Born under punches…

We at G LEAGUE IGNITE are enthusiastic pacifists. That said, the final entry in our opening series of videos, “Down goes Anderson,” is a rocker, and it’s ready to square up.

Over the course of the eighteen-month R&D period leading up to this salvo of videos, Dennis and I have gradually developed a series of strategies for integrating our respective sonic palettes and musical approaches into a unified whole.

In some cases, that's meant creating space for one another. That can play out in obvious ways - it’s no surprise that Dennis leans towards unpitched and percussive materials. That leaves pitched sounds and especially sustaining tones to me, since my instrument is far better suited to rich harmonic palettes and continuous control over long-duration textures.

In other instances, it's taken time to arrive at an appropriate division of labor. I've gradually stepped away from certain kinds of automation and repetition so that Dennis can take charge of creating loops using his pedal set up. His ability to combine acoustic and electronic sounds in a single repeating passage, his proficiency in layering loops on top of one another (often creating wild polyrhythms), and his skill in playing additional material on top of <waving hands> all that, all combine to make him the right person for the job. Similarly, I leave the use of sampling to him - because my own inclination is towards synthesis, but even more so because I hear him developing delightful and surprising recorded material. (His samples made from ceiling-fan sounds are a particular favorite of mine).

Of course, musical unity is as much about shared values as it is about interlocking parts. We both have an enthusiasm for the abstract and the old-school - hence Dennis’ unapologetically synthetic Nord Drum timbres, and my emphasis on electronic techniques hailing from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. We’re both pulling from the noise-music arsenal of sound-processing techniques: distortion, ring modulation, and similar ways to add grit and grime to our textures. I’m using sequences and LFOs to create rhythmic motion inside of sustaining tones, as a way to integrate with Dennis’ patterns. And we’ve both mostly stepped away from using electronic reverbs, as a way of ensuring that we occupy a shared (and physical) acoustic space. To my ears, all of those overlapping features define the sound of G LEAGUE IGNITE, and help to form our individual contributions into a coherent whole.

Quick reminders for Delawareans and Seattleites, respectively:

Dennis and I perform at Final Friday (Newark Bike Project, 230 E Main Street, Suite 323, Newark DE) this weekend - May 29, doors at 9 pm, music at 9:30.

And househusbands (my duo with Carlos Cotallo Solares) reunites on June 18 as part of the Wayward Music Series (Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle WA). Percussionist Aaron Michael Butler is not only joining the bill for a solo set, but also organizing a crew of Seattle musicians to perform my composition Quant Theseus, a piece originally written for my Milwaukee band Minor Vices. I’m quite looking forward to finding out what a totally different group of players will do with this rather idiosyncratic score and its combination of freedom and constraint.

I’m still doing plenty of instrument-design work as I prep for the performances with Dennis and Carlos - various extensions and refinements to both the user interface and the sound engine as I strive to create something that’s both intuitive to play and provides the widest range of creative options. But I’m also working with dots-on-paper (AKA conventional music notation) for the first time in a long time, as I set out on a new composition for solo piano.

For the moment, that process begins with a lot of journaling (in whatever size notebook fits in the bag I’m carrying):

I’m also working in at the laptop in spreadsheet software, for initial plans about the large-scale form and proportions of the work:

Then back into the notebook for rough, often only partially-notated sketches of actual passages of music:

And then I return to the computer to turn those sketches into proper notation, and to bash multiple sketches together into a single collage of layered music. (The fourth line below is more or less a composite of the first three).

With - as always - false starts, do-overs, and trips to the wastebasket at every phase of the process. It’s far too soon to say that anything shown here will make it into the finished piece, but I’m enjoying the process of constructing the puzzle and solving it at the same time.

Thanks as always for listening and reading - yours,

Christopher

Christopher Burns
christopherburnsmusic.com