Han-earl Park

April 22, 2020April 23, 2020

New improvisative pieces for solo guitar

Awesome news! I am excited to announce that I am a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland Music Bursary Award, and that I will be creating a suite of improvisative, obliquely narrative, pieces for solo guitar, working with mentors Richard Barrett and Annette Krebs, and consultant Han-Ter Park to build a new compositional approach, and create companion pieces to my teaching work. As wrote in my proposal:

I will create a suite of new improvisative, obliquely narrative, experimental pieces for the solo guitarist. The bursary award will grant me time to research ways in which to effectively incorporate elements transposed from narrative forms (e.g. the manipulation of genre expectations) into my solo practice with its physical techniques and interactive tactics that I have developed systematically over twenty years. In addition, I will explore the ways in which studio-based techniques (editing, montage, etc.) may be used as a fluid compositional strategy in the context of improvisative work….

My solo practice was built on my studies with improviser-composers such as Wadada Leo Smith, and periods of independent study in 2003 during which I transposed to the guitar improvisative techniques of pianists such as Marilyn Crispell and Keith Tippett, and in 2008 during which I incorporated techniques from drummers such as Rashied Ali and Tony Oxley. I aim to expand on this practice by transposing to the musical domain, elements of genre manipulation found in works by writers such as Jeff VanderMeer and film-makers such as Bong Joon-ho. In addition, I aim to amplify these possibilities via the interactions between improvisation and studio-based compositional strategies.

To this end, in addition to my independent studies, I will consult with film-maker Han-Ter Park to explore aspects of cinematic techniques relevant to this project, and work closely with mentors improviser and composer Richard Barrett, and composer and sound artist Annette Krebs. Barrett and Krebs have unique insights into the intersection of improvisation and composition, the incorporation of programmatic and/or narrative elements, and studio-based techniques.

I am very, very grateful for the support of the Arts Council, and my collaborators. I feel privileged to be given the opportunity to work on this project, and I am very much looking forward to sharing this work with you. Please stay tuned: I will be announcing soon ways you can follow this work-in-progress.

This project is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.

April 9, 2020April 17, 2020

Improvising guitar, writing about

Studies for Guitar — © 2013 and 2020 Han-earl Park

I am very happy to announce that I will begin writing on the practice of improvisation and, and for, the adventurous guitarist. I aim to create a resource for both educators and practitioners, and the Cork City Council Arts Office has awarded me an Individual Artists’ Bursary to begin this work. As I wrote in my proposal:

A technical and practical text, it [the monograph] will be a unique and much needed contribution to the literature for, and about, the improviser and the experimental guitarist. My goal is to create a work for broad circulation that becomes a teaching, learning and theoretical resource for practitioners generally.

I aim to create a work that is part technical instruction for the guitarist with a working knowledge of musical improvisation, and a broader exploration of creative possibilities in the context of real-time, interactive performance. As a practitioner’s report, the work will not only be a reflection on the evolution of my practice and personal pedagogy, but will also be an invitation to the reader to similarly engage with their practice.

I will also be working with mentor-collaborators, and I am grateful to guitarist, improviser and composer Nick Didkovsky, improviser, composer and researcher Owen Green, and composer-improviser, researcher and mentor Richard Barrett for agreeing to read and comment on my work.

Please stay tuned: there are more parts of this project to be announced, and I will share parts of this project as they become ready.

This project was made possible with funding by the Cork City Council Arts Office.

April 6, 2020April 6, 2020

Eris 136199 will be releasing Peculiar Velocities!

€1,200 pledged of €650 goal. 184% funded. 44 backers.

You did it!

Thanks to you, our awe-inspiring backers, we will master the recording, create the artwork, write the liner notes, press the discs, and get the music to you. You have been fantastic, and I am awestruck by your generosity, and really touched by your support.

I’ll be back in touch over the coming months with news and updates about the rewards and the progress of the production, but, in the meantime, I hope you will join me in celebrating this achievement. Getting strange, noisy, undomesticated improvised music released can sometimes be a difficult task, but you have made it possible.

