In the studio
Spent the last three days in the studio with Pierre Alexandre Tremblay for our second album together. Some crazy amazing stuff. I’m very much looking forward to this one coming out. If all goes well it should be later this year.
As you can see in the photo The Party Van is in effect, along with Old Mr.Grassi, the Specty, and my monome/arc.
Spring Tour + Festivals + Releases
So I’m doing a solo (drums+electronics) tour across the UK hitting up a bunch of classy cities (details below).
In addition to that, my post-jazz trio, A Greater Horror, is playing the Manchester Jazz festival, as well as releasing our debut EP at the festival.
Speaking of festivals, there’s also the Chorlton Art’s festival, and BEAM festival gig dates in the mix.
Speaking of in the mix (erm, kind of stretching it eh?), my string quartet + computer hard drive piece (It’s Made From Pieces Of From Pieces Of My Skin) should hopefully be premiered by the Distractfold ensemble in a couple of months too, with Angela Guyton making a documentary about the piece/performance.
In addition to the AGH EP release, I’m back in the studio with PA Tremblay to record a follow up to our last CD. Also have some studio time booked with Phil Marks, for a smoking drum duo we’ve been working on, and some more studio time with Richard Knight for a peculiar guitar+no-input mixer thing we’ve been kicking around.
All in all, some rather busy next couple of months. Do stop by some of the gigs and see the new setup/instruments in action.
5 May 2012 – Birmingham – Solo Drums+Electronics
9 May 2012 – Sheffield – Solo Drums+Electronics
10 May 2012 – Manchester – Solo Drums+Electronics
22 May 2012 – Manchester – The Noise Upstairs Ensemble
23 May 2012 – Chorlton – Solo Electronics
25 May 2012 – Manchester – Takahashi’s Shellfish Concern
30 May 2012 – Kent – Solo Drums+Electronics
6 June 2012 – Leeds – Takahashi’s Shellfish Concern
19 June 2012 – Manchester – A Greater Horror
22 June 2012 – Manchester – Drums with PA Tremblay
23 June 2012 – Manchester – Takahashi’s Shellfish Concern
24 June 2012 – London – Solo Drums+Electronics
29 June 2012 – Manchester – The Noise Upstairs Ensemble
5 July 2012 – Manchester – Takahashi’s Shellfish Concern
7 July 2012 – Sheffield – Drums with Federico Reuben
12 July 2012 – Manchester – Drums with Federico Reuben
14 July 2012 – Manchester – A Greater Horror
19 July 2012 – Manchester – Takahashi’s Shellfish Concern
26 July 2012 – Huddersfield – Solo Drums+Electronics
New(ish) Trio
New project.
A Greater Horror
It’s a trio of piano, electric (fretless) bass, and drums.
Sort of post-jazz meets math-rock meets contemporary classical meets electronics.
Back on that (digital) horse!
As you may or may not know, I’m a bit of a hardware nut. Specifically lo-fi hardware. Most of my music and setup has revolved around lo-fi/DIY hardware for years now.
I used to use a laptop, along with analog/lo-fi hardware before that but have since stopped using a laptop (in performance) altogether. I just love the feel/sound of gritty electronics.
Life as an Academic
So I started my MA in Electro-Acoustic Composition last September and the University of Manchester and have just handed in my course work for this term. This officially completes my first year (doing it part-time) of the degree.
During this year I’ve really tried to embrace the academic thing, and put my all into everything I was doing. Continue reading »
16 Figures
I’m very excited to release “16 Figures”, a improv trio CD I recorded last year with Ray Evanoff and Iain Harrison. After recording Ray’s duo ATEMNT for The Noise Upstairs records last year I proposed an improv project to Ray, which quickly turned into a trio with Iain on sax. The original idea was to have lots of short improv pieces, but after rehearsing and discussing ideas, we scrapped the short pieces idea and just left it completely open. I sort of glazed over what the actual idea was from the start for the sake of everyone involved, but let me just say that it involved a movie with Vin Diesel….
New Duo Recording Session
After meeting and playing with Hervé Perez back when The Noise Upstairs’ Sheffield night started in early 2010 we got to talking about doing a recording together. It took a bit to work out the logistics of when/where and all that, but we finally got in the studio and recorded a doozy.
