his previous sound and interface designs further. I usually refer to modular synthesis as a "Masters Class" in synthesizer playing and if that's true then using a Buchla Modular is the doctorate program. Despite being perhaps the most complex and unusual instruments of their kind, Buchla steadfastly never wrote a manual for anything but the basics of how to turn on his modules instead insisting (and allowing) the user to make their own progress, mistakes, and discover new ways to "play" music in the process. 

My 200e System including DIY bits and bobs...

In his last few years Don Buchla experienced some health issues and sold most of his company and designs to the current Bucha Electronic Music Instruments (BEMI) company. Things did not flow smoothly and despite the initial praise and applauding of his vision one of the first products released was a more or less reproduction of the Music Easel from the 1960s. Despite the demand and interest in this instrument BEMI was plagued with production and quality control issues often taking thousands of dollars per unit in deposits from individual users and failing to deliver a working instrument for months or in some cases years. Don was never interested in repeating the past, only moving forward into the future and eventually something behind the scenes changed and he was fired from the very company that bears his name and sells his designs. A lawsuit he brought against BEMI was settled only a few months before his passing and the future of production and distribution at BEMI, while often promoted as being fine, is in an ongoing questionable state. 

Don Buchla didn't invite chaos but he also didn't impose order unless it was exactly what the user wanted. He opened notes, sound, and dynamics up for anyone curious (perhaps dedicated) enough to seek it out. His inventions - like the man himself some might say - were cranky, odd, occasionally misfired, and uniquely brilliant. Despite any earthly complications his legacy as a pioneer in art, sound, and space is not only secure but still waiting and encouraging us to explore what he left behind. 

Bleep and Bongo on.

Hello, Hello Psychaleppo!

A few months ago I had the chance to DJ an International Music show at a local radio station. While looking for interesting acts to showcase I came across what has become one of my favorite new electronic acts called Hello Psychaleppo.  They can be found on Soundcloud, YouTube, and the Mideast Tune Music Site but info on the "band" is scarce. Fortunately the music isn't and it's brilliant.

(UPDATE 8/30/16: ) The description on the YouTube page reads:

"Hailing from one of the most mystical and musically rich cities in the Levant, Hello Psychaleppo is deeply rooted in oriental music tradition. Hello Psychaleppo is the electronic music project of the young Syrian producer Samer Saem Eldahr (AKA Zimo). He made his mark, with his unique and experimental sound. 

He uses melodies of the Arab bedouin “Mawwals” and the ecstatic strains of tarab, and threads it through convoluted, industrial structures made from dubstep, drum & bass, electro and trip-hop. He creates a journey away from boundaries of style, engaging souls into letting go while experiencing a new dimension of sonic blends."

The full album Gool L'Ah is linked below from the band's soundcloud page below but just as a taste try this track:

Combining the best of Drums and Bass, Acid, and just good old fashioned Techno along with an expert use of vocal samples and synth leads Harem pulses and flows and just commands both listening and dancing. 

The Dj/Producer behind Psychaleppo also works with other artists and has posted some more recent remixes of acts such as MASA! which are a bit more mainstream. 

Indeed some of the material on the Ha! album is a bit less adventurous than Gool L'Ah but you can see the seeds of the more experimental tracks such as Every Time I Thought About it I'd Burst into Tears which, over it's almost five minutes goes from vocals to retro beats to all out rave to ambient and then tops it all with a little Jungle outro:

For those looking for more there is the You Tube page https://www.youtube.com/c/hellopsychaleppo 
which includes some additional remixes, edited clips, and even a few live performances and music videos.  Here's one from London in 2015: 



I'm thrilled to see this talent is still experimenting and growing as well as performing. For the full effect of an intro I highly recommend  listening to Gool  L'Ah from start to finish (you know, like in the OLD days kids!) and branch out from there. 

 
!on رقص

2016 Return to ... Exile.

I still have my 1980s  Juno 106 with the original "sticker" I put on for live shows.

