Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Playable, Musical Art




While The Good Graces were waiting for The Evening Muse to open up for our show in Charlotte last Saturday, we stumbled across this little gallery called Beet in the NoDa part of town. It just so happened that they had a gallery set up with these playable guitar and synth wooden art pieces made by Ben Simon. We plugged in and rocked out.

Beet Contemporary Crafts & Functional Art Gallery is at 3202-A N. Davidson Street, Charlotte, NC, 28205. If you go, ask for Nancy Neely and tell her the musicians who played the wild guitars sent you. Read more!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Good Graces Tour Wrap-up


The Good Graces rocked North Carolina this past weekend, with stops in Chapel Hill (The Cave), Greensboro (The Flatiron), and Charlotte (The Evening Muse, where the above photo was taken by Ron Culpepper). Many photos were taken and much has been written:

The Good Graces tour blog

Kim Ware Photos

John McNicholas Photos

Jim Combs Photos Read more!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Kluster 2008 CD Released


KLUSTER 2008 NOW AVAILABLE!

BERLIN * ATLANTA * TOKYO * GLOBAL PLAYING

Following up to last year’s successful Kluster 2007 metal can release, Conrad Schnitzler strikes again with another metal can offering Kluster 2008, with previous Kluster members, Michael Thomas Roe and Masato Ooyama.

Kluster 2008 has as its subtitle "The Three Olympic Cities Mix". This not only suggests that the three cities where each member is located are Olympic Cities, but also the underlying keyword "Global Playing", which is essential to the Kluster experience.

“It was the absolute Connection for the idea of KLUSTER in this time: Global playing together without being on the same place. Every artist makes his own mix in the Kluster-intention. This means democracy and variety,” says Conrad Schnitzler.

The work of Kluster 2008 is now available in a limited edition (200 COPIES) special open faced metal can. Each can contains a special inlay card personally designed and hand cut by Conrad, himself.

Price is $25 plus $3 shipping North America (domestic) and $5 international. Orders can be made direct to the artists. Just send an email to mthom@mindspring.com. Or send a Paypal to the same address.

CON-Tribute (official site): http://fancymoon.com/con_s/

Thank you to all of our friends!

Kluster 2008: (2009 Real Vine Music) Tracks 01 – 32

Performed by: Conrad Schnitzler in Berlin, Germany; Michael Thomas Roe in Atlanta, U.S.A.; Masato Ooyama (Ooy) in Tokyo, Japan Read more!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

City Skies 09 Electronic Music Festival, May 7-9, 2009 in Decatur, GA



City Skies 09 Electronic Music Festival, May 7-9, 2009 in Decatur, GA

The 2nd Annual City Skies 09 Electronic Music Festival will be held in the Atlanta area on May 7-9, 2009.

Kavarna
in the Oakhurst section of Decatur, GA (minutes away from Atlanta) is once again the venue for the Festival Event. Kavarna gives us a perfect vibe for the performances, with great sound and a nice selection of food and beverage for festival attendees. Kavarna is a non-smoking and all-ages venue.

The list of performers include some of the best electronic musicians from around the U.S. heard on radio stations like Music From the Hearts of Space, Echoes, Star's End, Soma FM, StillStream, Galactic Travels, and more, and are from Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Musical styles ranged from ambient to downtempo chillout to Berlin school to IDM to space rock to experimental. This is not a DJ event.

Real electronic music performed live by humans!

Performers and tentative schedule for the three-day event are:

Thursday, May 7, 2009
7pm- Different Skies All-stars (John Rossi III, Jonathan Mills, Kevin Haller, Jim Combs plus guests)
8pm- citizenGreen
9pm- Broken Symmetry
10pm- Tony Gerber
11pm- Masik

Friday, May 8, 2009
7pm- aTHeNa Blue
8pm- Earthgirl
9pm- Duet for Theremin & Lap Steel
10pm- Xeriod Entity (Howard Moscovitz, Greg Waltzer, Bill Fox)
11pm- Paul Vnuk & Klimchak

Saturday, May 9, 2009
Afternoon session
1pm- Ivan Schwartz
2pm- Don Hassler
3-5pm- Richard Lainhart workshop- Multi-Dimensional Control for Realtime Analog Synthesis Performance*

Evening session
7pm- Kathy Raimey
8pm- Mark Mahoney
9pm- Richard Lainhart
10pm- Kevin Spears & Shane Morris
11pm- Richard Devine & Joshua Kay

For more information, ticketing, and performer bios and event schedule:
http://www.cityskies.com

All proceeds from ticket sales will go to performers for this event.