As for me? I celebrated by doing some late night soldering 😊

Please take care, and, again, thank you so very much. You have been above and beyond.

Han-earl Park (guitarist, noise-maker, and mastermind behind Eris 136199).

March 28, 2020

Eris 136199: stubborn weirdness and gleeful mischief

Back a few months ago, while reflecting on the mix, I wrote:

Listening to a static mix of #eris136199’s August recording. I love the final track: it’s, by turns dreamy and queasy, polytonal music that slides in-out of tune….

But I wonder if this track will make sense outside the context of the tour in which the trio played some of its most harmonious music (hitting _real_ chords, and sounding _real_ harmony). I feel like this track was almost a respite of sorts….

There are moments when #eris136199 stubbornly refuses to play in the same key/tuning. Almost unbearable—maybe even bad taste—listening you wish the trio would surrender to harmonic gravity. And when one player does resolve the disharmony, it’s plays like gleeful mischief. [Source…]

If you’re wondering, yes, this track made the cut. It’ll be the second piece on the album, and, for its stubborn weirdness while refusing the easy trapping of being #seriouslyexperimental or #cuteandquirky, it might be my favorite on the album.

“There are moments when #eris136199 stubbornly refuses to play in the same key/tuning. Almost unbearable—maybe even bad taste—listening you wish the trio would surrender to harmonic gravity. And when one player does resolve the disharmony, it’s plays like gleeful mischief.”

Find us on Kickstarter! Joining this project means that you will be the first to hear this vividly strange and beautiful music. Your support will also mean that we are able to make the best album we can. Plus, as we have surpassed our target thanks to our awe-inspiring fans, you will now also have an opportunity to unlock upgrades, and some very, very special bonus rewards.

I honestly think this album has the best music I’ve put on record, and I am very grateful to be able to share this strangely beautiful music with you. [Kickstarter page…]

Formed in New York in 2012, 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.

March 25, 2020March 28, 2020

Eris 136199: effortlessly strange improvised music

Eris 136199 is back! help release our third album! [Kickstarter page…]

Last year, during our second European tour, Eris 136199 went into Hackney Road Studios in London to record our next album, and our first studio album. As engineer Sean Woodlock hit the record button, we knew straight away that something very special was taking place that day: leaping from insectoid ASMR glitches to powerful ballads of weight and light; from the gentlest, languorous shimmers to startling No Wave noise, from raspy double-guitar hockets to gutted, dismantled chorales. And, to both our surprise and delight that thrill of musical discovery has translated beautifully during the mixing process.

The music, recording and the mix are complete, and this is where you, our awesome fans, come in. Eris 136199 now needs to take the final steps to releasing the album: mastering the album, creating the artwork and design, and pressing the CDs. And we are offering special rewards (including exclusive never-before-heard recordings, limited edition merch, and one-of-a-kind items), so please check out the various rewards and see where you might fit in to help us!

To our wonderful fans who blew us away with your support during our successful 2017 Kickstarter, we are so pleased to be sharing this latest project with you. And to both our long-time fans and those new to Eris, we promise that the music on this latest album will be very different from anything else; something beautifully strange and unexpected even for the wonderfully unpredictable Eris 136199.

Please have a look through the available rewards, and, when you’re ready, help bring noise to life!

[Kickstarter page…]

Eris 136199 Kickstarter poster — Photo © Jazz em Agosto / Petra Cvelbar

March 19, 2020March 25, 2020

Eris 136199: Kickstarter launching soon!

Update: the campaign has launched! Please join us on Kickstarter.

Eris 136199 is back! get ready to help release beautifully strange and unexpected music!

To be notified when the Kickstarter campaign goes live, sign up to my newsletter:

[About the newsletter…]

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).

video credits

Music by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora, and Nick Didkovsky.
Recorded by Sean Woodlock. Mixed by Han-earl Park.
Photos © Jazz em Agosto / Petra Cvelbar.

updates

03-25-20: our Kickstarter is live!

