INSTANT TAKEMITSU

Traveling with Electronics: INSTANT TAKEMITSU

SOME THINGS ARE JUST DESTINED TO HAPPEN

.....A reflection on the origins of an ensemble

I really knew nothing about the amazing Ursula Rucker prior to live-sampling her at the prestigious 2009 PUNKT festival as part of the re-mix group including festival founders Erik Honore & Jan Bang (who had invited me), guitarist Eivind Aarset and percussionist Adam Rudolph. As well as Ursula's voice, the other sound in the ensemble that became a focal point of my sampling was the intense fuzz guitar of Tim Motzer. After the re-mix we all got to know each other at K35 (Punkt's infamous after hang) and it all ended with the all too common "we should really do something together".

Fast forward two years and I run into Tim, again at PUNKT, this time with his partner video artist Dejha Ti and this time we agree to get together in March of 2012 to do some duo playing. A few concerts are arranged around a Conduction workshop that I am doing and one of the shows is to be on 1K SESSIONS a monthly live streaming concert series that is designed and directed by Dejha and her amazing video team and takes place at Tim and Dejha's loft. Tim and I had never played together before but from the first session we had it was clear to both of us that this was going to be a very deep musical experience and from the moment we sat down with Dejha to discuss production ideas for the 1K event, I felt like I had been working with both of them for decades. After viewing the 1K session (episode 15) and realizing what the three of us had created together it was clear to everyone that the ensemble was actually a multi-media trio and we performed three more concerts as Instant Takemitsu @ Roulette Brooklyn - @ Sonic Circuits D.C. - @ Rotunda Philadelphia the following week. Some things are just destined to happen.

A true multi-media ensemble, Instant Takemitsu creates a multidimensional immersive experience through a shared vocabulary of abstract-impressionistic layering and real time composition of visuals and sonics.

Drawing on the incredibly wide timbrel palette that can be produced by vibrating metal strings processed through traditional guitar stompboxes, and refraining from the use of backing tracks, Tim Motzer and Dino J.A. Deane create a range of sonics, completely in the moment, that is amazingly similar to the palette created by composers such as Takemitsu, Messiaen, Debussey and Stravinsky using traditional orchestral instrumentation.

In a stunning reversal of the concepts of film scoring, Dejha Ti manifests a real-time cinematic vision on modular projection surfaces which are integrated into the physical setup of the musicians. The venue itself influences the unique sculptural design of the projection surfaces from show to show. Ti draws on a library of self generated visuals as well as from live capture of the musician's physicality, as they are playing, to create her part of the ensemble's collective composition.

dejha ti - projection, visuals - (aka - complete visual meltdown)

tim motzer - acoustic guitar, electronics - (aka - force of nature)

dino j.a. deane - lapsteel dulcimer, electronics - (aka - sonic provacateur)

Getting ready for 1K Sessions Episode #15 

Here is the full video performance from 1K Sessions Episode #15, followed by short video excerpts from Roulette Brooklyn - Sonic Circuits D.C. - Rotunda Philadelphia - (if you have any problems with play back - stop/start/stop - just click the HD button off).....enjoy and until next month.....

Safe Travels.....dino