38 Main St.

New Paltz, NY

Time TBA • Facebook • Twitter • Email

38 Main St.

New Paltz, NY

Time TBA

On Beatport • Facebook • Twitter • Email

On Beatport

whut • Facebook • Twitter • Email

whut

• Facebook • Twitter • Email

Pop Gun Booking is presenting us with Nosaj thing and EL TOPO ( (Dave Harrington of Darkside/Nicolas Jaar’s band) at Glasslands in Brooklyn, NYE.  Details below.

Event Info on Facebook

TICKETS

Venue Information: Glasslands Gallery 289 Kent Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11211 http://glasslands.blogspot.com/ • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Pop Gun Booking is presenting us with Nosaj thing and EL TOPO ( (Dave Harrington of Darkside/Nicolas Jaar’s band) at Glasslands in Brooklyn, NYE.  Details below.

Event Info on Facebook

TICKETS

Venue Information:
Glasslands Gallery
289 Kent Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
http://glasslands.blogspot.com/

On Wednesday, December 7th,I will be giving a lecture and performance at the Pyramind Training Campus in San Francisco.  I will be detailing my explorations with cello and Ableton Live, along with useful tips and ideas for effectively  incorporating Live and live instruments into a DJ- and dance music context.  I’ll be touching on ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

On Wednesday, December 7th,I will be giving a lecture and performance at the Pyramind Training Campus in San Francisco.  I will be detailing my explorations with cello and Ableton Live, along with useful tips and ideas for effectively  incorporating Live and live instruments into a DJ- and dance music context.  I’ll be touching on my explorations with Max4Live as well.

The event is free with an RSVP.

Full details here:

http://www.pyramind.com/training/events/calendar-of-events/view/115.html

Facebook RSVP 

• Facebook • Twitter • Email

Facebook RSVP 

Testing some new dubs + reworking familiar favorites.  From UStream:

Audio forthcoming. • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Testing some new dubs + reworking familiar favorites.  From UStream:

Audio forthcoming.

Video streaming by Ustream

Download Archie Pelago Broadcast 2

Download audio file (Archie-HQ-10-30-2011.mp3)

  • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Video streaming by Ustream

Download Archie Pelago Broadcast 2

Download audio file (Archie-HQ-10-30-2011.mp3)

Archie Pelago ‘The Fabric’ by carcrashset • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Archie Pelago ‘The Fabric’ by carcrashset

If you want to hear me go deep w cello, Ableton and Max 4 Live, I’ll be giving a talk at the Devotion Learn Ableton user group in Williamsburg, October 13th 7p.  Excited for this.  Details from the website below:

An excellent article on Archie Pelago by the Peter Kirn at Create Digital Music came out this week.  They laid out our whole ouvre to-date in the post, primarily focusing on the technical elements of how we do what we do while also highlighting our creative output to-date.

An excerpt:

With laidback, exotic grooves and richly-coordinated interlaced cello, ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

An excellent article on Archie Pelago by the Peter Kirn at Create Digital Music came out this week.  They laid out our whole ouvre to-date in the post, primarily focusing on the technical elements of how we do what we do while also highlighting our creative output to-date.

An excerpt:

With laidback, exotic grooves and richly-coordinated interlaced cello, saxophone, turntable, and electronics, Archie Pelago’s music relies on some serious technological savvy. To be sure, all you really need to play instruments and computers and turntables together is to get into a room and start jamming. But to realize their specific musical vision, the trio of Hirshi, Cosmo D and Kroba have turned to an advanced Ableton Live rig, centered around The Bridge to couple Serato and Live.

…

To be honest, after a lot of launch hype, it hasn’t always been easy anecdotally speaking to find a lot of people using The Bridge. The software, combining Ableton’s clip-launching facilities with Serato’s digital DJ setup, perhaps demands a lot conceptually and musically of its users. But boy, are these three using it – and pushing its envelope to the breaking point.

For the full article, as well as a detailed rundown of our setup (including a schematic), click: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2011/09/turntable-meets-cello-sax-laptop-how-archie-pelago-uses-the-bridge-and-ableton-live/

Big ups, CDM!

Big thanks to Jordan Rothlein over at WNYU.fm’s Table Tennis show and Calli Higgins for helping make this happen. And of course, the rest of the core Archie crew, Kroba & Hirshi.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Full, Unedited Vid:

Archie Pelago LIVE on Table Tennis from Jordan Rothlein on ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Big thanks to Jordan Rothlein over at WNYU.fm’s Table Tennis show and Calli Higgins for helping make this happen. And of course, the rest of the core Archie crew, Kroba & Hirshi.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Full, Unedited Vid:

Archie Pelago LIVE on Table Tennis from Jordan Rothlein on Vimeo.

