radio

UBRADIO SALON 399: Alien Artifact

UBRadio Salon 399

Last weekend Polly Moller and I joined the hosts at UBRadio Salon for two hours of live experimental electronic improvisation. UBRadio Salon is a project by the folks who brought us Big City Orchestra UBIUBI and we excited to have the opportunity to play on their 399th consecutive weekly show.

Polly Moller and Amanda Chaudhary at UBRadio Salon

We began with a version of our improv piece Ode to Steengo, with Polly on voice, bass flute and guitar, and I performed on modular synth and Moog Theremini. It became a quartet with electronics, and DIY sonic objects. Overall it was one of the best versions of this piece we have done! We immediately sequed into an extended coda with abstract improvisation. The second set was open improvisation as well, with Polly providing vocals and narratives throughout. In between were clips from National Lampoon radio broadcasts as well as bits of the original Stainless Steel Rats series, on which the spam text of Ode to Steengo is based.

You can hear the show in its entirely via this archive.

Thanks to our hosts Ninah Pixie and DAs for having us on the show. I look forward to their upcoming 400th episode, and we certainly hope to come back and play again.

World of Wonder with DJ CatSynth, January 2, 2013

Here is the podcast from my World of Wonder show that aired at midnight on San Francisco Community Radio.

12:00AM-12:00AM (0:48) Opening Chimes / Announcements

12:00AM-12:03AM (2:22) Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” from 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best Of (MP3, 2000)

12:03AM-12:05AM (2:46) Chris Cutler & Thomas DiMuzio “When Cracks Appear: Reappearance Of Birds” from Quake (CD, 1999)

12:05AM-12:15AM (9:35) Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics “Anglo Ethio Suit” from Inspiration Information 3 (CD, Album, Reggae, 2009) on Strut (UK)

12:15AM-12:26AM (10:47) C.O.M.A “Verdical” from Verdical (MP3, Single)

12:26AM-12:26AM Announcements

12:26AM-12:36AM (9:26) Nico “(The End)” from Classic Years (CD, 1998)

12:36AM-12:43AM (7:38) Cobblestone Jazz “Change Your Apesuit” from 23 Seconds (2007) on !K7 Records (UK)

12:43AM-12:46AM (2:16) The Work “Scream Circle” from Woof 7 Inches (Rock, 2006) on Ad Hoc Records

12:46AM-12:52AM (6:34) Fred Frith “Heart Bares” from Cheap At Half the Price (CD, 2004)

12:52AM-12:58AM (6:08) Solcircle “Uncle Bob” from Solcircle (CD, 2002)

12:58AM-1:00AM Station ID / Announcements

01:00AM-01:08AM (8:34) Bark Psychosis “The Black Meat” from Codename: Dustsucker (Rock, 2004) on Fire Records

01:08AM-01:14AM (6:05) Myrmyr “Fire Serpents Lull” from Fire Star (CD, 2012)

01:14AM-01:22AM (7:20) Oval “Textuell” from Systemisch (1996) on Thrill Jockey (USA)

01:22AM-01:32AM (10:22) Yuji Takahashi “Mimi No Ho” from Finger Light (1995) on Tzadik

01:32AM-01:39AM (7:13) Deletists “The Lure Or War And Boredom” from The Deletist (CD, 2003)

01:39AM-01:40AM Announcements

01:40AM-01:42AM (2:33) Cardiacs “The Obvious Identity” from The Special Garage Concerts Vol II (2005) on The Alphabet Business Concern (UK)

01:42AM-01:46AM (4:00) Various Artists – Buda / Ethiopiques “Ene Negn Bay Manesh – Girma Beyene” from Ethiopiques Volume 8: Swinging Addis (2000)

01:46AM-01:52AM (5:31) Duboniks “Fi Don’ Givit” from Trip Hop & Jazz 4 (1998)

01:52AM-01:57AM (5:23) Polygon Window “Polygon Window” from Surfing On Sine Waves (1992) on Warp Records

01:57AM-01:59AM (1:27) Ilkae “Push Pop Nil” from Pistachio Island (2001) on Merck Records

01:59AM-02:00AM Announcements / Closing Chimes

DJ CatSynth on The World of Wonder (KUSF in Exile)

I am now an official host for The World of Wonder on San Francisco Community Radio (KUSF in Exile), alternating weeks with Matt Davignon, and my first show is tonight at midnight PDT. You can listen live online here and find an archive via podcast after the fact.

Each week we will be presenting a variety of music that most people don’t hear everyday, a mixture of esoteric, avant-garde, idiosyncratic and many other kinds of music. I do encourage readers of this site to tune in.

