DGK and Friends Bootleg Part 1

Posted on March 25, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

On March 13, 2011, my trio DGK (Jon Davis on bass, Tim Glenn on drums, and John Keston on Rhodes and Pro-One) performed at the Honey Lounge in Minneapolis, Minnesota in collaboration with an esteemed line-up of colleagues. Through the night people came and went, so in the upcoming parts of this series I’ll name the individuals involved. For the beginning of the evening it was DGK with Martin Dosh on additional drums, and Juno Alpha 1, Scott Fultz on electric guitar and soprano saxophone, Andrew Broder on electric guitar, Rajiah Johnson on flute, and Brandon Wozniak on tenor saxophone. The record is a bit chatty at times, but that’s to be expected with bootleg recordings. You never know, you just might stumble across a bizarre conversation buried in the mix.

DGK and Friends Part 1 (36:16)

Cymatic Sounds

Posted on February 16, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

One thing that I think we don’t do enough is record amplified synthesis with microphones. I must admit to recording an unhealthy portion of my work direct. There’s a reason. It’s much easier. It’s clean. It’s fast. But some really great qualities can be achieved by going the extra mile. Some of my favorite sounds were made by plugging my Pro-One into my Leslie cabinet and using the motor speed for expression. During our cymatics tests last week I recorded some of the sounds made by the oscillators, and the agitated granules with my PCM-D50 and my mobile phone. Here’s a combination of those sounds layered into an ambient microtrack.

Cymatic Sounds

DGK Rehearsal Segment

Posted on January 25, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

During a rehearsal with DGK tonight for our upcoming show this Friday at the Turf Club, I put the Roland Juno-106 on top of the Rhodes and ran them both through my Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man delay. I had the Sony PCM-D50 setup to capture the session with TIm Glenn on drums and Jon Davis on bass. It was a fun rehearsal. I’m looking forward to our show. Here a segment from the recording where I was playing chords on the Juno through the Memory Man.

DGK Rehearsal Segment

52 Minutes of Music for the Brave at Heart

Posted on July 29, 2010 by John C.S. Keston

On Monday, July 19, 2010, my latest trio featuring Jon Davis on bass guitar and bass clarinet, Tim Glenn on drums, and me on Rhodes and Sequential Circuits Pro-One, played at the Kitty Cat Klub for the Experimental Music Mondays series.

I recorded the set on my Sony PCM-D50 and applied some subtle mastering with Ableton Live. I’m pretty fond of how the music and the recording turned out other than the fact that the bass clarinet is too low in the mix.

Here are the three tracks of improvised music from the evening adding up to around fifty two minutes. If you like experimental improvised music be prepared to have a long and challenging listen.

Davis-Glenn-Keston Track 1

Davis-Glenn-Keston Track 2

Davis-Glenn-Keston Track 3

Off to CNMAT

Posted on July 27, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

In a few hours I’m headed to California for a night class on MaxMSP at CNMAT, the Center for New Music and Audio Technology, UC Berkeley. I am very excited to be visiting this historic college on their twentieth anniversary. In preparation for my trip I put my favorite pair of my trainers in the dryer after a wet ride in the rain. Naturally I recorded the stumbling rhythm they produced while tumbling in the heated bin.