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Steefall – TOTW 10-5-09 by ooray

All hail autumn! Here is a livelooped cello track that was further sequenced and then live mixed, manipulated and resampled through my very loud 1/4 watt tube amp.

Here’s the recording of the live show I did with my friend John Berendzen as the opening act for Faith Helma’s show “Undine” on Friday June 5, 2009.

I am pretty much just playing uneffected (although with some pitchdelay in sections) and John is playing his synths that are tuned using just intonation and looping both of us with his 8-part looper whose lengths correspond to numbers in the harmonic series.

Track of the week this week is slow, meditative and short. The background is actually a very slowed down hawaiian guitar sample.

From the kinda-redundant-but-still-cool department: Nadja covers MBV’s ‘Only Shallow’:
[audio:http://downloads.pitchforkmedia.com/Nadja%20-%20Only%20Shallow%20-%20My%20Bloody%20Valentine%20Cover.mp3]
(Download via Pitchfork)

Download Magnifications now!

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/luv022/01_Slow_Motion_Death_Scene.mp3, http://www.archive.org/download/luv022/02_Milky_Live.mp3, http://www.archive.org/download/luv022/03_Eagre.mp3, http://www.archive.org/download/luv022/04_If_We_Are_not_Blind.mp3, http://www.archive.org/download/luv022/05_Boat_is_Drunk_Remix_for_Adcbicycle.mp3, http://www.archive.org/download/luv022/06_Angostura.mp3, http://www.archive.org/download/luv022/07_Sfumato_Live.mp3, http://www.archive.org/download/luv022/08_Downtown_Pajama.mp3]

My full length album, Magnifications, is finally out on Luvsound! A big thanks to Erik and Kev (luvsound label heads) for making this all happen. This album is the culmination of lots and lots of experimentation and improvisation (much like the tracks of the week I’ve been posting) and I’m extremely chuffed and proud that it’s been released.

This is both a digital and limited edition CD-R release. The handmade CD-R contains some really nice extras, including a remastered live set and liner notes from Disquiet‘s Marc Weidenbaum. Mastering was done by the awesome John McCaig of panicStudios.

If you enjoy this release, I’d love to hear from you.

Simple track this week. I play cello against a drone of my voice.

Track of the week this week is pixelated guitar, looped and reverbed. Hope you enjoy!

A drone metal improv this week – looping guitar and synth.

Max Neuhaus died today, incredible percussionist and ‘audio sculptor’.

Max was one of the pioneers of sound installations, including his droning ‘Times Square’ piece which was permanently installed at a pedestrian island at 46th and Broadway. This piece was never officially announced, as he preferred to have people discover it on their own. So attuned to differences in timbres, he was known to travel with 1000 kilos of percussion tools when he performed.

Dronesters and sound installers owe a lot to him. He will be missed.

See a video about ‘Times Square’ here.

Photo by Jennifer Siegel

A happy new year to everyone! Here’s a minimally edited live set from my performance at Aleatoric.

[audio:oo-ray-12-27-08.mp3]
OO-Ray @ Aleatoric 12-27-08 [30 MB download]

There are a few mistakes/technical glitches in it, but rather than try and edit them out, I think it’s important to leave them in for at least a couple of reasons:

1) I think it’s important to show that I can completely fail when I’m up on stage. Playing live has its own peculiar stresses, and often what works when I practice at home can fail when I play a show. One of the problems I have with most laptop musicians is when they ‘perform’ it’s often like being on tracks on an amusement park ride – they can’t really fail catastrophically unless their laptop crashes. In performing live, I take risks, because it’s interesting to me.

2) To show that the set is improvised. I was dealing with lots of feedback this time around from the speakers and rather than worry about that sound intruding upon my set, I decided to embrace it. I’ve decided it’s important to embrace my environment when I play.

I hope everyone enjoys the set and has a happy new year! If you enjoyed it, I’d love to hear from you, either by comments or email. Here’s to 2009!