Show Notes
A fascinating and frankly bonkers translation has taken place Taylor Deupree's original album Stil., released in 2002 was made with 100% digital techniques with a heavy dose of microsound, layering and looping. It now exists as something wildly different and yet painstakingly based on that work. This new iteration is a 100% acoustic version which takes it from Stil. to Sti.ll This is a rare form of digital to analog conversion and should only be attempted by festidious and slightly insane people! Sti.ll, released in 2024, is a complete reimagining of Stil., recorded entirely with acoustic instruments, such as clarinets, vibraphones, and cellos, played by live musicians. This new version abandons digital sound manipulation in favor of human performance, where sounds previously made with software are recreated through physical instruments and microphones. The transformations go beyond just switching mediums; the acoustic textures bring warmth and depth, making it an entirely new and distinct experience, while retaining the essence of the original. Who would attempt such madness? Taylor Deupree (wiki-ish) is a prolific electronic musician, sound artist, and founder of the record label 12k. Known for his contributions to the microsound and minimalist electronic music movements, Taylor's work often blends digital and acoustic elements. His music is characterized by its delicate, detailed textures and use of repetition to create slowly evolving soundscapes. Joe Branciforte (wiki-ish) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and Grammy award-winning recording engineer and producer based in New York. He is the founder of the record label Greyfade, which focuses on process-based composition, electronic and acoustic minimalism, and alternative tuning systems. Joe's expertise spans both electronic and acoustic music, making him adept at bridging these worlds in innovative ways. His work often involves live electronic processing of acoustic instruments, and he has collaborated with renowned artists like Kenneth Kirschner and Theo Bleckmann. His technical mastery and creative vision were key to bringing Taylor Deupree's acoustic reimagining of Stil. to life in Sti.ll, where he played an integral role in transcribing and arranging the complex digital compositions for live instrumentation. So good to chat with these masters about a project of such huge scope. We discuss this album at length and also Taylor's collaboration with the late, great Ryuichi Sakamoto links: https://www.taylordeupree.com https://josephbranciforte.com MUSIC from the show: from the email I received: Last year Miet Warlop and me (Micha Volders) went to Dhaka, Bangladesh to make a visceral musical performance with young students. It opened the Dhaka Art Summit and we played for a curious Bengali crowd of thousands. This city is a whole other universe, it's loud, it's overcrowded, it's vibrant. I work on a daily basis with young artists but I rarely experienced this kind of hunger, joy and motivation from these young students. We rehearsed 3 weeks in a row on this huge ghetto sound system placed middle on the road in the city, to a point where local residents were fed up and sabotaged our (already super shabby) P;A system by cutting all the wires, It was challenging, it was exciting and it was touching. So one year later we made a record out of the recordings of this venture : it's called ICCHĀ ——> check it out here
More from hanging out with audiophiles
Jordon played the Royal Albert Hall That's my intro to him I mean COME ON! What a dream He also spent a YEAR at Abbey Road I mean COMMMMME ONNNNNNN! Surely we need to study this Here we blummin go :)
There's so much to learn from Sarah Davachi. I've certainly found my short interaction with her and a humble dive into her catalog to be very enlightening and enriching to my process. She's someone that has a very considered approach to sound, a very respectful approach, I would say. Someone who's had a kind of consistency to her journey through it all and who brings such wonderful tones to our ears from often incredibly old and rarely heard instruments. That's certainly the case on her new record, "The Will of Tongues," which is a very ambitious and at times brutal sonic landscape that is both a powerful presentation of the static tones from organ, string and reed and of more traditional songs that are served out of nowhere and complete the meal like celestial sorbet. It's a wonderful listen, and I was fascinated to have a chance to have a brief conversation with her. Dig it! Music comes from an old pal of mine from the Berlin days "Phtalo" and a new EP called "Neurodivergent Lifestyle" jolly good fun! Find it here: https://phtalo.bandcamp.com/album/neurodivergent-lifestyle-ep
I'm really happy to have made the acquaintance of Robert Logan, my guest on this show, who was introduced to me by listener Ody Constantinou. Ody also helped me edit this interview—something I've never done in nine years of podcasting. Though he did a wonderful job, I'm going to return to editing future episodes myself, as shaping the audio is such a core part of the show's identity but I wanted to give Ody a huge shout-out for introducing me to Robert and helping put this episode together. Here's Ody's info [email protected] @ghostmeet on Mastodon Robert is a phenomenal, Emmy-nominated composer with an incredible sense of texture, which is something I value more and more in music these days. We had a great philosophical ramble. My cup of tea of an afternoon! Check out his album Otherscapes—it features 132 unreleased tracks spanning 2006 to 2026 for just $10. Highly recommended. https://robertloganmusic.bandcamp.com/album/otherscapes-unreleased-works-2006-2026 Music that you'll hear peppered through the episode comes from Peter Jonason Wonderful stuff from an album that's coming soon Check his work here! https://peterjonason.bandcamp.com/
I am so happy to have Tim Exile back for round two. This time, we're diving into an exciting new music creation environment that he's been diligently building at a rapid-fire pace. It's called Karst link here https://app.karst.systems/ it's already running in the browser, with plans for plugin and standalone this year and it's showing an incredible amount of promise as a replacement for Reaktor going forward. It's a wild, ambitious idea, so it's no surprise it came from Tim, who is such a fearless and ever-creative soul. It was an absolute joy to chat with him about how Karst was built and programmed from the ground up in just a matter of months using the latest technologies, and what he ultimately hopes to achieve with it. We also discuss the incredibly challenging health issues he's had to face, his new space in London and general get lost in the sauce of the ramble :)
Flipping Summer madness!!! Yeah it feels like this holiday has gone on for months already. We took in a bit of Cornwall and caught up with the UK family. Cornwall was a very wise choice as it has a microclimate that allowed a little escape from the insanity that London heatwave. You know what? I did a pretty good job of disappearing completely albeit without a full phone detox. I feel that might be needed soon. Someone threw out a stat that we only have 300 months of free time in our lives. Best not to spend all of that on the phone. Im such a sad addict at this point it's not funny. Anyhow that's beside the point. Back in the bubble of the music space, I made a little computer only setup in my space to see if I can't use it to focus on a different kind of making and perhaps even the FINISHING? Lets see. I go on about that a lot in the intro so I'll not linger on that now. Needless to say I wish you all fulfillment and success however that looks to you. This episode is with the excellent Nicholas Semrad. He's aheady had many a musical life. You may have seen him playing alongside Cory Henry, Lauryn Hill or Mark Guiliana. You may know him as a patch maker for Sequential or Yamaha. Perhaps you know him for his film and TV work. He's highly accomplished and a touring beast. Currently he's slathering on the make up on a 6 month Empire of the Sun gig. He's a total beast and yet a wonderfully humble and chill individual. Ive had micro hangs with him before on the road but never a long form one on one until now. So it's a treat to have the chance. Give it up for for Mr Semrad!!!