Early Ostracon Performance

Posted on June 21, 2011 by John Keston

Here’s an early live recording from Ostracon way back in September, 2009 that I thought would be interesting to share. We have come along way since then, but this documentation has a fragile, exploratory charm to it including hefty amounts of buzz and crackle from a bad cord.

The way I produced the recording was by putting my Sony PCM-50 near the drums, and then recording the Live set during the show. Afterward I put the drum track into the Live set and matched it up. The recorder started a little late, so it’s missing the first three minutes of drums, but there’s 34 more minutes with Graham’s spectacular drumming all over it. Enjoy!

Ostracon Live Recording, September 28, 2009 by Ostraka

Photon Coercion Video

Posted on June 20, 2011 by John Keston

Photon Coercion is the second track from the debut album by Ostracon titled Unauthorized Modifications. The video is a compilation of footage from the “light controllers” that I use to generate the music using the GMS. The album will be released electronically tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21, 2011 and available from all the major electronic outlets as well as directly from Unearthed Music. Also, please join us for the release show on Friday, June 24, 2011 featuring Dosh, Ostracon, Smyth, Ghostband, and live painting by Rogue Citizen.

New Version of GMS for Mac Available

Posted on June 19, 2011 by John Keston

On June 18, 2011 I released a new version of the GMS for Mac OSX that works on Snow Leopard. Previously the software only worked on 10.5.x. This new version can be downloaded from the GMS Google Code download page. The only features that might be new to you are the ability to define musical rest probabilities and video processing options that can be toggled by pressing shift + (1-4). Here’s an example of a few layered GMS midi clips that were generated during the Ostracon performance at the In/Out Festival, September, 2010. Incidentally, this was the last time that Ostracon performed. Since then we have been laying low in anticipation of our release show this Friday, June 24, 2011.

Ostracon In/Out Festival Clips

GMS Generated MKS-80 Bassline

Posted on June 18, 2011 by John Keston

Finally the GMS meets the Roland MKS-80. During our Ostracon release performance coming up on Friday, June 24, 2011 I plan on using the MKS-80 for the first time in a live setting… vis-à-vis without a keyboard. Here’s a bassline I generated and looped in Ableton with the GMS routed to the MKS-80 controlled by the Bitstream 3X.

GMS Generated MKS-80 Bassline

Free Track from Ostracon Debut Unauthorized Modifications

Posted on June 17, 2011 by John Keston

Unearthed Music is giving away a free track from the album Unauthorized Modifications by Ostracon (John Keston on electronics and Graham O’Brien on drums). This album was recorded and mixed at by Adam Krinsky at the former Flyte Tyme studios and mastered by Tom Garneau of Audioactive.

To get the free track Probability Defect visit the release page and enter your email address in the box in the lower right of the screen. You will then receive an email message with a unique link to download the track at 320kbps. Please let us know here what you think of it and join us for the release show on Friday, June 24, 2011.

Ostracon Debut Excerpt: Telemetry Implant

Posted on June 6, 2011 by John Keston

Here’s an excerpt from the sixth and final track on our upcoming release, Unauthorized Modifications by Ostracon. Don’t miss our live performance celebrating the release at the Honey Lounge in Minneapolis on June 24, 2011. Artists performing with us at the event include Dosh, Smyth, and Ghostband. Rogue Citizen will be doing live painting during the performance.

Telemetry Implant

Ostracon Debut Excerpt: Dwarf Plutocracy

Posted on May 25, 2011 by John Keston

Here’s an excerpt from the fifth track on our upcoming release, Unauthorized Modifications by Ostracon. We will be celebrating the release with a live performance at the Honey Lounge in Minneapolis on June 24, 2011. Artists performing with us at the event include Dosh, Smyth, and Ghostband. Rogue Citizen will be doing live painting during the performance for added visual stimulus.

Dwarf Plutocracy (Excerpt)

Ostracon Debut Excerpt: Entropy Procedure

Posted on May 17, 2011 by John Keston

Here’s an excerpt from the fourth track on our upcoming Ostracon album Unauthorized Modifications. The full track was released last September as a give away for the In/Out Festival, but since then it has been remastered.

Entropy Procedure (Excerpt)

Ostracon Debut Excerpt: Particle Agent

Posted on May 12, 2011 by John Keston

Here’s a nearly two minute long excerpt from the third track, titled Particle Agent from our upcoming Ostracon debut, Unauthorized Modifications. The following description of the album from the press release offers insight into how this album was produced. (Photo of Graham O’Brien with Ostracon at the In/Out Festival in NYC, courtesy of inoutfest.org)

Ostracon is producer John Keston (AudioCookbook.org) on electronics and drummer Graham O’Brien (No Bird Sing). No keyboards are used in their music. Instead, Keston uses his custom sequencing software and hand manipulated light controllers to convert projected video signals into a stream of generative melodic structures. During their performances and recording sessions the visuals, electronics, and synchronized drumming are interwoven creating ephemeral structures that are familiar yet never repeated outside of each composition. O’Brien’s percussive statements firmly place the work into a non-linear landscape, grounded in an impossible to categorize igneous crust. UNAUTHORIZED MODIFICATIONS includes six pieces recorded and mixed at the former Flyte Tyme studios by Adam Krinsky. The the tracks, interspersed with angular melodic passages, sound mysterious, organic, and periodically invoke dystopian imagery.

Particle Agent (excerpt)

Ostracon Debut Excerpt: Photon Coercion

Posted on May 8, 2011 by John Keston

Here’s an excerpt of the second track from the upcoming Ostracon debut album, Unauthorized Modifications. This track is titled Photon Coercion. The album consists of drumming by Graham O’Brien and electronic sound that I produced using GMS, or Gestural Music Sequencer. GMS is Open Source software I developed that converts video signals into musical phrases. A video signal is analysed in real-time and then MIDI notes are produced based on brightness tracking and adjustable probability distribution algorithms.

This excerpt, in addition to looped phrases from GMS, includes a lead melodic voice that I played on the touch based synthesizer, Bebot. I fell in love with the expressive way you can bend notes independently on up to five voices (an impossibility on most conventional keyboards – unless you have one of these) using Bebot.

Photon Coercion (excerpt)