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Y2K9 Musician Biographies

SATURDAY PERFORMERS

Andrew Aldridge

www.myspace.com/thebattery

www.geocities.com/energymadeaudible

Andrew Aldridge is the founder of the Toronto based ‘Planet of the Loops’ event. This monthly looping ‘improvised jam’ was started in 1998 and spawned the now weekly event ‘The Ambient Ping’, now in its 10thyear. At the time this was the only public looping performance in Toronto. A first year anniversary CD titled ‘document’ featured many of the musicians from the first year of looping.

 Andrew’s double life as a national and international touring/recording guitarist has taken him around the world and given him the opportunity to play with many talented artists. Sadly, his busy schedule forced him to take the Planet of the Loops out of ‘the loop’ 5 years into it. The Ambient Ping is still going and has become a premier ambient night that has featured performers from all over.

Having been an active part of the Canadian music scene for 20 years, Andrew’s interest in the more experimental side of things started when he got his first delay pedal in high school. He divided his time in the basement jamming to Jeff Beck, Peter Frampton and Queen and making ‘strange noises’ with his digital delay and analog tape loops. After high school Andrew continued on to College and received a degree in composition/arranging, and always had a penchant for the more ‘outside’ things. Throughout the 90’s Andrew played with many ‘pop/rock’ artists and began to make name for himself as a supportive guitarist. During this time he met many other Toronto based musicians that surprisingly had the same interest in looping/experimental improvised music. In 1998 Andrew decided to get some of these like minded musicians together and the Planet of the Loops was born.

As a professional musician Andrew has toured/recorded with Sarah Slean, Danny Michel, Sean Ashby (Sarah McLachlan), Jakalope (NIN, Skinny Puppy), Wild Strawberries, Universal Honey, Chris Baron (Spin Doctors), Bill Dillion (Sarah McLachlan, Peter Gabriel, Dan Lanois), Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow) and many more. Recent projects have included playing guitar with Albert Bouchard (original drummer/co-founder Blue Oyster Cult), co-producing singer/songwriter Mary Simon’s new record and reviving his old experimental rock power trio The Sterling Moss.

Andrew’s appearance at this years’ festival marks the return of the Planet of the Loops with a strong emphasis on its original idea of bringing people together with true improvised performance.

Chris Caswell

Celtic harp

ccaswell@sonic.net

Chris Caswell: A true Celtic bard and a natural raconteur. He casts a bright spell through his intense and creative playing, songs, and obvious delight in what heís doing. His music is informed by Wales, the Middle East, Latin America, the French countryside - anywhere from which his experience can move the listener in an essential way.

 

Chris is one of the world's finest players and makers of the Celtic harp. He is also a respected performer on the Scottish bagpipes, Irish flute and tinwhistle, and the bodhran (Irish frame drum). His long history of songwriting has come to the foreground in recent years.

Beginning in 1976, Chris recorded three albums and toured North America and Europe with Robin Williamson and His Merry Band. In 1980 he formed Caswell Carnahan with Danny Carnahan and recorded two albums (re-released in 1995). HOLY WOOD (2001) is Chris's solo bronze-strung harp album displays this rare and hauntingly beautiful instrument in a mix of the popular and eclectic from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England and France. CELTIC TIDINGS (1999) is his well-loved Christmas CD. He is on over thirty recordings, including Bonnie Rideout's multi-award-winning GIVE ME ELBOW ROOM and Grammy- nominated KINDRED SPIRITS. Chris was a featured artist with Bonnieís national A Scottish Christmas tour (1998-99) and Live from the National Geographic (1997).


Chris continually works with Bay Area artists as an audio engineer, and has produced and composed for film and broadcast video. A natural teacher, he has held harp retreats throughout the country, and taught at numerous music camps.
He also has a popular bodhran instruction video.
 

His CASWELL HARPS was re-established in 2004 in Berkeley, California. As a harp maker. Chris is known for blending tradition and innovation. His harps are considered among the finest traditional harps available.

Chris was a co-founder of the Sebastopol Celtic Festival. He has been National Chairman of the Scottish Harp Society of America, and a member of the Judges Panel of the Western United States Pipe Band Association. He studied pipes with Donald MacPherson at the College of Piping in Glasgow and later with Donald Shaw Ramsay. He was Pipe Major of the City of Petaluma Pipe Band. He studied harp with Allison Kinnaird in Edinburgh, and worked with folklorist Peter Kennedy in Devon, England. He was a music composition major at San Francisco State and more recently studied composition with Allaudin Mathieu. He is a voting member of the Recording Academy.