Archie Pelago LIVE on Table Tennis from Jordan Rothlein on Vimeo

Tonight, Archie Pelago is performing live on WNYU’s Table Tennis show at 9pm EST.  That’s 89.1 on the FM Dial if you live in the NYC orbit.  If you’re coming to this post after the fact, the show will be archived for your listening pleasure in a timely manner.

For everyone else, feel free ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Download the release here. • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Download the release here.

Archie Pelago’s Cosmo D Loops Some Cello from Bangbang on Vimeo. • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Archie Pelago’s Cosmo D Loops Some Cello from Bangbang on Vimeo.

My group Archie Pelago will be doing an in-store performance and Q&A at Manhattan’s Tekserve Store, next Thursday, 8/11 at 6pm as part of Ableton’s ongoing NYC user-group clinic series.

As you may know, Ableton has been a staple in both my production work and live performances for years and this event promises to be an intimate ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

My group Archie Pelago will be doing an in-store performance and Q&A at Manhattan’s Tekserve Store, next Thursday, 8/11 at 6pm as part of Ableton’s ongoing NYC user-group clinic series.

As you may know, Ableton has been a staple in both my production work and live performances for years and this event promises to be an intimate and insightful look at how we as a trio perform using Ableton, Serato’s the Bridge and Max for Live.  If you’re interested in these tools and want insight into how they drive our unique performance approach, this event is a great opportunity for you to check us out, ask us questions and get a taste of Archie’s live show.

Location:

Tekserve
119 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011
Thursday August 11th, 6pm

Registration is free. Sign up here. 

From Tekserve’s website:

Ableton Live NYC User Group – Featuring Archie Pelago

Come join us for a special event with electronic dance music trio Archie Pelago and the Ableton Live NYC User Group. Members Hirshi (turntables), Kroba (sax) and Cosmo D (cello) will demonstrate how they’re able to harness the power of Ableton Live, Serato Scratch Live, The Bridge and Max for Live along with their instruments and midi controllers to achieve their seamless beats and bass.

They recently opened for visiting DJs Oneman and Ben UFO at XLR8R’s Turrbotax party in Brooklyn and have a remix for Atlanta-based producer Distal coming out on UK Bass pioneer Pinch’s Tectonic imprint later this Fall.

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I’ll be taking the stage (er dome?) at 10:30 or so.

Til then!

House of Yes

342 Maujer St.

Brooklyn.

L train to Grand St.

Facebook Event HERE

From the Facebook Page…

Help out New York’s premiere audio visual techie art camp, IMAGE NODE! Know our work? You have most likely stumbled into our blinkietastic ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

I’ll be taking the stage (er dome?) at 10:30 or so.

Til then!

House of Yes

342 Maujer St.

Brooklyn.

L train to Grand St.

Facebook Event HERE

From the Facebook Page…

Help out New York’s premiere audio visual techie art camp, IMAGE NODE! Know our work? You have most likely stumbled into our blinkietastic domes or camp some late night on the playa and had your mind BBLLOOOWWNNN! You’ve seen the seizuredome at many W&B and Danger parties and our crew of Vj’s in venues from 3rd Ward, Electric Warehouse, House of Yes and more! 

Its about time we have a glitched-out blinkie-blinged throw down of our own!! Come for the badass glitchy music and stay because you are hypnotized by the pretty blinky lights!!! 

********Main room DJs********
Playing dubby, glitchy tunes for your wobbly whompy dancing pleasure from:

Jon Margulies, Hobotech http://soundcloud.com/sear​ch?q%5Bfulltext%5D=hobotec​h
Willy Whompa, http://soundcloud.com/will​ywhompa
Tinseltown, http://soundcloud.com/sear​ch?q%5Bfulltext%5D=tinselt​own
Ingtzi, Glitch.cz

****Side room Djs******
Live PA and DJ mixes of downtempo, glitch hop, IDM and ambient for your blinky gazing pleasure from:

Cosmo D
Pied-Tendre
Borne 
Autophage
Ezekiel Honig
Futureben 

*******Visuals by*********

Housewives’ Guide To Anatomy
VJ Fuzzy Bastard
Animatronic

WHATS YER GLITCH?!? Image Node Fundraiser
$10 before midnight, $15 after

*UPDATE* we go on at 10 PM This friday, Archie Pelago, featuring me on cello, Kroba on sax and Hirshi on the decks, takes the stage at Turrbotax opening for Hessle Audio / Rinse FM DJs Oneman and Ben UFO.  This show will mark the debut of us playing our own tunes out live, along with a few ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

XLR8R Magazine presents Turrbotax w/ Oneman, Ben UFO and Archie Pelago Live Set + Turrbotax Residents

Free entry before 11, $10 afterwards.   Free Asahi Beer from 11-Midnight.

