10 Questions with Daniel J Davis

10 Questions: Daniel J. Davis

May 30, 2013 by Kurt Lorenz

01. How long have you been making music?
Played in my first band in 1991 – so over 20 years. I started off plating bass, and my first official band was a ska band.

02. When did you start using electronics in your music making?
Very early on, out of necessity. I wanted drums in my music, but drum sets were too expensive and loud. So I got by with a drum machine, and went down an electronic path ever since. It’s just always easier to make music on headphones – doesn’t matter where you live, or who you live with. If you can make music silently, you can make music anywhere.

03. Are you an electronic purist?
No. I use some live percussion, found sounds, and also some acoustic instruments. Although these are often highly treated.

04. What is your current favorite piece of hardware? Software?

Hardware – it’s a toss up between the Waldorf Blofeld and the Korg MS-2000
Software – I’m learning Live 9 right now, and I’m loving it.

05. Do you use canned loops or samples? Why/Why not?
No – I usually make my own. Although I’m not opposed to using factory patches on synths – they are often great starting points for inspiration.

06. Do you use iPad/iPhone or other mobile computing devices in your music making?
Yes. My iPad is basically a dedicated Animoog machine, and totally worth the price just for that. I also enjoy Thumb Jam.

07. Was there a moment of inspiration… a certain track or artist, that ignited your passion for electronic music?
The production, engineering, and sound design of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

08. How does visual art/photography inform your music making?
It rarely does.

09. Has the internet/Social Media changed the way you make music?
Yes – and I recently disconnected from almost all of social media. Not that I ever got popular or anything, but I’m taking it back to the underground – I’ll release stuff, but I’m no longer going to obsess over hits and likes, and I just won’t care on a personal level. I’ll just release stuff and if people discover it, cool. It’s too easy for me to get caught up in the social media thing.

10. What is your favorite artist or track of all time?
Favorite artist….toss up between Eno, Lanois, Harold Budd and Marconi Union.
Favorite album of all time – U2′s Unforgettable Fire.

Ambient, Carl Sagan's Ghost, Chill / Downtempo, Daniel J. Davis, Ember Artist10 Questions, Ambient, Daniel J. Davis

Ember Music Welcomes Vries Veld

April 29, 2013 by Kurt Lorenz

We are happy to announce the addition of Vries Veld to the Ember Music family of artists. VriesVeld (Tom Tulleners) is an electronic musician based in Amsterdam. VriesVeld is about journeys through sound…. bright & meditative ambient atmospheres, dark & deep soundscapes, experimental sound-design, binaural noises & drones.

Learn more about Vries Veld by visiting his artist profile page >>

Ambient, Ember Artist, Experimental, Vries VeldAmbient, Binaural, Experimental, Vries Veld

Ember Music artist Daniel J. Davis featured on Synthtopia!

April 28, 2013 by Kurt Lorenz

Ember Music artist Daniel J. Davis was recently featured on our favorite blog Synthtopia!

Click HERE to read and comment!

Ambient, Chill / Downtempo, Daniel J. Davis, Ember Artist, PromotionsAmbient, Daniel J. Davis, Synthtopia

Ember Music artist Kurt Lorenz included in “How to Catch STILLE?” compilation

April 25, 2013 by Kurt Lorenz

“Her Meaning is Muted” by Kurt Lorenz has been included as a bonus track to the “How to Catch STILLE?” compilation.

No other art can endorse the importance of good hearing better than music. It is universal and transcends geographical, social and linguistic boundaries.

How to catch STILLE? is cought from the view of various musicians. What started as a remix album of AN MOKU’s first album STILLE became a higher meaning. The literal translation of the german word “Stille” is silentness/quietness. Each several track deals with the meaning of this. Hearing loss is a very significant matter. More than ever in hectical nowadays! One in every six people worldwide is affected by hearing loss. As the population ages – and noise pollution in the world increases – more and more people will be losing their hearing. The consequences of untreated hearing loss can extend as far as complete social isolation.

Name your price to buy this album and all of the money will be donated to the following non-profit organizations: World Wide Hearing and Sonos Schweiz.

