proud to be performing along with two other amazing artists (nathan mclaughlin, joe houpert) as part of the crow with no mouth 2012 concert series. i’ll be performing an improvised set using a pair of modified reel to reel tape machines and acoustic instruments.

the performance will take place at 8pm on sunday, may 13th at studio z (275 east fourth street suite 200, st. paul, mn 55101)

crow with no mouth promotions is pleased to present three musicians working with reel-to-reel tape in an evening of composed and improvised music. 

The first concert in the cwnm 2012 concert series brings together musicians who have focused for several years on using tape as a source of unabashedly beautiful sound; at times highly abstract, at others narrative-driven, Andree, Prayer and McLaughlin extend the tradition of tape collage, concrète, and intelligent ambient music.
Poster by artist, musician and swell human being Jaron Childs.

condition: (as determined by the thirteenth junto project) create something new by using only a recording of wild up performing chamber symphony, op. 110a, by dimitri shostakovich. duration should be between two and seven minutes.

process: original recordings processed through effect pedals, looped live to closed tape loops and recorded down to 4-track open reel tape in three passes.

condition: (as determined by the eleventh junto project) make a field recording of a rhythmic sound. use this recording as the main rhythmic element in your track while adding any additional elements. duration should be between 2-5 minutes.

process: field recording made of the asynchronous rhythms of passing traffic from under a freeway overpass in minneapolis, mn. additional performances of acoustic guitar and violin were added in two passes (one for each instrument), recorded on to 4-track open reel tape.

for field recording, acoustic guitar, violin, spring reverb and tape loops

condition: (as determined by the eighth junto project) you will select a single sentence (or extended, self-contained clause) from chapter 11 in the autobiography of benjamin franklin. you will use that recording as the sole audio source material in your work. at some point, the sentence/clause must be comprehensible to the listener. you will not add any other sounds. duration must be between two and five minutes.

process: selected sentence was read by kara andree and recorded to a dictaphone. the dictaphone was then used for live play back which was processed using electronics and layered on a pair of modified reel to reel recorders with closed tape loops.

condition: (as determined by the seventh junto project) everyone will work from the same source audio. you will only remove. your piece will be the exact same length as the original recording on which it is based: two minutes (02:00).

process: the source audio was first recorded to tape while subtracting frequency bands with equalization. tape was then prepared by kara andree by removing the magnetic oxide with sandpaper. the prepared tape was then played back while manually removing the tape from the playback head during operation.

condition: (as determined by the sixth junto project) select one distinct element from each of the three following recordings (1,2,3) and construct something new from them. (do not add any other sounds, though certainly use any sorts of processing that you might choose.) keep your finished piece to between two and five minutes. all three tracks are archival songs originally released on antique edison cylinders in the late 1800s and very early 1900s.

all audio selected from these antique cylinder recordings:

http://www.archive.org/details/colnyp-15132
http://www.archive.org/details/edba-3871
http://www.archive.org/details/ind-986

a conversation with the past, in three passes (one for each recording)

for edison cylinder recordings, electronics (effects pedals) and 1/4″ tape.

condition : (as determined by the fifth junto project) make a field recording from everyday life and use the recording as a foundation for a composition layering additional sounds, 3-5 minutes in length, while keeping the original recording discernible in the final mix.

location : mississippi river lock and dam, upper st. anthony falls, minneapolis, minnesota. the original field recording was captured while traversing the terrain starting at an elevated out-skirt and ending at a melting block of ice and snow draining at the river basin. i am first familiar with the space from drawing and painting on site. there are pockets of dynamic spaces tucked around the architecture of the facility filled with trees, river shore, mud, sand and coarse rock. the sounds-cape of the location is equally rich, with man-made sounds of nearby traffic and the drone of the turbines contrasting more natural aspects such as falling water, melting ice, birds and diverse terrain underfoot.

intent : my initial aim with the work was to allow the shifting diversity of the location and presence of the original field recording to stay paramount, while adding additional melodic and textural elements to further articulate the already present tension and atmosphere.

process : after the field recording was collected and put down as a foundation, additional improvisations were woven throughout by multi-tracking on open reel tape in the following order:

1 : harmonium, closed tape loop
2 : acoustic guitar, closed tape loop
3 : acoustic guitar, rubber mallet, tape feedback + closed tape loop
4 : contact mic surface, toy bird call, multi-rods, glass slide, breath

reworking ‘nearly there’ by marcus fischer as part of the disquiet junto project adding the following condition: created in single session, in two passes.

for recordings, acoustic guitar, violin, tape and spring reverb.

sun body (david andree rework)

new life (david andree rework)

light into branches (david andree rework)

reworking tracks from ‘tiger flower circle sun’ by christopher willits as part of his remix project. these tracks were done in a period of a day. i used the stems provided by christopher willits and combined them with my approach to creating and layering live tape loops with additional real time acoustic guitar instrumentation with the intention of creating a new suite of works.

for samples, tape and acoustic guitar

played an improvised session with promethean k. frimsk recently. the intention was to record percussive audio demonstrations for a short run of contact microphone surfaces that will be for sale soon, but the session evolved into us just improvising off of each other for a while. the following are two excerpts taken from the session.

one:

two:

promethean k. frimsk : contact microphone surface, percussion, objects, toy piano, resonant filter.

david andree : acoustic guitar, contact microphone surface, brushes, objects, 2880, tape loop.