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

Live improvisation for analog modular synthesizer, speakers and room.

DIEM ElekTro: Derek Holzer
Wednesday, Sep. 21, 2011 Concert, 8:00 PM
Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium. Rytmisk sal. Aarhus DK

Several years ago, I largely abandoned the digital sound world to spend time building a modular analog synthesizer which reinterprets and hybridizes the forms and functions of the famous Serge and Buchla systems of the 1970s. In my largely improvisational performances, I summon the chaotic, generative powers of this machine to explore the physical affects of volume, frequency and complexity within a given space. For fans of Maryanne Amacher, Bernard Parmegiani, Eliane Radigue and Slayer.

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 various resonant objects in the performance space, as well as through architectural features of the space itself. Additionally, an 8×8 matrix mixer allows the sound from any of the performers to be sent to any of the objects, making the whole space a an orchestra of resonant voices to be played.

Regnskog 2011//Full Pull will be developed in a workshop format with up to 8 participants over a period of several days. The resulting work should shift 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.

On Friday 30 Sept 2011 at 20.00, Regnskog 2011//Full Pull will be presented in a concert situation at Stapelbäddsparken, Stapelbäddsgatan 3 Malmö SE. The following afternoon, Saturday 01 Oct 2011, it can be seen as an installation between the hours of 12.00-19.00.

Regnskog 2011//Full Pull is coordinated by Derek Holzer and Mads Bech Paluszewski for the Full Pull Festival.

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!!!]

The Burning House blog asks the simple question:

If your house was burning, what would you take with you? It’s a conflict between what’s practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question.

Here is my as-of-yet unaccepted submission:

Name: Derek Holzer
Age: 38
Location: Berlin, DE
Occupation: Sound Artist
Website: macumbista.net

This actually wasn’t too difficult considering that most of the things listed get taken on tour with me almost every month. Far more difficult was getting a picture that wasn’t too dark as most of the things I own are still black…

* Horsehide motorcycle jacket
* Analog modular synthesizer (built by hand over two years)
* Diamond Bluff field bag (“borrowed” from my father)
* Leather Goods Connection Ponderosa wallet
* Passport of the Beast
* Cheap “Viking” silver ring (bought in Malmo)
* Victorinox Swiss Army knife
* Whatever raw denims I am living in at the moment
* Sound Devices 722 recorder (with six years of sound recordings on it)
* Fuzz Factory-clone distortion pedal (self-made)
* Pueblo Indian handmade silver bracelet (gift from my father)
* Boss Heavy Metal pedal
* Jessica Rylan Multimode Voltage Controlled Filter (self-made)
* Redwings Iron Rangers
* Annelise Williamson skull buckle with turquoise eyes (gift from AW)
* De Santis basketweave gunbelt
* Antique Bulgarian hand-woven blanket (purchased in Bansko)
* (not pictured: beater old Powerbook containing the rest of my life…)

TUNED CITY FESTIVAL 2011 IN TALLINN/ESTONIA JULY 4-10 2011

[1] WORKSHOP REGISTRATION
[2] SPEAKING WITH SPACE – CONCERT PROGRAM
[3] SONORITY OF PLACE – LECTURE PROGRAM
[4] SITE SPECIFIC PROGRAM

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[1] WORKSHOP REGISTRATION

Tuned City in Tallinn started already with a series of workshops earlier in spring. In close collaboration with our partner Ptarmigan (http://ptarmigan.ee), we are offering a series of workshops short before and during the event in July. Invited artists will each share their individual tools for listening to the city, and offer both a deeper insight into their artistic practice and a chance for the participants to become actively involved in the program of the event. And whether those tools be telephones, acoustic tubes, electronic transducers, radio waves or physical movement, the participants in these workshops will never hear the city the same way again.

