Art + Music + Technology

Rhys Fulber's CV is pretty amazing: from his work with Front Line Assembly, Delirium, Intermix (these all with Bill Leeb), production and programming work with everyone from Fear Factory to Josh Groban, and solo recordings and performances - he's got a full platter. His most recent release - Ostalgia - is an almost perfect synthesis of old-school EBM and brittle-edge LA techno, and it's been banging around the house for the last few weeks on heavy rotation. In talking with Rhys, it turns out he's just an incredibly nice guy as well - he feels so lucky to have had the opportunities that he's had, and frame his career as being 'in the right place at the right time'. Of course, a big part of it is Rhys' willingness to be a hard worker and follow-through guy, and the breadth of his work is an indication of how respected he is in the industry. I was able to catch up with him on a drive into LA (hands-free!), and it was great to learn most about his history in Vancouver, how he got involved in remixing and producti

Become a Patron! Andrew Baschyn is a bit of a legend here in Minneapolis. With 30 years of music-making behind him, and a set of both new and re-releases about to hit, he's been super active. So I was very pleased to get to visit his studio, have a chat, and get to know a little bit more about the man behind Baschyn Musik. What's interesting is the surprising number of people I've interviewed whose stories start in Iowa! In Andrew's case, it started there, but really came together in Chicago - where he got to experience 'juice bars', DJs, a broad variety of musical styles and some great music stores. This led to his embrace of gear, and his love affair with the E-mu Emulator III. Andrew is a big fan (it holds a prominent place in his studio), but is equally adept at working with MPC's, analog synths of all sorts, and Waldorf synths in particular. He is also massively into analog effects, with racks and racks of old Roland rack-mount effects, tape echos, spring reverbs, flangers and phase-shifters, all running

I got a random email from a listener saying "Hey, I started digging through some old video and digitizing it - you might be interested!" So I checked it out, and I was (interested). It probably helped that the first video I checked out featured a young-as-a-pup Seth Cluett, but the range of performers and artists in these videos is astounding. All of this was recordings of work done at a performance space called Deadtech, a Chicago spot that ran from 1999-2008, and had performance artists, DJ's and musicians cracking off work at a blistering rate. To have access to this work in video form is amazing! If you want to check it out, go to: http://deadtech.net. The person behind this space is Rob Ray, and he's a great example of how personal passion makes an extraordinary difference in the world of art. Through his own desire to make a community, and with the help of friends and colleagues, he stitched together this space and provided a place for a lot of people to do amazing things. We talk about the space, the a

Dan Derks opens doors. When I asked Dan about someone that I should interview for the show, he immediately said "Oh, you've got to talk to Andrew C. S." - someone he knows from the Chicago scene, and an active person on the Lines community. So I did a little searching, some Bandcamp listening, web reading and such - and I was entranced. Reached out, got a positive response, interview bagged! This was a great chat because Andrew we open to talk about his process, and his vision for working with computers, monome grids and cheap hardware interfaces. By combining music creation, field recording, visual art creation and other work, he's developed a body of work that belies the fact that he's just kicking things off. I ended up spending a lot of time listening to his music, and it's actually stimulated me into exploring some new ways of making work. You need to check out this podcast! You should also check out some of his online contect, which you can find at http://andrewcs.info/, https://andrewcs.bandcamp.com/mu

It was ages ago that I first talked with Meara O'Reilly. She was looking for help with a project, and put her in contact with some friends of mine that were in the Bay Area. This led to a series of great collabs, and gave me the opportunity to see her grow in her work. And this work is pretty stunning - if you take a look at her site (https://mearaoreilly.com/), you'll see what I mean. She's about to release a new album on October 25th, on Cantaloupe Music (https://cantaloupemusic.com/), featuring some amazing vocal compositions. They are based on hocketing - the use of multiple 'instruments' that are responsible for portions of a musical phrase. While this typically provides interesting variation in the sonic palette of the piece, Meara has used vocal techniques to really extend the idea of both voice and hocketing to make an amazing soundscape, and I was glad to be able to talk to her about the process. She's also done work ranging from installations at San Francisco's Exploratorium to iOS apps, and everyth