We at Archie Pelago just set ourselves up on Twitter.   Follow @archie_p for our news, updates and releases etc in real-ish time.  :)

Video streaming by Ustream • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Video streaming by Ustream

From the Organizers:

AUDITORIUM: EPISODE ONE Friday May 13 9pm-2am. $10 advance, $15 door.  All ages. At Factory Studios in South Williamsburg. 79 Lorimer St, Brooklyn, NY.  JMZ to Lorimer, G to Flushing.

auditoriummusic.org listen@auditoriummusic.org Facebook friend: auditoriummusic.org/facebook Facebook event: auditoriummusic.org/fbevent Tickets: auditoriummusic.org/tickets

LISTEN HERE

On Friday, May 13th, please join us for the debut of Auditorium, ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

From the Organizers:

AUDITORIUM: EPISODE ONE
Friday May 13 9pm-2am.
$10 advance, $15 door.  All ages.
At Factory Studios in South Williamsburg.
79 Lorimer St, Brooklyn, NY.  JMZ to Lorimer, G to Flushing.

auditoriummusic.org
listen@auditoriummusic.org
Facebook friend: auditoriummusic.org/facebook
Facebook event: auditoriummusic.org/fbevent
Tickets: auditoriummusic.org/tickets

LISTEN HERE

On Friday, May 13th, please join us for the debut of Auditorium, a new
music series for lovers of ambient, experimental, downtempo and slow
electroacoustic sounds.  Expect an evening of inspired music,
immersive eight-channel sound, enchanting lighting, surreal decor,
unique elixirs and warm hospitality.  Audiologists for the evening are
Cosmo D, David Last as Pocket Pet, Dok Gregory, Lesley Flanigan and
Zemi 17.

FOUNDING FATHERS

Auditorium’s founders and directors are Kevin Balktick and Taylor
Kuffner.  Kevin Balktick is a designer and producer of imaginative
experiences and culture events, including the Winkel & Balktick
warehouse parties, The Lost Horizon Night Market andHorizons:
Perspectives on Psychedelics.  Taylor Kuffner (aka Zemi17) is a sound
designer, media artist and composer who has performed across the
world. Most recently, he is the creator of the Gamelatron, a
MIDI-controlled robotic gamelan orchestra.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

GREG ‘COSMO D’ HEFFERNAN is a producer and cellist who’s background in
classical music, jazz, studio production, and electronic music have
given him a distinct musical identity.  On stage, his cello
improvisations combined with bass-influenced electronic dance music
and DJing provide a one-of-a-kind listening experience.  In the
studio, both solo and as 1/3rd of the production crew Archie Pelago,
he melds electronic and acoustic instruments with original beats and
textures, always providing an emotionally impactful vibe to his
ever-evolving sonic palette. cosmod.net

DAVID LAST is a musician and visual artist living in Brooklyn New
York. He is a founder of the Konque label and music project.  His
tracks range from electronic dance music to cinematic orchestral
ambience depending on the setting. This is not surprising, as he has
been creating music for a variety of venues; the dancefloor, Imax
film, video installation, childrens’ animation, and albums. As a
result of a broad curiosity about music, each project is considered
anew as its own sonic world. davidlast.net

DOK GREGORY has been composing, performing and recording experimental
electronic music since 1983. He has toured and performed in festivals
throughout the United States, Europe, Russia and South America. Dok’s
audio-visual works have been featured in programs at the Forum Des
Images in Paris, Basel Art Fair in Switzerland, The Kitchen and
Lincoln Center in NYC, to name but a few. In 2007 he began work on the
ISRS system (a shortwave radio synthesizer) and continues to research,
development and deployment the technology. Dok has also toured and
collaborated extensively as a member of Silence Corporation, Psychic
TV, Trance Pop Loops and the Ransom Corps.

