• Krispen Hartung (USA) - Acoustic & electric guitars, sitar, sound engineering, and project management
• David Coffin (USA) - Guitar
• Benoit Ruelle (Belgium) - bass, guitar, keys and a bit of drums
• Simeon Harris (UK) - Guitar
• Paul Mimlitsch (USA) - Guitar
• Mark Francombe (Norway) - Guitar
• Fabio Anile (Italy) - Keyboard, Electronics
• Tony K (USA) - Guitar, Bass, Mandolin, Synths, Bongos, Electronic Drums
• Clint Allen (USA) - Chapman Stick, Bass, Guitar
• LooperSDF (USA, Seattle) - Found Sound composer/ACID
• Ted Killian (USA) - Guitar
• Scott Hansen (USA) - Guitar
• Vincent Miresse (USA) - Didjeridu, percussion
• Rainer Thelonius Balthasar Straschill (Germany) - keys, bits of electric (bass) guitar and saxophone, whimsical electronics
• Kyra Hartung (USA) - Voice

Name: Krispen Hartung
Song on CD: All
City/Country: Boise, ID / USA
Instrument(s) used on CD: Paul Reed Smith (PRS) "McCarty" Archtop hollowbody guitar, Taylor 310-CE acoustic guitar, sitar, darbuka (middle-eastern hand drum)
Looping gear used on CD: Gibson Echoplex Digital Pros
Other sound processing gear used on CD: Boss VF-1, Lexicon LXP1, Antares Filter, EnergyXT VST Host and VST effects (Lexicon PSP84, Lexicon PSP42, Pluggo effect suite, Chopitch, Chopan, MHC Space Effect, KJAERHUS Audio Classic Chorus, MHC FLEX FX 2.0 Stereo Delay, etc
Website: http://www.krispenhartung.com
Email: info@krispenhartung.com
Mailing address: 1810 W. State Street #226, Boise, ID (USA), 83702
Favorite quote: "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" - William S. Burroughs
Primary Influences: John Abercrombie, Pat Metheny, Terje Rypdal, Bill Frisell, John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Robert Fripp, John Stowell, Pat Martino, Miles Davis, Webern, Dave Holland, Tony LeTekro (TNT), Trey Anastasio (Phish), King Crimson, Marillion
Biography: Krispen Hartung’s 28-year musical background is an experimental and continuously evolving road trip marked by many excursions and detours - from classical guitar, progressive rock, and world-beat, to fusion, traditional jazz, and avant-garde. In 1993, after leading a series of traditional and jazz fusion groups, Hartung began studying the method of real-time looping, the technique of digitally recording live performance, playing it back in real-time, and repeating this process indefinitely to produce multiple layers of interweaving and complimentary guitar parts. Since then, he has become one of the North West’s (USA) most accomplished real-time looping artists and Idaho’s leading member of the international looping community Looper’s Delight. Hartung’s debut solo CD Places was released for sale world-wide in April of 2004 and consists of a series of colorful, innovative, and thought/mood provoking looping compositions that he improvised and recorded on the spot in one take.

As a result of his diverse background and studies, Hartung now exhibits a dynamic and atypical performance style that integrates multiple genres and gives new meaning to the world of improvisational guitar. His most recent CD releases are 1) a free improvisational work entitled Live at the Kulture Klatsch, featuring didjeridu artist and percussionist Vincent Miresse, 2) his second solo CD, Descent to Self, a collection of improvised and computer-based avant-garde compositions, and 3) Xperimentus, a collaborative project comprised of duo compositions of he and 13 other looping artists from around the world.

Krispen performs frequently at venues that foster artistic expression and diverse human discourse, such as coffee shops, art and music festivals, art galleries, and art exhibits.

