Bat of No Bird Island

Bat of No Bird Island is a new song cycle for chamber-jazz ensemble, inspired by the written memoir and 78RPM record collection of my great grandfather, Zenkichi Kikuchi. The work will premier on November 2nd, 2013 at the Earshot Jazz Festival, followed by a performance and composer Q and A at the Wing Luke Asian Museum on November 7, 2013.

Musicians:
Paul Kikuchi – percussion and composition
Stuart Dempster – trombone and conches
Bill Horist – guitar and prepared guitar
Tari Nelson-Zagar – violin
Eyvind Kang – viola
Maria Scherer Wilson – cello
Rob Millis – 78RPM records
Premier performance:
November 2nd, 2013, 8PM
Earshot Jazz Festival
Chapel Performance Space
4649 Sunnyside Ave N., 4th Floor
buy tickets
Performance/Composer Q and A
November 7, 2013, 6PM
Wing Luke Asian Museum
719 S King St., Seattle, WA
Free
Open Rehearsal
October 30, 2013, 7:30PM – 9:00PM
Jack Straw Productions
4261 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA
Free
Zenkichi Kikuchi
After immigrating to the United States from Japan as a young man in 1901, Zenkichi worked most of hist life as a farmer in the Yakima Valley in Washington State. His memoir offers a glimpse of the world as he saw it. While it is specific to his experience, in many ways it represents the broader experience of Japanese immigrants and marginalized communities in general. The memoir, written in English late in his life, has a certain poetic simplicity.
Memoir Excerpts:
The Four Seasons of Childhood: Spring
About 10th April the white plum (ume) and a week later wild cherries blooming out, and after little all of the oack family trees spread young leaves. So fragrant, and all kinds of azaleas blooming so whole country seem to burn. It was very pleasant to wait under flower laden tree to watch and play and catch fish. In later spring we claim [climb] to O-Hashi Mori or Yomagiyama, highest peak around and see from top of mountain. Distant the river Kitakami running silvery and golden flower of the psyllum green field of the rice and the grain and gathered edible wild plants. The Uda [?] some fern and the wisteria hanging down from fragrant oak tree by riverside or creek bank and whole country side decorate with all sort of flowers. And the air was warm and steamy. Made people dreaming and forget everything go to [to go] outside.
Railroad Work, 1904
We leave Yakima, board the N.P. [Northern Pacific] train and arrived in Missoula, Montana to [a]wait our assignment… Our job was to change old rail to new heavier rail. Other gangs 2 or 3 used to work together. Over 100 or 150 men [worked together.] [This job] did not require much skill but sometimes was very dangerous. All of my boys worked without trouble. But the time was the middle of winter and the place[s] are coldest place in America, so [it was] very uncomfortable, very cold outside, but the inside of the railroad car was very hot because we burned coal in a big potbellied stove continuously. Sometimes [it was] too hot and [I was] bit by bed bugs. It was very unpleasant work.
Native Americans
The Indians never saw any Japanese before, so they does not knew [did not know] what kind of man I am.  They asked Walter and Walter told them I came from a faraway country and they asked how I got there.  Walter told them “ He came on the train.”  They were satisfied.
Decision to stay in America
Change of the mind:  In the streets there are many educated Japanese young men.  But they walking or living as stray sheep, because they don’t know what they should do, or can do.  To lead these young men to farm and build up new Japan in America – real man’s job.  Farming only thing we can do with decent, and hope of future in present social condition.  I should, to do and I have well to do even my ability very low.  From that time I change my mind to stay in US instead of go to Japan. 
War and Internment
About two weeks experience in Nyssa I came to belief I could live with my wife with my earning.  So write to her to come and my daughter Sono with little girl Annabel – came together and we enjoyed our reunion.  My wife was so glad to live in freedom instead the camp, guarded by armed soldier and live on government handout. She say “it is good to eat the meal which my old husband’s work provide, feel like real somebody.”
Hardships of childhood
In this year it was very hard year, too.  I try to stay in school without get any help from my home, because in the home, the things not going right, and all of the family in hardship.  So I could not buy any text book or other necessary books.  I copied all books when a friend not used or in sleep, and finally I came to so hard, cannot buy even my pens, and writing paper, sometime can’t buy kerosene oil, about 2 yen (1penny) worth of oil, enough for a nights burning for study.  So I had stand front of the toilet light to read. 
Bat of No Bird Island
School teachers in the time not all graduate of college.  Some time, they send some problem to me to explain, and most farmer can not figure, about the stacked hay.  Generally come to me figure out for trade, and some the orchardist come to me about using fertilizer, because in this these time nobody knew about fertilizer, nor recognize its necessary, so nobody knew anything.  So I was like a Bat of no bird island. 

