performance diary 12-16-12 (Brooklyn, New York)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
January 13, 2013 The Brecht Forum
451 West Street
New York, NY 10014
6:00pm Performance by Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones). Also performing: Music Now! (Ras Moshe, Luke Stewart, Tom Zlabinger, Max Johnson, John Pietaro and Tor Yochai Snyder), and We Free Strings (Melanie Dyer, Sonya Robinson, Nioka Workman, Charles Burnham, Larry Roland and David Harewood). Admission: $11.
[Details…]
[Brecht Forum page…]
January 20, 2013 Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street
New York, NY 10002
6:00pm Performance by Michael Evans (drums), Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar).
Free admission.
[Details…]
[DMG page…]
March 26, 2013 The Backroom @ Freddy’s Bar
627 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
8:30pm Performance by Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Josh Sinton (saxophone and clarinet) as part of On The Way Out. Also performing: Robert Dick (flutes), Nick Didkovsky (guitar), Andrew Drury (drums and percussion) and Michael Lytle (clarinet and analog electronics). Recommended donation: $10.
2013 North America Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones) is seeking performance opportunities in North America, and, in 2014, elsewhere in the world.
Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Detailed proposal…]
2014 Europe Seeking performances in Europe, 2014 for the cyborg ensemble of interactive, semi-autonomous, technological artifact and machine musician io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself) with human musicians Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophones). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Detailed proposal…]

Continue reading “performance diary 12-16-12 (Brooklyn, New York)”

Le son du grisli: Numbers: Richard Barrett + Han-earl Park

CD cover of ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park (copyright 2012, Creative Sources Recordings)
‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) © 2012 Creative Sources

Do you feel the need for some gargling? convincing? crawling? craziness? dizziness? …or telegraphs? Luc Bouquet’s take, at Le son du grisli, on ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) by Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park:

Le gargarisme est convaincant. D’un côté les electronics de Richard Barrett, de l’autre la guitare d’Han-Earl Park. Tous deux grouillent et cisaillent les volumes, réactivent la matière folle, rendent la télégraphie à sa fonction première : transmettre (Tolur). Leur improvisation en miroir engorge leur transe succube, fait déborder le vase, bouche la robinetterie (Tricav).

Parfois, au milieu des monstres soniques qu’ils viennent de créer, émerge une guitare façon Bailey (Ankpla). Mais rarement rassasiés (Uettet pour me faire mentir), les voici rassurant leur nervosité naturelle en un final aux brûlures fatales (II……). Le gargarisme est convaincant. Le vertige, tout autant.

[Original article…]

And, by the way, on Tuesday (December 18, 2012) François Couture (Monsieur Délire) will be playing selections from his 2012 Demanding Music Top 30 at Délire Actuel (CFLX 95.5 FM, Sherbrooke, Quebec). Along with some other great music from this year, it might be an opportunity to hear a little of ‘Numbers’. [More info…]

‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) is available from Creative Sources Recordings. [More info…] [All reviews…] [Get the CD…]

Top 30 des musiques exigeantes 2012: Numbers: Richard Barrett + Han-earl Park

CD cover of ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park (copyright 2012, Creative Sources Recordings)
‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) © 2012 Creative Sources

François Couture (Monsieur Délire) has selected ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett for Délire actuel’s 2012 Demanding Music Top 30:

The demanding music radio show Délire Actuel (CFLX-FM 95.5, Sherbrooke, Quebec) unveiled today its top 30 experimental music albums you shouldn’t have missed in 2012. This list culls 30 titles, the 2012 crème de la crème in demanding music, i.e. the avant-gardist or experimental fringe in every music genre (contemporary, avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, avant-rock, electronica, etc.)….

Two special editions of Délire Actuel will be broadcasted tonight (December 11) and next Tuesday (December 18), from 8 pm to 10 pm (EST), on CFLX 95.5 FM in the Sherbrooke area and live on the web at www.cflx.qc.ca/en-direct/. The show is broadcasted in French, but the music is universal. A track from each selected CD will be featured. The Top 30 was posted this morning on Mr. Couture’s blog Monsieur Délire…. Shows are available to stream or download from CFLX’s website for a week after their broadcast date. [Read the rest…]

I’m honored to find our record in such distinguished company.

