Recently I used my home made binaural microphone to record the sound of plucking a spring that I was holding in my teeth. The sound was resonating in my nicely in my skull so I imagined that the best way to record it would be to insert microphone capsules into my ears.
The results weren’t bad, but not exactly what I thought they might be (you never know until you try). Anyway, here’s a segment of that recording in case your curiosity has been piqued.
Spring Plucking
This section of Spring in December by Keston and Westdal with Graham O’Brien on drums was recorded at the Kitty Cat Klub on Sunday, June 21, 2009. As an ensemble we have been improvising more and more within the arrangements of our current material. This is a result of our comfort with the material, but also the monotony of playing mostly the same repertoire for over a year. Recently we’ve been making an effort to change this by scheduling rehearsals to refine new material for recording and performances.
Spring in December Outro
Here’s another segment of video from the Flashbelt after party on June 8, 2009. The music is still Graham O’Brien on drums and me using the GMS.
However, the visuals shown are mostly part of an excellent piece on gender transformation by Sinan G. of minneapolisartonwheels.org.
I think this short chunk of video is an accurate illustration of the spirit of the party.
In my mind the best parties are always in alleyways, sometimes in warehouses, and once in a while in apartment kitchens.
Click to view a 640 x 480 version of GMS Ensemble Live Segment #2.
Recently I recorded my throat singing friend after meeting him and some other cycling mates at one of our favorite places along the Mississippi river. Here is his beautifully disturbing rendition of Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix straight off the recorder with no editing or processing.
Foxy Lady by Skink
Nils Westdal shot this video of myself and Graham O’Brien on drums performing with the GMS during one of the Flashbelt after parties on June 8, 2009. The party was held in the back alley of One on One bike studio, considered the bike Mecca of the Midwest.
Recorded using the internal mic on the video camera, the mix is chatty and pretty drum heavy for the first half, but you can hear the GMS sequencing a little better toward the end.
The setup consists of a MacBook Pro running the GMS synced to Ableton Live 7, an M-Audio Firewire 410 interface, a Mackie 1202 mixer, my Korg MS2000 for external control of the GMS, a Casio projector, and a variety of bike lights and spinning LED tops as “light controllers”.