three voices

after a long period spent in the electroacoustic universe, i return to recording saxophone and revisit live processing on a different system. over time, i recorded improvisations using a limited set of plug-ins to inspire a certain soundscape. the three voices correspond to three sound worlds and three types of plug-ins: spectral, granular and tonal.

with the saxophone, i explore abstract textures and sound techniques that can be found in free improv and contemporary music. but mostly, i replicate the fractal approach of this sonic explosion, and play with symmetrical shapes using a harmonic system i have been developing.

the last improvisation, in contrast is free from wild tweakery, and sits in the vast space of a gentle reverb. i am using a minor scale with major seven, a very powerful and dramatic colour used by ravi shankar in his ode to gandhi.

 

this album reflects some of the sounds and techniques i have been playing with. i hope you enjoy this journey…

 

de quatre mers de quatre vents nt008

i am very pleased to present my first large scale compostion as number eight in the nexTTime production series.

 

There was an old piano in a corner of the studio, and one day I just had this drive to dig it open, and start putting things in the strings. I was into Cage, obviously, but never saw any of his instructions, or knew how to go about it. I don’t really play piano, but I have years of experience as an improviser on prepared guitar, and so I had an army or crocodile clips at hand and a few other tricks. At first, I wanted to create a database of samples to place into compositions or performing live. This project turned out to be rather different.

I spent a day in the studio working at the piano and preparing all the strings, playing by ear, and aiming for a whole range of sounds, textures, percussive tones.
The second day, I started recording individual notes for sampling, but very quickly I found myself improvising on this new instrument I had created. I came up with motifs, runs, hits and whole sections that were just playing and enjoying the sounds, coming up with rhythmical patterns and so on.
By the end of the day, I had plenty of material to take home.

The next stage was spent doing was I do best, editing, processing, sculpting, and creating yet another database of new samples where the piano had turned electro. Here again, I created textures, harmonic samples, rhythmical patterns and individual hits. And so, the track called ‘empty piano’ came first.

But I did not stop there; while playing with the recordings, I started arranging sections of piano, and just with skeletons of tracks, I knew I had something quite special. For me it was a unique opportunity to use what was an unusual instrumentation and a change from electric guitar and electroacoustic pieces.

Working on the set of short films as sound recordist, I met Carrie who is a trained classical singer as well as actress. I managed to record a few short samples off set, but later approached her asking if she would record in a studio for me. And so I prepared sets of instructions for her so I could harvest more samples, short motifs and single notes in a range of styles to later rework in computer, and integrate all this into the compositions I had.

And this is pretty much the making of this work. Add to this some field recordings, and electronics, programmed beats and sines…
It is an unusual approach to the format of the symphony; in four movements and with four classes of instruments.

Looking back, I still rather like the sweetness of this piece, and it still feels fresh. Somehow, the themes that play out through the movements of nature versus urbanisation, also illustrated in the contrasting sounds that make the line up, are still relevant to me.

 

A symphony for prepared piano, voice, field recordings and electronics, in four movements.

 

the concept:

The prepared piano symphony follows the traditional arch narrative of the form. In parallel of the evolution of music, the sounds follow a historical trajectory of technology in relation to mankind and nature.

 

In the first movement, the four classes of instruments – prepared piano, voice, field recordings, electronics – set the scene. The piano echoes the state of technology and design of the time. It is metaphorically the birth of the industrial revolution and the machine.

 

In the second movement, there is a shift in sound quality and atmosphere as modernism hits a stride, and the technology becomes altered in need of the new, of progress. The instrument / technology is ‘prepared’ in ways that reflect more modern soundscapes with the appearance of pulses and drones in contrast to the more mechanical and dramatic opening section. The second movement is already bridging the modern sound of the ‘prepared piano’ into the digital age, a further alteration of the industrial age and its resulting soundscapes:

As we follow the evolution in struggle between man, machine and nature, into a post materialist rebirth, past the explosion of the atom and the advance in granular synthesis, into a quantum world of digital jungle, we also follow a different narrative of how the piano (here representative of a certain technological advancement) is gradually prepared and transformed further still as we delve deeper into its resonance and sonic architecture at the digital atomic level.