LESLEY FLANIGAN is a New York-based sound sculptor, composer,
vocalist, and performer. Inspired by the physical materiality of
sound, she focuses on amplification itself as the subject of her
performances, which weave sound from her voice with hand-built
feedback electronics. Her performances have been presented in numerous
venues, festivals, and art spaces internationally including the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Issue Project Room, Sonar (’10
Barcelona; ’10 Chicago), Transitio_MX (’09 Mexico City), NIME (’08
Genoa; ’09 Pittsburgh), ICMC (’07 Copenhagen), and Bent (’08 LA; ’09
NY) lesleyflanigan.com

ZEMI17 is a composer, musician, sound and installation artist based in
Brooklyn, NY.  He is the co-creator, composer and art director for the
Gamelatron, the world’s first fully robotic gamelan orchestra. He is a
featured artist of the Berlin software company Ableton Live, teaches
audio production at Dubspot, performs with the group Zero Gravity
Thinkers, and is the resident DJ for the legendary Danger warehouse
parties. He has received grants and awards from the Mid Atlantic Arts
Foundation, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, New York State Council
on the Arts, Indonesian Foreign Ministry, The Berlin Arts Council, EU
/ European Commission, James F. Robison Foundation, and The Soros
Foundation. zemi17.net gamelatron.com

hope to see you there!

Check the Facebook event here.

  • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Check the Facebook event here.

Video streaming by Ustream • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Video streaming by Ustream

• Facebook • Twitter • Email

Hello,

As an admirer of stylish and and minimal websites, I decided to streamline mine even more.  I also thought I’d take the opportunity to put up some new music I’m working on w/ Archie Pelago over the past month or so.

Here’s a remix we did for Falty DL’s ‘Brazil’ tune.

Here’s a tune ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Hello,

As an admirer of stylish and and minimal websites, I decided to streamline mine even more.  I also thought I’d take the opportunity to put up some new music I’m working on w/ Archie Pelago over the past month or so.

Here’s a remix we did for Falty DL’s ‘Brazil’ tune.

Here’s a tune we did called ‘Frogtoad’.  This one’s a bit of a 6/8 number.

Finally, we’ve got artwork for our “Chocolate Waveplates” EP coming out on Slime in June.  Check it out, along with some preview tracks. 

Archie Pelago‘s “Rena” remix is the sixth track on the Submerse and Resketch “Distance” EP, out now on Slime Recordings.

Enjoy!

Where to get it:

Juno Download (this version comes w two bonus tracks) Amazon Boomkat

Last week I partook on a live on-air interview with colleauges from the Warper crew.  They asked me all sorts of questions about my musical background and the technology that I use to do what I do.  Check it out here. • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Last week I partook on a live on-air interview with colleauges from the Warper crew.  They asked me all sorts of questions about my musical background and the technology that I use to do what I do.  Check it out here.

Cosmo D’S Select Beats + Cello Explorations Jan. 2011 by Cosmoddd on Mixcloud

Hirshi – “Uweak” Jus Wan – “Miles Away” Maxmillion Dunbar – “Lemon Lime” Jack Dixon – “Stay” Leif – “She’s Kooky” Jack Dixon – ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

…also this Mix from Archie to ring in the new year.  Both will be added to the sideboard in a timely manner.  :) • Facebook • Twitter • Email

…also this Mix from Archie to ring in the new year.  Both will be added to the sideboard in a timely manner.  :)

Thanks, Submerse, for lending us your sounds!

Here’s a taste from Submerse’s forthcoming ‘Rena’ single on Slime Recordings… • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Thanks, Submerse, for lending us your sounds!

Here’s a taste from Submerse’s forthcoming ‘Rena’ single on Slime Recordings…

This week Kroba (soundcloud.com/kroba) swung by my place to record a mixtape for an upcoming show we’re doing together.  This mix marks a shift from my recent output: We deliberately went for a 50s, 60s jetset feel crossed with a bit of mid-century exotica, all while having live effected cello and sax interacting with ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

full mix:

Cosmo D and Kroba - Time-Bending Exotica Mixtape 2010
Download

Cosmo D’S Select Beats + Cello Explorations Nov. 2010 by Cosmoddd on Mixcloud

The creative output continues and now I’m stepping up my visual game a bit more.  Improvisation Video 9 is live and ready for you…  Stream it in 720p HD for maximum audio-visual impact.

• Facebook • Twitter • Email

The creative output continues and now I’m stepping up my visual game a bit more.  Improvisation Video 9 is live and ready for you…  Stream it in 720p HD for maximum audio-visual impact.