  1. Westerhus, Stian: ‘The Matriarch and the Wrong Kind of Flowers’ (Rune Grammofon)
  2. Drake, Bob: ‘Bob’s Drive-In’ (ReR Megacorp)
  3. Bishop, Jeb/Blonk, Jaap/Mallozzi, Lou/Rosaly, Frank: ‘At the Hideout’ (Kontrans)
  4. Perkin, Miles Quartet: ‘Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear’ (ind.)
  5. Adkins, Monty: ‘Four Shibusa’ (Audiobulb)
  6. Zorn, John: ‘Mount Analogue’ (Tzadik)
  7. Carvalhais, Hugo: ‘Particula’ (Clean Feed)
  8. Berne, Alexander: ‘Self Referentials Vols. 1 & 2’ (Innova)
  9. New Songs, The: ‘A Nest at the Junction of Paths’ (Umlaut Records)
  10. Smith, Wadada Leo: ‘Ten Freedom Summers’ (Cuneiform)
  11. Homler, Anna/Hallett, Sylvia: ‘The Many Moods of Bread and Shed’ (The Orchestra Pit)
  12. Ratchet Orchestra: ‘Hemlock’ (Drip Audio)
  13. Endresen, Sidsel/Westerhus, Stian: ‘Didymoi Dreams’ (Rune Grammofon)
  14. Barrett, Richard/Park, Han-earl: ‘Numbers’ (Creative Sources)
  15. Bernier, Nicolas: ‘Travaux mécaniques’ (empreintes DIGITALes)
  16. Cactus Truck: ‘Brand New for China!’ (Public Eyesore)
  17. Bruckmann, Kyle: ‘On Procedural Grounds’ (New World Records)
  18. Capece, Lucio: ‘Zero by Zero’ (Potlatch)
  19. Petit, Philippe: ‘Hitch-Hiking Thru Bronze Mirrors (Extraordinary Tales of a Lemon Girl, Chapter 3)’ (Aagoo)
  20. Nicols, Maggie/Hargreaves, Phil: ‘Human’ (whi music)
  21. Huijbregts, Nico: ‘Dialogue Dreams’ (Vindu Music)
  22. Esseiva, Kiko C.: ‘Drôles d’oiseaux’ (Hinterzimmer)
  23. Plaistow: ‘Lacrimosa’ (Insubordinations)
  24. Grimal, Alexandra: ‘Andromeda’ (Ayler)
  25. Normand, Éric 5: ‘Sur un fil’ (Setola di Maiale)
  26. Zorn, John: ‘Templars: In Sacred Blood’ (Tzadik)
  27. Dilloway, Aaron/Lescalleet, Jason: ‘Grapes and Snakes’ (Pan)
  28. eriKm/Rivière, Arnaud/DJ Sniff/Tétreault, Martin: ‘Drift 01’ (Art Kill Art)
  29. Perelman, Ivo/Shipp, Matthew/Dickey, Whit: ‘The Clairvoyant’ (Leo Records)
  30. Trapist: ‘The Golden Years’ (Staubgold)

‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) is available from Creative Sources Recordings. [More info…] [All reviews…] [Get the CD…]

Download of the Day at All About Jazz: Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)

Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray: Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10)
Taken from the album by Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray, ‘Recursion, Closure’ by guitarist-constructor Park is today’s featured download at All About Jazz! A rare solo recording, the performance was recorded live at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, and explores, with resonant buzzes and feedback, the complex, cavernous acoustics of the space, and the interactions between artifact (guitar) and the body (guitarist). Thanks again to AAJ downloads editor Dave Sumner for selecting the recording.

[Track at AAJ…] [Album info and complete download…]

Previous All About Jazz featured downloads

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park: ‘바르트’
Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders: ‘shoapnxoe gutair dmurs a.ii’
Han-earl Park and Richard Scott: ‘Carrier’
Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder: ‘Chorale’

Also available for download…

Murray Campbell, Randy McKean with Han-earl Park, plus Gino Robair and Scott R. Looney: Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011)

Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011) [details…]

Performers: Murray Campbell (violins, oboe and cor anglais), Randy McKean (saxophone, clarinets and flutes) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible) and Scott R. Looney (hyperpiano).

(cc) 2012 Murray Campbell/Randy McKean/Han-earl Park/Gino Robair/Scott R. Looney.

Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter: Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)

Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01-24-11) [details…]

Performers: Jin Sangtae (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums and electronics).

(cc) 2012 Jin Sangtae/Han-earl Park/Jeffrey Weeter.

Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder: Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09)

Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophone).