J.D.Devros

 J.D.Devros is a composer/songwriter, musician, poet, and author of numerous short stories. He has played and performed acoustic folk, hard core punk, and ska, to blues, alt-rock, and avant-garde/experimental. His band 'Big Medicine Head' played the CMJ Festival in New York City, and was voted the "Best Band in Santa Cruz" two years in a row. He loves visiting Santa Cruz to perform at the Y2K International Looping Festivals because all his friends are here. He is releasing "Meditations Without Enlightenment," his first professional CD of looping, slicing, dicing, found sound, and noise; and currently plays oud, cumbus, and saz and Middle Eastern/N.African/Indian influenced music with Potland, OR-based Negara.

Electrofunkadelica

www.shaunnahall.com/electrofunkadelica
http://stylusquo.com/

Electrofunkadelica features two s. f. bay area music veterans, producer and guitarist Shaunna Hall (P-Funk, 4 Non Blondes) and producer / drummer Kevin Carnes ( Broun Fellinis, Black Quarterback) performing live along side loops and samples, creating sounds ranging from electro psychedelia to symphonic dramatic to funky smash your face rock hop, while original videos play in the background.

 Electrofunkadelica: cyborg music for the body mind and soul: electronica meets funk at a beatles convention taking place inside a virtual rollercoaster ride, with wes montgomery imitating eddie hazel on guitar, monstermashing to black sabbath.

Shaunna Hall produced and released the CD/DVD, "Electrofunkadelica: e3 + FUNKnth = music for the body, mind and soul", (2006 Make Music, Not War! Records), which is a collection of recordings and 3 videos written, produced and recorded almost entirely on a Macintosh laptop, mostly while on the road with P-funk, and includes performances by P-Funk members, friends such as Kevin Carnes, Eric McFadden and Janis Tanaka, as well as her own vocal and guitar performances.

Shaunna Hall is a current touring member of George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. She was the founding guitarist of 4 Non Blondes, and has played with and/or produced The Eric Mc Fadden Experience, Storm, Inc. and Tribe 8.

Kevin Carnes has played in numerous Bay Area bands since the 80's, most notably The Beat Nigs and The Broun Fellinis, who are still performing and recording to this day. Kevin is also currently in Katdelic, and Black Quarterback who use live looping as a large part of their musical presentation. Kevin is also a favorite session drummer, a master programmer and is an accomplished producer.

Kevin Carnes is a drummer, percussionist, composer, and producer who has played music ranging from jazz to punk rock for more than 20 years. He has performed and recorded with George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars, world music DJ Cheb i Sabbah, rock band Storm and Her Dirty Mouth, and electronica-driven Soulstice, as well as Consolidated, Little White Radio, UAF, Post Junk Trio, Eric McFadden, Tyler Stone and Sutro, Shaunna Hall of 4 Non Blondes, and Radioactive of Spearhead fame. Carnes is a founding member of Broun Fellinis, a jazz roots trio based in San Francisco, and he co-founded The Beatnigs, a political punk noise band that exploded in Europe in 1988.
Kevin still performs with The Broun Fellinis, who are still recording to this day. Kevin is also currently in Katdelic, and Black Quarterback, who use live looping as a large part of their musical presentation.

Jim Goodin

guitar, oud, violin, sometimes native flute and percussion

www.jimgoodinmusic.com

 Jim Goodin creates music that is colorful, organic, dark at times and as some said 'makes you feel good'. He performs on guitar, oud, violin, sometimes native flute and percussion. Though looping is a part of his music he balances it performing with loops as well as real time solo almost classical style in nature. Goodin originally from Arkansas, resides in Brooklyn, NY with his family. He has recorded numerous solo CD's, performs and records with the duos' Chinapainting, East of Where and with Goodin Thorn & Istorico. He is a Mel Bay author and is the host of Sunday Morning at 11 on uStream.tv. Goodin recently performed in the first ever Virtual Sound & Vision festival over the Internet in the collaborative trio of Goodin Thorn & Istorico with the threesome interacting live over NinJam with Thorn in Sweden, Istorico Florida and Goodin in Brooklyn. Additionally Goodin tours nationally as schedule permits with Chinapainting and occasionally solo. He has performed at Loopfest since 2006. Visit www.jimgoodinmusic.com for more info.

