Binaural Video of David Byrne’s Installation Playing the Building

Posted on November 30, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

On November 27, 2012 I made a binaural recording of David Byrne’s installation, Playing the Building (2012), at Aria in Minneapolis. During my session in the space I recorded a solo performance of myself, a duet with me and Jon Davis on bass clarinet, and a trio (DKO) with me, Graham O’Brien on drums and Jon Davis. I used a binaural head to record each performance. I have been interested in building a binaural head for some time, and finally got the parts together including a mannequin head, silicone ears, and overhead microphones capsules. I’ll share more about “Vincent” (the head’s name), and the rest of the recordings soon. For now here’s a video of my solo performance. Remember to listen using headphones in order to hear the binaural spatial effects. You’ll hear the installation surrounding you, a visitor bouncing a tennis ball off to the right, and occasional interjections of people in conversation.

DKO Recording Session and Performance at Bellows

Posted on October 23, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

Here’s a selection made by Jon Davis from our recent DKO performance and recording session at the lovely Bellows Studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. This rough segment was mixed and engineered by Adam Krinsky. The limited edition poster was designed and screen printed by Jasio Stefanski.

Fragile Gloss Featuring DSI Tempest

Posted on September 13, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

It has been a couple of months since I have shared an Ostraka track (Wayland’s Smithy back in July), so I thought I would let you have an advance listen to a very recent mix featuring the DSI Tempest. This particular track also includes sounds programmed on the Roland MKS-80, SCI Pro-One, and Korg Monotribe. Thanks for listening, and let me know what you think.

Excerpt from Ostraka Improvisation at NAMAC 2012

Posted on September 10, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

This excerpt is from my first live performance featuring the DSI Tempest last Thursday, September 6, 2012 at the Walker Art Center for the NAMAC opening night reception. My setup consisted of the Tempest synched up with a Korg Monotribe. The notes and some of the drums patterns were created in real-time with the GMS creating those signature, angular lines. I also played percussion patterns into the Tempest sequencer during the performance. The entire 75 minute set was improvised. LEDs fed into the video camera were projected on the wall behind me and used to generated the melodic and some of the rhythmic content.

In Habit: Living Patterns Complete Collection on SoundCloud

Posted on September 5, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

I have made the entire collection of pieces that I composed for “In Habit: Living Patterns,” performed at Northern Spark in June, 2012, available as a set of sixteen tracks on SoundCloud. This set will be downloadable for a unspecified time window, so get it while you can.