I’m posting this up to let more folks in this lovely Overlap world to know about happenings in China. There are some battle plans currently being drawn up for some Laoban and Overlap action in China this summer. And, if you don’t know about Laoban, where have you been??? Laoban Soundsystem is an open sound system. The plans for all speakers are available on-line. The events the soundsystem participates in are media events that generate further media. Anyone who attends the events, creates the speakers, or produces content for them, please tag your work with laoban. We also make speakers and are seeking sponsorships for building the massive Laoban 2.0 in China and the Xiaoban monitors are being produced in smaller quantities for sale internationally.

Here is some text about the event today in Beijing’s CaoChangDi village where I live:

Come out tomorrow afternoon and evening, Friday, May 1 at CCD300 for a last minute event tomorrow in Cao Chang Di for the Qianti 2009 Performance Art Festival. Matt and I are setting up the upgraded Laoban Soundsystem 1.0 and will use the new Xiaoban Baby Speaker Samples we have in the stack for the event to start at 2 PM on May Day (May 1) and will last for a few hours. If you are hardcore, come out from the start. My guess is the best time to come after the performance art is at 5:30 PM and we will keep the bass and dubstep going for as long as people are on the scene. There is cheap drinks and food all around the space, so all is well on that front.

UPDATE: Ok, confirmed details. There are performances and a couple of bands from 2 – 6. Then after 6 PM, the big party starts and goes until late. There is free bbq and beers the entire day from 2 until whenever…so this is really about who comes out now, and who is mixing.

We will be mixing some drum n bass, dubstep, dirty south beats, and getting some friends to mix as well, all around the theme of planning for summer events like Laoban Tour, CaoChangDi.org, and other projects in anticipation of Laoban Soundsystem 2.0 arriving soon.

DJS: If you are a DJ, please come out and mix some cutting edge music. Its all about the battle of best music on an open soundsystem.

Go to the Fabricatorz blog post to read more about this.

Busy times here at Overlap!

Though the visibility of our Max/MSP/Jitter/Live Salon may have fallen into the background on the site, our enthusiamsm for it has not! Please come by this evening, if you’d like to learn about the wonderful world of audio, video, and just generally data-manipulation for creative ends.

max/msp/jitter/live salon tonight

At 7pm tonight, you’ll find us at Sound Arts at 520 Hampshire in San Francisco. Barry Threw will be diving into ways to load and manipulate MIDI files in Max5. Regardless of your familiarity with any of the software, we welcome all levels and will do our best to make sure you can get a solid understanding to produce the work of your imagination.

swissnex and qb1 last friday

Speaking of Max/MSP/Jitter and Live, it was an excellent evening all-around at swissnex last Friday. Thanks so much for all that came by to support!

It was nice to have a chance to produce live video again, and here are some meditative images for those that were unable to attend.

cafe du nord this mother’s day, sunday 10 may 2009

And lastly, in case you’ve not been reminded enough — come out to Cafe Du Nord for Mother’s Day!

This event promises to be a very relaxing way to hang out with Christopher Willits, Taylor Deupree and Classical Revolution. Singing strings, wobbly guitars and a wash of image will take you through Sunday to Monday feeling refreshed and renewed.

robert rich is arguably one of the most important american composers. his work helped to define bay area electronic music culture and was at the forefront of important labels like hearts of space and hypnos. though rich himself finds it frustrating to be associated with new age music and thus new age culture. His contribution to the genre of slow, quiet atmospheric music that was emanating from the bay area in the 1980s is undeniable. his sound helped to define a generation of artists and helped to lead to the current aesthetic of quiet minimal music within the underground experimental musical culture.

rich is also the modern developer of the sleep concert, an idea that he attributes to the all night shamanic rituals of the archaic world. early in my process of curating the Sommeil remix experiment robert was a strong supporter of the idea and was amazingly open in sharing not only his idea but detailed information about how he realized these events, the culture surrounding them and the synthesis techniques he employed during the course of these monumental events. my favorite parts of our phone conversations included anecdotes about bay area culture in the 1980s and about our mutual friend naut humon.

one of the most interesting things about my talks with rich were stories about how people responded to sleep concerts and what to expect as the curator of such an event. without his help, Sommeil would have never become what it is today so i am grateful for his time and willingness to work with me conceptually on the project. if you are at all interested in the Sommeil project i urge you to support robert rich by purchasing some of this music.

in particular, i recommend that you pick up a copy of somnium rich’s album which explores over 7 hours material that was originally created for sleep concerts. rich also recommends picking up a copy of his live archive. he says about his live archive, “Seven concerts spanning twenty years of performance, over ten hours of music, available only in downloadable digital format. Each concert is available separately. This release comes on the 20th anniversary of the 1989 radio concert in Paris that forms the first of these downloads. Each concert appears mostly in its entirety, lightly edited by Robert to fit under 80 minutes per set when needed. A few technical glitches are repaired, but otherwise all the quirks of live performance remain.”

