Here is a little taste of the jamming sessions at the NeoKitsch studio, which later amounted to the release of the new Haken Continuum Fingerboard album, “Continuum Fingers”, available to download from iTunes, Amazon mp3, Napster, Rhapsody and eMusic.

This improvisation has a slight Middle Eastern sound to it, with Danny Hahn, David Way and Angela Caesar at the NeoKitsch studio.

NeoKitsch is proud to release an album with music for the Haken Continuum Fingerboard: “Continuum Fingers”. The album includes seventeen quirky tracks inspired by modern jazz, electronica, classical and film music. “Continuum Fingers” uses the inbuilt sounds for the Haken Continuum Fingerboard designed by Edmund Eagan. Click on the image below to listen to extracts of the album and to purchase and download tracks.

Coming Soon!

Continuum Fingers is the brand new album from NeoKitsch coming out this summer. Pre-order now for your copy by emailing Danny at the studio at info@neokitsch.com.

Twenty haunting tracks have been produced at the NeoKitsch studio for the Science Fiction genre. 

Each track describes a different landscape or scene inspired by science fiction stories and films. The musical influences come from both a modern and vintage interpretation of futuristic sounds and ideas. Modern science fiction film scores such as Cliff Martinez’s music to the remake of Solaris with George Clooney has been the direction Danny Hahn has been going with for this album at the studio. As a complete contrast, Danny developed this musical style with influences from earlier film scores, such as Bernard Herrmann’s music to The Day The Earth Stood Still in 1951, and even dipping into the 80′s, with Vangelis in Blade Runner. Other influences come from the futuristic, experimental, glitch/electronica music by the group Autechre.

To achieve these styles, Danny used many modern and vintage instruments. For that 21st century sound, Danny turned to Autechre. After hearing Autechre live using the Swedish made synthesizer, the Elektron Monomachine, and its partner in crime, the Machinedrum, the NeoKitsch studio added these instruments to the collection. The Elektron synths helped produce a wide range of sounds, which span across many different eras of music.

To achieve the vintage, 50′s feel of science fiction, the Moog Etherwave Theremin was used in many of the tracks. After Danny played the Theremin to the public with Lydia Kavina at the Royal Festival Hall in London, many new ideas to produce the ‘Etherwaves’ album came about after the collaboration. Lydia Kavina had played the Theremin for many film scores including Tim Burton’s ‘Ed Wood’ and ‘The Machinist’ starring Christian Bale, and these contrasting styles, both serious, psychological interpretations, and ‘Neo-Kitsch’, nostalgic older styles, were a starting point for Danny to work with his interpretation of the genre.  

To achieve the 80′s feel to science fiction music, many Roland synths and early Korg vocoders were used. Arpeggiators, vocoders and samplers from 30 year old synthesizers can be heard in the collection, including the Moog Rogue, Korg MS2000B, Roland TB-303, Yamaha CS10, and many others.

The Etherwaves album can be heard from the link below, where it is published for film producers on the networking site, Humtoo, and it can also be downloaded from iTunes, Amazon mp3, Rhapsody and Napster, as well as on CD, which can be purchased from the NeoKitsch online store from the tab at the header of this site.

Danny Hahn from the NeoKitsch studio recently performed to the public at the Royal Festival Hall for an entire day of Theremin delights. Gordon Charlton, a theremin expert, organised for NeoKitsch and 20 thereminists from across the globe, including the world famous Lydia Kavina, to perform a huge line up of compositions, ranging from the avant garde to classical performances. The event ended with a blast, as 20 thereminists performed all together with a piece entitled ‘Icelandic Volcano’. The public were invited to try out the theremins for themselves at the end of the event.

Incase you ever wondered what a graphical musical score for the Theremin looks like, here are a couple of examples:

Here are a few photos Danny has taken of the event:

“I’ve been watching this talented and extremely amiable man from Japan for many months on YouTube. He makes Ocarinas with almost anything, although vegetables are his speciality. Heita only speaks in his mother tongue on his videos, but he mentions briefly in English writing that “I make vegetables musical instrument. Because I have gone to work in daytime, I do not have enough free time. I am playing the vegetable musical instruments on holiday.”

His wife and daughter often appear in his videos, accompanying his Ocarina jingles on the piano and teasing their pet cat and dog, so it appears that part of his success comes from his ‘family man‘, and ‘must be cool to have a dad like that‘ aura. Perhaps the best examples of Heita’s talents can be seen in the videos below, where in one, he demonstrates how to make an Ocarina with an egg, and the other, a display of different vegetable Ocarinas. 

I hope you enjoy Heita as much as I do!”

How to make an egg ocarina

“I made an ocarina with an egg. I show how to make.”

Introduction of handmade vegetable musical instruments

“I introduce the vegetable musical instruments made this time. There are eight kinds of vegetable musical instruments. Please enjoy various sound”

Here is Heita’s own translation of what he is saying in the video above:

“Then, let’s introduce the vegetable musical instruments that can have been done this time. 
It is a carrot ocarina first. 
And, it is an ocarina of a white radish in Japan that can have done this time. 
The octave is geted down from the carrot ocarina. 
The broccoli ocarina was made. 
A good sound is not heard because only such a broccoli was obtained this time. And, a carrot ocarina of the slide type and this carrot ocarina is different the sound hole. When the breath is put here, something is heard. It shaped ..so… 

The paprika was punctured. When the breath is put here, such a sound is heard. It is an owl. Carrot panpipe. When the breath is put in this, such a sound is heard. Similary asparagus panpipe was made. However, a good sound is not heard. It is a trumpet of the cucumber and the paprika in the end. There were musical instruments that looked alike also in the vegetable orchestra. Moreover, when musical instruments can be done, I introduces it.

Thank you“