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The Digital Chess Session

Experimental / Ambient / Easy Listening

Newport, Oregon

About

The Digital Chess Session - Outside the hype, Beyond the RIAA

"Not really music.. Seems totally in love with itself for reasons I know not." -- Britslayer

"Sample art with beats interspersed. Fans of People Like Us, Wobbly, Evolution Control Committee take note. Television, movie samples along with rudimentary synths and drum machines. Well recorded, mixed, assembled, by some 17 year old kid on the rural coast of Oregon. Indeed, cultural boundaries that used to exist at the borders of urban centers have fallen and technology and information transfer has made possible creativity from all corners of the country/world. And the gods looked down and it was good." -- Your Imaginary Friend (KZSU Stanford)

"Wenn du lange in einen Digital Chess Session blickst, blickt der Digital Chess Session auch in dich hinein." -- Druganesh Nietzsche

"Once I've rendered something nebulized, I've realized that the repression of the simulated nebulizer is a repression of The Digital Chess Session and that's where things kind of interfere, cross-polinate, different things took place." -- Longmont Potion Castle

The Digital Chess Session LIVE from Logan Williams on Vimeo.

THE INSPIRATION
The Digital Chess Session was inspired by William Orbit's Stereo Odysseys, three rare albums made in the mid 1990s. On these albums Mr. Orbit mixed vocal samples from films, his own music, music others had made and sound effects and field recordings into an entirely listenable and enjoyable product.

We heard these recordings and decided to try it for ourselves. The first session occurred in August of 2007, and sessions have continued since. We value improvisation and the best moments (which we have edited into the tracks uploaded herein) are not usually planned before hand, but are coordinated live. At least half of all our recordings are deleted, but every session produces at least one successful track.

THE NAME
We were inspired by prank-artist Longmont Potion Castle's track Digital Chess, in which he attempts, unsuccessfully, to "make some upgrades" to his word processor / digital repressor / nebulizer.

THE MEANS
For the First Digital Chess Session, inwhich Seisiún pt1, pt2, Magnetic Tape, Triple Digital Delay and Sirens were created: various tapes and CDs played by Marantz variable-pitch tape player, Sony CD player into Korg SDD3300 Triple Digital Delay, Tascam CD Looper. These sources were combined using a home-made mixer and were recorded on a late-model PowerBook G4.

'New Jack Jungle' / Halloween Tape recorded at the Newport Performing Arts Center in February 2008 with a Tascam 133 cassette tape recorder and a PowerBook G4.

Avenge You and I Got Children Too were recorded at Newport High School's Robinson Theater for a private audience. A Zune, playing various Christian (and not so Christian) radio stations, was patched into a NADY's digital delay. The speed of the delay was altered in real time, producing the characteristic Digital Chess Session effects. The NADY mixer has since passed from this world.

Digital Chess SOLO sessions in 2007 & 2008 (Trevor Funkverständnis, Earthquake, Beats, Strings, and Praying Mantis Stalker) put together in Live 6 Demo and patched with Soundflower by Cycling '74 into Audacity or Sound Studio for recording. All on a late-model PowerBook G4.

Evil Ones recorded in October 2007 using Logic Express on a PowerBook G4 and Yamaha 01x digital mixer. Triple Digital Delay provided by Korg SDD3300.

Thumb Piano created entirely within Audacity using sources including material from the Freesounds project, and original samples from Michael Jordan.

Extreme Hunger, Hunger, and The Future Sound of Death recorded using a hacked Sony Walkman with pitch modulation, reverse-play and skew functions, a Marantz PMD201 cassette player with home-made tape loop cassette, and Tascam compact disc looper/nebulizer. These sources fed into the Yamaha 01x, wherein EQ and pitch shifting, reverb, and delay were added. As usual, this session was recorded using a late-model PowerBook G4 running an antiquated editon of Sound Studio by Felt Tip.

The Smooth Copyright Criminals
"if I can't get in the club, then the club in the parking lot"

The Smooth Copyright Criminals are a duo of Superstar DJs. Identifiable as such by their Ironic Hoodies and Ironic Sunglasses, the duo play copyright-violated music using copyright-violated software on computers and speakers powered by electricity stolen from the government (the money for which is stolen from citizens). The Smooth Copyright Criminals, like other Superstar DJs, play other people's music, but, unlike other, lesser DJs, they do not support hero worship and claim no authorship or responsibility for the music. Additionally, the Smooth Copyright Criminals never drink tea or wear Minimal Scarves while playing.

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