(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Franziska Schroeder.

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park: Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11)

Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11) [details…]

Performers: Catherine Sikora (saxophone), Ian Smith (trumpet) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

(cc) 2012 Catherine Sikora/Ian Smith/Han-earl Park.

Coming soon…

Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders: Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11)

Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11) [details…]

Performers: Paul Dunmall (saxophones and bagpipes), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Mark Sanders (drums).

(cc) 2012 Paul Dunmall/Han-earl Park/Mark Sanders.

Jazz Convention: Numbers: Richard Barrett + Han-earl Park

CD cover of ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park (copyright 2012, Creative Sources Recordings)
‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) © 2012 Creative Sources

Density and expressive urgency. Romualdo Del Noce at Jazz Convention reviews ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) by Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park:

Assai suggestivo l’interattivo duo protagonista: Barrett… sospinge oltre l’ostacolo dei vincoli della forma le pulsioni delle elettroniche di cui dispensa e vaporizza esponenzialmente le valenze e i caratteri timbrici, laddove Park, forte della sperimentazione viva e costante sullo strumento a sei corde, assai esagitato nel potenziale armonico-melodico, dilata le ispirazioni a nervi scoperti e le destrutturazioni alla Derek Bailey, e il tutto scattando un’immagine in movimento ed (es)agitata di una avant-garde – già, di suo, indocile soggetto – e che qui trova convinti e motivati praticanti – esegeti.

Cinque tracks-passaggi per un’ora esatta di forte urgenza espressiva che si staglia dimensionalmente per impeto psico-attivo, densità partecipativa ed acidità di smalti e pigmenti – reinterpretata e rivissuta dal concentratissimo duo Barrett-Park, Numbers si fa “danza interattiva ad alta energia e a passo veloce, scriteriata, looping a due mani, danza contorta, interattiva e resa udibile, unità di estemporizzazione intensa e da brivido” secondo la concitata definizione autoriale e che, così enunciata, lascerebbe assai poco di accattivante al pubblico generale – ma poco importa, data la vocazione settoriale e la dedizione (peraltro con coscienza perseguita e coronata) all’acting gravido di rischio e all’esplorazione avventurosa.

[Read the rest…]

‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) is available from Creative Sources Recordings. [More info…] [All reviews…] [Get the CD…]

site update: scrapbook

web audio player widget
I’ve finally updated and reorganized my scrapbook. It’s been a few years since I last made changes to this audio and video archive, so there’s a good few additions, and a few more tracks (with Richard Barrett, Paul Dunmall and Mark Sanders) will be added in the coming weeks. Below is a sample of some of the more recent additions. Enjoy!

All music and audio recordings © + ℗ their respective owners.

Gargantius Effect (Murray Campbell: violin, double reeds; Randy McKean: saxophone, clarinet) with Han-earl Park (guitar) and Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible).

Music by Murray Campbell, Randy McKean, Han-earl Park and Gino Robair.
Recorded live August 30, 2011 at Studio 1510, Oakland.
Recorded by Randy McKean. Mastered by Han-earl Park.

[Download complete recording…]

Han-earl Park (guitar) and Richard Scott (electronics).

Music by Han-earl Park and Richard Scott.
Recorded Recorded on October 23, 2010 at Richard Scott’s studio, Berlin.
Recorded and mixed by Richard Scott.

[Download complete recording…]

io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself) and Bruce Coates (saxophone).

Music by Han-earl Park, Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder.
Recorded May 25, 2010 at the Ó Riada Hall, UCC Music Building, Cork.
Audio clip courtesy of SLAM Productions. ℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.
Recorded and mixed by Han-earl Park.

[More…] [Get the CD/download…]

in preparation: Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders (Birmingham, 02–15–11)

Update: This recording has been rereleased! The new edition adds the option to download the recording in multiple formats including lossless. [Listen, download and more…]
artwork for Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders: Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11)
Next download release will be the recording of the February 15, 2011 performance by Paul Dunmall (saxophones and bagpipes), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Mark Sanders (drums). Beautifully recorded by Chris Trent, the performance was presented by Mike Hurley/Fizzle and Improvisation Birmingham.

This’ll be the final release in the current series, after which I plan to take a little break. A rerelease of a recording originally put out in December 2011, this new version will be available in a variety of formats (including lossless), and as a ‘name your price’ album.