In real life sometimes things conspire to change your plans. Sometimes you move ahead despite this. I released my first recording (on cassette tape!) around 1991. I followed in up shortly with a full length album of synthesized sounds, drones, music, and songs. I threw myself into the features and abilities of my synthesizers and effects and completed songs came out based on what I did and what the instrument "gave back" to me. Even though these were machines I felt there was interaction. Modulation settings and envelope decays would continue after I took my hand off the keyboard. I could hit a note and then play another note and the second would interact with the first. For a musician used to piano or reeds this was a new world and I threw myself into it whole heartedly.

Despite playing synthesizers for over 25 years and having my collection and experience grow from one or two 1980s instruments to dozens of vintage and modern pieces including multiple modular synthesizers my approach and fascination to sound and sound sculpture has remained consistent. I try out a tone or note, tweak a few parameters or shift my hand over the keys into a new chord or rhythm, and listen. I build from there repeating the process over and over and eventually I have what I consider a "song".  Sometimes it's music in the more traditional sense, other times it's simply a minimal exploration of  the evolving nature of sound and it's interaction with me and itself. 

I wrote and recorded all my original albums in a third floor walk up one bed room apartment (the original "LegionUK Studios").  I think I originally had one synth (a Yamaha DX27) a peavy keyboard amp with reverb and a Tascam four track. Eventually I got a SCI Pro One and Roland Juno 106 by the time the first full length came out. I called the project "Music For Isolation Tanks" because I felt I was doing this in a vacuum apart from my other experiences. I played bass in a punk band at the time so this was also alien to any musical interaction I had. Halfway through I had to unexpectedly move apartments and I finished the album on the go, hence the title "Exile". It's a minimal exploration of parameters and basic abilities of analog synths chock full of knobs, sliders, and weird low frequencies. As i mentioned before not much has changed. 

I took my tweaks on the road playing rock clubs, coffee houses, and art galleries. Anywhere that pretty much seemed inappropriate to be making weird space noises and beats in the early and mid 1990s. Some of these are preserved and now available in lost vault recordings such as 

The Caffeine CD: 

Or the Studio Live set from 1993:

Most of my free time was spent making music, playing live, sometimes recording those live sets and then playing with other projects, instruments, and bands. I didn't release any full studio recordings of Music For Isolation Tanks music for almost twenty years. But that's only half the story. I continued to experiment, play, jam, and record on my own. Eventually I announced a new albums was "coming soon". About five years later I realized I had amassed enough tracks for exactly that.

Return to Exile is a collection of studio recordings (plus one live track) that I feel capture the original spirit of my curiosity with synthesized sound. It's a retrospective containing all new material. Some tracks go back to about the mid 2000s while the final track was 100% written and recorded in October 2015. It's available to stream in it's entirely for free. promo copies are available for any reviewers. (please email for details).


I'm proud of how these different songs flow. It turns out without even knowing I was putting things together like I always did. And, of course, the machines helped me.

As I used to put on all my old cassette tapes and hand copied Catalogs of mail order items:

"I hope you enjoy this as much as possible" - DT

Return On.

Noise Annoys... or not?

I should be working on finishing the nice quiet ambient Music For Isolation Tanks CD but this is what happens when you have so many cool instruments in the studio begging for attention:



I started "work" on another project, this time the opposite of the nice quiet ambient stuff. Working from a fantastic custom instrument made up of various pedals offered by 4MS. The one-of-a-kind Vision Well was calling my name from the corner. 

At some point I'll probably need to document what this is but basically it's a series of souped up custom versions of freakish sound processors and noise generators such as the TriwavePicoGenerator,  Mondo Locto, Noise Swash, Atoner, and more with special internal and external patching, a mixer, and a few other bells and whistles. From the info I have this was built around 2007 to spec of a private buyer. I've had it in my studio for quite a few years and added some other features along the way. 

