out standing in the field
Posts tagged Electronics
Post and Beam CD Countdown: Sequencing
Aug 17th
I recently finished sequencing the tracks for my upcoming Post and Beam CD. The hardest part was figuring out where to put the long form instrumental pieces like Telephone Temple and Spring Dissent (Bubbling) among the shorter, more song-based pieces. After auditioning countless combinations and creating crazy mind maps of relationships between pieces, I finally decided to jettison the instrumental pieces altogether.
I’m disappointed they didn’t make the cut partly because I wanted Post and Beam to represent a typical set of my current work for banjo and electronics. At the same time, I can’t deny that the album (Yes, I’m actually thinking of it like that; and yes, I do feel old sometimes.) works better without them.
The good news is that they’re not going away forever. I can easily imagine them as the foundation for my next CD, or as online bonus material. And the other good news is that with the sequencing done I can move along with mastering and sleeve design and … and …
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Sedition Edition
Jul 16th
Here are some recordings and photos from my June 19 show at Sedition Gallery in Sydney, Australia. The performance was part of the Left Coast Festival 2010.
The first set consisted of duo improvisations by Holland Hopson, fretless banjo and electronics with Mike Majkowski, double bass.
Holland Hopson & Mike Majkowski; Photo: Terumi Narushima
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Hopson Majkowski Improvisation 1.mp3
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Hopson Majkowski Improvisation 2.mp3
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Hopson Majkowski Improvisation 3.mp3
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Hopson Majkowski Improvisation 4.mp3
Next was a wonderful set by Kraig Grady, just tuned vibraphone and Terumi Narushima, just tuned pump organ.
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Holland Hopson & Mike Majkowski; photo: Terumi Narushima
ASAC Presents Defragmented: Marko Timlin and thenumber46
Apr 8th
Albany Sonic Arts Collective presents Defragmented: A concert of emergent systems featuring Marko Timlin and thenumber46 (Suzanne Thorpe + Philip White).
Saturday April 10th
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St.
Albany, NY
8PM
Suggested Donation $5 (all proceeds go to touring performers)
This concert features Finnish- based composer/sound artist Marko Timlin alongside thenumber46, the collaborative effort of electro-acoustic flutist Suzanne Thorpe and electronic musician Philip White. Both Timlin and thenumber46 employ improvisation and non-linear analog systems to create music in which a delicate balance exists between the human and machine. A music at once intuitive and mechanical. Explosive and subdued. Violent and meditative.
More about the artists after the jump.
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Human Mirror with The Jazz Robot and Holland Hopson
Mar 31st
I’m excited about this show on Tuesday, April 6 at Bread and Jam in Cohoes, NY featuring Human Mirror and The Jazz Robot. I’ll be opening the show with banjo and electronics. Come early; The music starts at 7pm.
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ASAC Presents Lucre and Jonathan Chen
Mar 7th
Albany Sonic Arts Presents Lucre and Jonathan Chen
Sunday March 14 @ 8pm
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St.
Albany NY
$5 suggested donation
- Lucre is the improvising trio of Chris Cogburn , Bryan Eubanks, and Vic Rawlings who perform with exposed circuits, extended ampli?ed cello, low-? modular synthesis, and stripped down percussion.
- Jonathan Chen will perform a solo set of music for electronics, viola and violin.
Chris is a good friend from my Austin days and does great work with the No Idea Festival. I’m very excited he’ll be playing in Albany. And I’m equally excited that local artist Jonathan Chen is finally getting a chance to present his work.
More information about the artists after the break…
Related PostsWeeping Willow Street Improvisations
Feb 2nd
Last November I spent a memorable, rainy afternoon at Travis Weller’s place performing a house concert as part of his Willow Street Concert Series. Nick Hennies wowed us with music for solo percussion including an entrancing performance of Alvin Lucier’s Silver Streetcar. I played music for fretless banjo, bent electronics and computer. Then Travis and I improvised two pieces with Travis playing his Owl, a custom-built piano wire lyre with electronics. Nick joined in for the last piece of the afternoon. The rain kept us company all along.
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091108 Willow Street Improvisation 1.mp3
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091108 Willow Street Improvisation 2.mp3
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Holland Hopson at Signatures – Art Night at Proctors
Dec 17th
I’ve been remiss posting about this event, but below is a last-minute blurb. If all goes well, this will be the premiere of my new 6-channel hemispherical speaker. I’ll post more on that project soon.
Art Night at Proctors Flyer
Holland Hopson plays music for banjo and electronics at Signatures Wine Bar, Proctors in Schenectady on Friday December 18th, 5:30pm – 9pm.