Lyrics from old Japanese 78RPM record, written by Zenkichi in Japanese, translated by Etsuko Ichikawa
1.
Flower of Peking*. At lighitng-up time*.
I am a China girl who dreams.
Fuyo* is falling and falling. In the window waiting for you.
A flower is nine. A flower is nine. A wish is one.
2*.
Thinking of my brother*. Tears are falling.
Rain falls over my hand wiping.
Autumn to deepen. The Great Wall of China.
Birds singing, birds singing. Awaiting for spring to come.
3.
A red water lily. Swinging gently.
Your black hair. Fragrant of wind.
On a boat of love. Two people who dream.
Waves to move. To a land of happiness.
4.
You are an origin of the sun*. A boy of a cherry tree.
I am a homeland. A flower of lily.
Although different flowers. our thoughts are one.
Waiting for Asia’s, waiting for Aisa’s. A morning of flower opening.
—————–
Peking* – the former English name of Beijing
lighitng-up time* – at dusk or in the evening twilight
Fuyo* – Confederate rose. Often used to describe beautiful women.
2*. – the lyrics 2 is not included in the recorded song.
my brother* – older brother
You are the origin of the sun* – you are the son of Japan.

Bat of No Bird Island has been made possible with support from Earshot Jazz, The Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Nonsequitur, Jack Straw Productions, and Chamber Music America’s 2012 New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

http://paulkikuchi.com/work/music/projects/no-bird-island

Out Level Guitar Solo

Among The Tree Tops Calaveras Grove; Carleton Watkins, American, 1829 – 1916; California, United States, North America; negative about 1878; print 1880 – 1890; Albumen silver print – Source. - See more at: http://publicdomainreview.org/2013/08/14/selection-from-the-gettys-open-content-program/#sthash.d4kI68uy.dpuf

Among The Tree Tops Calaveras Grove; Carleton Watkins, American, 1829 – 1916; California, United States, North America; negative about 1878; print 1880 – 1890; Albumen silver print – Source. - See more at: http://publicdomainreview.org/2013/08/14/selection-from-the-gettys-open-content-program/#sthash.d4kI68uy.dpuf

Luis Antero’s work under the alias Out Level allows him to dive deeply into areas of highly experimental music. As an instrument, Antero’s guitar remains forever hidden in a sea of tranquility teeming with electronic glitches and momentary drones. They fade and turn into new, dazzling sonical waters, and it makes for a fluid listen. Looped sections enter and fall back, spiralling in turbulent seas. His music seems to be allwoed the freedom to develop into something all of its own, and this improvisation really allows this addition to breathe underwater.
 
After having launched in 2008 "Star EP 'by Portuguese XS Records  focused primarily on electronic minimal, Out Level now returns with "Guitar Solo # 2 ', in the recently created HBP (Editora do Porto), which, as its name indicates, is centered in guitar like main instrument and inspiration source.

 «Guitar Solo # 2" is composed of three themes (Guitar # 1, # 2 and Guitar
Guitar # 3) with prepared guitar, which explores Out Level some of the possibilities and potentials of this type of registration and ways of approaching the instrument. 

The 3 tracks wander by land exploration, based on repetitions of harmonic phrases, also exploring intervals of silence ...
The objective, essential paradigm in the musical universe of Out Level, is the exploration and pure improvisation, always under the watchful eye of the old
premise Kerouac: first idea, best idea.

Discografia:
«The Bedroom Sessions, Vol.1» (Merzbau, 2006)
«Espaço (I)Limitado – Ao Vivo na Zero» (Merzbau, 2007)
«Estrela EP» (XS Records, 2008)
«K. EP» (edição de autor, 2008)
«Preguizza EP» (Out Level + Xarhope) (Electro Rucini, 2008)

Brevemente:
«sx guitar ep» (Test Tube, 2009)

Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program.

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Ogg Vorbis

Johan Troch

I am a composer songwriter, who started in 1983 with a band called Last Journey.
Strongly influenced by the music and spirit of Joy Division and Cocteau Twins, that also influenced a lot of bands in Europe during the “Cold Wave” scene in the early eighties.



In ’86 the band split up, and after two years, I began writing songs again to go further on my own.
At that time, I discovered other musical treasures like the Pat Metheny Group, who brought me also into the jazz-fusion world. Since ’84 I was also very charmed by Brilliant Trees from David Sylvian.
That and his following albums, introduced me also to great musicians like former Japan members: Steve Jansen, Richard Barbieri and Mick Karn.
But also Jon Hassell, Holger Czukay, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kenny Wheeler, Robert Fripp, Bill Nelson, David Thorn and Mark Isham.



Years later, also film composers like: Thomas Newman, Cliff Martinez, Gustavo Santaolalla,
Michael Giacchino and many others influenced my work throughout the past years.
My work contains a personal voyage of these inputs that recalls also my deepest musical feelings and emotions. That’s why my music is something very personal from deep inside.
I also compare myself with painters. Normally I don’t replay songs or tracks of myself.
After I composed and recorded them, the work is done.
Just like a painter who doesn’t paint the same painting a second time. (mostly not)
I am aware of the fact, that this is unusual.



But the only thing I want to do is…..creating music, every time again something new.
But this doesn’t mean, that I don’t want to share my music to the world out there.
The internet is a great way for me to share my work with you all.
Knowing that my music reaches the hearts of some, is also a pleasure for me.

Johan Troch

Address	http://about.me/johantroch
Website	http://about.me/johantroch http://www.myspace.com/johantroch http://www.akamusic.com/nl/johantroch http://www.facebook.com/pages/JohanTroch...

