moddr_opening, iMAL Brussels

Posted in Documentation on November 30th, 2010 by admin




Photos of my SoundBoxes from the moddr opening at iMAL, Brussels, plus Matt Kemp’s Nizo Super 8 Analogue Noise Machine which he made during one of my Neanderthal Electronics workshops in Rotterdam a while back. Photos by Yves Bernard, iMAL.

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jack londonthe call of the wild & white fang[1903/1906]
neil younglive rust[1979]
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SoundBox Tech

Posted in Documentation on November 27th, 2010 by admin

Just finished this schematic and stripboard layout for tomorrow’s Neanderthal Electronics workshop at NK Project Berlin. This is a new approach to the NE concept, called simply SoundBoxes which you can read about here. Hoping to do more in the future, as well as making my own unique ones.

The circuit itself is quite simple. Take the reverse-engineered design of one very expensive boutique guitar pedal, slim it down a bit and run it through a half-watt amplifier into a speaker. It’s an unpredictable little monster, which I like best while feeding it’s own signal back to itself via a contact mic and any loose junk that happens to be within reach. Chaotic magic in the works, microcosms in the making…

ACHTUNG! Double check the pin orientation of the Germanium PNP transistors! I can sure for sure that at least the 2N404 is wrong, which may account for several failed builds during workshops. I will update the artwork eventually. Until then… Google is your friend.

All artwork draw by myself with help from these sources:
freestompboxes
solgrind
La Revolution Deux

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Singing the Post-France Blues

Posted in Documentation on November 23rd, 2010 by admin


Watching Tomoko Sauvage Performance/Installation @ Grimm Museum Berlin (photos by Laura Gianetti)

Miss Tomoko was a fabulous host during my last stay in Paris, especially when she indulged my obsession with second hand stores and flea markets. The TONEWHEELS gig at the Art Museum of Dijon went strange, basically I was asked to turn it down about 5 minutes into the set, when I was only a quarter of the way up! Seems the security guards were frightened I might “vibrate” the paintings in the museum (organizers, on the other hand, were cool and supportive). Talk/demo for the /dev/art series was a bit friendlier, with lots of questions and interest, and the final I-R-L gig was super, very good PA and responsive audience. Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

However, a funny thing happened on the way to the airport…

I almost forgot to mention that I missed my flight going to France! The long and the short of it is this: I hadn’t done the TONEWHEELS set since last spring, so I had forgotten how screwed up all my equipment was. I started checking it the day before my flight, and realized that I would have to remake everything…motor controllers, light-to-sound converters and all. Mostly because of stubbornness, I have to confess. I had tried to make a single unit of the whole thing before my USA tour and abandoned it the day before leaving.

This time I would not be defeated! I worked until the last possible minute, but to no avail. Then I called a taxi to the airport, which never showed up. I rebooked the flight (at my own expense!!!) for the next morning early, and spent the whole sleepless night (again…) building the SlenderTONEWHEELS box.

SlenderTONEWHEELS takes it’s name and super-70’s enclosure plus matching carry case from a Slendertone “fitness” machine, designed to stimulate your abdominal muscles with electrical pulses while you perform such rigorous labor as eating popcorn while watching Saturday Night Live. I found the device at a flea market in Helsinki last winter and had been dying to use it for something. So at the cost of a missed flight, I managed to put a 6 channel Arduino-based PWM motor controller and four light-to-sound-converters inside just in time to show off for the Frenchies.

Now that I’m home I can start preparing for the next two upcoming workshops at NK Project Berlin plus a Tuned City trip to Tallin, as well as thinking how to concentrate more on crafting unique sound boxes to sell rather than traveling so much for gigs and workshops. Not that I don’t like playing and teaching, it’s just that I start to feel so un-grounded these days. Maybe missing flights is a sign I need some rest…

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kris kristoffersonkristofferson[1970]
krzysztof pendereckithrenody to the victims of hiroshima(tren ofiarom hiroszimy)[1960]

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Live @ UH Fest mp3

Posted in Documentation on November 9th, 2010 by admin

Although this sounds absolutely nothing like what people in the room actually experienced, I’m posting this mixing desk recording of my set at the UH Fest just to give an idea. Get ready for slooooooow development…

www.fest2010.uh.hu/music/recordings/406_derek_holzer@uh2010.mp3

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mv & eebollywoe[2010 child of microtone]
seth nehiltracing the skins of clouds[1998 orogenetics]
sun arawon patrol[2010 not not fun]
supersilent10[2010 rune grammofon]
supersilent11[2010 rune grammofon]
the fun yearsgod was like, no[2010 barge]

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Regnskog Bergen 2010 video + photos

Posted in Documentation on November 6th, 2010 by admin

Regnskog Bergen 2010 from macumbista on Vimeo.

Regnskog 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 the assortment of resonant metal objects suspended by wires in the performance space. Additionally, an 8×8 matrix mixer allows the sound from any of the objects to be sent to any of the performers, making the whole piece an experiment in generative chaos.

The structure of the piece is improvisational, shifting between relatively static installation-like moments and performative sections where the artists seek new relationships with the objects and each other. The audience is free to move around the performance space, engage in conversations and explore the resonant objects, thus adding new life to the rainforest.

The performers: Harald Fetveit (Oslo), Gisle Frøysland (Bergen), Derek Holzer (Berlin), Ryan Jordan (London), Jørgen Knudsen (Bergen), Signe Lidèn (Bergen), Julien Ottavi (Nantes), Jørgen Træen (Bergen)

Produced 10-16 October 2010 in Bergen, Norway by Piksel.no. Video by Derek Holzer and Elisabeth Nesheim.

