Updates & New Music News
Wow! It's been five years since I've updated this site! Sorry about that... but it's because I've been so busy with a multitude of new projects, as well as a major move from Los Angeles to Portland Oregon in 2011 (Portland, as it turns out, is the Synth Mecca of the U.S., with several modular synth manufacturers as well as two synth only retailers!)
So what else have I been up to? Well, I've been exploring making short films, with a couple of my films winning film festivals and one premiering on the main stage at the 2012 Macworld Expo in front of over 1000 people! These films were shot on the iPhone (as that's all I could afford at the time) with my favorite being the stop-motion animation horror short, The Haunting At Danford Cabin winner of the 2012 iPhone Film Festival. It was my first attempt at stop-motion... and yes, I also scored it.
And speaking of scoring, I've scored several low budget indie shorts and am working on an upcoming feature film (again, a low budget indie, but better than nothing!) I am hoping to turn this aspect of my love for music into a full time career. You can check out what I've been working on film-wise on my IMDb profile.
In music news, I started a new music project called Science Patrol and have been performing out live with this project in the Portland Metro area recently. The music is more hardware analog synth oriented, in a sort of cross between the Berlin School and Synth-Pop styles.
Shouchu was finally released as a single on the iTunes Music Store. And my latest jido-genshi release, VENTER *, is my first release on Bandcamp (I thought I'd try it out.) It is a new direction for my jido-genshi project; a series of live experiments using the Elektron Octatrack, everything was initially recorded into Ableton Live using various Hardware and Software Synths, as well as found-sounds recorded around the house with the Zoom H4N. Then, each piece was rendered one by one as individual samples/loops and loaded into the Octatrack. Once I had a couple hundred of these, I then created the Patterns/Parts, mixing and matching the samples and manipulating and tuning them further within the Octatrack until I built it up into a full, one-take, live performance.
*Note: These tracks were initially going to be part of my music project called Venter; a project I had started over a decade ago and had initially released tracks back then on MySpace. But recently a new "Venter" band popped up and grabbed up the name on all the social networks, so I thought it would just be easier to use my already established jido-genshi name and use "Venter" as the album title.
And finally, I've got all sorts of performance and synth demo videos up on my Youtube channel, so when you get a chance, check it out!
New Song From The Forthcoming Album
Finally started work on the new jido-genshi album, tentatively titled "Shouchu". Though still electronic in nature - and experimental as always - I tend to be using more guitars on this release than I normally do on my jido-genshi project, though I do use guitars quite a bit on some of my other music projects.
This particular track has sort of a "Boards Of Canada" feel to it, except, as I mentioned, it is mostly guitars (with a synth thrown in here and there.) A good pair of headphones is recommened while listening to this; to pick up the subtle low frequency bass and kick drum. I happen to use the Sony MDR-7506, my favorite pair of headphones for well over a decade now.
As always, when the album is released, you will be able to find it on the iTunes Music Store as well as Amazon's MP3 Store.
... and for a quick sneak-peek preview of one of my other projects; this is my fun and bouncy, neo-electro-synth-pop project StarDotStar and a track from the forthcoming album "Gridscape":
Reactable App for iPhone 4
The music world has changed... in many ways. Lately i've been experimenting with music apps for the iPhone. There are many. Too many to list here at the moment, but one of my favorites that I had been longing for before it was an app, is Reactable. Though quite fun and possibly even productive, it is clear that this app is better suited to Apple's iPad instead of the smaller screen size of the iPhone. Since I don't have an iPad yet here's a quick test I made of the iPhone version instead:
Sorry for the really crappy video quality. I recorded this using the previous generation iPod Nano - which has fairly crappy video recording - since I was using my iPhone 4 - my only other video camera - to run the Reactable Mobile app.
The Processing Language Part 2 | Particle Fountain
In a previous posting I had mentioned I was interested in learning the Processing language, unfortuantely I quickly abandoned it only because I had become distracted with so many other projects. Now, I am finally buckling down to learn this. Below is a simple little particle fountain that I hand-coded myself, based on an exercise in the excellent Learning Processing book. My eventual goal is to [someday] take what I am learning and build a generative particle synth that can be played on the iPhone (or upcoming iPad!)
(click on image to go to the actual particle fountain applet)
Launchpad + Max For Live = Monome Emulator
This is my first test with the Novation Launchpad and Max For Live (in Ableton Live.) I'm using the monomeemu and polygome64 patches to emulate a Monome.
launchpad + max for live + monomeemu + polygome64 = monome emulation.
