Jazz North East – Han-earl Park

December 1, 2024December 14, 2024

Proxemics (BAF003)

Proxemics (BAF003), Juno 3’s latest album (digital download and companion cassette tape^*), is now available to pre-order! Masterminded by Berlin-based Korean-American improviser and guitarist Han-earl Park, Juno 3 is his trio with London-based experimental producer, saxophonist, and sound artist Lara Jones, and boundless experimentalist and pioneer of electroacoustics in free improvisation, Pat Thomas. Recorded at Cafe OTO, Proxemics (BAF003) captures the trio’s performance as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival’s outer left field.

I love, love, love this recording, and the camaraderie of the artists (and helpers and supporters behind-the-scenes) involved in its making. If the trio’s first performance in the spring of 2022, caught between lockdowns and post-pandemic ‘normality,’ was about that strange sense of cautious relief and optimism, then this later performance was something altogether more strident, brash, at times harsh and ugly, confrontational and combative. What I hear is Lara punching you unremittingly in the mid-rage gut; Pat throwing down beats of glitchy robotic wasps, and of impossible danceability; and my struggles with an unfamiliar guitar (a silver rocker) that wants to make it all a little too easy.

During the mix, I came to realize this unapologetically unrefined music was probably unreleasable, but I also came to love it more for being delicate as a slab of granite. Listen to it, and think of us. Enjoy.

[Pre-order download/cassette (Bandcamp)…]

Download: €8.
Cassette tape^* plus download: €12 plus shipping.

Description

Elastic, doxastic collisions—
hold two thoughts, both true.

Masterminded by Berlin-based Korean-American improviser and guitarist Han-earl Park, Juno 3 is his trio with London-based experimental producer, saxophonist, and sound artist Lara Jones, and boundless experimentalist and pioneer of electroacoustics in free improvisation, Pat Thomas. Recorded at Cafe OTO, Proxemics (BAF003) captures the trio’s performance as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival’s outer left field. Proxemics is the follow-up to the eponymous Juno 3 (RAM-163CD, 2023) described as having “wonderful energy, constant motion, and roiling in noise. And immense amount of grit and power” (Corey Mwamba, Freeness, BBC Radio 3).

The music was recorded with efficiency (and with a boldly creative live-mix) by Kevin Shoemaker, and mixed and mastered for release by Han-earl Park. If the trio’s previous album was an expansive and joyous flow of intergalactic urban transit, then Proxemics is altogether something more prickly, difficult, and at peace with its confrontational nature.

Recommended reading: N. K. Jemisin. The City We Became (Orbit, 2020).

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.

Cassette tape: Proxemics A (18:11), Proxemics B (17:27). Total duration: 35:37.^*

Recording details

Music by Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas.

Recorded live November 13, 2023, Cafe OTO, London. 
Recorded/live mix by Kevin Shoemaker. Mixed and mastered by Han-earl Park.
Design and artwork by Han-earl Park.

Thanks to On Yee Lo, Fielding Hope and everyone at Cafe OTO, Wesley Stephenson of Jazz North East, Corey Mwamba of Out Front! and a very special thanks to Alex Ward for the loan of his guitar. The performance was presented as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, and with funding from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Community.

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Community.

Note on the cassette tape

 * The cassette tape release does not duplicate the digital album, but offers a complement to it. In contrast to the digital download album, the cassette album is the room mic recording of the second set only (corresponding to ‘Proxemics I–VI’). The cassette presents a vérité, ‘bootleg’-vibe documentation of the performance as heard by the audience on the night.

Also by Juno 3

disc art (copyright 2023 Ramble Records)

Juno 3 (RAM-163CD) [details…]

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.

November 19, 2024

Coming soon! Juno 3: Proxemics

Coming soon! Proxemics (BAF003), the new album by Juno 3 (Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas). Proxemics (BAF003) will be available as a full-length, digital download album, and a limited edition companion cassette tape.

