Sesshin No-Fi

DJ No-Fi “Found Sound Volume 2″

sesshinnofi — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:59:22 +0000

http://mixcrate.com/mix/67244/DJ-No-Fi-Found-Sound-Volume-2

Fresh mix now available for streaming/downloading here: http://mixcrate.com/mix/67244/DJ-No-Fi-Found-Sound-Volume-2

Found Sound Volume 2 by DJ No-Fi
50:24

Genres: Breaks, Funk, Jazz
Released: August 2011
Uploaded: 9 hours, 12 minutes ago.
Application used: Analog Multi-Track
Tags: dj no-fi, jazz, funk, breaks, rare groove, acid jazz, experimental, dub

Strictly vinyl. Dubwise in the studio.

DJ No-Fi Performing with Michelle Webb’s King Kong @ Bossa on June 19th, 8:30pm $5

sesshinnofi — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:29:23 +0000

DJ No-Fi will be performing with Michelle Webb’s King Kong project @ Bossa

http://www.michellewebbmusic.com

http://www.bossaproject.com/live/

Sesshin No-Fi – Mixtape Vol. 1

sesshinnofi — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:29:57 +0000

Fresh recording, mixed down to 2 track cassette. Drums, Bass & DJ. Improv edit.

Profile: Doug Kallmeyer

sesshinnofi — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:24:32 +0000

Doug Kallmeyer, a.k.a. Dubpixel, has spent most of his time on the road mixing bands including Blonde Redhead, School of Seven Bells, and most recently Phantogram. Add to that list more live work with some more notable artists; Shellac, Sunny Day Real Estate and Rancid. Both locally and on the road, a career which has numbered live shows in the thousands, and is still growing. His last release, 2005′s “Even Calls” (EM:T, 2005, 302acid) was a group foray into ambient textures which received rave reviews in publications like the UK’s WIRE magazine, and resulted in tours throughout the us and europe.

Fast forward to now, tea and discussion:

Q: Where did the moniker Dubpixel come from?

A: Around the most recent presidential election, I had been asked if some of the music I had been working on at the time could be used for independent film. I started working with other artists and making dub mixes for video… dub for pixels.

I have been working with audio and video in live performance for quite a few years now, and the concept has been developing in leaps and bounds with the technology that’s available. Video can be cut up and manipulated as fast as audio….for me, It is becoming integral to live performance.

Q: With a touring schedule, how do you find time to make music?

A: It takes me a very long time to get things done, since my creative focus is largely spent on supporting other artists. I haven’t consciously tried to work on anything specific since the last release. A lot of small projects come up in between, I get in touch with whoever is around and collaborate when there is a moment, or via download from the road. My two main outlets for ensemble work are Sesshin No-Fi and psych rock group The Mantis… both are largely improv based situations. When I got home this past december, I realized it had been 6 years since my last record. I started to dig through my solo work, and as it turns out i have a rather large cache of music that is ready to be completed and gigged.

Although it spans years, it is oddly coherent.

That’s my focus for now, and I want to start releasing vinyl.

Q: Why vinyl?

A: It is a tangible art form, with a process involved for listening. It is a commitment of time and energy. The medium, for me, represents far more than background noise for an overly multitasked life.

Q: How did this Bluebrain remix come about?

A: My close friend and collaborator No-Fi threw the idea at me one night. We had a listen, and took it to task:

Dubpixel and No-Fi vs. Bluebrain:

Dubpixel and Monica Stroik (stare in center to see the image, report what you see):

Dubpixel and Robin Bell

Dubpixel: (in)finite loop:

Profile: Sesshin No-Fi

sesshinnofi — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:03:17 +0000

Sesshin is a Japanese terms that translates to “one mind” and is used by Zen Buddhists to describe periods of intense meditation. These extended periods of deep meditation can lead to spiritual experiences akin to enlightenment, which for some can be a very traumatic experience. But experienced practitioners have reported feelings of inner calm and a heightening of the senses. No-Fi is a combination of the genres “No Wave” and “Lo-Fi” and is a term used to describe media created outside of conventional standards. No-Fi is an extraordinarily diverse aesthetic, covering many mediums other than just music, such as video manipulation. It has been suggested that No-Fi music is: on the edge of losing control or collapsing into non-music, nihilistic, mocking of convention, unclean, containing “natural” noises and various sonic artifacts, such as natural reverb and echoes, distortion, tape-hiss and/or feedback, lack of sound-picture clarity, improvisation, and the use of noise as an “instrument”.