TouchOSC + Ableton Live
Ok, so it has been a very long time since I've updated this site. Previously I had mentioned that I was going to focus this site specifically on my music project; unfortunately, I have completely neglected my music for quite awhile, but not without reason...
The past couple of years I've just been so busy with other projects that I haven't had a chance to work on music at all. Between my photography, the design and release of my second toy and [thanks to the economy] starting and running another, more practical business, I've split myself up too much with all these things (and more) and thus, my music has suffered.
But all of that is about to change... my New Year resolution for 2010 is to put all other projects on hold and dedicate 100% of my time to music! (Well, maybe 90% of my time; I still have to eat.)
To start with, I finally purchased the full Ableton Suite 8 (the last version I used was Live 6) along with MaxForLive. I've also just started experimenting with the TouchOSC app for the iPhone and OSCulator.
My first quick test of TouchOSC on my iPhone controlling Ableton Suite 8 (sorry for the poor lighting and camera quality; shot on an iPod Nano Video in a dark living room!)
This really makes me hope that Apple does release a 10 inch tablet/slate computer... can you imagine TouchOSC running on that!
So this is just the beginning. Expect to see many more posts of my musical progress this year, here on jido-genshi.com.
The Processing Language
One of my pleasures (and curses) is that I get too interested in too many different things and wind up splintering myself in many different directions. The burden of this is that I never fully master any one thing, but the plus side of it all is that I do discover and enjoy many great things!
One of those things that I had discovered a couple of years ago, but never really dove into as much as I wanted to, is the Processing programming language. Processing is a free, open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. Yes, it allows you to code images!
There are several good books out to get you deep into the Processing environment, most of which can be found at the Processing.org site. And FWIW: Processing is a great way to create interesting and original album covers!
Free Music!
Work has begun on the next jido-genshi album. Unfortunately it's not off to the best start. The first two tracks are so far from what I had initially intended for the album, I decided not to include them on this album. That being said, I have also decided to go ahead and release these two tracks on their own... here... for free!
Normally, songs that I am unhappy with that I deem unworthy for release on an official album never sees (or hears) the light of day, but I thought it might be interesting to release a couple of free throw away tracks so people can see what I've been up to and to get a glimpse of what the album rejects are like.
The tracks are zipped and can be downloaded from http://www.jido-genshi.com/genshi_untitled.zip. They are in Apple's aac format, so you'll need iTunes to listen to them. Even though the tracks have not gone through a final mix or mastering session (they are throw away tracks after all) I do recommend listening to them on good headphones as there are some interesting sound design elements going on. If you've got them, I recommend the Sony MDR-7506 headphones as that's what they were intitially mixed on.
Also, for those of you who may be wondering, the pseudo album cover I created for these two tracks was photographed by me. It's a manipulated version of this photo here.
As for the album itself, it's back to the drawing board... looks like I'm going to have to dust off my copy of Max/MSP and get crazy with this stuff!
Radius Game Music
So it has indeed been awhile since I've posted. More importantly, it's been awhile since I've made a post regarding my music. That's because I hadn't been working on music lately and have hijacked my own site here to discuss my photography. But the whole point to jido-genshi.com was to discuss and post news related to my music. So to remedy this, I have created a separate blog under my actual name, completely dedicated to my photography (and what ever else strikes my fancy!) To check it out, go to http://craigperkins.wordpress.com. I will try to keep this site here more geared towards music related posts...
And as far as music goes, I haven't been too inspired lately (and have been quite busy with photography) but I recently had the good pleasure to have been commissioned by the fine folks at Pattern Making Co to compose several tracks for their new iPhone game called Radius. I am very excited to be working with them and look forward to a long and prosperous future in contributing music and sounds to their games (and to anyone elses that may be interested in my stuff!)
The game is already out and available on the iPhone's App Store but the music is not in it yet; should be in by the next free update (version 1.04) coming shortly.
Back To Film
Well, after the past couple of years of taking digital photos, I am just not satisfied. Everything is just too sharp and clean and pristine and, well, digital! Yes, of course, I can dirty things up in Photoshop and I have become quite good at doing that, but there was something I was missing that I used to get with shooting film.
