#Thomas Verchot

[jgthirlwell]

Ghost Ensemble performing the world premiere of Catherine Lamb’s Exterius / Interius at the tribute to Richard Teitelbaum concert at Roulette Intermedium NYC. Event organized by James Ilgenfritz. With Margaret Lancaster (flute), Sky Macklay (oboe), Ben Richter (accordion), Chris Nappi (percussion), Lucia Stavros (harp), Martine Thomas (viola), Tyler J. Borden (cello), James Ilgenfritz (contrabass), and Kyle Motl (contrabass), with special guests Catherine Lamb (viola), Katie Porter (clarinet), Jen Baker (trombone), and Thomas Verchot (trumpet).

[burlveneer-music]

Happy Valley Band - ORGANVM PERCEPTVS - a computer-age music project akin to Mark Twain’s “The Jumping Frog”

The Happy Valley Band is the Great American Songbook heard through the ear of a machine. Composer / bandleader David Kant uses custom-built machine learning software to “unmix” pop songs and transcribe them back into musical notation. The Happy Valley Band plays what comes out. ORGANVM PERCEPTVS, the group’s release, is about bringing to life this inhuman music. The Happy Valley Band has been called "a shitty MP3 to MIDI converter," "the Shaggs meets Guitar Hero," "James Brown backed by Sun Ra," "the best executed worst idea,” and “substantive acousmatic research.” The album, over five years in the making, is a collection of eleven songs spanning pop music history. Imagine James Brown backed by a simmering Sun Ra Arkestra, Madonna with a jittery freak-out synth rhythm section, and Herb Alpert with a Tijuana Brass that must have been led by Charles Ives. As Kant says, “it's not exactly about getting machines to hear like (we presume) humans do. Machines hear in as many different ways as we design and build them. We should use machines to hear differently, not to reinforce our expectations—because whose expectations are they anyway?” In an era where we have offloaded much of our mental and biological processes to semi-intelligent machines, ORGANVM PERCEPTVS asks us to examine the biases and expectations implicit in their design. Print booklet contains liner notes by Kurt Gottschalk and an essay “Decomposing Music” by composer / bandleader David Kant detailing the machine hearing process used to make the music. --- Credits and Personnel --- Alexander Dupuis: Guitars Mustafa Walker: Electric and Upright Bass Beau Sievers: Drum Kit Andrew Smith: Piano and Keyboards David Kant: Saxophones Pauline Kim Harris: Violin Conrad Harris: Violin Chris Nappi: Percussion Joseph Kubera: Piano Daniel Costello: French Horn Thomas Verchot: Trumpet and Flugelhorn Joe Moffett: Trumpet Christoper Scanlon: Trumpet Nathaniel Morgan: Alto Saxophone Sam Friedman: Harmonica Charlotte Mundy: Voice Jane Sheldon: Voice Eve Gigliotti: Voice John Welsh: Guitar Larry Polansky: Guitar Composed by David Kant ALL OF THE MUSIC AND NONE OF THE SONGS © 2016 David Kant