About the album…

Cosmo D uses his cello and computer to improvise soulful grooves alongside original beats, all in one continuous take. A wide range of cello sonorities are melodically layered and effected (sometimes beyond recognition) on-the-spot, ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

About the album…

Cosmo D uses his cello and computer to improvise soulful grooves alongside original beats, all in one continuous take. A wide range of cello sonorities are melodically layered and effected (sometimes beyond recognition) on-the-spot, while D’s intricate beats provide pulse and groove. Being a continuous take, this album flows like a DJ mix, as Cosmo D has been recently inspired by bass-music parties in New York and newer production styles emerging from the West Coast and Europe. Cosmo D has been working on this particular creation process for several years, releasing videos, podcasts and collaborative singles on Soundcloud. All of these prior musical experiences helped in shaping this album, his first ‘official’ document of his process, and an hour-long sonic mind-blast that never lets up.

This is a new project that I’ve been working with WNYU DJ Hirshi (soundcloud.com/hirshi).  Together we are Archie Pelago. • Facebook • Twitter • Email

This is a new project that I’ve been working with WNYU DJ Hirshi (soundcloud.com/hirshi).  Together we are Archie Pelago.

I’ve come a long way in the years since merging my cello improvisations with Ableton, but I’m not quite at the point where I think it’s reached it’s full potential.

I am close, though. Quite close.

As you’ve seen in my videos and live broadcast archives, I’m constantly tweaking my process in using beats, ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

I’ve come a long way in the years since merging my cello improvisations with Ableton, but I’m not quite at the point where I think it’s reached it’s full potential.

I am close, though. Quite close.

As you’ve seen in my videos and live broadcast archives, I’m constantly tweaking my process in using beats, cello improvisation and Live looping to achieve something of a musical nirvana for me: a constantly forward-moving electronic music experience being created on-the-spot through the tools at my disposal.  It still needs a some refinements before I can consider that it has reached a new level.  Here’s what I’m grappling with now:

• New beats.  I’ve been using the same beats for the last few months and it’s time to make more.  Easy enough…
• A clear sense of placement for all the prominent musical elements, particularly in the bass, chords and melodic conent.  It’s easy for arrangements with layers, loops and effects to get cluttered and messy, especially when there’s a lot of room for re-sampling and beat displacement, so it’s my responsibility to maintain a sense of where the bass line is at all times and make sure it keeps the rest of the arrangement grounded, no matter how full the music gets.
• Keeping good time.  Quantizing my loops sounds good most of the time and makes the music fit in the pocket almost too well , but that doesn’t mean I can be lazy with my own internal rhythm.  This especially applies to bass lines.
• Continue to revise the effects for the drums .   I’ve got the sudden switch-ups covered, for now, but it’s the more subtle details in the drum morphing  that need work.  Drum change-ups can’t be distracting, jarring or ‘flow-breaking’, but they can’t sound invisible to the ear either.  Balance needs to be achieved and I have specific ideas for achieving it.
• Keeping the ideas flowing tand not allowing the music to stagnate.  This is probably the toughest aspect of my process to improve and has been the most in-flux since I started.  The changes to my process may sound subtle to the average listener, but for me, it feels like there’s a seismic shift in my looping technique every time I sit down to practice.  Whatever happens, I don’t simply want the music to be repetitive.  From someone making their music using loops and small pieces of cycled musical ideas, this seems counter-intuitive.  Still, they’re just building blocks for me to achieve something that ideally should have horizontal motion.  I know I’m bridging two approaches to music that seemingly don’t mix together: Electronic and dance music thrive within a repetitive framework, with subtle shifts over time.  Conversely, improvised music thrives by constantly generating new ideas in the moment and remaining inventive while telling a story.   It’s where these to worlds meet that I think a lot of ground can still be covered.  I was listening to Flying Lotus’s live set at Sonar from earlier this summer and it sounded like he was bringing in a new sonic element into his live set every 30 seconds to a minute.   He wasn’t thinking about super structure or recapitulations, it was just a relentless forward momentum, a highly, highly caffeinated DJ set.
• Avoiding overt ‘jamming.’  Easier said than done, I know, but I define jamming, noodling, or ‘wanking around’, as basically improvising without responsibility.  That responsibility is to making sure the music is moving forward, breathing naturally, and telling a dramatic story.  Just playing notes because I think they sound good is all fine, but where do those notes fit into the bigger picture?  Where do they go from there?  Where did they come from?  And why?  These are questions I want to ask myself, both in the moment and when I’m listening back to my practicing sessions.  Where do I lose focus?  Where do I take the easy option?  Where can I potentially make a more challenging musical choice, instead?