Become a Patron! I really enjoy talking with Nina Young. Her excitement for her work - and music/art in general - is ever-present, and her approach to composition is something that will resonate with a lot of us. Her background is unique, combining a love of engineering and science with a deep passion for music, the result is a deep and satisfying body of work that is easy to approach. I saw Nina talk at Expo '74, and the speech was very inspiring - it gave me the desire to work with people, combine concepts and iterative development into a greater whole, and to be willing to take a chance on new work ideas. The chat we had for the podcast takes that even further, helping me understand how she honed her work through education and trial-and-error, and how a constantly evolving set of work keeps her on her toes - and exploring options both new and ancient. I really enjoyed this talk, and I also kind of envy the sound of the birds twittering in the background - it's starting to get cold here in Minnesota, and th

I've run into Kyle Swisher in a lot of different ways. He was discussed on Tim Held's Podular Modcast, and it caused me to check out his work as Dark Sparkler. He also had a discussion with me about recording a spot for the 50th episode of Tim's podcast. And then he started (along with Robert Standefer) the Source of Uncertainty podcast, which is the only podcast dedicated to Buchla systems. As you can imagine, Kyle himself is pretty dedicated to Buchla instruments as well. In our chat, we talk about his entry into modulars (from guitaristics), how he selected Buchla as his muse, and how he deals with the 'wandering eye' of gear lust. We also talk about how he integrates his songwriting skills from the past into his modular music realities of today. It's a pretty fascinating view into music making, and it really inspired me to sharpen some of my approaches. You can check out Kyle's music at his Bandcamp site (https://darksparkler.bandcamp.com/), and check out the Source of Uncertainty podcast at its locale (h

Ashley Bellouin's Ballads album is a revelation. On one hand, you could call it a drone release, but it's not quite that. You could call it electronic, or acoustic, or just plain alien and you'd be right, but not quite. It's the best of long-form music: subtly shifting, a dance with the collaborators and instruments, and a curiosity for the ear. Ashley has been discussed in this podcast in the past - she often collaborates with Ben Bracken, and we talked a bit about her instruments in our interview with Ben. But we get into much more detail in this podcast - as well as the thinking and obsession behind the instruments. We also talk a bit about what how she processes interesting sounds into instruments, Max-based processes and location-specific performances. We did this interview in a beautiful farmhouse studio, surrounded by instruments, recording gear, vinyl and books. I'll have to tell you - it was by far my favorite location interview ever, but you'll be able to tell in was in-person by the natural reverb

I met a lot of great people at Cycling '74's 2019 Expo. Perhaps the most memorable is this week's guest: Andrej Kobal. He wasn't really on my radar before that (despite getting a ping from some co-workers about his application), but I ran into him early during the "Science Fair" (demo) portion of the Expo. His corner of the room was constantly filled with people checking out his work, and I quickly understood why: it was an application (with optional iPad-based UI controller) that could make the simplest musical forms dance through a combination of processing, realtime mixing and control automation. It was immediately fun, and Andrej was really excited to share - and the moment was pretty exciting. I bought the software and have been integrating it into my performance system, but Andrej and I have kept in contact, and it's led to this interview. I'm not sure if any previous chat has been as revealing about a person as this one: Andrej is really into music tech, exploration, working with other musicians as wel

I think I've seen the handle VICMOD bouncing around the internet forever. I've also been listening to the music of Cray for a while, too. But only recently did I actually put 2 and 2 together to realize that this was the same person! I've always like the Cray music for its breadth and honesty - it really sounded like a person's inner voice, rather than whatever a synth might naturally produce. And in talking with him, it is clear that this is his primary objective: heartfelt improvisation and sound design. From his earliest work with a janky 486 computer to his current obsession with Omnisphere (with Buchla, Serge and Eurorack in-between), Ross has exercised almost any machine you can imagine. The result is a person that is looking to be surprised by his environment - and is constantly searching for those surprises. After our chat, Ross was apparently spurred into digging into the archives, and has release the following for the listeners: https://vicmodcray.bandcamp.com/album/geometric-patterns-made-of-love-

