Documentation: io 0.0.1 beta++, the musical automaton and machine improviser

Franziska Schroeder and io 0.0.1 beta++ (Ó Riada Hall, Cork, May 25, 2010)
Franziska Schroeder and io 0.0.1 beta++ (Ó Riada Hall, Cork, May 25, 2010). Photo © 2010 Han-earl Park.

I’ve collated material on io 0.0.1 beta++ (including audio and visual material, source code, and written pieces), and created a selective index of documentation on the construction of, and performance of and with, this machine musician:

io 0.0.1 beta++ is an interactive, semiautonomous technological artifact that, in partnership with its human associates, performs a deliberately amplified staging of a socio-technical network—a network in which the primary protocol is improvisation. Together the cyborg ensemble explores the performance of identities, hybrids and relationships, and highlights the social agency of artifacts, and the social dimension of improvisation. Engineered by Han-earl Park, io 0.0.1 beta++ is a descendant, and significant re-construction, of his previous machine musicians, and it builds upon the work done with, and address some of the musical and practical problems of, these previous artifacts.

Standing as tall as a person, io 0.0.1 beta++ whimsically evokes a 1950s B-movie robot, constructed from ad-hoc components including plumbing, kitchenware and missile switches. It celebrates the material and corporeal; embracing the localized and embodied aspects of sociality, performance and improvisation.

[Read the rest…]

arts council logo

The construction of io 0.0.1 beta++ has been made possible by the generous support of the Arts Council of Ireland.

By Han-earl Park, Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder

‘io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) CD cover (copyright 2011, Han-earl Park)

io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) [details…]

Performers: io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself), Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (soprano saxophone). [About this project…]

© 2011 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.

Eris 136199 (BAF001)

Cover of ‘Eris 136199’ (BAF001) by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork copyright 2018, Han-earl Park)
‘Eris 136199’ (BAF001) © 2018 Han-earl Park

October 9, 2018: Eris 136199’s eponymous album is out now (compact disc and digital download)! Eris 136199 is the quick-reacting cyborg virtuosity of Han-earl Park, the mighty melodic imagination and big tenor sound of Catherine Sikora, and the diamond-cut precision and grind-meets-experimentalism of Nick Didkovsky.

[Get the CD/download (Bandcamp)…]

CD: €11 minimum (‘name your price’) plus shipping.*†
Download: €8 minimum (‘name your price’).†

CD photo: ‘Eris 136199’ (BAF001) by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork and photo copyright 2018, Han-earl Park)CD photo: ‘Eris 136199’ (BAF001) by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork and photo copyright 2018, Han-earl Park)CD photo: ‘Eris 136199’ (BAF001) by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork and photo copyright 2018, Han-earl Park)CD photo: ‘Eris 136199’ (BAF001) by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork and photo copyright 2018, Han-earl Park)CD photo: ‘Eris 136199’ (BAF001) by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork and photo copyright 2018, Han-earl Park)

* Limited edition glass-mastered CD. CD includes additional material (liner notes, artwork, etc.) not included in the download version of the album.

† Both digital and physical purchases give you streaming via the free Bandcamp app, and option to download the recording in multiple formats including lossless.

news and updates

June 14, 2021: Lumbering 30 kilogram box of wood, metal, glass, paper, fabric, plastic and 1960s over-engineering

In case you missed it, I wrote a short piece for the June edition of The Wire (issue 448) in which I muse about speaker cabinets, cyborgs, simulations, rooms-within-rooms, and…

October 15, 2020: Peculiar Velocities (BAF002)

November 17, 2020: Eris 136199’s latest album is out now (compact disc and digital download)! Eris 136199 is the chaotic snap’n’pop of Han-earl Park’s cyborg virtuosity, the symphonies of power…

[All articles on Eris 136199 (BAF001)…]

description

Kaleidoscopic, thuggish, optical retina-effect astringent free jazz…. [More…]

— Paul Khimasia Morgan (The Sound Projector)

In a field of experimentation and free music, Eris 136199 stands as singular. [More…]

— John Pietaro (The New York City Jazz Record)

Exquisitely constructed, spontaneously messed-up, endless depth, kind of like letting an insane brain surgeon in through your ear. [More…]

— Dave Foxall (a Jazz Noise, Best of 2018)

“Yo man, you ever been hit by a car?” “Yeah, but maybe we should listen to this album I just picked up before I tell you about it.” [More…]

— Gabriel Jermaine Vanlandingham-Dunn (Jazz Right Now, Best of 2018)

[More reviews…]

Formed in New York in 2012, Eris 136199 is the quick-reacting cyborg virtuosity of Han-earl Park (Sirene 1009), the mighty melodic imagination and big tenor sound of Catherine Sikora (Clockwork Mercury), and the diamond-cut precision and grind-meets-experimentalism of Nick Didkovsky (Doctor Nerve). Recorded during the 2017 European tour, Eris 136199’s eponymous album is the trio’s followup to their debut recording Anomic Aphasia (SLAMCD 559, 2015) which was described as “a beautiful noise” (KFJC 89.7 FM) and “atmospheric as to become almost frightening” (The New York City Jazz Record).

Noise multiplies via telephone futz, riding the transcontinental signal; a clockwork tight-rope walker dances, navigating (gears shift and gear grind) tension; and, above all, rises the Big Note around which we all fall to orbit.

Han-earl Park variously occupies the role of Eris 136199’s drummer, bassist, and second horn-player. He is the instigator and mastermind behind Eris 136199, as well as groups like Sirene 1009 (with Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh), and co-conspirator in projects with Richard Barrett and others. Park is navigator-engineer of the interactive, with playing that is by turns accommodating and interventionist. Changing direction and turning on a dime, Park demonstrates, with little more than a guitar, volume pedal and amplifier, a mutable, physical virtuosity.

In contrast, Nick Didkovsky creates anthems of glitch and distortion, playing the (analog and digital) signal chain from vibrating string to vibrating speaker via pedals and tube saturation. Demonstrating a deep understanding of rock, noise and experimentalism, Didkovsky rides the line between process-based mutations and heavy-rock riffage. Best known for his avant-metal big band Doctor Nerve, Didkovsky is also an active composer, working with ensembles such as Bang On A Can All Stars, ETHEL, and the Meridian Arts Ensemble, and the author of Java Music Specification Language, a system for algorithmic composition and real-time computer music.