The music is strident, brash, at times harsh and ugly, confrontational and combative—it’s unlike anything else I’ve been a part of—and I’m very excited to share it with you, and very, very curious to know what you make of it. More soon!

Be first in-line to hear the new album! Please sign-up to my newsletter:

[About the newsletter…]

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Community.

Also by Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas

Juno 3 (RAM-163CD) [details…]

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

November 20, 2023

Thanks: Derby, London and Newcastle, November 2023

Guitars in Derby (courtesy of Anton Hunter), London (thanks so Cafe OTO and Alex Ward), and Newcastle. — Guitare du jour. (Thanks to Anton Hunter, Cafe OTO and Alex Ward.)

Thanks so much to everyone behind-the-scenes who made the music happen. Thanks so much to Wesley Stephenson and Charles McGovern at Jazz North East, and to everyone at The Globe. Thanks to Fielding Hope at Cafe OTO for again hosting Juno 3, and my warmest thanks to the awesome, awesome people working at OTO on the night who helped us navigate the Jazz Festival crowd (if you were there, you’ll know what I mean), and to Kevin Shoemaker who exercised his creativity behind the desk. And thanks to Ian Perry, Richard Belfitt, Jonny Hill and everyone at OUT FRONT! and at Déda, and thanks so, so much to the smart, creative and tenacious Corey Mwamba—always a pleasure to play Derby!

A 100% sincere ‘boo’ to the airline who sent my guitar to the wrong airport, but an equally sincere thanks to the guitarists who generously lent me their instruments for a night each in Newcastle, London and Derby: to Alex Ward (rock’n’roll!), and to Anton Hunter (you can take the Tele out of Nashville, but you can’t take the Nashville out of a Tele).

Finally, thanks so much to the musicians who joined me on stage: to Heather Roche and Anton Hunter for the chirps, slaps, snaps, twangs, slides, honks, skronks and growls. And to the amazing Lara Jones and awe-inspiring Pat Thomas—yeah, how about that moment from the second OTO set!—I look forward to many more noisy adventures in the future.

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Community.

Out now on Ramble Records

Juno 3 (RAM-163CD) [details…]

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

October 28, 2023November 11, 2023

Juno 3: Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas (Newcastle and London)

This November: Juno 3 is performing in Newcastle (November 12) and London (November 13)!

Newcastle, November 12, 2023: The Globe (11 Railway Street, Newcastle NE4 7AD).
Presented by Jazz North East.
[Performance diary entry…] [Facebook event…] [Get tickets…]
London, November 13, 2023: Cafe OTO (18–22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL).
As part of the EFG London Jazz Festival.
[Performance diary entry…] [Facebook event…] [OTO page/tickets…]

Juno 3 is Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics). Captivating, gripping and fascinating, Juno 3’s music is a particle sim of sounds which spelunks from derelict urban ravines to cybernetic rainforests, while catching auditory glimpses of crashing robotic waves, and strange telegraphic messages from space.

Nautiloid capsule tumbles
across field lines.
An impracticably agile,
graceful derailment.

As Corey Mwamba said on Freeness about our music, “wonderful energy, constant motion, and roiling in noise. And immense amount of grit and power.” I can honestly say this trio sounds like nothing out there.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info.

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Community.

Out now on Ramble Records

Juno 3 (RAM-163CD) [details…]