Jimi Hendrix

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens

Jimi Hendrix

More Hendrix in Prepared Guitar

Jimi Hendrix Tribute My November 1967 Interview with Jimi Hendrix By Steve Barker

My November 1967 Interview with Jimi Hendrix By Steve Barker 2nd Part

Jimi Hendrix: The Complete January 1967 Interview With Steve Barker

Jimi Hendrix Live Sweden

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendriz Kuba Czerniak

Jimi Hendrix Documentary

Jimi Hendrix

Free Jimi Hendrix

Memorial by Hallvardur Asgeirson

Rod Poole 1962-2007

Rod Poole began playing the guitar in 1972. He experimented with various musical idioms and by the mid-80s, his primary interests were acoustic-based free improvisation and finger-picked solo acoustic guitar. A founding member of the Oxford Improvisors’ Cooperative, Poole’s association was between the years 1983-1986. After moving to the United States in 1989, his studies in just intonation began with the world’s foremost theorist on the subject, Ervin Wilson. Poole spent the next several years developing his approach to playing the guitar using just intonation theory. Poole has released a handful of unique and highly praised CDs on the W.I.N., Transparency, and Incus labels – The Dead Adder, December 96, Iasis,and The Acoustic Guitar Trio. He contributed “Kalaidoscopic Sunday” to the Henry Kaiser-curated guitar compilation, 156 Strings, and “The Fire Left to Come” to the SASSAS two-CD set, Sound, a compilation of Los Angeles-based performances curated by Cindy Bernard. Poole was also responsible for engineering the recording of all but three of the performances on Sound. He has performed with Derek Bailey, Mia Masaoka, Joseph Hammer, Kraig Grady, Nels Cline, Donald Miller, Pat Thomas, Tony Bevan, Eugene Chadbourne, and others.



Rod Poole, who has died aged 45 after being stabbed in the car park of a Hollywood diner, was an experimental guitarist committed to just intonation - a tuning system that traced its lineage back to Pythagoras. His own guitar, a 1972 Martin Acoustic, had been rebuilt with a new fretboard to accommodate a 23-note octave of his own design.
Rod was born in Taplow, Shropshire, and his teenage years were spent hitchhiking around the festival scene. He took a series of jobs, but one of the longest was behind the counter of Garon Records, in Oxford's covered market, where he was a knowledgeable and erudite guide to customers.



He was an early mainstay of the improvised music business in Oxford, but became disillusioned with many aspects of the British scene, particularly its factional politics, and what he perceived as a tendency to elevate novelty over quality. He moved to the US in 1989 with little more than the clothes on his back. He began studying tuning systems with Ervin Wilson in Los Angeles, and rapidly established himself as a respected figure in the city's experimental music scene. Later, he played concerts on both coasts. His musical heroes included John Coltrane and Sun Ra, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, Davy Graham and Iranian classical musicians. Ambivalent about his new home - he loathed mainstream US politics - he had a nostalgia for wet weather, Dr Who and sitcoms. He was, however, passionate about the cultural legacy of Los Angeles in literature, film and music.



Self-taught in most subjects, Rod pursued these interests with a thoroughness that could leave someone bruised if they chose to argue with him about them. He had hobby horses about the superiority of vinyl over digital recordings, and latterly developed a commitment to mono recording. He had learned much from the recording engineer Michael Gerzon, and his CDs would come complete with details of the equipment used in their production. His fine ear could distinguish a minute discrepancy in tuning or a mis- identified sideman on an obscure jazz record.



At the time of his death, Rod was making plans to relaunch his music. He had circulated review copies of an LP, For Derek/For Bag, which contained tributes to his friend and mentor Derek Bailey, and his cat, Bag, and was planning a series of concerts on the east coast later this year. He is survived by his beloved wife Lisa.



Source: theguardian.com, Monday 2 July 2007

Ivan Kapec

Ivan Kapec and Višeslav Laboš have been basing their thoughts and musical practice on the repetitive structure of loops for quite some time now.
Both Kapec and Laboš come from different musical backgrounds, jazz and electronic music respectively. They have been successfully synthesizing their personal influences, which resulted in something that reaches far beyond the mere number of their technical components.

The acoustic visage of the duo, the guitar and a turntable refuses to be lured into the humdrum of ambient music founded on the repetitiveness, and at the same time escapes from the agressive jaws of the uniformity that has become an integral characteristic of "DJ MUSIC".

The duo presents us with a true gem of chamber music constructed on loops. The one which explores the dynamic and dramatic organisation of audio based on the repetition.

Petar Milat www.explicit-music.org




Capisconne Electro Unity is a band from Zagreb, Croatia.
This music is product of different tastes into a harmonic collective improvisation. This sound is relaxing, chillout and jazzy..
The playing from these guys is pure live experience, without overdubbing.
They have gigs in many places in Croatia and the near Balkan area.
The band leader is Capisconne aka Ivan Kapec, jazz guitarist and founder of the experimental band TrianguliZona , which had released an EP Flossy, for Portugal Netlabel Test Tube.
He collects young Croatian musicians who were graduated on the Jazz school of music in Graz, Austria.
Activity... Every place, every song bring his own picture..