I suppose as I record more with this I'll probably be properly motivated to then put this aside and go back to the ambient album. Well, I guess that is just one of those good problems for an underground musician.

Buzz, Fizzle, and Fuzz on!

Electronic Party People...

Composer Dan Deacon does more than create and play electronic music. In this NPR Tiny Desk Concert he shows how much fun being a dorky, geeky, beautiful human machine can be.

I've been doing a lot of posts about inspiration and music in general and so figured this might serve as an antidote to anyone feeling I've been getting too philosophical or away from Electronic Music or synthesizers.  Dan Deacon is a creative electronic music oriented artist who studied conservatory composition yet isn't too proud to make noise with a circuit bent Casio. He's pretty unique in the field and his music builds and swells like an orchestral work constantly merging both emotion and elation. 

He's also very creative in his choice of tools and in this performance he brings out a midi controlled acoustic Piano.  Contrast this to my phone grabbed pic from his most recent tour where he tried out actual robotic triggered acoustic drums as well:

Dan Deacon Live in Philadelphia 2015

What he'll bring out next is anyone's guess. He's over in Europe now and will return to do a few selected West Coast US dates in the Fall. Highly recommended as an artist, electronic musician, and all around damn good time.

The full NPR post here: http://www.npr.org/event/music/387754703/dan-deacon-tiny-desk-concert

Dance on!

How to and Why...

Electronic musician's are notorious for liking and creating obtuse, experimental, and downright uncommercial  music.  To that end the community is a lot like the genuine Indie Rock/Punk world where artists compose and record what they want and release it when they are comfortable. This stands in contrast to many major commercial endeavors where album production teams and release dates are meticulously strategically planned  by managers, executives, and maybe -as a token-  with some input from the artists themselves. So with that, this post will focus on a newly discovered ode to the independent both in recording (got to have some geek/tech content folks!) and the inspiration.

http://weathervanemusic.org/ is a non-profit dedicated to supporting and showcasing independent music and the people who make and enjoy it. They offer workshops and a video series as well as documentation and an "Instructors Toolkit" for others to use to teach recording and other techniques. All come highly recommended  and this month they released the second season of their great Web/Video series "Shaking Through" which showcases musicians, engineers, and producers talking about and recording songs in the famous Miner Street Studio in Philadelphia.

This Season's first Episode features none other that Indie/Punk legends the Dead Milkmen and showcases both their confidence and experience with direct recording as well as their curiosity and comfort level with experimenting and collaborating with others. For a band known for catchy irreverent pop "Bitchin' Camaro", "Punk Rock Girl" and hick punkish manifestos "Stuart" the two videos from this series show just how sophisticated that "unsophisticated" veneer really is. The series focuses on two videos; one of the "Artist" and one of the "Production" and both are brilliant, insightful, and entertaining.

It's a joy to watch the musician's and recording team both relax and work hard at the same time and the result speak for themselves. What once was a juvenile  pleasure has now grown into a mature yet fun artistic and expressive event losing none of it's drive or relevance along the way. Few artists can claim that in general. The fact that the Dead Milkmen can pull it off just goes to show how much it's not about the corporate planning or chart sales and comes down the the same universal themes that drive any and all music.

Listen on.

"The World's Gonna Spin With or Without Me"

Recently electronic music auteur Richards James (aka Aphex Twin) posted over 170 (so far!) free unreleased songs on Soundcloud. Some are snippets and ideas but most are fully formed tracks. From an artist that was minimally visible for almost a decade this wealth of material  is like a godsend to fans. His decision to post under a generic pseudonym (user487363530001) isn't that surprising if you know how he operates

(Update: The User487363530001 soundcloud page  has been removed: WATMM has archived the tracks for download here: http://forum.watmm.com/topic/85636-richard-d-james-soundcloud-a-gift-to-the-fans/page-274#entry2286407 )

What is a bit more curious is why now and why post so many things for free all at once? Given the Aphex MO these questions will most likely never be answered but in the meantime fans and new listeners alike can share this work that once was hidden and now is out there for all to enjoy.

