Latest improvisation part of the ‘#onetakestudy’ series. Enjoy! (I honestly couldn’t tell you if that’s an ironic title.)
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.
Gonggong 225088 (wa008), the eponymous debut album from the trio of Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone) is out now on Waveform Alphabet!
I love what’s recorded (and sculpted) here as sound. There are behind-the-scenes stories about an impossible group emerging from the debris of lockdown and the tangles of inter-border bureaucracy (stories for another time). But also, to my ears as a listener, there’s something tricky and oblique about our music—an origami of fire music and improvisative mischief—knotted, folded-on-itself, and, at time, joyously vexed.
Yet, the feeling on-stage, it’s all near effortless ‘and then’s and ‘therefore’s; of effects and reactions, but also reframings and reflections and retroactions. We went, I think, to a lot of unexpected places in that one session.
So sit-back in your favorite sofa or beanbag, or, headphones ready, go for a wander and a walk, or maybe sit at the table with a good book, and enjoy the journey.
[Get the CD/download from Waveform Alphabet (Bandcamp)…]
CD: $15 plus shipping. Download: $10.
Fluid, pliable motion…. The synergy between them is electrifying….
— Corey Mwamba (Freeness, BBC Radio 3)
Blue-green iridescence
(Crunch and more scatter)
A vacuum of warning
The latest project from Korean-American guitarist, improviser and composer Han-earl Park, Gonggong 225088 is his trio with Argentinian saxophonist, composer and visual artist Camila Nebbia, and Greek drummer, improviser and sound artist Yorgos Dimitriadis. Based in Berlin, the group emerged, piece-by-piece, from the darkly hazy, collective dream of masks, remote work, and social distancing.
By turns light-as-a-feather, and heavy and prickly as a bucket of rusty nails, the music is of contradiction and ambiguity. Leaps into ’90s HatHut pastiche are followed by truckers-in-space-engine-rumbles; slow-crawls-from-the-swap of irony-free ‘bells’n’smells’ sound art followed by turns-turns-turns-on-a-dime mutant Free Funk. Gonggong 225088 find overlapping-through-time, All-You-Zombies guitar gestures; stompbox-assisted saxophone punk ventriloquisms; and hive-mind metallophone creatures that migrate across the stereo field.
Here be dragons.
It’s music that is simultaneously earnest and full of ironic glee; a spaghetti junction of noise held together by a deep love of connection, and a constantly shifting center of balance found only in ensemble play.
Recorded with skill and sensitivity by Rabih Beaini, mixed by Han-earl Park to place the listener within the ensemble, and mastered for presence’n’punch by Andrew Weathers, this eponymous debut album captures Park, Dimitriadis and Nebbia in live performance at Morphine Raum.
Recommended reading: China Miéville. “Covehithe.” Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories (Pan Macmillan, 2015).
Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone).
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.
Music by Han-earl Park, Yorgos Dimitriadis and Camila Nebbia.
Recorded live December 4, 2023, Morphine Raum, Berlin.
Recorded by Rabih Beaini.
Mixed by Han-earl Park. Mastered by Andrew Weathers.
Video by Carina Khorkhordina. Video edited by Han-earl Park.
Design and artwork by Han-earl Park.
© 2024 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2024 Waveform Alphabet.
05-23-24: released!
05-27-24: update with video playlist.
Tomorrow! (Sunday, March 3, 2024), doors at 8:00pm, music “a little later”: Han-earl Park (guitar) and Marie Takahashi (viola) perform at PAS (Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101, 10553 Berlin). Also performing are Tom Malmendier (percussion), Marina Cyrino (amplified flutes) and Michael Thieke (clarinet); and Alexander Markvart (feedback guitar, objects) and Tom Malmendier (percussion).
See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [PAS page…] [Facebook event…]
Catch the first ten minutes (‘Autopoiesis I’) from Gonggong 225088! The extended preview will premiere at 5pm CET* on Friday, March 1, 2024! [Click ‘notify me’…]
By turns light-as-a-feather, and heavy and prickly as a bucket of rusty nails, the music is of contradiction and ambiguity. Leaps into ’90s HatHut pastiche are followed by truckers-in-space-engine-rumbles; slow-crawls-from-the-swap of irony-free ‘bells’n’smells’ sound art followed by turns-turns-turns-on-a-dime mutant Free Funk. [More…]
I am super, super excited to finally be able to share this with you. The session was awesome: Rabih Beaini and his team did phenomenal work with the recording (it was a pleasure to mix), and I’m so happy that Carina Khorkhordina made time to be there and capture the performance on video.
Click ‘notify me’, and be ready with your headphones (and popcorn), and join me on Friday for some origami fire music!
* 17:00 CET, 16:00 GMT, 11:00 EST, and 8:00 PST. Or: 1:00 in Seoul, 18:00 in Athens, 13:00 in Buenos Aires, and 17:00 in Berlin.
Music by Han-earl Park, Yorgos Dimitriadis and Camila Nebbia.
Recorded live December 4, 2023, Morphine Raum, Berlin.
Recorded by Rabih Beaini.
Mixed by Han-earl Park. Mastered by Andrew Weathers.
Video by Carina Khorkhordina. Video edited by Han-earl Park.
Design and artwork by Han-earl Park.
© 2024 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2024 Waveform Alphabet.
A quick, ‘no-prep’ improvisation as part of the ‘#onetakestudy’ series: here’s what my guitar sounds like, straight out-of-the-case, the day after a gig. (Guitar tuning thanks to Aidan Baker and Katharina Schmidt, plus lighting design courtesy of the Berlin sky.) Enjoy!
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.
Wondering what mixing strategy could possibly work for your recording of noisy, pretty, gentle and disorderly peculiar music? Hit me up if your left-of-field recording is in need of some in-the-box (with a little out-of-the-box thinking) mixing work.
