Um… Uh… Gum Eh? CD Release Party in Garberville this Friday

Tin Can Luminary’s New Album, Um… Uh… Gum Eh?

CD Release Party in Garberville this Friday

This Friday, May 3 at the Hemp Connection in Garberville, I’ll debut my new album of Circuit-bent music titled Um… Uh… Gum Eh?

For younger readers, and others who might miss the rather obscure musical reference, the title and cover parody what is widely regarded as the worst (at least excluding the post-Roger dreck) Pink Floyd album, titled Ummagumma, a double album originally released in 1970.

A careful observer, or anyone with nothing better to do, can spot many parallels between Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma and my new album Um… Uh… Gum Eh? For instance:

Both albums contain a song about a guy who cuts people up with a sharp object:

Ummagumma has Careful With That Axe, Eugene

Um… Uh… Gum Eh? has Mr. Whisker.

Both albums include songs about outer space:

Ummagumma has Astronomy Domine

Um… Uh… Gum Eh? has The Saucer People Speak

Both albums have songs about knowledgeable beings:

Ummagumma has The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party

Um… Uh… Gum Eh? has The Orb of Omniscience

Both albums have long, spacy pieces where the only lyrics are “Oooh, Aaahh, and Ohhh”

Ummagumma has A Saucerful of Secrets

Um… Uh… Gum Eh? has Interzone Transit Authority

Both albums have collections of unrecognizable sounds, combined with spoken words:

Ummagumma has Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict

Um… Uh… Gum Eh? has I Made A Collage

Both albums have song titles that reference Greek mythology

Ummagumma has Sysyphus

Um… Uh… Gum Eh? has Sirens of Space, and here’s what it sounds like:

While Pink Floyd is famous for using gobs of state-of-the-art music equipment, I recorded Um… Uh… Gum Eh? With instruments I made out of tin cans, cigar boxes and second-hand childrens toys. That’s the state of my art, extremely low-budget and uniquely homemade. Even though Ummagumma is probably the worst Pink Floyd album, Um… Uh… Gum Eh? is undoubtedly my best album to date.  Um… Uh… Gum Eh? is my seventh solo album, btw.

Does Um… Uh… Gum Eh? sound better than Pink Floyd at their worst? Yeah, I think so. Does Um… Uh… Gum Eh? Sound like Pink Floyd? Not really, but like Pink Floyd, Um… Uh… Gum Eh? sounds great when you are really high. It’s a trip!

Um… Uh… Gum Eh? will make you smile, take you on a tour of the cosmos and bring you to the brink of insanity, before safely returning you to Earth.  Here’s the first video single from Um… Uh… Gum Eh? titled: Falling

So come out to The Hemp Connection in Garberville

on Friday, May 3rd to hear more from Um… Uh… Gum Eh?, see and hear my homemade circuit-bent instruments, and to hear me play electric didgeridoo, for free, as part of Arts Alive.  Also on the bill will be Patchy Fogg, playing musical saw.

And Now… A Musical Interlude; Falling by Tin Can Luminary

And Now… A Musical Interlude

I’m proud to present the first video single from my upcoming album of circuit-bent music:

Falling

by

Amy Gustin: vocals

John Hardin: didgeridoo and circuit-bent toys

The working title for the album is:

Um… Uh… Gum Eh?

Not that anyone buys albums anymore, or cares at all about them, or even has an hour to kill to listen to one, but that’s still how I think about my music projects. If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you know that I’ve been working on this album of music made with hacked electronic toys,

and home-made electro-acoustic instruments,

for just about a year now.  It took me most of the summer to build the instruments,

and I spent most of the winter recording the music.

I hope to finish the entire project in perhaps a month.  In the mean time, I hope you enjoy this video single and share it with anyone you think might enjoy it.

The Return of Circuit Bending

The Return of Circuit Bending

So I didn’t tell you about our circuit bending workshop. I mean, I told you it was coming, plenty of times, but I didn’t tell you how it went. Well, it went swimmingly! We had a great turnout, more than I expected. My only regret was that with so many people in the workshop, building kits took the entire time, and CMKT4 didn’t get a chance to play.