Name: Scott Hansen (HsAcNoStEtN)
Song on CD: Dante's Nursery
City/Country: Iowa City, IA / USA
Instrument(s) used on CD: Handmade Tesla-Klein Guitar
Looping gear used on CD: Guitar-Digitech RP7-Digitech Synthwah-Ibanez DE7-Peavey TJ Raxx-DOD D12-Lexicon MPX100
Other sound processing gear used on CD: ###
Website: n/a
Email: evanpeewee@yahoo.com or shansen@kirkwood.edu
Mailing address: Scott Hansen/711 Kimball Road/Iowa City, IA 52245
Favorite quote: "Today's not a good day to be a bad guy"- Brandon Lee in "The Crow"
Primary Influences: Hendrix, Beck, Page, Clapton (et al 60's gtrists), Tommy Bolin, VH (et al 70's gtrists), D Torn, Vai, J. Satch (& loads & loads of 80's metalists that I don't want to list, but were key to my development, since I started playing gtr in '83), Reeves Gabrels, B. Frisell, T. Morello, K Cobain (et al 90's gtrsts), Fripp, Holdsworth, Gatton, (& everybody else I've heard as I try to round out my musical hearings). Note: should add: Ted Killian, Michael Klobuchar (Nemoguitar) and the loads of folks who've traded CD's with me that I've encountered through Loopers-Delight.com
Biography: Attended the U of Iowa and received my BA in Art/Communication Studies, Received my MFA in Drawing/Painting from Indiana State University, and currently an adjunct instructor teaching Drawing & Painting at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa City (my other job is taking care of my two monsters: Evan & Miles). My main body of work for the last few years has been focusing on my sketchbooks, which I'm currently on sketchbook #340, building guitars (I just finished gtr #4, the "teleMONSTER"), and recording w eird guitar-looped noise experiments (currently working on disc 22 of loop experiments, obsessive I know).

In Catania, Fabio played with different artists and bands and worked in different contests, from rock, to soundtracks, to sound installations.

The interest for ambient music took Fabio to co-found an ambient duo called "Suite Verlaine", inspired to the aesthetic of Rimbaud, Verlaine and Boudelaire. The music was played live to furnish an experimental installation in an art gallery, in Catania, called "Fucktory".

In 1995, Fabio Anile released his first solo demo, entitled "ParallelaMente", a work of loop-based electro-acustic ambient music.

At the end of 1996, Fabio moved in Rome, where he's now working as an environmental lawyer. Here, Fabio co-founded an ambient/rock trio called "enoLogica", experiencing sonorous landscapes and looping techniques, on the topic of nature and the culture of the South of Italy. This band released two auto-producted CD works (enoLogica in 1998 and Cuglio Nero in 2002) and is currently active, playing live in art galleries and festivals.

In 2004, the growing interest for the looped music guided Fabio towards the eterogeneo solo project, with the attempt to play live looping music and to produce ambient music, soundtracks, music for installations or similar art forms.

In 2005 begin an artistic collaboration with Xavier Plàgaro Mussard, a spanish VJ, living in Rome. Together realized their first short film, entitled “First call from the moon”, about the Neil Armostrong’s speech from the moon.

Leaving Cranes in 1997 to pursue his other interests in film, video and multimedia; he now works as an Art Director in a multimedia company. As well as making sculpture from small wooden boxes and found objects, he still finds time to compose and perform his own music, mainly consisting of "heavily treated, modified, processed and improvised, baritone guitar". He distributes this stuff via small independent CDR labels including his own Synch Non Synch label and Oslo based Synesthetic Recordings. He lives in Oslo, Norway, with his girlfriend, Hilde, in a little white wooden house from 1795, with a secret room, a scary cellar and sunflowers in the garden.

