Podcast 380: Panic Girl (Martha Bahr)

Unfortunately, today is the last day of podcasting for the Art + Music + Technology podcast. Health issues have gotten in the way, and it would be impossible to continue. You can read the transcription of this article, as well as finding some interesting writing on my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/posts/66445163 Thank you for being such a great group of friends and supporters during this long series of music 

Oh yeah! I’ve been working on getting this interview for a while. It combines modular synths (love ‘em), compositional techniques, an extremely busy schedule – and even using the voice as an instrument! The time that I got to spend with Martha Bahr (Panic Girl) was more than amazing – it was transforming for me. The way that Martha approaches her work is going to be helpful to anyone making electronic music. So I just spilt the beans on a few of the topic we covered, but we were all over the place. And we got along like old friends – even though I don’t think we’d ever met. Martha is super-easy to talk to, and leads a very interesting life, so doing this interview was like falling out of a tree. I don’t need to talk this one up much – truly one of my favorite interviews ever. Dig in! Oh, and you can check out her new album here: https://iuwerecords.bandcamp.com/album/washed-ashore Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0380.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse

So there are precious few music software packages that will come up during discussions at my family’s dinner table. Logic? No way. Ableton Live? Mainly because the kids really like their T-shirts. But if I want to get the kids chattering, I can bring up the family’s retro-love of Guitar Hero or Rock Band. And who was leading product development of those products? Today’s guess – Greg LoPiccolo! Greg has moved onto new things – including his new company, ToneStone (https://tonestone.com/) And while he’s no longer creating consumer games, the idea of combining a game mentality with music is still in his bones. But now, instead of trying to match riffs with Zakk Wylde or Slash, you are actually producing, mixing and sharing your own musical creations. Greg is really into many game-oriented ideas surrounding this effort, and it is really interesting to dig into his mind to see how he is creating his simple but deep music production project. I push to find out the limits, and to find out the perspective that make it unique in the marketplace. Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0379.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse

What can I say about Jean-François Charles, other than he is amazing! He is one of the people in this world that has bothered to describe spectral processing in a way that is both musical and accessible (to the extent that it can be…), and has backed it up with a great career of both performance and academics. With training as both an engineer and a musician, he was perfectly situated for the oncoming rush of music technology, and both his musical work and his teachings are ground-breaking. In our discussion, we talk about his history, his current work, and his clarinet+electronics release Electroclarinet (https://www.electroclarinet.com/p/listen.html). We also dig into what made him fascinated with spectral processing in particular, and how he was influenced by many (but particularly by Stockhausen) to feature that in his work. We also learn a bit about how he creates a ‘score’, including the processing bits, that are sharable with this world. You can hear the Electroclarinet pieces above, and learn more about his body of work on his website (https://www.jeanfrancoischarles.com/). Check out some of those papers; they were seminal works that got a lot of people to dig in beyond just using someone else’s software. It’s also great that Jean-François not only sells access to the written scores for some of his work, but also bundles them with electronic forms for performance. You can see all of the on his Gumroad site: https://newfloremusic.gumroad.com/ Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0378.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse

Udit Duseja has built quite a career. Starting off dropping Pro Tools markers while hanging at a recording studio, he is now doing sound design and sound editing work across a wide range of films. In preparing for this interview, I did a fair amount of research (watching films – oh, so hard!), and was blown away by the consistent quality, and often unexpected surprises, found in his work. In our discussion, we chat about his background growing up in India, his studies at University of Edenborough, and how he shaped his career to be a multi-continental sound artist. We also get some glimpses into how he approaches sound design,  as well as some of the ways that he puts together the sound library that is at the core of his practice. We also dig into the details of the tools that he uses, and how he approaches layers (and in many cases recreating) the sound environments that are provided in a film. He also describes some of the details of working with directors – and especially how that works in our current COVID (and post-COVID) world. For more information, you can check out http://www.uditduseja.com Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0377.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse

Sometimes my attention is grabbed by something unexpected. In researching Peder Simonsen, I was very impressed with his production work, his work with modular system – but then I read about his work with the tuba. Microtonal tuba. In a group. That stopped me in my tracks, and I had to learn more. I ended up having a fascinating conversation with Peder, and got an amazing education about so many things! In our discussion, we talk about microtonal tuba – and it, how does it work? – the application of microtonalism with his modular system, and his unique compositional and structural concepts. His recordings have a unique way of developing over time – there’s a linearity to them that I found really intriguing, and we explored how he hears the music that he’s making. Peder is also involved in a lot of groups, and also does a fair amount of production work with others. This puts him in a position to work on many types of collaboration, and we dig into this as well. How do you write for a microtonal tuba trio? How do you mix a modular system with an experimental jazz orchestra? So damned interesting… For more information, you can check out the following: Peder’s web page: https://www.pedersimonsen.com/ Robin Hayward’s microtonal tuba - https://robinhayward.com/eng/mitontuba.php Sofa Music - label of microtub and many other experimental Norwegians: https://www.sofamusic.no/ Tubbutec microtonal tuning module - https://tubbutec.de/%C2%B5tune/ Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0376.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse

Steuart Liebig’s story is quite amazing. From high school jazz gigging, through extensive touring, to a spot as part of LA’s verdant experimental jazz scene, Steuart’s life of music is quite amazing. A proponent of the 6-string bass, you can find Steuart working in groups with Nels Cline, Wayne Peet and G.E. Stinson. His listing on discogs.com is pretty stunning, as is the stack of tracks that he has made available on his Bandcamp page. So, of course, I had to have a chat! What I found was an interesting guy that has that laid back attitude that clues you in on his experience. In our discussion, we chatted about his history, his instrument selection, how he approaches effects use, and how he’s integrating his new modular synth into his musical work. Check out Steuart’s work here: https://steuartliebig.bandcamp.com/ Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0375.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse

OK, so this is a little different… I, and many of my coworkers, tend to do special things around the number “74” (the company name is Cycling ’74, if you didn’t already know). For #374, I decided that I’d talk to David Zicarelli again – just like I did in #74. When I asked him, he rejected the interview format, and wanted to do a Q&A, where we’d each get to ask each other questions. It started off interview-ish, but ended up with some interesting personal revelations. It helps that David and I have a great relationship, and that we’ve been chatting each other up for decades. So, given the chance to ask anything, what did we ask each other? Well, it ranges from vinyl, to performance context, to self-motivation – and a million other things. Frankly, it’s hard to even remember everything we talked about, but you get to find out yourself! Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0374.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse

I’ve been trying to get Elainie Lillios on the podcast for some time. I’ve seen her, and heard her work at SEAMUS conferences in the past, and she has come up in conversations several times during the course of the podcast. So I was quite excited when we finally were able to pull this together. This interview gives me a great opportunity: I get to quiz someone on how they compose – but also, how they get their compositions into the hands of people that will perform them, and how to deal with the peculiarities of individual performers. Elainie’s work has been widely performed, and getting to the point where that is doable – well, that’s a challenge. In addition to her work and her process, we also get a look into Elainie’s background, and particularly how she was able to combine her education with personal perspectives to achieve her standing as a composer-of-note. We also learn about her relationship with teaching (and students), and the effect that teaching has on her compositional efforts. As hoped, this was a wonderful discussion, and I’m really glad I can share it with you. Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0373.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse

Cameron Warner Jones is the kind of person that, once you’ve heard of him, you just want to get to know him. Imagine a person that gets his start in the dark halls of Dartmouth’s Computer Music halls, designs and implements the complex musical system used by everyone at the time, then carries on the work through the years. You know there are stories there, right? Especially when the ‘musical system’ at hand is the Synclavier Digital Music System, which was used by everyone from Laurie Anderson through Frank Zappa. This system influenced everything that came later, and much of it was driven by Cameron’s efforts. In this discussion, we cover his background, his work at Dartmouth, his work with Sydney Alonso on the development of NED (New England Digital) as a business, and the Synclavier as a product. We also talk about some of the technical details that were required to bring it home, and how those details have been maintained through the years as the technology has matured and morphed among hardware hosts. Longer than usual, this podcast required time to come together – but is worth every second.  Enjoy! Transcription available at http://www.darwingrosse.com/AMT/transcript-0372.html Exclusive extra content on the Patron page: https://www.patreon.com/darwingrosse