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Looper's Delight
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I also performed and loved being at Loopstock again this year. I'm going to write stream of conciousness so forgive me that the order may be incorrect but I just want to put down some impressions of the day. This was perhaps the smallest of all of the festivals but it had an intimacy that was really wonderful. It was really great to have a long hang with everybody...............we played together, talked about looping together, ate really good mexican food together, got nervous when the cowboys wanted us gone together, played pool (or loop pool, if you will) together...................lol. It was also the most anarchic of the Loopstocks, because we got there and there was no schedule of artists. This bugged me at first, but it turned out that the first half of the day was characterized by a lot of inter-artist jamming which was really fun and would not have occurred if Hans hadn't planned/not planned it the way he did. I ended up really enjoying that the schedule was so loose. There was a really palpable sense that anything was possible. The second half was more about individual performances and the aforementioned tussle we had with the bar owners because three locals wanted the wierd wanky ambient loopy stuff to stop so they could listen to ZZ TOP. Hans really handled the situation well, however and I noticed by the time I played (and I had, by far, the furthest performance away from the ZZ TOP paradigm with the exception of Michael Klobuchars' earlier set) that a whole lot of the regulars came in and and actually watched and enjoyed my shenanigans: toy pianos, wind up toy drummers, brightly colored children's instruments, et. al. ***************** As soon as Michael and I arrived at the Sweet Springs Saloon in Los Osos, Stanitarium was beginning the first set of the day. Stan loves to play loud and it was interesting to see all the loopers hanging around outside of the building listening in to his set. The sheer volume of his big guitar rig is amazing but the tones he gets out of his big Fender amps is amazing (and probably could not be reproduced any other way). Everyone I talked to commented on how much Stan's looping shows have grown and I, for one, just love his sense of melody. He also got Hans to add a subsonic synthesizer to the metronome bass drum that he uses as his uber minimalistic bass drum. Stan's music is ultra minimalistic and I really dug it. I'll bet he didnt' realize that everyone was rapt with attention on the OUTSIDE of the club.........lol. Max Valentino also played a really beautiful set of solo bass. He really is the most accomplished looper I've ever heard on the Jamman. He's incorporated and really mastered the Bob Sellon software in that box and really stretches it to it's full potential. Anyone who wants to master that box should hit Max up for a lesson. Later, my brother Bill played a set that had every one rapt with attention. He had decided to eschew his big Repeater oriented rig for a very stripped down (for him) double Line 6 DL4 approach. He then wowed us with some beautiful playing on his modern Weissenborn styled lap steel. Bill is just the master of creative use of the double speed/half speed/reverse effects on his DL4s and I found his set to be the most sublimely melodic and smooth of the day. Lastly, our fearless leader, Hans did a very, very hip set that featured a dub/hip hop approach utilizing really cool human beatboxing combined with a dub bass sound that Aston Family Man Barrett would have been proud of. Earlier in the day at the end of Stan's set Hans and I both beatboxed underneath Stan's version of Love Rollercoaster by the Ohio Players. My favorite part of Hans' set was when he used some really lo-fi sounding beat box techniques (lots of noise in his drum sounds) and then sliced and diced them with two EDPs and a very hip old school rack mount analogue delay. He really gave me a ton of ideas for how to process my own beatboxing in my shows and this pointed out the most important feature of all the looping festivals: I just learn a ton of new techniques and go away from the event feeling extremely inspired every time I go to one. That's my definition of a successful musical event and we are all very fortunate that Hans produced this one this year. Thanks, bro!!!!! *************** It was also a particular to treat for me to get to hang with Michael Klobuchar, who flew out from Pittsburgh and did some serious guitar mangling during his set. It's always a personal thrill for me when the Scoots-meister comes to Cali and I'm hoping he'll be able to make it to Y2K4. He is really inspiring to me in his concept of designing sounds for the guitar. I always leave him wanting to buy a zillion stomp box pedals (that Digitech Space Station just rocks.....................Stanitarium used it really effectively too). He has such an interesting way of playing a very inside piece of music and then morphing it into outerspace before he is done. It was also really great meeting a looping newbie, Bernhard Wagner, a Venezulen/German all the way from Zurich, Switzerland. Bernhard is not only a very talented guitar player with a fine rhythmic and atmospheric approach (and EDP user for those who want to know) but he is also a really great guy: intelligent, funny, talented and really sincere. I feel like I have a new good friend. Bernhard also is an excellent improviser and a real team player when it came to the looping jams. Another talented newcomer also played with Jon Wagner, David Giovachinni. He used Ableton's LIVE on a laptop, synced to Jon's EDP and had an extensive array of real and found melodic and percussive instruments. The combination with Jon's wonderful multi-percussion looping aesthetic was really great and I look forward to hearing more out of this new duo. David also has an extensive knowledge of Middleeastern music and it was fun chatting with him about a subject that I love, personally and hearing him incorporate those influences into such a high tech approach. It's really nice to hear a couple of really talented fresh voices in our 'scene' and it was very fun to hear everyone participate in the myriad jams that occurred during the day. Bernhard and Michael drove back to Santa Cruz with us and hung out with Bill and I for a couple of days and it was really a treat. We all laughed our asses off the whole time. The next night I went over and jammed in Mountain View with Bernhard and Jon Wagner (the Wagner Brothers?) at Jon's place and it was one of those instances where I rue the fact that we didn't record our jam onto multi track digital. Well, that's it for my take on Loopstock 2004. Rick .