Tickets are available online at Brown Paper Tickets:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producerevent/52609?prod_id=10495

Discount tickets are available for buyers of multiple days or sessions.

Purchasers of the 3 day - 4 session ticket save $18 over buying at the door.

Purchasers of the 2 day - 3 session ticket save $11 over buying at the door.

And purchasers of the All day Saturday ticket save $6 over buying at the door.

Single session tickets saves $2 over buying at the door.

Venue location -
Kavarna, 707 East Lake Drive, Decatur, GA 30030

Please add us as friends on MySpace and Facebook:
http://www.myspace.com/cityskiesfestival
http://www.facebook.com/pages/City-Skies-08-Electronic-Music-Festival/1083883087\8?ref=ts

*Details for Richard Lainhart workshop on Saturday afternoon May 9, 2009

Multi-Dimensional Control for Realtime Analog Synthesis Performance

The promise of electronic music has been, from the beginning, to provide the composer with the means to create his or her own unique sounds and musics without the need for intermediaries like performers and technicians. And the problem with electronic music has been, from the beginning, to endow synthesized sound with the same organic expressivity found in acoustic instruments and natural sound while making synthesizers viable performance instruments in their own right.

The first electronic instruments intended for performance, such as the Theremin and the Ondes Martenot, while providing the performer with highly nuanced pitch control, had limited sound-shaping control and could only play one note at a time. The first modular analog synthesizers, while offering polyphony - the ability to play multiple notes simultaneously - and unlimited sonic control, had limited expressive performance control and were completely impractical for live use.

There have been many attempts since then to integrate the unlimited potential of modular analog synthesis with practical performance capabilities, and to provide the electronic music composer/performer with the kind of expressive musical control available in advanced acoustic instruments. Among of the most successful and creative of these efforts are the Buchla 200e analog modular synthesizer and the Haken Continuum Fingerboard.

Buchla's 200e is the first modular analog synth with patch memory and the ability to re-route patchcords on the fly, making it an ideal instrument for performance, capable of both the highest and lowest levels of control. The Continuum is a unique multidimensional controller keyboard that senses direct finger movement in three dimensions (X, Y, and pressure) for each of up to 16 fingers, making it one of the most advanced performance controllers available today. Together, the 200e and the Continuum make for an electronic music performance system of unparalleled expressivity and sensitivity.

In his workshop, Richard will demonstrate the synthesis and control functions of the Buchla 200e with an emphasis on patch programming for maximum expressivity under Continuum control. The workshop will include a live performance focusing on the Continuum/Buchla 200e system's expressive control capabilities. Time permitting, workshop attendees will also have the opportunity to play the system themselves.
Read more!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Good Graces Winter Tour


The Good Graces will be continuing their CD promotion tour by performing around the Southeast at the following venues:

Jan 22, 2009 at 8:00P The Cave, Chapel Hill, NC

Jan 23, 2009 at 8:00P The Flat Iron, Greensboro, NC

Jan 24, 2009 at 8:00P Evening Muse, Charlotte, NC

Feb 6, 2009 at 6:15P Atlanta Brewing Company, Atlanta, GA

Apr 4, 2009 at 9:00P Kavarna, Decatur, GA

The Good Graces' "Sunset Over Saxapahaw" CD can be found at the Eskimo Kiss Records web site here, as well as iTunes and Emusic.com. Read more!

New Sensitive Chaos CD To Be Released February 14, 2009


The new Sensitive Chaos CD Emerging Transparency is to be released on February 14, 2009. This second solo effort from Atlanta-based producer and performer Jim Combs contains six new tracks expanding upon the eclectic, electronic palette he established on Leak, the first Sensitive Chaos album released in August of 2006.

"There are a few songs on the new CD that date from the Leak sessions, and a few that were created and refined over the past year," says Combs. "This CD is kind of an homage a broader range of my electronic music influences, and brings in elements of electropop, Berlin-school space rock, and even a bit of avant jazz/reggae/dub. The beats are a bit heavier and the arrangements are a bit thicker."

Combs re-enlisted Leak soprano saxophonist Brian Good for the songs “Fifty Light Years From Home” and “Bazaar Behavior” (which also features Finnish multi-instrumentalist Otso Pakarinen on synthesizers, synth guitar, and synthesized percussion work).

U.K. photographer Andrew Lee supplied evocative photographs for the album cover art. Andrew’s impressionistic image processing and subject matter conveys a message of resource conservation that resonates with Combs’ political outlook.

A CD Release party will be held on February 14, 2009 at 8pm at Kavarna as part of the February City Skies 09 Electronic Music Event. Copies of the CD will be available for purchase.

