This month’s podcast is a solo studio experiment inspired by the concept of Slow-wave sleep. It’s an exercise in extreme slowness and is best experienced at a barely audible volume, while horizontal. Hopefully it will send you someplace restful and pleasant.
This is also podcast sixty; that’s five years of Errant Space podcasts! Thanks for listening, and please revisit some past podcasts to see how (if) things have evolved.
Here’s my current pedal set up, for any of you (nerds) who are interested.
This month’s podcast features experimental musician Tom Law.
Tom uses Max/MSP to create his own instruments and to manipulate live audio. Our collabo gets a bit noisy and has some brutalist aspects; there are some fantastic textures! Open your ears and enjoy the ride.
This month’s podcast features the return of Al Margolis! Al told me he had an idea he wanted to try out, and when Al Margolis asks if you’re interested in trying out an experiment, the answer must be YES.
Al Margolis at work.
Here’s the concept, in Al’s words:
The basis of this session uses the three long drone works composed and performed by Leslie Ross from her drop by drop, suddenly CD on XI Records (you can find this on Bandcamp). I had been practicing my reed instrument playing to these multiphonic bassoon drones, and then decided I would record (in a sort of Exquisite Corpse way) each of my wind parts (clarinet, alto clarinet, alto and tenor saxes) to Leslie’s piece, but without listening to my previous playing.
I was describing this to Craig, and also my desire to perhaps play these pieces live – with one performer listening to the recording in headphones and playing along, and the other performer(s) only playing to what they hear – in other words, the person playing under headphones. (This is something I am still hoping to do live at some point.)
Craig was interested in the concept and being involved and so this is how the podcast recording happened. So “Air” is Craig listening to Leslie and me playing to Craig, without hearing Leslie. “Sea Soil”, for technical reasons we cheated a bit – we both played to the recording and did not hear each other (allegedly). And “Water” has me playing to the prerecorded material and Craig playing to me.
I have to admit that I came in thinking we would just both play drones to Leslie’s drones. I got a great surprise when right away in the first piece Craig did not drone, thus immediately forcing to think outside my pre-conceived box. This actually made for a much more interesting session…so thanks Craig!!!
All our performances on this podcast are roughly the same length as the pieces on Leslie’s CD with very little editing.
We start with our version of “Air” and the mix includes Leslie’s recording in addition to Al and me.
“Sea Soil” begins at 16:30 and is just Al and me, Leslie is not in the mix. If you’d like to hear Leslie’s recording, you can find it HERE. (If you’re adventurous you can play her recording along with ours and make your own mix!)
Finally, “Water” starts at 44:17. Leslie’s performance is back in the mix. This section has some manipulation and processing applied to Al’s and my parts, while the previous two are sonically unaltered.
Al Margolis played tenor sax on “Air” and “Water”, and alto clarinet on “Sea Soil”.
Many thanks to Leslie Ross for the composition(s) and permission to use her recording in this.
Leslie’s album, drop by drop, suddenly CD is available on XI Records. And on Bandcamp: https://xirecords.bandcamp.com/album/drop-by-drop-suddenly
This month’s podcast features selections from three soundtrack projects I worked on this year.
The first part is the entire score for the experimental theatre piece, Enki, which explored the Sumerian creation myth.
Next (starting at 21:04) are 2 tracks from the soundtrack for the adventure card game Dark Venture. Its a bit different than my usual work, as it involves a lot more synthesizers and also a fair amount of field recording and sound design. But these are two of the more abstract tracks. You can hear (and purchase) the entire soundtrack HERE.
Finally (starting at 38:46) there are some selections from the soundtrack for the documentary Baato, which is currently in post-production. Here’s a brief synopsis: ‘Baato’ (n. [Nepali] 1. path, trail 2. way 3. road) is an observational film that documents a young village family on an annual migration along the route of a planned trans-national highway. Partially complete, the highway project will transform this roadless Himalayan valley permanently and open up a direct transport route between Nepal and China – bringing new challenges, new opportunities, and ultimately a new way of being to those who live along its path.
This month’s podcast is from a Sound/Peace performance at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, NY on August 2, 2019.
The performers were:
Katie Down: Metal and Glass Instruments Mark Trecka: Piano, Bells and Voice Thom Uliasz: Circuit Bent and Hand Made Electronics
Craig Chin: Guitar/Loops
Sound/Peace, an occasionally recurringseries, is an immersive sonic experience accompanied by the changing light of the setting sun. Musicians occupy the edges of the space, surrounding listeners in sound, the performance ends as darkness falls.
This is a field recording, so there’s a bit of room noise and shuffling about, but it captures the experience well.
For best results: listen in headphones, lying down, starting an hour before sunset.
This month’s podcast features composer / multi-instrumentalist V. Vecker (Keith Wecker) from Vancouver, BC playing saxophone and synthesizer.
We first met at Space Out, Outside 3, which was featured on podcast #51. A few days later, Keith came by the studio for a podcast session. The results are pretty experimental, with lots of loops and drones and saxophoning, great for late night listening.
This month’s podcast is a collaboration with Steve Roe. It is, as the title suggests, quite strange, incorporating found sounds, field recordings and drones.
Steve Roe is the founder of COUNCIL OF (POETIC) EXPERIMENTATION an art collective dedicated to the performance and publication of language based experimental works. His latest project, COMFORT OF STRANGENESS utilizes field recordings, live electronics and voice to create otherworldly soundscapes.
This month’s podcast features the circuit bent sounds of Burnkit 2600. Its super droney, crunchy, filled with great textures and generally delicious. We cover a lot of sonic territory, so strap in and enjoy the ride.
This month’s podcast is a collaboration with Mark Trecka who processes cassette tapes, voice and bells to create beautiful, textured soundscapes.
Mark Trecka in performance Dec. 12, 2018
Also! this podcast, number 48, marks four years of the Errant Space Podcast! Its been a very good experience for me; I’ve met and collaborated with many amazing people and it has really helped me grow as a musician and human. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed it too, and we can continue this journey into sound together.
This month’s podcast is a solo studio experiment inspired by the concept of Slow-wave sleep. It’s an exercise in extreme slowness and is best experienced at a barely audible volume, while horizontal. Hopefully it will send you someplace restful and pleasant.
If you enjoyed this podcast, please
Steve Roe is the founder of COUNCIL OF (POETIC) EXPERIMENTATION an art collective dedicated to the performance and publication of language based experimental works. His latest project, COMFORT OF STRANGENESS utilizes field recordings, live electronics and voice to create otherworldly soundscapes.