March 15, 2020April 23, 2020

Appearance cancelled: Birmingham, Cheltenham and London

I am sad to announce that I will unfortunately not be taking part in the events in Birmingham (March 17, 2020), Cheltenham (March 19), and London (March 21 and 22). All the events, however, are still taking place without me, so please support the fantastic community of local musicians and curators.

My warmest thanks to all the artists involved, big thanks to Jamie Dawson for again offering to lend me the use of his guitar amp, and special thanks to Tom Ward, Andrew Woodhead and Chris Cundy for inviting me to perform. I hope we can set up a rematch in the future.

February 5, 2020April 23, 2020

performance diary (Birmingham, Cheltenham, London) 02-05-20

upcoming performances
date	venue	time	details
March 17, 2020	The Lamp Tavern Barford Street Birmingham B5 6AH England	7:30pm	~~Han-earl Park (guitar)~~ presented by Fizzle. Also performing: Bruce Coates (saxophones), Sarah Farmer (violin), Walt Shaw (percussion) and Lee Boyd Allatson (drums). Admission: £7/5 at the door. [Fizzle page…] The event is still taking place, but Han-earl Park will no longer be taking part.
March 19, 2020	Smokey Joe’s 16 Bennington Street Cheltenham GL50 4ED England	8:00pm	Chris Cundy (reeds) plus ~~Han-earl Park (guitar)~~ presented by Radio Egypt. Admission: £5 at the door. The event is still taking place, but Han-earl Park will no longer be taking part.
March 21, 2020	waterintobeer Unit 2 Mantle Court 209–211 Mantle Road Brockley London SE4 2EW England	7:00pm (doors: 6:30pm)	Tom Ward (saxophone) and ~~Han-earl Park (guitar)~~ presented by BRÅK. Also performing: Cath Roberts and Charlotte Keeffe, and Colin Webster and Matthew Grigg. Admission: one Bank of England note. [BRÅK page…] The event is still taking place, but Han-earl Park will no longer be taking part.
March 22, 2020	Hundred Years Gallery 13 Pearson Street London E2 8JD England	4:00pm (doors: 3.30pm)	~~Han-earl Park (guitar)~~, Alex Bonney (trumpet and electronics) and Cath Roberts (baritone saxophone). Also performing: Ti/om (Tom Ward: bass clarinet and flute; and Tim Fairhall: double bass). Admission: one Bank of England note. [100 Years Gallery page…] The event is still taking place, but Han-earl Park will no longer be taking part.

Continue reading “performance diary (Birmingham, Cheltenham, London) 02-05-20”

January 20, 2020January 25, 2020

Work in progress…

I can’t wait to share this recording with you! Skronkily rockin’ music from a skronkily rockin’ trio. Please sign-up to my newsletter to keep up-to-date about this upcoming album.

December 27, 2019March 15, 2020

Kaleidoscopic, thuggish, optical retina-effect astringent free jazz (review: Eris 136199)

How does “barnstorming saxophone” relate to “alien facehugger tendrils”? “a mad scramble up loose terrain” to “incendiary guitar wrangling”? and “shimmering vibrating guitar screeds” to “subversion of traditional rock guitar tropes”? Find out in Paul Khimasia Morgan’s Sound Projector review of Eris 136199:

I’m impressed…. I’ve found myself coming back to this album again and again. The more attention you give it, the more you get out of it. I find it an exhilarating, intense space to inhabit for an hour and ten minutes. Park, Sikora and Didkovsky have constructed an extremely captivating slew of wistful improvised post-jazz noises. Han and Nick’s guitars are approached as sound-making devices much of the time, and as such take on tight supporting roles for Catherine Sikora’s barnstorming saxophone in muscular and fascinating ways. This is none of your dour, worthy, self-sacrificing hair-shirt improvising or take-no-prisoners blast of willful abandonment; you can hear the musicians bouncing off each other and having fun. These musicians are working at their limits, both physically and psychically. [Read the rest…]

And as a bonus, according to Morgan, the CD’s “geometric designs on the sleeve recall a hyperactive quasi-sci-fi futurism of late 80s and early 90s rave/acid house flyers”!

