From the backlog of interesting things, here’s a set that concluded Swampfest 2014. It features Nick Yeck-Stauffer, Tom Vasilj, Brandon Beachum, and a guest appearance (for the last 15 minutes or so) from yours truly. To say that this was very informal hardly covers it– I didn’t expect to do anything but listen to bands that evening, but was quickly invited to help out once I’d arrived. I ended up with a single microphone, and a non-functioning amplifier, so I decided to see if I could bore a hole in the side of the amp with the mic– a little action inspired by The Haters, most certainly! For my efforts: a healthy pile of sawdust, a cleared room, and a newly-whittled microphone. Enjoy!
And hey, be sure to check out some of the other videos from the Circuit Benders’ Ball as well– nearly everyone has more stage presence than I do, haha.
Here’s some video from the live Theatre Intangible set– obviously, you couldn’t see the circuit-bent Sega video behind us in the podcast– now you can! However, if you want the high-quality audio, you’ll need to download it here.
Long-time fan and YouTube maestro Sonney Dey wrote to let me know about his latest creation– I’ll tentatively describe it as an experimental hawk documentary, but as you can see, it’s so much more than just that.
Sonney’s video makes great use of a very old track of mine, “Tippy Headroom,” from my very first album, “Music For a Sick Cat.” The title is a play on actress Tippy Hedren (of “The Birds,”) as well as Max Headroom (style icon, and personal hero).
I still remember recording “Tippy Headroom” on the floor of my home. I had been inspired by a sound experiment described in a book about Jimi Hendrix, which I had read many years earlier, but found floating about in my brain that day– in a nutshell, Hendrix had been using headphone monitors to slowly feed back into his microphone, causing squealing pitches to occur. A tape delay setup helped to create a seagull-like sound he found quite interesting. Although I’d never heard a recording of this experiment, I suppose I had a pretty good idea of how it would turn out… resulting in “Tippy Headroom.”
As a reward for Sonney’s ongoing dedication to fully experiencing the Other through my music, I’m mailing him a bunch of cool stuff– including a copy of my latest release “Free Air.” There’s only a few of these left, from a way-limited edition of ten. Just $10 gets you a copy, so hurry up and get in touch if you want one.
“Free Air” comes with two long-form works originally intended for through-home surround systems, mixed specially for stereo. There’s also the nifty artwork, a bright red unicorn hand-printed by yours truly! The print is sealed and numbered, with the disc in a separate compartment.
Update: There’s some doubt that the person accompanying Yamantaka Eye in this video is actually Masami Akita, mostly spread by one dedicated commenter with a raging hard-on for finding mistakes made at STARTLING MONIKER. If you know the true identity of our Masami lookalike, let me know. But if you’re just going to fling your poo at bloggers, I’ll keep deleting your stupidity.
Update 2: Apparently, this commenter was so moved by the possible mis-identification of the interviewer that he has started his own YouTube account for the sole purpose of commenting on the video at that site.
Update 3: Comments are closed. If you want to help me correct mistakes on STARTLING MONIKER, that’s cool– just don’t start by calling me various names.
He’s being interviewed by Merzbow, too! This is some of the funniest shit I’ve seen all week. Absolutely hilarious to see Masami Akita so relaxed and being silly. Bonus points for Eye yelling at the propane heater thing.
Today’s phone-in guest is Ironing, back for a second bite at the apple. You’ll have to make sure you’re tuned in– he might take us all out for waffles again! If you’re hungry now, go check out these videos.
Speaking of eating, I gotta thank Chaos Kit for this yummy pizza!
Matt Davignon — Mesonychoteuthis (from “Living Things” on Edgetone)
Matt Davignon — Markhor Shelf Life — Morning Parlance (from “Courtesy,” on Psychic Oscillator)
Shelf Life — Afternoon Parlance
Shelf Life — Evening Parlance David Morneau — Salutation (from “a/break machinations”)
David Morneau — Transformation
Ironing — LIVE phone-in performance, WDBX-FM, 2/27/10
Louis Dufort — Materio_*
Now that you’re done listening to “ITDE,” why don’t you go check out Ironing’s radio show “The Sum of Your Life?”
Hmm… this show proposal includes The Who, Skatemaster Tate, Bruce Willis, and a ban on “hippie music”… If you think this must have sucked as much as I do, then click to see it big:
And because I love you, here’s Skatemaster Tate. Please watch until he describes “skate music,” it’s priceless!
This video features sound artist Charles Cohen improvising on a 1970’s Buchla Music Easel. This extremely rare instrument is one of Don Buchla‘s 200 series. Buchla (a pioneer of audio synthesis) only manufactured 14 of these units. The entire film was edited from an hour-long set of free improvisation, with audio was taken directly from Charles’ mixing board.
All of the photography and editing was produced by Alex Tyson, a sound and video artist from Pennsylvania. The film was shot in 16:9 720p using the Letus35 Extreme and a 35mm Lensbaby Composer.
Here’s three quick videos taken by Ironing during his phone-in performance on August 22nd’s broadcast of “It’s Too Damn Early.” In order to avoid spooking his workplace IT department thugs, who perhaps take a dim view of bit-torrent filesharing, I have uploaded this particular broadcast to Mediafire for him as well. Hop on this download if you haven’t already grabbed the torrent– you can grab it in two parts here and here.
I really dig Dubbio Nil‘s newest mini-cdr for the Hymns label, “Seed, Fruit, Thorn.” As you may recall, I like ambient music that isn’t boring. In fact, I’m incredibly picky about it. If I didn’t like Brian Eno so much, I’d even say I dislike ambient music– which is why I’d rather say that this little 16-minute wonder is “quietly active” than ambient. It doesn’t hold my attention, but it does require it. Do you understand the difference?
My copy came with aPoncirus trifoliata seed, not exactly the most friendly plant. Known for possessing rather nasty hook-shaped thorns, I imagine it will also require more than a little of my attention! Here are two Dubbio Nil videos to keep you busy until your copy arrives in the mail:
I got some good news today! WDBX-FM might have someone to fill an overnight slot soon, as the DJ-to-be has scheduled one of the “Random Show” spots (basically an on-air tryout) for May 12th. No telling what timeslot might be offered, but the applicant informs me she’s considering an “80s New Wave/Electronic” theme.
DaveX is a largely self-taught sound artist, residing in Southern Illinois. In addition to being a professional, licensed raconteur, he also is a founding member of the Crab Orchard Manatee Association.
Startling Moniker 
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