Named after the famous Philip K. Dick novel, Scanner Darkly is one of the most dedicated coders in the monome community. He got his start creating the Orca firmware for the monome modular devices, but really caught his stride working on updates to the Teletype - a coding module that features an exposed scripting environment. By adding a lot of new scripting functions (including a complete set of grid support tools), Scanner has made the Teletype a much more exciting for a lot of users. In our chat, Scanner Darkly talks about his background learning coding, his interaction with electronic music and computer, and the variety of opportunities that he is currently pursuing. One of the 'soon-to-release' things includes some VCV rack work, so a lot more people will get to engage with his work. I think we all have something to look forward to enjoying! You can find Scanner's work all over the internet - if you search for Scanner Darkly, you'll see that he must have been one of the early people to get access to the n

If you spend much time around the Ableton video stash (https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/categories/videos/, you will have seen Ralf Kleinermanns' work. He is the head of documentaries at Ableton, and he creates some of the most inspirational and motivating artists videos I've ever seen. While it might seem like its a simple matter of finding the right artist and turning on the camera, Ralf talks about the process of choosing an artist, putting together a plan and executing the shoot - as the starting point of the storytelling process. Ralf's background really set him up for this gig, too. As a writer in the MI industry, he got a chance to meet a lot of artists, and a lot of the players in the MI industry. As a photographer, he really learn about image and visual composition. And as a student of recording science, he found out he didn't really like being a recording engineer! All good educations, and it led to Ralf becoming the artist that he is. Enjoy the interview, and learn more about Ralf's work at the Able

I got a ping from a couple of people about reaching out to Thor Magnusson - and I did a little research. I really liked what I saw: a recent author (of Sonic Writing: Technologies of Material), an avid live coder and dedicate researcher, so I figured he was in my wheelhouse. Then I bought the book and read some of it, and I caught his Ars Electronica performance (https://youtu.be/KhL-JxI0KV0) and was sure of it. Reached out, positive response - and here's the podcast! Talking with Thor was wonderful, and he immediately caught my attention by framing music in a psychological position - something I'd never thought of. From there, we went for quite a stroll, and I came out of it both excited by live coding as an experience, and music as a practices. I love it when an interview can make me feel that way! You should check out the above performance (make sure you check out the graphic display of the work...), learn more about his book at http://www.sonicwriting.org/, ixi software at http://ixi-audio.net/thor/ and h

Bruce Dawson came on my radar recently for a really interesting project: he is one of the two instructors for the Kadenze course on creating audio applications using the JUCE framework. He got that opportunity by being a C++ developer with one of my favorite sound and plug-in developers, Output. So I reached out, he was into it, and here's the podcast! This is also another opportunity to quiz someone on their CalArts experience. There are so many people throughout the industry that have gone through CalArts programs to do great things, so I consider it a great chance to talk someone from there. And Bruce's path into CalArts is pretty remarkable as well. A great story, and some good insights into code-work-play-music balance, as well as giving us a chance to think about the details necessary to do the kind of work Output is known for. Enjoy, check out some of Bruce's Soundcloud work (https://soundcloud.com/synchronometry) and put some eyes on that Kadenze course (https://www.kadenze.com/courses/advanced-audio-

Every time I talk to someone from Berklee, I'm blown away by their enthusiasm, focus and breadth of experience. This week's guest, Loudon Stearns, is no exception. From rock operas to online classes, Loudon has his fingers into just about every piece of the musical pie. I was very happy to meet him at the recent Cycling '74 Expo, and to have a chance to interview him for the podcast. We get a chance to talk about the challenges of teaching at Berklee - as well as being a student. We also talk about the variety of work that he's done, and how he approaches the oddities that one runs into with any work of significance. And we talk about his background, which is just damned impressive. Enjoy the chat, check out his work at Berklee (https://www.berklee.edu/people/loudon-stearns) and especially his Berklee Online courses (https://online.berklee.edu/brands/ableton-live). And I challenge you to listen to this interview and not want to learn more about what you do! Cheers!