I recently discovered another artist had a new album out in 2014 and am kind of kicking myself that I didn't know it sooner. I caught up when I heard her distinctive voice on a TV show of all things and then went to check out if she had released any new material. Sure enough a double album set of 20 new songs has been out since last September. Lucinda Williams is a singer/songwriter versed in blues, country, and rock and roll and not an electronic music pioneer but after poking around I found some data points that stuck me as similar in my experience of finding both sets of recordings.

First and foremost while hungry for more information on her new album I came across this article declaring her one of 2014's most Overlooked Artists. Guilty as charged I thought - I'm a fan and didn't even know she had new material let alone 20 new songs. Turns out she was promoting on everything from the Tonight show to this tasty stripped down set at NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series: 

In his writing Old, But Not in a New Way author Grayson Currin  hits upon this insight:

"When we’re all trying to keep up with the best new Ableton users on Soundcloud or hunt for the best lo-fi uploads to Bandcamp, who has the time and attention to sit down with a 20-song set from a 61-year-old songwriter and parse just how thoughtful and articulate it is? I didn’t. She’ll likely release another record not long after we have a new president, anyway?"

Ouch. 

On electronic music forums and mailing lists the Aphex Twin "Soundcloud dumps" (as they been called) have certainly got a lot of attention. But equally it seems some listeners are blinking, retweeting, and moving on the the NEXT(tm) thing. One post I saw recently seemed to miss the point entirely by saying (and I'm paraphrasing) "I really like the outtakes, I wish he'd release another ambient album". This after he just released well over NINE HOURS of just that. 

Are we not paying attention? Are we so spoiled with amazing work that as soon as something brilliant comes out we shrug, tag it, and shove it in a folder on our phones or computers or shelves looking for more without even digesting it? And if it's any of the above or even a combination of those or other reasons what does this say about those who do create music? Are we simply shoveling new recordings together in a collection, tossing it into the electronic aether, and moving on ourselves?

Currin goes on to add:

"This isn’t mere information overload, where folks are flooded with so many sources of online sound that they never give anything a proper spin...  Instead, Spirit and many records like it seem to go unnoticed because, in that new church of overwhelming data and choices, we’re looking to latch onto a narrative hook or the simple feeling of newness that we can share. The appeal of something you’ve never heard (and especially something you suspect very few others have heard) dovetails perfectly with our new sharing infrastructure: This is mine, and by showing it to you, I’ve upped the level of my imprimatur."

I don't have the answers and openly admit I'm guilty of this as well. There are only so many hours in a week for my ears and mind to dig music and that's even less when you are making it yourself. But as listeners or artists we owe it to ourselves - and others - to be vigilant about the fatigue that can set in in this day and age of electronic distribution and promotion. Not all music is created equal and while no one can tell you what you like it behooves us to pay attention and give what we do recognize as great music and art a fighting chance. 

I found the new album "Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone" in passing. In listening to the song "Protection" over and over I found these lyrics and blinked:

You know people be grinnin' and talkin' about me
Make me throw up my hands and call out cryin'
But the world's gonna spin with or without me
So I still get up and I keep on tryin' 

I've always been an advocate of artists having to please themselves first and then share second. it might sound pretentious or arrogant but the reality is sending your notes and words out into the universe is a delicate balance. It's impossible to guess what someone else will like or being happy with if you don't have the foundation of being satisfied with your work first. What she sings so seemingly effortlessly in the lyrics above might be the blueprint for us as consumers and more importantly, fans, to use to make sense of what we see and hear on a daily basis and maybe, just maybe, separate the signal from the noise. 

Ambient Tease...

My first "Electronic Music" project was under the name Music For Isolation Tanks in the early 1990s. I released a homemade cassette tape and sold it via mail order and local shops.