More info to follow…

Also available for download…

Murray Campbell, Randy McKean with Han-earl Park, plus Gino Robair and Scott R. Looney: Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011)

Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011) [details…]

Performers: Murray Campbell (violins, oboe and cor anglais), Randy McKean (saxophone, clarinets and flutes) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible) and Scott R. Looney (hyperpiano).

(cc) 2012 Murray Campbell/Randy McKean/Han-earl Park/Gino Robair/Scott R. Looney.

Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray: Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10)

Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Marian Murray (violin).

(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Marian Murray.

Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter: Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)

Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01-24-11) [details…]

Performers: Jin Sangtae (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums and electronics).

(cc) 2012 Jin Sangtae/Han-earl Park/Jeffrey Weeter.

Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder: Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09)

Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophone).

(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Franziska Schroeder.

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park: Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11)

Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11) [details…]

Performers: Catherine Sikora (saxophone), Ian Smith (trumpet) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

(cc) 2012 Catherine Sikora/Ian Smith/Han-earl Park.

updates

01–12–13: new edition released! [Listen, download and more…]

performance diary 11-09-12 (Brooklyn, New York)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
January 20, 2013 Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street
New York, NY 10002
6:00pm Performance by Michael Evans (drums), Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar).
Free admission.
[DMG page…]
March 26, 2013 The Backroom @ Freddy’s Bar
627 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
8:30pm Performance as part of On The Way Out. More info to follow…
2012–2013 North America Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones) is seeking performance opportunities in North America, and, in 2013, elsewhere in the world.
Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Detailed proposal…]
2014 Europe Seeking performances in Europe, 2014 for the cyborg ensemble of interactive, semi-autonomous, technological artifact and machine musician io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself) with human musicians Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophones). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Detailed proposal…]

Continue reading “performance diary 11-09-12 (Brooklyn, New York)”

io 0.0.1 beta++: seeking performances (Europe, 2014)

io 0.0.1 beta++, Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder, Blackrock Castle Observatory, 05-26-2010 (photo copyright 2010, Stephanie Hough)
io 0.0.1 beta++, Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder (Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork, May 26, 2010). Photo © 2010 Stephanie Hough.

Seeking performance opportunities; particularly in Europe 2014: the cyborg ensemble of interactive, semi-autonomous, technological artifact and machine musician and improviser io 0.0.1 beta++ with human musicians Han-earl Park, Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder.

See performance proposal for further information (availability, technical requirements, performers’ biographies, etc.).

overview

This quartet (or faux-quartet, if you prefer) performs demanding free improvisation calling on a range of extended techniques. Pieces of dismantled gestures, destabilizing timbres, and impressive synergy.

François Couture (Monsieur Délire)

An idea that would be pleasing to the Futurists of a century ago, a total hymn to modernity…. The completely improvised session requires a lot of attention from the listener, to be fully repaid by that which is a successful experiment.

Vittorio (MusicZoom)

We watch and listen carefully because we know we’re seeing a kind of manifesto in action. What is an automaton? A sketch, a material characterization of the ideas the inventor and the inventor’s culture have about some aspect of life, and how it could be. io and its kind are alternate beings born of ideas, decisions and choices. It is because io stands alone, an automaton, that the performance recorded on this CD not only is music, but is about music.

Sara Roberts (from the liner notes to SLAMCD 531)

An extraordinary meeting between human and machine improvisers. Featuring the machine musician io 0.0.1 beta++ with guitarist Han-earl Park and saxophonists Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder, the performance is part critique and part playful exploration, both a boundary-breaking demonstration of socio-musical technologies and an ironic sci-fi parody.

Constructed by Han-earl Park, io 0.0.1 beta++ is a modern-day musical automaton. It is not an instrument to be played but a non-human artificial musician that performs alongside its human counterparts. io 0.0.1 beta++ representing a personal-political investigation of technology, interaction, improvisation and musicality. It whimsically evokes a 1950s B-movie robot—seemingly jerry-rigged, constructed from ad-hoc components including plumbing, kitchenware, speakers and missile switches—celebrating the material and corporeal.

The performances with this artificial musician highlights society’s entanglement with technology, demonstrates alternative modes of interfacing the musical and the technological, and illuminates the creative and improvisative processes in music. The performance is a radical and playful engagement with powerful and problematic dreams (and nightmares) of the artificial; a dream as old as the anthropology of robots.

The construction of io 0.0.1 beta++ has been made possible by the generous support of the Arts Council of Ireland.