These facets of my music-making may take me a long time to explore and develop, but they’re questions I’m actively asking myself, and whatever I discover in the process I will share with you on this website, or wherever else.  I am preparing to record an album within the next week or so, so the process will hopefully force me to tighten my process and take some big musical leaps in the meantime.

Fresh from the lab, have an almost hour-long live .mp3 of me doing my thang in the studio.   It’s a raw, unrelenting throwdown that doesn’t let up.  Download it now by subscribing to my Boogie Otis Podcast in Itunes or your favorite Podcast platform of choice. • Facebook • Twitter • Email Cosmo D - June 30th Live In the Studio

Fresh from the lab, have an almost hour-long live .mp3 of me doing my thang in the studio.   It’s a raw, unrelenting throwdown that doesn’t let up.  Download it now by subscribing to my Boogie Otis Podcast in Itunes or your favorite Podcast platform of choice.

Her’s a cool article at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reviewing Tarana’s concert at the Warhol Museum last Friday.  Critic Michael Machosky weighs in:

…They build beautiful, utterly unpredictable improvisations from elements as disparate as Indian classical music, electronic music and a vast panoply of East Asian rhythms. Yet, their singular commitment to heavy, groove-based rhythms — ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Her’s a cool article at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reviewing Tarana’s concert at the Warhol Museum last Friday.  Critic Michael Machosky weighs in:

…They build beautiful, utterly unpredictable improvisations from elements as disparate as Indian classical music, electronic music and a vast panoply of East Asian rhythms. Yet, their singular commitment to heavy, groove-based rhythms — even in extremely complex time signatures — is utterly irresistible, and something any rock, pop or hip-hop fan can pick up on immediately…

Thanks, Michael!

Never got around to posting these, but I figured now was as good a time as ever.  Check out these photos from my Mexico Tour from back in May, highlighting some particularly cool and unique architecture and the musical adventures of the Trio Tarana.

• Facebook • Twitter • Email

Never got around to posting these, but I figured now was as good a time as ever.  Check out these photos from my Mexico Tour from back in May, highlighting some particularly cool and unique architecture and the musical adventures of the Trio Tarana.

Here are two new vids from the lab.  Enjoy!

• Facebook • Twitter • Email

Here are two new vids from the lab.  Enjoy!

Part 1: Foundations

Part 2: Initial Approaches, New Influences

Part 3:  Finding Communities

There have been several events going on on the local level that united local electronic music makers, instrumentalists and visualists.   Some of these musicians inspired and did interesting stuff, but often I felt the way they were being presented didn’t do their talents ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Part 1: Foundations

Part 2: Initial Approaches, New Influences

Part 3:  Finding Communities

There have been several events going on on the local level that united local electronic music makers, instrumentalists and visualists.   Some of these musicians inspired and did interesting stuff, but often I felt the way they were being presented didn’t do their talents justice.   The events sometimes felt like a free-for-all.

Either case, I sought an electronic music event that was focused and curated, but didn’t skew towards DJs and solo acts.   I wanted to push would-be musicians who had potential to really raise their game playing electronic music, ideally in ensembles that grooved hard.  I wanted to aspire to the professionalism and fun of amazing events I’d been hearing about in other parts of the world, but this would be our unique response to those events.   Ultimately, what we did wouldn’t be about the process of creating this music, but the quality of the music itself.

Earlier this year, a several colleagues and I launched our first event in NYC that would lay out this mission.  We called it The Vectory.  The event was a success on every conceivably level.  Great acts, great sound, great turnout, great response, genuine enthusiasm, the works.  There was a genuine feeling of carving a unique mark in the musical landscape of the city that was our mark. Since then we’ve done a few more, and the approach continues to show promise… but where to from here?

To be cont’d…

This month I’m on tour with Trio Tarana in Mexico.  This poster sums up the vibe.  Pictures and posts forthcoming.

• Facebook • Twitter • Email

This month I’m on tour with Trio Tarana in Mexico.  This poster sums up the vibe.  Pictures and posts forthcoming.

Collected here are a group of photos that I took in Germany, Belgium and Holland during my tour with the Paradox Trio.  There’s some stuff architectural structure here and I even got to visit and document the Brussels Musical Instrument Museum, which was quite stunning.

