Joel Ryan and Keir Neuringer

Posted on February 25, 2009 by John CS Keston

After Joel Ryan and Keir Neuringer’s appearance at the Ted Mann Concert Hall on February 21, 2009 for the Spark Festival, I had an opportunity talk with Keir during the night life event at the Bedlam Theatre. I told him all about Audio Cookbook and he agreed to posting a segment of his performance here.

The performance consisted of two improvisational pieces with Keir on saxophone and Joel Ryan processing the sound in real-time. The sheer breadth of textures and mood produced by the duet made it difficult to decide what to include in this entry.

The first piece was 23:55 minutes long, while the second was 10:15. Here’s a fifty-seven second segment from the first piece that illustrates some of Keir’s unorthodox techniques on the saxophone as well as Joel Ryan’s approach to real-time audio manipulation.

Joel Ryan and Keir Neuringer (Excerpt)

Metamorphoses by Clifton Callendar

Posted on February 24, 2009 by John CS Keston

The opening piece at Spark, Concert 5 on Thursday, February 19, 2009 was Metamorphoses by Clifton Callendar for three cellos, or solo cello and digital delay. As it happens, it was expertly performed in the latter configuration by Evan Jones. The level and timing of the delay made the piece often sound as though there was more than one instrument present, and auto-panning on the delay trails sent the ghost instruments back and forth across the stage. The cellist was wearing headphones, perhaps listening to a click track. Here’s a short segment from the performance.

Metamorphoses by Clifton Callender

Michael Croswell at Spark Festival

Posted on February 19, 2009 by John CS Keston

Here’s a short section of Michael Croswell’s ambient combination of french horn and sampled industrial sounds from his performance on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. This was the first “Nightlife” performance at Spark, and lots of really great music has happened since, so there is much more to come.

This is one of the first times I have used the Sony PCM D-50 to record a performance other than my own. What was nice about this instance is that the audience was very quiet. Micheal’s music was quite dynamic throughout his entire performance, but in very slow sweeping waves with few abrupt movements. This recording would not have been possible with a noisy audience.

Michael Croswell

Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts

Posted on February 16, 2009 by John CS Keston

This year’s Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts starts on Tuesday, February 17 and goes through Sunday, February 22 at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Festival features dozens of accomplished artists, performers, and speakers from around the globe. The content ranges from the experimental, electronic sounds of STEIM to the glitch, minimal dub of Stefan Betke, aka Pole.

My group, Keston and Westdal featuring Graham O’Brien on drums, are appearing at the festival on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at the Bedlam Theatre. We will be performing works based on material from our 2008 collection of experimental compositions, One Day to Save All Life (Unearthed Music, 2008). The concert is free and open to the public, ages 18 and up. Here’s Upward Not Northward from our last album. You might notice an abrupt ending on this piece because it’s taken from a gapless master.

Upward Not Northward

Keston and Westdal at Nublu NYC

Posted on February 6, 2009 by John CS Keston

One Sound Every Day entries are likely to be a little scarce until Monday or Tuesday because I’ll be in New York for a performance at Nublu. The group playing is Keston and Westdal with Graham O’Brien on drums. We’ve been busy preparing for this and other events lately, including the Spark Festival in Minneapolis. I’m excited to be visiting New York again. This will be our fifth performance there as Keston and Westdal, and the third time at Nublu, which is a really great venue. I’m also eagerly anticipating the Spark Festival having just learned that Pole will be performing on February 21, 2009.

That said, while I’m in New York I’m planning on making some binaural recordings of environments, street musicians, musical performances, and general mayhem as I encounter it, so I expect to catch upsoon after I return. New York readers and visitors, please stop by Nublu (between 4th and 5th on Avenue C) this Saturday, February 7. We’ll be playing two sets starting at midnight. Here’s an example of what you might hear during our show.

Ostracon
by Keston and Westdal (Unearthed Music, 2008)