I had the pleasure of getting to visit with NORMALIEN in his Lower Haight studio and record some of his awesome electronic jams!
Normalien performing live in his studio
Normalien's new toy: Korg Volca Keys
"The Master"...Roland 606 Drum Machine
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
This is the first drum machine I ever owned. Actually it was my brother's that my dad gave to him but never used so I co-opted it for as long as I possibly could before it was taken back and I believe eventually sold.
Anyway, I spent days and days programming funny beats with lots of excessive timpani and hand claps and recorded songs to a karaoke machine I was borrowing from my friend Robin. He explained that you could essentially use the karaoke machine as a two track recorder because it had two cassettes and would overdub. Also, it had a terrible reverb effect that I cranked up and it sounded pretty shitty.
After I was done recording a song, I'd go and try it out in the cassette player of my truck. Actually the truck wasn't really mine either but I'd go for a drive and listen to myself wailing with these funny beats. I didn't like a whole lot of music back then other than my collection of 80's movie soundtracks so I was kind of just making music for myself and I only played it for maybe one or two people.
Mysterious DemonGrass trio play analog techno/funk, and other acts of random madness. Here is a rare sighting at Robotspeak in the Lower Haight earlier this summer.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Slipping back into darkness...into sorrow
beauty in this solitude, gazing out into the city