This month’s podcast was recorded live at the first installment of the Noise Reduction series.
Its a collaborative improvisation with synthesist David Mason.
The performance took place in the rear chapel space of Prophecy Hall, a former Dutch Reformed church in Beacon, NY. Its an interesting space to create in, and I hope to do more there in the future.
The Noise Reduction series aims to provide a space for quiet sounds, where horizontal listening is encouraged.
David Mason and me (Craig) performing at Prophecy Hall (photo: Gavin Hecker)
This was a fun adventure! I packed up a battery powered synth (softpop) and amp, and my binaural mic and hiked out to Hidden Lake in Putnam County, NY with David who brought a hydrophone and some speakers along with his clarinet and iPad.
We made some sounds inspired by what was happening below the surface*. The results are strange and surprising!
David Rothenberg at Hidden Lake. (Also pictured, Binaural Mike.)
*Mostly plants photosynthesizing and an insect called the lesser water boatman. (Check out David’s book to learn more.)
And he brought his fancy beard along with the Swarmatron and Cartridge Organ. It was a lot of fun playing together again, the results often sound quite alien, and at times are reminiscent of early electronic music. Its strange and delightful!
This month’s podcast features three live recordings from 2023, all of which include either bowed, or circuit bent instruments.
It begins with a performance with conceptual cellist Irman (who also contributes some keyboard) which was recorded at Telephone in Pittsburgh, PA.
Then, there’s a recording from drone day 2023 featuring Tamalyn Miller on horse hair fiddle and Thom Uliaz (burnkit2600) on circuit bent electronics.
Finally there is a very quiet performance that took place across a table next to the kitchen in a civil war era boarding house at XFest 2023 in New Hampshire. This one features the circuit bent Casio MT-240 of Cryptwarblr and I am playing a Bastl SoftPop. Both of us are using the instruments internal speakers.
This month’s podcast sees the return of Art Labriola!
Art’s last appearance, podcast #27, featured Art playing his modular synthesizers. This time Art plays pedal steel guitar – processed by his modular synths!
It was great to reconnect and play with Art again, I look forward to hearing where he goes with his hybrid pedal steel + modular set up!
This month’s podcast features composer/keyboardist Jesse Beaman from Austin, Texas.
Jesse was out on tour in the area, and had a free day to come by the studio to record. What you’ll hear here is the first time we ever played together, I find the results quite beautiful and minimal.
This month’s podcast features Fronds & Fringe, a duo of sound makers from Philadelphia, PA.
Rebecca and Irman came to my studio the day after playing a show in town to record this podcast. I really enjoyed our collaboration, its rare for me to do a studio podcast with more than one musician. There was a lot of good playing and listening happening, and we covered some strange sonic terrain together.
This month’s podcast is a haunting soundscape suitable for your halloweening needs.