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

October 28, 2023November 21, 2023

Performance diary (Berlin, Derby, London and Newcastle) 102823

upcoming performances
date	venue	time	details
November 6, 2023	PAS Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101 10553 Berlin Germany	8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm)	Thoughts of Trio (Aidan Baker: guitar and bass; Katharina Schmidt: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar). Also performing: Peter Knight, Tizia Zimmermann and Kamil Piotrowicz. [PAS page…] [Facebook event…]
November 12, 2023	The Globe 11 Railway Street Newcastle NE4 7AD England	8.00pm (doors: 7.30pm)	Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics) presented by Jazz North East. £11. [Details…] [Facebook event…] [Get tickets…]
November 13, 2023	Cafe OTO 18–22 Ashwin Street Dalston London E8 3DL England	7:30pm	Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics) perform as part of EFG London Jazz Festival. £14, £12 advance, £7 members. [Details…] [Facebook event…] [OTO page/tickets…]
November 15, 2023	Déda 19 Chapel Street Derby DE1 3GU England	6:30pm	Han-earl Park (guitar), Heather Roche (clarinets) and Anton Hunter (guitar) presented by OUT FRONT! [Details…] [OUT FRONT! page…] [Get tickets…]
December 4, 2023	Morphine Raum Köpenicker Str. 147 10997 Berlin Germany	8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm)	Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone). €10 at the door. [Details…] [Morphine page…] [Facebook event…]

Continue reading “Performance diary (Berlin, Derby, London and Newcastle) 102823”

October 5, 2023October 25, 2023

Performance diary (Berlin, Derby, London and Newcastle) 100523

upcoming performances
date	venue	time	details
October 13, 2023	KM28 Karl-Marx-Str. 28 12043 Berlin Germany	8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm)	SPLICE: an evening of improvisation and videography with new works composed and performed by Han-earl Park (guitar and videography), and by Carina Khorkhordina (trumpet and videography). [Details…] [KM program…] [Facebook event…]
October 14, 2023	Werkhalle Wiesenburg Wiesenstrasse 55 13357 Berlin Germany	8:00pm (doors: 7:00pm)	Kriton Beyer (daxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar). [Facebook event…]
November 12, 2023	The Globe 11 Railway Street Newcastle NE4 7AD England	8.00pm (doors: 7.30pm)	Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics) presented by Jazz North East. £11. [Facebook event…] [Get tickets…]
November 13, 2023	Cafe OTO 18–22 Ashwin Street Dalston London E8 3DL England	8:00pm	Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics) perform as part of EFG London Jazz Festival. £14, £12 advance, £7 members. [OTO page/tickets…]
November 15, 2023	Déda 19 Chapel Street Derby DE1 3GU England	6:30pm	Han-earl Park (guitar), Heather Roche (clarinets) and Anton Hunter (guitar) presented by OUT FRONT! [OUT FRONT! page…] [Get tickets…]
December 4, 2023	Morphine Raum Köpenicker Str. 147 10997 Berlin Germany	8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm)	Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone). €10 at the door. [Morphine page…]

Continue reading “Performance diary (Berlin, Derby, London and Newcastle) 100523”

September 1, 2023February 11, 2024

Juno 3 (RAM-163CD)

Juno 3 (RAM-163CD), the debut album by the trio of Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas, is out now on Ramble Records!

The music on this album transports me to scenes from retro-scifi stories to those of present-day mass transit. It is, to my ears, the sounds of junction crossings, signals from space, and mysterious telegraphy; sometimes evoking impressions of walking by streams under footbridges, at others, of rushing through Manhattan Chinatown. Recorded live at Cafe OTO during the trio’s first meeting, we knew then that we had something special.

I think the sounds and the performances on this disc are all ’round captivating, gripping and fascinating, and the production work, exceptional. Take the journey with us: I’m super proud of the music, and I am thrilled to finally share this with you!

[Get the CD/download from Ramble (Bandcamp)…]

CD: $18 AUD plus shipping. Download: $8 AUD.

description

Get ready for the latest release of challenging and imaginative music from Ramble Records with Juno 3, the debut album from the trio of Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas. Recorded by Shaun Crook live at Cafe OTO, London, and mixed (refracted and rephrased) by Han-earl Park, the album is a particle sim of sounds which spelunks from derelict urban ravines to cybernetic rainforests, while catching auditory glimpses of crashing robotic waves, and strange telegraphic messages from space.

Nautiloid capsule tumbles
across field lines.
An impracticably agile,
graceful derailment.

Juno 3 is Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics). The eponymous album document the first meeting—interactive, relational—by this trio as it takes a journey: launching from the familiar of the Hackney club space into future imagined By Others. We coax it into our space.