Photos courtesy of Elisabeth Nesheim, Signe Lidèn and svennevenn

Reflections

After some years working in this experimental music scene, you realize that even if you put a bunch of performers in the same room and tell them they are working on the same thing, they all remain soloists at heart. Regnskog suffered initially as any group project might from egoistic hotdoggery, with some artists unable to look past the object in front of them as their own personal PA system. Once we got past that phase, things opened up quite a bit on the second night with many of us experimenting with the entire room as instrument and system, much as I originally intended. A small but highly engaged audience explored the room as well–listening, looking, touching and even singing with the pieces! It was a massive learning experience for me personally, which I hope to benefit from with the next two prospective versions of the project in Berlin and Tallinn during 2011. Details as soon as they are confirmed…

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Apparat review by Kunsten.Nu

Posted in Documentation on October 26th, 2010 by admin

The first workshop we visited, took place at the Utzon Center and was led by the American sound artist Derek Holzer. Under the title Neanderthal Electronics went about building his own synthesizer of simple electronic components and colorful spots such as old toys. Holzer with no technical training built his own large appliances, reminiscent of an old Moog from the 1960s, and the workshop will inspire you to start from scratch and acquire the technology in a punk-esque “Do-it-yourself’ style .

Thus, he will also bring artists and engineers closer together. As he says, it is often the case that when artists need anything from technicians, they say something like “Make me something sad” while the technician will answer “How many units is it?”. It must be possible to find a common language, and you can do at the workshop over the soldering iron.

Text & photos by Kristian Handberg, translation by Google. Read the original here.

Bonus track: live set and workshop photo by Søren Skjødt:

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UH Go Social videos by Jackie Triste

Posted in Documentation on October 26th, 2010 by admin

Videos from the first two days of the UH Fest Go Social! Tour by Jackie Triste

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bj nilsen+stilluppsteypaspace finale 2xlp[2010 editions mego]
jon muellerphysical changes cd+lp+dvd[2010 table of elements]
marcus fjellströmschattenspieler[2010 miasmah]
robedoorpacific drift 7″[2010 not not fun]

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Neanderthal Electronics Aalborg

Posted in Documentation on October 25th, 2010 by admin

The Neanderthal Electronics workshop in Aalborg was a success. A small but dedicated group from Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Lithuania created a selection of incredible little instruments, with an emphasis on found toys, contact mics, feedback and chaos! Thanks to Edit, Christian, Mads, Gabi and Isa for a colorful time at the Apparat/Platform4 event!

More photos from Apparat by Sami Sänpäkkilä of Fonal Records here!

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Videos x 2

Posted in Documentation on October 11th, 2010 by admin

One video from my Neaderthal Electronics workshop in Malmo last week, and a roundup of the UH Festival night where I played last Saturday. Enjoy!

Neanderthal Electronics: Kajonimba (Electric Cajon Kalimba) by wihle

Here’s a small presentation of my newly built electric rhythm instrument I made in a workshop by Berlin-based sound artist, Derek Holzer. The result sounds something like Tom Waits with semi-constant feedback.

The box includes a primitive spring reverb, two piezo-mics, a broken baby monitor set (a send and a receive unit), two super simple amplifiers and a built-in speaker for acoustic performance. I’ll add an output later to be able to play my kajonimba through external speakers.

UH FEST DAY #4 Oct. 9 by UHFEST
Featuring Bartha Mark & Takacs Borza Akos, Valerio Tricoli w/ Robert Piotrowicz, Piotr Kurek, Derek Holzer, Kria Brekkan, Lasse Marhaug and Thomas Fehlmann, but sadly no Lau Nau

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UH review…practice your Hungarian!

Posted in Documentation on October 11th, 2010 by admin

Derek Holzer zajzenész, aki mindenféle talált tárgyakból szeret zenét előcsalni, néhány héttel ezelőtt többek között a devecseri piacon is járt. Az ott beszerzett eszközöket is felhasználva zenélt-zajongott például a bicskei menekülttáborban. Az UH Fest Go Social programjának keretében meglátogatott több magyar civil szervezetet, és látott olyan dolgokat, amilyeneket egyáltalán nem szoktak ide érkező zenészek. Úgyhogy amikor a fellépése elején arról beszélt, látta a tévében, hogy gyakorlatilag megsemmisültek olyan részek Devecseren, ahol ő maga is járt, az nem csak a tragédia súlya miatt volt más, mint amikor az egy estére ideérkező zenészek alibiznek valamit arról, milyen Budapest…

Full review (plus the beautiful Lau Nau, a shy Kría Brekkan (ex-múm) and the ever-uncompromising Lasse Marhaug) here: http://quart.hu/cikk.php?id=5532. Seems like they gave me an “A”!!!

I had a few words to say before my set, maybe it would be good to record them here:

As you can see from the photographs projected in the lobby, a few weeks ago I went on the UH Go Social! Tour. One topic we discussed on that trip was how all this experimental sound stuff relates to the world around us, to the bigger picture. I still don’t know if I have any answers to that question, but I do know that one of the places we visited–Devecser–has been wiped off the map since then, if you believe the pictures on the evening news.

You might want to move around the room during this set, you will find different things in it. Move around. And wait for the flood.

On the whole, the evening was fantastic from my point of view–excellent venue and PA combined with a wonderful, open-minded audience who were ready for anything. Earlier sets in the small hall by Kuupuu, Piotr Kurek and Valerio Tricoli with Robert Piotrowicz provided a more intimate initiation to the festival. It did seem like I landed on a strange planet, however, were all the women were delicate, lovely folk-birds and the men were knuckle-dragging noise beasts!

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