ABOUT THE SONGS

The title track “Emerging Transparency” starts the CD with an ambient drone that soon reveals sequenced ostinato and counterpoint phrases, driving drums, and vintage synth melody lines. Combs originally composed this piece at the 2007 Different Skies music festival, where it saw its live debut. This studio version contains several elements of the original, but has been rearranged with extended themes.

“Erase Yourself” is an instrumental synthpop tune, with a wink and a nod to Vince Clarke.

Brian Good makes his first appearance on the CD’s “Fifty Light Years From Home”, which begins in spacey ambient sounds with a chorale of bells, evolves into more symphonic tones and saxophones, and then devolves into a beat-heavy, ring modulated, electronic quagmire.

Otso Pakarinen joins Combs and Good on “Bazaar Behavior”, a world-beat, jazz-dub, fusion-rock number with lots of ethnic percussion, Otso’s tasty guitar/synth and Brian’s soprano sax work.

“Luck Of The Draw” is another instrumental synthpop homage, drawing its influence from the darker side of the genre.

And closing out the album is “Tanzen Filter”, which tries to decide whether it’s leaning toward Miami, New Orleans, or Detroit.

With the exception of his collaborators’ original tracks, sessions for the CD were done at Combs’ Common Sound Studio in Decatur, GA. “I rely upon my custom Sequentix P3 sequencer for creating most of the initial compositions, then record track-by-track into MOTU Digital Performer for arrangements and mixing. The sounds come mostly from my current live rig of a Roland JD-800, Novation SuperNova, Roland JV-1080, and three different Korg Electribe drum machines, plus my collection of old hardware synthesizers like my Moog Minimoog, Yamaha CS-50, and Fender Rhodes. And there’s a few softsynths in the mix, mostly Reason and Korg Analog Legacy."

ABOUT SENSITIVE CHAOS

Sensitive Chaos, a solo project of Atlanta-based producer and electronic musician Jim Combs, was voted Atlanta's "Best Local Electronic Act" 2007-2008 by readers of Creative Loafing. (Combs also won the same award in 2005 as part of the duo TouchXtone.)

Leak was the first album from Sensitive Chaos and was selected as a "Top Visionary Music of 2007" by KKUP 91.5 FM in Cupertino, CA, and as New Age Reporter's "Top 12 Best Ambient/Spacemusic/Electronica Recordings of 2006".

Current internet radio airplay for Sensitive Chaos Leak album cuts includes StillStream.com, Space Station SomaFM, and SomaFM cliqhop idm.

Other terrestrial and internet radio airplay for Leak includes Public Radio International-distributed Echoes (broadcast on over 145 stations across the US), KEVL FM 89.9 in Memphis, TN, NPR member station WDIY 88.1 FM, Allentown and Bethlehem, PA, WREK 91.1 FM in Atlanta, GA, WFIT 89.5 FM in Palm Bay, FL, WDBX 91.1 FM in Carbondale, IL, KKUP 91.5 FM in Cupertino, CA, Radio Despi 107.1 FM in Barcelona, Spain, WXDU 88.7 FM in Durham, NC, WWSP 90 FM in Stevens Point, WI, CoolStreams Ambient Caverns, WUSM 88.5 FM in Hattiesburg, MS, WTUL 91.5 FM in New Orleans, LA, AMBiENT PiNG RADiO out of Toronto, Canada, KRFC in Colorado, 106.7 FM WETX in Johnson City, TN, WVKR-FM in Poughkeepsie, NY, YLE Radio 1 in Finland, Aural Innovations Radio, and KTUH FM 90.3 FM in Honolulu, HI.

Press for Sensitive Chaos and Leak includes:

Atlanta Creative Loafing, Best of 2007 Awards
CoolStreams Ambient Caverns
Electroambient Space
Guts Of Darkness (Canada)
Hypnagogue Ambient Music News & Reviews
Johnson City Press and Go Tri Cities
Melliflua (UK)
Music Beyond The Lake
New Age Reporter
Ping Things (Canada)
Secret Music
Sequences Music Magazine (UK)
Sonic Curiosity
Southeast Performer Magazine
Stomp and Stammer Magazine

Sensitive Chaos Leak is available at CDBaby.com and iTunes.

Information on Sensitive Chaos can be found at sensitivechaos.com or www.myspace.com/sensitivechaos

Information on Jim Combs can be found at www.myspace.com/jimcombs

Information on Brian Good can be found at sundaggermusic.com

Information on Otso Pakarinen can be found at ozoneplayer.com

Information on Andrew Lee can be found at www.flickr.com/focusman5

Press contact:
Ephemeral Radio Marketing
ephemeralradio@ephemeralradio.com
ephemeralradio.com
Read more!