 

 

There is a parallel between the history of the industrial landscape and the evolution of musical instruments and their uses to reflect social changes. We delve deeper into the texture and atomic resonance of matter, of the physical world, of the musical object in ways that deconstructs its original technological advancement.

 

By the third movement, it is the age of doubt and there is a looming, brooding turmoil in the balance of the world and it reaches a climax with uncertainty and existentialism. It is the end of history, the loss of meaning, and even of the purpose of materialism and the quantum field of emptiness where grains of reality and pulverised to conditioned compounded vibrations.

 

This is only resolved in the fourth movement when after a dramatic discharge of energy in the form of a lightening storm when life is stilled into suspension, electronic entities, prepared piano, voice and nature all navigate around a more coherent system of interactions which has its own rhythms, cycles and its own logic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the hanged swordsman nt007

Let’s go back in time to have a look at early electronic compositions as release number seven in the series of nexTTime production.

This album marks a significant turning point in my work in sound design, digital processing, composition and approach to sound in general. I was still working on a pc at the time and focused all my efforts in sculpting sounds, often using a single source or limited amount of material to create an entire piece.

For example, the opening track is made from a single short sample from Kenneth Kirschner, inspired by a competition organised by Deupree’s 12K label following the release of seminal work post piano. Unessentialists and minimalism has been an important inspiration and yet, I am very much interested in texture, harmony and spectral composition, and in this case, getting deep into the textural and timbral quality of the sounds I used.

Often unrecognisable, the sound sources are still very present, and inform the nature of the compositions. The last piece is another example, with limited source samples recorded in a derelict mill in the peak district. I spent a lot of time in the area taking photos. Soon after, the mill was restored and now has been transformed into luxury accommodations. And yet I cannot help thinking about the many children who died there, working in awful conditions. I think this place has always kept a very weird vibe.

The track diamond is made from guitar samples and the title describes the process the original sounds went through to emerge as they are now.
Cell Breakdown was the soundtrack used for a video installation, diffused in a reverberant gallery space when I was studying at art school.

I am pleased to share this work now, and hope you enjoy its documentary value and its significance in relation to influential electronic music.

Milarepa and Rechungpa nt006

The fantastic stories and songs of Milarepa continue with release number six in the series of nexTTime production new label.

The relationship between the wise guru Milarepa and his main disciple Rechungpa is difficult to say the least. This very poignant and touching story details how their relationship evolves, and there are many opportunities for deep teachings and thus wisdom abounds. This is possibly the most intense, and intensely rich of this collaboration with Suvarnagarbha, our highest achievement in weaving spoken word and electroacoustic narratives that support each other without necessarily examplifying or mimicking.

This is a stunning performances that sustains incredible energy and focus throughout and pays much respect to the absolutely incredible stories that unfold.

We hope that this will bring much benefit and enjoyment to the listener.

 

The live performance took place at the Sheffield Buddhist Centre on 12 october 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Songs of Milarepa nt005

Building on the stregth of the collaboration with Suvarnagarbha, this fifth release in the series of nexTTime production explores the songs and stories of Milarepa.

Here, Milarepa uses wits and wisdom to battle demons and spirits. And of course, Suvarnagarbha’s impressive translation of the text and perfect delivery underlines the humour that balances the tensions in this compelling narrative.

The music is mostly improvised, apart from some short composed sequences that were prepared in advance to provide a contrast between significant songs and the flow of the narration.

Electroacoustic and experimental electronics, this piece is as eventful and it gets (for the accompaniment of Bhuddist texts…) and features broken beats, glitch electronics and granular randomness as well as more ambient spectral sections. Meditation bowls and bells are augmented with the addition of shakuhachi, and even saxophone appears in places to support the changes in mood of this amazing text.

 

The live performance took place at the Sheffield Buddhist Centre on 15 june 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The nature of reality in a Theory of Everything

Imploding Stars

is a journey into space, a weather check on the nature of constellations, planets and stars, or is it atoms and particles? Same difference. With titles like ‘waiting for space to expand’ and its mirror image ‘waiting for space to contract’, it becomes obvious that we are considering timelines so large that they are difficult to comprehend. And so it is with the size of those compounded-constellations of sounds, it is difficult to tell what we are looking at (or hearing). It feels a bit like the type of abstract art photography that blurs perspective and one wonders if they are looking are a macro landscape or the micro world.