Thanks so very much to Morgan and to The Sound Projector for the wonderful review. It’s the kind of review that would’ve persuaded me to go get the album right then and there 🙂 (Plus, I think “a kind of melding of prog-jazz and No-Wave” might be tied as my favorite description of the album.)

[About this album…] [Get the CD/download (Bandcamp)…] [All reviews…]

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)

* 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.

October 25, 2019April 23, 2020

Two+ Bagatelles

Listen to some fresh-off-the-pick music, and support an awesome, not-for-profit music venue at the same time!

Out now: solo guitar studies/bagatelles by Han-earl Park. Available from The Vortex’s Bandcamp page, all purchases go towards helping their continued work presenting the very best jazz, improvised, and experimental musics.

Catherine, Nick and I had a fantastic time when we performed at The Vortex in August, and I am very happy to be able to support the venue (with its amazing crew) in this way. Plus, for those who’ve been asking me for a solo recording, here’s a super rare chance to pick up a new one.

Album available to stream via the free Bandcamp app, and download in multiple formats including lossless.

personnel

Han-earl Park (guitar).

track listing

Zero (01:03), One (10:27), Two (05:28). Total duration: 16:59.

recording details

Music by Han-earl Park.

October 21, 2019March 15, 2020

Un trio d’une radicalité absolue (reviews: Eris 136199)

A “control of noise”, “saturated electricity” and “fighting… with the underground”? or “free-wheeling” with experiments in sound injected with lyricism? or “electronic mayhem” with “a full bodied sound”? In among the reviews of Eris 136199’s performance at Jazz em Agosto, David Cristol, writing in Jazz Magazine, follows “a trio of an absolute radicality”, and concludes by discovering “art music!”

Pour la dernière soirée, le directeur artistique Rui Neves nous a réservé un trio d’une radicalité absolue, proposition courageuse voire casse-gueule dans le contexte d’une salle de plusieurs centaines de places…. Et même pour les spectateurs aguerris, il s’est agi sans nul doute du concert le plus difficile d’accès du festival, présentant peu de repères auxquels se raccrocher. Il faut ici saluer la grande majorité des spectateurs, déterminés à suivre les musiciens dans leur recherche ou idée fixe, voir où le voyage va les mener. Le son est magnifiquement restitué. Park joue beaucoup de l’accordage de la main gauche, dans le registre de la basse. Les guitaristes dessinent des paysages métalliques, via un jeu non conventionnel, selon leurs propres codes, multipliant les dissonances…. Catherine Sikora est une révélation, son jeu oblique, sensible et lumineux offrant un contrepoint idéal aux élucubrations crépusculaires de ses partenaires. Le ténor adopte une approche décidément tonale et mélodique, et néanmoins exploratoire. D’un bout à l’autre un set sans concession aucune, dont on ressort essoré, mais ravi que de telles expériences soient tentées. Art music! [Read the rest…]

Meanwhile, Erik Ellestad, reviewing Eris’ most recent album, sketches a verisimilar portrait of the trio (Han-earl Park “functioning as the de facto rhythm section in Eris 136199”; Catherine Sikora’s “unvarnished and unapologetic sound… while at the same time maintaining a core of melodicism”, and Nick Didkovsky expressing “digitally warped washes of static-like sound and angry slashes of melody”):

It is 50-plus minutes of riveting music making from three fantastic and fascinating musicians. I’ve been listening avidly to Eris 136199 all week on my commute and have looked forward to it every day. Wondering what new thing I will discover in Sikora’s technique while at the same time trying to pay attention and tease out which guitarist is playing what.

Obviously, Eris 136199 isn’t Lawrence Welk, however, there is something in the players expressiveness and in their interactions which prevents it from being too harsh or overwhelming.

Rough enough to keep it exciting, yet tender enough to keep you coming back. [Read the rest…]

I think I might want “Eris 136199 isn’t Lawrence Welk” on a T-shirt.