Completing the trio is improviser, composer, saxophonist Catherine Sikora. Seated stage-center, Sikora brings a deep melodic and harmonic intelligence to the performances. In addition to long-standing collaborations with Eric Mingus, Christopher Culpo, Stanley Zappa, and Brian Chase, Sikora’s big, bold sound, and extraordinary melodic sense, has been in demand with artists such as Enrique Haneine, Elliott Sharp, and Ross Hammond. That same sound and technique grounds Eris, simultaneously rooting it in tradition while continually stepping beyond its borders.

Recorded with clarity and punch by Troels Bech and Charlie McGovern, and beautifully mastered by the amazing Richard Scott, the album presents two near-complete sets; from earlier in the tour (Copenhagen), and from the final date of the tour (Newcastle).

Update: thanks to everyone who pre-ordered! The pre-order period is now over, and the bonus album, Cryptogenic Animals, is no longer available to download. And free and exclusive to pre-orders of the album: the download-only Cryptogenic Animals. Recorded live in Cheltenham a day after Copenhagen, two days before Newcastle, Cryptogenic Animals, offers a unique opportunity to track the evolution of this improvising trio during the 2017 European tour, showcasing the trio’s adaptability to context, and creativity born from the contingent. [Listen/about Cryptogenic Animals…]

personnel

Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophone), and Nick Didkovsky (guitar).

track listing

Therianthropy I (≥ 3:43), Therianthropy II (8:56), Therianthropy III (3:55), Therianthropy IV (6:30), Adaptive Radiation I (6:44), Adaptive Radiation II (8:48), Adaptive Radiation III (5:54), Universal Greebly (10:58), Hypnagogia I (8:03), Hypnagogia II (4:45). Total duration ≥ 68:25.

recording details

Music by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky.

Tracks 1–4, 9 and 10 recorded live November 2, 2017, Bryggekælderen, Copenhagen.
Live-mix by Troels Bech. Recorded by Troels Bech.

Tracks 5–8 recorded live November 5, 2017, The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle.
Recorded by Charlie McGovern. Mixed by Han-earl Park.

Mastered by Richard Scott.
Design and artwork by Han-earl Park.

Copenhagen performance presented by Jazz Club Loco and Jvtlandt.
Newcastle performance presented by Jazz North East.

Thanks to Troels, Charlie, Richard, and Chris Trent; to Melanie L Marshall, Josh Sinton, Cath Roberts, Franziska Schroeder, Richard Barrett, Caroline Pugh, Alex Fiennes, John Pope, Don Mount, Scott Friedlander and Kevin Reilly; to Jakob Drong Jensen and everyone at Jazz Club Loco; Jonas Vognsen of Jvtlandt; Wesley Stephenson, Paul Bream and everyone at Jazz North East; Corey Mwamba of OUT FRONT!; Stuart Wilding, Mark Unsworth, Anthea Millier, Jamie Dawson and everyone at Xposed Club; Verband für aktuelle Musik Hamburg; Rica Zinn and the crew of MS Stubnitz; Mike Borella of Avant Music News; and Cisco Bradley of Jazz Right Now.

And a big, big thanks to the backers of our Kickstarter project for their awe-inspiring generosity!

© + ℗ 2018 Han-earl Park.

Also available as part of…

The Complete Eris 136199 on CD

The Complete Eris 136199 on CD

Limited number of Eris 136199’s two CDs at a special price.

• Eris 136199 (BAF001, 2018).
Anomic Aphasia (SLAMCD 559, 2015) with Josh Sinton.

[Get the set…]

Included with pre-orders of Eris 136199

Cover of ‘Cryptogenic Animals’ by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork copyright 2018, Han-earl Park)

Cryptogenic Animals [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophone), and Nick Didkovsky (guitar).

Track listing: Cryptogenic Animals I (5:26), Cryptogenic Animals II (6:46), Cryptogenic Animals III (5:01), Monkey Wrench I (6:09), Monkey Wrench II (7:59), Spherical Cow I (7:30), Spherical Cow II (3:05), Dendrobranchiata Murmurationis I (3:18), Dendrobranchiata Murmurationis II (5:10). Total duration: 50:23.

© + ℗ 2018 Han-earl Park.

Update: the pre-order period is now over, and Cryptogenic Animals is no longer available to download. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered!

about the trio

Eris 136199: Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (Hamburg, 11-01-17). Copyright 2017 Steffen Schindler
MS Stubnitz, Hamburg, November 1, 2017. © 2017 Steffen Schindler. [More images…]

Eris 136199 plays on the crossroads of noise, melody, rhythm, space, density, contrast, synchronicity, asymmetry, serendipity and contradiction. Eris 136199 is the corporeal, cyborg virtuosity of constructor and guitarist Han-earl Park; the noisy, unruly complexity of composer, computer artist and guitarist Nick Didkovsky; and the no-nonsense melodic logic of composer and saxophonist Catherine Sikora.

Together, Park, Didkovsky and Sikora forge an improvisative space where melody can be melody, noise can be noise, meter can be meter, metal becomes metal, bluegrass turns to bluegrass, jazz transforms into jazz, all there, all necessary without imploding under idiomatic pressures. [More about the trio…]

about the performers

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park (박한얼) has been crossing borders and performing fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, always traditional, open improvised musics for twenty years. He has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces across Europe and the USA.

Park engages a radical, liminal, cyborg virtuosity in which mind, body and artifact collide. He is driven by the social and revolutionary potential of real-time interactive performance in which tradition and practice become creative problematics. As a constructor of musical automata, he is interested in partial, and partially frustrating, context-specific artifacts; artifacts that amplify social relations and corporeal identities and agencies.

Ensembles include Sirene 1009 with Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh, Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and Numbers with Richard Barrett. Park is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, and instigator of Metis 9, a playbook of improvisative tactics. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Josh Sinton, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Andrew Drury, Pat Thomas and Franziska Schroeder, and as part of large ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker and Pauline Oliveros.

Festival appearances include Freedom of the City (London), Brilliant Corners (Belfast), ISIM (New York), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), CEAIT (Los Angeles) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam). His recordings have been released by labels including SLAM Productions, Creative Sources and DUNS Limited Edition.

Park teaches improvisation at University College Cork, and founded and curated Stet Lab, a space for improvised music in Cork.

“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher…. Expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter….”

Brian Morton (Point of Departure)

Saxophonist, improviser and composer Catherine Sikora was born and raised in West Cork, Ireland. Self taught to begin with, she moved to New York City to study and play with great improvisers.

Sikora works in a broad range of settings, from highly complex composed music, to folk songs, to free improvisation. She works regularly with Eric Mingus, Enrique Haneine, Brian Chase, Han-earl Park, Stanley Zappa, Christopher Culpo and Ross Hammond, as well as actively pursuing solo performance.

