Feedbacking pedal chain

I had been interested in feedback loops for a while and decided to record some experiments.

Using a guitar pedal chain routed back to itself via a mixer I was able to obtain surprisingly versatile results by tweaking settings, changing the placing of pedals in the chain or by varying the level of aux send from the mixer (the amount of feedback)

These sessions were edited and mixed (no treatment other than some fades and panning) to produce a 25-minute piece. Dim the lights and Enjoy!

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Symphonic Fantasie for Found Vinyl

Duration: 10 minutes (excerpt / remix)
Format: 4.1 channel (stereo, wide stereo, low frequency)

Programme Note (1 or 2 sentences about the piece which will be on the programme given to the audience):

A composition taken from old (found) vinyl. Classical music records were treated with both analog and digital signal processing, in sessions which were edited, sliced, grouped and placed across 4 channels. The sounds are both an exploration of the textural and physical nature of old records (crackle, hiss) and of the content; re-contextualized, remodelled, re-positioned in space – retaining the drama and emotion of large orchestral recordings, hinting at both the past and the future..

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Bavarian Concert Zither

I picked up this lovely Bavarian Concert Zither on ebay for about £40.

This is the instrument used on the soundtrack for the movie “The Third Man”. It features 5 fretted strings and 27 open strings which are usually tuned in a cycle of fifths. I used my own unison tuning.

One thing that is really interesting about these instruments is that almost every country and culture has some kind of version of the zither, and it’s basically an ancestor of the guitar.

Combined with a fairly crude homemade contact microphone and my standard effect chain (2 DL4’s, Boss PS-2, Blues Driver, Verbzilla, Alesis portable mixer) I was using this setup for the first Unknown Devices sessions with David Toop. The case acts as a resonant chamber/amplifier and picks up lots of great creaks and friction.

I later edited together this quite dark loop-based composition..

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ghOst produced a couple of 6-minute tracks for Otaku magazine’s ‘Kaidan’ issue. These are entitled ‘jitenshi-kaze’ (bicycle/wind) and ‘amatsu-kaidan’ (celestial ghost).

Otaku magazine is really beautifully presented and researched, and follows a different theme for each issue, in this case ‘kaidan’, japanese traditional ghost stories. Otaku manages a great balance between genre history, artist contributions and manga comic book content (not to mention the awesome cover cd). I recommend getting hold of a copy quick!

Listen to ghOst here

Debut album ‘Stem the Tide’ released on Sacred Cow records (2008)

Gigs across London including Fopp records and Badge of Friendship DIY Festival at the ICU, London, 2007.

Some press for the album:

KOE – Stem The Tide (Sacred Cow)

Instrumental post-prog guitar musical adventure for fans of Isis, Godspeed, Red Sparrows and such. Raw edged and full of spirited bite, Stem The Tide is played with the heart and passion that far too often is lost in the technical over-slickness of others. Colour, adventure, tempo changing light and shade, a live raw (not too raw) warmth and a real feel. Sometimes considered and dark, minimal and slowly paced, sometimes chopping and changing, euphoric and touching on the epic when they need to, experimental when they feel that’s right. Koe aren’t doing anything remarkable different here, what they are doing they’re doing just right and in these overcrowded instrumental post rock times when every crusty indie kid with a guitar and a Don Cab album thinks they can do it, Koe have made an album that is more than worth your time and their effort. Koe have a punk/metal bite when they need it, they take you all over the post-rock spectrum without every letting you down and leaving you with a feeling that they’re just copying others.. Koe can touch your emotion, they can sooth, they can lift… This is a good album, this is a sometimes very impressive album (neat artwork as well, the front over art deserves a mention). Koe are a London based international collaboration with members from France, Slovenia, Japan and the UK and this self released DIY album is well worth tracking down. Recommended. –

DEMO OF THE WEEK

KOE – Three rather fine and rewarding post/math rock instrumental pieces from a new London based band. Three clever (not too clever), challenging, rewarding, easy of the ear pieces, three warm and highly enjoyable relaxing pieces of heavy-edge post rock. Sometimes less is more, and for now this is all we need to say – highly recommended musical warmth – www.myspace.com/koeband (nice artwork/packaging as well)

QRO Magazine (7.2)

The multi-national Koe draw from a wide array of strains in post-rock on their debut LP, Stem the Tide. Based in London but including members from Slovenia and France, it isn’t surprising that the three-piece doesn’t stick to one method of post-rock. And while some ways are certainly better than others on Stem the Tide, Koe delivers.

Unfortunately, Tide opens on maybe its weakest track, “Song2”. A bit simplistic, more rock-grind than post-rock, “Song2” points out that Koe’s weaker side is their harder side. The following “Nineflower” is definitely more meaningful, but still loses itself in the grind at times. The other instances where the band returns to this bass-heavy rock are better, but middle track “Kruh” is too intricate, later piece “Test transmission” is a confused chop-attack, with only the preceding “Leech” getting better with rhythm.

Thankfully, Koe spends more time in the higher altitudes of post-rock, and this is where they really flourish. It starts with “Quan”, an ominous glide that is best when it explodes. That is followed up by the even better “SlapghOst”, which is more atmospheric in its haunts, and possesses a distorted radio voice in the distance. Other times, Tide goes even more removed, like the softer haunted house “testo”, or the growing far static “Iloveyouverymuch”. But the pinnacle has to be the prior “Waiver”, whose flow and glide has just the right level of post-rock touch, and goes wonderfully into the expanse.

Stem the Tide finishes with the epic, eleven-plus-minute “Tire pas…”, which tells a whole story without words, a whole life. Koe might do some things better than others, which can be frustrating at times, but there’s nothing Stemming their Tide as they are carried along the waves of post-rock.