Click for bigger pics. • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Collected here are a group of photos that I took in Germany, Belgium and Holland during my tour with the Paradox Trio.  There’s some stuff architectural structure here and I even got to visit and document the Brussels Musical Instrument Museum, which was quite stunning.

Click for bigger pics.

This is part of a series of blog posts detailing why and how I’ve personally come to explore integration of live instrumentation in electronic music.  It also details the challenges I’ve faced, musical and otherwise, in my undertaking.

Part 1: Foundations

Part 2: Initial Approaches, New Influences

Part 3: Finding Communities

My background in cello ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

This is part of a series of blog posts detailing why and how I’ve personally come to explore integration of live instrumentation in electronic music.  It also details the challenges I’ve faced, musical and otherwise, in my undertaking.

Part 1: Foundations

Part 2: Initial Approaches, New Influences

Part 3: Finding Communities

My background in cello performance led me to communities of classical and jazz musicians, such as Friedlander, but while I’ve actively been following modern electronic music in it’s many permutations for years, I was never really a part of any ‘scene’ of active beat-makers or DJs that was making this on a professional level. Understandable, given my background. Still, I figured I’d give my vision an honest go. Several years ago, I put my first NY-based band together and did drum programming and tried to tie it all together with some music I had written. I soon realized very few venues or concert series in New York would want to feature an non-established, upstart band that didn’t come from an already established music scene. Very few concert-goers would be interested in this sort of music unless it made sense in a larger context of some kind. As Friedlander once told me, some people just “need an angle” to get them interested in something. Furthermore, the music itself was obtuse and highly esoteric, something I thought would appeal to the brainier jazz crowd, but in truth I didn’t really have a clear idea of who my audience was. The context I had provided for this music was simply the music and band itself. I would soon realize, it was not enough. We played wherever people would have us, for friends and colleagues, loft parties, and even lucked out and got to play Le Poisson Rouge at one point last year. Despite encouraging response, some satisfying shows and a general sense of forward momentum, I realized that if this music was going to really rise above the din, it needed a clearer context, an ecosystem that it could live, breathe, grow, mutate and genuinely find itself in.

It was around early 2009 that I had a re-awakening of sorts. I started going to electronic music events in the city, highlighting new permutations of music derived from the dubstep movement, with artists flying in from Europe, the West Coast and beyond. I started listening to internet radio stations that played this music, like Samurai.fm, Mary Anne Hobbs on the BBC, Sub.fm and Rinse. I didn’t love it all, but I knew I was hearing something else and it really inspired me. My friend started telling me about this event he went to in Los Angeles, the Low End Theory, and I ate up their hip-hop–meets-madness-inclined podcasts. Just yesterday, my colleague Ben turned me on to a Swedish electronic music genre mutation called ‘sqweee’. It sounded amazing. By immersing myself in the clubs and in Last.fm, I became more aware of how people all over the world could create a space where new forms and approaches of electronic music were possible. And sustainable. This all had very little to do with my background as a NYC-freelancer, but in my mind I started to see how I could respond to this music. The final mind-blow came when I saw a video online of Dorian Concept ‘jamming’ with Flying Lotus. There was a live bassist in the background laying down a nice fat ostinato. Dorian Concept was playing his synths with the touch of a jazz pianist (he had to have had classical training) and Flying Lotus was serving as the percussionist on his MPC Controller. The video was 10 minutes long, and the jam was fascinating. I thought, “these people are such talented producers… they’re only just getting started with their live improvisation… this music is what I want to exist. Why only end at 10 minutes???” It seemed like just a special one-off thing, not like Lotus and Dorian Concept were going to make a steady gig out of it.

At the various electronic events I was attending in NYC and live acts I was seeing around town, the actual ‘live’ element primarily consisted of one guy DJing behind a booth or someone head-nodding behind a laptop. When I saw Loefah play at Dub War last year, he positively assaulted the audience with his supreme bass lines, but he had a look on his face like he was preparing a meatloaf dinner for two. This is not a dis: he wasn’t intentionally trying to put on a show for the audience. Those basslines were all he needed to keep the throngs happy. Don’t get me wrong- I have nothing against solo laptop performers and DJs. I saw Flying Lotus rock his Macbook Pro / MPC combo exceedingly well last year, and last month Gaslamp Killer came to town and did some super-human interpretive dancing while he DJ’d. It was amazing visually, and yet it was like he was compensating for the lack of actual musicians on stage with him. He even played some air guitar at one point along to the music, as if he was trying to physically embody an element that simply couldn’t exist in his on-stage reality. He compensated incredibly well, but still. These were all solo shows, no live instrumentalists, no live interplay, no room for adventure that didn’t exist beyond Lotus’s Macbook Pro screen, which we as the audience could (and would) not see. From a sonic perspective, these acts are incredibly special and deserve the attention they’re getting, but a live MC seems to be as far as these acts go when it comes to live musicians. Why is that? The beats and textures are undeniably forward-thinking and inventive. Is it too much to ask to have a live instrumentalist respond to them, interact with them, on the level of the Masada String Trio, but in this newer context, with a new wave of open-minded musicians? Can there be a space where this interaction is admittedly awkward at first, but evolves into something like the command of a new language?