This music is like fractals.

In Buddhist teachings you can find comments on notions of endless time or space. This culture worked with a sense of time, periods like kalpas, that are hard to even grasp (time stretches that cover appearance and disappearance of entire universes). Similarly with scale, there is this understanding that everything is empty of inherent existence and you can analyse any ‘thing’ that comes into existence down to its basic components and the conditions by which it came into being – there is no such a thing as a permanent, unchanging entity.

But it does not stop here. Even atoms and particles are compounds and one could, given the ability to perceive such things, keep going smaller still into other realms of existence, into a universe of vibrations so ‘small’ that no one can actually even consider, let alone measure. In line with buddhist teachings that are 2500 years old, quantum science is now considering fields that act as a matrix for the arising of material forms, and inform the nature of compounded vibrations. All is energy.

The music here gives the impression that we are taken on a journey into the micro realm, with sound processing like granulation taking the ear into increasing smaller fragments until the point of origin, the first sound that is the breath, has been completely deconstructed and nothing remains but the ghost of a sound, to the point of near silence.

Or is it? Are there other realms to explore further? Even points of silence retain a certain tension, or expectation, as if one is suspended in space.

This is a concept album with a coherence of sound and approach, and if you willingly engage with the work and let yourself be drawn into its universe, the bulk of its 78 minutes may appear just like the blink of an eye. But reflecting on buddhist practice, you have to let go of the self and dive in. Let the change happen, and with such a journey into the very matter, the nature of things, one cannot remain unchanged.

If this were a collaboration between a saxophonist and a digital artist doing various manipulations, this work would be easier to understand, but it would not be the same of course. Here though, the same artist does both, live in the studio, in real time, compromising the instrument and extended techniques (and all the research into the instrument, control and hours of work that this implies) and surrenders to the sound of strings of plug-ins (yes, the scientific metaphor can run all the way… fractals, remember?). Rather than having a saxophonist and electronic artist performing their best licks, what you have is an instrumentation that becomes transparent and lets the concept, the singular sonic identity of the work come to the fore.

Entire musical world-systems collide, improv jazz, electroacoustic and experimental electronics, new music, contemporary and its minimal spectral approaches and so on. If this work was placed in a different context, with an accompanying band, the correlation to modern jazz such as the Norwegian cool, with added electronics to stripped down harmonic contents and fragile melody, would be clearer. But in this case, the work is very hard to classify. Perhaps it is the whole point to not reduce this entire scientific enquiry to a musical style. Because you know that this came out of the mind of one person, you can relate with its uniqueness as a deliberate positioning. There is a sense of an intention to make this a listening experience and not another ‘improv’ ‘jazz’ or ‘electronic’ album.

The work on the saxophone is mostly extended techniques, sounds peripheral to the instrument; and although some notes can be heard at times, most of the sounds you’ll hear from the saxophone are stripped down to the basis of breath and overtones that derive from its flow.

This essential material of breath becomes metaphorical for the most essential material that exists; it is like prana or qi that infuses life into the all. And ensues a series of pieces with a common theme around space, the universe.

Out of emptiness, vibrations. Then particles of sounds are created. The album takes you through world systems and different universes, some more or less populated and dense, some very minimal where everything is fragile and impermanent.

The processing is multi-layered: computer-based manipulations such as granulation, spectral processing and synthesis retain essential aspects of the original sound, but also multiply, sculpt and transform the results in unexpected ways. And because a number of tools are at work at all times, it is hard to tell exactly what is the result of what effect – reality is never all that it seems. The processing itself is also compounded – a construct with ever changing combinations that give the character to its own sonic architecture. And the origin, the conditions by which what we hear arises is very hard to perceive. We just have to go with what is and enter its realm in order to feel the very nature of things.

This is a very unique listening experience and the use of headphones is highly recommended as one enters into this ‘other’ sonic reality. For sure, this is not background entertainment, and it will take some commitment or listening attention. Just like the cinema is designed to remove people from mundane reality and place them into a controlled environment for optimum experience, suspend disbelief and become wrapped into a story, here too, if one enters this sound world and let go, follow the journey that is presented, with open mind, the rewards will be great.