The CD ‘io 0.0.1 beta++’ (SLAMCD 531) was released by SLAM Productions in August 2011.

further information

* Additional audio recordings and documentation available on request.

[Full performance proposal…]
[Original post at www.io001b.com…]

updates

11–08–12: this is a repost of a previous article: change of availability from 2013 to 2014.

Downtown Music Gallery is back!

My favorite record store, Downtown Music Gallery, is back up and running after Hurricane Sandy, and they need your support. Not just a record store, DMG is an institution that supports left-field, creative music. I am privileged to have had their support over the years. The following of my CDs are available from DMG. [CDs by Han-earl Park from DMG…]

available from Downtown Music Gallery

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

io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) [details…] [Get it from DMG…]

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

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

‘Mathilde 253’ (SLAMCD 528) CD cover (copyright 2010, Han-earl Park)

Mathilde 253 (SLAMCD 528) [details…] [Get it from DMG…]

Performers: Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn) plus Lol Coxhill (saxophone).

© 2010 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2010 SLAM Productions.

Paul Dunmall and Han-earl Park: Boolean Transforms (DLE-067) CD cover (copyright 2010, DUNS Limited Edition)

Boolean Transforms (DLE-067) [details…] [Get it from DMG…]

Performers: Paul Dunmall (saxophone and bagpipes) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

© 2010 DUNS Limited Edition.
℗ 2010 Paul Dunmall/Han-earl Park.

Han-earl Park, Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders and Jamie Smith: Live at the Glucksman gallery, Cork (owlcd002) CD cover (copyright 2012, Owlhouse Recordings)

Live at the Glucksman gallery, Cork (owlcd002) [details…] [Get it from DMG…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Paul Dunmall (saxophone), Mark Sanders (drums) and Jamie Smith (guitar).

© 2009 by Owlhouse Recordings.
℗ 2009 Han-earl Park/Paul Dunmall/Mark Sanders/Jamie Smith.

io 0.0.1 beta++: freedom, machine subjectivity and pseudo-science

ImproTech Paris-New York 2012 : Improvisation & Technology
At the io 0.0.1 beta++ website, I’ve posted the twitter transcript of observations from a Computer Music event:

As a institutionally unaffiliated, part-time geek (and amateur anthropologist), I find the Computer Music tribes’ behavior fascinating. This is an unedited transcript of my observations from ImproTech Paris-New York 2012 : Improvisation & Technology series of events. My original observations came in the form of live tweets via @hanearlpark that spanned the performances on May 16, 2012 at the Roulette, and the ‘workshops’ (which I would describe as paper presentations or demonstrations) over the following two days at NYU and Columbia (the closing concert at Columbia gets a very short mention at the end).

[Read the rest…]

audio recordings: Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08–2011)

artwork for Murray Campbell, Randy McKean with Han-earl Park, plus Gino Robair and Scott R. Looney: Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011)
The recording of Gargantius Effect (Murray Campbell: violins, oboe and cor anglais; and Randy McKean: saxophone, clarinets and flutes) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible) and Scott R. Looney (hyperpiano) is now available for download. The album was recorded during the August 2011 tour of Northern California, and features tracks recorded at The Tin House (Grass Valley) on August 25th, at Studio 1510 (Oakland) on August 30th. [Bandcamp page…] [Download now…]

Recommended price: €8+

In line with the current series of download releases (Park+Murray (Cork, 07–29–10), Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01-24-11), Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09) and Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04–04–11)), this record is hosted at Bandcamp, and available as a ‘name your price’ album. Although you can download the recording for free (name €0 as your price) with certain restrictions, please consider paying at least the recommended price. Your generosity will help support the performers and their work.

Special thanks to Randy McKean for organizing the tour, Ken Schumacher of Live Vibes Recording for the engineering, and to Corey Mwamba for feedback during the mastering process.

description

Gargantius Effect +1: Murray Campbell, Randy McKean and Han-earl Park (The Tin House, Grass Valley, August 25, 2011). Photo copyright 2011 Ken Schumacher.
Gargantius Effect +1: Murray Campbell, Randy McKean and Han-earl Park (The Tin House, Grass Valley, August 25, 2011). Photo © 2011 Ken Schumacher.

