With the justification of Wagner's Gesamkunstwerk (in literary fashion) comes the end of my first year at Wesleyan. A long strange trip indeed, but new musical landscapes were discovered and heartily enjoyed, the most memorable being the gorgeous palette of sounds that is Balinese gamelan, a music that I had the opportunity of performing with and dancing to extensively throughout the course of the year, including a great performance of Matt Welsch's 'Lagu Campur Dua' at Yale. Here's a snippet from a performance at Wesleyan.
Scenes I and II of HIT were performed again at Wesleyan's spring Balinese music and dance concert. A great video of Scene II can be seen on the Videos page, complete with myself and Balinese music director Pete Steele in full Balinese war dance regalia.
Dovetailing, a pretty kick-ass project that has arisen from this performance has been Agem, RIGHT, a guitar and kendang duet which Pete and I have discovered is a damn near perfect union of instruments. Although Pete'l be traveling up to Bates for a professorship, this is by no means the end of the collaboration. Look for a bandcamp EP to be posted over the next few weeks.
And finally, in my journey to become the next Mingeidi, I'll soon have in my possession a 4 octave kalimba, seen below:
This lil' dude has a double deck set of tines on the front and back, expanding tonal range and compositional possibilities. I already play a two octave version, and I'm frightened to think of where this'l take me.
Lastly, my recent contribution to the Wesleyan Virtual Instrument Museum, the hammered dulcimer, will be published online within a few weeks. Read up and on and out....
4-2-12 >><< Flower For Kali/Sorceress Jagged Edge release
The first release of Marana Jocund, 'Flower For Kali/Sorceress,' is now available from Totally Incarnate (our lil' ol' online store) or you can get a copy directly from myself. An image of the cover is posted on the Discography page.
The talents of Rob Pumpelly and Megan McKearney are fully displayed on this fine release. The release contains an 8 track CDr of our most current work, as well as a 6 cut DVDr of live studio footage shot over the summer of 2011. In addition to the incredible graphic design work by Megan, the CD/DVD set comes fully professionally packaged and printed (not some random discs in paper sleeves). And of course, the music and visual presentations are mega-mindblowing.
Or, you can order one of these fine releases directly from me. Simply email blipvertmusic@gmail.com. We also have a limited number of shirts available from our last tour, so get em while you can!
3-3-12 >><< The Hare (in full swing)
My re-contextualization project with Rob Mosher has begun, and one track has already been completed. Snippets of things may be posted from time to time, but this entire thing might be kept under wraps until its completed.
1-23-12 >><< Marana Bay Area tour concludes, thanks, adios (for now), and gamelan
And that's all folks! Thanks a ton to all who came down to any of Marana's Bay Area shows this last week and cheered, chatted, bought, drank, and listened. A massively successful tour. New friends, new music, new fans, and after last night, I'll need a new f&$^in' amp.
For those who missed, you can still experience Marana on the world wide interweb by clicking here or on a DVD. Contact me or visit the website for more info on our current merch and how to purchase. Look for more Marana dates in March, and a possible West Coast tour over the summer.
For near-future activities, I'll be performing at Yale in March in a gamelan piece by composer Matt Welch. More on this to come...
And now, back to the East Coast I go....for a spell....Sakama!