Motion and motifs. (Switching gears, shedding engines.) Modes of transport change from first principles: future-past transit networks give way to bioengineered surfboards.

Bodies collide, unwind, and we’re up again. Reaching crossings; navigating junctions.

Intermodal is the only game we know. Networks (and bodies and vessels) weave, twist, cross then interweave, intertwist and intercross. (We, nocturnal monstrous shapes, turn and return to the deep.)

And, as the album comes to a close (thump’n’snap—bodies unwind), we find ourselves awakened back in the familiar club space. Or: half familiar. The same chairs, the same tables, the same staff. But not the same chair, not the same table, not the same staff.

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.

recording details

Music by Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas.

Recorded live March 20, 2022, Cafe OTO, London.
Recorded by Shaun Crook.
Mixed by Han-earl Park. Mastered by Chris Sharkey.

Art by Han-earl Park. Design by Atharwa Deshingkar.

Thanks to Richard Barrett, Heather Frasch and Richard Scott; to Fielding Hope and everyone at Cafe OTO, Laura Cole and everyone at Fusebox, Wesley Stephenson of Jazz North East, and Peter O’Doherty of Northern Lights Project. Shoutouts to Corey Mwamba, Graeme Wilson, rit. and Una Lee. The performance was presented with funding from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

August 12, 2023October 25, 2023

Performance diary (Berlin, Derby, London and Newcastle) 081223

upcoming performances
date	venue	time	details
September 17, 2023	PAS Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101 10553 Berlin Germany	8:00pm	Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone). Also performing: Soporose (Sara Neidorf: drums; and Marco Bianciardi: guitar). [Details…] [PAS page…] [Facebook event…]
~~September 26, 2023~~	PAS Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101 10553 Berlin Germany	~~TBC~~	QLH (Quentin Tolimieri: synthesizers; Luca Marini: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar). Details to follow…
September 27, 2023	Café Plume Warthestraße 60 12051 Berlin Germany	6:00pm (doors: 5:30pm)	Camila Nebbia (saxophone), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) [Details…] [Facebook event…]
October 4, 2023	PAS Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101 10553 Berlin Germany	8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm)	QLH Move! with QLH (Quentin Tolimieri: synthesizers; Luca Marini: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar) and dancers Jessica Gaynor, Anna Athanasiou, Jessica Akers and Lea Fulton. [PAS page…] [Facebook event…]
October 13, 2023	KM28 Karl-Marx-Str. 28 12043 Berlin Germany	8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm)	SPLICE: an evening of improvisation and videography with new works composed and performed by Han-earl Park (guitar and videography), and by Carina Khorkhordina (trumpet and videography). [Details…] [KM program…] [Facebook event…]
November 12, 2023	Venue TBC Newcastle England	TBC	Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics) presented by Jazz North East. Details to follow…
November 13, 2023	Cafe OTO 18–22 Ashwin Street Dalston London E8 3DL England	8:00pm	Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics) perform as part of EFG London Jazz Festival. £14, £12 advance, £7 members. [OTO page/tickets…]
November 15, 2023	Déda 19 Chapel Street Derby DE1 3GU England	6:30pm	Han-earl Park (guitar), Heather Roche (clarinets) and Anton Hunter (guitar) presented by OUT FRONT! Details to follow…
December 4, 2023	Morphine Raum Köpenicker Str. 147 10997 Berlin Germany	8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm)	Han-earl Park (guitar), Yorgos Dimitriadis (percussion and electronics) and Camila Nebbia (saxophone). €10 at the door. [Morphine page…]

Continue reading “Performance diary (Berlin, Derby, London and Newcastle) 081223”

July 29, 2022November 5, 2023

Balancing act between your body and physics

Jazz North East has just released The Sound of Science documentary by Euan Preston from The Palace of Science / Objectiv Pictures.