In front of a small but appreciative audience, the California-based Gargantius Effect, including [Han-earl] Park, Murray Campbell, Randy McKean, Scott Looney and Gino Robair, slip in and out of something approaching Webern-ian counterpoint on Nor Cal 8-2011. Looney and Robair join in later on this disc of various tour dates, leaving the other three to explore the outer limits of timbre, especially on the epic “Old Robots Never Rust”. Campbell’s violin slides are an excellent foil to the more vocal qualities in Park’s improvising, not to mention similar devices used by multi-reedist Randy McKean as the trio converge and diverge in pitch space. When Robair and Looney appear, electronics and hyperpiano are difficult to distinguish, but first-rate audio keeps everything in proper perspective and the improv is always edge-of-seat energetic.

— Marc Medwin (The New York City Jazz Record)

“Han [Han-earl Park] is a very old friend of mine. We’ve done a lot of strange things in various parts of Europe. He’s somewhat responsible for me ending up in Nevada County. About ten years ago he was studying at CalArts, and I came over to play in his graduation show. Part of that trip was my first visit to Nevada County, where many things spinned out from that.

“Also finding this gentleman [Randy McKean] here in Grass Valley; finding not only a great improvising player, but one that plays bass clarinet, was a huge thing that helped me stay. It was a complete leap in the dark to move out here. I was raised in a rural area, I always known that that was the thing to do, but leaving a metropolitan zone [The Hague] and coming out here with nothing—no plan—was a shot in the dark, and finding that there were things like this [McKean] in the woods made it a lot easier to stay.

“So these are two of my favorite people to play music with.”

Murray Campbell (introduction to the performance, August 25, 2011)

The Gargantius Effect is the brainchild of Murray Campbell (violins, oboe and cor anglais) and Randy McKean (saxophone, clarinets and flutes). Like the Stanislaw Lem story of the same name, in which armies of warring soldiers are linked together to form a peaceful, blissfully-aware omni-mind, so, too, these longtime collaborators and Nevada County natives transform the connections and crossfires of the various genres in which they usually find themselves—the Euro-café of Beacoup Chapeaux, Balkan swing of Chickenbonz, chamber jazz of Bristle—into scintillating bits of free improvisation, compositional constructs and mechanized mayhem.

This album documents Gargantius Effect’s August 2011 tour of Northern California with special guest and fellow Sonologist Han-earl Park (guitar), who had just returned to the States after years in Europe, teaching, and playing with the likes of Paul Dunmall, Charles Hayward and Franziska Schroeder. In addition to the recording of the performance at The Tin House (Grass Valley) on August 25, 2011, the August 30, 2011 session at Studio 1510 (Oakland) features Bay Area veteran improviser, composer and electronic artist Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible), and hyperpianist Scott R. Looney (hyperpiano).
Gargantius Effect +1 | +2 (Northern California, 2011)

personnel

Murray Campbell (violins, oboe and cor anglais), Randy McKean (saxophone, clarinets and flutes) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible) and Scott R. Looney (hyperpiano).

track listing

recording details

All music by Murray Campbell, Randy McKean and Han-earl Park, except ‘Thunderous Accompaniment’ by Murray Campbell, Randy McKean, Han-earl Park and Gino Robair, and ‘While Drums’ by Murray Campbell, Scott R. Looney, Randy McKean, Han-earl Park and Gino Robair.

‘The First Sally’ and ‘Old Robots’ recorded live August 25, 2011 at The Tin House, Grass Valley.
Performance presented as part of Col. MaCaw’s Magical Cure-All Mid-Summer Soporific.
Recorded and mastered by Ken Schumacher.

‘Thunderous Accompaniment’ and ‘While Drums’ recorded live August 30, 2011 at Studio 1510, Oakland.
Recorded by Randy McKean.
Mastered by Han-earl Park.

Artwork by Han-earl Park.

The recordings (The First Sally, Old Robots Never Rust!, Thunderous Accompaniment of Fife and Drum, and While Drums Continued To Roll) and artwork released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. Please attribute the album to Murray Campbell, Randy McKean, Han-earl Park, Gino Robair and Scott R. Looney; attribute the individual tracks to the corresponding performers; and attribute the artwork to Han-earl Park.

about the performers

Gargantius Effect

The Gargantius Effect is the brainchild of Murray Campbell (violin, oboe and electronics) and Randy McKean (reeds). Like the Stanislaw Lem story of the same name, in which armies of warring soldiers are linked together to form a peaceful, blissfully-aware omni-mind, so, too, these long-time collaborators channel their contrarian impulses into synchronized bouts of free improvisation, compositional constructs and mechanized mayhem.

