This improvisation by Hach & Navasse was recorded on 12/21/1999. It consists of a series of loops from CDs improvised on two Pioneer CDJ-500IIs, a guitar and synthesizer. It was recorded on a four track analog recorder.
Hach & Navasse (Justin Peloian and Eduardo Navas) was formed during our graduate studies at Cal Arts during the years 1998 – 2000. Justin played guitar and keyboards, and I played loops on the CDJs and Turntables We performed in a series of events and recorded improvisational sessions from 1998 to about 2002 at which time we stopped collaborating and moved our separate ways.
A few months ago I found a digital version of the recording, along with a few other improvisations, which I had in storage. After listening to it a few times I decided that it was worth sharing online, because, with hindsight, I believe there are some decent moments in the thirty plus minutes of this piece. Many thanks to Justin for letting me share our collaboration online.
Track List:
1. Loop: unknown timbal loop by Unknown
2. Loop: E Preciso Perdoar by Cesária Évora, Caetano Veloso, Ryuichi Sakamoto
3. Loop: This City Never Sleeps by Eurythimics
4. Loop: I Waited for You by Dizzy Gillespie
5. Loop: Mind Trips (remix) by Brand New Heavies
6. Sliced Loop P. 1: Ko-wo Ko-wo (on top of “Mind Trips”) by Cachao
7. Loop: Influx by DJ Shadow
8. Sliced Loop P. 2: Ko-wo Ko-wo (on top of “Influx”) by Cachao
I recently participated at the El Chopo Museum‘s (Mexico City) series of events titled Bastard Pop. Above is the video archive of my performance which took place on September 7, 2013. The improvisation consists of three major sections. The first is an instrumental remix of Eric B and Rakim’s “Paid in Full” with James Brown’s “Payback.” This one is followed by a remix of John Cage’s “Music for 5 Pianos,” “Music for 4 Pianos,” “Music for 3 Pianos,” and “Music for 2 Pianos” which together form a sound piece I call “John Cage Music for 14 Pianos (Remix).” During the performance I doubled the remix and at one point people heard 28 pianos with different sound effects I set up specifically for the recordings. The last part consists of a remix of Kraftwerk’s “Numbers” with MJ Cole’s “Introduction,” a piece part of his seminal 2step album “Sincere.” The end consists of bass-lines and synth-sounds that I developed with Audiomulch, the software I used for the performance. Throughout the performance I also manipulated the introduction to Laurie Anderson’s “Superman,” which is the last sample heard at the end of the improvisation.
The sound in the space was simply amazing. It is too bad that the videostream went into the red, with the result of sound distortion. At least people online will have an idea about the development of the sound piece. I plan to post a better recording of the improvisation at a later point.
John Cage Music for 14 Pianos (Remix) is a mashup of Cage’s “Music for 5 Pianos,” “Music for 4 Pianos,” “Music for 3 Pianos,” and “Music for 2 Pianos.” All four pieces are 7 minutes plus a few seconds long. After listening to the compositions over the years, I realized that a mashup of the four recordings would follow the principles of chance as promoted by Cage. As a result this piece is part of a series of Cage remixes I will be releasing in the near future.
I will be remixing “Music for 14 Pianos” live at the upcoming event on September 7, 2013 at the El Chopo Museum, UNAM in Mexico City, at which point it will become part of much longer performance.
The recordings were performed by Steffen Schleiermacher, and released in John Cage Complete Piano Music Volume1 & 2, 1998.
As I keep looking over my music collection I have been wondering about the best way to share selected material through social media. I decided to use Grooveshark. I just got started with it, and the online network appears to have a lot of potential for the future of music.
Above is a playlist that I originally was preparing to mix together, but given that the songs would be played almost in their entirety, creating a list on Grooveshark made more sense. I selected songs based on mood and sensibility of what would go well in a set organized to explore various genres at once. I’ll be creating more playlists from time to time.
An improvisation on two CDDJ players and two Technics 1200s recorded at some point in 2000 or 2001. It consists of a remix of various artists including The Art of Noise, Steve Reich, Roni Size, Kraftwerk, Miles Davis, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Underworld along with some bleeps and glitches.
This was a session done in one sitting and it’s not as smooth as I would like; yet, there are enough good moments that I think it is worth sharing, especially given that I am unlikely to recreate it. I am unable to provide credit for some of the tracks due to the fact that I don’t have all the records I used with me at the moment. The list of the songs is below:
1) Intro: excerpts of Kraftwerk: Trans Europe Express (1990 reissue) 0:00
2) Herbaliser: A Mother (Kruder & Dorfmeister Remix, 1996) 1:30
3) Art of Noise: Dragnet (1987) 5:28
4) Kraftwerk: Expo 2000 (2000) 8:26
5) Roni Size and Reprazent: Trust Me (1997) 10:15
6 & 7: Drum n Bass tracks currently unable to check name.
8) Bleeps, 22:00
9) Miles Davis: Chocolate Chip (1992) 24:00
10) Underworld: Bruce Lee (1999) 27:35
11) Malcom McClaren: Hobo Scratch (1982) 30:30
12) Steve Reich: Pulses (1997) 33:20
13) Techno/trance house track, currently unable to check name,
14) Kraftwerk: Numbers (1981) 39:42
15) Art of Noise: Beatbox (1984) 42:37
Above: “La Femme Deadly Venoms Female DJS Beat makers”, included in the resource selections below.