Holland’s music for banjo expands traditional Appalachian tunes and techniques with live interactive electronics. Expect a mix of old-time banjo music and ambient electronic improvisations–Roots music for the 21st century. Holland was last seen at Proctors opening for kraut rock legends Faust.
Friday’s performance is part of Art Night at Proctors.
“…vocalist-banjo player Holland Hopson magnificently melded old-timey roots music with 21st century technology…”
–Greg Haymes, The Albany Times Union
Stunned (too late?)
Nov 23rd
Stunned Records recently released another in their series of split cassettes: Rambutan / Chapels (Stunned no. 54). This one features Eric Hardiman of Rambutan and Adam Richards of Chapels. A little bit of my banjo + electronics shows up on the Rambutan half of the release.
Good news/Bad news: I just checked the Stunned Records site and it looks like they’re already out of stock.
Related PostsASAC Presents The Synapse Brothers, Matts Weston and Davignon
Jul 18th
Albany Sonic Arts presents an evening of percussive-driven electronic music featuring The Synapse Brothers (Bob Gluck, John Myers), Matt Weston and Matt Davignon.
Saturday July 25 @ 8pm
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St.
$5 suggested donation
If you’d like to study up for this show, check out Davignon’s Some Notes on Drum Machining.
Artist Bios:
The Synapse Brothers fuse together elements of electroacoustic music with improvised jazz and funk. Bob Gluck on the keyboard and electronics and John Myers playing guitars and MIDI-guitar will play live. They will be virtually accompanied by sound designer Pat Gleeson’s lustrous beats and sounds. Bob is well known for his presence on the local jazz scene. His repertoire spans jazz performance both acoustic and with electronics and free improvisation, avant-garde concert music and music for electronic expansions of acoustical instruments, including the ram¹s horn, Disklavier (computer-assisted piano) and Turkish baglama saz. Bob Gluck is Associate Professor of Music and Director of the University at Albany Electronic Music Studio.
Matt Weston has recently relocated to Albany, and we couldn’t be luckier to have such an incredible musician in our midst. Matt plays percussion and electronics, and has performed throughout the US and in Europe. He has appeared on CNN, VH1, and CBS TV. He has studied and/or collaborated with Arthur Brooks, Bill Dixon, Kevin Drumm, Milford Graves, William Parker, Jack Wright and others. He has recorded for the Tautology, Sachimay, Breaking World Records, Imvated, Crank Satori, BoxMedia, and Drag City labels. He currently records for the new 7272music label. In addition to his solo work, Weston is a member of Barn Owl (with guitarist Chris Cooper and bassist Andy Crespo); and is guitarist with Thrillpillow (with guitarist/vocalist Plum Crane, bassist/vocalist Maggie Nowinski, and drummer James Z).
Matt Davignon is an experimental musician living in Oakland, California. Since 1993, he has developed his own unique style of music, which focuses largely on textures, arrhythmic patterns and musical imperfections. Since 2004, he has been working almost exclusively with a drum machine. Instead of using it as a rhythm device, he plays the pads manually while processing the sounds through an array of effects devices and samplers, improvising music made of organic-sounding textures, hums, gurgles and crackles. Matt is also a member of the Crank Ensemble, and is the founder of the Pmocatat Ensemble. He’s active in organizing experimental & unusual music performances in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to being responsible for such events as The San Francisco Found Objects Festival, and regular DroneShift concerts, he’s one of the curators for the Luggage Store Gallery Experimental Music Series.
Related PostsTax Refund
Apr 24th
Here’s your tax refund from The Field Guide: two new recordings from my recent Albany Sonic Arts Collective performance at the Upstate Artists Guild. See photos from the show here.
The first piece features an in-progress version of my Fender Telecaster morphing into an electric 6-string banjo. I replaced the lowest string on the Tele with another high string to serve as a drone. Soon to come are railroad spikes so I can change the pitch of the drone string more easily and my usual allotment of sensors added to the instrument. This piece is played in a traditional thumb lead two-finger style using a modified mountain-minor tuning (dG’DGcd) run through a loopy MSP patch.
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The second piece is a modified version of a work for banjo and electronics with the banjo replaced by my Base On, a circuit-bent walkie-talkie. Not much of the circuit-bent sound is heard, though, since it drives an elaborate resynthesis process in MSP that simultaneously retunes the pitches to just-intonation and smears the transitions with glissandi. A touch of feedback in the process opens up slightly unstable areas where the algorithm fights with itself to settle on a consistent pitch.
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