CMKT4, who gave up their only day off on their 30 day West Coast tour, to do this workshop in G,ville, told me that our event turned out to be their highest grossing workshop on the entire tour. They had a great time at the event as well, and look forward to returning to Garberville soon. Next time, we’ll get started earlier and go later.

I had a terrific time! I met some cool new people, got to know some people I already knew better, and got to introduce some of my Ham friends to some of my music friends. I also got to stalk our local thrift stores with CMKT4 and ask some circuit bending questions of someone who knows their way around the insides of a Casio mini-keyboard.

I also got to build this spiffy cigar box drum machine. I love the sound. It reminds me of 50s sci-fi movies.

 

The box contains three piezoelectric contact microphones (probably overkill). The underside has three different sized expansion springs for reverb. Above board you can see a collection of soft drink lids, beer bottle caps, finger cymbals, a small brass bell, five different sized compression springs and two small wire chimes surgically removed from little plush toys.

I grabbed one of those little PAIA two transistor oscillator kits that SHARC was giving away at the event,

took it home and built this little light-controlled, Theremin-like instrument. I housed the project in a burned out solar yard light.

 

Since this oscillator runs on only one and a half volts, the single AAA battery holder in the yard light provided the power solution. I removed the LED, circuit board and solar panel from the lamp, replacing them with the oscillator circuit card and five photo-resistors wired in series, routing various wires through the hole that originally accommodated the LED. I found a speaker that fit perfectly into an old spray paint can lid, and mounted it to the bottom of the lamp with aluminum angle brackets I cut from an aluminum can. I mounted a momentary action switch, and an output jack in the lamp flange. The switch turns the oscillator on and off, the amount of light coming in the top controls the pitch.

I really hope everyone else who participated in the event had as much fun as I did. I hope CMKT4 will return to Garberville as soon as this Fall and we can have another circuit-bending event, and next time we’ll have some music, maybe including some local circuit-benders.

CMKT4 to Lead Circuit-Bending Workshop/Concert in Garberville

This press release went out to all of our local papers last week:

CMKT4 to Lead Circuit-Bending Workshop/Concert in Garberville

On Monday, May 21, 2012, the Southern Humboldt Amateur Radio Club or SHARC, presents a circuit-bending workshop led by the Dekalb, Ill based circuit-bending band, CMKT4. The event begins at 5pm with a potluck dinner, and the workshop will start at 6pm. Circuit-bending, a term coined by Q Reed Ghazala in the 1980′s refers to the art of rewiring battery powered electronic devices to exploit their hidden potential. Since then, circuit-bending has grown into a musical movement.

The workshop teaches skills like soldering, wiring, and creative re-purposing, and encourages everyone to experiment, and have fun with electronics. Each participant will build a CMKT4 contact microphone that can be used as a high quality acoustic instrument pickup, or to turn nearly nearly any object into an electrified musical instrument.

The cost of the workshop is $15 and includes all of the parts, a comic book instruction manual, use of all necessary tools and supplies, and expert instruction. CMKT4 will also perform a set of original circuit-bent music to conclude the event.

Circuit-bending is a great way to learn about electronics while having fun. The Southern Humboldt Amateur Radio Club encourages everyone to explore and enjoy electronics safely. Ham radio is a great way to learn more about electronics, and to meet others who share that interest. Call Jack Foster at 923-3700 for more information about this event.

More Circuit Bending Stuff

More Circuit Bending Stuff

Alright, its only 12 days away from the CMKT4 Circuit Bending Workshop in Garberville, so I want to keep hyping it.  Here’s a video of circuit-bender, musician and instrument builder Tim Kaiser showing you how much fun you can have with a contact microphone, like the one you can build at the workshop.

Here Q Reed Ghazala, talks about circuit-bending, a term he coined.

Here Mike Patton of Mr Bungle talks about circuit-bending.

Here’s a demo of a circuit-bent Casio SA5.  I love the sound of this thing!