It was recorded on a stereo cassette deck (I later upgraded to a Tascam Porta05)

As with many DIY projects I had no idea what I was doing but my enthusiasm for "making wierd sounds" carried the day. I think I used my only synth which was a Yamaha DX27 and a few stomp boxes and I added reverb by recording direct out from an old Peavy amp which had a spring built in.

A few years later I made my first intentional album during a move from one tiny apartment to another (hence the name "Exile").

That album is still available today. have a listen:

http://davidtalento.bandcamp.com/album/exile-1994



 I never looked back and have released music every since. Which brings us to this month's short blog post. After over 20 years I am revisting the Music For Isolation Tanks in the studio. a new full length album will be ready in early 2015. For this I went back through the various phases of MFIT and ended up dwelling mostly on the initial ambient/drone aspects (with some odd energy thrown in for good measure).  A teaser track is out now. Keep your ears peeled for the rest soon.

Space out on!

Game, Set, Bleep, Bloop...

Environmental sound has been used as long as man has been creating music. Drums mimic heartbeats, mutes on horns mimic voices, everything from the demons of hell (Saint-Saens Danse Macabre) to typewriters have been invoked or actually produced to flesh out scores and performances.

The industrial music genre looked at sound as part of our environment and turned it's eye and ear to themes such as our growing reliance on machinery and the dehumanizing effects of mechanization. With the advent of samplers and sequencers the tools for working with environmental sound not only grew but became more affordable and, therefore, more democratic. Today Children's toys do this for a few bucks and anyone with a smart phone can capture sound, manipulate it, and toss their completed work into a song or ringtone. 

And as you use that smartphone, or browse your web on your computer, tablet, or laptop  advertisers and business are scanning your searches, clicks, and choices and feeding that data into algorithms that help them predict patterns, sales, market trends and more.

So really, it was only a matter of time until a player in the data business decided to co-op the themes of man/machine and  use art to display their wares. Enter IBM, The US Open Tennis Match, and a pile of analog synths. A nice touch being many of these are classic analog modulars from a different place and time including an EMS Synthi and Arp 2600. 

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem  teamed up with Tool designer Patrick Gunderson and his team to come up with an interactive self generating program that would take raw data from the tennis match in real time (Serves, scores, faults, player names, etc) and then synthesize that to controller data which would then be fed to Murphy's collection of instruments. A good overview is provided by FastCoCreate.Com here:  http://www.fastcocreate.com/3035202/the-sound-of-tennis-how-ibm-and-james-murphy-made-music-from-the-us-open

Interactive Data interface for Instruments

All the matches are uploaded on this site: http://www.usopen.org/en_US/sessions/ . The results sound like pings, whirs, and percussive yelps rather than mainstream beats or melodies but if you skip around and listen to different games you can hear distinct themes and sounds emerge.  For those with less  avant tastes apparently some of the music will be edited and remixed for an upcoming album based on the results. For those who want an immediate fix however, try this match between Serena Williams and Varvara Lepchenko
http://sessions.usopen.org/#!/match/WS301

Serve on!

Buchla has a Mind of it's Own...

I've been traveling for work and was home for a few days in between. I went to the studio where the main modulars are and flipped the switch to turn them on. 

This is what greeted me:



What I think was going on was the synth was patched up to the last demo I did of FM into the new Mike Peake (of Ebolatone fame) custom 258 module I received last month. 

However, the 200e has a preset manager and it seemed to recall a different preset. So when I turned it on it was patched for one thing and sent info to play another. This falls under the category of "happy accidents" I've talked about before. Ok, so perhaps not so happy but, well...  I was sufficiently amused to document it in this short clip. 

Enjoy as much and you can and bleep (carefully) on...

And now I shall say nothing more...

I recently came across an interview with actor Bryan Cranston where he commented on fame vs: acting. Among other insights he said that ever since he was 25 he had been making a living -  as and actor-  without ever having to do anything else. As far as he was concerned that was the pinnacle of success. The fact that he could continue to do what he loved made all other factors (fame, money, even recognition) irrelevant.

