‘Trash Fumble’ #onetakestudy* Nº 19

I kept fumbling this one—thus another asterisk [*] on ‘#onetakestudy,’ and thus the title. This one’s very much work-in-progress.

A disprepared ditty bouncing some ideas—well, barely ideas, more fragments of fragments—that emerged from a session with Kaffe Matthews, and a recent gig with Camila Nebbia and Gianluca Elia. It is what it is, but, with a little more work, maybe I can make it into something.

Out on NEWJAiM Recordings

cover art (copyright 2021 NEWJAiM)

Of Life, Recombinant (NEWJAiM9) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar) with Anne Wellmer (voice on track 4).

Track listing: Game: Mutation (5:38); Naught Opportune (≥ 10:42); Are Variant (≥ 8:06); Of Life, Recombinant (≥ 29:22). Total duration ≥ 53:48.

© 2021 NEWJAiM Recordings.
℗ 2021 Han-earl Park.

Camila Nebbia and Han-earl Park at disfigured rivers, Berlin

This Thursday (March 6, 2025) at 8:00pm: Camila Nebbia (saxophone, effects and visuals), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Gianluca Elia (electronics) will be performing as part of disfigured rivers vol. 5 in Berlin (contact for venue details). Also performing are Tumulus (amplified saxophone), and Marina Cyrino (flute) and Ayşe Hatipoğlu (’cello).

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [disfigured rivers (Instagram)…]

Out now on Waveform Alphabet

Gonggong 225088 cover art (copyright 2024 Han-earl Park)

Gonggong 225088 (wa008) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone).

Track listing: Autopoiesis I (≥ 10:14), Autopoiesis II (≥ 4:29), Niche Shift I (16:09), Niche Shift II (≥ 4:45), Niche Shift III (4:35), Niche Shift IV (≥ 12:52), Autopoiesis III (3:26), Autopoiesis IV (≥ 5:03), Autopoiesis V (≥ 3:17), Autopoiesis VI (3:37). Total duration ≥ 70:14.

© 2024 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2024 Waveform Alphabet.

updates

03-05-25: Gianluca Elia added to lineup.

Performance diary (Berlin) 022425

upcoming performances
date venue time details
March 6, 2025 Secret Location*
Berlin
Germany
8:00pm Camila Nebbia (saxophone, effects and visuals), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Gianluca Elia (electronics) as part of disfigured rivers vol. 5. Also performing: Tumulus (amplified saxophone), and Marina Cyrino (flute) and Ayşe Hatipoğlu (’cello). [Details…] * DM for venue details.
March 16, 2025 Kühlspot Social Club
Lehderstraße 74–79
13086 Berlin
Germany
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) Han-earl Park (guitar). Also performing: Sofia Borges (drums and percussion), Jonathan Aardestrup (double bass) and Lisa Ullén (piano). [Details…]
[Kühlspot calendar…] [Facebook event…]
April 29, 2025 Richten25
Gerichtstraße 25
13347 Berlin
Germany
8:00pm (doors: 7pm) Kaffe Matthews (live sampling alchemical electronics) and Han-earl Park (guitar). Also performing: Matthias Müller (trombone), Matthias Muche (trombone) and Jeb Bishop (trombone). [Facebook event…]
July 2025 TBA TBA Juno 3 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Lara Jones: saxophone and electronics; and Pat Thomas: electronics) returns!
Details to follow…

Continue reading “Performance diary (Berlin) 022425”

Intelligent Dissonances in Improvisation (Percorsi Musicali interview)

Group improvisation as triangulation? Fierce solidarity? Wet, squishy electrochemical processes? And science fiction, and the fictions of science? In Ettore Garzia’s Percorsi Musicali article, Garzia asks me about my thoughts on “art and on the way we should approach the reality of the twenty-first century”:

As for the present-day hellfire 2.0 of the world, whether from strong-men political figures, or the next tech breakthrough, we’re surrounded by promises of simple solutions, and seductive stories of salvation and redemption. In this context, creative peoples, I think, can offer counter-narratives to complicate and refute those easy solutions; to instead help us face the complex, the contradictory, the uncertain and ambiguous.

As for me, empathy, compassion and solidarity remain the reasons I continue to engage with interactive, social music practices and communities. But these practices and communities are flawed and imperfect—they are deeply, deeply human after all—and I think it’s important that we remain aware of the possibility of violence and abuse in our practices, and work to take consent, power, conflict, desire and agency seriously. [Read the rest…]

And elsewhere Garzia asks about the albums Of Life, Recombinant, and Juno 3’s upcoming release:

Proxemics spreads electroacoustic power and a sense of movement, thanks to many elements, the fragmentation of the guitar, the plethora of unnatural sounds brought into play by Thomas and the small and intermittent manipulations of Lara’s sax. I discover a narration inside, but also a void, a melancholic vein. Is that so?

