Macumbista Mini demo #1 by macumbista

This demo is an edit of three settings from the Macumbista Mini synthesizer: http://macumbista.net/?page_id=623 The Mac Mini uses two cross-modulated Voltage Controlled Slopes through an Analog Logic module and a pair of Polivoks Voltage Controlled Filters. Feedback from the audio mixer is returned to the control section of the VCS modules.

Now Playing

georges bataille–the story of the eye book[1928]
hans bellmer-illustrations for the story of the eye[1946]
knut–wonder[2010 hydra head]
nick cave & the bad seeds–tender prey[1988]
pan sonic–gravitoni[2010 blast first]
yellow swans+devillock–split 7″[2007 modern radio]

So the TONEWHEELS tour has come to end. Stokes of luck seem to have characterized it… lucky to get out of Europe right before mighty Eyjafjallajökull reminded everyone of what silent skies would sound like, and lucky to get out of NYC right before some nutjob got the idea to try toasting Times Square with a propane-fertilizer cocktail.

Another stroke of luck was that, when The Starlab venue got flooded, mi amiga Jessica Rylan stepped up to the plate and offered her artist-in-residence studio at MIT in Cambridge as a replacement! A small but dedicated audience turned up, and in particular I got to experience the amazing transcendental drones of Benjamin Nelson. Shawn Greenlee‘s set was also smokin’, as was the “final show” of Karlheinz, and I was rather intrigued by Animal Steel‘s collection of drugged-out Judy Garland tapes. His nonchalant delivery of said material came as quite a surprise for those accustomed to his orgies of destruction as one half of Two Dead Sluts One Good Fuck.

Photos by Shawn Greenlee

The Providence show at AS220 was also a complete mental blowout, in particular seeing Human Beast‘s combination of noisy, arty-farty tights, carny sideshow vibes and suspended-upside-down-from-the-ceiling organ playing. Brian Chippendale‘s solo Black Pus project also rocked out, sort of a messier, more freeform version of his Lightning Bolt sets, if you can imagine that…

Photo by Tatyana Yanishevsky

The Rhode Island/Massachusetts leg of the tour would have been impossible without the phenomenal energy and hospitality of Shawn Greenlee. Thanks a million, man!!!!! Thanks also go out to Jessica Rylan and Egan Budd for hosting and organizing the MIT gig, and to all the other acts that played on the two bills (and it was quite a few!).

And finally, one more photo from the TONEWHEELS set at the Bent Fest in NYC, this time by Eric Archer:

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antonio russek, raul pavon, roberto morales, vincente rojo–musica electroacustica mexicana 1960-2003[creel pone reissue]
benjamin nelson–live at the piano factory/standing field cs[2009 semata productions]
david behrman–wave trains[1998]
david tudor–live electronic music[1970-1984, leonardo music journal]
gordon mumma–live-electronic music[2002 tzadik]
ivo malec–triola[1978 ina-gram, avante garde project 148)
va–chinese experimental music 1992-2008 4xcd(2009 sub rosa)

Photos by mindphone_divided on Flickr.

Images from the Neanderthal Electronics workshop at Ptarmigan, Helsinki, 13-15 March 2010. Thanks to John W. Fail of Ptarmigan and Antti Ahonen of Pixelache for putting the whole thing together, and for KOELSE for making some noise at the presentation as well.

Photos by Antti Ahonen.

Images from a Pure Data + Arduino motor & sensor workshop I taught for students of the Media Lab at TAIK (Taideteollinen korkeakoulu/University of Art and Design) Helsinki, 8-12 March 2010. Thanks to Antti Ikonen for inviting me!

Photos by Liisa Tervinen

Nu Fest 2010 – Derek Holzer interview for RadioBlue.it

A somewhat silly interview with the Padova student internet radio and television at Nu Fest, 19.02.10.

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boris morgana–muuan sali cs[2010 self release][kiitos juuso!]
opec/jazzkammer–monilinien/we forgive you lp[2005/2009 posh isolation][tak jonas!]
roberta settels–isolation! (meinhof in memorium) lp[1985 music in conflict/2007 BIN records][tak jonas!]
silvester anfang ii–commune cassette[2010 blackest rainbow]

I brought the new, improved Macumbista Mini with me on my last trip to Italy. What better idea could you have after drinking red wine in the bars until late, than to go back to the hotel, put the headphones on and freak out? I was honestly astonished the next morning–astonished that I hadn’t lost my hearing ’cause the phones were cranked way the hell up!

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eleh–location momentum[2010 touch]

Photos by Andrea Fincato, from a lecture on TONEWHEELS at the University in Padova. Later that evening I performed TONEWHEELS for the Nu-Fest. Hopefully I’ll get some photos of the audience going bananas at that one in the next few days… Thanks to Mauro Martinuz for putting the whole trip together, and for the unbelievable enthusiasm of the students at the lecture in particular!

I stayed up until 4am the night before my flight to Venice (not the wisest idea, to be sure) re-making the Macumbista Mini to include my new Voltage Controlled Slope/Analog Logic module alongside a Polivoks filter and output mixer (not unlike one of the Serge M-Class panels). The new configuration had it’s live debut in Padova, displaying incredible feedback/chaos possibilties which I’ll try to document soon with photos and sounds as well.

Hypnotized by the unfolding synchronicities of [The User]‘s Coincidence Engine One: Universal People’s Republic Time, at the Transmediale Festival 2010 (Collegium Hungaricum Berlin). Inspired by György Ligeti’s Poème Symphonique For 100 Metronomes, the work features hundreds of cheap plastic clocks, each with its own imperfect little heart. Seconds come like a light rain, and minutes like brief hailstorms. Photo by Elena Kaludova.

This piece reminds me of another, Ligeti-inspired work which I helped Helsinki-based composer Libero Mureddi realize using Pure Data in 2006. Déploration pour la mort de G. L. is a rhythmical canon with 88 voices for Disklavier. Each key plays a constant tempo, the lowest being 40 bpm, with a 0.3 bpm increase per key, starting from low A.

The effect of this piece on the player piano is that dynamic ripples and reflections are created up and down the keyboard as keys move in and out of phase with each other. I think Libero was as startled as I was when we “performed” it for the first time during the Pd workshop!

Video by Egle Oddo.

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Lars von Trier–Antichirst[2009 film] (fucking wow!)

Nizo Super 8 Analogue Noise Machine from Matt Kemp on Vimeo.

Matt Kemp was in my Neanderthal Electronics workshop at WORM in Rotterdam last summer, and worked on one of the most original case/interface designs of the whole thing. Inspired by Eric Archer’s Sound Cameras and a Nizo Super 8 camera found at the flea market, Matt got busy making a light-controlled sound machine. Matt writes:

It has a few simple analogue circuits including two oscillators, a high pass filter and a band switch, mounted where the original camera controls were. There’s also a light sensitive resistor mounted behind the lens, so the sound changes as you move the camera or zoom into objects. I just have to make a replacement nameplate for it now, I’m thinking Noizo 801..

Thanks for posting this Matt!

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