Many  artists don't make a living doing what inspires them, yet they continue all the same. There certainly are as many factors for this as there are people. In some cases artists don't even try to make a living or get paid for their "work. In others, attempts to do so don't work out. In almost all the cases where someone continues to create- with or without external encouragement - it's because they truly get their reward from the process itself.  It didn't need to be labeled and commodified but the whole "outsider art" movement is based on people with little or no formal training who create, seemingly in a vacuum, simply because they feel inspired to.

Then there are true artists like Eliane Radigue. She has formal training but it didn't come easy. She was a pioneer that most people never heard of . She knew exactly what she heard in her "mind's ear" and set out with her tools and determination to make it a reality.

I came across this fantastic documentary of her recently and believe it not only illustrates the intricacies of using a modular synthesizer (in this case the Arp 2500) but also show how these boxes are instruments and how and artist creates with one.  I've often used the terms "aural sculpture when trying to explain how modular synthesists  carve an piece from various sounds and sequences so I found it especially refreshing to see Mademoiselle Radigue mention the building of her sound is literally done in pieces within a frame of sound "like an architect who needs a scaffolding". She also explains that she uses scores and timing to perform her pieces. So much electronic music is done free form and improvised we tend to forget one can approach it with the same discipline and skill set as a classical composer.

Radigue describes taking months or even years to create a piece painstakingly building and taking away elements until it matched the piece in her head. She mentions how she spent ten years away from electronic composition and then when she returned she took another three months throwing out every conventional sound she knew until a tiny scrap of sound came to light and then, Voila! she built on that.

This kind of dedication (some might call obsession) can be found among all cultures and generations of artists. We are fortunate to have such an eloquent example to learn from and, most of all, enjoy.

#Firstlove Arp Odyssey

The first synthesizer I ever saw was in Jr high school in the late 1970s.  It was an Arp Odyssey in music class and the teacher was Charles Terry. To say, in retrospect, he was ahead of his time doesn't do service to the man, I will forever be grateful to him for thinking it was a good idea to show a bunch of fidgeting pre-teenagers what an analog oscillator was and what sample and hold did.

He also played us some "Moog" records including one that was an all instrumental version of The Beatles. I was so damn sheltered and green I actually thought that WAS the Beatles at the time and remember him kindly telling me, no, the Beatles were something else quite entirely. I didn't care, I wanted to hear more of the "Moog" album.

(I'm going to guess and say it was probably this Dick Hyman recording but honestly I have no idea:)


After school band students could use the sound proof practice rooms to rehearse in.  I played clarinet so I used my guile to make sure I was around when the synth was out. Eventually I just asked if I could play it and, God bless his soul, he set it up and let me go to town. I didn't have the first clue what those sliders and switches did and at times there was NO sound and other times there was an INSANE NOISE but, again, it didn't matter. I was mesmerized. Never in my short life had I heard - let alone seen - anything like that before. If I knew what it meant back then I would say I was intoxicated by that magical machine.

Why am I reminiscing this week about the good old innocent days of sliders and filter sweeps? Well Korg (a Japanese company)  has announced they are reissuing the original Arp Odysessy this year and even pulled in David Friend. Friend, along with Alan R. Pearlman (the A.R.P. in ARP), was one of the founders of the company and worked on the Odyssey design.  As far as I know this is the first time a foreign modern company is reissuing a classic American synthesizer. It just sounds insane but this is the same Korg that brought back their own more obscure MS20 last year. It's kind of a dream come true for synthnerds.

The Press release is here:  http://www.korg.com/us/news/2014/0217/

I've written about analog reissues and new synths in this blog before. Hell, I bought a Novation BassStation2 last year and even used it live over some of my trusty vintage pieces due to it's memory, midi sync, and internal arpeggiator. The past month music forums and mailing lists have been flooded with Uber Hype by Roland about their new not-analog-but-the-next-thing synths that are supposedly based on the classic TR808, TR909, and TB303 line up from the 80s. For an intriguing write up of the old "Analog Vs: Digital" question readers may be interested in checking out this post by Geeky Disco which I found somewhat refreshing: http://geekydisco.tumblr.com/post/76988292224/analog-vs-digital-hardware-vs-software-revisited.

