New releases from the Kenneth Gaburo archive on Soundcloud

Philip Blackburn, composer, record produer, archivist, sound sculptor, and a few other things, has just released a set of 32 recordings from the Kenneth Gaburo archive.  There are interviews with Kenneth, and recordings of a number of pieces, and two recordings of radio programs produced on Kenneth's visits to Australia in the mid-80s. 

Here: https://soundcloud.com/innovadotmu/sets/kenneth-gaburo

Recordings 4 and 31 are taken from a long interview I did with Kenneth in 1979, first on his own work, and then on his work producing Harry Partch's "The Bewitched."  Recording 35  "Choral and Electronic Compositions" is a recording of a radio program about Kenneth's music Paul Petran and I produced for ABC Radio back around 1986-87.  There's a recording of the Astra Choir performing Kenneth's "Ringings" as part of that.  Recording 28 is another ABC recording "Testimony and The Flow of [u]" which was part of "The Scratch Project" consisting of a lot of people phoning in to ABC Radio (produced by Andrew MacLennan and Virginia Madsden) with their responses to Kenneth's question about nuclear war.  I notice that since I was first informed of the archive's existence 2 days ago, there have been seven tapes of Composition Lessons of Kenneth with Philip Blackburn from the mid-80s added.  So the numbers given above might not be accurate.  This is definitely an archive in a state of development.  Well worth exploring the work and thought of one of the most interesting of the late-20th century experimental composers.

Antechamber 8 - a video of highlights from back in September

Back in September, I was very happy to be part of a concert organized by Simon Charles, called Antechamber 8, which was at the Footscray Commuity Arts Centre, as part of the Melbourne Fringe.  The concert featured the Phonetic Orchestra playing works by Jon Heilbron, and a work by Simon Charles for me and him to duet with on tuning forks and electronics.  Simon recently posted a 10 minute video of excerpts from the concert on Vimeo.  Here: https://vimeo.com/188696710.

The personnel was Jenny Barnes, voice; Andrew Butler, piano/harmonium; Simon Charles, sax/electronics; Reuben Lewis, trumpet; Michael McNab, percussion; John Smeathers, electronics, and WB, tuning forks.  The first seven minutes of the video features the Phonetic Orchestra in works by John Heilbron, the last 3 minutes is the work by Simon for us playing tuning forks and electronics.  Enjoy

Two new reviews in soundbytesmag.net

It's that time of the bi-monthly cycle again, and I now have 2 new reviews out in soundbytesmag.net.  The first one is of the marvelous sample set World Suite from UVI.  That's an incredibly comprehensive sample library of beautifully multisampled instruments from around the world.  Well worth checking out, and the price, for what you get, is ridiculously cheap.  Here's the URL to that review:

http://soundbytesmag.net/worldsuitefromuvi/

And there's also a review of Joel Kivela's marvelous microtonal composing software Dhalang MG.  This one is for Mac or iOS, but will "soon" be available for PC and Linux.  It's a really complex and deep multi-function program.  Again, very much worth having a look at.

http://soundbytesmag.net/dhalangmg/

Applebox Orchestra Realization for Pauline

On 8 January, a whole crew of folks gathered; in person, telematically, and by correspondence; at the Fridman Gallery in New York City and performed a Tribute to Pauline Oliveros.  All the participants made realizations of Pauline's "Applebox Orchestra" score, each one making a part with an Applebox, or other wooden box used as a resonator for their own choice of sounds.  It was a splendid event, even on streaming web radio, which was how I heard it.

I made a recording for it, and was delighted with it.  It consisted of 3 tracks of a set of Applebox sounds I made, using kitchen utensils, stationery, crockery, and whatever else I could find.  After the performance on 8 Jan., I realized I could do this process again (and again and again) until I got 10 tracks of Applebox instruments happening.  Pauline's score for Applebox Orchestra specifies up to 10 players of Applebox sounds.  I repeated the process - set up the Applebox, attach contact mics to it, place a wide variety of sound-making objects on the box, perform and record them.  After recording, go through it and top and tail each sound, normalise it if necessary and load it into a sampler.  Then sequence the samples (using MusicWonk), such that each one appears only once in the first 29 minutes of the sequence.  Record this sequence.  Repeat this process four times. (Recordings 1 and 3 are 3 tracks each, recordings 2 and 4 are 2 tracks each.)  Then mix the results, with a slightly different panning for each of the four recordings.

I'm delighted with the result.  I think all the sounds have their own sonic identity, and juxtapositions of various sounds make interesting complexes where the identity of each component sound is preserved.  So here it is.  Applebox Orchestra by Pauline Oliveros, realized in loving memory of her by Warren Burt.

You can listen here:

Or, if you can't see that flash player above, you can download the piece HERE (mp3, 68MB). Enjoy!

If you're in New York, tonight, January 8.....

You could do far worse than go to the Fridman Gallery, 287 Spring St New York City for the opening event of their New Ear Festival, which goes from Jan 8-16.  Tonight is a "Tribute to Pauline Oliveros," and it includes a massive version of Pauline's "Applebox Orchestra" piece, to which I'm a contributor.

Here's a link to the whole festival:

http://www.fridmangallery.com/new-ear-2017

And from 6PM on, New York time, or 10AM Monday Jan 9, Melbourne time, you can stream the whole event at

https://wavefarm.org/listen

Here's the whole program, with the cast of thousands (well, 25) for the Applebox Orchestra at 8PM:

Tribute to Pauline Oliveros 

Fridman Gallery   287 Spring Street   New York City 

Sunday, January 8, 2017 

Begins at 6 pm  

 

 

PROGRAM 

 

6-8pm – special dedication and performances of 3 works by Pauline Oliveros  

 

Presenting the video document of Pauline and Seth playing Apple Box Duo at 9E +50 

Maria Chavez - special dedication 

Peter Evans/Nate Wooley - Earth Ears 

Leila Bordreuil - Dissolving Your Earplugs 

Susie Ibarra - All Fours 

 

Some photos from Gordon Mumma and Julie Martin with short films by Billy Klüver and Aura Satz 

8pm 

 

Apple Box Orchestra: a piece for 10 performers by Pauline Oliveros accompanied and extended by 

telematic streaming, supplemental collaborative performers and contributed sound files.  

 

Performing live: 

Tom Beyer,  Michael Bullock, Joel Chadabe, Seth Cluett, John Driscoll, Phil Edelstein,   

Joshua Fried, Susie Ibarra, John King, Ron Kuivila, Eric Leonardson, Alan Licht,  

Paula Matthusen, Liz Phillips, Michael Schumacher, Hans Tammen 

 

Sound Files from : Warren Burt , Danny McCarthy, Al Margolis, Phil Niblock, Aura Satz,  

Stephen Vitiello 

 

Telematic performers Shelley Burgon, Stephan Moore, Spencer Topal

**************************

If you're in NYC, I hope you can make it.  I'll certainly be listening to the live stream from here in Daylesford.