Whistle Pig Saloon are Robert van Heumen on laptop and controllers and John Ferguson on guitar and effects. Their music deals with drastically misshapen textures, instigated at first by Ferguson’s axe; at times they sound processed in advance and already unrecognisable per se, or else the cure applied by Van Heumen alters – make that “devastates” – whatever original trait is left of the six-stringed apparatus. It goes without saying that the large part of this record is frantically running from an inner space to the other, its whimsicality dictated by systematic changes in timbre and dynamics. There were occasions, during a headphone sitting, in which your correspondent was continually decreasing the volume to evade membrane stabbing. Essentially, a sense of explosive fluency underlines the skilled building of a 43-minute textural citadel, presenting the project as an interactive 2-head unit that knows what to do at any given moment. Scrambling across a multitude of dangers, the couple manages to remain unscathed by the redundant garbles that frequently classify several brands of feather-brained computer-fuelled gobbledygook. Starting from semi-agnosticism in terms of related genres, these gentlemen ended up creating a form of their own.

Massimo Ricci - Touching Extremes

More info: hardhatarea.com/stranger.

With the funding system in NL going into stone age mode, I count myself lucky to have received a grant from the Performing Arts Fund to continue our (Anne LaBerge and myself) work on the Shackle Affair project. We've already started preliminary tests, and it is exciting to expand our system into new territory. We're also preparing a tour to Australia and New Zealand for Sept 2012.

Another (rather daunting) task I've set myself, is to rebuild my LiSa setup in SuperCollider. LiSa is the STEIM software that I grew up with as an improvising musician, but the chances are slim that it will be supported into the next (and actually current) Mac OS X release. This is not an easy task, as LiSa is very good at what it does, and although SuperCollider is infinitely more flexible, it will be hard to exactly duplicate the functionality of LiSa. But I guess it is also healthy to every now and then reconsider your working methods.

Aside from these research-type things, there are also quite some improv concerts coming up. I will be happy to play again. For a complete listing see the events page. These concerts include three performances of a derived version of the soundwalk Like Harry. With Simone de Jong I will present a version of this soundwalk in a cozy lounge atmosphere.

In composing mode, I will start to work on a big electronic composition for the Call and Response collective in London. It will be a multichannel composition of about 40 minutes based upon the theme 'Interpretations of Sacred Music'. This theme was proposed by myself, and together with C&R we're looking for other sound artists to invite to make a work around this theme. The details about when and where are as yet unclear, but this will happen sometime in 2012.

Now, how the f*** do I implement LiSa's patterns in SuperCollider?!?! Over and out.

O, and if from the title of this post you were expecting a solution, you'll have to get back to me in a couple of years ;)

Het Geluid van de Machine

A composition for Disklavier, laptop-instrument and flute with electronics by Robert van Heumen
Performed by Shackle (Anne LaBerge & Robert van Heumen)

The sound of machines is fascinating. They scream, growl, grind, buzz, hum, sing, roar, whistle, thunder. The Disklavier is a machine to make music with. But it’s not only the strings that make sound. This composition exposes the Disklavier’s mechanism and produces freshly squeezed music.

Date: September 8, 2011
Time: 17:00h
Location: Museum Speelklok, Utrecht
More information: http://www.muziekweek.nl/muziekweek2011/programma/index.php?Dag=08

Het Geluid van de Machine will be presented in a program with compositions by Danny de Graan, Daniel Schorno and Julian Scordato.

Commissioned by the Conlon Foundation. Many thanks to the Performing Arts Fund NL and STEIM.

A test:

Like Harry, een muziek-theatrale geluidswandeling tijdens de Gaudeamus Muziekweek

Simone de Jong – concept, tekst en stem
Robert van Heumen – compositie en muziek

(English summary below)

Er is een man die niet kan stoppen met lopen. Hij doorkruist stad, land, wal. Je wordt uitgenodigd hem achterna te lopen met koptelefoon op, de sporen te zoeken van zijn snelle voeten. Intussen hoor je een muzikaal verhaal over denken en de verleidingen en valkuilen van het hoofd. We doen een poging in andere hoofden te kijken. Met een verhaal over een merkwaardig instituut en met muziek erbij leidt dit tot een fascinerende, licht filosofische muziektrip door het hoofd. Je kunt je hoofd niet delen, je bent er alleen. Are you like Harry?

 
Datum: 7, 10 en 11 september 2011
Start tijd: elk kwartier tussen 11:00-12:00, 13:30-14:30, 16:00-17:00 (het laatste blok niet op zondag!)
Start locatie: Museum Speelklok, Utrecht
Duur: 75 min.