But these debates, discussions, and diatribes all pale in comparison to what the reality is here:  In a few months the first electronic instrument that started a life long sound obsession will be seen again in the wild. I don't know if Mr. Terry knew what he started and in this day an age of taking music classes out of schools it might not seem like such a big deal but, well, you're reading these words because over 35 years ago a creative teacher showed a child something new. Something different.

Something Amazing.

Enough of us remember such moments and the sounds that came with them to convince an industrial giant decades later to bring it back so new generations can experience that  magic all over again.

Bleep on kids.

 Really...  Bleep ON.

This is What Happens Live...

I've been recording what, for me, is the most "commercial" material I believe I've done in my 20+ years of making electronic music. The result is a hybrid of my industrial, noise, and experimental routes with my love of Acid and hard beat driven music. The result is MegoDETH and the Album is Spanner in the Works

Now, if that wasn't bad enough I specifically recorded and envisioned this project to be performed live. And earlier this month that is exactly what I did. During the recording phase I used whatever instrument (and as many) as I felt made the track the best it could possibly be. But live one needs to economize and simplify. I don't use pre-recorded tracks or laptops and outside of drum machine patterns which I programmed I wanted everything to be played live. I eventually streamlined the main setup to one drum machine, one ultra-flexible analog monosynth, and a TB303 clone (the FR-Revolution) which stored it's own sequences but could be easily played live and remixed on the fly. 

Along the way during rehearsals with the live setup I came up with some new material. One song that kept presenting itself  had a melodic hook which I could play live and  the more I played it the more it sounded  familiar. Not in a I've-heard-this-before type way but in a hey!-that's-sounds-like... way. Now theoretically as the composer I shouldn't be so damn surprised when I listen to my own music but one of the main reasons I play electronic instruments (and specifically book live shows) is that it puts me in a new creative space. I've said "less is more" before on this blog but that's never been more evident on this ditty I call "Spud Dance" in homage to the group that inspired me to merge rock, synthmusic, pop, and a smart and damn good time well over 30 years ago.

So, without further ado, MegoDETH performing my encore song from the night "Spud Dance".

Devolve on!

Back in the USSR...

Elektro Moskva

A new documentary on Soviet Era Synthesizers is currently making the rounds. Among the more interesting thematic points are a peek into the Russian view of  technology and how it's citizens have come to lower their expectations from what is promised to what is actually delivered and then work with that.

As one of the interviewees brilliantly puts it:

"On a western device, you push a button and get a result. 

On a Soviet instrument, you push a button and get something." – Benzo

Many modern synthesists and gear-hounds will happily show you their piles of instruments and explain how they use each one for it's unique sounds, interface, properties, and abilities. It seems there is more than one way to skin a patch cord though and using weird, fickle, or just plain broken electronic instruments can yield their own equally unique results. Dire economic circumstances and policies left over from the cold war, a changing political climate, and institutionalized views of government and the military all contribute to how technology can be shaped by culture. 

Creative types used to dealing with challenges often develop a different artistic vocabulary so they can get something out of their tools and keep making sound, music, film or whatever they're inspired to do. This film looks to be a fascinating view of how people not only make the most with what they have but use such limitations as part of the process and how the feedback of that process then influences the culture at large.

Check out the trailer and more info here: http://elektromoskva.com/english

Bleep on comrades!

Sweat, Surprise, and a New Track...

Perhaps you have heard the phrase "Creativity is 1% Inspiration and 99% Perspiration". The implication being you shouldn't sit around waiting to create, you need to work at it and be determined to both start and finish something. 

