Descent to Self is a musical and introspective exploration of ideas inspired by themes such as theoretical physics, science fiction, mathematics, and philosophy. By means of real-time looping technology, Krispen Hartung weaves an avant-garde and improvisational tapestry of sounds that are colorful, innovative, and mood provoking. This instrumental work showcases Hartung's ability to fuse avant-garde jazz, experimental, and ambient music into a multifaceted musical experience.

Krispen Hartung - Acoustic & electric guitars, real-time looping, tone mangling, and computer composition

MP3s

Entanglement
Postlude to the Thing
Psycho-Plane
Super Vibe
Siva's Horizon
Chicken Hawk
Australopithecus Fusionensis
To Die On Ice
Ataraxia
Fixation
Cantor's Madhouse
Dark Forest Dance
Five
Discourse with a Wave
Monad Neurosis
Race to Infinity
Descent to Self

Open folder to all MP3s

© 2005, Krispen Hartung Records

Reviews

Send CD or individual song reviews to info@krispenhartung.com

Reviews of Discourse with a Wave

"Moody. This starts very moody and unusual. It's also really relaxing. I could chill out to this, although it's a little scary too. I like those lower bass sounds, unpredictable and heavy .1:17 the song gets slightly more happy but I still feel sadness. A most interesting Blend. The pads are arranged almost the same as the bassline, unpredictable and relaxing. I like that slow buildup a lot. Production is nice overall. Around 3:40, with that extra guitar layer, the overall sound might become too chaotic. Maybe remove some layers and actually focus on that layer. It' s a nice guitar though. This track should fit somewhere in the ambient genre too. It's long, which is needed for tracks like this to capture the ambiance. I read above this was a live recording, live recordings often offer the purest form of inspiration. Just listenin' and dreamin' now.Thinking of trumpets hehe." - Treeman

"Ex boise fan, Hello I am ex boise guy guitarist from the hi tops. I wanted to tell you how much I like your music. I have followed you for some time on the BM forum. This is really great music. I hope you go far." - Crockmister

"Awe inspiring. The atmospheric bed you laid is a hauntingly beautiful foundation for some emotionally charged guitar fx. A blissfully meditative piece." - Valkir

"I love stuff like this. A one time performance that never can be recaptured live, but preserved for the future! Great musical preserves! I love like to do things like this too. . . . haven't in a while. I like the moodiness of the track and the tone colour is very cool, and appropriately named!" - Gezha

"One take? Mellow stringed intro gets you interested and the creeping bass adds suspension. You can feel the build which is tantalizingly slow and measured. Nothing hash and nasty about this performance, ambiance has to be the key word, but the note pattern is quite free flowing/organic. The sort of track you can revel in for relaxation. Ahh, the lead breads out into a slickly played melody and it all becomes very classy. The song kind of floats in waves that are just the right tempo to inhale and exhale at. I would listen to this doing yoga." - Jill (Uncommitted Music UK)

"Really very good. This track reminds me of Dire Straits meets Jeam Michel Jarre and not in a bad way. Very moody and ultimately quite a sad track. The guitar solo part is fantastic, you really sound like you are an accomplished player. Was not expecting to like this as usually try to avoid the guitar but was pleasantly surprised. Thanks, drt"

"Haunting intro and the great skill continues through the song. I like it, keep it up. This is nicely done." - Contristo

"THE SPACE VOYAGER! "Neat cowbell, the grand synth is cool too. This is wavey indeed and a sense of space tune in it too. Like the Voyager music into the space of unknown world. I think it should be named "The Space Voyager" instead. I always have a passion for space music and science fiction movies. I do not why they classified them as fiction since they are real. They should be called science fact instead. Oh, oh there go my science theory again. I stay till 3:40 and the guitars plays ripe through the sky like the meteors brightening the space world in enima and ecstasy endurances." - Piperon

"A totally hypnotic track, fantastic improvisation yet again. With this track I can just drift away with my headphones on and imagine just watching the clouds float by against a blue sky. Thank heavens for recording technology, or we wouldn't have been able to hear this track ever again." - Riviera sun