Sesshin No-Fi started 2 years ago after a chance meeting between Doug Kallmeyer (bass), Ben Broeking (turntables) and Dempsey Hamilton (drums). DJ No-Fi, a local bedroom DJ, had responded to Doug Kallmeyer’s craigslist ad looking for musicians interested in playing dub music and after sending Doug a dub mix he had made they decided they were on the same page. After a couple improvisational sessions it was obvious that there was a musical connection between these musicians. Since then the group has become more of a collective and has evolved, expanding and contracting as musicians and guests sit in with the band. Instruments and people come and go but Doug and Ben have always been at the core of the group. The group has coined the term “Babylonian Bebop” to describe it’s genre defying sound that sounds both archaic and familiar at the same time. Since it’s inception Sesshin No-Fi has played many live shows in the DMV, from local rock venues like Iota, Velvelt Lounge and DC9 to more experimental venues like Art-O-Matic, The Fridge and Electric Possible. Each show has featured a different lineup and each show has been an experiment in collective improvisation. Live video projection done by local artist Monika Stroik has been just as much a part of the live experience as the music. Local artists who have at one point shared the stage with Sesshin No-Fi include Jason Tremblay, Ted Zook, Rachel Panay, Mike Sebastian, Todd Miller, DJ Acre, and Louie Rozier The group is currently recording and will self release their debut album on vinyl later this year. The group is also actively seeking gigs around the DC area and also always looking for musicians interested in collaboration. Send inquiries to sesshinnofi@gmail.com

Profile: DJ No-Fi

sesshinnofi — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:44:46 +0000

DJ No-Fi aka Ogami Itto
“Dub Style”
Scratching, Mixing, Samples, FX

(No-Fi Sound System, Sesshin No-Fi, Dubpixel)

No-Fi Sound System is the mixtape outlet for DJ No-Fi. Using strictly vinyl and an ever expanding home studio filled with different mixers, effects and noise makers DJ No-Fi mixes different genres into a cacophony of sound. The Found Sound series focuses on records culled from thrift stores and record stores around the country, a series where any genre is permitted and an effort is made to highlight lesser known tracks. The Dub Connection mixtapes are dubwise selections perfect for your meditation.

http://www.mixcrate.com/mix/34459/Found-Sound-Volume-1

Found Sound Volume 1 by DJ No-Fi

Digging Outside the Box

sesshinnofi — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:34:46 +0000

“Digging Outside the Box”
by DJ No-FI

The DMV area is home to a lot of DJs, record stores and record collectors and with a high density of vinyl enthusiasts in such a small area, record collecting can be very competitive. In order to find the the best records you have to get up early to hit the local flea markets and garage sales as well as have a list local record stores that you visit in rotation. So by and large record collecting is largely a matter of being in the right place at the right time. If you are a little slow or a little late, especially around the DMV, the good records will be gone by time you get there.

The only way to get good records that aren’t marked up by record stores or inflated by ebay are to buy records from people who don’t know what they have. Thrift stores are great example of this, most Goodwill and Salvation Army records are only $1. So after digging through hundreds of classical and oldies records you might just find some diamonds in the rough. But then again if another record collector got there before you did you will just be left with dusty fingers. It was because of this sort of aggressive nature that early on I learned to use different means to find good records. I found that by buying large collections of records at very cheap prices you could often find very rare records amongst the hundreds of duds, keep the records you like and then sell off or donate the ones you don’t want. Estate sales and classified ads are a great source for finding people looking to get rid of their collections. Often these people are oblivious to the rare records in their collections. I have on several occasions been able to score collections of several hundred records for about $50 to find records worth three times that sitting amongst the stacks of wax.

As more convienent and accessible forms of media like CDs and MP3s become more popular I can only pray that people continue to sell off their records collections. Record collections that have been neglected, abused and forgotten. Because one man’s trash is another’s treasure I find no greater joy than taking a record I found home, cleaning it, putting it in a new sleeve, playing it on my stereo and then possibly including it in a DJ mix for others to enjoy. Each record in my collection has a story behind it and here are the stories behind my top 3 digs:

[Bruce Haack - The Electronic record for Children (1969]

I found this record amongst a collection of children’s records I bought from an elementary school. Children’s records are often goldmines for strange sounds to sample and as I was flipping through the numerous sing-a-long and rainy day activities records this one immediately stood out from the rest. The album art had a low budget, do it yourself look and it appeared to come from some cult or commune. The album itself is a mix of early synthesizers, drum machines and narration by Bruce Haack. Bruce Haack was of course an early pioneer in electronic music whose influence still resonates with musicians. The label Stones Throw has recently put a reissue of some of Mr. Haack’s later work which is considered proto-techno and hip-hop.

Steve Halpern – Christening for Listening (1975)

I found this album in a collection of meditation and new age records. There are two versions of this album, one with a bonus jazz-funk cut and one without it. This is the one that features a stretched out acid-jazz jam that is full of drum breaks.

Gracious – This is….Gracious!! (1971)

I found this record in a collection of christian records, the irony being that is a psychedelic prog-rock record. The cover and name of the group must have mislead some church going Christian to purchase it, listen to it once and then file it away because the records itself was in pristine condition. I can only imagine the the look on their face as they listened to the first track which features a freaky ambient intro that builds into searing rock vocals and all then an all out heavy metal assault.

Dubpixel & No-Fi vs. Bluebrain – “Eat the Waves Remix”

sesshinnofi — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:26:38 +0000

Our submission for the The Vinyl District’s Bluebrain remix contest

Fidelica Records Tumblr

sesshinnofi — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:25:17 +0000

Follow all the different projects we are involved with here:

http://fidelica.tumblr.com/

No-Fi Sound System – Found Sound

sesshinnofi — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:42:57 +0000

http://nofisoundsystem.podomatic.com/entry/2010-09-13T21_41_12-07_00