JEW POINT OWE Reassessed

After finally finishing the seventh klezmer inspired composition, I decided it was time to rethink ‘Jew Point Owe’. When I originally set out to do the album it was going to be an EP, with three klezmer pieces, and three laptop pieces. As the actual recordings of the klezmer pieces grew in size (about 20 minutes for all three), the idea went from EP to LP. The original reason for only recording three, of the six and a half available at the time, of the pieces for the ‘acoustic’ half was I could only do the ones that would work as duos with me and Serg.

Since then I’ve begun working with a lot of new musicians, particularly Manchester’s Jazz scene. So I’ve decided to record the remaining ‘acoustic’ pieces for the release. I’m very excited about this as some of the pieces I had to leave out of the recording before were my favorites.

In addition to extending the length, ‘Jew Point Owe’ will also be released on Concrete Moniker, a Manchester Label.

FUTURESONIC Festival, Extra Life, and Deaf to Van Gogh’s Ear

What do they all have in common?
May 15, 2009 is what. I just found out that we’re going to be performing with Extra Life at the Deaf Institute as part of Manchester’s FUTURESONIC Festival!!

I’ve been a HUGE Charlie Looker fan since the Zs and have pretty much everything he’s put out. I’m super excited just to be able to see them live, much less perform with them.

I will probably be star struck that night.

Speaking At GEM Days Festival

I was invited to speak at the Max/MSP symposium by PA Tremblay after sharing a stage with him in December. I did a power-point presentation on my “lo-fi meets hi-fi” setup of Ciat-Lonbarde electronics (Rollz-5 and Cocolase specifically) and Max/MSP.

It was my first time doing a PowerPoint presentation, and all in all I felt it went extremely well.

Busy, Busy Bands and More

Busy with Deaf to Van Gogh’s Ear, recording an EP, and doing quite a bit of gigging. Taihanis is back from vacation and rehearsing/preparing to get back to gigging.

I AM YOUR DENSITY is away being mixed by Dan Escauriza, a dear friend who did some engineering on my first release, “The Beatles White Album”. I’ve heard a pre-mix of it and it’s sounding great. I’m so glad he’s mixing it and not me. Continue reading »

In The Studio With Takahashi’s Shellfish Concern

With Serg moving back soon, and a recent performance firing us up, we decided to do a studio session. We setup all the usual mics/equipment, and five video cameras and let it roll.

Expect a CD/DVD , currently titled “The Sans of Gilbert”, sometime in early 2009. Continue reading »

“These Secrets Are Just Lists” Recording Session

This is the first recording session for my next CD entitled ‘Jew Point Owe’. This is for the piece “The Secrets Are Just Lists”. For this piece I went with a simple, stripped down instrumentation of two naked acoustic guitars. Serg is the second guitar on this track.

The rest of the CD will be half klezmer/folk inspired experimentations and half laptop/electronic improvisations.

Whammy Pedal True-bypass Guide

I decided to give up on trying to buy an original WH-1 Whammy Pedal and instead buy a current WH-4 Whammy Pedal. The sounds were great, but the bypass, as many of you have experienced, wasn’t. I figured there has to be a way to modify it for true-bypass. Four hours later, through blood-shot eyes, I had a completed mod in front of me.

After that I decided to write up a full walk-through so others can do the same.

Check it out here.