In the past few years Sikora has toured in Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia. She was a featured soloist in Eric Mingus’ radical reimagining of Tommy by the Who (Adelaide Festival 2015), and was artist in residence at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris for the fall of 2014, working on a project inspired by stories from her female ancestors. Catherine’s first solo album Jersey was released on Relative Pitch Records in July 2016.

“Sikora has invited us into her musical world, and like the neighbor from Queens, it is our good fortune to be in its midsts.”

— Paul Acquaro (Free Jazz)

“Sikora resembles [Evan] Parker on tenor saxophone in that she has created a personal language in which she sublimates technique according to what she wants to achieve and maintains a discernible relationship to the free jazz tradition in her syntax; she recalls another English saxophonist, John Butcher, in her absolute control and deployment of overtones. Where she remains distinct from both Butcher and Parker is in how she incorporates such dissonance into a stream of delicate abstract lyricism. -John Sharpe, New York City Jazz Record”

— John Sharpe (New York City Jazz Record)

Nick Didkovsky is a guitarist, composer, and computer music programmer. His non-didactic approach to combining human and machine creativity is a unique musical fingerprint. Didkovsky has composed new music for Kathleen Supove, Ethel, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Meridian Arts Ensemble, New Century Players, ARTE Quartett, his own bands Doctor Nerve, Vomit Fist, Häßliche Luftmasken, and others. His compositions and guitar performances appear on more than 50 records.

For over 30 years, Doctor Nerve has fueled Didkovsky’s intricate compositions with the energy of rock, often challenging the boundaries between heavy metal, contemporary music, and improvisation. Doctor Nerve has released nine albums of more than 50 of his compositions. The band has performed at numerous festivals including FIMAV, the Moers Festival, Musique Action, Creative Time, MIMI Festival, and ‘Whitney Live’ at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

As a guitarist and composer, Didkovsky was a member of the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, contributing twelve compositions to its repertoire. Didkovsky’s electric guitar compositions continue to be performed by newer ensembles such as Dither Quartet, E-Werk, and Fracture Guitar Quartet, and by soloists such as Kevin Gallagher, Marco Cappelli, and Wiek Hijmans. As a soloist, he has performed at numerous events such as Bang On A Can festival, Guitarévolutions in Montreal, New Ballet festival at the Miller Theatre, and John Zorn’s East Asian Bar Bands. His 2015 Residency at The Stone in NYC resulted in numerous premiere performances of new works.

Collaborating with computer music pioneer Phil Burk, Didkovsky began developing Java Music Specification Language in 1997.

“Musicians (and listeners) who approach Didkovsky’s work find that part of the challenge derives from his mastery of unpredictability.”

— Linda Leseman (The Village Voice)

Also from Eris 136199

Cover of ‘Peculiar Velocities’ (BAF002) by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork copyright 2020, Han-earl Park)

Peculiar Velocities (BAF002) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophone) and Nick Didkovsky (guitar).

Track listing: Ballad of Tensegrity I (≥ 5:12), Ballad of Tensegrity II (2:28), Peculiar Velocities I (3:46), Peculiar Velocities II (3:36), Sleeping Dragon (5:22), D-Loop I (≥ 6:16), D-Loop II (5:13), Polytely I (≥ 5:01), Polytely II: Breakdown (5:33), Anagnorisis I (2:09), Anagnorisis II (2:19). Total duration ≥ 46:54.

© + ℗ 2020 Han-earl Park.

CD cover of ‘Anomic Aphasia’ (SLAMCD 559) with Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora, Nick Didkovsky and Josh Sinton (artwork copyright 2015, Han-earl Park)

Anomic Aphasia (SLAMCD 559) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (tenor and soprano saxophones), Nick Didkovsky (guitar; tracks 1 and 5), and Josh Sinton (baritone saxophone and bass clarinet; tracks 2–4).

Track listing: Monopod (27:19), Pleonasm (Metis 9) (17:08), Flying Rods (Metis 9) (7:41), Hydraphon (7:34), StopCock (10:54). Total duration: 70:33.

© 2015 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2015 SLAM Productions.

Eris 136199 T shirt

Eris 136199 T-shirt (limited edition) [details…]

100% heavy cotton, preshrunk jersey.
Screen printed with PVC-free, solvent-free ink.

Choice of ladies’ and unisex/men’s fit.
Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL.

100% for the perfect noise-night-out.
Celebrate your love of skonkin’ improvised goodness by wearing the noisily official Eris tee.

updates

02-19-20: added reviews.
10-09-18: released!
03-04-19: add T-shirt.
03-24-19: add The Complete Eris 136199.
11-02-20: update discography with the addition of Peculiar Velocities.

Thanks: Sirene 1009 (Cork, 2017)

Sirene 1009: Caroline Pugh, Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders (Cork, 04-07-17). Copyright 2017 John Hough.
© 2017 John Hough.

Belated kudos—I’ve been stuck in a bit of behind-the-scenes scheming (more on that soon…)—to all involved in the recent series of performances (and workshop) in Cork…

Thanks to all the people and the partner organizations in helping us make music: to Paul O’Donnell and Kelly Boyle of FUAIM; to John Godfrey and Christine Dennehy at the UCC Music Department; to Franziska Schroeder and Simon Waters at SARC; and to the Arts Council for their generous support. Special thanks to Hugh McCarthy of CIT Cork School of Music for coming forward with a new venue help us patch a date, to Mike McGrath-Bryan and Ann Rea (at the Firkin Crane) who helped in that process, and to Jonathan Stock who supported the project right from its inception back in May 2016.

For the all their technical support and know-how, big thanks to David Bird (SARC), David Slevin (CSM), and John Hough (UCC). (Thanks also for the photography, John!) Thanks to Dave Whitla and Niall McGuinness for helping source a double bass for Dom. Thanks to Ros Steer, Kevin Terry and Megan Gallen for the essential FOH work. And a big thanks to Alex Fiennes for his sound creativity—always a pleasure!

As always the warmest thanks to everyone who came to listen.

Finally, thanks to all the performers: thanks to Dan Walsh (or CIMC) and Catherine Sikora for their faultless and unfaltering musicality, and to Dom, Mark and Caroline! As I said in an interview published in the Evening Echo the day before our last performance:

Here’s what the group sounds/looks like from where I sit on stage: Dom Lash’s confident and enthusiastic interjections in sound and line; Mark Sander’s unerring inventiveness—leaping any and all obstacles to musicality with gestures small and large; and Caroline Pugh’s pulling in-and-out of musical and linguistic spaces with her spontaneous conlangs.

Play again soon!