This is first audio and video recording session in "Polukružna dvorana" - theatar hall of "Studentski centar" located in Zagreb, Croatia. After solo acoustic album "The path of love", Ivan started to record new material of procompositional forms. Influences here are from Balkan assymetric rhythms as from pastoral nature of old "slavic" tales.
credits
released 08 November 2012
Ivan Kapec - compositions, guitar
Hrvoje Petek - sound and recording



released 15 September 2013
Recorded by Hrvoje Petek in Winter 2013 in studio K5, and mixed by Hrvoje Nikšić in Juny-July in studio Kramasonic in Zagreb.
Cappisconne are:
Ivan Kapec guitars ; Hrvoje Galler piano ; Hrvoje Petek bass ; Miha Vlah drums
guest: Hrvoje Nikšić fx sounds
http://capisconne.bandcamp.com/album/sc-session-part-i
http://testtube.monocromatica.com/releases/tube249.htm

Carlos Paredes

Carlos Paredes (February 16, 1925–July 23, 2004) was a portuguese guitar player, born in Coimbra, son to the equally famous Artur Paredes. He is credited with popularising the medium internationally during the 20th century. He was known as the "Man with a Thousand Fingers".



He began playing at the age of 4 and started his music career at the age of eleven. He performed with many other artists including Charlie Haden and also wrote compositions for fado singer Amalia Rodrigues. He wrote a number of film scores and received particular recognition for the 1971 film Verdes Anos ("Tender Years"). In 2000, the string quartet known as Kronos Quartet recorded two versions of Verdes Anos and Romance nº 1, from the first Carlos Paredes album, Guitarra Portuguesa, recorded in 1969 -1970.



During the 1950s and 1960s, being member of the Portuguese Communist Party, he was imprisoned for opposing the Portuguese dictatorship, some of this time spent in solitary confinement. He would walk around his cell pretending to play music which led some prison inmates to believe he was insane (in actual fact he was doing compositions in his head).



When he returned to his working environment in the Hospital, relates one of his colleagues, Rosa Semião, he was deeply grieved for he was denounced by a colleague of his. "He felt betrayed, but even so, when he crossed one of his traitors, he didn't fail to greet him, showing an enormous capacity to forgive."



When the political captives were released, they were hailed like heroes. He has always refused this heroic status, attributed by the people of Portugal. He never said much about his time in prison, except that "Many people have suffered worse than I."



He suffered from myelopathy, a nerve disorder that prevented him from playing for the last eleven years of his life. He died in a nursing home from kidney failure.

"NADIR" by Edgar Barroso and Ernesto Rodríguez-Leal performed by Séverine Ballon

"NADIR" by Edgar Barroso and Ernesto Rodríguez-Leal performed by Séverine Ballon from Edgar Barroso.

A collaboration between engineer Ernesto Rodríguez-Leal, cellist Séverine Ballon and composer Edgar Barroso. This piece is design to be an open piece to share with performers. NADIR is mostly a graphic score where the cellist, the composer and a non-musician join together their ideas, their taste and their personalities to create a shared experience. In this version of the piece, the use of paper and origami techniques is of special importance. This is where Ernesto (an engineer) contributed to "prepare" the cello with paper "sordines". The score was merely a starting point, but Séverine (cellist) actually made considerable changes to the score based on her own creative and improvisatory experience and aesthetic preferences.

The idea behind NADIR is to have an exciter of creativity. Performers and collaborators can add electronics, interacting instruments, relationships with other arts, and anything they please. It is a sort of Open Source piece which is open to people to use it. The only "suggestion" there is in the score is that they should involve at least one collaborator that is a nonmusician to the realization of the piece. The performer and collaborators can reduce, extend or fragment the piece as pleased. This is part of my research concerning transdisciplinary collaboration and open music/art creation. I would like to thank Séverine Ballon and Ernesto Rodríguez-Leal very deeply for their amazing insights, creativity and enthusiasm to share. I hope we can collaborate many more times over many different projects.

Fernando Vigueras Caja Con Cuerdas

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Caja con cuerdas /// - Fernando Vigueras from Fernando Vigueras.

                      Caja con cuerdas //// - Fernando Vigueras.

Noël Akchoté 7 Free Downloads - only 48 hours

The French guitarist-improvisor Noel Akchote is a frighteningly competent and active person. He has recorded a lot of music in various styles, he writes about music in the Austrian magazine Skug, he is the owner of a record label, he produces many different groups and participates in various projects. Born in Paris, the 7th december 1968, he started guitar at the age of 8. Soon meeting and studying with artists such as Tal Farlow, Barney Wilen, Chet Baker, Philip Catherine, John Abercrombie. During the early 90's, he started to explore beyond jazz, also playing more experimental and improvised musics. He played in the groups of Henri Texier, Louis Sclavis, Daniel Humair, Jacques Thollot, Sam Rivers as well as with Derek Bailey, Eugene Chadbourne, Marc Ribot, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Tim Berne or George Lewis. He collaborated since with David Grubbs, Luc Ferrari, David Sylvian, Jim G. Thirlwell (Steroïd Maximus), Max Nagl's Big Four (Steven Bernstein, Bradley Jones, Joey Baron), Jean-François Pauvros or Dylan Carlson's Earth. Other projects have seen him recording and playing with The Recyclers, Blixa Bargeld, Aki Onda, Phil Minton, Tony Hymas, Katerine, Tetuzi Akiyama, Otomo Yoshihide, Julie Tippets, Mike Cooper, Wolfgang Puschnig, Linda Sharrock, Tom Cora, Keith Rowe, Christian Fennesz, Nobuyoshi Araki or Daido Moriyama. In 1996 he co founded with Quentin Rollet, the mostly Vinyl label Rectangle (all reissued as downloads in 2011).