According to the World Health Organization, 642 million people in the world suffer from hearing loss. Of these, 278 million suffer from hearing loss so disabling that actions most people take for granted, like having a conversation, are impossible for them without a hearing aid. The majority live in developing countries and almost none have access to hearing aids or services. The cost of hearing care is simply unaffordable and there are too few audiologists working in poor countries to provide treatment for everyone.

50% of your donation will be used to provide hearing aids to people, mainly children with hearing loss in developing countries.

50% of your money will be used to fund innovative research on the impact of treating hearing loss.

The Swiss organization Sonos Schweiz is going to use this project album to report back to me how the music has an effect on the kids and teenagers with hear loss. More info to come soon.

The period of this project is one year. After six months I will report at this Bandcamp page and my own webpage in detail about the donation and the same after one year.

Last but not least, speaking in words of the polish sound artist and founder of Etalabel, Grzegorz Bojanek: «Ludzie bez najmniejszego problemu płacą $5 za kubek kawy, jednakże miliony ludzi nie chcą zapłacić nawet $1 za piosenkę, której nagranie kosztuje często setki dolarów, do nagrania której artyści musieli ćwiczyć często wiele godzin i którą można słuchać w kółko, bez końca i pozostaje z nami już na zawsze… SZANUJCIE ARTYSTÓW – KUPUJCIE MUZYKĘ.»

To this effect – Please support this project, even if it is just $1. You do not have to be a member of Bandcamp to support. Together we can achieve something!

On behalf of all artists – Thank you for your support!

AN MOKU

www.wwhearing.org
www.sonos-info.ch
www.anmoku.net

Ambient, Chill / Downtempo, Kurt LorenzAmbient, Compilation, Kurt Lorenz

New Release from Savaran on Assembly Field Netlabel

April 8, 2013 by Kurt Lorenz

AF02 – Savaran – Halcyon Days FREE DOWNLOAD

The Halcyon Days tracks evolved over five months between November 2012 and March 2013. For some reason my most subtle, deep, emotional and dark works always seem to be produced in the suppressed light of Winter. Perhaps the enforced isolation and incarceration in the studio due to the inclement weather figures in this, but I know that I also take a lot of visual and audible cues from the landscape and nature at this time.

The EP essentially describes a number of locations visited during the Winter months in the UK and my response to them in musical form.

Sojourn was borne from a visit to the hills and lakes above Betws Y Coed in Snowdonia on a bright November day. On descending back down to the village the acoustics of the valley floor suddenly opened out in a few places and the rocky hillside behind us acted like an amphitheatre sucking in sounds from distant locations. We could clearly hear people talking and the bustle of activity on the playing field combined with distant calls from the whistle of the steam railway – you can hear these sounds, and others, under the ambient guitar melodies. Arra Venton by contrast is an altogether more mysterious piece.

Arra Venton is a Landmark Trust house you can rent near Morvah and Zennor in west Cornwall. It started life as a Wesleyan chapel and blacksmith’s workshop with dwelling above, but has now been carefully and sympathetically restored. It’s granite hewn walls reside next to a forbidding bog topped by blackthorns leaning away from the seaborne wind. There’s an old well in the grounds and the glowering torrs of Carn Galva look down from above. It is a place steeped in history and sense of place with a definite character that is surprisingly welcoming – I love this sort of place. We spent Christmas 2012 here with constant wind and rain battering the sturdy walls. The wind howled in the chimney and swirled around the roof trying to find a way in for most of the time we were there, it was a constant soundtrack to the holiday. I was recording a live improvised track with the Korg Monotron analogue synth late one night and could hear the wind howling through the headphones and mournful drones coming out of the Monotron. It seemed to be competing with the music, trying to be part of it, so I let it in and that is how this track came to be.

I will let the listener conjure up their own stories from the rest of the tracks. Each track does have a story and point of origin in the landscape, but you will have to navigate your own way from now on.

This EP is dedicated to Tess, who is no longer with us, but whose presence during field recording trips, holidays and recording sessions in the studio is very much a part of these tracks..

Written and produced by Mark Walters

Mastered by Wil Bolton

Artwork by Mark Walters

http://assemblyfield.blogspot.co.uk

Ambient, Ember Artist, New Releases, SavaranAmbient, Assembly Field Netlabel, Mark Walters, Savaran