Name: Benoit Ruelle
Song on CD: A Most Absurd Landscape
City/Country: Mons, Belgium
Instrument(s) used on CD: Hagstroem HIIBN shortscale bass, Cameleon 5000 SoftSynth, MDA Epiano SoftSynth
Looping gear used on CD: Mobius, AngstroLooper (VST), AnalogDelay (VST)
Other sound processing gear used on CD: Boss SE-70, Johnson J-Station
Website: http://www.the-7-wandering-stars.be.tf
Email: benoitruelle[AT]yahoo.fr
Mailing address: n/a
Favorite quote: "Toi, bien sûr, t'es un rebelle , mais dans ta tête, pas besoin de le montrer, pour vivre heureux, vivons cachés" - Les Garçons Bouchers
Primary Influences: ADD N to (X), Bowie, Eno, Moby, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Pixies, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Sonic Youth, Steve Harris, The Cranes
Biography: After hearing/seeing Jarre playing his laser harp, he found a specific interest in strange sounds, film atmosphere and synthesizers. He only created noises and sounds at home on cheap synthesizers and really started to make music in the early 90's when he found a second-hand Hagstrom Bass. Learning by ear and heavily processing the bass with guitar stompboxes, he tried to play in a metal band but gave up after a couple of months. During about 10 years he stayed mainly at home accumulating synths and processing gear creating sounds just for the sake of it without saving anything.

In 2002 he played bass in a pop/rock band with which he did some local gigs, wrote a demo and participated to some rock festival.

In 2004, he discovered that rehearsing every week the same songs was not for him and he left the band. Surfing the net, he discovered the world of solo looping, their specific tools and started to work on a solo project (the 7 wanderings stars).

Voices are the lyrical drive on top of complex Loops of popular music: funk, jazz, dancehall, rock, trip hop, hip hop, and Modern A Tonal. Historical and political figures Gandhi, Stephen Hawking, George Bush, Barry Goldwater, Howard Zinn, Maharishi, Charles Mingus, and others, lend their voice to express Loopers SDF’s agenda.

Looper SDF is a former Bad Animals Engineer/Producer, leveraging experience working with creative people in music, TV and Advertising worlds. He borrows creative structure from the likes of Pearl Jam, Bill Frizell, Ken Burns, Bill Nye The Science Guy, Wieden and Kennedy and many other.

Vincent’s style and aspirations were furthered by a pilgrimage to Australia to study the ethereal art of didjeridu and circular breathing, and another to Cuba to study Afro-Cuban musicianship and percussion. The intrinsic natures of these traditional crafts are forged anew through the sum of Miresse’s experiences.

Reviews

"Magic Cosmic Sounds - With Xperimentus, Krispen Hartung has incredibly woven together a disparate array of cosmic sounds into one magic carpet sure to take you on a ride through the astral plane. This collaboration of global musicians is surprisingly cohesive considering the method in which it was created, mostly through virtual cooperation with 13 other musicians. The songs on this disc seem to arise from the ether and spill forth a delicious series of notes that mesmerize the listener then slip back suddenly into the dimension from which they came."

- Michelle Morris (Writer and Photographer)

* * *

"Free your mind and your ass will follow! For the most of his musical career Rainer Thelonius Balthasar Straschill seems to have incorporated George Clinton's musical and spiritual statement into most of his own musical endeavours. While Clinton's approach reflected the revolutionary boundary breaking zeitgeist of the early 1970's, Straschill's has a much more sober, but nevertheless disturbing tone. His latest track "Shotgun Mulligan" (contained on Kris Hartung's "Xperimentus" album, available from cdbaby.com) is another example for a piece of music that gives the average listener a strange feeling of: "what kind of music is this?". Which leads to the follow-up question, whether one should listen to this opus wholeheartedly in the living room with no distractions or would it be suitable being enjoyed drunk in a club dancing to it?!

