36. Federmeister - Tribe of Dionysus

I'm really satisfied with this latest piece of music directly from my workshop. I didn't planning to include any lyrics, but they just fell on a piece of paper while I was listening the recording before the sleep. In Slovene this time. And the chorus goes: "We're coming from the tribe of Dionysus..."

33. Federmeister - Last Chance for a Dance

Winter was not so hard so I managed to build my new working place which could be used as a workshop for constructing my instruments either as rehearsal studio for my musical projects. I set up my musical rig and spent a week rehearsing my solo repertoire, composing and recording some new materials. Here's 'Last Chance for a Dance' from 'Renegade' performance.
Stay tuned for some new stuff in following weeks...

31. Plamen v prsih / Flame In the Chest

The most spectacular production with The Stroj collective this year took place at Ljubljana Castle. Regarding the process of creation and lots of pyrotechnics on the stage we decided to name it Plamen v prsih / Fire In The Chest.
No PR bullshit will follow, just some photos and a video. I hope you're gonna feel some excitement and thrill we had on stage during the performance.

30. Stringer

STRINGER

What would you get if you merge a harph and a crossbow?
Would it be lethal?
Would it be loud?
Would it be heavy?
Hell yeah and I named it Stringer!

There were two things I had to find before the final construction: truck leaf spring and piano strings.    It took me a few months to find them, but I was lucky enough so I didn't have to buy them. Luka Alkimist (and also a blacksmith) gave me a leaf spring and Iztok Melanšek from M4 Music Store gave me the whole set of piano strings which he held as a decoration on the wall of his shop. Thank you again guys, I did exactly what I promised!

When the frame was finished I called Kosta, master of blues guitar playing and making, if he could help me with installing the magnets. I've bought 6 Fender Jazz bass magnets and hoped for the best while Kosta installed them into the frame.

Stringer finally found its place on the rig of Spider in company with set of cymbals, e-drum, coil and three axes. Now it's time to discover its capabilities and learn to play it. What a thrill!

27. Operation DEWESoft

It was s month ago when Janez, a colleague and collaborator of mine, invited me to join him for a meeting at DEWESoft company from Trbovlje, Slovenia. Even if you're not from around here, you might have heard about Trbovlje in regards to Laibach, internationally renown alternative band which originally gathered in this industrial town almost four decades ago.

 Well, if we state that Laibach once put Trbovlje on the artistic map of the world, it is the DEWESoft who does that for Trbovlje on the global technological map. In short, company produces high-end measuring devices and develops special software which visualizes output data. Let me just mention that their systems were used on Space Shuttle launch pad, on International Space Station and for launching of Ariane rockets - you’d probably get the right impression on how very serious and passionate about their jobs these guys are.

So. It was quite an experience to sit at the table in their conference room and hear about how could we helped them. They were in midst of preparations for an annual conference for their partners and someone got an idea about a special musical performance, with music prepared especially for the occasion. And, for things not to be too simple, song has to feature one of their measuring modules as an instrument. Good. Things already felt interesting although we haven’t put down a single note yet. In fact, we never really use notes when composing, what we really needed at the moment was a place to experiment and rehearse with our retro futuristic gear.
In short: no problem. They calmly gave us an office in the basement and even door cards so we could come and work anytime as we wanted. As a long time freelancer I got scared for a moment that I got stuck with a regular job.

We had two weeks to accomplish the mission, so we brought basic equipment to the office and started right away. For the first few days there was not much to hear or show, since we spent it mostly on discussions about the composition and its performance with some loud beats thrashing through the building from time to time. And, the more the composition grew in our heads, the more gear appeared in the office. Which eventually become smaller and smaller. Cables, instruments, sound effects and metal rigs lying everywhere around, as always when we dive in the creative process. After few days, when we finally completed our project in the office was completely filled with kick, two toms, two snares, two drum pads, theremin, typewritter, efektor, dozens of cymbals, bells and coils, few effects, metal sheet, computer and, of course, our good ’ol friend, an angle grinder. Lots of toys for two pairs of hands.

The following days we finally took the sticks and tools in our hands and the basement area become loudly unsuitable for any serious work or even talk. Things couldn't get unnoticed and people started popping up, curiously checking what's going on. I appeared that Janez and I became quite an intriguing amusement during their work time. All of the guys seemed to be engineers, with some of them turned up to be musicians, so they quickly got an idea how to attach some sensors to our gear and visualize sound vibrations on their machines.

Finally, we had to incorporate one of those measuring devices into our composition. So, our team was briefly joined by new member Sašo who reprogramed their module into some kind of a rhythm machine which took a lead in a part of the composition.

