Forgot to post this a while back-- Sam Alden did an amazing set of drawings for each of the tracks on amor fati, following rules that are perfectly faithful to the quick and reckless spirit of the music.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
About:
David Kanaga is a musician living in Oakland, CA; he improvises and writes music (playing, making spaces) for computers, people, instruments, and videogames. (-->me). This is my homepage. This is my music blog. This is my writing-on music-&-play blog. (<--)Follow DK on Twitter & Facebook.
Selected Press:
"Cybernetics [marks] a mega moment in the synthesis of jazz and electronic music. If there's been examples of this sort of fusion before, they don't seem to matter in Kanaga's wake, as his approach feels totally unique"
- on Cybernetics, at Tome to the Weather Machine
"There's something strangely hypnotic about the 'game', like being a psychedelic tourist in a retro digital holiday resort."
- on Proteus, at The Guardian
No Fear of Pop (Flower Walk)
Weird Magic (Cybernetics)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
weebn layers / triptych
load these all into a you3b triptych to play them all synched and simultaneously, the 3 layers of weebn. (or play them all here, a little remix).
urls to copy and paste there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBuYgx3d8Z0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TeajpM-pCQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxkc6OFEj7I
from amor fati
amor fati CD-R
Buy the amor fati silkscreened CD-R here
(listen to it first here)
comes wrapped in a print like one of those scattered in the above image.
each one is different--
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
i//\\//diecade
Recently got back from Indiecade where Proteus was awarded "Best Sound" -- so honored! thanks to everyone who came out and played :)
Neal and Bill and others from Freaks and Geeks hosted the award ceremony. I made a fool of myself taking footage of Neal while he relaxed outside-- sorry, Neal :(
During the awards ceremony, a game of J.S. Joust was played
Neal and Bill and others from Freaks and Geeks hosted the award ceremony. I made a fool of myself taking footage of Neal while he relaxed outside-- sorry, Neal :(
During the awards ceremony, a game of J.S. Joust was played
Monday, September 26, 2011
miuu (endless cassette 1)
6-minute closed loop cassette-- it plays endlessly; a "footprint" of the Giant Bear Tracks label, which releases music, computer games, cookbooks, etc. Sleeves and tapes painted by Cooper Otte. Below video by him, too. $10 each, edition of 11.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
small musics 2 @ fictilis
As part of the "Byproducts" exhibition at the FICTILIS gallery in Seattle, basically all of the music that I've produced in the last 3 years (since I first got Ableton) which hasn't been released in some other form is available for listening (or taking with a usb stick, burned cd, etc... if they don't mind, I guess) on the laptop that you see in the above photo. There are 689 tracks and they'll be on display there until August 28.
Thanks to Isabel Blue for hooking me up with this and taking that great photo!
skeleton vox edits
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Concert w/Dakim April 27
EDIT: The first time I posted this the address was wrong. 3166 16th St. is correct.
My first show in San Francisco is a week from today. I'll be opening for Dakim (ddust.net, leaving records), and doing some improvisations with samples and maybe other things, too. It should be a good show- Dakim's music is amazing! check it out at the above links...
7:30 pm, April 27
Adobe Books
3166 16th St., SF
FREE
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
what others ask/say
Interview about Cybernetics, &c. (Morgan Ellis, Fracture Compond, March 2011)
Review of Cybernetics (Crawford Philleo, Tome to the Weather Machine, March 2011)
Review of Ada (Crawford Philleo, Foxy Digitalis, March 2011)
Review of Flower Walk EP (Ryan H., Tome to the Weather Machine, November 2010)
Dialogue about Ada (Bryan Sonderman, Z O D I A C R U M, May 2010)
Monday, April 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
kreme/the highway
Selected Improvisations: March 13 2011 (with Marc Evans)
(marc: violin, vocals, chuck programming; me: melodica, bells)
(marc: vocals, chuck; me: samples (ableton))
Full improvisation might be posted on Marc's site soon.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Cybernetics / small musics 1
Silkscreened CD-Rs and fold-out packaging. Listen/download at Bandcamp: Cybernetics, small musics 1.
Edition of 50
//
10. doorlight
11. see green
12. mr. nowhere
13. garden dress
14. portrait
15. summer pastels 2
16. draco 2
total time - 28:05
(only comes with 1 disc/print; not 20, like in the photo...)
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Back-and-forth with Sam Alden
Sam Alden and I sent some music and images back and forth... he'd draw something and I'd make a little song based on it; I'd make a little song, and he'd draw something based on it it, etc. It started with this:
which became this:
which became this (since I thought the rich textures in the image deserved some music that was more vibrant):
The rest are more straightforward 1:1 pairs. Sam drew these, and I responded with the music:
Then I recorded these, and Sam responded with the drawings:
Graphic score realizations: A Day Diffracted, Shape Play, etc.
My friend Marc Evans is a composer, mostly of traditionally (/Western) notated music. Recently he has done a few experiments (and more) with more "open" form scores, which give players freedoms that can't be adequately represented using western notation. I've made "realizations" of two of his graphic scores, which follow:
A Day Diffracted (Jan. 2011)
Rules: the piece was to be constructed out of samples from this zip file (great sounds there!). I had to use the recording of Marc playing the first movement of a Beethoven piano sonata, Op. 109; I also had to consider the piece's title before working; beyond that, I was allowed to do whatever.
**Also, as a kind of footnote to this piece... while I was working on putting it together, my friend Iris Alden (who has done loaaads of wonderful album art for me) posted this watercolor image on her blog, which seemed to me to be somehow a kind of continuation/deconstruction of the visual ideas I was in the process of responding to... so I did a "realization" of it, too (though adhering to its form less strictly)--again using the Beethoven-via-Marc samples that I used throughout A Day Diffracted.
Shape Play (Oct. 2010)
Marc sent this to me back in October. It doesn't have any rules (though I do try to follow the shapes). The image below is just the first page--follow along with a pdf of the whole score here.
A Day Diffracted (Jan. 2011)
Rules: the piece was to be constructed out of samples from this zip file (great sounds there!). I had to use the recording of Marc playing the first movement of a Beethoven piano sonata, Op. 109; I also had to consider the piece's title before working; beyond that, I was allowed to do whatever.
Shape Play (Oct. 2010)
Marc sent this to me back in October. It doesn't have any rules (though I do try to follow the shapes). The image below is just the first page--follow along with a pdf of the whole score here.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Homo neanderthalensis
Just finished a very short, linear game made with Josh Bothun (who I also made the music toy "ada" with) about ancient man... Unfortunately, only for PC right now, and also sorry if it takes a while to load! (do stick it out, though--should work eventually).
We worked together on all the art, design and music. Here's a loop from the soundtrack:
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
portrait
found the photo hanging on a bush and made this grunge ballad for its subjects:
portrait
also, I installed the Yahoo Media Player (see the little play button to the left of all mp3 links), which I think makes for easier listening/browsing. Downloading is still possible by right-clicking, etc.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
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