Frankly, several parts of the track have catchy, addicting grooves. But on the other hand the"Shotgun Mulligan" is characterized by varying tempi and grooming background noises that resemble suspense movies. The track consist mainly of three parts, a down tempo first part with a very appealing beat, followed by the second part, with a drum and bass feel which leads to a grand finale. "Shotgun Mulligan" ends with kind of symbiosis of the first two parts, which reminds the listener of a soundtrack for his own imaginary movie Blair Which Project 51. There is no leading melody, rather different individual eclectic solo-parts by all kinds of instruments. This is best explained by the genesis of the song, composed around several different pieces of music by artists out of an internet network for pretentious musicians. Balthasar took these bricks of music, added his top-heavy mortar and out of this he built this house; we would call it a shotgun house with a camel back. Finally there is to say, this track filled our minds with so many notions, that our bottom-heavy asses could not follow.

- Jan Bejenke (freelancing DJ in Munich's most hip night spots, Milchbar, Funky Kitchen, K41. In his day hours, Jan works on his PhD thesis is the field of history of American culture)

Credits

- Mixing/final mastering and CD design by Krispen Hartung
- Artwork for CD sleeve fold-out, pages 1 & 4, ("Spring River 1") by David Coffin (http://homepage.mac.com/davidpagecoffin/)
- Artwork for CD sleeve fold-out, page 3, and tray insert (inside and out) by Paul Mimlitsch (http://homepage.mac.com/pmimlitsch/lep/)
- All parts composed and performed by the members of Xperimentus
- CD production by DiskFaktory
- Special thanks to Looper's Delight for the support and outstanding musicians!

Song Commentary by Krispen Hartung and Xperimentus Members

Clanger Meets the Multiman
David Coffin & K. Hartung

This was the first completed song of the Xperimentus project. On this composition, I layed down a soundscape for the entire song (the "Clanger"), which consisted of some reverse parts looped on the EDPs, a ring modulator groove, and some Antares Filter action creeping around in the background. This soundscape eventually transitions into a slower and more subdued part, a dreamy and ethereal loop using a patch on the Lexicon PSP84 VST effect. David played melodies over the top of this entire soundscape (the Multiman"), using his Roland VG-8 and various effects. Below my email response to David's part:

"Listening to your track now....excellent! Very free, like I hoped. Bizarre rubbery effect you are using is great....beautiful and interesting stuff in the second part where I am playing the ethereal backdrop...sci-fi! Perfect resolution at the end and the crackle and slide down of the string. I like it!"

Dante's Nursery
Scott Hansen & K. Hartung

No, this wasn't a joke. And yes, I know, how can an 8-week old infant record a track for a song? You have to read an excerpt of my email to Scott to really understand the bizarre context behind this song:

"First, I struggled a bit with your track, not because there was anything wrong with it, but because it was extremely loud with not a lot of dynamic change. I tried recording some guitar synth or straight distorted guitar parts over it, but basically they just disappeared in the wash. And when I lowered the level of your part so mine could be heard, then your part sounded unnatural and in the background....it is as if your part was designed to up in your face. So, what I did is apply an interesting Antares Filter VST effect preset to your track, which added some weird delay and frequency filtration....made it sound sort of eerie and spooky. But here's the kicker....

Second, I did not record my own part over your track. I was messing around with your part in my studio one evening, and my 8-week old daughter, Kyra, was in my arms. She was somewhat fussy that evening and was crying a lot...nothing we could really do because we had tried everything...so I was just holding her and letting her work it out. Well....as she was crying, I thought, hmmmmm...let's put my mic on her, and WALLA! My daughter is your duo accompaniment, with me in the background adding strange VST effects to her voice. I looped her part three times and applied three different sets of VST effects: Chopitch (octave and feedback), Pluggo's Squirrel Parade, and Ring Modulator with Pluggo's Rye. I didn't want anyone to think that I was torturing my daughter or anything, so I only recorded a few small passages of her crying, and then I copied and looped them for the remainder of the song. In short, and for the record, I didn't force her to cry for this recording, rather I captured her natural state at the moment. I tell you, the resulting song is downright freaky.

