When people ask me “so what do you do?” these days, I usually reply that I build musical instruments that no-one has ever seen before. And then I teach myself how to play them. The benefit of this is that, if nobody has ever seen the instrument played before, they have no way to tell you you are playing it badly!

During my last couple weeks in Aarhus, I worked on three small instruments with various degrees of success.

INSTRUMENT A: LAKRITS-KALIMBA

I have always loved Ranjit Bhatnagar’s Instrument-a-Day project, so when time came to bring a small, throw-away gift for the traditional Danish Julefrokost at DIEM, I took an hour to whip up this lakrits-box kalimba. The keys are made from streetsweeper bristles found in the gutter. I have no idea who ended up with it.

INSTRUMENT B: SOUNDBOX(GLAM EDITION)

Quite a few of these SoundBoxes have been rolling out of my studio lately. This one in particular was made for my friend KT, and was played at the 09.12 gig with Krishve. It has a sound-responsive silver-lining, so to speak. Some really incredible drones happen when using the spring-reverb-contact-mic, and I’ll be posting a sound-video soon of what that is like.

INSTRUMENT C: SERGE GATOR CLONE

Slightly more complicated than the previous two, this is my attempt to clone a Serge Gator synthesizer module, mainly using circuit boards provided by Ken Stone. The Boolean Logic and Pulse Divider sections work perfectly fine, the Divide-by-N Comparator section works about half-way, and the VC TimeGen Clock section doesn’t really function at all yet. However, I ran out of time so the next free moment to look at this will be in mid-January when I return to Berlin from Helsinki. Expect updates and sounds then…

Current Location:

Happy New Year from south-east Estonia!!!

Now Playing

ättestupa–begraven mot norr[2010]
barn owl–lost in the glare[2011]
barn owl–shadowland[2011]
sunn o)) + nurse with wound–the iron soul of nothing[2008]

On Friday the 18th of November, 2011 I worked with a group of students from the Jutland Music Conservatory Aalborg to create a collection of simple soundboxes. Each is made up of a contact microphone, a half-watt audio amplifier, a speaker and perhaps some body contacts to “bend” the sound of the instrument.

Much of the day was spent in learning the circuit and construction. Following this, the students began to experiment with integrating their own, personal found objects. At some point, we threw all the boxes into a grand piano and things got a bit crazy. I’ll have to remember that trick for later on!

We also experimented with passing the feedback sound around from box to box, before unleashing the instruments on the unsuspecting student bar that evening. It’s always amazing to see the transition from befuddled audience member hearing someone else’s noise to enthusiastic feedbacker/mic-scraper entranced by sounds of their own making.

Thanks to Christian Skjødt for organizing the whole shebang, and to Edit Emese Vizer for the pancakes!

Thanks to DIEM for inviting me and to all the students for working their asses off. Look at those Danes go! Seems like they had a good time. Wonder if all that beer I bought them had something to do with it?

In other news: I turned 39 last week. A year short of the big four-o))). I spent it in Copenhagen contemplating hard labor with the films of Phill Niblock, getting polyrhythmic with the Afro-noise of Cut Hands/William Bennett and getting my ears good and scrubbed by Lasse Marhaug. Here’s to many more such nights…

Mr. Dykshoorn was buried with his “divining rod,” a thread of piano wire that served, as he wrote in his book, “as an aid to my concentration” during case work.

–Matt Flegenheimer, Marinus B. Dykshoorn, Psychic, Is Mourned in Bronx, New York Times 10.10.11

Many systems of clairvoyance involve the observation of a delicate apparatus–a thin wire,  a stream of smoke, a candle flame or the hiss of white noise–which exists in a borderline state and is thus highly sensitive to the influence of forces both seen and unseen. The non-linear feedback loop between a loudspeaker, microphone and high-gain amplifier circuit responds dramatically to minute changes in its immediate environment, fulfilling the requirements of both a potentially chaotic system as well as the needs of the would-be psychic investigator.

The Ghost Locket Triptych was created between 7-11 October 2011 in Aarhus, Denmark for a battery-powered seance executed by Derek Holzer and Kristian Hverring on the evening of 12 October. These lockets use locally-sourced materials embodying certain historical resonances noted by the artist during his stay here. Internally, each locket contains a hand-built Germanium transistor distortion circuit, a 1/2 Watt audio amplifier, a small speaker, a source of illumination and an antique photograph–the ghost within each machine.

The artist remains indebted to a series of conversations with the estimable Mr. Martin Howse of London and Berlin for inspiration in these and other matters.

The three elements of the Ghost Locket Triptych will be available for sale individually or as a set following the performance in Aarhus. THE EDITION IS SOLD. Please contact the artist for more information.

Regnskog 2011//Full Pull is a contemporary re-interpretation of David Tudor’s series of compositions from the 1970′s entitled “Rainforest”. It uses various types of sonic transducers to play live sounds through a selection of resonant objects suspended in the performance space

The Regnskog installation+performance was created by Mads Bech Paluszewski, Derek Holzer, Kati Linek, Anders Børup and Allan Møller Skov for the Full Pull Festival 2011 Malmö. The initial workshop took place 23-29 September 2011, with live actions on 30 September – 02 October.

We would like to thank Mathias Holmberg of Full Pull, VTM RIV AB, the amazing crew at Stapelbädden and Louise Buenafe Mistén for their support during this project. Photos by Derek Holzer and Kati Linek, audio recording by Derek Holzer.

Regnskog/FullPull 2011 Walkthrough by macumbista

A walk through the Regnskog installation. Guest vocals by Jelena Glazova. Headphones highly recommended.

nonlinearity II from macumbista on Vimeo.

