Wolf-Tone Box

Wolf-Tone Box, Derek Holzer 2012. Microphone, speaker, voice-changing circuit, antique wooden box. Created for the “Invisible Time” show at MUU Gallery, Helsinki, 8-21 June 2012. For sale, inquire here.

Helsinki Report

The MUU opening went very nice, a good crew running the space with a nice selection of artists. My favorite moment was when a little girl, aged four and very shy at first, quickly learned how to play one of the SoundBoxes better than me! I brought 7 sound boxes in total, which remain available for visitors to experiment with for the next two weeks, as well as screened the nonlinearity and cryptography videos. Installation views below.

The travel was a bit rough, however. I’d been a bit sick the days before the flight, and when the plane landed in Helsinki, my left ear felt like it was going to explode. I asked a doctor, who said I might rupture my eardrum if I flew, and weighed the options of a trip by boat, bus and train back to Berlin. Things seemed best to use the airplane ticket the gallery already paid for, rather than spend money and time I don’t have on a 30+ hour overland journey. But the four hours I spent swallowing hard to keep my eardrum from bursting were pretty nerve-wracking…

Moral of the story: don’t fly with a flu. Trust me.

Filmmmaker Maren Sextro created this portrait of me for Groove.de in May 2012. Together, we visited the flea market and my studio, and spoke about my approach to sound, performance, “circuit bending” (a term I rarely use to describe my own constructions), DIY electronics and self-education.

Maren was kind enough to send me an HD version so that I could present this without the disgusting advertising, so once again I am in her debt. Enjoy.

Helsinki Show

Next week I make a quick trip to Helsinki, where the MUU Gallery will be opening the latest “MUU for Ears” show. I will be showing one of the “nonlinearity suite” videos, playing a live set for small analog synth, soundboxes and found objects on 7 June and leaving a few artifacts there for the two-week run of the show. Some of these artifacts may be for sale. I will post more on this before I depart.

I was interviewed by filmmaker Maren Sextro a few weeks ago about my DIY electronic instruments, you can see the results here. In the 60 seconds of film trailer that plays before the interview, I recommend you go to the kitchen for a glass of cold milk. The video itself is very well done, on the other hand, and I thank Maren warmly for her work on this.

Still places left for the workshop this weekend, or drop by O’Tannenbaum on Sunday night for the presentation and their fine selection of Belgian ales. They have one that tastes just like vinegar that I’m not so sure about, though…

And finally, Machine Deva premiered to rave reviews at Cine-Marfa last weekend. Steve and I are still picking ourselves back up off the floor after the amount of work that went into finalizing the soundtrack and getting it to the festival. I will have some CDRs to sell of this later on, watch this space.

Students of the Sonic College (Haderslev, Denmark) and the the SoundBoxes they built with me yesterday at NK in Berlin.

Now Playing

birchville cat motel–beautiful speck triumph[2004 last visible dog]
douglas leedy–entropical paradise[1968 seraphim]
swans–we rose from your bed with the sun in our head[2012 young god]

SOUNDBOXES WORKSHOP with DEREK HOLZER

Workshop: May 26 & 27, 2012, Time 11-19
Workshop Venue: NK Projekt, Elsenstr. 52 2HH 2Etage, Berlin Neukoelln

Presentation + live Macumbista set: Sunday May 27 2012, Time 20.00
Presentation Venue: O’Tannenbaum, Sonnenallee 27, Berlin Neukoelln

Discover the hidden sonic qualities of objects from our everyday world in this workshop, combining the arts of electronics, noise, sculpture and collage. The basic elements we will employ are a wooden box, a speaker, a small audio amplifier, and a contact microphone. To this, brave box-builders will add their own found objects, graphics, images, memories and ideas to create a unique electroacoustic cabinet of curiosities.

No previous electronics experience is necessary for this workshop. Each participant is required to bring several items to the workshop, please see below.

TIMETABLE

Day One: Introduction to simple noise/electroacoustic electronics, circuit soldering.

Day Two: Box-building, decoration and collage, experimentation with found objects as sound sources.

Final Presentation: All participants will present their finished soundboxes to the public at the end of the second day!

WHAT TO BRING

I will provide most of the tools and materials necessary for constructing the box, however there are a few things you should bring yourself:

1) A BOX: This should be made of thin wood or very strong cardboard. Plastic can be also used, but it doesn’t sound very good. And please, no metal! It is too difficult to cut and drill with the tools we will have. This box should be a minimum of 10x10x4cm, or bigger if you want to use a larger speaker or have more room to decorate and add objects. Cigar boxes, small suitcases, instrument cases or jewelry/silverware boxes are all good things to look for. At least one side of the box should be no more than 5mm thick, to allow the hardware to be mounted.