So, I've decided to go back to the basics. I took out my old Holga 120S (a $10 plastic toy camera that leaks light through the edges of the camera body) and my Seagull Twin-Lens Reflex (a cheapy $100 Medium Format camera) loaded them both with Ilford Delta 3200 Pro and Ilford 100 Delta Pro film respectively and started shooting away. No light meters, no focusing (on the Holga at least). In my opinion, some beautiful shots were made that I wasn't able to capture on my $4000 Canon Digital SLR.
Click on the Thumbnails below to see the results of this shoot, keeping in mind that NO photoshopping was involved at all. These are the photos straight from the camera!
Edited: 02/10/2008 - With all that being said, the next day I did take a couple of photographs that I really like using my Digital SLR, so I won't be giving that up anytime soon. It just made me realize, like my music, it's not the tools that you have, it's the inspiration!
If you would like to see more of my photos, you can check them out on my Flickr page!
Abstract Video Test
I dug up a video I did last year for my single "The Warm Wet Low" and since I recently received Adobe's CS3 Web Design Premium package, I thought I'd test out the video encoder and flash functionality.
The video itself was created by an abstract piece of [brilliant] software that goes by the name of Argeïphontes Lyre 3b3 Summer.
Vote For My Photo Part 3
Ok, my favorite photo has been selected for consideration to issue 11 of JPG magazine, but it's going to take your votes to make it into this issue. The theme this time around is America and it's sad to say, this photo does represent a big (and mostly overlooked) side of America.
Please vote for this photo, not only to get me into the magazine, but to raise the awareness on the homelessness issue...
If you would like to see more of my photos, check them out on my Flickr page!
Thanks!
The Alison Sessions
I am re-releasing an older album of mine entitled "The Alison Sessions" which is now available on iTunes. This is more experimental and electronic based than the recent "The Warm Wet Low" album.
Please feel free to go to the iTunes Music Store to preview "The Alison Sessions".
The cover was created by my self in the Hyperreality style most exemplified by artists such as Gottfried Helnwein. It is a style that is both very photorealistic and normal while being unsettling and subtly surreal.
I am currently working on a new jido-genshi album which will be sonically different than any other of the jido-genshi albums, and I am also working on the cell:burn project as mentioned in the post on 08/10/2006. Keep checking back for updates!
Vote For My Photo Part 2
Once again I have a photo submitted for consideration in JPG magazine. The theme this time is Intimacy and I sure would appreciate all of your votes!
If you would like to see more of my photos, check them out on my Flickr page!
Thanks!
Vote For My Photo!
I've recently got heavily back into photography and decided to try and publish a book. In order to practice and reacquaint myself with the process, I am trying to get a few photos published in this little magazine called JPG. Most of the photos are not too bad, but my self-portrait shot is my weakest one and needs some help. Part of the problem is that I hate being in front of the camera, and I was just not into doing this particular photo, but I had a deadline...
Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you would cast your vote to ensure that this self-portrait makes it into the magazine. And if you would like to see more of these practice photos, check them out on my Flickr page!
Thanks!
The Warm Wet Low on iTunes
My album "The Warm Wet Low" is finally out on the iTunes Music Store along with some nice little reviews. (SIDE NOTE: The Warm Wet Low was originally going to be a graphic novel with accompanying music, but I never finished the art work for the graphic novel, so the music stands alone with your imagination!)
Have a listen and if interested, feel free to purchase it and even write a review! And this album is priced lower at $5.94 due to it being considered EP length, so that's only the price of a cup of coffee (at certain coffee houses at least!)
The "Warm Wet Low" is also available through RealNetworks' Rhapsody Online service.
Hope you enjoy it!
Also, stay tuned for details on the relaunch of my industrial-cyberpunk project, cell:burn. This is actually one of my favorite musical projects and is more me in the way I see myself in terms of music.
More details coming soon...
Designer Toys
It's been awhile (again) since I've last posted. Music has been on hold as well...
Reason: For the last several months I have been working on a semi-secret, non-music related project. Yes, that's right ladies and jellyspoons, I have been working as a Designer Toy Maker!
Instead of giving a long dissertation on the whys, whats and wheres, here is a link to my first soon to be recently released toy, the Broken Heart Robot. Read all about it!
Rest assured, more music is coming soon as I will begin work on a new album this summer and it will be the most epic and ambitious project I have conceived of to date! Stay tuned for more information... (my back catalogue of music will be available soon on iTunes through my record label ZERO:GENSHI.)