CLICK the image to Download

Bhangra Jazz

Tenderly (#202 Standards)

John Cage
String Quartet in Four Parts 

175-D

Vortex - 1998 London 

X-Joseph 

Caster Love Roads

http://www.noelakchote.org/

http://www.madrigalsfor5guitars.com

https://noelakchote.bandcamp.com/

AMM III

AMM III

It had been an ordinary enough day in Pueblo, Colorado, 

LP, 1980, Japo Records

cover photo: Karl Johnson

band photos: Signe Mähler 

Suso Saiz

Red Square

Photo: Jason Annette Bening Warner

Red Square is a remarkable, pioneering British group that was originally formed in 1972, broke up in 1978, before re-forming in 2009 as a result of renewed interest in the band’s ground-breaking bridging of the worlds of psychedelia, metal and avant-jazz.

Pre-dating Sonic Youth by seven years and the Thing by twenty five, Red Square’s railing aural assaults were once considered too extreme for commercial release.

Jon Seagroatt, Ian Staples & Roger Telford continue to deliver free-form avant-metal through very big speakers.

Red Square also run the annual one day Tinderbox Festival of experimental music in Cropredy, Oxfordshire. This year's Festival will be held on Saturday 16th June.

'The ten tracks on ‘Thirty Three’ would sound new even if they hadn't just been remastered and re-released. For a start, they sound uncompromisingly loud, with a momentum and urgency that confronts the listener like an imminent stampede.

…..angular electric guitar lines, precipitous and surly, lay chaotic foundations for rasping woodwind and frenetic drums to chase one another round. Pauses are few and solos almost non-existent: guitar and saxophone, or bass clarinet, occasionally come together in shifting harmonies like a punk take on Terry Riley. 




Low-end, atonal riffs kick in, closer to King Crimson or Black Sabbath than the era's touchstone for improvised electric guitar, Derek Bailey, although his presence can be felt in the wide intervals, the scribbles of noise and feedback. Cymbal crashes pile up like debris; clatters of unlikely percussion amid rolling, fluid full-kit playing. There's a scrawl of violin. It's loose, unself-conscious, psychedelic music with the kind of gonzo charge that followed in the 1990s.

Phil Todd's Ashtray Navigations springs to mind, as does Mick Flower and Neil Campbell's Vibracathedral Orchestra.

……a raw, ecstatic DIY transcendental music, I also hear contemporary sax-led noise bands such as Zu and the Thing, who rejoice in the instrument's noisiest possibilities. ‘Thirty Three’ could be on Load or Smalltown Superjazzz'.

Frances Morgan, 'Red Square and Southend', Loops, issue 02, April 2010.

https://www.facebook.com/thegreatsquarions

http://www.redsquare3.com/

Lou Reed R.I.P.

No. No no no. Lou Reed, rock ‘n’ roll legend and frontman of the Velvet Underground, passed away in New York City at age 71 today. No cause of death has been released yet, but Reed underwent a liver transplant in May. Satellite’s gone up to skies. Enjoy your walk on the wild side, Lou. Rest in peace. [Rolling Stone]



Men of good fortune
often cause empires to fall
While men of poor beginnings
often can't do anything at all

The rich son waits for his father to die
the poor just drink and cry
And me, I just don't care at all

Men of good fortune
very often can't do a thing
While men of poor beginnings
often can do anything

At heart they try to act like a man
handle things the best way they can
They have no rich, daddy to fall back on

Men of good fortune
often cause empires to fall
While men of poor beginnings
often can't do anything at all

It takes money to make money they say
look at the Fords, but didn't they start that way
Anyway, it makes no difference to me

Men of good fortune
often wish that they could die
While men of poor beginnings
want what they have and to get it they'll die

All those great things that live has to give
they wanna have money and live
But me, I just don't care at all

Men of good fortune
men of poor beginnings
Men of good fortune
men of poor beginnings
Men of good fortune
men of poor beginnings
Men of good fortune
men of poor beginnings

Ennio Mazzon

Ennio Mazzon is a sound artist who works in the field of experimental electronica. His background in engineering and his interest for maths, physics and programming languages are conveyed into the development of infrastructures of digital tools that he uses for audio processing and live improvisation. He is the founder of the label Ripples and he is part of the project Zbeen.

“Xuan” is essential listening, not only for dedicated fans of experimental music and sound art, but for anyone interested in what art has to contribute to the ongoing venture of learning how to live in a complex and constantly changing world.

Nathan Thomas / Fluid Radio

La personale miscela di rumori programmati e melodie spurie risulta molto azzeccata e ci si rende conto molto in fretta di trovarsi davanti a qualcosa di veramente valido, in cui convivono alla perfezione impulsi sconnessi, schizzi digitali e tutto un insieme di effetti sintetici sviluppati con grande cura.