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Thanks: Sirene 1009 (Belfast, London, Monmouth) and Park-Pugh (Derry)

Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh (Derry, 03-08-17)

Four performances in March. (Another mini-tour, but, hey, for the first time, I’ve actually tied-together an album release and a tour—never happens!) A privilege to have shared the stage with smart, creative performers, and to have been performing to some wonderful community of listeners. So, quick thanks to everyone on/off stage at Monmouth, London, Belfast and Derry….

Big thanks to all the venues, promoters and supporters. Thanks, in particular, to Lyndon Owen, a person of apparently limitless enthusiasm, and the team at Monmouth (what a wonderful community); to Peter O’Doherty at Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin for the incredible work bootstrapping the Derry scene; to Eduard Solaz at IKLECTIK for running such a wonderful space; and to Brian Carson at Moving on Music, and to Simon Waters at SARC for presenting, promoting and hosting.

Thanks for David Bird at SARC for all his work above-and-beyond the call of duty. (Hey! I owe you and Craig a beer.) Kudos, David Lyttle for loaning us your double bass for a couple of days.

As always big, big thanks to everyone who came to listen. I’ll particularly remember the adventurous and genuinely interested listeners in Monmouth and Derry. And a special thanks to Jeremy (he’ll know why 😉 ).

Finally, thanks to all the performers: to James King for the gibberish; to the acoustic frenzy of FAINT (big thanks to Franziska for all her help (starting in February 2016!) getting the Belfast performance together—it’s been a long road, but worthwhile!); and, of course, biggest thanks to Dom, Mark and Caroline for the music (See you in April!)!

performance diary 02-14-17 (Belfast, Cork, Derry, London, Monmouth)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
March 1, 2017 Queens Head Inn
1 St James Street
Monmouth NP25 3DL
Wales
9:00pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics).
Admission free. Presented with support from Music in Monmouth and Plancktone Club. [Details…]
[Queens Head page…]
March 2, 2017 IKLECTIK
‘Old Paradise Yard’
20 Carlisle Lane
London SE1 7LG
England
8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm) Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics).
Admission: £8 (£6).
[Details…]
[IKLECTIK page…]
March 7, 2017 Sonic Arts Research Centre
Cloreen Park
Belfast BT9 5HN
N. Ireland
8:00pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) as part of Brilliant Corners. Also performing: FAINT (Franziska Schroeder: saxophones; Pedro Rebelo: piano and ‘instrumental parasites’; and Steve Davis: drums) with Ricardo Jacinto (cello and electronics). Tickets: £10. [Get tickets…]
[Details…]
[Brilliant Corners page…]
March 8, 2017 The Glassworks
33 Great James Street
Derry BT48 7DF
N. Ireland
8:00pm Han-earl Park (guitar) and Caroline Pugh (voice and electronics).
Admission: £5, students free. [Get tickets…]
[Details…]
[Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin page…]
April 7, 2017 Aula Maxima
University College Cork
Cork, Ireland
1:10pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) presented by FUAIM Music at UCC.
Admission free. Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland. Arts Council of Ireland
[Details…]
April 7, 2017 Aula Maxima
University College Cork
Cork, Ireland
2:30pm (setup: 2:10pm) Group improvisation workshop with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh.
Workshop fee: €20.* [Register…] SOLD OUT. * There are a small number of discount places for students at CIT Cork School of Music and UCC Department of Music. SOLD OUT. Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from UCC Department of Music. Arts Council of Ireland
[Details…]
May 19, 2017 Stack Theatre
Cork School of Music
Union Quay
Cork, Ireland
8:00pm (doors: 7:45pm) Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics). Also performing: Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Dan Walsh (drums). Tickets: €16 | €10 | €5.
Online box office closes at 6:00pm. Tickets will be available from the door from 7:30pm. Presented with funding from Arts Council of Ireland, and support from CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club. Arts Council of Ireland
[Details…]
[CSM page…]
Autumn 2017 Europe I am seeking performance opportunities for the transatlantic trio Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Performance proposal…]

Continue reading “performance diary 02-14-17 (Belfast, Cork, Derry, London, Monmouth)”

performance diary 01-24-17 (Belfast, Cork, Derry, London, Monmouth)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
February 3, 2017 St Peter’s Cork
North Main Street
Cork, Ireland
9:15pm Sky, Horse and Death (Kevin Terry: voice and clarinet; Ros Steer: electronics and voice; Dan Walsh: drums and saxophone; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Diarmait MacCárthaigh: accordion) perform as part of Quarter Block Party.
Tickets: €20.
[Quarter Block Party page…]
March 1, 2017 Queens Head Inn
1 St James Street
Monmouth NP25 3DL
Wales
9:00pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics).
Admission free. Presented with support from Music in Monmouth and Plancktone Club. [Details…] [Queens Head page…]
March 2, 2017 IKLECTIK
‘Old Paradise Yard’
20 Carlisle Lane
London SE1 7LG
England
8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm) Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics).
Admission: £8 (£6).
[Details…]
[IKLECTIK page…]
March 7, 2017 Sonic Arts Research Centre
Cloreen Park
Belfast BT9 5HN
N. Ireland
8:00pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) as part of Brilliant Corners. Also performing: FAINT (Franziska Schroeder: saxophones; Pedro Rebelo: piano and ‘instrumental parasites’; and Steve Davis: drums) with Ricardo Jacinto (cello and electronics). Tickets: £10.
[Details…]
[Brilliant Corners page with ticket info…]
March 8, 2017 The Glassworks
33 Great James Street
Derry BT48 7DF
N. Ireland
8:00pm Han-earl Park (guitar) and Caroline Pugh (voice and electronics).
Admission: £5, students free.
[Details…]
[Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin page…]
April 7, 2017 Aula Maxima
University College Cork
Cork, Ireland
1:10pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) presented by FUAIM Music at UCC.
Admission free. Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland. Arts Council of Ireland
Details to follow…
May 19, 2017 Stack Theatre
Cork School of Music
Union Quay
Cork, Ireland
TBC Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics). Also performing: Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Dan Walsh (drums). Tickets: TBC. Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club. Arts Council of Ireland
Details to follow…
Autumn 2017 Europe I am seeking performance opportunities for the transatlantic trio Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Performance proposal…]

Continue reading “performance diary 01-24-17 (Belfast, Cork, Derry, London, Monmouth)”

Sirene 1009 at Brilliant Corners, Belfast

Sirene 1009 (Belfast)
Photos © 2016 Bruce Coates; icons © 2016 Han-earl Park; overlaid text © Brilliant Corners.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017, at 8:00pm: Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) perform as part of Brilliant Corners, a festival of jazz presented by Moving on Music. With support from FAINT+ (Franziska Schroeder: saxophones; Pedro Rebelo: piano and ‘instrumental parasites’; and Steve Davis: drums; with Ricardo Jacinto: cello and electronics), the event takes place at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (Cloreen Park, Belfast BT9 5HN, N. Ireland). Tickets: £10 [get tickets…].

