tunedin52

> zenjungle: 

i was born in athens at mid seventies('74? 75?). i've been always playing music

i think through music.(really?)

often i find myself hitting surfaces to hear what they sound like (so what?)

music is the place where I meditate (ohmmm)

music is where i express my anger, my sadness (too sensitive?), my joy (cheese!)

music is where i put my things in order, (nice and tidy)

is where i throw everything in chaos (fucked up?)

it's my silence (sssst!) and my noise, life's complexity and life's simplicity

it's where i improvise during my late night walks (be careful there)

it's my dead end, my empty roads. my dirty corner, my inner balance.

i don't have a standard method when i play with sound. when john sent me these tracks to add sax on them i really didn't know where that would lead.

i first heard the 'flunkjazz' track and i thought 'wow! /what's that? /super! /what will i add to this? /wtf?' and i have to say that i have listened in my life tons of experimental and jazz stuff but it was still making me wonder. it was 'easier' than i thought when i started playing. after some listenings and a few takes on the sax the whole thing took another direction for me. it was the moment that i started feeling free and enjoying it too much. there is a lot of improvisation in all the songs. i did some live takes and then put them in. sometimes, i use all the takes that i record.

as i said i like to 'throw' things (ha!) -and to be more specific- recorded stuff on a track here and there to see what will happen in the end. the result always surprises me. it must be stuff that i still carry since i was playing in freejazz/freeform bands in the past.

five albums? that's a difficult question... i have some favorite albums that they 've melted on my deck/cd player.

1. art ensemble of chicago, les stances a sophie.

2. charlie haden -liberation music orchestra (the first album, 1969).

3. codona 3 (collin walcott, don cherry, nana vasconcelos).

4. john surman, upon reflection.

5. bauhaus, in the flat field.

i like the works of terje rypdal, especially the one with miroslav vitous and jack dejohnette.

zenjungle:

> tunedin52:

i've been around a long time, the first bit of vinyl i held in my hand was a 45 single, elvis's 'jail house rock'

we have pivotal moments in our lives, most of mine centre around music

the most memorable? the evening an american (usa) hippie handed me his telescope to get a closer look at hendrix playing 'all along the watchtower'

miles davis is another, i loved looking at him when he didn't play and listened to his guys, see what they could do

i love accidental sounds, improvisation and unpredictability

my sounds now are just the mark of my existence.

the idea of jazz subversion grew out of my own sound experiments and a collaboration with zenjungle. for my own part i have always been exploring sound creation through sound generative software and hardware. chaining together systems all teetering on the edge of on/off - feedback - infinite delays and inputing live and prerecorded guitar and samples with random lengths and selections. the result when applied to a jazz genre could only ever have been subversive. zenjungle responded generously and provided inspiration for further explorations. the result is here, jazz subversion. if you do not like it the first time have ten more listens and then ten more.

following some preparation and experimentation i aim to create a piece in one live take knowing that there will be unpredictable occurrences - which i welcome within the work. the chain of building and layering sound is primarily guitar, ebow and loop station with a menu of found sounds, field recordings and voice in gleetchlab. the work is further manipulated with effects using the software available from noiseplug, ambient and audacity with the interface provided by ni audio 6 komplete between me and the digital crunching required to process all that information.

in jazz subversion i am collaborating with a physically distant saxophonist – zenjungle, whose work i know. before this project i was exploring the sonic possibilities of real-time manipulation of guitar through loop station working with delays and pitch shifting. but for zen, i produced a series of tracks that are influenced by our common enthusiasm for jazz and the playing of john coltrane, building in spaces for zen’s sax response. it’s different for me to work with another musician whom i’ve never met and at first i gave him some guidelines to consider re. melody and timing but we agreed that these could be ignored. zenjungle’s contributions prove that ignoring them was the correct approach. i’m excited by what we have created together.

five albums: this is an impossible question. i bought all these on vinyl and listened to them endlessly and would still enjoy them. i do not really have a favorite anything in life.

out to lunch! 1964 by eric dolphy

get up with it by miles davis.

science fiction by ornette coleman

the cry of love by jimi hendrix

i sing the body electric by weather report

ben i created these titles and this is what i had in mind at the time. zen i'm sure will have his own references.

1. subversive: to get to the final result (jazz) by engaging unorthodox methods. examples: digital cut and paste, looping phrases, pitch shifting, feedback generation, digital stutter, creating a jazz trio style from guitar, dropping tuning to get a bass line and slapping to simulate a drum loop, also used, toy drum and tibetan bowl.

2. convolution: consists of a carrier (a prerecorded sample) and a modulator (a sample or realtime sound that when played allows the carrier to be heard). in 'subversive convolution' the sub bass line is only heard when the guitar line is played. the creative possibilities of this module are endless and is used a lot on this album.

3. flunk: punk-funk-junk just my way of saying fuck the preconceptions this is our jazz, take it or leave it.

4. dared: 'to take a chance, to risk' for example, to love one's robot.

tunedin52

cata25

tunedin52 & zenjungle > jazz subversion

track list:

flunk jazz 14:50

she dared to love her robot 07:44

subversive convolution 08:17

concerto for glitch guitar and tenor saxophone in the key of c 20:24

in dreams (my dead friends do not speak) 13:26

written, produced & performed by tunedin52 & zenjungle @ castlebaldwin, sligo, ireland and athens, greece.

tunedin52: guitar. samples noise loopstation delays mac gleetchlab.

zenjungle: sax. percussion.

mastered by john daly and phil @ castlebaldwin, sligo, ireland. and athens greece.

sleeve design and photography by tunedin52.

(c) + (p) 2012 catalogue of wonders (arts) ~ the copyright in these sound recordings & artwork are owned by tunedin52 & zenjungle under exclusive license to catalogue of wonders (arts)

please do not copy, reproduce or distribute text, photography & music without prior authorisation of the catalogue of wonders (arts) ~ catalogueofwonders@ymail.com