Gray Code

Press

Floating Point has been aired on many international jazz stations, including shows in France and Germany. The CD was reviewed on several well-known jazz blogs as well. The French Canadian jazz blog Monsieur Délire had this to say about Floating Point:

The music speaks to me. It explores sonic and human relations, isn’t afraid to question itself, dives into the unknown with a sense of urgency. A fine effort.

The Italian jazz blog allaboutjazz had this to say:

A blinding flash, [Floating Point] provides a sweetness and a particular elegance, thanks to the interaction between machines and creative human sensitivity.

The German jazz blog site Ragazzi Music said:

The free-attacks of the supercharged horns, which develop during the song from deepest melancholy to ebullient drama, are aided by the drums, which are carried away themselves, while the electronic sounds slowly dissipate and cease to cooperate. Absolutely listenable...every idea of beauty of sound is executed lustily and with verve on the battle ground of radical sounds.

Max Level, from KFJC 89.7 FM, Los Altos Hills, CA, wrote:

Electro-acoustic constructions straddling the line between improvised music and academic sound exploration. Electric guitar, clarinet, and drums provide the raw material, but when these three mad scientists plug in their tech-gizmos, it’s a whole other thing. The players have sensors attached to their instruments, responding to their body movements, making the sound more three-dimensional or something like that. Serious tweaking, and the sounds can get pretty intense. I don’t know what to think because most of what I know about music is being subverted here. Actually, I do know what to think: these guys are not afraid to work outside the box with their artistic concepts, and it’s a safe bet they are also way smarter than I am.

 

Bios

Butch Rovan: reeds + live electronics (MiMICS)
Butch Rovan is a media artist and performer at Brown University, where he co-directs MEME (Multimedia & Electronic Music Experiments). Prior to joining Brown he directed CEMI at the University of North Texas, and was a compositeur en recherche at IRCAM. Rovan has received prizes from the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition, the Berlin Transmediale International Media Arts Festival, and his work has appeared throughout Europe and the U.S. Most recently his interactive installation Let us imagine a straight line was featured in the 14th WRO International Media Art Biennale, Poland. For more info see bio page on this site.

Kevin Patton: guitar + live electronics (TaurEx)
Kevin Patton is a composer, guitarist, and experimental sound performer who explores the increasingly nebulous borderlands between humans and machines in performance. The integration of interactive electronic music and machine improvisation into traditional performance contexts is at the center of his practice. The Wire magazine described Kevin as genre bending: "Guitar based free playing morphs into feedback avalanches, or vice versa, and labels like jazz, noise, or rock become meaningless." (The WIRE, 11/4/05)

Kevin often performs his own work in both instrumental improvisation and interactive chamber music and has performed in Europe, Japan, and throughout North America. The Aphasia Project, a multi-media performance art duet with visual artist Carmen Montoya, integrates video, interactive and generative environments, and performance art in both a concert and installation setting. "The audio and video components of Aphasia Project from intertwined frameworks for interpretation. Mutually dependent on each other for meaning, the sounds and visuals of Aphasia Project pieces form a semiotic synergy that comes alive in performance." (The WIRE, 11/4/05) Kevin's music and ideas have been presented at the Electronic Music Studies (EMS) International conference in Beijing, China, and the Visiones Sonoras festival in Morelia, Mexico, among many. See Kevin Patton's site for more information.

Fred Kennedy: percussion
Originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, drummer and sound designer Frederick Kennedy now makes his home in New York City. In the last few years, Fred has completed tours to France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ecuador, Canada, the Southwestern United States, and California. Fred is fortunate to have had the opportunity to perform with many fantastic artists, including David Krakauer, Tim Hagans, JD Walter, Bobby Shew, Sheryl Bailey, Joe LoCascio, Lynn Seaton, Dan Haerle, Philip Glass, Iva Bitova, and Andrew D’Angelo. Fred has also worked extensively collaborating with theatre and dance artists on such projects as Tiger’s Heart (97), The Secret Place (02), Trout Stanley (04), and Brighter Than the Light of the Sun (05), for which Fred received a Robert Merrit Award for Best Sound Design.

As a regular collaborator with New York video artist Pierre St-Jacques, Fred has also written, recorded and edited numerous scores for video, including Clouds and Raindrops (04), featured at the Bronx Museum of Art in April of 2004, Token of My Affection (04), which has been shown in Tokyo and New York, and Project for a Grey Dress (06). Recent projects include the Suite Unraveling, a group blending elements of minimalist chamber music, free jazz, and indie rock; and Randal, a quartet that Fred co-leads with Norwegian guitarist Jostein Gulbrandsen.