2) A SPEAKER (OPTIONAL): I will have a selection of speakers for participants to use. However, if you have something special please bring it along, but please make sure it fits in the box you have chosen!

3) FOUND OBJECTS: Please bring as many found objects as you can to decorate your soundbox or use as a sound source via the contact microphone. Bones, shells, small sticks, bells, strings, wires, springs (especially!) or anything else made out of solid yet resonant material make great sound sources. Photographs, cloth, leather, paper or any other kind of material can be useful for covering the box and making collages. Paint, markers and pens may also be useful.

4) EFFECTS PEDALS (OPTIONAL): Any kind of battery-powered effects pedals, such as distortions, filters or delays, can be very useful in creating more nonlinearities in the feedback loop.

FURTHER INFO:

The NK Projekt’s page for this workshop:

http://www.nkprojekt.de/soundboxes-workshop-with-derek-holzer/

You can see videos and photos from previous SoundBoxes workshops here:

http://macumbista.net/?page_id=1897

Or use the “soundboxes” tag to see all posts related to SoundBoxes:

http://macumbista.net/?tag=soundboxes

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Derek Holzer (1972) is an American sound artist based in Berlin, whose current interests include DIY analog electronics, sound art, field recording and the meeting points of electroacoustic, noise, improv and extreme music. He has played live experimental sound, as well as taught workshops in noise art technology, across Europe, North America, Brazil and New Zealand.

http://macumbista.net/

BASIC INFO:

Fee: EUR 35 (participation) + EUR 10 (materials) Registration is required and can be done by sending an email to info@nkprojekt.de with the subject line “SoundBoxes”

Number of Participants: Minimum 6/Maximum 14

Location: NK Projekt
Elsenstr. 52 2HH 2Etage
12059 Berlin
+49(0)17620626386

Another satisfied customer… [March 2012, Zagreb].

Been locked in the studio for days now, but the fruits of my labor will be heard soon…

UPCOMING

25-29 April: TONEWHEELS @ Radio Sonores, Guimaraes PT
16-20 May: Machine Deva @ Marfa Film Festival, Marfa TX USA
26-28 July: Solo Performance + SoundBoxes Workshop @ Norberg Festival, Norberg SE

Starting next month, I will also be taking orders for customized tabletop noise makers, drone machines and sound boxes. Please contact me if interested.

ZAGREB

Sometimes when I think back, all my workshops seem to go by this fast…

The participants in Zagreb were great, super-motivated and highly imaginative. Each and every one of them made some incredibly special and unique SoundBox during the two days we had together, and even played them too… We also squeezed in an early morning trip to the local flea market to put the shop back into workshop. Big thanks to Deborah Hustic for organization and hospitality! Was also great to see some old friends around town, such as Ivan “Kliff” Marusic and Borut Savski.

I think my favorite SoundBox from this workshop was this one, crafted from the end of a trashed accordion:

TALLINN

Between 5-9 March, students of the EKA (Taavi Suisalu, Evi Pärn, Lilli Tölp, Aleksander Sprohgis) learned to make their own primitive noise synthesizers with me. Lilli made this short video capturing the essence of the final presentation plus a tiny bit of my solo set.

Evi also posted two videos, here and here.

Like the previous Neanderthal Electronics presentation, back when Ptarmigan was still located in Helsinki, this one was a complete success. Thanks to Raivo Kelomees and John Fail for organizing the workshop and presentation, respectively. Any account of my Estonian trip would be woefully incomplete without mentioning Timo Toots and Marika Agu and their Sunday-afternoon tour of the Architectural Wonders of Tartu. Aitäh!

RIGA

Derek Holzer vs Jelena Glazova live @Taka 16.03.12 pt3 by macumbista

Live set @ Taka, Riga, March 16th, 2012. Derek Holzer: analog synthesizer, soundbox, found objects. Jelena Glazova: voice, laptop.

Parts 1 and 2 plus some studio sessions can be found at Holzer vs Glazova.

Thanks to Sandis Baumanis [ULVE Agency] for organization and photos, Jēkabs Nīmanis for recording, Edgars Rubenis for the mixer and Olesja for the lovely smile.