Christopher Reid Martin is at the center of a lot of artistic worlds. Through his involvement with Coaxial Arts (http://coaxialarts.org/), he is deeply tied into the experimental art world in LA. He's also been recording with a variety of groups over the years, and has also been working with Max (and is currently working at Cycling '74). I wanted to get a chance to talk with Christopher, and to find out how he molds all of these different things into a cohesive whole. The answer is complex, but it seems to be connected to a love of all arts - and particularly the place when multiple media come together. This is clearly why he was drawn to Coaxial, Max and a lot of other stuff that he is into. In our chat, we talked about Coaxial - how it got started, how it operates and how he is involved. We also talk about his musical exploits, including Shelter Death, and the broad variety of other projects that are either on-going or on-hiatus. But, as it my interest, we also explore his background, and how a kid growing

How do you describe a person that was apparently born to be an engineer, but also born to be an educator - and born to be a musician, too? I don't know either, so I'll just point at Chris Meyer and say "That guy!" Chris Meyer is currently putting together some of the strongest instructional information on modular synths in the business; his "Learning Modular" is a great way to dig deep into the modular business, and figure out everything from basic voice creation to all of the subtleties of a Random Source DUSG. He's found a way to communicate the necessary details without totally sucking the creativity out of the process. As a result, there are a lot of people that have come to depend on his work in order to get the most out of their modular. He has an amazing history in the music instrument industry (most notably as an engineer at Sequential Circuits) and the media education world (where he did heavy-duty visual work and instructional videos). All of this has come together to his current work, and his exper

Sometimes I'm just blown away by the people I get to meet. Sometimes it's because of their stories. Sometimes it's because of their raw talent. And sometimes it is about the body of work that they've created. But on rare occasions, I run into somebody with all of the above - and it is awe-inspiring. Michael Wall is an educator at The University of Utah, as a teacher/performer/composer in the dance department. Does that sound weird? Probably. Is it effective? Oh yeah! Between 'playing for class', helping dancers become amazing composers (via Ableton Live) and producing hundreds of tracks each year, Michael is a very, very busy dude. Combine that with the fact that he is also both an active performer and a parent, and it becomes overwhelming. This was one of the most amazing interviews I've ever done, and it came about quite unexpectedly - he wrote me as a fan of the podcast, and filled me in on a little of his work. As I tend to do, I followed up with a little research, and became increasingly intrigued. Then

Talk about lucking out. My friend Tim Place has been on me for a while about interviewing someone whose work is important to him - Stephan Moore. I was intrigued, but also distracted, and so I never seemed to get it together to reach out to him. Then, at the recent C74 Expo, Tim introduced me to him. We had a quick chat, set up an interview plan, and it was golden. I didn't expect what I got: one of the easiest interviews ever! Stephan has done so many different and interesting things that he doesn't seem to have anything to prove - resulting in a laid-back presentation that draws you into the conversation in a very inviting way. This was one of those interviews that, when I was done, felt more like 5 minutes than 50. We talk about speaker design, audio/composition for dance and the program he teaches in at Northwestern. As expected, we also dive into his background, which is so familiar to me (ending up in art school as an alternative to music school...). I felt like I left a lot of questions on the table, b

Not long ago I taught a class at a local college that was about the history and practice of electronic music. As part of that, I wanted to find good articles about various artists that could inspire as well as inform. I was surprised how often I ran across a single name - Geeta Dayal - behind the best articles. When I asked some friends for names of people to interview, Geeta's name came up, and I leaped on the opportunity to talk with her; I was fascinated to learn how she did such consistently great writing on subjects I care so much about. Turns out, she's a worker. Deep research, digging out the details and not settling for simple Google searches. A love of both the people and the engineering. And a desire to reveal something different from what had been written before - that's a pretty good cocktail. The result is the articles I've grown to love. If you want to go into a deep dive, you can check out her writing at http://theoriginalsoundtrack.com/, which is a compendium of some of her recent work. She al