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Brilliant Corners page…] [Facebook event…]

details

Support: FAINT+

Faint has been playing free improvised music since 2007, recording their first album on the Creative Source label. For this performance the trio will be joined by Lisbon-based improviser Ricardo Jacinto, to make Faint+.

Sirene 1009

Sirene 1009 features improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park. The molten, musical core of the ensemble comprises of virtuosic bassist, composer and sound artist Dominic Lash, with arguably the most sought-after avant-jazz and free improvisation drummer of his generation, Mark Sanders. The experimental folk singer and electronics performer Caroline Pugh brings an additional layer of levity and exuberance to the already playful trio.

With such a diverse collection of performers, it is only wise to prepare for a performance that fragments and recombines musical lines, leaping unexpectedly between noise, melody, dissonance, harmony and rhythm.

Performed at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Sirene 1009 will make full use of the cutting-edge audio space, for an experience that simply couldn’t be replicated in any other Belfast venue.

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Sirene 1009 is also performing…

March 1, 2017: Monmouth, Wales; March 2, London, England; and March 7 and May 19, 2017: Cork, Ireland. [Details…]

performance diary 01-08-17 (Belfast, Cork, Monmouth)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
March 1, 2017 Queens Head Inn
1 St James Street
Monmouth NP25 3DL
Wales
9:00pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics).
Admission free. Presented with support from Music in Monmouth and Plancktone Club. [Queens Head page…]
March 7, 2017 Sonic Arts Research Centre
Cloreen Park
Belfast BT9 5HN
N. Ireland
8:00pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) as part of Brilliant Corners. Also performing: FAINT (Franziska Schroeder: saxophones; Pedro Rebelo: piano and ‘instrumental parasites’; and Steve Davis: drums) with Ricardo Jacinto (cello and electronics). Tickets: £10.
[Details…]
[Brilliant Corners page with ticket info…]
April 7, 2017 Venue TBC
Cork, Ireland
1:10pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) presented by FUAIM Music at UCC.
Admission free. Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland. Arts Council of Ireland
Details to follow…
Autumn 2017 Europe I am seeking performance opportunities for the transatlantic trio Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Performance proposal…]

Continue reading “performance diary 01-08-17 (Belfast, Cork, Monmouth)”

Sirene 1009 (BAF000)

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)
‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) © 2017 Han-earl Park

January 31, 2017: eponymous first album by Sirene 1009 is out now (compact disc and digital download). Sirene 1009 is the cyborg virtuosity of Han-earl Park, the indomitable low-end growl of Dominic Lash, the unstoppable hits and clangs of Mark Sanders, and the controlled vocal mayhem of Caroline Pugh.

[Get the CD/download (Bandcamp)…]

CD: €11 minimum (‘name your price’) plus shipping.*†
Download: €8 minimum (‘name your price’).†

‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

* Limited edition glass-mastered CD. CD includes additional material (artwork, etc.) not included in the download version of the album.

† Both digital and physical purchases give you streaming via the free Bandcamp app, and option to download the recording in multiple formats including lossless.

news and updates

October 10, 2018: Collisions with concrete, of thousands of years of musical history, and keeping it “in their pants” (reviews: Eris 136199 and Sirene 1009)

https://youtu.be/sAVoldoR06M A descent into the concrete? rafting over a boiling river? a collisions of thousands of years of musical history? music to communicate cyclists’ collisions? and who are the “bass/drum/guitar boys”,…

October 3, 2018: 100% perishable skills and shrieks of crustaceans (a Jazz Noise: 7 Questions)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5q2-_ENer6mY0iz7CByqal_9uGkNqsUH Mathy grindcore? tubular gates? shrieks of crustaceans? 100% perishable skills? guitars burning-up on reentry? what do Special Forces snipers and saxophonists have in common? and what is The Shitty Gig…

[All articles on Sirene 1009 (BAF000)…]

description

Sometimes violent and revelatory listening experience that infuses modern aesthetics with the spirit of the ancient…. Ancient and primordial with ideas as open as the night sky, it is not hard to imagine that some of humanity’s first music would have sounded something like this. [More…]

— John Morrison (Jazz Right Now, Best of 2017)

☆☆☆☆½
There are few bands that cross as much territory as this one does. From thrashing, spastic aggressive riffs that put most punks to shame to explorations of the quietest of spaces in-between thoughts, Sirene 1009 is a fierce, adventurous band that goes where most bands don’t: into the unknown, fearlessly in search of the new…. [More…]

— David Menestres (Free Jazz)

This album is brilliant. This album is insane. [More…]

— Dave Sumner (Bird is the Worm)

Sirene 1009 don’t so much push the envelope of improvisation as tear it into small pieces and eat them, just to spite any listener preconceptions…. Sirene 1009 may just be the auditory experience that [Derek] Bailey’s label [‘non-idiomatic improvisation’] has been waiting for. [More…]

— Dave Foxall (Jazz Journal/a Jazz Noise, Best of 2017)

[More reviews…]

Eponymous first album by Sirene 1009. Sirene 1009 is the cyborg virtuosity of Han-earl Park (Eris 136199, Mathilde 253), the indomitable low-end growl of Dominic Lash (Convergence Quartet, The Set Ensemble), the unstoppable hits and clangs of Mark Sanders (John Butcher, Christian Marclay), and the controlled vocal mayhem of Caroline Pugh (Performing Identity and The Unknown, Photo Ballads).

Muffled junkyard hammering (clang! thud! snap!) beat unlikely counter-rhythms; suspension bridge rumble in the turbulence with subwoofer scratches; bad traffic and extreme weather conspire elemental percussion; broken public address system splutter and loop, evoke the intelligible.

Conjuring up rhythmic and sonic detritus from just a guitar and a volume pedal, Han-earl Park has performed with some of the craftiest improvisers from the Americas, Asia and Europe. The instigator of Sirene 1009, Park also (co-)leads Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, and Numbers with Richard Barrett.

The molten, musical core of Sirene 1009 comprises the virtuosic bassist, composer and sound artist Dominic Lash, and Mark Sanders, arguably the most sought-after avant-jazz and free improvisation drummer of his generation. Sirene’s rhythm section adeptly plays the borders of idiom and the explicable.

