canyon loops

canyon loops from ioflow on Vimeo.

"experimental ambient. live performance for monome norns.

two rhodes improvisations were recorded into norns and loaded into mlr. also present is a field recording of an anna's hummingbird, taken while on a nature walk in a canyon preserve.

the main rhodes improvisation is duplicated across the first two tracks. the second, shorter rhodes improvisation is on the third track, just above the hummingbird loop. all the rhodes tracks are played at different speeds and directions, jumbled, chopped and switched, accompanied by the gentle sounds of the hummingbird chirping happily to itself in the shadows of the dense canyon foliage, on a warm summer day.

this is my first recording with monome norns. sample-based grid apps--mlr, mlrv, rove, and all their variants--have been a part of my creative workflow for several years. being freed from the confines of desktop computers and their fidgety, cantankerous operating systems and software stacks; instead being able focus on the immediacy of hardware music-making, as easily as sitting down at my piano, is incredibly liberating. it's pretty much everything i've wanted to be able to do since i got my first monome grid in 2011. norns is wonderful, so full of possibilities. i'm looking forward to fulfilling more musical dreams."