Fragments is a collection of live electro-acoustic performances recorded at public venues or via the Internet. This free improvisational and avant-garde work exhibits a tasteful balance between the sound of the acoustic guitar and electronic processing via the notebook computer and various tone altering effects.

Krispen Hartung - Guitar, real-time looping, voice, percussion, computer-based signal processing

MP3s

The Human Static
Mørk og Iser
Attack of the Mini Tabla
Groovy Space Faring Machine
Ghost of Gigantor vs. the Savage
Insectoid Moxie
Nebula

Open folder to all MP3s

© 2007, Krispen Hartung Records

Credits

• Performances, sound engineering, and CD design by Krispen Hartung
• CD production by Kanuki
• Inside sleeve photo by Mark Hamburg (taken at the Y2K6 International Live Looping Festival)
  

Gear, Recording, and Performance Notes

• All songs were freely improvised and recorded in one take at live performances using real-time looping technology and the notebook computer
• Real-time looping was accomplished via Mobius (looping software)
• All parts were played on a Taylor 310-CE acoustic guitar
• Click here for more info on Krispen Hartung's gear
• Performance venues and song commentary:
  • The Human Static - Live Web-Based Performance, 8/17/05; performed live and streamed to the internet from Krispen Hartung's home studio
  • Mørk og Iser - Live Web-Based Performance, 8/17/05; performed live and streamed to the internet from Krispen Hartung's home studio
  • Attack of the Mini Tabla - Library Coffeehouse, Meridian, ID, 9/1/05; the tabla on this piece is one of a set of miniature tablas that I bought on eBay...they probably weren't even meant to be played, but I managed to tune one up to sound halfway decent
  • Groovy Space Faring Machine - Live Web-Based Performance, 8/17/05; performed live and streamed to the internet from Krispen Hartung's home studio
  • Ghost of Gigantor vs. the Savage - Live Web-Based Performance, 8/17/05; Performed live and streamed to the internet from Krispen Hartung's home studio
  • Insectoid Moxie - Moxie Java Silverstone, Eagle, ID, 1/14/06; this gig also included Vincent Miresse on percussion, but this particular song is just me without Vinnie; there is some minor ambient noise mixed in here, such as the pounding of the espresso maker at 1:53; the acoustic guitar is tuned down very low, which has a interesting effect...some of the tones almost sound animal-like...then I kick into double-speed...here come the insects, bees, flies, etc; some startling slices of the Sun Ra VST plugin, which I start to interact with toward the end, call and response
  • Nebula - Live Web-Based Performance, 8/17/05; performed live and streamed to the internet from Krispen Hartung's home studio

CD Themes

As usual, most of my CD titles have multiple and underlying themes. In the cast of this particular work, the meaning of Fragments is two-fold. First, the CD cover artwork is actually based on a picture that I took of my kitchen sink, full of my twins' baby bottles, nipples, and and little filtering contraptions that keep babies from sucking in air when they drink from the bottle. So, the scene is quite literally fragment of baby bottle parts, or fragments. I thought it was an interesting picture, given the way the morning sunlight came through the kitchen window and reflected off of the plastic of the bottles. And of course, I completely distorted and manipulated the original picture with an image editing program, so that it wasn't too obvious what viewers were seeing. I basically cut and pasted smaller sections of the picture (of varying sizes) and superimposed them upon the original image, and then I added the visual effect of these "fragments" flying into the scene, as if comet like structures or "flying windows" if you will.

The second underlying meaning of Fragments is simply the fact that each song was taken from different sources of live performances, rather than a single event where each song feeds off of the other to create a string of continuity throughout the work. In addition, the concepts behind each song vary widely, from the frustration of being around too many people and being unable to focus or concentrate (The Human Static), to traveling through an interstellar cloud of gas (Nebula), perhaps in a souped up spacecraft (Groovy Space Faring Machine).

Reviews

"Fragments" starts off in a distant orbit but becomes quite tuneful in just the right places, It is very nicely sequenced, a bit of craft that gets short shrift as the digital and download era engulfs us." - Dean Hall (USA)

"The first and most important sensation I get from listening to it is a 'rare' sense of musical freedom. Here, notes, melodies, sounds and effects are combined in such a complex and creative way that you may think that this kind of music come from another planet. Or that it's just the complex spirit of this edge that's reflected in this work. I think this is one of the most important peculiarity of your work: an unusual ability to get control over a rich paintbrush of sounds and effects and have all that stuff mixed in a natural way with music (melodies, chords, improvvisation). Looping is very 'natural': every new layer is the development of the tension builded before."

- Fabio Anile (Italy)

"On this particular recording (the man is a wide-ranging artist) Hartung specializes in interplanetary soundscapes, full of oddly twisted guitars that repeat like babbling creatures and all kinds of far-off noises that may or may not be powered by solar wind. "Mork og Iser" sounds like gyoto monks being encircled by serpents. "Attack of the Mini Tabla" somehow finds a sexy rhythm in the confusion, unlikely as that is. That plus the shocking bongo solo make it seem like a scrap of Jobim that made its way to another galaxy through a rip in the fabric of the universe, and somehow managed to jam along with the three-headed natives. The last track, "Nebula", is gorgeous, its lush emotion brought into even sharper relief by the stark obliquity of the preceding tracks. All in all, it's a wonderful and strange ride through a place very few have visited, and only those with powerful telescopes and deep imagination have even glimpsed."

- Daryl Shawn, Mute Reactionary: Textual Effusions on Modern Media