Near village of Mooste EE, 3 Jan 2012

Currently teaching a workshop for the TAIK Media Lab in rainy Helsinki after an amazing New Years trip to MOKS in southeast Estonia, where I walked, cooked, sauna’ed, ate and drank with friends and worked on some sound with Jelena Glazova from Riga. Her processed vocals vs my feedbacking soundboxes… Perhaps some glimpses of this project will make it online later on when I’m back in Berlin and have time to edit them.

I just confirmed two gigs, one Macumbista live set for Electric Spring in Huddersfield UK on 15 February (along with a two day workshop preceding this) and one TONEWHEELS performance and lecture for Sonores in Guimaraes PT on 27 April. I’d be very interested to hear from London people about activities around 16-19 February… pls get in touch!

Now Playing

hive mind–elemental disgrace[2011 spectrum spools]

nonlinearity III from macumbista on Vimeo.

Q: So what do you do?

A: Well, if no one’s ever seen one before, how can they tell if I’m playing it badly or not?

Triple soundbox-drone nonlinearity study, constructed and recorded during my 2011 residency at the Danish Institute for Electro/Acoustic Music, Aarhus and edited during a shorter residency at MOKS, Mooste. Glam-rock, audio-responsive soundbox built for KT.

aluk todolo–ordre[2011 ajna offensive]
asva–presence of absence[2011 important]
barn owl + jefre cantu-ledesma–live at levee berlin[may 2011]
barn owl & the infinite strings ensemble–the headlands[2011 important]
ben frost–live at berghain berlin[feb 2011]
bohren and der club of gore–beileid ep[2011 ipecac]
charlemagne palestine–live at tuned city tallinn[july 2011]
corrupted–garten der unbewusstheit[2011 cold ashes]
crippled black phoenix–live at festsaal kreuzberg berlin[may 2011]
cut hands–afro noise 1[2011 very friendly/susan lawly]
diamanda galas–live at wundergrund copenhagen[oct 2011]
earth–angels of darkness, demons of light I[2011 southern lord]
eleh–radiant intervals[2011 important]
eliane radigue–transamorem, transmortem[2011 important]
ellen fullman–through glass panes[2011 important]
evan caminiti–when california falls into the sea 12″[2011 handmade birds]
falls of rauros–the light that dwells in rotten wood[2011 bindrune]
lasse marhaug–live at wundergrund copenhagen[nov 2011]
master musicians of bukkake–live at festsaal kreuzberg berlin[may 2011]
mika vainio–life (… it eats you up)[2011 editions mego]
motion sickness of time travel–dreamcatcher cs[2011 hobo cult records]
oneohtrix point never–replica[2011 software]
pharaoh overlord–out of darkness[2011 ektro]
pj harvey–let england shake[2011 island]
the skull defects feat. daniel higgs–peer amid[2011 thrill jockey]
thomas ankersmit–live at tuned city tallinn[july 2011]
tim hecker–ravedeath 1972[2011 kranky]
trevor wishart–talk and concert at DIEM aarhus[dec 2011]
various artists–brass pins & match heads: international 78s[2011 mississippi]
valerio tricoli & thomas ankersmit–forma II[2011 pan-act]
wolves in the throne room–celestial lineage[2011 southern lord]

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]

DKJ and Splab present an evening of esoteric drones, nonlinear distortion and time travel:
MACUMBISTA (us/de) vs KRISHVE (dk)
20:00 Friday 09 December 2011 * SPLAB Mejlgade 32 – 34, 8000 Århus C
splab.dk * macumbista.net * krishve.com
with thanks to det jyske musikkonservatorium

The Wrapup

After four months of a lovely little house, a good studio and a decent paycheck (all in the same city!!!), the jig is up in a few short weeks. By the time my residency here in Aarhus concludes, I will have done 5 workshops, played 5 concerts, built more than a half dozen sound boxes and a couple synthesizer modules, produced one sound-video and recorded more hours of synthesizer improvisations than I will ever have time to edit.

Here’s Tore “Origami” Boe, mi amigo noruego and proud owner of a brand new SoundBox during his evening for DJM/DIEM:

I leave Aarhus on 21 December, spend a few short days in Berlin and leave almost immediately for Riga, Mooste, Tartu, Tallinn and Helsinki. I had initially planned to do one more Rainforest piece here in Aarhus before I left, but it had to be postponed until the spring. So I will do an informal improvisation with Krishve at SPLAB as a going-away of sorts. Wish us luck and see you all in 2012!!!

Now Playing:

aluk todolo–ordre[2011 ajna offensive]
asva–presence of absence[2011]
bonnie prince billy–wolfroy goes to town[2011 domino]
corrupted–garten der unbewusstheit[2011]
falls of rauros–the light that dwells in rotten wood[2011]
king midas sound–waiting for you[2009]
kinit her–divine names[2010 brave mysteries]
leviathan–true traitor, true whore[2011 profound lore]
oneohtrix point never–replica[2011 software]
pharaoh overlord–out of darkness[2011 ektro]
the skull defects feat. daniel higgs–2013-3012[2011 thrill jockey]
the skull defects feat. daniel higgs–peer amid[2011 thrill jockey]
wolves in the throne room–celestial lineage[2011]

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…

NEANDERTHAL ELECTRONICS
Presentation by DIEM students of Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium
Friday 28 Oct 20.00, Rhythmic Hall
Skovgaardsgade 2C Aarhus DK

Over 5 days, students of the Danish Institute for Electro/Acoustic Music under the direction of Derek Holzer learned how to design and build their own personal, customized primitive noise synthesizers using simple objects from our modern environment such as resistors, capacitors, transistors, LEDs, integrated circuit chips and other found materials.

Each is a tiny world of its own, using primitive analog computers in combination with feedback, sensors and audio inputs to create a unique sound. Even from the same plan, no two are alike! This workshop concludes with a group performance in the Rhythmic Hall of the Conservatory, and an invitation to the audience to experiment with each of the instruments which have been created.

More info: http://macumbista.net/?page_id=497

SOUNDBOXES WORKSHOP
Hosted by Ljud.dk
26-27 November, Huset, Aarhus
Register: christian AT.THE.DOMAN ljud.dk
Final Presentation 27 November, location+time TBA
There are 10 places, cost DKK 200, reservations strongly recommended!
Supported by Kulturforvaltningen, Aarhus Kommune

Discover the hidden sonic qualities of objects from our everyday world
in this two day workshop, combining the arts of electronics, noise,
sculpture and collage. The basic elements of this workshop are a wooden
box, a speaker, a small audio amplifier, some distortion 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.

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!

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

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Derek Holzer (1972) is an American sound artist living 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. Holzer is currently an artist-in-residence and guest-teacher at the Danish Institute of Electro/acoustic Music, Aarhus DK.

http://macumbista.net/

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.

LJUD: CHRIS FORSYTH (US) + RALLEMALLE (DK) + MACUMBISTA (US/DE) vs KRISHVE (DK)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 · 8:00pm
HeadQuarters, Aarhus