Holy F**k!

Well travels, work, laziness, and frankly, concern - or lack there of - about the relevance or interest Pitch2Voltage might offer anyone reading this, have prevented Mr. Hanle and I from maintaining the blog. In an attempt to wrest credibility from a 6 month hiatus, I'm posting this, which I had intended to post in May.

Have you ever seen Cornelius perform? I had the good fortune last Monday. On tour to promote his first album in five years, Sensuous, the Japanese music genius-madman, Cornelius, aka Keigo Oyamada, and his band came to Park West - a befittingly European styled club with leather seats and a disco ball - to melt the minds of the hipsters and aging gen-Xers who populate Chicago's north side. I may only speak for myself, but leaving the concert I felt as if I were coming down from a week long LSD trip - without any of the side effects. I have not the authorial capacities to adequately describe this aural and visual spectacle without trivializing it. So I won't make the attempt.

Opening was the oh-so-cleverly named Holy Fuck, who I had not the good fortune to enjoy, my friend, however, was screaming their name repeatedly during Cornelius' set... I usually, I think for good reason, keep a distance from humorous writing...See Cornelius, if you have the chance.

If you've never listened to Cornelius I recommend starting with the album Point, which is fantastic.

Cut/Paste

So lately I’ve found myself listening a lot to Lucky Dragons’ new album Widows. Lucky Dragons is Luke Fischbeck, a one man sound collager/musician from Prividence, RI who cuts and pastes clips of sound to make some of the most simultaneously beautiful and abrasive music I’ve ever heard. Field recordings abound in his music, mixed with a deft electronic hand with odd blips and bleeps and the occasional acoustic riff that compose the backbone of his sound. He has the amazing ability to create rhythms and beats out of the everyday sounds of our lives, a method which is best showcased on the collection of his material released last year on State's Rights Records, entitled A Sewing Circle. His new album focuses on the softer side of his music- analog acoustic dabblings intermingling with beeps of a digital origin. This album washes over you in waves, and every once in a while you are jolted by the calculated beauty of it all.

His live shows are not to be missed and are always interesting. See video evidence here.

Listen to New Alium, off Lucky Dragons’ new album Widows.

Burn Sand and Make Music

In some forest outside of Portland, Maine, Angus Maclaurin, a music teacher and a particularly strange fellow, recorded an album in the basement of his log cabin. The album is called Glass Music, and it is, befittingly, an ambient work in which, save for one or two tracks, Maclaurin uses strictly glass as his instrument. I have no clue what he did to or with the glass, but the result is quite beautiful.


My initial reaction was that although the concept of the album sounded 'cool', upon actually listening I would find that the work would not transcend its gimmickry. I was wrong, however; the album is damn good. If you're into ambiance or long form experimentation, check it out and be wow-ed that you are listening to glass.

click here to listen

Losing My Edge

Mark Kozelek is one of my favorite singer/songwriters around right now, and I've posted about him before. But somehow - I just can't seem to stay hip on all this new music - I was unaware of his latest release, (a live album entitled Little Drummer Boy which came out in the fall), until fairly recently. Regardless, the album is great. Kozelek has an uncanny ability to not only write some very beautiful music, but also to rework other artists' material, turning even hard rock into acoustic brilliance and drawing out seemingly shallow lyrics into poetic profundity. On the album, you'll hear Kozelek, with his guitarist Phil Carney, perform some of his solo work, including Modest Mouse and AC/DC covers, a bunch of Sun Kil Moon songs and earlier tracks from his first band the Red House Painters. Worth at least downloading? If you're a fan of Mark Kozelek, well then you probably already have it, but if you don't, give it a listen.

If you have never heard Mark Kozelek, check out the song "Glenn Tipton" off of Sun Kil Moon's second album, Ghosts of the Great Highway.