Giacomo Tomasetti / The New Noise

Nell’universo di “Xuan”, sibili e bordate di rumore sintetico sono miscelati con rombi e schegge post-industriali in modo tale da smarrire i tratti propri delle rispettive matrici in un universo in apparenza grezzo e a tratti urticante, ma proprio per questo tale da fotografare spazi sonori, riempiendoli della loro essenza più reale e complessa.

Raffaello Russo / musicwontsaveyou

Ennio Mazzon interroge ainsi brillamment les liens entre la matière sonore naturelle qui nous entoure, et celle générée par les machines. Il mobilise les contraires, et remet en question les possibilités de distinction. Il laisse aussi entendre ce bruit de fond constant généré par la fascination et l’inquiétude face au monde.

Aurélie S. / SWQW

Quarantadue minuti di estasi rumoristica che portano a galla la naturalezza sperimentale nella cura e costruzione del suono.

Nicola Orlandino / sonofmarketing

No one-trick pony, Xuan is an investigation of sound and sonic properties that invites listeners to contemplate the hearing sense.
- Richard Allen / A Closer Listen

Abrasive at one moment, near silent the next, Xuan contains moments of pure beauty. Nature works quite the same way.
- Beach Sloth



This is truly one of those albums that encourage the listener eager to seek out past works; such is its underlying beauty.

Tony Young / blackaudio

The quality of the result and the personality of the musical development makes this issue a record not to miss.

Andrea Piran / Chain D.L.K.

Dimensione glaciale, tecnologica, glitch spezzettati e dissolti con estrema accuratezza...una freccia scagliata attraverso il tempo e lo spazio.

Solar Ipse #6

Elettronica minimale, glitch, bleeps, fiumi di frequenze, voragini di bit frantumati e field recordings, processati con algoritmi visionari...un ottimo lavoro, affascinante e soprattutto emozionante. E non sempre è facile emozionare in questo campo.

Alfio Castorina / Kathodik

Discography

Solo Works:
2013 Xuan [Nephogram / Ripples]
2010 Azure Allochiria [Triple Bath]
2009 In An Undertone At A Loose End [Ripples]

Collaborations:
2013 Zbeen, Eigen [Ripples]
2012 Zbeen, Stasis [Entr'acte/Ripples]
2012 Zbeen, K-Frame [Ripples]
Field Recordings:
2009-2011 Archive

http://skritha.wordpress.com/

Jon Herington 13 Questions

Jon Herington is the veteran touring and recording guitarist for Steely Dan and The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue (featuring Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs, and Michael McDonald), and the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the New York City based JON HERINGTON BAND. Jon's newest solo release, "Time On My Hands," (nominated for Vintage Guitar Magazine "ALBUM of the YEAR" for 2013 Hall of Fame) reflects the bluesy, driving rock that had its gestation in the club scene, and is now available at jonherington.com, Amazon and on iTunes. The undeniable chemistry of the band, built on a lifetime of collaboration with Dennis Espantman on bass and Frank Pagano on drums, is clearly evident in this collection of ten original songs.

 

Photo: Jon Gorr

Jon's love for music surfaced early, and he studied piano, saxophone, and harmony in his grade school years. Just before his high school years, however, he developed a passion for pop music and the electric guitar, and soon was writing songs and performing with his own band near his New Jersey Shore home doing opening slots for local hero Bruce Springsteen, beginning a performing career that has continued ever since. College followed, with extensive musical studies in both classical and jazz composition and theory at Rutgers University, and private jazz guitar study, with the help of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, with the late, great jazz guitarist, Harry Leahey. Next came several years of study with the late Dennis Sandole, the acclaimed music teacher from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who once taught the late greats James Moody and John Coltrane.




Which was the first record you bought with your own money?   

I'm not really sure whether you could call it "my own money," but I remember the first single I bought was called "Big Girls Don't Cry" by the Four Seasons, and I still love that track to this day. But perhaps a more important record buying day was the day I first bought any long play albums: I came home with Cream's "Disraeli Gears;" Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced;" and the Beatles' white album. All of those record purchases still define me in some way today, and I still love them all.


   
How would you define the present time in musical terms?

Varied and massive. There is an unbelievable amount of music available at the click of a finger on a phone nowadays. That is the most astonishing shift in my musical lifetime - when I was young, it was a thrill to hear any live music in the world. It didn't happen often, and you didn't hear music everywhere all of the time like you do now, in every restaurant, elevator, shopping mall, Doctor's office, etc. I'm afraid all that omnipresent music devalues music for most of the population. On the other hand, for people who are truly interested in exploring the vast range of music in the world, this is the best time to be alive to do that.


         
What was the first solo you learned from a record — and can you still play it?
 
I'm pretty sure it was "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Cream, but I'm sure I wasn't playing it very well. I could probably play it pretty well even today - I still think it's a great one. It has a kind of rhythmic freedom I love; it sounds expressive like a singer.



Which recording of your own (or as a sideman) are you most proud of, and why?

That's a tough question. I would have to say I'm equally proud of all of the last three "songs" records we've done. I have my favorite records for different reasons – I like that I was able to get a lot of guitar playing on "Time On My Hands," and there are particular songs on all three of those records which I think are stronger songs than some of the others. But they all feel like accomplishments I'm proud of.