Days flew by quickly as more and more fun escalated in our rehearsal room. One day we had an opportunity to meet Jure Knez and Andrej Orožen, the founders of the company. Duo, always sparkling with bright ideas, became quite enthusiastic about our work. It didn’t take long as they proposed a wish to perform with group of coworkers at the end of the conference. At first, quite surprised by their suggestion, we quickly picked ourselves up, got additional 20 barrels and held a special three-day workshop for them, to prepare their gig. Believe me, smashing a  metal barrel with XL wrench is not a piece of cake but Jure and Andrej didn't hesitate to get their hands dirty and easily learned the trick.

If you are interested in latest DEWESoft achievements, you will find the whole conference at a link bellow. Our performance starts on 27:00 and DEWESoft tribe rocks the place at the very end. Twice!

10. The Stroj - Metafonik: Soundtrack for metamechanics

 

I'm pleased to announce the release of album Metafonik  I've made with The Stroj collective. It will be our fourth album in 16 years of our creative existance and resistance.

Name 'The Stroj' comes from Slovene word ‘stroj’ which means 'a machine’. Pronounced as 'stroy', together with ‘the’, the phrase sounds as ‘destroy’, so The Stroj is a pun with two meanings: machine and destruction.

I have gathered The Stroj in 1997 in Laško, Slovenia. Originally The Stroj was a percussive band, consisting of eight members who used plastic and metal waste barrels, discarded machine parts and various working tools to make our own musical language. Distinctive percussive compositions, mechanically structured rhythms and industrial sounding  instruments marked our early musical work. Music from that period can be found on albums Ventilator (1999) and Gremo! (2002). When artist and musician Aleksij Kobal joined the collective, the group's music became enriched by original wind and string instruments, as recorded on the album Cona/The Zone (2006). All three albums were produced by Aldo Ivančič (Borghesia, Bast), who had an important influence on distinctive sound during this period. Until now, more than 30 musicians and performers collaborated with us and became a part of  The Stroj story. 

You can find more info about The Stroj collective here: www.thestroj.com

 

On our new album Metafonik we are developing the concept of material music, based mostly on heavy percussions, further with new electro mechanical instruments, electronics and computer. My vision of metamechanical music forced me to upgrade our instrumental arsenal with instruments from all eras of human creative history: most basic accoustic percussions and strings, electro mechanical inventions from past century as coils and piezo pickups and modern electronic devices which allows us to play live using field recordings and samples and manipulate them almost without limits.

Here's the video for our first single, released  Animation of sound which appears several times in second part of the video is called cymatics. It is a physical phenomena which arises when small particles of fine powders or liquids are exposed to mechanical vibrations. For this video I used strong loudspeaker as mechanical driver and fine metal powder and silver dust as medium. So what you see are real sound effects of the composition on matter.

 Our latest single from Album Metafonik is Zombie Hunters. You can download it free from SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/the-stroj/the-stroj-zombie-hunters

 

If you want to get your own copy of Metafonik, please contact me on metamekanix@gmail.com

7. Federmeister turns on himself

After twenty four years of active drumming and sixteen years of leading The Stroj collective the time comes to do something strictly by myself. Past three years I was driven by idea to build a gear which will allow me to create music completely independant and against all odds.  I've started with a board, typewriter and some springs and mechanical toys to made my first soundboard named Efektor. It was a great fun at the beginning and I explored sound possibilities of my table orchestra like a small kid with big plans.

 

It sounded great at first, but when I connected it to the stronger PA first problems had begun. Feedbacks and crosstalk problems took me another year to find out proper pick up places, good preamps and audio interface capable of recording and sounding on professional level. When I managed to overcome problems with amplification I've connected Efektor with computer and midi controllers, which allow me to manipulate mechanical sounds with electronic effects, live looping, adding pre recorded parts and controlling a computer with my feet while performing. 

Finaly, as a drummer and rhythmanalyst, I could not resist to add my coil drums to the sonic arsenal of my own. 

Through this process and following the motto »Let's make something out of what they made of you!« Federmeister was born. Past six months he's rehersing hard and composing songs which I could not imagine before I've become him.

Federmeister is turned on and ready to go. Sound bless you, Federmeister! And keep the beat on the sonic highway of your becoming...
 

Do not hesitate to contact me if you want to experience how my retrofuturistic  metamechanical gear sounds live when Federmeister  takes over controls. Live acts, custom made performances, workshops, lectures, composing, cymatic visualizations... Name it, we make it!