Having variously collaborated over the years in different contexts and configurations, in 2014 Park, Lash and Sanders performed for the first time as a trio.

During the 2015 tour, Belfast-based avant-folk singer and electronic artist Caroline Pugh joined the group. With a practice that critically, sometimes mischievously, intersects with digital, gallery and performance arts, and unmatched microphone technique (from whisper to scream, from embodied sound to flights into the stereo panorama), Pugh brings an additional layer of levity and exuberance to the already playful interactions of the trio.

Recorded at Cafe OTO (London) during a Culture Ireland funded tour of England, and during a single afternoon studio session in Birmingham, the album documents an ensemble of musicians representing diverse strands of present-day improvised musics; performances that fragment and recombine musical histories, that leaps unexpectedly between noise, melody, dissonance, harmony and rhythm.

personnel

Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums), and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

track listing

Psychohistory III (≥9:47), Cliodynamics I (10:44), Cliodynamics II (12:22), Cliodynamics III (5:11), Hopeful Monsters (9:41), Psychohistory V (≥10:40). Total duration ≥58:25.

recording details

Music by Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh.

Tracks 2–5 recorded live December 3, 2015, Cafe OTO, London. Recorded by Alex Fiennes.
Tracks 1 and 6 recorded June 16, 2016, Flood Studio, Birmingham. Recorded by Luke Morrish-Thomas.
Mixed and mastered by Han-earl Park.
Design and artwork by Han-earl Park.

Thanks to Alex, Luke, Bruce Coates, Richard Scott, Kate Hendry, Nick Didkovsky, Catherine Sikora, Josh Sinton, Franziska Schroeder, John Hough, Corey Mwamba, Ingrid Laubrock, Andrew Raffo Dewar, Jeb Bishop and Melanie L Marshall; to Simon Holliday, Fielding Hope, James Dunn and Oli Barrett at OTO; George Haslam at SLAM; Cath Roberts of LUME; Mike Borella of Avant Music News; Cisco Bradley of Jazz Right Now; Nasc Ireland; Seth Cooke and everyone at Bang the Bore; and Andrew Woodhead of Fizzle.

Culture Ireland logo

London performance presented with funding from Culture Ireland, and support from SLAM Productions.

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Included with pre-orders of Sirene 1009

‘Kuramoto Synchronization’ with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2016, Han-earl Park)

Kuramoto Synchronization [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2016 Han-earl Park.

about the ensemble

Sirene 1009: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh
Photos © 2016 Bruce Coates. [More images…]

Somewhere out there, there’s an SUV-sized violin tailgating, a No Wave guitarist desperately trying to survive in the Appalachian Mountains, someone dropping sheets of metal during a Jazz Session, an evolutionary biologist finding themselves speaking in tongues (Awash in Blue).

Hear guitarist Han-earl Park push and pull on the guitar-amplifier dancing partners, Dominic Lash and his double bass damage hanging artwork, Mark Sanders excavate caverns in the smallest spaces for his percussion, and Caroline Pugh sing the lines that border the intelligible and the cryptic. [More about Sirene 1009…]

about the performers

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park (박한얼) has been crossing borders and performing fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, always traditional, open improvised musics for twenty years. He has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces across Europe and the USA.

Park engages a radical, liminal, cyborg virtuosity in which mind, body and artifact collide. He is driven by the social and revolutionary potential of real-time interactive performance in which tradition and practice become creative problematics. As a constructor of musical automata, he is interested in partial, and partially frustrating, context-specific artifacts; artifacts that amplify social relations and corporeal identities and agencies.

Ensembles include Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and Numbers with Richard Barrett. Park is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, and instigator of Metis 9, a playbook of improvisative tactics. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Josh Sinton, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Andrew Drury, Pat Thomas and Franziska Schroeder, and as part of large ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker and Pauline Oliveros.

Festival appearances include Freedom of the City (London), Sonorities (Belfast), ISIM (New York), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), CEAIT (Los Angeles) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions, Creative Sources and DUNS Limited Edition.

Park taught improvisation at University College Cork, and founded and curated Stet Lab, a space for improvised music in Cork.

“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher…. Expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter….”

Brian Morton (Point of Departure)

Dominic Lash is a freely improvising double bassist, although his activities also range much more widely and include playing bass guitar and other instruments; both writing and performing composed music; and writing about music and various other subjects.

He has performed with musicians such as Tony Conrad (in duo and quartet formations), Joe Morris (trio and quartet), Evan Parker (duo, quartet and large ensemble) and the late Steve Reid. His main projects include The Dominic Lash Quartet, The Set Ensemble (an experimental music group focused on the work of the Wandelweiser collective) and The Convergence Quartet.

Based in Bristol, Lash has performed in the UK, Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and USA. For nearly a decade he was based in Oxford and played a central role in the activities of Oxford Improvisers; much of 2011 was spent living in Manhattan. In 2013 and 2014 he is taking part in Take Five, the professional development programme administered by Serious.

Festival appearances include Akbank Jazz Festival (Istanbul), Audiograft (Oxford), Freedom of the City (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Hurta Cordel (Madrid), Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), LMC Festival (London), Manchester Jazz Festival and Tampere Jazz Happening.

His work has been broadcast on a number of radio stations, including BBC Radios 1 and 3 and Germany’s SWR2, and released on labels including Another Timbre, b-boim, Bead, Cathnor, Clean Feed, Compost and Height, Emanem, Erstwhile, FMR, Foghorn, Leo and NoBusiness.

Since moving to Bristol he has been involved in organising concerts under the banners of Bang the Bore and Insignificant Variation. A new venture is the monthly series happening every second Wednesday at the Arnolfini entitled Several 2nds. Events include performances, workshops, film screenings and discussions.

“Following in an illustrious lineage from Barry Guy through Simon Fell… breathtaking.”

John Sharpe (All About Jazz)

Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians from around the world including Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Myra Melford, Paul Rogers, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Okkyung Lee, Barry Guy, Tim Berne, Otomo Yoshihide, Luc Ex, Ken Vandermark, Sidsel Endresen and Jean Francois Pauvrois, in duo and quartets with Wadada Leo Smith and trios with Charles Gayle with Sirone and William Parker.

New collaborative projects include ‘Riverloam Trio’ with Mikolaj Trzaska and Olie Brice, ‘Asunder’ with Hasse Poulsen and Paul Dunmall, duos with John Butcher and DJ Sniff, ‘Statics’ with Georg Graewe and John Butcher, and trio with Rachel Musson and Liam Noble.