Lara [Jones] and Pat [Thomas] are doing some of the most exciting work in enrolling electronics into improvised performance right now. Their approaches, as different as they are, are informed by present-day technological developments while being irreverent towards those same tech enterprises; they are as avant-garde as they come while deeply engaging with the electronic dance vernacular.

I also hear that messy, contradictory, rolling narrative side to Juno 3, but, more than melancholy, I hear, with Proxemics, something angrier and confrontational—I feel, at times, that the music spits and snarls. [Read the rest…]

Read the rest of the article to catch me talking about how the works of certain writers and filmmakers have affected my work in refracting improvisation through narrative techniques and tropes; the reason for choosing the trio context (and the differences between Eris 136199, Juno 3 and Gonggong 225088); and whether I would ever return to constructing musical automata in this post-ChatGPT condition.

Selected Discography

Proxemics cover art (copyright 2025 Han-earl Park)

Proxemics (BAF003) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics).

Track listing: Derealization I (4:07), Derealization II (4:57), Derealization III (3:52), Derealization IV (6:19), Derealization V (5:55), Derealization VI (3:47), Proxemics I (5:05), Proxemics II (3:54), Proxemics III (6:10), Proxemics IV (7:15), Proxemics V (6:10), Proxemics VI: Rumble (5:13). Total duration: 62:44.

© and ℗ 2025 Han-earl Park.

Gonggong 225088 cover art (copyright 2024 Han-earl Park)

Gonggong 225088 (wa008) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone).

Track listing: Autopoiesis I (≥ 10:14), Autopoiesis II (≥ 4:29), Niche Shift I (16:09), Niche Shift II (≥ 4:45), Niche Shift III (4:35), Niche Shift IV (≥ 12:52), Autopoiesis III (3:26), Autopoiesis IV (≥ 5:03), Autopoiesis V (≥ 3:17), Autopoiesis VI (3:37). Total duration ≥ 70:14.

© 2024 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2024 Waveform Alphabet.

cover art (copyright 2021 NEWJAiM)

Of Life, Recombinant (NEWJAiM9) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar) with Anne Wellmer (voice on track 4).

Track listing: Game: Mutation (5:38); Naught Opportune (≥ 10:42); Are Variant (≥ 8:06); Of Life, Recombinant (≥ 29:22). Total duration ≥ 53:48.

© 2021 NEWJAiM Recordings.
℗ 2021 Han-earl Park.

cover art (copyright 2020 Han-earl Park)

Peculiar Velocities (BAF002) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophone) and Nick Didkovsky (guitar).

Track listing: Ballad of Tensegrity I (≥ 5:12), Ballad of Tensegrity II (2:28), Peculiar Velocities I (3:46), Peculiar Velocities II (3:36), Sleeping Dragon (5:22), D-Loop I (≥ 6:16), D-Loop II (5:13), Polytely I (≥ 5:01), Polytely II: Breakdown (5:33), Anagnorisis I (2:09), Anagnorisis II (2:19). Total duration ≥ 46:54.

© + ℗ 2020 Han-earl Park.

‘io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) CD cover (copyright 2011, Han-earl Park)

io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) [details…]

Personnel: io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself), Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (soprano saxophone).

Track listing: Pioneer: Variance (11:52); Pioneer: Dance (13:13); Ground-Based Telemetry (1:42); Discovery: Intermodulation (9:08); Discovery: Decay (5:08); 4G (0:59); Laplace: Perturbation (10:21); Laplace: Instability (3:08); Return Trajectory (8:24). Total duration: 63:57.

© 2011 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.

Gonggong 225088 at Kühlspot, Berlin

Next week (Tuesday, November 19, 2024), at 8:30pm (doors: 8pm): Dream a little noisy, sweetly disquieting dream with Gonggong 225088 as Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone) perform at Kühlspot Social Club (Lehderstraße 74–79, 13086 Berlin).

Blue-green iridescence
(Crunch and more scatter)
A vacuum of warning

Here be dragons.

It’s been a while since Gonggong played in the trio’s hometown, and it’s been longer since we’ve had an opportunity to really stretch out (we’ll be playing two complete sets at Kühlspot). It’s always a joy to be performing with Camila and Yorgos, and I am super excited to see where the music takes us (and where we take the music). One of the many things I love about this group is how everyone is inviting the others to occupy spaces by actively creating constantly shifting gaps and cracks in the arrangement and moment-by-moment composition.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Kühlspot listing…] [Facebook event…]

Out now on Waveform Alphabet

Gonggong 225088 cover art (copyright 2024 Han-earl Park)

Gonggong 225088 (wa008) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone).

