ArtistInfo

Keith Fullerton Whitman
Onyx

Album AU 2017 on Not On A Label label
Electronic (Experimental)

"A highly diverse suite of stereo music recorded, mixed, & mastered during an intense, week-long stint in June 2013 spent building & fine-tuning a specific configuration of real-time Hybrid Digital-Analogue Synthesizer & reciprocal multi-channel Digital Audio Pathway, assembled on commission as the audio infrastructure for a larger, site-specific project. What sets these apart from other, more "run & gun" direct live or studio recordings, is that the individual audio elements are all being fed in real time into a proper mixing environment, where contemporary production techniques are being applied. "The seven "Onyx" takes were captured with the intention to show the breadth of possibilities inherent to the system itself; something of a "calling card" or "demo reel", albeit one that has attained a life of its own via word of mouth after I shared it with a few key people. I've wrestled with this material in the intervening years, occasionally revisiting it with designs to pare it down, corral it into more bite-size segments - but then I'll put one on during a bout of insomnia, or a long night drive & realize what makes them interesting is how they slowly evolve over time. They're loose, improvisational takes with glacial pacing, best kept intact & that's how they're being preserved & presented here. "Starting with a pair of minimal, transfixing sliding-scale patterns straight off of a 70s "Electronic Music" library outing, we progress into an extended, careening "Occlusion", complete with erratic, free jazz drum machine blasts that settles into a fine chunk of machine music. The three pieces that follow all utilize elements of the "Generators" framework, driven by internal logic; they're a solid, 4-5-6 punch of extended, cleanly-dividable rhythmic workouts that, while among the more linear music I've made recently, do incorporate a fair amount of abstracted mist, grumbling low-bit sampler gristle, & keening high-end crackle. "The final segment was an attempt to simplify the patch / setup for a matinee, "All Ages" experience, hence the détournement into child-friendly dance-floor sensibilities . I've also included a trilogy of recordings made just after the week in question, wherein I attempted to perform the "Onyx" setup at, respectively, Casa Del Popolo in Montreal, the Goethe-Institut Boston, and, amazingly, outdoors at the South Street Seaport in New York on a 100º+ day. "released July 7, 2013"--Artist Website

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