Mark and John Edwards play as a rhythm section with many groups including Trevor Watts Quartet, ‘Foils’ with Frank Paul Schubert and Matthius Muller, Mathew Shipp’s ‘London Quartet,’ also playing with Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith and Shabaka Hutchins amongst many others.

Christian Marclay’s ‘Everyday’ project includes Mark with Christian, Steve Beresford, John Butcher and Alan Tomlinson, he also works regularly in the projects of Mikolaj Trzaska, Gail Brand, Paul Dunmall, Peter Jaquemyn, and Simon H. Fell.

Mark has performed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Morrocco, South Africa, Mozambique and Turkey, playing at many major festivals including, Nickelsdorf, Ulrichsburg, Glastonbury, Womad, Vancouver, Isle of Wight, Roskilde, Berlin Jazz days, Mulhouse, Luz, Minniapolis, Banlieue Bleues, Son D’hiver and Hurta Cordel.

He has released over 120 CDs.

“A gifted player capable of seamless movement between free-rhythms and propulsive swing.”

John Fordham (The Guardian)

Scottish vocalist and composer Caroline Pugh borrows old-fangled technologies and honours oral histories to create new performances. With a background in both folk and improvisation, her solo works You’ve Probably Heard These Songs Before, Timing By Ear, Measuring By Hand and Platform Audio also draw on performance art and pinhole photography.

Originally from Edinburgh, Caroline has performed across Europe and North America with new improvisation performances including Los Angeles’ Betalevel in 2012, NIME 2011 in Oslo, Just Listening 2011 in Limerick and Experimentica09 in Cardiff. She is also in a band called ABODE and an improvisation collective called E=MCH.

Now based in Belfast, Caroline sings in a folk duo with Meabh Meir and together with Myles McCormack they run traditional song sessions at the Garrick Bar on Mondays from 7.30-10pm.

In 2011, Caroline was awarded an Art Council Northern Ireland grant for her solo work and gained a Distinction for her AHRC-funded Master of Music at Newcastle University. She coaches students at Queen’s University Belfast and has worked in collaboration with visual artists (Connecting through Scape 2008), theatre practitioners (hour8+9 2009), video artists (SAAB 2009), dancers and psychologists (Newcastle and Northumbria Universities 2010). She also got a BA in Scottish Music from the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and studied Contemporary Music at the University of Central Lancashire for a wee while too.

“Every once in a while you happen upon a gig or event that’s so fundamentally unlike anything you’ve experienced before that you can’t help but reconsider your own thoughts on what defines music, performance and entertainment.”

Brian Coney (BBC Across The Line)

Also by these artists

‘A Little Brittle Music’ with Han-earl Park, Dominc Lash and Corey Mwamba (artwork copyright 2015, Han-earl Park)

A Little Brittle Music [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass) and Corey Mwamba (vibraphone and flute).

© 2015 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2015 Park/Lash/Mwamba.

Skip (copyright 2013, FMR)

Skip (FMRCD350)

Performers: Pat Thomas (piano), Dominic Lash (bass) and Mark Sanders (drums).

© + ℗ 2013 FMR Records.

Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders: Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11)

Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11) [details…]

Performers: Paul Dunmall (saxophones and bagpipes), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Mark Sanders (drums).

(cc) 2013 Paul Dunmall/Han-earl Park/Mark Sanders.

Han-earl Park, Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders and Jamie Smith: Live at the Glucksman gallery, Cork (owlcd002) CD cover (copyright 2012, Owlhouse Recordings)

Live at the Glucksman gallery, Cork (owlcd002) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Paul Dunmall (saxophone), Mark Sanders (drums) and Jamie Smith (guitar).

© 2009 by Owlhouse Recordings.
℗ 2009 Han-earl Park/Paul Dunmall/Mark Sanders/Jamie Smith.

updates

01-31-17: released!
01-29-19: added reviews.

performance diary 09-28-16 (Belfast, Cork, Derby, Newcastle, Sheffield)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
November 10, 2016 Over The Top
78 Kingfield Road
Sheffield S11 9AU
England
8:00pm Josh Sinton (saxophone), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Dominic Lash (double bass).
[Details…]
November 13, 2016 Bridge Hotel
Castle Garth
Newcastle NE1 1RQ
England
8:00pm Josh Sinton (saxophone), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Dominic Lash (double bass) presented by Jazz North East. Also performing: Improvisers Workshop Ensemble. Tickets: £8 (£6).
[Details…] [Jazz North East page…]
November 15, 2016 The Bless
11–17 Chapel Street
Derby DE1 3GU
England
6:30pm Josh Sinton (saxophone), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Dominic Lash (double bass) presented by A Little Bit of Nothing/Corey Mwamba.
Admission: £10 (under 18s free).
[Details…] [Facebook event…]
March 7, 2017 Sonic Arts Research Centre
Cloreen Park
Belfast BT9 5HN
N. Ireland
TBC Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) as part of Brilliant Corners. Also performing: FAINT (Franziska Schroeder: saxophones; Pedro Rebelo: piano and ‘instrumental parasites’; and Steve Davis: drums) with Ricardo Jacinto (cello and electronics). Details to follow…
April 7, 2017 Venue TBC
Cork, Ireland
1:10pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) presented by FUAIM Music at UCC.
Admission free. Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland. Arts Council of Ireland
Details to follow…
2017 Europe I am seeking performance opportunities for Sirene 1009 with Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh. Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!

Continue reading “performance diary 09-28-16 (Belfast, Cork, Derby, Newcastle, Sheffield)”

The (Near) Complete Han-earl Park

The (Near) Complete Han-earl Park (covers art and design copyright 2013 Clockwork Mercury Press; copyright 2012 Creative Sources Recordings; and copyright 2010, 2011 and 2015 Han-earl Park)
© 2013 Clockwork Mercury Press; © 2012 Creative Sources Recordings; and © 2010, 2011 and 2015 Han-earl Park.

Update: last I checked, only two sets left. If you want to get one….

Get Han-earl Park’s (near) complete discography! (And help fund Sirene 1009’s debut album.)

Limited in number, my (near) complete discography is for sale at a special price. The set comprises of four glass-mastered CDs, and one limited edition CD-R (plus, for the first two lucky listeners, another limited edition CD-R). Available for €25 plus shipping, you can consider it €5 per disc (and a bonus CD-R for the first two customers).

Musicians featured on these albums include: Catherine Sikora, Nick Didkovsky, Josh Sinton, Richard Barrett, Franziska Schroeder, Bruce Coates, Charles Hayward, Ian Smith, François Grillot and Lol Coxhill (plus Paul Dunmall, Jamie Smith and Mark Sanders for the first two customers).

