Czeslaw’s Loop and DKO

Posted on May 20, 2011 by John CS 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).

Naturally Unnatural

Posted on May 19, 2011 by John CS Keston

This composition emerged as I was experimenting with the BS3X and the Roland MKS-80. Usually I don’t title these unpublished microtracks that I share here on ACB, but this one came to me naturally.

Naturally Unnatural

Ostracon Debut Excerpt: Entropy Procedure

Posted on May 17, 2011 by John CS 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 CS 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)