Track Made Entirely with Korg Monotribe

Posted on May 21, 2012 by John Keston

I made this track, titled Crowd Dance, almost entirely using the Korg Monotribe synced in Ableton Live. There are 8 layers of the instrument plus a subtle analog drum pattern that includes the wood block, sampled from an old organ. This is one of several works in progress commissioned by the American Composers Forum for a collaboration with a choreographer. It is music for the opening vignette of “In Habit” that will be performed by the Aniccha Arts Dance Company at Northern Spark on June 9, 2012.

Otsu, Bi, Ichi, Kotsu, and Hi

Posted on July 31, 2011 by John Keston

In continuing my analogue synthesized study of the Japanese reed instrument called a shō, I have played and recorded the traditional chords for the instrument using my programmed version. This brief composition is a sequence of the traditional chords Otsu, Bi, Ichi, Kotsu, and Hi.

After pre-recording the chords I set them up with triggers on separate tracks then played them so that they overlap creating dense and eerie harmonics during the transitions.

Shō Composition

New Kutiman Song – Thru Jerusalem

Posted on June 17, 2011 by John Keston

Check out the latest Kutiman song that he created by shooting video of musicians while wandering around Jerusalem. I love Kutiman’s previous work with YouTube videos. This track sounds haunting and beautiful and is a pleasure to watch. A very special piece indeed!

Arpeggio with Nightmare

Posted on April 19, 2011 by John Keston

This arpeggio includes stacked Roland D-50 and Roland MKS-80 sounds, plus some mad, metallic, nightmarish, knob tweaking that I did on the MKS-80. For me the piece invokes a vision of unsuspecting creatures going about their business, unaware of a predatory horror that lurks in their midst.

Arppegio with Nightmare

DGK and Friends Bootleg Part 1

Posted on March 25, 2011 by John Keston

On March 13, 2011, my trio DGK (Jon Davis on bass, Tim Glenn on drums, and John Keston on Rhodes and Pro-One) performed at the Honey Lounge in Minneapolis, Minnesota in collaboration with an esteemed line-up of colleagues. Through the night people came and went, so in the upcoming parts of this series I’ll name the individuals involved. For the beginning of the evening it was DGK with Martin Dosh on additional drums, and Juno Alpha 1, Scott Fultz on electric guitar and soprano saxophone, Andrew Broder on electric guitar, Rajiah Johnson on flute, and Brandon Wozniak on tenor saxophone. The record is a bit chatty at times, but that’s to be expected with bootleg recordings. You never know, you just might stumble across a bizarre conversation buried in the mix.

DGK and Friends Part 1 (36:16)