Czeslaw’s Loop and DKO

Posted on May 20, 2011 by John Keston

Art-A-Whirl is considered the largest open studio and gallery tour in the United States and it happens right in my fair city of Northeast Minneapolis. Along side all of the art are dozens of simultaneous musical performances. This year I have three Art-A-Whirl appearances.

First and second are daytime movements for the second and fourth acts of Czeslaw’s Loop (click for times, location, and other details). On Saturday this includes a five-channel sound art installation (essentially a variation on my piece Fives) that initiates “Act Two: Epiphany”. On Sunday, music performed under my Ostraka moniker contributes to “Act Four: Decline”.

Sunday evening is the debut performance of our post DGK trio, DKO (Davis, Keston, O’Brien). The venue is the Honey Lounge in Minneapolis at 10pm. Stop by to participate in an opulent evening of improvisation featuring Jon Davis (Bass, Bass Clarinet), John Keston (Rhodes, Pro-One, and electronics), and Graham O’Brien (Drums).

Pay What You Want for Precambrian Resonance

Posted on April 29, 2011 by John Keston

For a limited time Unearthed Music is offering the DRM free 320kbps download for my debut solo album, Precambrian Resonance by Ostraka, for as little as one penny. This album emerged during a year long period of random recordings and sound design experiments exhibited here on AudioCoobook.org during my One Sound Every Day project. Click on the title to pay what you want for Precambrian Resonance. Here’s one of my favorite tracks from the album for your listening pleasure. Thanks!

Three Phase Oscillator

New Track Segment and Ostraka Performance

Posted on March 31, 2011 by John Keston

Here’s a segment from a new track that will be included in my performance at 9:30pm on Monday, April 4, 2011 at the Kitty Cat Klub in Minneapolis. Sputnik Viper with Centrific and newly formed BETAWOLvES are alo on the bill. Aside from the drums the new Ostraka track (working title, Monkey Dog Specimen) is made exclusively of sounds from the Roland D-50 and the Roland MKS-80.

Monkey Dog Specimen Segment

Excerpt of Intro to Heavy Synth Track in Six

Posted on March 29, 2011 by John Keston

Inevitably one of the results of the One Synthesizer Sound Every Day project that I started in January is to produce an Ostraka album. So far I have nearly thirty tracks in the works. Many of them will end up on the cutting room floor, but here’s an excerpt from an introduction for one of the pieces that I’m confident will make the roster. The segment starts with a washy arpeggio on the D-50 morphed into a pad with copious amounts of reverb and delay. Next up are some MKS-80 effects that introduce an unprocessed bouncy arpeggio in six eight time.

Excerpt of Intro to Heavy Synth Track in Six

Short Circuit Videos

Posted on February 26, 2011 by John Keston

Short Circuit – 021911 – Ostraka from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

Short Circuit – 021911 – Sputnik Viper from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

Short Circuit – 021911 – Square Wail from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

Short Circuit – 021911 – web dimension from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

Logan Erickson, also known as Low-Gain, organizes the monthly electronic music event called Short Circuit. As well as doing a great job with the event, he produces excellent, HD documentation with the direct audio signal from the house system synched up to the video. Above is his documentation from the February 19, 2011 event that I had the pleasure of participating in. Checkout his Vimeo page to see videos from former Short Circuit events and interesting experiments by Low-Gain.

CZ1000 Strings Lifted from Live Set at Short Circuit

Posted on February 19, 2011 by John Keston

I isolated this string sound from my Ostraka set tonight at Short Circuit, “a monthly show set up to show case local and out of state electronic music artists” – from the Short Circuit Facebook Page. Tonight the line-up included WEb DiMension, Sputnik Viper, Square Wail, and Ostraka.

Casio CZ1000 Strings

Ostraka at The Somethin’ Else No. 9

Posted on February 11, 2011 by John Keston

Tonight I’ll be performing a solo Ostraka set at The Somthin’ Else series curated by Jon Davis. This month the theme is “Frankenstein’s Day Monster Pizza Party, an electronic music potluck”. From the blog:

“It’s alive! Come celebrate Frankenstein’s Day with The Somethin’ Else on Friday, February 11th at the Love Power Building! Music, dancing & PIZZA!!!!!!” featuring: Mkr/Marx, Speakthrone, Dark Lord of Rhodes, (Alans), S/M, The Eclectic Ensemble, Ostraka, Jackie Becky/Jonathan Kaiser/Naomi Joy/Ryan Billig, Patrick Voller, Surface Vains, Self Sound Ochestra, Camden, Jesse Whitney & Tim Glenn, Littlefoot, MKR, and more. 9:00pm. All ages. $5 or free with a potluck contribution.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2011
LOVE POWER BUILDING
1407 WASHINGTON AVENUE SOUTH
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

Upcoming DGK and Ostraka Performances

Posted on January 22, 2011 by John Keston

Here’s a list of upcoming performances from my trio, DGK (Davis, Glenn, Keston) and my solo project, Ostraka. First up is DGK at the Turf Club in St. Paul, Minnesota on Friday, January 28, 2011. Also on the bill is Dosh and H.U.N.X. Doors at 9:00pm. $5.00. Main stage. Next up is Ostraka at Nick & Eddie Thursday Funhouse on February 3, 2011. Doors at 10:00pm. Located in the back bar. Free entry. Thirdly we have DGK at the Red Stag Supper Club on Monday, February 21, 2011. Doors are at 9:00pm. No cover.

Generative Sequence Driving MDA JX10 Emulator

Posted on January 21, 2011 by John Keston

I created the following generative sequence using GMS (click for details), during a solo performance at the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art, October 2010. One of the virtual instruments I used in the set is an Open Source, Roland Super JX10 emulator made by MDA. The Roland Super JX10 was one of the last great analog poly-synths produced by Roland, and the first Roland synth to receive velocity and aftertouch treatment on the 76 key keyboard. Although I never owned one of these, I have played one before, and I imagine that programming them was brain surgery without the optional PG-800 programmer. In the documentation for the MDA JX10 they state, “[this] plug-in is designed for high quality (lower aliasing than most soft synths) and low processor usage – this means that some features that would increase CPU load have been left out”. To me this plugin sounds very good. I’d like to hear from anyone who owns or has played a Roland Super JX10 for their perspective on this instrument.

MDA JX10 Emulator

Korg Monotron Clip from Live Set

Posted on January 20, 2011 by John Keston

Here’s a sound I coaxed out of the Korg Monotron during my live set at Nick and Eddie Thursday Funhouse that I mentioned in the last article. One again, you can download the entire set here. In my previous demos of the Monotron I used no processing, so this time I decided to present it exactly as it was performed in the live set, through stereo delay and reverb sends. The sound of this minute instrument never ceases to amaze me.

Monotron Clip