UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Serge Dual Oscillator & Wave Processor

I'm in the process of adding two new M-odules to my Serge Modular system,  a collection of somewhat incomprehensible, but ultimately rewarding synthesis and modulation devices.  Most Moogs and Arps seem fairly easy to understand when confronted with their knobs, sliders, pitchwheels,  and traditional keyboards,  but Serge Modular (like Buchla) is something of a different language that needs experimentation to come alive and be fully appreciated.  The Dual Oscillator contains the New Timbral Oscillator and the Precision VCO,  a combination that yields a dazzling variety of sounds,  sounds that can be furthered mangled with the Ring Mod, Triple Waveshaper,  and Wave Multipliers of the Wave Processor.  Who knows what will happen when they encounter the Creature/Seq A/TKB combo? Videos to follow.  Many thanks to Rex Probe and my fellow Sergians at Quadslope for their invaluable help and inspiration.

THE SOUND OF ELECTRICITY (EML-200)

NO SLEEP HERE

OSCILLATIONS: "O Superman" by Laurie Anderson

It seems ironic that the vocoder,  a device originally created for scrambling wartime communications would be used years later as an hypnotic aural symbol suggesting the dominance of technology over the individual,  the politics of control,  and the failure of meaningful communication in the face of this "Big Science".  It now seems prescient in terms of our ongoing embrace of technology and its accompanying information overload,  an avalanche made utterly meaningless by "places" such as Facebook, Twitter,  and My Space.  Is that where we feel most alive? Now that's an unfortunate question. "O Superman"  (an unlikely hit in the UK) was included on  BIG SCIENCE (1982),  an album that begins with a plane crash,  and continues a winding journey to the present of "here come the planes / they're American planes",  a scary scenario that includes our acceptance of military aggression without questioning intention,  the tragedy of 9/11,  and the loss of America as a "real" place.

NEW FOLKTEK SITE

You are encouraged to check out the much improved Folktek webpage.  For those of you unfamiliar with this creative collective,  Folktek  designs and creates a vast array of very cool sound generating devices that will add new aural thrills and and degree of unpredictability (a good thing) to your sound-world.  Their visual ethic is also a marvel.  No gleaming surfaces here,  just the patina of busy hands,  vintage found materials,  and a bit of dada. See it all at:  http://folktek.com

A NICE LITTLE EMS SYNTHI AKS TUTORIAL

PLEASE WELCOME A NEW ADDITION TO THE ZOMBIE BABY FAMILY

This cute little fellow was recently rescued from an antique store in my town for a scant sum of money,  and worth every penny.  The phrase "zombie baby" was coined by brother project ether^ra and generally tends to describe any vintage doll (or just its head) that exhibits signs of material abuse,  staining,  breakage,  various dirt patinas,  extreme facial expressions or no expression at all.  They usually give off an uneasy aura of psychic damage,  potential for subtle aural trickery,  and a creepy stoicism.  Sounds inviting,  right?  I'll be sleeping with one eye opened.

A BASKET OF GLOWING DEAD FISH or LOVE IT, LOVE IT NOT

At a certain,  nearly foreseeable point in critical analysis,  one gets it:  some of the stuff that has been touted as "essential" is merely disposable,  over-hyped,  or worse.  One may even glimpse hints of genius in these objects of adoration,  but that soon fades as the recordings one has purchased in good faith (thanks WIRE) become mired in the verbiage of commerce,  advertising dollars,  and the good old boys club.  What follows is a list of performers whose work has been described as transcendent,  but is more often than not,  tedious.  Enjoy.