Continued studies in nonlinearity, this time using cross-coupled oscillators, smooth/stepped generators and random voltages from the Wogglebug run through a series of Buchla Low Pass Gates and plotted on the oscilloscope. Recorded 14.09.11 at the Danish Institute for Electro/acoustic Music, Aarhus. Reminiscent of Jackson Pollock’s action paintings, mid-century Modernism and a time before the information machines took over. A sketch quickly realized in the dark with improvised tripod and bad, in-camera microphone. To be expanded. Watch with the lights off.

Workshop with Derek Holzer from laplatanera on Vimeo.

Electronics workshop with Derek Holzer at El Generador, Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Festival Proximos

http://www.proximos.eu

I finished this in a beautiful last-minute rush before packing the studio for my move to Denmark. Behind this panel live two members of the Wogglebug species: random voltage generators based on the famous Buchla Source of Uncertainty, coupled with a very bizarre ring-modulated tone oscillator. The only thing which could possibly be more fun than having one source of uncertain electricity is having two of them. When they talk together, they make each other even more uncertain, like two nervous nerds in the kitchen at a party. Samples later, I’m still building up my studio at the Music Conservatory.

Now Playing

cut hands–afro noise 1[2011 very friendly susan lawly]
ellen fullman–through glass panes[2011 important]
keith fullerton whitman+ben vida–required wreckers[2011 amish records]
mika vainio–life (… it eats you up)[2011 editions mego]
motion sickness of time travel–dreamcatcher cs[2011 hobo cult records]
quiet evenings–taped sounds for night listening[2011 discrepant]
sutekh hexen–alters[2010]
t.e. lawrence–the seven pillars of wisdom[1922]
tucker martine–broken hearted dragonflies: insect electronica from southeast asia[sublime frequencies 2004]]

I just received my permit to stay in Germany for two more years. I expected five, so I was a bit disappointed. However, this permit allows me to actually take normal contracted work like any other normal person living in Germany. So I will be investigating some leads in that direction.

The only hitch this time was that I needed a declaration of my income from the last six months from a certified tax accountant. The lady I normally have doing my taxes is good, but not certified, so the Ausländerbehörde sent me home and told me to get a proper Steuerberater/in to sign the paper. So watch out for this, if you are going through the procedure.

Another thing to consider: they are not accepting any kind of international travel insurance, so do yourself a favor and do the KSK application now. Bad side: expect to pay 20% of your income for insurance, like every other normal German. Sorry kids, no way around that one. Just think that, combined with the other 20% the KSK or your employer pays, almost half the value of your income goes to health insurance, pension and nursing care (most of which you will never use unless you retire in Germany). This is before income tax is taken, by the way. And the Teabaggers back home thought Obamacare was steep! Welcome to the expensive safetynet of the welfare state…

Currently I am gearing up for a four month stay in Aarhus, Denmark as DIVA artist-in-residence at the Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium. I WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY NEW GIGS OR WORKSHOPS until 2012. The break from travel will be good for creating some sort of daily routine. Wish me luck.

Now Playing

barn owl & the infinite strings ensemble–the headlands[2011 important]
bohren and der club of gore–beileid ep[2011 ipecac]
chief commander ebenezer obey & his international bros.–miliki sound[1973 decca]
fever ray–fever ray[2009 rabid]
joe colley–disasters of self 3xlp[2010 crippled intellect]
hecker–speculative solution[2011 editions mego]
jefre cantu-ledesma–shining skull breath[2011 students of decay]
loscil-coast-range-arc[2011 glacial movements]
townes van zandt–minneapolis mn[1973]

Photo: Linnahall lobby by Felicity Ford

So Tuned City Tallinn has finally taken place, and what an amazing, inspiring and exhausting experience it was!!! My personal highlights were the Ici-Même soundwalk through the Balti Jaam (train station), Charlemagne Palestine’s church organ concert in the Niguliste, Thomas Ankersmit’s acoustic tour of the Linnahall and architectural sound performance in the Kultuurikatel, Mads Bech Pauluszewski’s tactile acoustic interventionism workshop, the eyland 07 12-tone-filter and Raul Keller’s “sonic torpedoes”.

Photo: Mads Bech Pauluszewski plays the 12 Tone Filter by Jürgen Lehmeier

The low points might have included the chief organist at the Niguliste, who acted as if he had caught Charlemagne humping his wife and disapproved of the style in which he was humping her. I would be remiss if I left out getting half of one of our PAs stolen, of course. And once again, I am reminded that being a professional means you must remain polite while the sound man complains after 6 months of prep time that you didn’t send “the proper kind of rider”, instead of just punching him in the mouth.

Photo: Pierre-Laurent Cassière‘s Transphere by Felicity Ford

But really, all the projects were fantastic, the problems minor and the feeling within the organizing team really like a family. Thanks to the artists, my teammates and the audience for a mindblowing week in Tallinn. You can read a very nice report by Felicity Ford here. There are also quite a few daily blog reports on front page of the Tuned City website, including the sonic reports by Felicity Ford and Valeria Merlini’s workshop group. More to come! Enjoy…

Photo: Mads Bech Pauluszewski self-portrait with Pierre-Laurent Cassière’s Disorientophones

Now Playing

keränen–moon over terrelorca[2011 ljud & bild][kiitos tommi!!!]
prurient–bermuda drain[2010 hydra head]
maja s.k. ratkje–river mouth echoes[2008 tzadik][takk maja!!!]
various artists–dérives[2008 univrs imnternational][merci pali!!!]
yannick franck–memorabilia[2011 silken tofu][merci yannick!!!]