With my project "Sweeping the Noise Floor" it's necessary to focus to complete tracks and albums (let alone live shows which are a lot of work) but I really couldn't define the actual percentages. This is because almost all my tracks come out of a place where I don't have a specific sound or goal in mind at the onset. I assemble what tools I want to use and then  start slowly patching and building until something comes into focus. Once the initial inspirational sound is there I process to trying to mix levels, parts, etc live in a linear fashion to see what I can do with what I've found. If I'm still pleased with what's happening I progress to recording tracks live and then dumping and editing them on the computer doing the panning, levels, and perhaps adding more effects, fades, etc. 

If this sounds very fatalistic that's because, for this project at least, I try to set up an environment where things will fall into place. While it's obvious nothing would happen if I didn't put the effort in, I approach the instruments (and especially the modular synths) as something organic and acting a bit on their own. While I set certain wheels in motion it's also true I am constantly both pushing forward and sitting back at the same time. Does that count as "perspiration"?  I honestly don't know.

The more quantifiable parts of the track (working on the parts, mix, final master) are more rote and similar from any other track by the time I get to those stages. But that initial Something, that Je ne c'est quoi that starts the ball rolling? I would certainly give that a lot more than 1% credit - whereever  it comes from.

I didn't intend to create anything today. Parts of this track go back 3-4 years while the majority of it was composed and recorded all at once in less than an hour after my morning coffee. It's what I like to call a "surprise" in that I wasn't expecting to come up with anything and when I did I just went with the flow. 

Perhaps I'll do a "part 2" to this post where I'll describe the patch and how I came up with this ditty. (By all means please comment or email if you'd find that interesting and/or helpful!) But for now I'll just let the music do the talking. 

Close your eyes, relax,  and float on.

Inspirado, Hardware Vs Software, and Guest Speaker...

Part of the reason I started this blog was to learn more about the process of making sound. Half of that was me writing down my thoughts and processes and thus figuring out just what it is about music or gear that inspires me and others. The other half is listening to other's comments on similar topics and applying that input to what we all do be it composing, recording, or just listening and enjoying synthesis and sound.

I recently came across a lecture from 2009 by musician and synthesist Alessandro Cortini. Alessandro is probably best known as a keyboardist and synth player in Nine Inch Nails as well as his projects SONOIO and ModWheelMod. His biography may be especially interesting to readers of this blog  as he started out as a serious guitarist and his experience with synthesis came much later in his career first starting with software synths and plugins and then progressing to hardware instruments. He is now known as, among other things, a virtuoso of the Buchla Music Easel as well as other esoteric and classic hardware instruments. His perspective and journey offers some unique insights on the age old questions of just what prompts inspiration and how important are the tools and instruments to the composer and, in particular, an electronic musician.

Alessandro Cortini in the NIN Studios...

This starts very early in the talk when after describing his first experience with an actual vintage synth over it's virtual form he asks:

"Why is it so different when you have something in front of you that is supposedly the same thing and it's just I'm controlling it with the mouse in front of a computer and then I'm controlling with knobs when I have the real thing?"

Similar to my previous post he discusses the benefits of computer software but then that is followed by what could only be described as a love affair with the "actual" instrument and how that offers something special as well. The fact that the instrument he is using for his demo is a Buchla 200E modular, an instrument heavily featured on this blog, is a nice touch.

Other parts of the lecture that I found interesting were when he discusses how he went about recreating the synth and keyboard parts for classic and new Nine Inch Nails songs (perhaps a dream gig for many synthheads). Again, he gives a unique perspective on his "job" and walks the audience through the ups and downs of using electronic instruments and how that makes a difference on his inspiration as an artist.

The presentation is audio only and broken down into two parts where he speaks a little about his background and how he got into synthesis and then does an in-depth hands on demo of the Buchla 200e system. This has been linked on a number of sites but I'll include the page from the great site Synthtopia  since it includes both audio files in a useful streaming and downloadable player.

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2009/02/15/alessandro-cortini-buchla-200e-lecture-demonstration/

Study on!