Settling Back In / Handmade Music Brooklyn

We just came back from a grueling but extraordinary trip from S. Korea. In 6 weeks, we discovered much about ourselves as much as we did about Korean culture while away. Before I post on some interesting things we found and experienced there, I'll start with this great video from the recent Handmade Music event in Brooklyn to kickstart some new blog posts for 2010. It's strange to head into the new year so late, but reassuring to find the rhythm of DIY again.



I will have more exciting events/projects to share very soon. It's almost Spring!

- C

"Tom Nunn demonstrates Skatchboxes" via MAKE

Great sounds, I really like this.

"Tom Nunn demonstrates the "skatchbox" a simple percussion box outfitted with contacts mics and a plethora of objects for scraping, tapping, swiping, etc. The shuffling and raspy textures the boxes make are pretty unique, certainly warranting further investigation by audio experimentalists out there."



More about Tom Nunn,

"Tom Nunn has designed, built and performed with original musical instruments since 1976, having received a B.Mus. and M.A. in music composition from the University of Texas at Austin and S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook, and post-graduate work at U.C. San Diego. His instruments typically utilize commonly available materials, are sculptural in appearance, utilize contact microphones for amplification, and are designed specifically for improvisation with elements of ambiguity, unpredictability and nonlinearity.
In addition to the nearly 100 instruments he has made, Tom has performed extensively throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for over 25 years, as well as in other parts of the U.S., Canada and Europe, both as soloist and with other musicians. "

( Source, Photo by Tim Nunn, Tom Nunn Official)

- C

DIY / Home Made Ticino / Vico Morcote, Switzerland

Just posted on my mog some new adventures we had in Ticino, the Italian part of Switzerland, at the end of August. Again with the SGMK organised DIY events, we had a great time. Below some excerpts,

"Back in May, one of the organisers of the event told me about being nestled in the Italian-Swiss countryside - a DIY get together in summer, intimate and relaxed. Our busy estival plans happened to slow down at the right moment and here we were, undaunted by the new introductions needed to meet this group of 40+ diverse individuals who had worked hard to finally present their projects to local media and friends/family at the end of the week BBQ."

"We were so privileged to attend, even if only for two nights. We were welcomed by kindest of electronic enthusiasts, artists, friends, DIY orchestras, tupperware techno raving, terrifying microscopy specimens, arduino micro-controlled LED creations, a mega amp built with a modest microchip, ominous black scorpions used for visual display, late night playlist battles, tent camping in a storm..."





More here. Photos are all here.

- C

DIY Music / Humanthesizer / Forget The Bikini's, This Is Cool!

Via CDM,

"Through the power of skin-safe conductive ink, Scottish electronic artist Calvin Harris has collaborated with a team to make a synthesizer out of himself and a group of models in bikinis."

"Johnson programmed the interface and music: two Arduinos provide the analog-to-digital connection between the ink-human circuitry and a computer. Patching environment Max/MSP then deals with the data and translates to MIDI, and musical materials are sequenced live and "performed" into Ableton Live."

Pretty cheesy with the ladies but I am sure it will help boost the youtube pageviews. Nonetheless, I really like the use of humans and body parts, fun interactivity to make music - alot of promise for artists & musicians alike. Something great for DIY festivals and surely, Burning Man or something.

More on the making-of here. More on Calvn Harris here.

- C

Tim & Puma Mimi / Live Taping 'Musicomax' Television Show @ MAD, Lausanne, Switzerland

I've been telling everyone about Tim and Puma Mimi since the DIY Festival and was lucky enough to have Tim invite me to watch them tape a live TV program this past weekend at a local club, MAD.

Tim has been performing for a year onstage with Puma Mimi streamed into the venues via Skype in Japan. The cast and crew of Musicomax were really into the performance, as was I, despite minor technical difficulties and the almost inaudible interview because of where I sat off stage.

There's more about the taping on my mog here. It was a great weekend.

Here's a video from their YouTube channel,


-C

Fotosis EP / Revisited & New Download Link

The old link was too much of a hassle for most of our readers/friends so I have our EP up on *archive.org.

*We had to upload again as it missed one of our songs (Chimes) due to file corruption, the new link should be ok.



- C