"This is a beautiful piece of organic ambient music. The deeply ambient pads here are laced with a delicate guitar that seems to trickle its way through the track. The changes in this are very subtle which i think makes them all the more satisfying from a listener's perspective, as this makes you tune in fully to the music. It's reminiscent of some of floyd's work and if i could play guitar like this guy, i'd be making music like this too. Stunning track." - Mixposure

Reviews of Entanglement

"Almost 13-tone music ;) good mix of abstract (12-tone) and classic music favored with cool and modern beats. Good quality mix! very interesting to listen to... the guitar just gives it the right finish. Great music!" - Zeropage

"Incredible. What an incredible piece of music. Controlled chaos and just constant movement makes this one heck of a ride. The guitar solo sound you have reminds me of Jan Hammer's sound and phrasing, a huge compliment indeed. Absolutely tasty guitar playing, just right, not too much at all. Not much else to say, this is just a masterpiece." - Valkir

"Ok this is STUNNING I'm speechless. What can you say BUT JUST EXCELLENT. Too many things here to complement. Talented to the MAX. Cheers." - Kat Speel

Reviews of Australopithecus fusionensis

"Great guitar work and improvisational skills!" - Gezha

Reviews of Postlude to the Thing

"ONE TAKE? WOW! I didn't think anyone recording anything in one take anymore...YOU GO GUY. YOU ARE BRAVE! This creates a wonderfully ambient atmosphere... a little scary. *wink* GIRL POWER!" - CookieCutterGirl.com

Send CD or individual song reviews to info@krispenhartung.com

Credits

- Compositions, performances, sound engineering, and CD design by Krispen Hartung
- Retinal scan photo of Krispen Hartung's eye taken by Idaho Eyecare Center
- CD face digital image of Krispen Hartung's somatic cells taken by himself
- CD production by DiskFaktory
- Special thanks to the members of Mixposure for their insightful pre-release reviews of these songs!

Gear, Recording, and Composition Notes

All songs except 1, 11, and 16 were freely improvised and recorded in one take using real-time looping technology and various "tone mangling" effects. All parts were recorded direct to an Alesis ML-9600 Masterlink hard disk recorder or to the laptop computer via DigiDesign® mBox and Pro Tools™ LE software. Final touch mastering was performed with Steinberg's WaveLab software.

Songs 1, 11, and 16 were composed and played with Finale 2005 notation software and/or Sonic Foundry's Acid [except guitar solo on "Entanglement," performed by Krispen Hartung]

Real-time looping was accomplished via two Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro units linked in stereo. Thank you for the support Looper's Delight!

All parts were played on either a Taylor 310-CE acoustic guitar or a Paul Reed Smith (PRS) McCarty Archtop I jazz electric guitar.

CD Themes

Krispen Hartung establishes an intriguing array of conceptual and deeply personal connections between his CD art, song titles, and overall feel of his compositions. For instance, the front CD cover image is a retinal scan of his own eye (windows to his psychological self?), and the CD label image is of his own cells and nuclei (the genetic code or blueprint of his biological self). The CD sleeve contains a poem that depicts Krispen's childhood metaphysical nightmare about a strange and primordial feeling of having his mind compress infinitely unto itself. The song title "Ataraxia," also written in Greek on the back and inside of the CD tray insert, means "tranquility of the soul" in ancient Greek skepticism, which is attained by epoche or "suspension of belief", also written in Greek on the CD tray insert. As a philosophy graduate, Hartung has studied Greek and modern skepticism, and in many respects these systems of thought become apparent and have an impact on his personal life and way of viewing the world.

Finally, what is this "descent to self? Is the self down, as in something to which one can descend? Not literally in this context, but metaphorically in that the self here is portrayed as something abstractly inward, yet also downward (as in down to the depths of that which defines one's identity) regardless of the point of departure. Think of a star that has collapsed on to itself and is about to turn into a black hole. Anything that is caught within the gravitational pull of the imploding star literally falls toward its surface, much in the same way that a anything caught by the gravitational pull of our earth can potentially break through the atmosphere and fall (relatively speaking) to the earth's surface; yet in the sense of the imploding star, that which is falling is also being pulled inward, where the center of the black hole is the point of reference. Moreover, this is not meant to be a philosophical explanation of the psyche, but only a metaphorical comparison of a black hole, the descent to self depicted by the CD, and the metaphysical nightmare described in the poem inside the CD sleeve.