Secret Wilderness is playing a free synth show on Sunday Aug 20 at Art Sound Language in Chevy Chase DC at 6pm.
Where
Art Sound Language Record Store
5520 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20015
Free – 6PM
Secret Wilderness & Shredder Ghost
Notes
I haven’t played a show since April, I was hoping to but summer was a lot busier than I expected. Instead of doing a similar set of more trance-influenced stuff, I decided to re-work some older material into a live setting.
I worked out one new song and re-worked three older songs: LA Fog, Between Something & Nothing, and Cloud Forest. I haven’t picked up any new gear in 4 years either and while working on music this spring I ended up getting a 1010 Music Nanobox Fireball and an Arturia Microfreak. So far, I love the Microfreak and have absolutely barely tapped into 3% of the synth but have been blown away by the options.
The Fireball is compact but I wish it was midi usb instead of powered by usb and needing a midi cable. I also wish some of the parameters had established CC messages instead of a learn feature. The menus are pretty easy to use however, and programming the LFOs and envelopes is super easy too. I’ll do a post on the synth with more details about what I like and don’t like about it but I will say it sounds amazing and I love having a wavetable synth for live sets now.
Rig Rundown
Here’s a list of what I’m using for the Art Sound Language show:
- Arturia Microfreak
- Elektron Digitakt
- Korg Volca FM
- Roland D-05
- Roland SH01A
- 1010 Music Nanobox Fireball
- Tascam Model 12 mixer
- Boss SpaceEcho
- Boss RV5
- Earthquaker Devices Avalanche
- Zoom MS-70cdr (I’ve probably noted this before but it’s similar to an Ensoniq DP4 but in stomp box size and has an online editor for easily managing and creating patches)
Set Influences
Here’s a list of things I’ve been listening to a lot while I’ve been programming the set.
Pete Namlook – Ambient Gardener – Autumn
Probably the greatest or at least one of the top tier ambient musicians in history. His Ambient Gardener series are a great introduction to his deep catalog of work on Fax Records.
Cocteau Twins – Milk & Kisses
I haven’t been on a deep CT kick in a while but this summer prompted me to dig back into the post Heaven or Las Vegas albums. I’ve always thought Four Calendar Cafe is one of their top albums but largely overlooked by many for their darker earlier stuff (nothing wrong with that cos I love that stuff too.) Milk & Kisses doesn’t get the praise it deserves either. It’s a beautiful sounding record and with time now sounds like a band giving a proper send-off of a career of trailblazing pioneering sounds that would influence literally thousands of artists. Treasure Hiding is my favorite song off the album and one of my favorite CT songs ever. The ethereal opening into the gorgeous progression, Liz’s wall of angelic vocals, Robin’s crushing guitar solo. It all sounds like what heaven would sound like, not a bad way to say goodbye.
Ulrich Schnauss – No Further Ahead Than Tomorrow
I love all of Ulrich’s output, he’s such a phenomenal artist and nice person, truly the type of musician you love supporting. Ulrich re-mixed some of this album and re-issued it in 2019 and the updates bring more dynamics and depth to the songs that wasn’t really missing from the original but if you know the original like I did, I noticed the differences right away. This is my favorite thing he’s done, it’s one of my desert island albums easily, I listen to this all the time. The title track is stunning and euphoric, everything I want electronic music to aspire to beyond a dance floor. “And I miss you like the sunshine, and I miss you like the ocean waves at night time.”