Duncan Sheik Project
Well, today is the release of Duncan Sheik's "White Limousine" album. "So? Why do you care?" you say...
Yes, not normally my cup-of-tea but it is actually a very beautiful album. Also, I worked on it! Seriously though, I'm not being bias. It is a beautiful album and I had no creative input on the album itself; it was stricktly a technical thing. So this is the deal:
"White Limousine" is being released as a CD with 12 songs and a DVD with seperated mastered tracks (bass, guitars, drums, strings, vocals, etc.) of every song on the album in Ableton Live format so that people can remix any or all of the songs. There is even a "lesson" built into the Live interface which I created that explains what this is all about. So that is what I did, the entire DVD. Basically, I was contacted by one of the marketing guys at M-Audio to create this DVD. When I agreed, I was sent the original Pro Tools sessions by Kevin Killen, Duncan's engineer. I then converted these sessions into Ableton's Live format and then wrote and created the Lesson, built the project and created the master DVD.
Unfortunately I wasn't provided any information on time signatures, tempo information, etc. so I guessed most of it, and on a couple of tracks, the guesses were a bit off. So thankfully Duncan's drummer Doug Yowell came out from New York to lend a hand (he was brilliant by the way!) and after many, many hours and days, we got it all working the way it should with the timing.
Another unfortunate thing was that Duncan's record label gave us absolutely no time to do this (and in fact almost canceled the DVD version because they didn"t think it was worth it or something) so if I had a proper amount of time to do this the way I wanted to, it would have been much different. For example [for those of you that know Ableton Live] I would have taken the tracks and cut them into Session clips for proper remixing capabilities and options, but as it is now, it is only the full length tracks in the Arrangement view, which is still cool because now the Live user can cut the tracks into clips the way they want.
But all-in-all it was a cool and enjoyable experience; even though it didn't pay, I did get some cool equiptment out of it like the M-Audio ProjectMix I/O! (I LOVE this thing!!!)
Thanks goes to Kevin Walt at M-Audio for hooking me up, Doug Yowell for the incredible help and to Duncan Sheik for allowing me to do this project and for the inspiration (yes, you have made a new fan out of me!)
Stay tuned for the announcement of my next and most exciting personal project yet... and it is non-music related!
World Wide Distribution
Busy, busy, busy...
My record label, ZERO:GENSHI has recently signed a world-wide distribution deal which allows me and my other artists into many digital channels including:
- Apple iTunes Music Store
- Microsoft MSN Music Store
- Sony Connect
- Napster
- RHAPSODY (Real Networks numerous co-brands)
- Starbucks/HEAR Music
- Liquid Audio (includes Wal-Mart, Tower Records and more)
- MusicNow (Circuit City)
- Bleep (Warp Records)
... and many more! For further information, please check out my label site at www.ZeroGenshi.com.
My Podcast
I have too many projects going on at the moment, which is why it has been awhile since I last posted...
I have been playing with the idea of Podcasting and have created a home for my new podcasting station, Zero:Genshi Podcasting Network, or ZGPN for short. At the moment I only have one Podcast, the music from my WarmWetLow project, but soon I will have all sorts of fun and (hopefully) entertaining content for all to enjoy!
I would welcome feedback from those of you who try this out, but one thing to keep in mind before you do; you need to have the latest version of iTunes 4.9 installed on your system.
Ok, enjoy!
The Graphic Novel
As I have previously mentioned elsewhere on this site, I am working on creating an online graphic novel entitled The WarmWetLow.
The first step is the technique. Being that I can't really draw, I had to rely upon what I know; music and photography. The music is what inspired this particular concept in the first place when I wrote the piece WarmWetLow.mp3. Next, using photographs I have taken, I am attempting to manipulate them in a way that will appear painted or drawn while still keeping a bit of the realism. Hopefully this will create an effect of Hyperrealism and will draw the reader into the story.
Since I am just starting out, I am still in the experimental or, "alpha" stages of creating this project. I do have an initial Proof Of Concept preview version of this online graphic novel which can be found by clicking here on The WarmWetLow Preview. Keep in mind that this is a VERY rough preview version; The story is not quite there yet and I am just getting my feet wet with this whole thing by trying out different design techniques.
Credits & Copyright
This site, the music and all other content is copyright © 2005-2015 Genshi Media Group. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.