here you will find information on musical stuff i’ve done. i may as well begin with one i really love, which is the sound track to the film “Kuichisan”: ttp://cphdox.dk/d/film.lasso?ser=1551&s=2011101
so somewhere in the mid 90’s i had a musical collaboration with Dave Sewelson, which continues to this day. it was free music with edges of punk and “folk” music, as i like to explain it. but at that time, along with William Parker and Susie Ibarra, or Walter Perkins, we played regularly in East Village cafes and small clubs. i vaguely remember a country and western bar we cleared less than 5 minutes! but i had ambitions. and one of them was an orchestral arrangement. it was recorded by Steve Guttenberg at a now forgotten Chelsea loft, and ended with the neighbors beating on the doors. that is actually on the recording. well, it was lost! when i lost my loft. until a safety copy came to light last year. Thanks to Mats Gustaffson, and Danas Mikailionis at No Business records, it’s out now, on LP!
DUX orchestra: music by jc morrison. arranged by morrison and Sewelson. musicians: Dave Sewelson, baritone sax. Mats Gustaffson, baritone sax. Will Connell, alto clarinet. Susie Ibarra, drums. Walter “Sweets” Perkins, drums. Dave Hofstra, bas. jc morrison, electric guitar. recorded by Steve Guttenberg. mastered by Kato Hideki.
https://salt-peanuts.eu/record/d-u-x-orchestra/
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/duck-walks-dog-with-mixed-results-dux-orchestra-nobusiness-records
i may get some clips up, but here are links to recent film sound tracks:
“Rock, Paper, Dead”, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4420040.
“Respire”, www.imdb.com/title/tt5206224. a film short by Laice O’Malley
and a link to “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo”
http://beetlequeen.com/home.html
here is a clip of a short piece made from processed piezo pickups on various media… extensive use of tubeQ and memory man. digital editing.
here is a link to some typical for me modified acoustic guitar https://www.facebook.com/flipit4real/videos/10156210052562409/
okay, it’s been a while! but as of the beginning of October 2015, i have exhibited an installation together with the artist Cecilia Sterner, at Malmö Live, which a concert hall in the city of Malmö. this project is aimed primarily at children, although not necessarily so… it was a chance to practice some subversive thinking about the organization of sounds into music, from a very fundamental angle. inspiration for this was taken from Dr. Suess, who is one of my heroes. children of a certain age have not yet been completely brainwashed with pop, or tradition, and take most things they hear with a much more open mind than adults are capable of. they will treat nursery rhymes, orchestral intruments, and noise more or less equally, provided the environment supports this. enter “KLONK!” Leta Leka Ljud.
this wasn’t meant to be so much about music, although it is musical… it is about sound. and play.
here are some images:
the basic technical solution was to use loopers and media players instead of computers… a very simple redundant structure that could sustain damage to some parts and still work, in a sophisticated capacity. i made recordings of the sounds i wanted and had them constantly playing. the LM3866 chip amp has a “mute” function which was controlled by a timer/relay switch. it’s easy to add some fade in and out time to the chip… all the parts are already in there. a little time constant and you have a smooth transition. i made 21 channels of powered speakers of various types. all the sounds were muted until some kid tripped them. then they would pop up for a fixed period. sometimes it was a little scary when that happened! all part of the dream.
the basic little “KLONKER” looks like this. the back was 1/4″ aluminum for a heatsink. i mounted the LM3866, a switching supply, fuse and a 555 based delay relay gadget. wired a trip wire to the box… boom. the full range 3″ driver is a “BMR”… a cheap variation on a Manger (no matter what the manufacturer says…). i got a bunch of them surplus and they were perfect for this. this driver is the seed for the Naim BMR driver.
here you see a bigger one.
this is a “toobapig” it is adjusted with EQ and is mounted inside the tree, which acts as a horn. it makes sousaphone like elephants on parade. not all the time! just suddenly, you heard em coming…
various bits of KLONK getting readied to go…
some KLONKERS were built into the round loops. the kids would be climbing on them and suddenly they would start clanging and whistling. there were little trip switches and actual buttons for them to find.
the hanging “ljusfrukt” had more melodic phrases… they were fun. Ed Menton built them for Cilla.
here you see the installation
weird fruit!
KLONK tree
these are “KLONKSVAMP” they are powered inverted horns with buttons to trip them. these were very popular.
these loops were super peaceful until they weren’t. kids hid inside, and then they would come screaming out of them! over and over again. super popular.
not all of the sounds were electronic! we gave the kids every opportunity to take charge of KLONK. we had to touch up and repair things regularly. those swedish kids can really run amok! love it.
okay, one KLONK selfie.
opening day. we collaborated with the symphony orchestra’s musicians. everyday someone came with a flute, french horn or trombone. that was magic. they would wander around… improvising.
Cilla projected northern lights on screens hanging. the use of fabric in this piece was fabulous.
students from the music school came as denizens of KLONK. they lived in that world. they really got into it.
that’s it. it was fun to do. it ran for the month of October at Malmö Live.
dux was a 1990s grouping of musicians around dave sewelson, walter perkins, william parker, and myself. this could expand to include anyone else. the image above shows an orchestra version. with dave hofstra on bass (instead of william), walter perkins and susie ibarra (drums), dave sewelson (bari sax), mats gustaffson (bari sax), will connell (bari clarinet and alto), and myself (guitar).