I played toy piano, Specto, Party Bus, Sidrassi, modified CD-player (ala Nic Collins), iPad (using Grid, Curtis and TOPLAPapp), Namasitar, and some misc percussion.
Remixes
I enjoy doing remixes. It’s not often I have an opportunity to do so as I don’t do traditional remixes (adding phat beats and the like) nor do I know many musicians who seek remixes.
When I do a remix I try to approach each differently, and try to re-imagine the song.
Here are a couple remixes I’ve done with some info on what I did.
The first I did for cottrell/findlay/hunter and Concrete Moniker.
Social Networking – 1 : Rodrigo – 0
I hate social networking sites.
I find them really boring and artificial. Fake interactions between fake friends.
HOWEVER, with how popular these sites are becoming, as an artist, it’s important to be involved, and available with the technology. The only reason I’ve had a Facebook (the worst of these sites as far as I’m concerned) is for that very reason. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), people don’t go onto Facebook to check for music, much less experimental music. Continue reading »
On The Horizon
So many many exciting things in the works. I will list some of them, in no particular order.
A trio record with Ray Evanoff (of Atemnt) and Iain Harrison that has been recorded and is in the process of being mixed.
A solo Drum/Keyboard improv record that will be called “P-P-P-Piano, P-P-Percussion”. Some recording done.
A solo album filled with a shmorgishborg of stuff called “Constantly Rodrigo”.
A duo album with Richard Knight on no-input mixer. We are in rehearsals at the moment.
A drum compilation album I was invited to play on. Other performers include Chris Corsano, Glenn Kotch, and Greg Saunier.
I Am Your Density
I am very excited to finally present “I AM YOUR DENSITY”. This CD has been in the pipe for over a year, being sidetracked by Drum & Bass and Jew Point Owe. It is finally done, and it is a doozy.
I AM YOUR DENSITY is a composition written for a group of improvisers. It was written in 2008 and has been performed twice, once at The Noise Upstairs, and the other time at The Arches in Glasgow, in conjunction with the Red Note ensemble. It was recorded in late 2008, and subsequently mixed by Dan Escauriza. It is being released on Noise Upstairs Records. Continue reading »
Drum & Bass: And The Horse You Rode In On
I am very excited to present “Drum & Bass : And The Horse You Rode In On”. This is a duo CD with PA Tremblay that was recorded in early 2009.
We shared a stage in 2008 and after exchanging some e-mails we decided to hit the studio. I showed up at Huddersfield University’s Studio with my ‘drums’ setup. PA had his 6-string fretless bass + Laptop setup, and we let it roll. After months of editing and mixing we carved out this gem. It’s 13 tracks of pure joy. The improvs range from textural laptop-scapes, to grimy stutter-hop, to some smooth jazz, and many other things that I can’t pretend to come up with names for (those above are inadequate enough). Continue reading »
Circuit-Bending Workshop
I ran my first Circuit-Bending Workshop, as part of The Noise Upstairs’ new quarterly workshops. I limited it to only a handful of toys to guarantee that everyone had a ‘winner’ at the end, to avoid what happened to me with my first bend (nothing happened, at all). Continue reading »
We Need New Noise
Anton invited me to co-run The Noise Upstairs with him. And by invite, I mean, kick him in the ass, and organize a bunch of crap. Who did what is really besides the point. (It was me)
The point is that NUS is celebrating it’s two year anniversary with a bang. We’re adding a webpage, quarterly workshops, podcasts, and much much more.
If you’ve never come down to the jam night, or haven’t been in a while, no better time than now to get back into it.
DRUM & BASS : And The Horse You Rode In On
The recording session I did with PA Tremblay back in February is finally coming into shape. The title is going to be “DRUM & BASS AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON”, and above is the cover art, as usual, by Angela Guyton. We’re still narrowing down tracks and working on general mix/edit stuff, but I’m very excited about the project. It’s all improvisations that range from textural laptop-scapes, to grimy stutter-hop, to some smooth jazz, and many other things that I can’t pretend to come up with names for (those above are inadequate enough).
We’re both very busy at the moment, but it should hopefully be out in a couple of months as, most probably, a self-released, hand silk-screened type thing.