What’s the difference between playing live and playing in a studio?

There are a lot of differences. Often, the absence of a crowd in the studio yields a more intimate feeling. Playing live, it often feels like you get an extra boost of energy from an enthusiastic crowd. Playing live it always feels fun and risky. In the studio, however, it's a great place to create and invent. Especially if you have the time, great things can happen if you are patient and trying to develop something in the studio. It's a place where a lot of discoveries can be made.



What’s the difference between a good gig and a bad gig?

What it pays. How it sounds. Who you're playing with. What music you're playing. How you feel.



What’s the difference between a good guitar and a bad guitar?

How it sounds. How it plays.



Do you play electric and acoustic? Do you approach the two differently?

I do. Yes, I approach them differently.  Because the setup of each instrument is completely different, they have to be approached technically in a different way. And because they have different sounds, I'll go to each particular instrument for its particular sound. So the types of parts that get played on each instrument are naturally different.


Free Download

What do you dream about?

In the literal sense, it's difficult to say, because I rarely remember my dreams the next morning. In the figurative sense, I don't do much dreaming anymore. I'm concentrating on enjoying the present tense now, whatever it brings me.



Do you sound like yourself on other people’s guitars, in other instruments?

Yes. It can't be helped. That can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on one's point of view. It's mostly a good thing for me.


Michael Leonhart - trumpet, voice, guitar, bul bul ƒ Jon Herington - acoustic and electric guitars, dobro

Which living artist (music, or other arts) would you like to collaborate with?

I don't dream about collaboration with other artists at all. Most of my solo work feels pretty personal to me, and I'm comfortable doing it myself and with one or two trusted collaborators who I've been working with for many years now.

Guitarkadia Sessions : Jon Herington - Melodic Solutions to Soloing Challenge 

What dead artist would you like to have collaborated with?

I find it difficult (and somewhat pointless) to indulge in that kind of fantasy, but I bet it would have been fun to play on a John Lennon record.



What’s your latest project about?

It's a collection of songs which we're probably going to call "Adult Entertainment." We're having fun writing the songs, and it's looking like it will be a very upbeat, fun record with some funny, entertaining lyrics and a sort of sonic nod to a mid sixties era of record making that we love.



Discography

LIVE 2 Jul 2012
solo acoustic 4 Dec 2011  
shine (shine shine) 10 Oct 2010
Pulse And Cadence 16 Aug 2008 
Like So 4 Dec 2000
   

Some of Jon's recording highlights (aside from "Time On My Hands," "shine (shine shine)," "Like So," and "Pulse and Cadence") are the Walter Becker release, "Circus Money;" the newest Donald Fagen release, "Sunken Condos," as well as his prior release "Morph the Cat;" the Steely Dan albums "Two Against Nature" (Grammy Award Winner) and "Everything Must Go;" Jim Beard's five recordings (the first four co-produced by Jon); two Bill Evans records, "Escape" and "Starfish and the Moon;" Michael "Patches" Stewart's "Penetration;" Bob Berg's "Riddles" and "Virtual Reality;" Lucy Kaplansky's "10 Year Night;" Michael Brecker's "Now You See It...(Now You Don't); " Randy Brecker's "Toe to Toe;" Victor Bailey's "Bottoms Up;" Chroma's "Music on the Edge" (with Mike Stern and others); Rob Morsberger's "The End of Physics," "Relativity [Blues]," "A Periodic Rush of Waves," and "The Chronicle of a Literal Man;" and Lynne Robyn's "Red Bird in Snow," one of Jon's production efforts. Jon can also be seen on Steely Dan's live video and DVD and is featured on the "Making of Aja" video/dvd, from the brilliant Classic Albums series. Jon's current work remains a combination of free-lancing as a guitarist and producer in New York, song-writing and band-leading work with his own group, and world-wide touring in support of some of the world's most renowned musical artists.

Gear

Guitars:
Gibson custom shop SG
Gibson custom shop CS 336
Gibson reissue 1954 Goldtop Les Paul
Gibson ES 335
Fender Telecaster
Fender Tele-Sonic
Amps:
Guytron GT 100 FV
Bludotone Bludotone-Drive
Pedals:
Robert Keeley Fuzz Head (on Shine Shine Shine only)
Ethos Overdrive (direct only)
Software:
ProTools
- See more at: http://guitarkadia.com/emon/interviews/jon-herington-interview-winner-of-giveaway-teaser/#sthash.np0tFsYD.dpuf

Guitars:

Gibson custom shop SG
Gibson custom shop CS 336
Gibson reissue 1954 Goldtop Les Paul
Gibson ES 335
Fender Telecaster
Fender Tele-Sonic
Wysocki Tele

Amps:
Guytron GT 100 FV
Bludotone Bludotone-Drive
Bludotone J-Rod 50"

Pedals:
Robert Keeley Fuzz Head (on Shine Shine Shine only)
Ethos Overdrive (direct only)

