Sound / Simulacra: IOSIS & John C.S. Keston

Posted on November 20, 2017 by John C.S. Keston

This performance of IOSIS & John C.S. Keston was artfully recorded by Dave Kunath on Wednesday April 26th, 2017 at Jazz Central Studios for the Sound / Simulacra monthly series that I have been doing with Cody McKinney.

IOSIS is ritual in the shape of gnarled dronescapes, wrestled from the back of a hardware beast made of diverse synthesizers, tangled patch cables and contact microphones snaked through space-making delay and reverb units. Sometimes verging on the edge of breaking noise, sometimes swimming in lush beauty, witnessing IOSIS is a fully enveloping ceremonial experience imbued with transmutational significance. IOSIS is the musical project and collaborative platform of artist Alex Bissen.

The series explores musical improvisation as a “faithful and intentionally distorted” representational process bringing together some of the Twin Cities most unique voices to “recreate, distort, and create the hyperreal”. Thank you for listening!

Sound / Simulacra: Kindohm Live Coding with Piano and Bass

Posted on September 18, 2017 by John C.S. Keston

This recording from August 23, 2017 at Jazz Central Studios was made during Sound / Simulacra: A monthly series that I do in conjunction with bassist/composer Cody McKinney. The intent is to explore musical improvisation as a “faithful and intentionally distorted” representational process. On this occasion we featured Minneapolis-based Mike Hodnick, aka Kindohm.

…[Kindohm is] widely known for his live-coded dancefloor interruptions, wringing algorithmic rhythms and textures from a text editor using the open source software TidalCycles. Combining analog synthesizers and samples, Hodnick’s improvised performances encompass an array of styles from glitchy IDM to odd-time techno. In 2016, Kindohm released “RISC Chip”, an 8-track LP released on Conditional. Receiving positive criticism on Resident Advisor, Lisa Blanning writes: “Hodnick has a way of teasing inhuman funk out of his evolving patterns. RISC Chip succeeds in escaping its programmer’s niche, launching Kindohm’s work into the realm of music that exists for its own sake.” – www.residentadvisor.net/reviews/20249

Mike and I both played solo sets earlier in the evening, but for the finale we formed a trio with Cody McKinney on bass and electronics. My setup included acoustic piano, Rhodes, Novation Circuit, and various processors. Both Hodnick and McKinney are expert improvisors so participating in this performance was quite a pleasure. Please have a listen and let us know what you think!

Sound / Simulacra: Cody McKinney & Jeremy Yylvisaker

Posted on March 26, 2017 by John C.S. Keston

The Sound / Simulacra series is hosted by myself and Cody McKinney at Jazz Central Studios in Northeast Minneapolis on the fourth Wednesday of every month. If you haven’t made it any of these shows you’re not entirely out of luck. They are all being recorded and I’ll be sharing excerpts here on AudioCookbook. The first event in the series was a duet with Cody McKinney and Jeremy Ylvisaker on January 25, 2017. Their gorgeous improvisations were faithfully captured by sound recordist, Dave Kunath. Enjoy!

Jeremy Ylvisaker is a multi-instrumentalist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a member of the indie rock bands Alpha Consumer (with Michael Lewis and JT Bates) and The Cloak Ox along with Andrew Broder of Fog, Mark Erickson and Dosh. He plays guitar in Andrew Bird’s touring band alongside Martin Dosh on drums and Michael Lewis on bass.

Cody McKinney works with sound by actively theorizing, organizing, practicing and challenging its properties. He studied bass and improvisation under many luminaries including: Johannes Weidenmueller, Bruce Gertz, Jim Black as well as composition under Kirk Nurock, Rory Stewart, Steve Lehman and Diane Moser. Cody’s group, Bloodline, along with John Keston and Pete Hennig, have recently recorded an album due out mid 2017.