And some people get quite carried away with circuit-bending

Does this look like fun to you?  I hope I see you at the CMKT4 circuit-bending workshop on Monday, May 21 at the Veterans Hall in Garberville, potluck dinner at 5pm workshop starts at 6pm.  $15 workshop fee covers parts, supplies and instruction, and you will leave with a high quality contact microphone.

Finally, a circuit-bent Furby

Word Power, Circuit-Bend

Word Power

Building Your Vocabulary One Word at a Time

Circuit-Bend

cir cuit – bend (‘sir cut bend) v, to rewire electronic devices to exploit their untapped, unintended, or unpredictable potential.

 

Q Reed Ghazala, now considered the godfather of circuit-bending, coined the term circuit-bending to describe the process he used to rewire electronic toys into bizarre, less than predictable musical instruments. Circuit-bending has since grown into a world-wide movement with Ghazala’s book, Circuit Bending as its bible.

You’ll likely see the term used frequently in this blog in coming weeks, in anticipation of, and preparation for the very first circuit-bending event ever held in Garberville, so far as I know. On Monday, May 21, at the Veterans Hall in Garberville, The Southern Humboldt Amateur Radio Club will host a pot-luck, and circuit-bending workshop led by the Dekalb Ill based circuit-bending band, CMKT4.

 

CMKT4 employs numerous instruments with bent circuits in their music, ranging from the sound modules from talking stuffed animals to educational electronic toys, to synthesizers and fuzz boxes. The three piece band also play more conventional instruments like drums, bass and guitar producing a sound that can take you to outer space in a swirl of sci-fi sound and then take you to breakfast at the Waffle House to show you the gritty dark side of America.

 

In the workshop, CMKT4 will teach you how to solder, show you the basics of circuit-bending and help you build your own contact microphone from a kit they provide. You can use your contact microphone as pickup for an acoustic guitar, or or almost any other acoustic instrument. It makes a great electronic drum trigger, and can turn almost any object into an electric musical instrument.

 

The cost of the workshop and kit is $15 per participant, and includes microphone kit, comic book instruction manual, use of tools and building supplies, and expert instruction. You will leave with a high quality contact microphone. Similar, often inferior, products sell in music stores for over $50, so attending the workshop pays off immediately. Besides that, the workshop will build your base of skills and knowledge and inspire your imagination.

 

CMKT4 will close the evening with a set of circuit-bent original music. I hope I see you there.

Murdoch sells myspace.com at Yard Sale

Rupert Murdock’s NewsCorp Sells myspace.com at Yard Sale

Copyrights to music by every artist on the planet

and the personal information of millions of users

sold for a pennies on the dollar.

I very much enjoyed the news that Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp recently sold myspace.com for less than one-tenth what they paid for it, losing more than half a billion dollars on the deal. Think about it this way: Even though NewsCorp owned copyrights to half a dozen songs by every musician on earth, and could advertize to, and collect data from millions of users, not only could they not make money, they took a 500 million dollar bath.

 

In fact, all of those musicians, myself included, actually drove people away from myspace.com, and towards fecebook.com, with our constant barrage of self-promotional “comments” and “friend requests.” While my weird music has not made me any money, I’m quite proud that my efforts cost Rupert Murdoch half a billion.

 

It really didn’t take a genius to know that Rupert Murdoch overpaid for myspace.com, and that “the bloom was off the vine” as they say, even then. Everyone was already migrating to facebook.com, and online advertizing really hasn’t been that effective anywhere. So, the value of these social networking sites remains mostly speculative, and fads pass quickly. This one took 500 million dollars of Rupert Murdoch’s money, with it.

 

Anyone remember MP3.com? They imploded back in 2000, but they did a lot of things right for musicians, and cultivated a lively online community. If you were one of the few people with a fast internet connection back then, MP3.com held a vast collection of music, of all styles, from around the world, and offered lots of ways to access it. Musicians used it to find other musicians with enough in common to create online “scenes” and coordinate tours and gigs. I don’t think any site has matched MP3.com for musicians since then, but myspace.com could.