Murray Campbell

Murray Campbell has described himself as a Sonologist ever since it was recommended to him as a more respectable occupation than “musician” for the purposes of immigration control. In this capacity he has worked with Alex Fiennes on an octaphonic spatialisation system un-muted at Dialogues Festival (Edinburgh).

He currently resides in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California where he is designing an off-grid solar-powered geodesic wavefront recreation system with the aim of upsetting the bears.

He finds writing about himself in the third person slightly disturbing.

Randy McKean

Randy McKean has burrowed into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada but still wants to blow your mind. Whether his mission is executed by his chamber jazz quartet Bristle, through sideman gigs with the likes of the Euro Café messabouts Beaucoup Chapeaux, or via performances of his pieces for orchestra or string quartet, matters not to him, as long as his objective is achieved. Perhaps one of his CDs—Bristle’s Bulletproof (Edgetone), So Dig This Big Crux (Rastascan), or the Great Circle Saxophone Quartet’s Child King Dictator Fool (New World)—will do the job.

Han-earl Park

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park has been crossing borders and performing fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, always traditional, open improvised musics for over fifteen years. He has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces in Austria, Denmark, Germany, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland and the USA.

Park is part of Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and Numbers with Richard Barrett. He is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, a project performed in coalition with Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder. He has recently performed with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Pat Thomas, Andrew Drury, Josh Sinton, Dominic Lash, and as part of ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker, and Pauline Oliveros. Festival appearances include Freedom of the City (London), Sonorities (Belfast), Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), and CEAIT (California). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions and Creative Sources.

Park taught improvisation at the UCC Department of Music, and founded and curated Stet Lab, a space for improvised music in Cork.

Gino Robair

Gino Robair has created music for dance, theater, radio, television, silent film, and gamelan orchestra, and his works have been performed throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. He was composer in residence with the California Shakespeare Festival for five seasons and served as music director for the CBS animated series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. His commercial work includes themes for the MTV and Comedy Central cable networks.

Robair is also one of the “25 innovative percussionists” included in the book Percussion Profiles (SoundWorld, 2001). He has recorded with Tom Waits, Anthony Braxton, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, John Butcher, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald, Otomo Yoshihide, the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, and Eugene Chadbourne, among many others. In addition, Robair has performed with John Zorn, Nina Hagen, Fred Frith, Eddie Prevost, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Myra Melford, Wadada Leo Smith, and the Club Foot Orchestra.

Robair is a founding member of the Splatter Trio and the heavy-metal band, Pink Mountain. In addition, he runs Rastascan Records, a label devoted to creative music.

Also by Murray Campbell and Randy McKean

Bristle, Bulletproof (EDT4124) CD cover (copyright 2012, Bristle)

Bristle: Bulletproof (EDT4124) [details…]

Performers: Randy McKean (saxophone and clarinets), Cory Wright (saxophone, clarinets and flute), Murray Campbell (violins, oboe and cor anglais) and Lisa Mezzacappa (double bass).

© 2012 Bristle.
℗ 2012 McKeanics Publishing, BMI/Corey Wright Publishing, ASCAP.

Also available for download [more…]

‘A Little Brittle Music’ with Han-earl Park, Dominc Lash and Corey Mwamba (artwork copyright 2015, Han-earl Park)

A Little Brittle Music [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass) and Corey Mwamba (vibraphone and flute).

© 2015 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2015 Park/Lash/Mwamba.

Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders: Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11)

Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11) [details…]

Performers: Paul Dunmall (saxophones and bagpipes), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Mark Sanders (drums).

(cc) 2013 Paul Dunmall/Han-earl Park/Mark Sanders.

Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray: Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10)

Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Marian Murray (violin).

(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Marian Murray.

Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter: Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)

Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01-24-11) [details…]

Performers: Jin Sangtae (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums and electronics).

(cc) 2012 Jin Sangtae/Han-earl Park/Jeffrey Weeter.

Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder: Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09)

Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophone).

(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Franziska Schroeder.

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park: Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11)

Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11) [details…]

Performers: Catherine Sikora (saxophone), Ian Smith (trumpet) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

(cc) 2012 Catherine Sikora/Ian Smith/Han-earl Park.

updates

10–24–12: add recommended price.
05–20–13: updated the ‘also available for download’ list, and updated reviews.
11–01–15: add A Little Brittle Music to downloads list, and change currency from USD to EUR.