Tag Archives: Unearthed Music

OEM: What is Organic Electronic Music to You?

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Sometime in 2007 I came up with the term, “Organic Electronic Music” to describe music I was producing with bassist Nils Westdal in our project, Keston and Westdal. I’m sure that I wasn’t the only person to think of this combination of words, and in fact, a quick search reveals several artists, labels, and others using the phrase. Our use of the phrase was a reaction to our distaste for genre labeling. In hindsight it would have been sensible to define the meaning of the phrase there-and-then, instead of simply using it in a few descriptions for tracks and albums.

In any case I found myself thinking about this recently and decided that it wouldn’t hurt to define what I mean by the phrase and perhaps discover some new music that ACB readers feel fits into my definition. In my view any style of electronic music can be considered organic electronic music (OEM). Dub step, house, downtempo, experimental, or even minimal techno can be “organic” as long as the music meets one or more of a few simple criteria. Click the link to read my brief list of parameters.
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Cassette Tape and Evolving MKS-80 Pad Driven by GMS

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After a few hiccups we have finally finished producing our limited run of cassettes. We only have 25 instead of the 50 we had planned, but all the j-cards and labels are printed so we can produce more quickly if need be. Each cassette contains a unique download code for multi-platform listening. A big thanks goes out to Unearthed Music designer Benjamin Montag for his design work and assembly. Also, major thanks to Wes without whom it would have never happened. Finally, thanks to Chris for the inspiration. For now, to get a cassette you will have to show up to the release show tomorrow night. Later on we may consign a few at local stores, but this media is for local consumption only.

Unauthorized Modifications was written and produced by John Keston (that’s me) and Graham O’Brien. The album was recorded, engineered and mixed by Adam Krinsky and mastered by Tom Garneau. For the release show performance I have opted to christen my Super Jupiter Roland MKS-80 for it’s first live show since I have owned it. Here’s an example of what I have been getting out of it and the GMS during my practice sessions.

Evolving MKS-80 Pad Driven by GMS

Photon Coercion Video

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Photon Coercion is the second track from the debut album by Ostracon titled Unauthorized Modifications. The video is a compilation of footage from the “light controllers” that I use to generate the music using the GMS. The album will be released electronically tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21, 2011 and available from all the major electronic outlets as well as directly from Unearthed Music. Also, please join us for the release show on Friday, June 24, 2011 featuring Dosh, Ostracon, Smyth, Ghostband, and live painting by Rogue Citizen.