Dienstag, 29. Januar 2013
New version of 'Gogokokoroko'
Gogokokoroko is one of my 'Fake african memories' compositions, I already recorded a powerful version with the 'Kargyraa Krew" Kolja Simon, Felix Mönnich and Martin Pässler (www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN8s7lMUCJk). The Para Hybrid-Version I uploaded on soundcloud emphasizes the polyrhythm and polyphony I originally had in mind when composing the track. For now I tried to make it sound like taking the bus in india - I guess I will do other versions that have less nervous energy. Like with Fek Ber, I designed the overall shape of the composition, but let the random mechanisms of the ableton live software execute the actual combinations.
Donnerstag, 24. Januar 2013
Fek Ber
This is a composition of mine that belongs to my "Fake african memories" works. In these works I am mixing polyrhythms inspired by Pygmy and west-african music with the techniques of overtone singing and throat singing.
Starting with song-type structures, after a while I realized that I wanted something less clear - I love the "always the same/always different"-impression when listening to pygmy music. So here I tried to organize the musical material in a similar manner, mimicking a group of people gathering and singing always the same phrases, but in a loose way, without discipline.
To achieve this I heavily related on ableton live´s options to include chance in what is played next. I recorded all the phrases and then the software did the actual combinations within the rhythmic frame. Playing the set again would result in a different version of the composition, so, as I read just today, it is a form of 'generative music', as Brian Eno names it. I am looking forward to perform this live with a group of singers and musicians...
Dienstag, 22. Januar 2013
Shibari loops
In december 2012 we - Para Hybrid & Genia Mascara - did an improvised set at the bondage jam at Schwelle 7, Berlin. At this jam, people practice the art of erotic bondage in a cultivated atmosphere - an atmosphere which attracted us to participate in a musical way.
For Shibari loops I mixed loops that were recorded during this improvisation with loops from other recording sessions. Arranging these loops, I decided to go for lots of repetitions, which may cause boredom, but may also bring about a calm and focused sensuality and that is what seemed special to me at that bondage jam.
Here it is:
Dienstag, 13. November 2012
Nibiru Transit and Lost World rehearsal
Working with Blotch on the new track Nibiru Transit. We did some more complex, prog-rock oriented versions of the material before, but this version - more simple and danceable - fits better to the profile of Blotch. The unison pattern following to the intro reminds meof the offbeat bassline of the old Blotch-track Rigidur.
Following this video recording, we did some more arranging on Nibiru Transit, in the half-time-part at the end, Michaels adds his ascending eights phrase.
And here we have a take of Lost World, with Dennis playing to a click, which gives it a good drive but does not prevent me from making silly mistakes...
And here we have a take of Lost World, with Dennis playing to a click, which gives it a good drive but does not prevent me from making silly mistakes...
Sonntag, 30. September 2012
Blotch @ Robodonien 2012
Some impressions from Robodonien Festival 2012.
Thanks to Christiane Kaja for taking these pictures.
Freitag, 31. August 2012
Working on a duo set
I am in a phase of intensive rehearsals with Jennie Zimmermann, to develop a duo show. Starting from our artistic interests wie move forward to build a profile together.
This is an excerpt from an improvisation, we both loop our voices using ableton live and some of it´s effects. Our laptops were not synchronized as we were interested in an open, ambient-like process.
The next video shows us rehearsing a vocal improvisation accompanied by my composition 'afrobeant'. The rehearsal was in preparation for our first short performance, under a tree in the garden of the Villa Kuriosum in Berlin.
Our aim was to be one element of the garden, so that our performance would be part of the whole experience of being there, so we were after making a kind of ambient, or furniture-music. The composition 'afrobeant' consists of two main melodic parts, one of which is repeated in cycles of two measures, while the other is three measures long. The piece has a calm, but rhythmic flow, some kind of a waltz, also comparable to the atmosphere of an african lullaby. To achieve a more static situation I inserted silences, which are triggered by the launch function in ableton, which can be controlled by parameters of probability. All the sounds that are heard then are still in perfect fit with the two cycles, but the surrounding silences give them the quality of fragments. I read about John Cage using chance operations to insert silence into traditional chorals and I noticed that this method is fun to apply. I like to change the probability and listen to more dense or more open versions of the music. The vocals in the video to Afrobeant are a first try, in the long run the voices may come to another level of interaction and interweaving with the instrumental parts.