please take the time to listen to this fascinating interview with legendary ambient composer robert rich. simply click on the mp3 links and you will be able to hear his responses to my questions. i hope that this interview can serve as a reference point for other artists who in the future might choose to continue the tradition of the sleep concert.

here are the first two responses to the following questions:

TM: first i would like to thank you robert, for allowing me to use your sleep concert idea in my own project Sommeil: A Concert for Sleep. your music has been an inspiration to me for some time and the idea of a sleep concert has appealed to me for many years. obviously, by the number of people who have submitted music to the concert i think that many many people around the world have a genuine interest in your ideas and i hope the work that have put together honors your original idea and brings new life to a form that i see as an important one for the twenty first century.

how did you initially arrive at the idea of the sleep concert? i recall in our previous phone conversation that you mentioned your study of psychology. could you talk a bit about how your study of psychology played into the creation of sleep events and could you say a few words about the origins of these ideas.

TM: one of the things that i am very curious about, and about which we have spoken before, is the types of suggestions that you would give the audience before the sleep concert. what should they know before going into this experience?

 

 robert rich response 1 - tanner menard interview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (501)

 

 robert rich response 2 - tanner menard interview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (486)

Yo!

A change in theme and pace this week with a mix from my good friend Keiichi Sugimoto.

Keiichi Sugimoto was born in 1975 and began his performing activity in 1998 with the solo project Four Color. In 1999 he formed the electro-acoustic group Minamo, as a guitar player with Tetsuro Yasunaga, and in 2002, formed electronica duo Fonica with Cheason, a member of RdL.

I hosted Keiichi’s Melbourne show at the end of 2007, as part of the Symbiosis Listening Focus. I have great memories of that show; it was a stormy night, we were in an intimate club in the city and the warm space was decorated with lots of tea candles. Exactly what I had envisaged when I started the series.

Keiichi’s kindness and friendship endeared him to me instantly and we have kept in contact ever since. I hope you enjoy his mix for Episode 7.

Keiichi on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/fourcolor
Symbiosis Episode 7 – mixed by Keiichi Sugimoto

on 5 tracks
Duration 29:50:41

1 00:02:00      mopeOne filfla remix
2 07:30:03      spartak filfla remix
3 13:29:51      familiar(composed by FourColor, vocal by moskitoo)
4 18:24:18      miou miou filfla remix
5 24:55:50      wst(composed by FilFla, vocal by moskitoo)

Get in touch, leave your comments and shout about overlap to the world…

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/symbiosisradio
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SimonHampson
MSN: simon640@gmail.com
AIM: aujinga
Skype: simonhampson

Next week:
30th April – Episode 8 – Jinga in the mix
Time for yours truly to step into the mix again next week. I will be showcasing some tracks that are currently rocking my world and some ambient/experimental sounds too. Hope you can join me!

Coming up:

In May.. AGF & Vladislav Delay / LD / HelloSquare Recordings / Fused Forces

Peace,

Simon

 

 Symbiosis - Episode 7 - Keiichi Sugimoto [30:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (639)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1. Overlap.org releases Nakamura Hiroyuki “TRITONOMICS”
2. Listen/Vision 06 – w/ Christopher Willits, Taylor Deupree, Classical Revolution – May 10th 2009 – Cafe Du Nord
3. Overlap and swissnex + YOU collaborate at QB1 robot unveiling – April 24th 2009
4. Symbiosis Podcast – new episode
5. Overlap Salon 05 – April 29th 2009

1 – OVERLAP.ORG RELEASES “TRITONOMICS” A SONIC WASH OF NOISEY BEAUTY BY NAKAMURA HIROYUKI.

http://overlap.org/2009/04/nakamura-hiroyuki-tritonomics-new-digital-release/

TRITONOMICS is a masterful wash of noisy beauty brought to us from the imagination of Overlap newcomer Nakamura Hiroyuki. Nakamura makes use of complex FM synthesis techniques and machine freakouts to create simultaneously harsh/digital and colorful/organic textures and melodies.

2 – OVERLAP.ORG PRESENTS : LISTEN/VISION 06 – CAFE DU NORD – MAY 10TH 2009 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA.

http://overlap.org/2009/04/listenvision-06-may-10th-2009-cafe-du-nord-christopher-willits-taylor-deupree-classical-revolution/

Join Overlap for a floating Sunday evening of beautiful sounds and images.

Featuring

Christopher Willits (Overlap/12k/ghostly) – SF local experimentalist / genre flexitarian will perform solo + an exclusive collaboration with the strings and horns of Classical Revolution (!).

Taylor Deupree (12k) – The man behind 12k who is always doing much more with much less. Taylor is visiting from NY for his first SF show in many years.

