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Y2K9 Musician Biographies
SATURDAY
PERFORMERS
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Travis Johns
processed field recordings, sine wave oscillators
and analog electronics
Sounds, etc. =
myspace.com/thoughtcollection001, as well as
www.think-tankmedia.net.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Nadia Shihab
violin, melodica,
glockenspiel, keyboard and robotic vocals
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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
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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
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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
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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 |
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