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.
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.
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.
Personnel: Quentin Tolimieri (synthesizers), Luca Marini (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar).
Track listing: Pattern Clash (18:50), Linoleum Studs (3:10). Total duration: 22:00.
© + ℗ 2023 Tolimieri/Marini/Park.
Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics).
Track listing: Orbital Dusk I (6:04), Orbital Dusk II (4:20), Orbital Dusk III (2:29), Orbital Dusk IV (6:03), Diel Vertical Migration I (6:31), Diel Vertical Migration II (4:38), Diel Vertical Migration III (4:33), Diel Vertical Migration IV (7:36), Metastability (7:24). Total duration: 49:36.
© and ℗ 2023 Ramble Records.
03–02-24: update Gonggong 225088 (wa008) info with track listing and artwork.
| date | venue | time | details |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 21, 2024 | Morphine Raum Köpenicker Str. 147 10997 Berlin Germany |
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) | Thoughts of Trio (Aidan Baker: bass; Katharina Schmidt: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar). €10 at the door. [Details…] [Morphine page…] [Facebook event…] |
| March 3, 2024 | PAS Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101 10553 Berlin Germany |
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) | Han-earl Park (guitar) and Marie Takahashi (viola). Also performing: Tom Malmendier, Marina Cyrino and Michael Thieke; and Alexander Markvart and Tom Malmendier. [Details…] [PAS page…] [Facebook event…] |
| March 27, 2024 | Neue Zukunft Alt-Stralau 68 10245 Berlin Germany |
9:00pm (doors: 8:30pm) | Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone) as part of Future Bash Reloaded #2. Also performing: Sofia Salvo, Alexander Markvart and Paolo Possidente. €7–15 at the door. [Details…] |
| April 23, 2024 | REH Kopenhagener Straße 17 10437 Berlin Germany |
8:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) and Kaffe Matthews (electronics) as part of Erweitert in der REH. Also performing: Caroline Cecilia Tallone and Alexis Baskind; and Sascha Banck, Daniel Erdmann and Isabel Rößler. [Details…] [Facebook event…] |
| May 31, 2024 | Club Manufaktur Hammerschlag 8 73614 Schorndorf Germany |
8:30pm | Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone). €26/22/16. [Manufaktur page (get tickets)…] [Facebook event…] |
| October 2024 | Venue TBA Germany |
TBA | Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone). Details to follow… |
Continue reading “Performance diary (Berlin and Schorndorf) 021924”
A colorful, sometimes violent and revelatory listening experience that infuses modern aesthetics with the spirit of the ancient.
— John Morrison (Jazz Right Now, Best of 2017)
This coming Thursday (February 15, 2024) at 7:00pm: An evening of skonky improvised goodness and extra-lingual vocalisations with Han-earl Park (guitar) and rit. (voice and electronics) at Unit 44 (44 Prussia Street, Dublin). Tickets: 10€ [get tickets…]
I’m also giving a lecture as part of the Contemporary Composition Perspectives series at TU Dublin Conservatoire at 4pm. If you’re around, please drop by and say hi.
See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Facebook event…]
Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]
Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and rit. (deadname: Caroline Pugh) (voice and tape recorder).
Track listing: Psychohistory III (≥9:47), Cliodynamics I (10:44), Cliodynamics II (12:22), Cliodynamics III (5:11), Hopeful Monsters (9:41), Psychohistory V (≥10:40). Total duration ≥58:25.
© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.
02–14-24: add lecture details.
Wednesday, February 21, 2024, at 8:30pm (doors: 8pm): Thoughts of Trio (Aidan Baker: bass; Katharina Schmidt: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar) perform at Morphine Raum (Köpenicker Str. 147, 10997 Berlin). Entry: €10 at the door.
Add some rusted machine parts to the tree sap, and stir in a large mixing bowl.
See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Morphine page…] [Facebook event…]
A quick one-take made before heading out. A simple, take-a-line-for-a-walk improvisation as part of the ‘#onetakestudy’ series. Enjoy!
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.
You can now listen again to Corey Mwamba’s Freeness on BBC Radio 3, and catch the extended preview of Gonggong 225088, my upcoming album with Yorgos Dimitriadis and Camila Nebbia. On the show, Corey described our music as having “fluid, pliable motion”:
And the synergy between them is electrifying…. So much intensity in that music. Even when the volume goes down the intensity is still there. [Listen to the rest…]
A big thanks to producer Silvia Malnati at Freeness, and big, big thanks to Corey for supporting our music, and supporting the broader communities of creative people.
The album artwork is complete, and I’ve been working the last couple of weeks with engineer Andrew Weathers, and label mastermind David Menestres on the album masters. Gonggong 225088 will be out on Waveform Alphabet later this year. More soon!
Be first in-line to hear the new album! Please sign-up to my newsletter:
| date | venue | time | details |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 15, 2024 | Unit 44 44 Prussia Street Dublin Ireland |
7:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) and rit. (voice and electronics). €10. [Details…] [Get tickets…] [Facebook event…] |
| February 21, 2024 | Morphine Raum Köpenicker Str. 147 10997 Berlin Germany |
8:30pm (doors: 8pm) | Thoughts of Trio (Aidan Baker: bass; Katharina Schmidt: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar). €10 at the door. [Details…] [Morphine page…] [Facebook event…] |
| May 31, 2024 | Club Manufaktur Hammerschlag 8 73614 Schorndorf Germany |
8:30pm | Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone). €26/22/16. [Manufaktur page (get tickets)…] [Facebook event…] |
| October 2024 | Venue TBA Germany |
TBA | Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone). Details to follow… |
Continue reading “Performance diary (Berlin, Dublin and Schorndorf) 012724”