The costumes are part of our search for a profile as a duo. Being Para Hybrid, I am a poeto-sexual transgender creature, bringing along a certain kind of sleaziness and lack of seriosity. We are up to find a fitting constellation for this together. The costumes in the video above suggest that a fantasy-person and a fantasy-animal singing together. But this difference between person and animal is not reflected in the music or our way of singing. So we decided to go for a different outfit for me.
The second piece we played at Villa Kuriosum was 'dishöz', in the video above you can see us at one of the first rehearsals for this.
This composition is based on a rhythmic grouping of 4, 3, 3, 3 and 4, 3, 3, 2 impulses. The first and second part of it are nearly identical, only in the end of the second part one impulse is omitted. The first part of 13 impulses and the second of 12 impulses are combined to a cycle of 25 impulses. Jennie added a phrase with 12 impulses. By inserting one impulse of silence every second repetition of this phrase, we get 12 + 12 + 1 and so both phrases share the cycle of 25 impulses. In this video we sing first my phrase, then the one composed by Jennie. Here a sketch in ableton live, both phrases are superimposed:
Dishöz skizze
(I would like to perform this composition with several singers so it becomes more lively, in this demo version we use layered loops and both phrases are sung on different pitches and with some variation in articulation.)
Combined together, the different accents in both phrases create wonderful polyrhythmic tensions, especially in the middle of the cycle of 25 impulses. The ambiguity that this combination creates makes it possible to repeat this same thing again and again, give full concentration to one momentary musical situation and I love that.
The next video shows us rehearsing a vocal improvisation accompanied by my composition 'afrobeant'. The rehearsal was in preparation for our first short performance, under a tree in the garden of the Villa Kuriosum in Berlin.
Our aim was to be one element of the garden, so that our performance would be part of the whole experience of being there, so we were after making a kind of ambient, or furniture-music. The composition 'afrobeant' consists of two main melodic parts, one of which is repeated in cycles of two measures, while the other is three measures long. The piece has a calm, but rhythmic flow, some kind of a waltz, also comparable to the atmosphere of an african lullaby. To achieve a more static situation I inserted silences, which are triggered by the launch function in ableton, which can be controlled by parameters of probability. All the sounds that are heard then are still in perfect fit with the two cycles, but the surrounding silences give them the quality of fragments. I read about John Cage using chance operations to insert silence into traditional chorals and I noticed that this method is fun to apply. I like to change the probability and listen to more dense or more open versions of the music. The vocals in the video to Afrobeant are a first try, in the long run the voices may come to another level of interaction and interweaving with the instrumental parts.
The costumes are part of our search for a profile as a duo. Being Para Hybrid, I am a poeto-sexual transgender creature, bringing along a certain kind of sleaziness and lack of seriosity. We are up to find a fitting constellation for this together. The costumes in the video above suggest that a fantasy-person and a fantasy-animal singing together. But this difference between person and animal is not reflected in the music or our way of singing. So we decided to go for a different outfit for me.
The second piece we played at Villa Kuriosum was 'dishöz', in the video above you can see us at one of the first rehearsals for this.
This composition is based on a rhythmic grouping of 4, 3, 3, 3 and 4, 3, 3, 2 impulses. The first and second part of it are nearly identical, only in the end of the second part one impulse is omitted. The first part of 13 impulses and the second of 12 impulses are combined to a cycle of 25 impulses. Jennie added a phrase with 12 impulses. By inserting one impulse of silence every second repetition of this phrase, we get 12 + 12 + 1 and so both phrases share the cycle of 25 impulses. In this video we sing first my phrase, then the one composed by Jennie. Here a sketch in ableton live, both phrases are superimposed:
Dishöz skizze
(I would like to perform this composition with several singers so it becomes more lively, in this demo version we use layered loops and both phrases are sung on different pitches and with some variation in articulation.)
Combined together, the different accents in both phrases create wonderful polyrhythmic tensions, especially in the middle of the cycle of 25 impulses. The ambiguity that this combination creates makes it possible to repeat this same thing again and again, give full concentration to one momentary musical situation and I love that.
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