Classical Revolution – An amazing group of players actively bringing chamber music out of the chamber.

$10, 21+
Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.

Buy Tickets Online:

http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=1236394&pl=cdnord

Cafe Du Nord and
The Swedish American Hall
2170 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 861-5016

3 – OVERLAP + SWISSNEX + YOU COLLABORATE at QB1 ROBOT PREMIERE – APRIL 24th 2009 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA.

http://overlap.org/2009/04/overlap-swissnex-you-collab-at-qb1-robot-premiere-april-24th-2009/

On April 24th swissnex is unveiling the QB1, a robot that alters the fundamentals of human-machine interaction. To celebrate the occasion, and kick-off a new relationship with swissnex, Christopher Willits will be dj’ing two short sets, and the Overlap.org Max/MSP freaks (Willits, Louis Rawlins, and Barry Threw) will be unveiling our own generative system of music. The goal is to fill the event space with beautiful ambient sounds via systems of constrained indeterminacy. This system will process and morph and resynthesize MIDI files that are submitted to Overlap.org by YOU.

If you’d like to submit, here are the guidelines for Overlap Music Bot submissions:

1. All MIDI files must be in the key of Amaj, D#maj, or F#minor.

2. Submission must be made through Overlap.org. Sign-in and make a post with a link to your MIDI file(s). If you are not currently registered on overlap.org you can do so here ! – http://overlap.org/wp-register.php

3. No limit to the # of files you wish to submit.

4. Credits to all artists involved will be announced at the event and follow-up posts about the QB1 event.

4 – SYMBIOSIS PODCAST

Symbiosis is the radio brainchild of Simon Hampson from Melbourne Australia. Once the cutting edge radio program on Melbourne’s radio waves, Symbiosis has evolved into one of Overlap.org’s featured podcasts.

http://overlap.org/tag/symbiosis/

Recent podcasts:

Symbiosis – Episode 5 – Thesis
Symbiosis – Episode 6 – BD1982

Coming up:

AGF & Vladislav Delay

5 – OVERLAP SALON 05 – APRIL 29th 2009

http://overlap.org/2009/03/overlap-salon-05-maxmspjitterlive-april-29th-2009/

This salon is hosted by Overlap.org and Sound Arts. It is encouraged to bring Max/MSP/Jitter patches, Ableton Live sessions, questions, and any sort of libations you desire (those are drinks).

We are excited that Ableton Live is now a part of the Overlap Salon, and we are the new Ableton Live user group of San Francisco!

ABOUT OVERLAP.ORG

OVERLAP.ORG supports the diverse community and culture surrounding experimental media releases, unique events and sharing. OVERLAP.ORG releases and shares new independent music, video, and experimental art, produces innovative special events, and provides anyone with a free blog to share their media with the world. Overlap was founded by musican and artist Christopher Willits (http://christopherwillits.com) and has been steadily growing with the help of Jon Phillips (http://rejon.org), Louis Rawlins (http://simple.sumat.org), Kenric McDowell (http://kenricmcdowell.com), Lucky Banks-Kenny, and other devoted artists.

WEBSITE: http://overlap.org

Press Contact

* Sponsoring Organization: Overlap.org
* Contact: Lucky BK
* Contact email: info@overlap.org
* Phone (USA): +1 510-543-7374
* Website: http://overlap.org

###

Overlap and Volume present

LISTEN/VISION 06
Sunday 10 May 2009 at Cafe Du Nord, Doors 7pm

Join Overlap for a floating Sunday evening of beautiful sounds and images.

Featuring

Christopher Willits (overlap/12k/ghostly) – SF local experimentalist / genre flexitarian will perform solo + an exclusive collaboration with the strings and horns or Classical Revolution (!).

Taylor Deupree (12k) – the man behind 12k who is always doing much more with much less. visiting from NY. his first SF show in many years.

Classical Revolution – an amazing group of players actively bringing chamber music out of the chamber.

$10, 21+
Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.

Buy Tickets Online

Cafe Du Nord and
The Swedish American Hall
2170 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 861-5016

Sponsoring Organizations :

XLR8R – amazing magazine and culture accelerators based in SF.

Friends of the Urban Forest – bringing trees into San Francisco.

Overlap.org – experimental music/art releases, events, and community.

Overlap.org is very pleased to feature Nakamura Hiroyuki with his debut EP release “TRITONOMICS“.

“TRITONOMICS” is a masterful wash of noisy beauty brought to us from the imagination of Overlap newcomer Nakamura Hiroyuki. Nakamura makes use of complex FM synthesis techniques and digital machine freakouts to create simultaneously harsh/digital and colorful/organic textures and melodies.

HIGH quality DRM-free MP3’s are available at Overlap.org’s
NEW ONLINE SHOP !! – BUY NOW !!

Cover art by Nobuko Hori

 

 Nakamura Hiroyuki - DUST [3:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (553)