NeoKitsch

The event starts, for the public, at 13:00 on Saturday the 17th of April in the Clore Ballroom of the Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre, London.

There will be solo performances by:

Lydia Kavina, http://www.lydiakavina.com/
Chris Conway, http://www.chrisconway.org/
Alexander Thomas http://www.myspace.com/alexanderthomasmusic
Beat Frequency http://www.youtube.com/GordonCharlton
and a Theremin Cello duet.

This will be followed by a talk and master class from Lydia Kavina and then a workshop – an opportunity for members of the public to try out NeoKitsch’s and other performers theremins, and talk to us about the instrument.

The Theremin Circle is the Grand Finale. It will start at 17:20 and end at 18:00. NeoKitsch will perform with twenty thereminists.

There will also be an interactive theremin installation, consisting of sixteen custom built units designed by Fred Mundell of Fundamental Designs Ltd. http://www.fundamental-designs.com/

The interactive theremin installation will remain in use for the week of the Ether Festival, both for the public to interact with, and for various electronic musicians to connect their effects and synths to during the week.

Here is a two part documentary on the Ether Festival in 2007 to give you an idea of what kind of treats are in store:

NeoKitsch has four ambient tracks published on Humtoo’s minimalist drone collection. You can listen to the tracks by clicking on the image below.

Ben By Night: (Neokitsch) is an ambient piece which is tranquil, reflective and enlightening. It is a location specific piece, as the music resonates through the chimes of Big Ben, so this track is a perfect choice for those wishing to describe a London night scene.

 The Ocean : (Neokitsch) is a mysterious and haunting piece with threatening rumbles contrasted with high pitched chimes. It weaves through light and dark moods, describing the uncertain depths of the otherworldly ocean. 

 Schumann Fish: (Neokitsch) uses a mixture of subtle ambient music with sound recordings. The name comes from the piece being inspired by a particular passage in one of the Schumann Lieder, although this piece however, has an aquatic texture. 

 Frost: (Neokitsch) is very dark, with a distant, reverberant female voice accompanied by the low crackles and rumbles of the vintage analogue Moog Rogue synthesizer. 

NeoKitsch has Avant Garde lounge music published in Humtoo’s collection of smooth, percussive, electronic grooves mix tape. Check out “Last Orders” by NeoKitsch and other great music by clicking on the image below.

“Last Orders” is a quirky twist on the smooth groove/lounge music idiom, which uses unusual vocal echoes, and kitchen utensils for its percussion.

Things That Go Bump

“Things That Go Bump” is a collection of outrageous, weird and damn right silly musical experimentations. This time, the NeoKitsch studio brought together the combination of modern classical music styles, with avant garde film and electronic music. The Trumpet, Viola, Violin, Haken Continuum Fingerboard, Etherwave Theremin, Moog Synthesizers and Bass Guitar are just a fraction of the live instruments used to record this collection. 

All tracks were recorded live in the NeoKitsch Studio.

You can check out what some of these very recordings looked like on the NeoKitsch YouTube channel. Here is one of the videos showing Danny Hahn and David Way at work:

And here is another video demonstrating some of the unusual, one of a kind instruments in the NeoKitsch studio:

Filmmakers and Content Creators will find that these unusual tracks will really make a stamp on their work.  

Click on the banner below to listen to all 20 Avant Garde tracks:

Check out the new NeoKitsch album:

Twenty minimalist drones and ambient musical pieces by NeoKitsch have been published by the online music library Humtoo. 

The album is entitled ‘Neo-Drones’.

Danny talks to us about the album, his approach in the performance and recording,

and his intentions for its usage.

“This mix tape came naturally to me, as ambient genres of music are often requested for NeoKitsch. The instruments and performance style bring about a hypnotic, meditative aura. Most of the pieces, although thoroughly minimal, use a technique where all the twelve notes of the chromatic scale are used mainly in relation to one and other, rather than sticking to a key, and it avoids melodic and traditional harmonic structures. This approach, I find, encourages the listener to appreciate textures and mood above all else, as each note is of equal importance. As NeoKitsch produces music for visual mediums, this album is designed to enrich the screen with deep textures, as well as keeping a distance, in order not to dominate the image.

Some of the instruments used were the Moog Etherwave Theremin, Violin, Viola, Folktek Folkchord, Micro Garden, Electron Monomachine, Lap Steel Guitar, Moog Voyager, Bass Guitar, Omnichord and the Haken Continuum Fingerboard.

All tracks are live improvisations recorded at the NeoKitsch studio using a ProTools HD system, with vintage and modern mics and preamps, including the Nuemann U87 and AKG C414.

Neo-Drones is an eclectic mix of atmospheres, which will be appropriate for any soundtrack seeking ambient sounds with the ‘less is more’ approach.”  

Danny Hahn

NeoKitsch

Click on the link below to listen to the album:

Humtoo, an online music library and  film project marketplace, recently made NeoKitsch their featured artist. To get a closer look at the studio and the composer Danny Hahn, they decided to come round with a film crew to make a video interview to publish on the web. The video below is the result of the meeting with Humtoo.

NeoKitsch is a music studio in the heart of trendy Crouch End, London, which specialises in producing original musical scores, sound design, voiceover and foley for film and TV. Five albums have been released under NeoKitsch, some classical music, and some fusion electronic music, and they can be downloaded from iTunes and other leading stores.

NeoKitsch has been active in composing music for filmmakers worldwide including productions in LA, Milan, Berlin, Zurich, Hamburg and London, collaborating with names such as UK Film Council, The League Of Gentlemen, Arts Council England, Sky One and MTV, with works presented at BAFTA screenings and film festivals.
The NeoKitsch Blog is regularly updated with reviews and articles on unusual musical instruments, films and new music. You can check out all the serious and silly things NeoKitsch gets up to at: www.neokitsch.com

Current projects NeoKitsch is involved in includes the full score for the stage production of Frankenstein which will be performed in March (date and venues TBC). The lead instruments will be the Violin and Etherwave Theremin. 

NeoKitsch is a huge collector of unusual and vintage instruments, and the studio often uses acoustic stringed instruments such as the violin, mandolin, and cello. Some of the more far out instruments include the Omnichord, Micro Garden, Theremin, Circuit Bent Synths, and Stylophone. Among the hard to find, vintage gear NeoKitsch collects, are the Moog Rogue, Yamaha CS10, Korg MS2000B, Roland JV1080, and the famous Roland TB-303. NeoKitsch also uses more modern synths, although arguably, they tend to lean towards the nostalgic 70’s and 80’s sounds. Some of these modern machines include the Elektron Monomachine and Machinedrum, and the Sid Station.

NeoKitsch is familiar with composing music for a wide range of different genres, but the speciality genre seems to lean in the direction of classical music for violin and piano, fused with electronic glitch and experimental music.

The NeoKitsch studio is run by one person, Danny Hahn, but he often collaborates with classical musicians and specialists in fields which help broaden the possibilities of composing music. 

When NeoKitsch is composing with computer software such as ProTools, Max MSP, Logic and Sibelius, novelty Midi controllers are often used such as the Monome. Interesting videos of some of the weird instruments NeoKitsch uses, including the Monome, can be found on YouTube and on the NeoKitsch blog.