Like Harry is een individuele geluidswandeling die start en eindigt bij Museum Speelklok. Je ontvangt daar een koptelefoon en een geluidsspeler. Tickets kun je telefonisch reserveren vanaf 29 augustus of bij de festivalbalie kopen. http://muziekweek.nl/muziekweek2011/programma/

Tijdens de wandeling zijn opnames te horen van Gareth Davis (basklarinet), Rozemarie Heggen (contrabas) en Chris Saris (percussie), en interviews met Lorena, Sjoerd, Juliëtte, Joop, Dik, Maartje, Ditte, Alette, Julien, Lieve, Hester, Ruud, Hugo, Abdelkarim, James en Sarah.

Met dank aan Dirk Groeneveld voor dramaturgisch advies, David Dramm voor muzikaal advies, het SNS Reaal Fonds, het Fonds Podiumkunsten voor de compositie-werkbeurs, STEIM voor het ter beschikking stellen van studio en apparatuur, Soundtrackcities voor het ter beschikking stellen van de afspeelapparatuur en Thomas van Schaik voor het maken van de foto.
 
Luister fragmenten op Soundcloud en like Harry op Facebook.

English summary:
There is a man who can't stop walking. He is passing through cities, fields, hills. You are invited to follow him, with headphones on, searching for clues. Meanwhile you hear a musical story about thinking and the traps and seductions of the mind. We try to look into people's thoughts. Combined with a strange institute and the hypnotizing music, this is a fascinating, lightly philosophical road-trip through the human mind. You can't share your mind. In it, you are alone. Are you like Harry?

http://www.hethoofd.nl
http://hardhatarea.com

So now on with the work on Het Geluid van de Machine, to be premiered at Gaudeamus' Muziekweek on September 8. A bit of promo:

The sound of machines is fascinating. They scream, growl, grind, buzz, hum, sing, roar, whistle, thunder. The Disklavier is a machine to make music with. But it's not only the strings that make sound. This composition exposes the Disklavier's mechanism and produces freshly squeezed music.

Last weekend I worked on the flute part with Anne LaBerge, who will perform the piece with me (or maybe I should say with us: the Disklavier and me), and it'll be exciting! A nice blend of electronics, flute and piano. But what a beast, that Disklavier...

Also: black is the new white now, but if you were more happy with the energy consuming white version (I once read an article on how you're more energy-aware when you use dark backgrounds for your website, unfortunately cannot find it anymore), you can switch with the links in the right bottom corner of every page (on the blog pages in the sidebar).

Now forward with the work on Sound of the Machine, a piece for Disklavier and live electronics to be premiered at Gaudeamus Muziekweek early September.

Also came across this picture. Probably not totally accurate, but it does put things in perspective, from every direction.

In July I will be performing a 'thoughts concert', together with Simone de Jong. Mostly Dutch texts, but hopefully also to be appreciated because of the musical content. English text after the Dutch promo.

Iedereen is geboren met een hoofd. Een hoofd waarin gedachten rond waren, ideeën opkomen, herinneringen te binnen schieten en dromen oprijzen. Je eigen binnenwereld kan zeer aangenaam zijn, maar ook verworden tot een soort hel. En dat beleef je allemaal alleen. Je kunt je hoofd niet delen. Wij doen een poging toch in andere hoofden te kijken. Hiervoor hebben we allerlei mensen geïnterviewd over denken en hun gedachten. Met een verhaal over een merkwaardig instituut en muziek erbij leidt dit tot een fascinerende, licht filosofische muziektrip door het hoofd. En hoe zit het eigenlijk met jouw gedachten?

Tijd: Woensdag 6 t/m zaterdag 9 juli, dagelijks om 17.45 en 19.45 uur
Locatie: Nieuwe Markt 14, Zwolle, tijdens Festival ZwArt
Meer informatie: http://www.festivalzwart.nl/

English summary:

If you could only be in someone’s head for a day, if you could experience what his thoughts are when he walks through the city with a clouded head, or sees the sun come up dreaming about tomorrow, then you would finally know why someone acts like he does, you would finally know what you like and dislike about your own mind. Now we have to suffice with talking, asking questions, guessing, reading signals and bodily language in an attempt to understand another person. And we have to suffice with our own mind, including thought patterns and habits, without knowing how we would function with another frame of mind. You cannot share your mind, in it you are alone.