Nat Grant (AUSTRALIA)

percussion/toys

http://www.myspace.com/natskyplaysdrums

 

 Nat is a percussionist, sound-artist and composer from Melbourne, Australia. She is currently studying her Masters of Music (performance) at the Victorian College of the Arts, and performs regularly around Melbourne and Australia. Nat works predominantly as a freelance artist and her experiences as a performer encompass orchestral, theatre and session work as well as new compositions for puppetry, performance art and dance. Her music focuses on the minute; using small and toy instruments to create textural wonderlands.
 

Travis Johns

processed field recordings, sine wave oscillators and analog electronics

Sounds, etc. = myspace.com/thoughtcollection001, as well as www.think-tankmedia.net.

 Travis Johns is a composer and sound artist from San Francisco, Ca. Using a combination of processed field recordings, sine wave oscillators and analog electronics, he attempts to weave textural tapestries of gestures, thoughts and experiences into a singular mass of infinite sonic possibilities. Most recently, his work has concerned itself primarily with two notions – namely that of the desolation and excess of human industry, as well as the mysteries and intrigue of the subconscious mind, often sounding something like the distant swarming of well oiled mechanical bees woven with fissures of dark tones and noise rips.

Ted Killian

Guitar

http://www.tedkillian.com

"Feedback shreiks and EBow howls over hypnotic grooves add up to a great soundtrack for a bad dream." - Matt Blacket, Guitar Player, July 2002.
 

 Shambling onto the stage with somewhat rumpled attire, shy demeanor, and a bulky, middle-aged frame gone soft, Ted Killian doesn't cut the figure of your standard issue, dionysian artist-musician type . . . let alone that of a kooky, loner, guitar innovator and visual artist with a small cult of fans from Lithuania to Australia based solely on a single CD put out over seven years ago on Jeff Kaiser's tiny but influential record label, pfMENTUM.

Born in 1953, Ted began prodigiously painting in oils at age 7 - when all of his friends and peers were still using crayons and finger paints. He has since had numerous one-man shows, museum exhibits and installations of his art. He makes his living and supports his family in Medford, Oregon entirely as an in-demand graphic designer, writer and artist.

On a decidedly slower (but no less determined) trajectory, he took up the guitar at age 10, began experimenting with tape loops and FX (and recording his own music) in his 20s, commenced performing publicly in his 30s, and put out his first official mass-produced CD in his 40s. Now, in his mid 50s, he is still about as far from being any sort of guitar-slinging "rock-god" as anyone could possibly be. But he has garnered critical acclaim in the underground press, developed a unique instrumental voice and a frightening command of his musical palette — flying entirely by the seat of his pants and entirely below the greater cultural radar.

Onstage, he still seems to be a bit lost, like somebody's absent-minded father who caught the wrong bus home and doesn't know quite where he is . . . or why. But, appearances often become irrelevant when he closes his eyes and begins to play. Perhaps it's best just to close our eyes too, because nothing really quite prepares you for what's coming anyway. It's better just to listen.

Ted's 2001 solo recording "Flux Aeterna" is available at iTunes and CD Baby, and his 2008 duet CD collaboration with guitarist Krispen Hartung "Mojo at the Dojo" is available at CD Baby

KEVIN KISSINGER

Moog Etherwave Pro Theremin

http://kevinkissinger.com

 Kevin Kissinger is a classical organist, composer, and electronic musician from Kansas City, Mo. His most recent interest is to compose and perform works for the theremin -- an instrument that was invented in 1919.

Kevin composes tonal music for theremin that utilizes the theremin, laptop-based looping, effects, and surround-sound (when available).

In keeping with the live-looping theme of the Y2K9 festival, Kevin's set will be live-looping works that contain no pre-recorded material.

The theremin is one of the earliest electronic music instruments. It has antennas that create electro-magnetic fields. The performer moves his hands in these fields to control the theremin's pitch and loudness without touching the instrument. Besides its sound -- which suggests ghostly voices, strings, or whistles, it is a dramatic to see one being played. The combination of the theremin's wide range (over seven octaves) and looping technology enables a sound that, at times, suggests that of a powerful ensemble.