Track listing: Autopoiesis I (≥ 10:14), Autopoiesis II (≥ 4:29), Niche Shift I (16:09), Niche Shift II (≥ 4:45), Niche Shift III (4:35), Niche Shift IV (≥ 12:52), Autopoiesis III (3:26), Autopoiesis IV (≥ 5:03), Autopoiesis V (≥ 3:17), Autopoiesis VI (3:37). Total duration ≥ 70:14.

© 2024 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2024 Waveform Alphabet.

Tomorrow: Hugo Costa, Han-earl Park and Rudi Fischerlehner at PAS, Berlin

pink, fluorescent gaffer’s tape

Tomorrow! (Tuesday, November 5, 2024), doors at 8:00pm, music “a little later”: Hugo Costa (alto saxophone), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Rudi Fischerlehner (drums) perform at PAS (Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101, 10553 Berlin). Also performing are Guilherme Rodrigues (’cello), Camila Nebbia (tenor saxophone), Davide Piersanti (trombone) and Evi Filippou (vibraphone).

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [PAS page…] [Facebook event…]

Gonggong 225088: ‘Niche Shift I’

New video (‘Niche Shift I’) from Gonggong 225088! As I wrote in the chat:

This was one of those videos that I almost decided against posting. ​​I think this one really highlights the discrepancy, or dissonance, between the visual and the auditory. ​​I felt like maybe uploading the video might take away from the magic of the listening experience (if that makes sense). ​​Reveal[ing] too much of the nuts’n’bolts and pulleys’n’curtains’n’backdrops behind the sounding processes. ​​Anyway, I love the pace—tides ebb’n’flow—that Yorgos and Camila created here. [More…]

What became ‘Niche Shift I’ was, for me, the key transitional passage from the album—the part of the performance that really caught the entire trio by surprise on the evening. Enjoy.

Out now on Waveform Alphabet

Gonggong 225088 cover art (copyright 2024 Han-earl Park)

Gonggong 225088 (wa008) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone).

Track listing: Autopoiesis I (≥ 10:14), Autopoiesis II (≥ 4:29), Niche Shift I (16:09), Niche Shift II (≥ 4:45), Niche Shift III (4:35), Niche Shift IV (≥ 12:52), Autopoiesis III (3:26), Autopoiesis IV (≥ 5:03), Autopoiesis V (≥ 3:17), Autopoiesis VI (3:37). Total duration ≥ 70:14.

© 2024 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2024 Waveform Alphabet.

Gonggong 225088 at Parallel Universe, München

This Friday (October 18, 2024): Dream a little noisy, sweetly disquieting dream with Gonggong 225088 as Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone) perform as part of Parallel Universe presented by Offene Ohren.

Gonggong 225088 entführt die Zuhörerschaft in eine Traumwelt voller Gegensätze: krachend-subtil, irritierend-melodisch, wundervoll dissonant.

Das international besetzte Trio… changiert mühelos zwischen Kulturen, mechanischen Effekten und tonalen Wechselwirkungen in einem beständig vorantreibenden Prozess. [Read the rest…]

The festival takes place at Schwere Reiter (Dachauer Straße 114a80636 München / Kreativquartier), and the event starts at 6:00pm (our set expected to be around 7:30pm). Also performing that evening are Espresso & Mud invites Ute Wassermann, and Le 7ème Continent.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Offene Ohren page…] [Get tickets…]

Out now on Waveform Alphabet

Gonggong 225088 cover art (copyright 2024 Han-earl Park)

Gonggong 225088 (wa008) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone).

Track listing: Autopoiesis I (≥ 10:14), Autopoiesis II (≥ 4:29), Niche Shift I (16:09), Niche Shift II (≥ 4:45), Niche Shift III (4:35), Niche Shift IV (≥ 12:52), Autopoiesis III (3:26), Autopoiesis IV (≥ 5:03), Autopoiesis V (≥ 3:17), Autopoiesis VI (3:37). Total duration ≥ 70:14.

© 2024 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2024 Waveform Alphabet.