Unfortunately, the only souvenir that RISEBA, the school I was teaching at, left me was a headache. Typical Latvian new-capitalist neoliberals, they seemed to delight in playing ridiculous games over even the smallest amount of money, making them little better than con-artists. The result: I worked twice as many hours this workshop as last year, for the same amount of pay. Count your fingers after you shake hands with people like these…

On that note…

People like these business-school asswipes make me sicker than ever of this constant freelancing life. I have been actively searching for more constant employment teaching at an art, music or design school lately. If any of my dear readers have tips, I would gladly hear them. In some ways, I am beyond caring where such a job might be at this point…

On the other hand, spring has arrived in Berlin and I have very little travel coming up. While that may make the coming months a bit lean and hungry, I hope to use the time to catch up on projects I have promised people, including two cassette releases and a film soundtrack, as well as building some new soundbox-type instruments for sale. Wish me luck!

Derek Holzer vs Jelena Glazova 19th session by Holzer vs Glazova

Derek Holzer vs Jelena Glazova 13th session by Holzer vs Glazova

Playing next Friday with Jelena Glazova in Riga. Had two really great sets, one in Zagreb last week and one last night in Tallinn, with the “new” setup: soundbox, found objects and analog mini-synth, discovering the possibilities of how they work together. Looking forward to mixing with Jelena’s amazing processed vocals.

At the Estonian gig, something in the PA starting smelling quite smokey, despite the fact that everything sounded fine, and afterward many people told me what kind of emotions that smell triggered for them. Interesting… but I don’t want to make a career out of smoking PAs!

In case anyone is curious, Holzer Sr.’s film project Kickstarter has 18 hours to go and has been a success. He flies to Marietta, Georgia on the 14th to have the film transferred to digital and after that I can get to work on the soundtrack. Should be an curious collaboration.

I have absolutely no work lined up for next month, which should make me a bit nervous. But I’ve decided to spend less time online, build some new soundbox-type instruments and get busy pushing them. Please get in contact if you would like something custom.

Machine Deva: An Experimental Art Film

“Machine Deva’s gonna be an unusual experience, it’s someplace between looking at cave paintings in a hand-held home movie that I’ve brought into my dreams.” –Steve Holzer

A distinguished gentleman who I happen to have known my entire life is busy creating his latest camera-less film, and has invited me to help create the soundtrack. He has a Kickstarter page for the project, with a very reasonable goal of $3000 set. He’s halfway there and has only 11 more days to do it. So if you are one of those aspiring patron-of-the-arts-types, you could do worse than to get on board this project. Please drop by and have a look!

Travel & Upcoming Engagements

03-04 March: SoundBoxes workshop + Concert @ Student Center Zagreb HR. Practice your Hrvatski here.

06-09 March: Neanderthal Electronics workshop @ Estonian Academy of Art New Media Dept, Tallinn EE

09 March: Neanderthal Electronics workshop presentation + Concert @ Ptarmigan, Tallinn EE. Read it and weep.

12-16 March: Sound+Space/The Art of Field Recording workshop at RISEBA, Riga LV.

16 March ???: Derek Holzer & Jelena Glazova live set… date and venue to be confirmed, watch this space!

In what seems to be a time-honored tradition, I’m staying up all night before a 6am flight to my Electric Spring gig making new instruments. These I have named after both the festival and the resonant coil microphones they employ. Each one is a beautiful drone machine by itself, and when placed together they have a natural tendency to harmonize. This time I actually managed a line-out to connect to the mixer as well.

The performance is likely to be a live version of Nonlinearity III, as seen in this video, using all three SoundBoxes instead of clever editing to make the polyphony. My first SoundBox from Nonlinearity I may also make an appearance…

These three new Electric Spring SoundBoxes became available for sale after the concert in Huddersfield, 15 February 2012. Number one of three is already sold. Inquire via the Contact page.

SoundBox performance at Proximos Festival, Tenerife ES in June 2011. Thanks to Simone for passing these on, I have great memories from my visit there!

Now Playing

daniel higgs–say god [2010 thrill jockey]
eli keszler–cold pin [2011 pan] + live at NK project berlin [29.01.12]
eliane radigue–naldjorlak & psi 847, live at ctm festival [30.01.12 – 31.01.12]
john wiese–seven of wands [2011 pan] + live at NK project berlin [29.01.12]
nicholas szczepanik–please stop loving me [2011 streamline]
supersilent + joshua light show – live at ctm festival [01.02.12]
oneida–absolute II [2011 jagjaguwar]