List of online resources and music selection for week 7 of Hip-Hop to Dubstep, taught during the summer of 2013 at The New School’s Media Studies, Department of Communication. I will be releasing brief notes based on my class lectures in the near future. If interested in looking at the actual class webpage with all the weekly selections at once, feel free to peruse this link: http://navasse.net/NS/NCOM3039A/. My notes will not be available on the class webpage, only on each corresponding entry here on Remix Theory. Please note that links may become broken. If and when this happens, the best thing to do is to search for the source by name. And do let me know if anything is broken and I will look into it.
Above: “The Rise Of Dubstep | Documentary”, included in the resource selections below.
List of online resources and music selection for week 6 of Hip-Hop to Dubstep, taught during the summer of 2013 at The New School’s Media Studies, Department of Communication. I will be releasing brief notes based on my class lectures in the near future. If interested in looking at the actual class webpage with all the weekly selections at once, feel free to peruse this link: http://navasse.net/NS/NCOM3039A/. My notes will not be available on the class webpage, only on each corresponding entry here on Remix Theory. Please note that links may become broken. If and when this happens, the best thing to do is to search for the source by name. And do let me know if anything is broken and I will look into it.
24 Hours Experience – “Together” (1994) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjz6Nz9HGq0 Note that this is basically a house record. This a transitional song towards UK Garage as it came to eventually evolved in the well-known MJ Cole “Sincere” (see below).
24 Hour Experience – Together (Robbie Styles Remix) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBSKDx8f0aE
Above: “portishead – documentaire – 1998 (welcome to portishead)”, included in the resource selections below.
List of online resources and music selection for week 5 of Hip-Hop to Dubstep, taught during the summer of 2013 at The New School’s Media Studies, Department of Communication. I will be releasing brief notes based on my class lectures in the near future. If interested in looking at the actual class webpage with all the weekly selections at once, feel free to peruse this link: http://navasse.net/NS/NCOM3039A/. My notes will not be available on the class webpage, only on each corresponding entry here on Remix Theory. Please note that links may become broken. If and when this happens, the best thing to do is to search for the source by name. And do let me know if anything is broken and I will look into it.
Coldcut – “Say Kids What time is it?” (1987) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOlI-pi3Zug Coldcut – “Beats and Pieces” (1987) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyIQ2Nzcx_E (Coldcut remixed Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in Full” thanks to the recognition of the two tracks above. See week 4 for links that explain more about “Paid in full.”)
Coldcut was heavily influenced by the aesthetics of cut & paste as performed on the turntables by Grandmaster Flash on his well-known “Grandmaster
Flash’s Adventures on the Wheels of Steel” (1981) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXNzMVLqIHg
Worth considering how Massive Attack’s cover gets remixed to fit the dialogue of a film (pay attention to how the verses get rearranged to complement the film): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU4EnYbCHJM
Above: “Pump Up the Volume – Part 1, The History of House Music”, included in the resource selections below.
List of online resources and music selection for week 4 of Hip-Hop to Dubstep, taught during the summer of 2013 at The New School’s Media Studies, Department of Communication. I will be releasing brief notes based on my class lectures in the near future. If interested in looking at the actual class webpage with all the weekly selections at once, feel free to peruse this link: http://navasse.net/NS/NCOM3039A/. My notes will not be available on the class webpage, only on each corresponding entry here on Remix Theory. Please note that links may become broken. If and when this happens, the best thing to do is to search for the source by name. And do let me know if anything is broken and I will look into it.
The Salsoul Orchestra. “Ooh, I Love It (Love Break)”. 12″ Original Remix Shep Pettibone. (1982) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkDmbJegNpw Short version (break mix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynSP04nUThk (Note that in the above mixes you can already hear the drum arrangement that Frankie Bones would come to perfect with drum machines.)
On The House – “Move Your Body” (1986) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enyh56-Q_Cs (First record to use a piano in house music. Became a house anthem because it uses the word “house” in the lyrics)
Jungle Brothers – “I’ll House You” (1989) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFGhQSiGHWM (The above crosses over to what came to be called “hip-house.” Some house purists did not like rap combined with house. Often times only the dub or instrumental versions of this record was remixed on the dancefloor.) One of various intrumental versions that were released:
“Richie Rich Instrumental” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0k1qLGVjsM
Inner City – “The Good Life” (1988) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUwfOOdg4eE Inner City – “Big Fun” (1988) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omfiVkkJ1OU Inner City is a crossover act, and is not necessarily considered a techno group, even though Kevin Saunderson is one of the three founders of Techno in Detroit. The songs by Inner City were also mixed with Freestyle and some Electro-Funk, depending on the club.
Joey Beltram – “Energy Flash” (1990) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALsHox5sYCk Considered a pivotal track in defining the sound of techno particulary in Europe. It is one of the compositions that also opened the door for the aesthetics of trance. Beltram considered his composition to be part of house music, but it eventually became labeled as techno in Europe for selling purposes.