In addition to offering many, many hours of stupendous listening, as I’m furiously raising funds for the upcoming release by Sirene 1009, you’ll also be helping the production of more.

[Buy now…]

Included are…

four glass mastered CDs

CD cover of ‘Anomic Aphasia’ (SLAMCD 559) with Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora, Nick Didkovsky and Josh Sinton (artwork copyright 2015, Han-earl Park)

Anomic Aphasia (SLAMCD 559) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (tenor and soprano saxophones), Nick Didkovsky (guitar), and Josh Sinton (baritone saxophone and bass clarinet). [About Eris 136199…] [Metis 9…]

© 2015 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2015 SLAM Productions.

CD cover of ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park (copyright 2012, Creative Sources Recordings)

‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) [details…]

Performers: Richard Barrett (electronics) and Han-earl Park (guitar). [About this duo…]

© + ℗ 2012 Creative Sources Recordings.

‘io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) CD cover (copyright 2011, Han-earl Park)

io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) [details…]

Performers: io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself), Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (soprano saxophone). [About this project…]

© 2011 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.

‘Mathilde 253’ (SLAMCD 528) CD cover (copyright 2010, Han-earl Park)

Mathilde 253 (SLAMCD 528) [details…]

Performers: Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn) plus Lol Coxhill (saxophone). [About this ensemble…]

© 2010 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2010 SLAM Productions.

plus a CD-R

Catherine Sikora, Han-earl Park and François Grillot, ‘Tracks in the dirt’ (copyright 2013, Clockwork Mercury Press)

Tracks in the dirt (Clockwork Mercury Press 003) [details…]

Performers: Catherine Sikora (saxophone), Han-earl Park (guitar) and François Grillot (double bass).

© + ℗ 2013 Clockwork Mercury Press.

and, for the first two customers, another CD-R

Han-earl Park, Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders and Jamie Smith: Live at the Glucksman gallery, Cork (owlcd002) CD cover (copyright 2012, Owlhouse Recordings)

Live at the Glucksman gallery, Cork (owlcd002) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Paul Dunmall (saxophone), Mark Sanders (drums) and Jamie Smith (guitar).

© 2009 by Owlhouse Recordings.
℗ 2009 Han-earl Park/Paul Dunmall/Mark Sanders/Jamie Smith.

Live at the Glucksman is only available to the first two customers: I only have two copies left! (btw, I had been hoping to include the duo CD with Paul Dunmall, but it looks like I am completely out of those. For those who still have copies, consider yourself one of the lucky few 😉 )

trailers

small print

Glass-mastered CDs in shrink-wrapped jewel cases. CD-Rs in sleeves.

Live at the Glucksman is only available to the first two customers.

Thanks to all the musicians who’re represented here, and special thanks to George Haslam and SLAM Productions.

Return policy

It is vital that you contact me before returning items (click “contact Han-earl Park” on this page). I will do my absolute best to address any concerns and damaged (unplayable) items, but please note that some of these discs are limited in number, so replacements (unlike refunds) may be a non-trivial issue.

Shipping

Physical items shipped by standard post. Please contact me (click “contact Han-earl Park” on this page) before making your order for special delivery instructions and/or alternative shipping methods.

updates

07-14-16: only two sets left.

thanks: Park-Lash-Sanders-Pugh (Fizzle, Birmingham; BtB, Bristol; and OTO London), Laubrock-Park (New Revolution Arts, Brooklyn) and Didkovsky-Park-Sinton (65Fen, Brooklyn)

Han-earl Park and Ingrid Laubrock (New Revolution Arts, Brooklyn, December 12, 2015). Photo © 2015 Michael Foster.
Han-earl Park and Ingrid Laubrock (New Revolution Arts, Brooklyn, December 12, 2015). Photo © 2015 Michael Foster.

Five performance this final month of 2015! A great privilege to have shared the stage with so many awesomely creative, smart and generous people. Let’s get to the hat-tips…

Okay, start with a thanks to my co-conspirators, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh, who consistently created fascinating, difficult, infuriating, confounding and beautiful spaces for interaction. Listening to the music play out in real-time, all I could think was that it sounds great whenever the guitarist shuts-up. (As Josh Sinton pointed out later, that’s really a wonderful position to be in; not knowing how to contribute to—to add to—an already perfect ensemble at play.)

Thanks to Ingrid Laubrock for the play—it was great to come-off a… logistically challenging set of gigs into a relaxed performance where, well, anything might happen… and we ended up in some interesting and unexpected places. (Felt very good about this one.)

To Josh Sinton and Nick Didkovsky, well… That. Was. A. Blast. …Thanks, Josh, Nick, for the Loud Jazz (best possible sense!).

Big thanks to all the venues and promoters, DIYers and supporters: to the indefatigable Andrew Woodhead at Fizzle; to Seth Cooke and everyone at Bang the Bore for an awesome event; to Fielding Hope, Oli Barrett and everyone at Cafe OTO for their support, and for their patience with all the ups’n’downs; to Josh and everyone at 65Fen Music Series; and to Cisco Bradley for inviting me to perform at New Revolution Arts (a beautiful space—socially, musically).

Thanks to Tom Durham the gentleman who lent me his amplifier in Birmingham (sorry, can’t remember your name!), and to Andrew Drury and Chris Welcome who did the same in Brooklyn—y’all made my travels so much more pleasant!

The tour by my ensemble with Dom, Mark and Caroline was made possible with funding from Culture Ireland, and I am extremely grateful for their support.

I am also grateful to Franziska Schroeder, Elspeth Murray, Helen Petts, ODD7’s Towards the Margins, London Korea Links, and Alma Ní Choigligh of Embassy of Ireland (London) who all helped to spread the word of the performances. A special thanks to Cath Roberts of LUME, Avant Music News, and George Haslam of SLAM Productions for their continued support. Similarly, thanks to Editor Laurence Donohue-Greene for tying-in a review in The New York City Jazz Record to coincide with my Brooklyn performances.

Thanks to Dom Lash and Kate Hendry, and to Josh Sinton and family, for offering a place for this itinerant musician to crash a night (or three). Kudos to Nasc Ireland for helping me navigate some border… technicalities 😉

And a very special thanks to the Best Sound Engineer in the Known Universe, Alex Fiennes, for taking time to make the music sound great in London.

Finally, as always, thanks, thanks, thanks, everyone, for listening.

Next up…

Performing again with Dom Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh, this time in Cork, January 2016. See the performance diary for up-to-date info.

Culture Ireland logo

Birmingham, Bristol and London performances presented with funding from Culture Ireland, and support from SLAM Productions.

updates

12–20-15: add Tom Durham’s name (thanks, Andy).