0 Plural Album and Limited Edition Prints Release
I’m excited to announce the release of my new album, 0 Plural. My excitement is twofold. First, the album is a return to longer form works after a decade of nearly obsessive focus on the short character pieces that comprise the Character Weekend and 1 Vox series as well as most of the Exquisite series (a collaboration with John O’Brien). But this release is also different since it introduces the first sets of limited edition prints to be produced with Tentacle, an algorithmic drawing program that I developed with Amir Hariri. Three editions are available – one 12”, from the cover art, plus two 7”, one for each track on the album.
The album and the prints are all available on on Bandcamp.
Thanks for listening.
Bandcamp Friday/Labor Day Sale!
Feeling Bandcamp Friday fatigue? Then enjoy a free gift from us. All albums from the Exquisite series (Damon Holzborn and John O’Brien), Donkey (Hans Fjellestad and Damon Holzborn) and my solo releases are free/name your price through the holiday weekend.
Have a great Labor Day! Thanks for listening.
Second Set of Tentacle Prints Now Available at the Artling
A new batch of Tentacle prints is available at The Artling. More Tentacle related projects coming soon, including limited edition prints. Sign up for our email list to be kept in the loop.
Tentacle Prints Now Available at The Artling
Earlier this year, Amir Hariri and I released the first sets of images from Tentacle, an algorithmic drawing project that creates gestural abstractions using contour drawing techniques. We have now made the first set of prints available at The Artling. More prints will be released over the next few months and look for more Tentacle related projects later in the summer, including limited edition prints. Sign up for our email list to be kept in the loop.
1 Vox, Vol. 2 Released
Better late than never, the follow up to 1 Vox, Vol. 1 finally makes it out into the world. 1 Vox, Vol. 2 is the second set of etudes that employ tight constraints to encourage focused exploration of the capabilities of my small modular synthesizer. Each piece uses only one voice (that is, one sound generator) plus the small set of modulation and utility modules in my rack. In order to center my attention on the capabilities of the system, I used no external controllers or sequencers. I’ve long focused on radical constraints in my work, so while this performance interface is more limited than many of the instruments I’ve built, a tightly controlled possibility space is a natural place for me to explore.
Available now on Bandcamp. Coming in June to select streaming services.
New Project: Tentacle
I’m excited to introduce Tentacle, an algorithmic drawing project created in collaboration with Amir Hariri that creates gestural abstractions using contour drawing techniques.
A few years back, my friend Andrew West was visiting me in New York. While he was here, he also had plans to visit Amir, an old friend from his art school days. It occurred to Andrew that Amir and I might have similar interests in art and technology so he introduced us. We started getting together from time to time to talk about art, particularly algorithmic art. The conversations weren’t limited to visual art; George Lewis’ interactive music system Voyager featured heavily in early conversations. It turns out Andrew was right, Amir and I shared a similar aesthetic and approach. Soon enough, philosophical discussions started to turn into design discussions and those designs eventually turned into code. We’re now ready to start sharing what we’ve been working on. Learn more >>
Exquisite Two Released
Sneaking in just before the end of the year, Exquisite Coast Two is the second in a series of albums of synthesiser improvisations created in collaboration with John O’Brien. In the spring of 2020, as the Covid-19 lockdown got under way, John and I started talking about ways to collaborate remotely after realizing that we both owned a Make Noise 0-Coast semi-modular synthesizer. By sharing patches—the state of the synthesizer, including the positions of the knobs and how the signals are routed from one part of the synthesizer to another—we created pairs of solo pieces that shared a common configuration. Each week, we made two recordings: one based on an original patch—the Prompt—and then a Response based on the other person’s patch.
You can get it now on Bandcamp.
Exquisite Coast One Now Streaming
Exquisite Coast One is now available on all major streaming services.
And of course it’s still available at Bandcamp for those who prefer a download to a stream.
Exquisite Coast One Released
I’m excited to announce the release of a new album in collaboration with John O’Brien. In the spring of 2020, as the Covid-19 lockdown got under way, John and I started talking about ways to collaborate remotely after realizing that we both owned a Make Noise 0-Coast semi-modular synthesizer. By sharing patches—the state of the synthesizer, including the positions of the knobs and how the signals are routed from one part of the synthesizer to another—we created pairs of solo pieces that shared a common configuration. Each week, we made two recordings: one based on an original patch—the Prompt—and then a Response based on the other person’s patch.
Exquisite Coast One is the first of many albums in a series that we will roll out over the next year or so. You can get it now on Bandcamp.
You can play Exquisite Coast too! If you and a friend have any of the small semi-modular synthesizers from Make Noise or Moog and would like to play the game yourselves, we have publicly released the web app we used to notate and share patches. Visit ec.rustle.works to learn more.
Exquisite Coast Web App is now Exquisite Coasts
Exquisite Coasts is a shared patch game created by Damon Holzborn and John O’Brien (original announcement here) for the Make Noise 0-Coast semi-modular synthesizer. We have now expanded the game to include additional synthesizers from which to choose. Now, in addition to the 0-Coast, we’ve added additional small semi-modular instruments from Make Noise (Strega, 0-CTRL) and Moog (Mother 32, DFAM, Subharmonicon, Werkstatt). Learn more and join in at ec.rustle.works.