Kevin earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Kansas City Conservatory of Music in 1981. He majored in Pipe Organ performance. During his time in college, he built a large modular synthesizer (an Aries synthesizer).

Kevin is active in the Electro-music.com, Thereminworld.com, and Loopers-delight.com online communities. His theremin performances include the Electro-music, Electronic Music Midwest, Ethermusic festivals, and past Y2K International Live-Looping festivals.

Warren Sirota

Guitar, trigger finger, sooperlooper, mainstage, live

http://www.warrensirota.com

 Warren Sirota had the good fortune to write the first User's Manual for the Echoplex Digital Pro, a wildly influential and important instrument for live loopers, and to be given the privilege of four years at the helm of Guitar Player's "Electronic Guitarist" column, in the early days of MIDI guitar. He has played in a number of ensembles from jazz to classical (some may remember the Bay Area's Electric Guitar Quartet) to rock. He's performed at SF's Great American Music Hall and Bimbo's, as well as festivals including Y2K4, Y2K9 and Brazil's Free Jazz festival. He's writtten some music self-help software that a lot of people like.

Warren's theme for Y2K9 is going to be The Rite of Sync, as live loops are played on guitar and percussion, synced but varying percussion comes in, loop output is fed back through beat-synced slicers, echo effects are tied to rhythms or deliberately set free, and the powerful mysteries of live MIDI looping are unleashed (if he figures it out by then). In any event, as with the Large Hadron Collider, interesting collisions are probable.

 

Nadia Shihab

violin, melodica, glockenspiel, keyboard and robotic vocals

 

 Nadia Shihab uses violin, melodica, glockenspiel, keyboard and robotic vocals to loop and layer her way to dark and lovely compositions of meditative folk-tronic music. The daughter of Iraqi and Yemeni
immigrants, Shihab was raised in the flat and expansive landscape of West Texas. Prior to performing her own compositions, Shihab was the violinist of indie pop band Swim Party in San Diego, California. Shihab currently resides in San Francisco.

GLENN SMITH

VOCALS

www.myspace.com/glennsmith1

www.soundseeds.com

 Glenn will be doing an all-vocal improvisation at the loopfest. After many years of playing drums, guitar, piano, and more, I find the voice to be the most flexible and spontaneous instrument of all, allowing me to come from within and make whatever sounds i can imagine. I draw inspiration from many places, but what comes out in the moment i never know until it comes ...

S T A N O S A U R

Electric guitar, EH Mini Synthesizer Keyboard

http://www.myspace.com/stanosaur

 S T A N O S A U R has played most of the west coast loopfests since '99 LoopStock. He has been looping since the EH 16Sec. DDL came out in the 80s. He plays the Low Frequency Drones.

Tygerman Groove Band

VG-99, Usine, Absynth, Battery, and Mobius running on a TouchSmart Notebook.

http://www.soundclick.com/TygermanGrooveBand

 

 

 

Insight and outside the groove

I've spent many years tinkering with the range of sounds I can produce with my guitar fabricating a wide range of ambient, melodic and rhythmic sounds. I started "looping" with a single DM-2 echo pedal. My rig has grown over the years to include Roland GR and VG guitar synths, an Echoplex and a Boomerang.

BILL WALKER

Guitar


http://billwalkermusic.com
 

 Among the most innovative guitarists in the world, Bill Walker creates evocative guitar soundscapes that showcase a staggering range of musical influences and techniques. Performing on a variety of electric, acoustic and lap steel guitars, and utilizing state of the art live looping technologies; Bill pioneers bold musical frontiers in improvised performance.

Hypnotic and transporting, Bill’s music is characterized by beautiful improvised motifs, lush multi-layered guitar ensembles, and otherworldly timbres which evolve serendipitously, creating exotic music that defies categorization. Eclectic, soulful, and original, are words that best describe this unique musician.

A veteran of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene, Bill has recently embarked on a solo career that took him to Europe last year on a performance and clinic tour, as well as recording dates in Switzerland and Istanbul, Turkey. Most recently Bill collaborated with acclaimed Turkish composer Erdem Helvacioglu on a new CD due out next fall, and is busy completing his own debut CD, and working on music for film