Video [verbed] the Bandcamp star

makin' animations

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then 30 frames are surely worth 48,000 audio samples.

New music videos

I’ve spent a good chunk of the summer making animated music videos - and sharpening my animation skills, in the learning-by-doing mode that is central to artmaking. A couple of those projects are nestled snug in the vaults for the time being, awaiting release down the road - but a pair, made in support of friend and fellow traveler Kyle Bruckmann’s new album DUTY CYCLE | ACTIVE CULTURES, are now out in the wild, and I'd love to show them to you.

The first track, acrimonium, showcases the way that Kyle integrates his double-reed playing into the alien landscape of beat-oriented, electronic coldwave and industrial music. Kyle enthusiastically described the video as “repugnantly mesmerizing” and if you think THAT phrase isn’t going into the next revision of my biographical statement, I’ve got news for you:

The second track, SAWTEETH, is a high-intensity mixture of analog sound and digital technique. I worked to match that blend of methods by forming the entire animation out of heavily shaped and controlled digital noise.

It has been an enormous pleasure working on these projects (and on the ones that are yet to appear), and I’d like to do more - for the musicians reading this, if you might be interested in a collaboration, please reach out.

LV2MKRT

Speaking of collaboration, LV2MKRT, the improvised-music podcast I’ve been making with bassist Scott Worthington, is gradually building to episode 200 - our latest release, “Full Tweed Ahead,” is #184, and we continue to offer a artisanally-crafted blast of duo performance each week.

We decided a while ago that we would wrap the project at the 200th episode (because, arbitrary large number!) - all of the episodes are now recorded, and the big finish is a just a few months ahead. But that doesn’t mean that our collaboration is ending. A “greatest hits” album is in the works, and we’re already scheming about another project - most likely with yet another ridiculous name. Stay tuned.

Bridges of Königsberg

I am also overdue to share a new Bridges track, “Internal Heat,” released as part of the Living Within Our Means, vol. 3 compilation. The comp is a fundraiser for MEANS Magazine, a new UK-based publication “dedicated to underground, experimental, and intermedial arts and culture.” We are happy to support MEANS and its DIY ideals, and to offer this preview of the latest iteration of the BoK sound. The new album I mentioned in my previous newsletter is finished and in the hands of a record label, awaiting its moment. It includes some of our most audacious playing to date, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you.

At the workbench

I could rattle on about the animation work for days, but instead I’ll mention a recent trip to NYC to do some playing with percussionist friend Dennis Sullivan. I got to know Dennis while touring alongside his stellar duo Blood Luxury (with marvelous improvising violinist Erica Dicker), and when we’re not talking about Cleveland and Philly sports, we’ve been scheming about making music together. After a couple of hours of exploring together (and co-writing a very long Google Doc annotating the resulting recordings), I’m convinced that we can carve out a personal and distinctive terrain in the midlands between composed and improvised, acoustic and electronic, classical and noise.

That means I’ve got my work cut out for me: I’ve made a long to-do list of software features and updates that will make my various electronic instruments more suitable for interaction with Dennis’ playing and our shared musical vision and enthusiasms. Happily, watching Dennis navigate his percussion setup (a mixture of acoustic instruments, found objects, synthesized electronic percussion, and guitar pedals) has helped me to see a new way of thinking about my own “rig.”

I’ve generally chosen to focus my instrument designs on a single input device and a limited number of controls, observing that for every knob to turn or button to push, the cognitive load on the performer increases. But Dennis is working in a very clearly “tiered” setup - high-priority, continuous-musical-flow activities mostly involve hitting things with sticks, and then there is another lower-priority set of actions based around knobs and pedals that only require occasional interactions. (Though Dennis *does* perform complex dance routines on those pedals from time to time).

So I don’t need to reinvent my instruments from scratch, or throw away a bunch of existing controls in favor of new duo-specific capabilities and ideas. Instead, I can add an auxiliary input device to my setup (most likely the trusty “box of knobs” I’ve used on and off for years). I can use those knobs for controls that I might tweak once or twice in the course of a performance, but that won’t require continuous management or attention. We’ll see how it works in execution, but the idea alone is a liberating perspective that’s helping me to recognize and escape from some of my usual habits of thought and design. (And here we are again at learning-by-doing - I wouldn’t have come to this realization had I not been making noise together with Dennis in a small rehearsal studio).

I *also* need to spend a bunch of time woodshedding with a metronome: Dennis’ sense of time and rhythm are impeccable, and I need to make sure that I can hold up my end of the bargain. But that will a pleasurable process, and I’m looking forward to digging in.

Nonce

Physics enthusiast, occasional golfer, and Occasionalism cartoonist John Granzow notes that the complete text is “Buckyball Driving Ranges,” and wonders why you might have thought otherwise. Anyway, have an orange slice, they’re delicious.

Thanks as always for watching, listening and reading - yours,

Christopher

Christopher Burns
sfsound.org/~cburns