These workshops are open for registration right now:

Methaphones workshop / July 4 + 5 2011
with Unsworn Telecom (Stockholm, SE)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?lp_lang_pref=en&page_id=1472

12-tone filter / July 4 – 10 2011 (during the event)
with eyland 07, René Rissland, Jürgen Lehmeier (Nürnberg, D)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1478

Tuning the City / July 5 – 10 2011 (during the event)
with Mads Bech Paluszewski (Copenhagen, DK)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1715

framework radio – documentation and production / July 7 – 10 2011 (during the event)
with Felicity Ford (UK) and Valeria Merlini (IT / D)
on behalf of Patrick McGinley, framework radio (US / EE)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1503

City sounds concerts / June 28 – July 3 2011
with Ici-Même (Grenoble, F)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1881

An overview can be found here:http://www.tunedcity.net/?lp_lang_pref=en&page_id=950

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[2] SPEAKING WITH SPACE – CONCERT PROGRAM

07.07.2011 20:00
Charles Curtis (US) – Naldjorlak (by Eliane Radigue)

08.07.2011 21:00
Charlemagne Palestine (BE) – Schlingen Blängen (organ performance)

09.07.2011 21:00
Thomas Ankersmit (NL/D) – Saxophone and Synthesizer Improvisation

10.07.2011 21:00
Maja S.K. Ratkje (NO) – Electro-acoustic Vocals

Traditional and classical music often treat the performance hall as a tabula rasa to be inscribed with sound, and even improvised music can overlook the site it is performed within as an important factor. So what happens when a musician decides to play a duo with space as the partner?

Tuned City has invited four vibrant, innovative and influential contemporary performers to address the topic of sound and space through four individual music performances. Each artist has developed a special relationship over their career with their chosen instrument–the cello, the organ, the saxophone and the voice–which becomes like a spoken idiom to them. Using this unique language, the performers will engage in dialog with a variety of spaces, from the warm, wooden intimacy of a 14th Century horse mill to the cold, concrete depth of Soviet-era industrial structures.

Read more: http://www.tunedcity.net/?lp_lang_pref=en&page_id=1268

Buy Tickets: http://www.piletilevi.ee/est/piletid/tallinn_2011/muusika/?show=22397

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[3] SONORITY OF PLACE – LECTURE PROGRAM

This series aims at drawing correspondences between ‚architecture‘ and ‚sound‘ to a more primary relation between notions of ‚place‘ and ‚practices of listening‘. In other words to underscore an interplay between the sense of being ‚situated‘ and the intentionality of what is being ‚heard‘. It is from within this primary level of interactions that a sense of ‚sound‘ as well as a notion of ‚site‘, and by extension ‚architecture‘, are derived in the first place. For the current constellation of talks and presentations a particular emphasis is placed on an understanding of listening, not a biological constant, but rather a ‚practice‘ that both shapes and is shaped by various contexts. In this sense every mode of hearing is understood to be distributed across a diversity of practices and disciplines.

Talks and presentations as well as pertinent artist projects and presentations included in this Tuned City event draw upon recent developments in such diverse fields as urbanism, art and architecture history and theory, philosophy, sensory history, sensory ethnography, archaeoacoustics and musicology, getting closer to what may be at stake in auditory models of ‚situated-ness‘. One common approach, shared by the various practitioners, understands the ‚sonic imagination‘ to be an operative mode of thinking. It is this mode of thinking that potentially engages the social, aesthetic and even ethical, political implications of an attentiveness to the sonority of place. Please have a closer look:

http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1378

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[4] SITE SPECIFIC PROGRAM

To properly explore the sonic effects possible within the cityscape, it is often necessary to move beyond the traditional model of the seated conference- or performance-audience. For Tallinn 2011, we aspire to present a selection of innovative and fresh sound experiences across several specially-selected locations in the city.

Taking place each afternoon, the Site Specific Projects are a modular series of parallel programs featuring soundwalks, performances, installations and interventions. These projects involve the audience in a new way of experiencing sound and space through the use of sculptural, graphical, musical and sonic means. Some of the projects are designed for a small group of people, keeping the experience of the project both participatory and intimate. Such projects may be offered several times during the Tuned City event. Other projects may only be offered once within the context of the conference program, and some may require registration to keep the audience within a certain size. Please check the project descriptions at our website for more information:

http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1446