So, here it is, you and Kyra Hartung.....her first musical performance! :) One of these days, she'll hate me for this…"

A Taste of Neverness
Simeon Harris & K. Hartung

In this song, Simeon layed down a beautiful soundscape for the entire song, which consisted of three movements, and then I played melodies over the entire soundscape. Below is the email I sent to Simeon in response to hearing his soundscape:

"Whooo whooo! I finally finished my part to complete this song. For some reason, this took me more time than usual. I think I was so impressed by the sound quality of your part that I was trying to make more of my part than necessary, rather than just playing what I feel. But I eventually just let it loose, threw my notes away on your tonal centers, and just played. Let me know what you think of my part in terms of feel, and also of the overall mix, levels, etc.

For part I, I started by looping a little motif and signature echo slide of mine, and then I just used a straight distorted guitar with a lot of ambient reverb and delay. For parts II and III, I blended that distored guitar tone with my Boss VF-1 guitar synth tone. Hence, I'm not using anything fancy, but experimenting with some outside playing, tight tone clusters, and on part II, reacting with your tonal centers by ear. Lot's of fun! This was a challenging tune and reminded me of improvising in a jazz context, because you modulated frequenly. I like that! I sort of drew from my Terje Rypdal and John Abercrombie inspiration on this one. :)"

La Dimensione Onirica Del Sig. Fellini
Fabio Anile & K. Hartung

I'll share a piece of the email I sent to Fabio after I mixed the final version of this song…was it 1 hour ago? I can't recall….I guess it was a studio hour. :)

"...Fabio, this song really moves and touches me. Your piano work is just captivating and out of this world. The song is mysterious and sensitive, but also abstract in all the good ways. I think it really dives deep into the pool of emotion and thought."

I played the electric guitar on the first half of the song, and the acoustic on the second half (because I thought it would go better with an acoustic piano sound). There is also some good call and response in this song, like Fabio responding to my motifs in the first part, and me to his in the second part…like a conversation, or two people collaborating at telling the same story. Another interesting facet of this song is that the first track of part 1 was composed by me recording the melody/solo line by itself, and then Fabio recorded his soundscape over that. That is not the typical way of doing things (which is I made it one of the approaches), and I think Fabio did an excellent job at working in the moment.

An Evening with the Greys
Mark Francombe & K. Hartung

Ben recorded the initial soundscape, which set the mood and feel of the song. Krispen recorded the first solo part (guitar synth with Lexicon PSP84 VST effect), Ben the second solo part (bass), Krispen the third solo part (clean guitar and distorted ring modulator with Lexicon PSP84 VST effect), and then Ben the fourth solo part (electric piano). We both really enjoyed making this song, and the collaboration was pretty much seamless. :)

Also, as a quick reminder, the last song of this project is where we all record a part (black-box style) to a tonal center (either inside it, or outside of it), over the top of a soundscape that I'll record, and then Rainer will mix the song for us in a creative way.

When the Long Shadows Fall
Tony K & K. Hartung

Tony recorded the initial soundscape, which I like to call the psychedelic waterfall. I recorded my ring modularized voice with the intro, and then my fast guitar part comes in. With all of this, Tony has some spacey sound effects going on that give the song an extra eerie feel; then my fast part turns into a dark and twisted melodic section using the Chopitch VST effect, transitioning out with my ring mod voice and the fast guitar; Tony's bizarre sounds continue to surface (one in particular sounds like whimpering puppy…heh heh), followed by more dark and twisted guitar work, the ring mod voice, and more of Tony's psychedelic sounds, accompanied by me whistling with delay effects toward the end…..then it ends with a fade into the shadows.

Duologue
Paul Mimlitsch & K. Hartung

I recorded the first melodic track of Boss VF-1 guitar synth, with Antares Filter and Lexicon PSP42 VST effects, and then Paul recorded a complimentary and very sweet jazzy part over this with his Gibson/Epiphone '30's Emperor Reissue archtop guitar. The song is refreshingly simple with a lot of space for thinking and contemplation.