 

Most musicians still use their myspace.com site. It’s free, makes it easy for anyone to access all of your relevant information, as well as sample your music. I haven’t updated mine in years, but you can still hear:

1. Several cuts from: my 2006 CD Handmade at www.myspace.com/tincanluminary

2. My “circuit-bent” music at www.myspace.com/wasteuniversal

3. Episodes from my 1995-8 TV series, Nukebusters TV, currently in resurgence on Access Humboldt, and in Pakistan, at www.myspace.com/nukebusterstv

    

Other than artists and musicians, myspace.com has become kind of a ghetto. Real estate developers know that artists can turn a ghetto int a che-che neighborhood ripe for gentrification. I think myspace.com should work that angle, and do more to serve the needs of artists and musicians.

 

Maybe myspace.com should incorporate a “Pandora” like feature that sources all of the music at myspace.com. MP3.com gave musicians lots of opportunities to communicate with each other in groups, and lots of opportunities to work together to promote each others music. If you liked one band, MP3.com would also recommend other bands based on your taste. Just some suggestions for the new owners of myspace.com. If the new owners take my advice and shift the focus of myspace.com to serve the artists who most heavily rely on the site, I’ll bet myspace.com could lose even more money in the future.

I don’t get out much, but…

CMKT 4 Live at the Ink People’s Center for the Arts

Understanding, as I do, that people with interesting, engaging hobbies tend to spend less time absorbed in random blather on the web, I hesitate to share this with you, but I attended an interesting workshop at the Ink People’s Center for the Arts in Eureka this past Tuesday.

The Dekalb Ill. Circuit-bent rock trio CMKT 4, helped everyone in attendance build a pretty darned good sounding acoustic instrument pick-up from a few plastic bottle caps, a brass piezoelectric disk, a panel mount guitar cord jack, and a short length or wire. They have clearly made hundreds of them. They sell finished pick-ups, or contact microphones, the technical term for them, for $20, significantly less than the retail price of a similar mass produced product.

They also sell kits to build your own. These include all of the parts, including pre-drilled recycled plastic bottle caps, for $15, and also includes a beautifully illustrated assembly manual. A plaid suit-wearing character, Crème Dementia guides you through the assembly process in great detail.

Just so this isn’t wasted on you, here’s 3, 20 something guys, producing a high-tech consumer product, mostly out of post-consumer waste, and marketing it at a very competitive price, to support their band. CMKT4‘s contact mics have a certain diy aesthetic, and are just a little bigger than competing mass produced products, but for quality, durability and price, they make a very competitive product. Of course now that I know how to make them, I sure won’t need to buy another.  Here’s the one I made:

While CMKT4 did not have a cd to support their current 30 day tour, they’ve kept themselves afloat with contact microphone sales, and workshops teaching people to make them. They’ve given workshop/concerts at over 20 “Hacker Spaces.” Apparently in these places people share tools and try out ideas. They have sprung up all over the country and CMKT4 has worked the circuit on this tour. They rounded it out with performances, and a booth at both the Detroit and San Francisco “Makers Festival” sponsored by Make magazine.

As I said earlier, CMKT4 is a “circuit-bent” rock band, meaning that they augment the basic rock band arrangement of guitar, drums and bass with a whole bunch of modified electronic toys and homemade “bleep boxes”. A number of their instruments seemed to involve the tortured souls of talking teddy bears, “Furbys” and various “See and Say” educational toys. All of these toys sprouted numerous, knobs, switches, light, sound and touch sensors that indicated that these devices have undergone substantial customization. It kind of sounded like all of these talking stuffed animals had had strokes. Some babbled incessantly, some screamed intermittently and some just kept repeating themselves. This chorus of demented toys forms the foundation of CMKT4‘s sound.

 CMKT4‘s heavy churning rhythm section propels this swirling, spitting, chattering cacophony forward with a sound somewhere between Nirvana and the soundtrack to Eraserhead. I had a great time.

So, are you done playing with that Talking Elmo, kid?