Performance diary (Berlin and München) 092024

upcoming performances
date venue time details
October 13, 2024 PAS
Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101
10553 Berlin
Germany
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) Han-earl Park (guitar). Also performing: Marcus Wärnheim (alto saxophone) and Thomas Jaspers (drums). [Details…]
[PAS page…] [Facebook event…]
October 18, 2024 Schwere Reiter
Dachauer Straße 114a
80636 München (Kreativquartier)
Germany
6:00pm Gonggong 225088 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Yorgos Dimitriadis: percussion and electronics; and Camila Nebbia: saxophone) performs as part of Parallel Universe presented by Offene Ohren. Also performing: Espresso & Mud invites Ute Wassermann, and Le 7ème Continent. [Details…]
[Offene Ohren page…] [Get tickets…]
November 5, 2024 PAS
Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101
10553 Berlin
Germany
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) Hugo Costa (alto saxophone), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Rudi Fischerlehner (drums). Also performing: Guilherme Rodrigues (’cello), Camila Nebbia (tenor saxophone), Davide Piersanti (trombone) and Evi Filippou (vibraphone). [Details…]
[PAS page…] [Facebook event…]
November 17, 2024 PAS
Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101
10553 Berlin
Germany
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) The Names (Heather Frasch: flute; Carina Khorkhordina: trumpet; Koen Nutters: upright bass; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Quentin Tolimieri: melodica). Also performing: Masahide Tokunaga (alto saxophone), Takako Suzuki (dance, movements) and Lucio Capece (bass clarinet, mini speakers in feedback); and Hugo Costa (alto saxophone), Johannes Fink (’cello) and Jan Leipnitz (drums). [Details…]
[PAS page…] [Facebook event…]
November 19, 2024 Kühlspot Social Club
Lehderstraße 74–79
13086 Berlin
Germany
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) Gonggong 225088 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Yorgos Dimitriadis: percussion and electronics; and Camila Nebbia: saxophone).
[Details…]
[Kühlspot calendar…] [Facebook event…]
November 20, 2024 Richten25
Gerichtstraße 25
13347 Berlin
Germany
8:00pm (doors: 7pm) The Names (Heather Frasch: flute; Carina Khorkhordina: trumpet; Koen Nutters: upright bass; Han-earl Park: guitar; Quentin Tolimieri: melodica; and Gert-Jan Prins: percussion). Also performing: Pierre Borel (alto saxophone). [Details…]
[Facebook event…]

Continue reading “Performance diary (Berlin and München) 092024”

Performance diary (Berlin and München) 080624

upcoming performances
date venue time details
August 21, 2024 Kühlspot Social Club
Lehderstraße 74–79
13086 Berlin
Germany
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) Han-earl Park (guitar). Also performing: Simon Rose (baritone saxophone), Jan Roder (double bass) and Willi Kellers (drums). Simon Rose (saxophone) and Youjin Sung (gayageum). [Details…]
[Kühlspot listing…] [Facebook event…]
October 18, 2024 Schwere Reiter
Dachauer Straße 114a
80636 München (Kreativquartier)
Germany
6:00pm Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone) perform as part of Parallel Universe presented by Offene Ohren. Also performing: Espresso & Mud invites Ute Wassermann, and Le 7ème Continent. [Offene Ohren page…]
November 19, 2024 Kühlspot Social Club
Lehderstraße 74–79
13086 Berlin
Germany
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone).
Details to follow…

Continue reading “Performance diary (Berlin and München) 080624”

Performance diary (Berlin and München) 060924

upcoming performances
date venue time details
June 13, 2024 PAS
Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101
10553 Berlin
Germany
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) Han-earl Park (guitar). Also performing: HOCUS (João Almeida: trumpet, electronics, fx), and Ian Douglas-Moore (electroacoustic guitar) and Eric Wong (electronics, speakers). [Details…]
[PAS page…] [Facebook event…]
July 19, 2024 Café Plume
Warthestraße 60
12051 Berlin
Germany
6:00pm Han-earl Park (guitar). Also performing: Ignaz Schick, Kellen Mills and Yorgos Dimitriadis Korhan Erel and Karina Erhard. [Details…]
[Facebook event…]
October 18, 2024 Schwere Reiter
Dachauer Straße 114a
80636 München (Kreativquartier)
Germany
TBA Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone) perform as part of Parallel Universe presented by Offene Ohren.
[Offene Ohren page…]

Continue reading “Performance diary (Berlin and München) 060924”

Gonggong 225088 at Club Manufaktur, Schorndorf

Friday, May 31, 2024, at 8:30pm: Dream a little noisy, sweetly disquieting dream with as Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone) perform at Club Manufaktur (Hammerschlag 8, 73614 Schorndorf). €26/22/16. [Get tickets…]

It’s been a couple of months since this trio last hit the stage, but each time is different, and every time is special. I am so very much looking forward to playing again with Camila and Yorgos, and excited to be finally taking this trio out of its birth city. See you at Manufaktur!

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Manufaktur page…] [Facebook event…]

Out now on Waveform Alphabet

Gonggong 225088 cover art (copyright 2024 Han-earl Park)

Gonggong 225088 (wa008) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone).

Track listing: Autopoiesis I (≥ 10:14), Autopoiesis II (≥ 4:29), Niche Shift I (16:09), Niche Shift II (≥ 4:45), Niche Shift III (4:35), Niche Shift IV (≥ 12:52), Autopoiesis III (3:26), Autopoiesis IV (≥ 5:03), Autopoiesis V (≥ 3:17), Autopoiesis VI (3:37). Total duration ≥ 70:14.

© 2024 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2024 Waveform Alphabet.