Track Made Entirely with Korg Monotribe

I made this track, titled Crowd Dance, almost entirely using the Korg Monotribe synced in Ableton Live. There are 8 layers of the instrument plus a subtle analog drum pattern that includes the wood block, sampled from an old organ. This is one of several works in progress commissioned by the American Composers Forum for a collaboration with a choreographer. It is music for the opening vignette of “In Habit” that will be performed by the Aniccha Arts Dance Company at Northern Spark on June 9, 2012.

Phase Distortion Synthesis: Libration Dub

This is one out of a collection of synthesizer tracks that I’ve been sitting on for a long time. Apart from the percussion, Libration (not to be confused with liberation) Dub was made entirely with the Casio CZ-1000 analog phase distortion synthesizer.

Forgotten Channels

Forgotten Channels is a generative music and projected video performance piece that aims to discover connections between our visual memory and our response to peculiar soundscapes.

The visuals for the piece are made up of fifteen shots selected from hundreds of mobile phone videos. The videos make up a score that was prepared by playing them on a large LCD display then re-shooting them with another mobile device to frame mysterious elements and expose the imperfections within the digital media.

To perform the piece the visual score is abstracted again by playing it on yet another mobile device positioned below a camera plugged into a computer. Custom software analyses the input to produce a real-time stream of algorithmic music. The musical information is captured and manipulated by the performer in response to the imagery.

Casino Royale Instrumental Circa 1995

Former A&R rep and all-around minneapolis music nut, John Kass recently posted eight tracks ripped from a couple of demo tapes that we submitted to his record label back in the mid-90s. You can check out all of the tracks on his blog gojohnnygo.com. I’m including an instrumental track below that’s loaded with some note-y Pro-One lines revealing that I have been using that synth for at least sixteen years. Crazy!

Instrumental

Low-Gain Live​ at Honey, Minneapolis

Although I have weeks worth of back-logged synthesizer sounds of my own I am honored to defer today’s entry into One Synthesizer Sound Every Day to Logan Erickson, otherwise known as Low-Gain. At my request Logan played the closing party for the Eyeo Festival along with Eskimo Spy and Ostracon, so I can claim partial responsibility for his work that evening. But all the credit for these searing, synthetic soundscapes goes to master-modular-meistro Low-Gain himself. Isaac Halvorson was on hand to record the night, and Logan has shared his set for us all to enjoy repeatedly. Click here to download, or listen below.