Re: Loopstock appreciation

[Mark Landman <mlandman@sonic.net>]

I'd like to echo (hmmm, that seems appropriate) everyone else and 
thanks Hans for his hard work, a truly wonderful job!

The trip down from north of SF was well worth it, a fine day of music 
with many memorable moments, a few thoughts-

Stan- Enjoyed the Surf music, and was gassed by the PCM being cranked 
to minimum delay for a closer, a great finish.

Mark Hamburg- I hereby dub you "King of Swirl", wonderful textures 
that sometimes developed slowly, and other times surprised me by 
seeming to come from nowhere. I assume you were fading 'tween loops, 
but it was very effective.

Steven Rice- I'm surprised to hear this was your first public looping 
performance, it seemed to go very smoothly. I'm impressed with the 
"bravery" of acoustic loopers, as this surely adds to the already 
heavy load of technical difficulty involved in setting up and 
performing.

Sleeping- Mark, you shouldn't have told us you were re-connecting 
power cables, I was convinced that you were a "processing madman" 
re-patching on the fly... What was that nice high-pass filter effect 
you used on your loops?

Jon and Matthias- Another great set, especially fun as Jon had 
essentially changed his approach to what he intended to do at the 
proverbial 11th hour. Needless to say, it worked very well. 
Matthias's guitar playing was, as many have commented, quite 
wonderful, beautiful harmonic loop fade-out at the end, 
unintentionally accompanied by ambient cell phone ringing. Especially 
impressive as Matthias didn't have his own processors and presets to 
work with.

Max Valentino- Very, very, musical and tasteful set despite dreaded 
technology gremlins attacking. Bonus points for suckering entire 
crowd into believing Jamman had died again, then bringing back loop 
on the downbeat! A gorgeous bass sound and style...

Rich and Cliff- Varied and deep processing, heavy bouncing of loops 
with mucho processing, I wish you guys had a cd of this...

Richard Zvonar- Uh, WOW! It's funny how the maxim is an artist who is 
essentially playing dials and knobs isn't visually interesting, yet 
by the end of Richards set he had us stacked like cordwood along the 
sides of the wall so we could watch him release his sonic mayhem. 
Richard, if you're in the mood and have the interest, I'd enjoy 
hearing your thoughts on signal processing and treatment, algorithms, 
etc.

Rick Walker's Loop.Pool- Despite the return of the dreaded 
technological gremlins, an outstanding set. Rick is exceptionally 
musical and creative, and knocked everyone out despite losing "the 
machine my whole act is based on..." I suspect Rick could make 
wonderful music with 2 tin cans and a long piece of string, and think 
this is a good lesson for all of us who tend to be somewhat gear 
obsessed.

Ted Killian and Dr. Bob- Ted absolutely "snarled" on his guitar. His 
loops, especially combined with some of Dr. Bob's more "ambient" 
Handsonic playing, created very powerful sonic textures.

Tom Heasley- I had heard that Tom was good, but was flabbergasted by 
the beauty of his piece. By that point in the evening I was tired, 
cold, and my back was aching terribly no matter how I positioned 
myself (one of the hazards of reaching 48 years of age), but once Tom 
started I just laid down on the floor and was transformed, totally 
and blissfully lost. A beautiful, gauzy, haze of timbre. The only two 
disappointments of Loopstock for me were 1), Tom's set was too short 
and 2) Andre didn't play...

Bill Walker- Another big WOW! Very musical and intelligent playing (I 
guess these are Walker family traits), Perhaps the most effective use 
(for me at least) of Repeater's capabilities. Bill, you absolutely 
have to get this recorded, and let us know when you do!

And lastly, Armatronix. Perhaps the most impressive in terms of 
seamlessly manipulating a truly HUGE amount of gear, and a definite 
rhythmic powerhouse! FutureRetro analog synth, Jomox analog drums, 
loops, guitar, turntables and vocoders. I was fairly exhausted at 
this point and desperately wanted to retire to the motel, but I 
enjoyed Armatronix too much to leave!

You guys were all great, and I wish I had a chance to meet and talk 
to all of you. As it was, I believe I benefited from many diverse 
lessons in musicality, taste, and approach.

Best-

Mark