There’s this balancing act between your body and the mechanics of elastic collisions, and Newtonian physics, and all those things, and you’re creating music from balancing these things out…. [Watch to the rest…]

Sound of Science took place at Gosforth Civic Theatre in March 2022. If you missed my talk and performance as part of the festival, you can watch the archived livestream.

The word I use sometimes is ‘interface.’ So if you start thinking about creativity as this thing that happens between surfaces, that’s interesting in a way that the idea of the single auteur is much less interesting…. And as an artist you can do interesting things by kind of shifting you position within that boundary. [Watch to the rest…]

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

April 7, 2022August 9, 2023

Thanks: Derry, Dublin, Letterkenny, Leeds, London and Newcastle, March 2022

Photo collage: Han-earl Park, Una Lee, rit., Lara Jones and Pat Thomas. — Photos © 2022 Pete Woodman (Han-earl Park), © 2022 Mickey Rooney (Una Lee and rit.), © 2022 Cath Roberts (Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas), and © 2022 Han-earl Park (backgrounds).

Apologies for the delay in posting these acknowledgements (but no pandemic-era tour would be complete without at least a little drama), but I would like to quickly post a note of thanks to everyone who made my return, after two+ years, to touring.

A warm, heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined me on my travels, to those who worked behind-the-scenes to make the performances happen, to my hosts, to my fellow performers, and to those who came to listen. Thanks to everyone at Gosforth Civic Theatre, Hyde Park Book Club, Unit 44/Kirkos Ensemble, Regional Cultural Centre Letterkenny, and Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin. Special thanks to Fielding, Shaun and Conal at Cafe OTO, and to Laura, Pete, Oli and Chris at Fusebox. Shoutouts to Johnny Hunter and his Pale Blue Dot ensemble, to Crawler’s Kyra, and to Corey and Graeme, and I’m grateful to have shared the stage with Lara and Pat, and with rit. and Una.

And finally I would like to thank Wesley Stephenson at Jazz North East, and Peter O’Doherty of Northern Lights Project for their enthusiasm, hard work, genuine love of the music, and care for the artists who make it. In Wesley and Peter, I know two of the greatest supporters of creative musicians and adventurous listeners. Thank you so very much.

I am truly grateful to everyone’s support. Despite the difficulties of traveling and performing in the present-day condition, it has been a pleasure to bring my music to you.

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

Out now on NEWJAiM Recordings

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.

March 22, 2022November 5, 2023

Bodies, agency, ‘the material,’ automata, cyborgs and improvisation

“Once I have those parameters, I can reconfigure the body and the instrument so it kind of runs itself….

“The word I use sometimes is ‘interface.’ So if you start thinking about creativity as this thing that happens between surfaces, that’s interesting in a way that the idea of the single auteur is much less interesting…. And as an artist you can do interesting things by kind of shifting you position within that boundary.” [Listen to the rest…]

Tonight

Tuesday, March 22, 2022, at 8:00pm: Han-earl Park performs at Hyde Park Book Club (27–29 Headingley Lane, Leeds LS6 1BL).

Also coming up

Han-earl Park is also performing with rit. and Una Lee, in Dublin (24), Letterkenny (25), Derry (26) and Belfast (27). See the performance diary for details.

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

March 17, 2022November 5, 2023

Reminder: The Sound of Science, Newcastle (plus London, Leeds, Dublin, Letterkenny, Derry and Belfast)

Platinum electron configuration (© 2022 Andrew Delanoy and Wesley Stephenson) — © 2022 Andrew Delanoy and Wesley Stephenson

This Saturday (March 19, 2022), at 7:00pm (doors: 6.30pm): Han-earl Park performs as part of The Sound of Science event at Gosforth Civic Theatre (Regent Farm Road, Gosforth, Newcastle NE3 3HD). The event is free, but booking is recommended. [Get tickets…]

Also in March 2022

Han-earl Park is also performing in London with Lara Jones and Pat Thomas (March 20), performing a solo set in Leeds (22), and, with rit. and Una Lee, in Dublin (24), Letterkenny (25), Derry (26) and Belfast (27). See the performance diary for details.

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.