Jonathan Block

080207

jblock — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:47:26 +0000

For whatever reason my website is down and the hosting provider is not reachable by phone or email. So I’ve transfered my domain and site to a new provider, but it may take a couple of days for these changes to propagate through the Web.

080107

jblock — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:45:40 +0000

I’ve begun posting music from each week’s sessions; to hear them click here. Since my current mode of operation revolves around real-time looping I’ve been recording pretty much everything and then going back each week to pick out the stuff that warrants further development. I’m exploring some hard disk recording methods since recording direct to CD has its limitations.

Riff raff

jblock — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 18:30:44 +0000

Lots of stuff going on during the interim. I recently purchased an Akai EWI4000, which I’ve has occupied much of my free time. There’s a lot of power in this little wind synth, although it’s been a bit of a struggle getting the software editor to work on MacBook to actually edit and create new sounds since the laptop keeps crashing. But, we persevere. I’ve been doing some experiments with long delays and looping with the Akai and some interesting possibilities are presenting themselves due to this line of working.

Plans for Electro-Music 2007 are shaping. Besides a solo set in the theater on Sunday night, I’ll be giving a talk/demonstration on performing with just one synth. I’m also coordinating a jam with a bunch of other players over a two-hour period that should be a lot of fun.

Fare thee well

jblock — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:33:17 +0000

RIP Ian. I grew up with a keen interest in the Islands-era King Crimson, based mainly on Earthbound with its funky jams. Since then I’ve enjoyed every live release of this era that DGM has put out. But having said that, my favorite Ian Wallace performance is on Dylan’s No Time to Think. Although the tune is fairly repetitive, Ian kept up a nice variation of drum parts throughout the entire long piece. Besides being a great drummer, Ian was truly a very nice guy who wouldn’t hesitate to have a quick chat with anyone who asked. Fare thee well.

Bweebida bwobbida

jblock — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:54:14 +0000

About a month has passed since I last stopped in. In the meantime, the weather has been very cold. I finished all my base material for the collaboration with APK and I’m interested to hear what he comes back with. Much of the next synthblock album has been written, but I’m leaving it for a while to ruminate. I’ve gotten a little burnt out on playing electronic music so I’ve picked up the clarinet again. It took about a week to get my chops back up, but it’s been fun. I’ve been also experimenting with playing over some of the backing pads I put together for APK. It sounds a lot more interesting than I thought and I’m considering doing some of this at this year’s Electro-Music 2007 shows.

Elsewhere and to there

jblock — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:36:38 +0000

It’s actually snowing, although not too much is sticking. Currently working through credit card snafus.

Finished sequencing the last of the APK collaboration pieces. Now just to mix and then record them. I ended up redoing the piano/pad/bass piece.

Tales from the attic

jblock — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:42:18 +0000

Nice long weekend. It’s finally cold! We went bowling yesterday, which we all enjoy. I also did a bit of work on the collaboration pieces and I’m coming down to the wire. Just need to sequence an opening and closing soundscape. I also did an improvisational piano/pad/bass piece that turned out well.

A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out a box in the garage and my youngest was fascinated with all the junk and old papers in there, which were from when we lived on Fox Street. I mentioned to her that I had a couple of similar boxes up in the attic that I need to go through, and ever since then she’s been asking about it. So the other day I pulled them down and finally threw out a bunch of old papers that I haven’t needed for years. I did find some interesting things, like some old pictures and official college transcripts. There were also a bunch of letters in there; some from old friends when I was in college, but many more from other people. Some who I remember and others who I just can’t recall. After reading some of the letters I realized what a dope I was in some cases and how blind I was to other opportunities staring me straight in the face. Ah, the follies of youth.

Won’t you try

jblock — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:12:48 +0000

Cool weather returns. Up at the alarm this morning, but did not rush out of bed. Lots of ice puddles on the way to work.

Spent a fair amount of time this weekend working on one of the tracks for the APK collaboration, descriptively and temporarily titled Metal Arp. I put down the whole basis for the tune, both the front and back soundscapes and then the middle bell arp section. I still need to add a bunch of stuff over the whole piece, but the basis is there.

Other than that, still listening to a bit of Reich and even more Jefferson Airplane. A little disappointed that there was no new version of iWorks announced today.

It’s gonna rain

jblock — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 21:18:54 +0000

Rain again. It’s going to be very warm this weekend. I saw some new grass coming up between the bricks in the back walk yesterday. Too much.

I’ve been enjoying You Are, a recent Reich recording, very much today.

The way the stars come out

jblock — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:20:57 +0000

How much warmer can it get? I don’t ever recall the weather being like this. Basically, it’s like an early Spring day in March.

A huge sigh this morning. Sometimes we forget to breath. A quick run through the new pad compositions last night, but there was not enough lead time to make them seem anything more than rushed.

It got dark quickly.