                            1.  Sunn ((O)))
                            2.  Emeralds
                            3.  Broadcast
                            4.  Gas
                            5.  Oneotrix Point Never
                            6.  Skullflower
                            7.  Ramleh
                            8.  James Ferraro
                            9.  Jandek
                          10.  Prurient

A SENTIMENTAL WISH FROM ZB

A TWITCHY SERGE POST-REPTILIAN ARM

EML-200 ALONE

NEW ADDITION: The Serge TKB

Another day,  another addition to a studio already overburdened with strange and wonderful sound-making  machinery.  This time it's from those providers of Wisconsin (via the west coast) banana-cabled contraptions aptly named Sound Transform Systems or simply Serge.  Like Buchla,  STS offers a non-moving capacitive keyboard (and sequencer) rolled into a neat little box called the TKB.  And to make things even more interesting, STS honcho Rex Probe doesn't include manuals with his boxes of monkeys,  as words like play, chance,  and happy accident perfectly describe his approach to synthesis.  During one of our phone conversations,  we both agreed that adding a quantizer to the TKB just wasn't in the spirit of cajoling chaos from this machinery.  Long may this sensibility prosper! Who says that electronic music need be humorless?  Now it's time to slowly wreak havoc with a forest of bananas!

MORE JAPAN: Nightporter

JAPAN: Ghosts (live)

LIFE IN POP?: Japan's "Ghosts"

In this case I would answer with a deafening YES!  This oddity was released in the UK in 1982 and somehow reached #5 on a chart populated with all manner of insipid catchiness.  It was "New Wave" group Japan's biggest hit,  a feat made even stranger by its combination of haunting ambience,  Stockhausen-esque electronica,  and ambiguous lyrical content.  This was Pop reconfigured by an avant garde sensibility held aloft by an oddly compelling, yet hardly memorable chorus, and a finely tuned sonic architecture.  Who could resist this wonderful hybrid,  one that scattered Rolands,  Sequential Circuits,  and Oberheims in its wake.

FROM MY STUDIO: The Roland SH-101

Tired of the inflated prices and reputation of the Roland TB-303? The solution:  pick up an SH-101 for a fraction of the price and immerse yourself in a similarly bassy,  squelchy Acid pool.  This powerful monophonic was in production between 1982 and 1886,  with 50,000 units hitting the streets,  hence they're readily available on Ebay at reasonable prices.  You could even grab one equipped with the modulation grip if you have some kind of weird Eighties fetish for keytar and big hair action... yuck!  Besides gray,  it was also available in a garish blue and an equally repulsive red (ah, the tasteful Eighties!).  Its two and a half octave keyboard is easy to play home or away,  thanks to the optional battery power.  The inclusion of an arpeggiator and a simple sequencer make this single oscillator beauty even more inviting.  Of course there is no midi,  but who cares when this member of Roland's SH tribe is so expressive,  portable,  and fun all on its own?!!

JAZZFINGER LIVE

A BRIEF ENCOUNTER: JAZZFINGER

Well,  this certainly isn't jazz,  as its contours suggest sounds collected from some dirty alley that have congealed into odd shapes with the help of bodily fluids and electricity.  I'm not even sure what kind of "music" this is,  except to say that its degraded urban gestures (see UGLY FOR A LIVING) have given way to a kind of rural tempest that has swapped rusted metal for clay and an Assembly of Cardinals for dead birds.  The drones have become warmer and even,  dare I say inviting?  Keep in mind that they are a very different proposition live,  as I found out on the last night of No Fun Festival 2009 in Williamsburg,  Brooklyn.  Here were individuals crouched on the floor,  indifferent to the audience,  creating massively monotonous drones that swept me right into the lobby to buy merchandise from Keith Fullerton Whitman (whose previous set as the Conrad Schnitzler Con-Cert was wonderful).  I thought they were terrible,  but strangely felt the need to search out a few of their recordings.  AUTUMN ENGINES seems delicate in comparison to their live performance,  a combination of lo-fi loops,  malfunctioning electrical devices, feedback,  and perhaps a real (read: guitar, bass, clarinet) instrument or two.  The result is a series of nightmare lullabies,  perfect for the chill of a Fall night.  One of the tracks sums it up perfectly as "Dreams Cast Shadows".

ARE YOU HEARING ME?