Software:
ProTools

A complete gear's description here

Guitars:
Gibson custom shop SG
Gibson custom shop CS 336
Gibson reissue 1954 Goldtop Les Paul
Gibson ES 335
Fender Telecaster
Fender Tele-Sonic
Amps:
Guytron GT 100 FV
Bludotone Bludotone-Drive
Pedals:
Robert Keeley Fuzz Head (on Shine Shine Shine only)
Ethos Overdrive (direct only)
Software:
ProTools
- See more at: http://guitarkadia.com/emon/interviews/jon-herington-interview-winner-of-giveaway-teaser/#sthash.np0tFsYD.dpuf

Jon's CD "Time On My Hands" has been nominated for Album of the Year by Vintage Guitar magazine, people can help by logging in to vote: http://www.vintageguitar.com/hall-of-fame/


http://www.jonherington.com/

Thanks to Susan Johnson for his kindness

VOX V251 GUITAR ORGAN with Dick Denney

GuitarOrgan

The Vox V251

The Vox V251 GuitarOrgan

In 1966, Vox introduced the problematic V251 GuitarOrgan, a Phantom VI guitar with internal organ electronics. John Lennon was given one in a bid to secure an endorsement, though this never panned out.^{[citation needed]} According to Up-Tight: the Velvet Underground Story, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones also tried one; when asked by the Velvets if it "worked", his answer was negative.^{[citation needed]}
The V251 connects to a mains power-supply unit via DIN plugs and a four-conductor cable (power, guitar output, organ output and common). The PSU in turn has individual amplifier outputs for guitar and organ.
Organ tones are sounded in one of three ways; in 'normal' mode, by pressing any string onto a fret; in 'percussion' mode, by fretting any string and touching the included brass plectrum (connected to a short wire plugged into a socket on the scratchplate) onto any metal part of the guitar; or by pressing one of the six 'open string' buttons. There is an option to silence the lowest two strings, and the organ section, as a whole, can also be switched off. There is a four-position octave selector, a six-position effect selector, a four-way selector for the percussion, and a flute selector.
The guitar section is equipped with two Vox pickups, a three-way selector, and conventional volume and tone controls. In common with Phantom models, it has a Bigsby-style tremolo unit, a fixed-intonation bridge and individual Vox-branded tuners.
The V251 is somewhat awkward to play as the neck is wider at the nut end than at the body, and a player's natural tendency to bend a string results in it slipping off the divided fret. Additionally, at nearly 9 lbs, it is very heavy, as might be expected.
The instrument never became popular though it was a precursor to the modern guitar synthesizer. Ian Curtis of Joy Division is sometimes believed to have used a GuitarOrgan, but he actually used a Phantom VII special with onboard effects.

The Vox Guitar Organ was one of the most complicated and innovative products attempted by JMI Vox in the 1960s. The brain child of Vox lead engineer Dick Denney, the Guitar Organ added solid state organ circuitry derived from the Vox Continental organ to a Vox Phantom guitar. This allowed the Guitar Organ to be played as a guitar or an organ, either separately or combined. The Vox Guitar Organ had six organ tone generator circuits built into a cavity in the guitar body, one generator for each of the six strings. The contacts that trigger the organ circuits to play were found in the frets of the guitar. Each fret on the guitar neck had six electronic contacts, one under each string. The circuit to the organ tone generator was completed when any of the guitar strings, which were grounded, were depressed to touch their respective fret mounted contact.
The organ tone generators developed different pitches based on the number of ohms separating the organ tone generator input signal from ground. The higher the electrical resistance, the lower the tone.
To facilitate the production of the correct organ pitch for each location on the neck, a series of twenty one resistors interconnected the twenty one fret contacts under each string, one resistor per fret. Depressing a string on the first (or lowest) fret would cause the signal to travel through all twenty one resistors before triggering the organ tone generator. Hypothetically, if each resistor was 100 ohms, the total accumulated resistance from the first fret contact to the tone generator would be 2100 ohms. This high resistance would make the lowest tone. Depressing the same string on the twelfth fret would require the signal to travel through only 9 resistors, or 900 ohms. This lower resistance would make a much higher tone. Playing on the highest fret would eliminate all but one resistor, and make the highest tone.
A remote power supply (seen at lower left) provided the necessary voltages to operate the organ circuitry and connected to the instrument with a multi pin connector cable.

^source: © 1998 - 2013 The Vox Showroom, rights reserved. No use in online auctions.

Free Download Betinelli Egea Ortiz

21.01.2012
Betinelli-Egea-Ortiz
TEST TUBE
2012

Leo Bettinelli: electrònica
Marc Egea: viola de roda
Carola Ortiz: veu i clarinet baix


«Leo Bettinelli, Marc Egea and Carola Ortiz are music performers and got together earlier this year, in January, for an improvisation session outside the catalán city of Barcelona, in a museum called Museu de Pintura de Sant Pol de Mar.
Entitled '21.01.2012', this the piece that was recorded directly from the concert. This is pure improv music sounds, hope you like it!»
- test tube

Downloads:

	• 21.01.2012
	[41'09'' • 94,5Mb • 320Kbps]
	• artwork
	[PDF-Zip • 4,32Mb]
	• all tracks + artwork
	[Zip • 83,5Mb]

http://www.monocromatica.com/netlabel/releases/tube260.htm