Podcast: Russia's Very Low Frequency Station

Podcast #7: Russia's Very Low Frequency Station
Released October 30, 2005
17 minutes and 6 seconds
128kb-encoded MP3
16 MB

This is a piece of drifty ambience that I made with bass player Jon Harnish on Saturday, October 15, 2005, at the Ambient Matyk in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and it's called "Russia's Very Low Frequency Station." The track is about 15 minutes long.

The loops I used were significantly slowed down, abused, and pitch-shifted. The shortwave broadcasts I found were recorded live as well. Everything else was done improvisationally and was not overdubbed.

After listening to it for a couple of weeks, it sort of reminds me of a couple of artists. The keyboard part in the background sounds like 1980's-era Harold Budd, all slowed down and drifting in and out. Other parts remind me of tracks from Loscil's 2004 release called "First Narrows."

Even though the shortwave eventually fades out, stick around for Jon's bass towards the end of the track.

After recording this, I have purchased a new set of microphones, and the quality of the recordings should continue to improve.
















My Odeo Channel (odeo/aee9e1c258caafa4)

Sunday, October 23, 2005 - Mark Rushton and Jon Harnish, Live In The Ped Mall, Iowa City

Jon and I will play again in the Ped Mall in Iowa City. Next round of soundscaping will be Sunday, October 23, 2005, in the Sheraton Stage area of the Ped Mall, near the water fountain and the kid playground, between 5pm and 8pm, weather permitting.

New Projects

I am currently working on the following:

• A series of drone-based music projects.
• Preparing for the Ambient Matyk in Cedar Rapids on October 15th and a possible live date in Iowa City TBA.
• New loop libraries to go through.
  
• Completed three new large paintings.
  
• I'm planning to do four or five more large paintings in the next month. I'm trying to get a commercial gallery interested.
• Planning a series of limited-edition CDs.

Busy!

Podcast: Live From The Iowa City Ped Mall

Podcast #6: Live From The Iowa City Ped Mall
Released October 3, 2005, 9 minutes and 14 seconds, 128kb-encoded MP3, 9MB

Bass player Jon Harnish and I went to Iowa City on Saturday, September 24, 2005, to create soundscapes in the Ped Mall near the corner of Washington and Dubuque Streets from 6pm to 9pm. This is an 8 minute piece we created towards the end of the evening. It features slowed-down and drawn out electronica, bass sounds, and rendered field recordings I recorded earlier this spring. In the background you can hear skateboarders practicing and, at the end, Jon and I laughing at how I rendered a bird sound into something resembling a dog's bark. There are many more excellent recordings from this session and they'll be in future podcasts.

Mark Rushton's Music at the Figuratively Speaking Art Exhibition

My music will be playing from a CD during the opening of the Figuratively Speaking Art Exhibition, an art exhibition featuring over 40 drawings by 22 local artists put on by the Coe College Drawing Group. The opening reception takes place on October 7th from 7 – 8:30pm on the first floor of the Cherry Building at 329 10th Ave. SE. For more information visit the Cultural Corridor web site listing for this event.

The set list includes:

1. National Championship (2:19)
   
2. Cherry Building (12:33)
   
3. This Other Road (3:52)
   
4. Untitled Iowa City Live Piece From September 24, 2005 (9:38)
   
5. Sunday's Drift (4:34)
   
6. Untitled Iowa City Live Piece From September 24, 2005 (7:52)
7. Anoka-Hennepin (3:05)
8. Free The Airwaves (3:49)
9. The Sound Is Nothing (3:20)
10. Kitchen Ayurveda (5:11)
11. Translucent (4:49)
12. Memory Trigger (3:26)
13. The Hum Of Antique Machines (2:21)
14. Untitled Iowa City Live Piece From September 24, 2005 (5:47)
    

Mark Rushton's How To Start Podcasting Music

I've created a guide on how to start podcasting your own music.

It's two pages long and is based solely on what I'm doing to create and market my successful podcasts of ambient/electronica music.

Hope this can help others!