January City Skies 09 Electronic Music Event


The City Skies 09 Electronic Music events showcase the region's best electronic musicians at our favorite venue, Kavarna, for listening to a great range of electronic music styles in a chillout environment with a crowd of appreciative musicians and fans.

The next City Skies 09 event will be held on Saturday, January 10, 2009, with performances starting at 8pm. Confirmed performers include:

The Synthetix
Klimchak
Kevin "KalimbaMan" Spears
Sensitive Chaos

More information on the events and performers can be found at cityskies.com and the City Skies MySpace page. Tickets for all events can be found at Brown Paper Tickets here.


Future show dates include (shows start at 8pm):

February 14th, 2009: Sensitive Chaos, Diskeyes-SaNa-Positron, Don Hassler, Burning Artist (Sale)

March 14th, 2009: Sensitive Chaos, Michael Wynne, Mi.T-Richard Coker, The Subliminator

April 11, 2009: Harold Timms, The Fabric, Indigovox, Sensitive Chaos

May 7 – 9, 2009: City Skies 09 Festival featuring Broken Symmetry, citizenGreen, Richard Devine & Joshua Kay, Different Skies All-Stars (Jim Combs, Kevin Haller, Jonathan Mills, John Rossi III), Duet for Theremin & Lap Steel, Earthgirl, Don Hassler, Klimchak & Paul Vnuk Jr, Richard Lainhart (workshop and performance), Mark Mahoney, Masik, Shane Morris & Kevin Spears, Ivan Schwartz, and Xeriod Entity (Howard Moscovitz, Greg Waltzer, Bill Fox)

And if you can't attend in person, all City Skies performances are broadcast live on StillStream.com (on iTunes radio, look under Ambient).
Read more!

Atlanta Songwriters Series 2009


The Atlanta Songwriters Series at Kavarna in the historic Oakhurst area of Decatur happens on Saturday nights, from 8pm-midnight. The Atlanta Songwriters showcase series is a regular performance event for all types of music, including folk, alternative, electronic, americana, jazz, blues, and others.

Kavarna is a great location for ATL Songwriters, with more room for fans and performers, a great menu of tasty and inexpensive food, a nice wine and beer menu, and a large selection of specialty coffees and teas. Kavarna is a no-smoking venue with a cool vibe and great sound for all ages. Future shows include:

Saturday, January 3, 2009: Just-Jo (Jo-Anne Carlson), Xela Zaid, Lavender & the Old Folk, Paul Hedges
Saturday, January 10, 2009: City Skies Electronic Music Event- The Synthetix, Klimchak, Kevin "KalimbaMan" Spears, Sensitive Chaos
Saturday, January 17, 2009: Eskimo Kiss Records Presents Mary O. Harrison, Ramon Wals, Andy Bilinski, Tracy Clark
Saturday, January 24, 2009: Michael C. Smith, Alan Dynin Trio, Morgan Rowe
Saturday, January 31, 2009: Brad Jones/Muleskinner, JL McGee, Brothers Marier, Sea of Existance

The Atlanta Songwriters Series @ Kavarna
8pm-12am
http://www.myspace.com/atlsongwriters

Kavarna is located at:
707 East Lake Drive
Decatur GA 30030
http://www.myspace.com/instantkavarna

Saturday, February 7, 2009: Sean McMorris, Heidi Pollyea, Sean Kagalis, Jason Waller
Saturday, February 14, 2009: City Skies Electronic Music Event- Sensitive Chaos CD Release Party, Diskeyes-SaNa-Positron, Don Hassler, Burning Artist (Sale)
Saturday, February 21, 2009: Brad Jones, Mule Skinner MacQueen, Cue The Sun, Dylan Kight
Saturday, February 28, 2009: Marcellus, Fisheye, Haji Basim, Max Forstater

Saturday, March 7, 2009: Heiskell (former lead singer for the JudyBats)
Saturday, March 14, 2009: City Skies Electronic Music Event- Sensitive Chaos, Michael Wynne, Mi.T.-oR, The Subliminator
Saturday, March 21, 2009: Marcellus, Wayne Fishell Experiment
Saturday, March 28, 2009: Brad Jones, Mule Skinner MacQueen, Allison Weiss, Barrow Boys

Saturday, April 4, 2009: The Good Graces, Dare Dukes Band, & Mike Boutté
Saturday, April 11, 2009: City Skies Electronic Music Event- Harold Timms, The Fabric, Indigovox, Sensitive Chaos
Saturday, April 18, 2009: Marcellus, Vito, Lindsay Appel, Dylan Kight
Saturday, April 25, 2009: Brad Jones, Mule Skinner MacQueen
Read more!