DJ CatSynth on The World of Wonder (KUSF in Exile)

Tonight at midnight PST, I will be guest-hosting Matt Davignon’s program The World of Wonder on San Francisco Community Radio (KUSF in Exile). You can listen live here at midnight, or find an archived edition at the same location afterwards for those who aren’t awake at that time (it’s 3AM EDT in the US, for example).

The program will feature a variety of unusual music, including several friends from here in the Bay Area and New York, as well as some classics of modern electro-acoustic music. If you enjoy the musical offerings of this site, I invite you to tune in!

Reconnaissance Fly at KUSF

Here is the first photo of the current Reconnaissance Fly lineup, taken after our performance on KUSF today.


[Photo by Bryan Chandler]

Thanks to our host Bryan Chandler for the photo, and of course for the opportunity to play.

Here is a photo I took at the start of the set.

You can see the score for our opening piece “Small Chinese Gong” laid out behind the keyboard. This is one of the graphical scores that I have mentioned in a previous review. This is also the piece that fell victim to the “rebellious blue cord” that left the performance bass-less. Fortunately we were able to correct that and the rest of the set went quite smoothly.

You can listen to an audio archive of the performance. I thought the later pieces, in particular “Canada”, “Ode to Steengo” and “An Empty Rectangle” came out quite well. We are definitely looking forward to our live performance tonight at Studio 1510.

For those interested in the technological aspects: I was using my trusty Korg mini-Kaos Pad, E-MU Proteus 2000 (with Vintage Pro and Mo’Phatt), and a Voce Electric Piano module. Tim Walters was also performing live custom electronics programmed in Supercollider.

Reconnaissance Fly & Matt Davignon in Oakland, 2/5

An announcement for upcoming performances with Reconnaissance Fly (consisting of myself, Polly Moller and Tim Walters), as initially reported on Polly’s Journal.

We have six movements from Flower Futures all ready to share with you. We are all spoetry, all the time.

First, we’ll be on the radio, performing live on KUSF starting at 11:00 a.m. (U.S. Pacific Standard Time) on Thursday, February 4th. KUSF streams live on the internet.

Then we will be performing live at Studio 1510 the night of Friday, February 5th at 9ish PM. Studio 1510 can be found at 1510 8th Street, in Oakland, California. It’s conveniently near West Oakland BART.

Here’s our set list:

– Small Chinese Gong
– One Should Never
– The Animal Trade in Canada
– Ode to Steengo
– Emir Scamp Budge
– Seemed to Be Divided in Twain
– An Empty Rectangle

You can actually read more about spoetry and some of our pieces in my review of our show last November.

Our friend Matt Davignon will join us at 8ish PM for an opening set of extended drum machine soundscapes in support of his new album, Living Things.

Aquatic on Coast Community Radio in Astoria, Oregon

A nice follow-up to my recent visit to Astoria with Polly Moller and Company.

A track from my CD Aquatic may be played on Coast Community Radio in Astoria this morning (10am to noon, PDT). This a folk program, which should be interesting. It is hosted by Carol Newman, who was very supportive of our visit and also hosts the “Arts: Live and Local” program, where Polly and our host Paul Hoskin had a chance to discuss our music and our show.

Coast Community Radio streams live online, for those who may want to check out this program as well as their other locally produced programs.

UPDATE: My track Open and Shut Case appeared on the program, you can here a clip of it here. There was an interesting segue into Paul Hipp’s “I am the Decider”, a great parody of Bush, Cheney et al. based on the Beatles’ “I am the Walrus” (Koo-koo-ka-choo). I got a nice mention of the piece and the album, along with reminder of our Polly Moller and Company show and the AVA music series; and “Death and the Maiden” (PM&C) was played as well.

After radio performance

It seems like the radio performance went well, and it was a good experience. In addition to my live performance of the Wooden Fish, we played two selections of the CD and I participated in an interview with regular WTUL electronic-music host Conner Richardson and guest-host-for-the-day Kristine Burns. The show actually took place outside in a courtyard, with our audio feed relayed to the studio via internet:

A small number of people from the conference, as well as one or two other curious indviduals, did stop in the courtyard to watch for a bit.

The setup and soundcheck went smoothly, and as can be seen below, the rig was nicely laid out:

Thanks to Kathryn Hobgood of Tulane University Communications for these photos.

Overall, I was fairly happy with the live performance, nothing went particularly wrong, and Conner noted it was quite an unusual piece. The interview, conducted mostly by Kristine Burns, focused on the pieces themselves, both the musical ideas behind them and the technology used to realize them – of course we talked about the CD – also about my musical background, including my having studied with Ruth Schonthal. Because the next participant was a no show, we had more time for both discussion and music.

Hopefully I will get a recording of the event, and if so will make a link available here.