Sunday, November 29, 2009

No.5

Railroad Earth
At the basis of this performance recorded Friday at Railroad Earth are two self-playing patches Don and I drafted beforehand, with some manipulation occurring during the performance. Sadly not included on this direct recording were some interesting additions added by other artists moving through the area where Don and I were set up.

- TRACK REMOVED / ARCHIVED -

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Upcoming Appearance



Don and I will be performing on Electric Music Boxes this Friday at Railroad Earth. Check their website for location, etc.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Self-Playing Patches



The recent work Don has been doing on both the 200e as well as the Synthi - pieces in which the instrument is not manipulated during the actual recording - has piqued my curiosity about the Self-Playing process.

In response to the remarkable set of 200e experiments Don distributed via .zip archive earlier this week, I offer my own set of Self-Playing Series 200 pieces. Here are both links:

Don Hassler - Mens Health Issues (19.2MB)
Jason R. Butcher - Self-Playing 200 set 1 (37.5MB)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Polyphony, August 1983

Offered here is John K. Diliberto's interview of Don Buchla from the August 1983 issue of Polyphony magazine. Plenty of great information within, both for those acquainted with his family of electronic instruments as well as the uninitiated.


"Despite being an innovator of electronic music design, Buchla claims to know little about the actual technology in his creations."I don't care about circuitry", he asserts. "I design my instruments from the outside in". He speaks of music in terms of language, gesture orientation, and interactiveness. He doesn't seek the touch-sensitivity of so many keyboard synthesists, but rather an almost cybernetic interface between the body, mind, and instrument."

Download a PDF copy of the entire interview by clicking here.

Monday, October 26, 2009

LeFlash Atlanta 2009

LeFlash 2009

For our fourth outing, Don and I performed for four hours as part of the LeFlash event here in Atlanta on October 2, 2009. Existing at the crux between art walk and street party in the Castleberry Hill neighborhood, this marked the second occurance of LeFlash. Having exhibited a collaborative piece (Fiat Lux - with Scott Carter and Mario Schambon) as part of last year's event, it seemed natural to approach the curatorial team of Cathy Byrd and R. Stuart Keeler about performing on the Buchla in collaboration with Don Hassler for this year's event.

Although we initially had other intentions (which may yet see the light of day), in the end the performance became about using the Electric Music Boxes to control aspects of a visualization developed in Max/MSP. The process leading up to the event was fraught with frustration - but in the end it proved to be an interesting experiment. Don and I were situated at the top of a stairwell and projected the visualization down to the landing between the two staircases.

Photographs are once again provided by artist Alex Kvares. Check my blog in the future for info on another collaborative piece I created for this year's event.

(Recording Removed/Archived)

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Synthi Group Vol. 1

Synthi Group

One of my recordings has been included on a compilation of tracks recorded by members of the Synthi Group, and made available through Clinical Archives as a free download.

The track was the first of 35 recordings of free-running, self-playing Synthi patches recorded straight to Pro Tools with no processing, overdubs, or editing. I'm planning on making the remaining pieces available in the future, and a few more from that project are sprinkled on my websites.

Don Hassler - No Subsequent Interaction Synthi Recording No. 1:

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Third Collaborative Performance

Eyedrum

Our third live improvisation together - this time at Eyedrum in Atlanta on July 20, 2009. The excellent photography provided by artist Alex Kvares can be viewed in entirety here.

This set is the first not performed exclusively on Buchla instruments, but rather through the developments made on his recent "Work Order" series Don decided to include his remarkable EMS Synthi A as well with interesting results.

Our intention for this performance was to take advantage of the opportunity to perform at a higher volume than we had previously, and rely on some techniques which couldn't be as well explored otherwise.

- TRACK REMOVED / ARCHIVED -

Second Collaborative Performance

CitySkies_2

Our second collaborative performance was for the second CitySkies Electronic Music Festival on May 23, 2009 at Kavarna in Atlanta, Georgia. An excerpt from this performance is available on youtube.

As an additional point of reference, a projected presentation of Smith, R. D. (1998) 'Social Structures and Chaos Theory' Sociological Research Online, vol. 3, no. 1 was included.

(track removed)

First Collaborative Performance

CitySkies_1

A recording of our first collaboration - a performance on 2/14/09 for the monthly CitySkies electronic music event held at Kavarna, in Atlanta, Georgia.

(track removed)