Solo Album will Coincide with 365th Daily Sound

Posted on June 30, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

I have discussed releasing a solo album centered around the musical output that has emerged as a result of creating One Sound Every Day on ACB. That day has finally come. I have agreed to release my solo album under my moniker, Ostraka, on July 28, 2009, coinciding with my 365th sound. The album is called Precambrian Resonance (Unearthed Music, 2009), a title I used for the ninth sound posted in the OSED category.

It includes fifteen tracks that all began as experiments posted on ACB. Ten of the tracks are full-length compositions, while the remaining five are shorter “micro-tracks” that were originally featured on ACB. The album is available immediately as a download-only pre-release through my label partner Unearthed Music. Here’s the opening track, Illuminator Console.

Illuminator Console

Happy Anniversary Audio Cookbook

Posted on January 16, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

I registered the AudioCookbook.org domain in December 2007, but the first few entries on the site happened on January 14, 2008, which I am hereby declaring as the birthday of ACB making it one year old as of Wednesday. It has been an interesting year. In July, 2008 I started the One Sound Every Day project. Creating at least seven sounds a week with written accompaniment has been at times exhausting and exhilarating. Regular readers, commentary and contributions from around the globe have kept it fun and inspiring for me along the way. Thanks to sponsorship from Unearthed Music, who provide the hosting for ACB, we are non-profit and free of advertisements.

I would like to thank all the readers / listeners who have set their eyes / ears on ACB. A special thanks goes out to everyone who has commented, either with words or sound, keeping the discussions alive. A very special thanks goes out to the contributors including Simone Giuliani, Michael Koppelman, Nils Westdal, Leafcutter John, and Tom Player. I’d also like to thank Peter Kirn for helping to legitimizing ACB on his site Create Digital Music. Here’s a link to one of Keston and Westdal’s most popular tracks from the late nineties, Sonny’s Cut, off of our first album, Super Structure Baby.

Sonny’s Cut
from Super Structure Baby (2004, Unearthed Music).

Full Length Original Version of Onikoroshi

Posted on January 12, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

In order to put the last entry in context I thought I would share the original track that the Clavinet recording was made in. As I said before it is called Onikoroshi and it is the ninth piece on the album Super Structure Baby, re-released electronically in 2004 on Unearthed Music. I think the piece dates back to 1998 or 1999. Perhaps Saronni (Nils Westdal) will have some input on that.

Onikoroshi
from Super Structure Baby (2004, Unearthed Music).

Korg MS2000 Noises for Sunset

Posted on January 6, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

Here’s a segment from a single track out of the piece Sunset on Keston and Westdal’s first album, Super Structure Baby (2002, Unearthed Music). Sunset was the final piece on the album until Kinon’s Path was added as a bonus track for the reissue.

Sunset was the first track that I wrote after buying my Korg MS2000 in 2000, so I was still learning the instrument but enjoying myself fully in the process. The knob turning goes on for the whole seven minutes and two seconds of the piece, but I have edited it down to the first minute and six seconds.

Sunset Noises

Cover Your Eyes

Posted on October 16, 2008 by John C.S. Keston

A lack of galactic space time has forced me to go backwards for the One Sound Every Day project, but I hope you’ll enjoy this track from Keston and Westdal’s latest release, One Day to Save All Life. Cover Your Eyes started out as a loop of sustained Rhodes notes that I had dropped into Ableton Live during a rehearsal for a show. If I remember correctly, we ended up performing the piece the same night that we created it. I love the samples Nils added that are destroyed with processing creating some complex and swirling textures throughout the piece.