Sidenote: When we see these electronic musicians play, they’re going through systems like the one at Club Love in the Village, which is said to cost about a half-million dollars. My band had one of its best shows at Le Poisson Rouge, partially because the sound there was excellent, first class. I’ve learned, mostly the hard way, that the quality of the sound system can make or break a performance. It’s easy for someone like myself to think more about the musicality and the overall finer details of a performance, but all of that is meaningless is the sound system doesn’t bump. In dance and beat-oriented music, the lack of bump means lack of visceral force, which is part of the fun of experiencing this music in a club setting. I recently played a show where afterwards an incredibly drunk/high gentleman started playing a dubstep mixtape through the house system. He didn’t care about the finer musical details, he simply wanted to be assaulted by the system’s deep heavy bass. I almost started to wonder whether it was the bass itself that was causing his drunkenness. This further made me realize how some people (not all) do experience ‘bass’ music purely for feel, not for emotional or intellectual satisfaction. They just want the deep hit of the bass completely going through their bodes, to a beat. Nothing more, certainly nothing less.

This is part of a series of blog posts detailing why and how I’ve personally come to explore integration of live instrumentation in electronic music.  It also details the challenges I’ve faced, musical and otherwise, in my undertaking.

Part 1: Foundations

Part 2: Initial Approaches, New Influences

Part 3: Finding Communities

My colleague Ben suggested ]]> • Facebook • Twitter • Email

This is part of a series of blog posts detailing why and how I’ve personally come to explore integration of live instrumentation in electronic music.  It also details the challenges I’ve faced, musical and otherwise, in my undertaking.

Part 1: Foundations

Part 2: Initial Approaches, New Influences

Part 3: Finding Communities

My colleague Ben suggested I write a blog about why I’m making the music I make, why this music is so challenging to realize, and where I think it can fit in to gain a wider audience and be embraced by communities who would appreciate it.

I’ll start with a specific night back in 2003: When I was in college, I saw the Masada String Trio perform at Tonic. John Zorn was onstage along with cellist Erik Freidlander, violinist Mark Feldman and bassist Mark Cohen, great instrumentalists all. Zorn, proudly assuming the role of a puppet-master, sat at the feet the trio in his trademark cargo pants and guided them with over-the-top hand gestures through his thorny but soulful music. At one point an audience member was sitting a little to close to Zorn and he turned his head and said “you dogginn’ me?!” That audience member quickly backed away, the wiser. The crowd ate up the on-stage antics, but I primarily appreciated the world-class musicianship. The band was virtuosic, reflexive, and emotionally nuanced and totally in control, even though I would later learn how close things came to flying off the rails with that band.

Around the same time, I went to see Prefuse 73 at Southpaw. He had just released “Extinguished: Outtakes” and was touring behind it. What made that show for me was the fact that he had a live drummer backing him up. He was playing his excellent productions out of his laptop, a DJ was scratching, but the drummer was thwacking away and it was that live element that really made the whole experience more enjoyable than just hearing Prefuse run his beats through the house system.

Those two experiences couldn’t have come from more disparate places musically, but they both satisfied me on the same deep level. For many years, I’ve wanted to merge the music of my improvisatory background, inspired by Friedlander and his colleagues, alongside the beats and textures I’d been hearing in contemporary electronic (beat-based) music over the years. I wanted that element of sensitivity and virtuosity I saw in the Masada Trio to go hand-in-hand with the hyper-edits and sonic exploration of computer generated music, particularly the music I was hearing coming from Warp Records, Ninjatune, and its ilk. This wasn’t an unusual or novel idea, but it was one I wanted to realize on my own terms, with my own set of personal influences in the particular place I had found myself studying, living and working in – New York City.

to be continued….