A Drive on the Darkside of Ananda
Clint Allen & K. Hartung

I recorded the first track of this songwith looped sitar droning in reverse, some basic melodic work on the sitar effected bythe Lexicon PSP84 and Antares Filter VST effects; Clint recorded a cool groove with his 10-String Chapman Stick, with some other special effects, which I looped and added over my initial track in three sections; I ended the song with some darbuka (middle eastern drum) work that fades out with the song. "Ananda" means "bliss" in Sanskrit and ancient Hindu philosophy. And yes, I played a "real" sitar, not a sitar emulator or sampled sitar. :)

Mysterious Traveler
Sony Felberg & K. Hartung

Hi Sony -

I have part 1 of our song complete. You are free to lay anything you want over this. Given what I've heard of your recent material, I think you will have a lot of potential with this part. You could do some cool voice or ambient layering, melodic work, or whatever you like. The song basically consists of a long loop with a pulsating bass line and some ethereal and complex arpeggiated jazz chords....then the loop starts again and I start adding some bizarre sound effects...finally the end is just the sound effects and toward the end, the application of a new VST plugin, Chopan (a powerful panning plugin), that I'm testing and reviewing for Andy Butler and Mathias Grob.

Have fun!

Kris

To Be Determined
Ted Killian & K. Hartung

[From Ted]

This is the very first 3+ minutes that I recorded on the thing BTW. And the first time I'd picked up the guitar in a month (since Y2K5). For
shear weirdness sake I dug out the old GR-1 from it's Rubbermaid bin in the garage and played the "vibes" patch to put me in a more jazzy mood. . . then I connected the Bitrman and the Sustainiac. Without a looper or the Vortex I felt practically naked. I hope you like it.

Best Regards,

Ted Killian

[Kris' Response]

I can't even recall what my part was supposed to be, a soundscape or complimentary single line melody part. Hence, I did the latter, but I is very subtle. In some areas, you can't even hear me playing, because I am playing notes that harmonize with yours in the background, or using the volume pedal to call and reponse your feedback machine. I just used my jazz guitar, clean tone with delay, reverb, and a touch of chorus. I basically danced around your main part, using my favorite PSP42 delay patch, which creates a chaotic pitchshift delay effect in the background.

Let me know what you think. I sort of like it without a soundcape...pads, textures, beccuase it allows the space in the song to speak for itself. It is nice.

Kris

Tiny Monsters Ex Nihilo
Vincent Miresse & K. Hartung

Vincent and I recorded this piece live at a venue here in Boise, Idaho (USA), called the Kulture Klatsch. This is one of our more experimental and free improvisational songs, all spontaneously composed on the spot at the venue, of course. This was the first gig where I used my new laptop / VST effect setup, and you'll be able to hear a whole series of these VST effects as I "toy around" with them in the song. Vincent does an excellent job at complementing the madness with his arsenal of percussion and the didjeridu.

Shotgun Mulligan
Rainer Straschill & Member from the Above

Notes From Rainer:

• The file is 5'7'' in length. It's a 24bit/44.1kHz wav (no editing in the 2bus, dithering with the apogee algo on "low" setting)
• All of the submitted files have been used
• There are passages with a discernible beat. This had to do with some beat-oriented submissions. To "make up" for this, I let some weird plugins loose on them (dfx Skidder and SupaTrigga mostly). Have a listen for yourself if that sounds ok within the scope of your project.
• The editing was mostly limited to placing and sometimes fading sections in the arrangement and a load of VST plugins. My personal thanks go to smartelectronix (especially Bram and destroyFX), who do a great number of freeware/donationware plugins. If you haven't done so already, I suggest you check out www.smartelectronix.com
• To stay with the avantgarde nature of our projects, lots of the plugs work in an aleatoric nature. That means should I have to create another audio mixdown (e.g. if I implemented some changes), it will sound different. ;-)
• The file is quite big (no wonder...). Feel free to remove it right after you downloaded it.
• Coming back to LD's laptop discussion: Yep, it has all been done on a laptop, without any other tools...