Handmade Digitopians Quintet

Earlier this year, I've participated in an "handmade music" workshop, and, as a result, we ended up composing a song and playing it live at Casa da Música.

"Handmade Digitopians Quintet" was an one-time-only formation with:

Carlos Guedes - https://vimeo.com/cguedes
Marcos Marado (Merankorii) - http://www.reverbnation.com/merankorii
Paula Simões - http://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/
Victor Gama - http://www.victorgama.org/
... - ...

Here's the live recording of the result, which you can listen or download for free.

Remix Merankorii's "Cry", win an iPad!

Free Music Archive got together with the Prelinger Archives Collection, and created a video remix contest called "Sound for the Moving Image: The Past Re-imagined As The Future." The contest invites artists everywhere to mix video from the incredible Prelinger Archives Collection with audio from the Free Music Archive to create new masterpieces for the commons. The point of this contest is to showcase the creative possibilities of open digital archives like these.

So, long story short, the contest wants you to remix audio from FMA with video from PAC, and, guess what, Merankorii's track "Cry" is on FMA, so... what are you waiting for?

See the Videoremix webpage here!

"Piracy" now available for (free) streaming and download

After doing a live version of this song in last December, the public attention towards it has been growing. Even if this is quite different in the album version and in the live version, I wasn't really very happy on how it went live - for starts I need to do a shorter version of it, if I want to perform it live again. Anyway, by public demand, the (studio version) track is now officially available for (free) streaming and download:

Beltane, live @ Flausina: video now available

The title says quite everything: Merankorii gave a concert in May at Flausina, and a video from one of the tracks performed is now available:

Enjoy!

Exquisite Cadaver - out now!

For now only as a digital release, but it is finally out!

Exquisite Cadaver is a method by which a collection of words, images, or in this case sound is collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.

In February 2010, Bleeemo Music put out a call to experimental noise and sound artists from around the globe to take part in a collaborative journey. With 18 artists on board, from 14 countries, a 10 month recording roster was set and the rest, as they say, is history.

One of the magical aspects of this release is hearing, or in some cases not hearing, the artists react to each other. Each artist was only allowed to hear the final 30 seconds of the previous artists contribution before creating their track. The many ways in which the artists here have chosen to respond to each other create many depths to what is essentially one piece of ever evolving music.

Includes one Merankorii track.

Next Saturday (May 12), Merankorii live in Lisbon

Merankorii is going to be celebrating Culture Freedom Day in Lisbon, Portugal, next saturday (May 12) at Flausina.

The concert is free, and you should show up!

More info here.

"Exquisite Cadaver Vol I" release date: 18th May

Album: Exquisite Cadaver Vol I
Label: Bleeemo Music

Artists:
... Melodies - Australia
Luden - Australia
Bleeding Thorax - United States
Andreas Brandal - Norway
Love Power Experiment - United States
Sam Price - Australia
Blank Verse - Sweden
TZIDMZ - Italy
Paddo One - Netherlands
Automating - Australia
Cloudy Horizon - Russian Federation
Paregorik - Czech Republic
Merankorii - Portugal
Jaap Klevering - Finland
Grist - Australia
Mind Paintings - Germany
Harold Nono - Scotland
Gate - Japan

Exquisite Cadaver is a method by which a collection of words, images, or in this case sound is collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.

In February 2010, Bleeemo Music put out a call to experimental noise and sound artists from around the globe to take part in a collaborative journey. With 18 artists on board, from 14 countries, a 10 month recording roster was set and the rest, as they say, is history.

One of the magical aspects of this release is hearing, or in some cases not hearing, the artists react to each other. Each artist was only allowed to hear the final 30 seconds of the previous artists contribution before creating their track. The many ways in which the artists here have chosen to respond to each other create many depths to what is essentially one piece of ever evolving music.

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Tune into Ear Of The Behearer with Paul Kidney on 05/18/2012 and join us here to celebrate.

Broadcasting from Melbourne, Australia. 3:00AM Eastern Standard Time.

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At the same day, this album will see its digital release - more info about it in time.

Essa É Que É Essa...

Every 20th of each month I do a music track (see more about that, and why, here).

This month's 20th for Merankorii has Paula's voice reading the amusing text from Ludwig Krippahl called "Essa É Que É Essa...", a satirical blog post criticizing the editorial of a Portuguese newspaper, about the so-called "piracy".

Merankorii's latest activity

This shouldn't be one blog post but three - as usual I didn't find the time to post this before, so here's a three in one:

In the 19th of December, the latest +ko+ko+ album, "A Path To Nowhere", was released. This is a great album, and Merankorii did its mastering. Click on the CD picture to see more info/buy it, and check the videos from three of its tracks:

The next day, 20th of December, Merankorii did its first concert after the release of Alain. While there are no official recordings of the show, some of the attendants recorded some sound, video or pictures of the event. Here are a video and a sound recording I found, if you know of others please write a comment! are no official recordings of the show, some of the attendants recorded some sound, video or pictures of the event. Here are a video and a sound recording I found (and one of the several pictures you can easily find), if you know of others please write a comment!

One video (unfortunately G+ doesn't let me embed it)

Merankorii Live at Chiado by Nuno Nunes

Finally, some news from the new year: yesterday was the release of 20ths of 2011, a free compilation with tracks from the 11 20th's of 2011.

These tracks don't share a sound or style or theme, but they all came into existence in a similar way. Each track was completely written and recorded on the 20th day of some month in 2011, as part of the 20th project.

This compilation contains contributions from Mystified (USA), The Knits (Australia), +ko+ko+ (Portugal), Andy McClelland (Canada), RainBoat (Australia), The Desks (Australia), Bray's Warehouse (Australia), 44Hertz (Australia), Telafonica (Australia), Merankorii (Portugal), The Friday Project (USA), WRC (USA), kokori (Portugal) and Cup and Bow (Australia).

Embeded, you'll find Merankorii's track "Dramatis Personae", and Kokori's track "Apert", each with a little description of the track (remember: kokori is a musical project made by Merankorii and +ko+ko+). According to Wikipedia, "the term [dramatis personae] can be applied to any situation in which people or characters play a role, or appear to do so-—such as a metaphor, a drama, or a court case. It may also be facetiously applied in a situation where members of a group appear to play predictable roles, often for comic effect." What happens when the keys of a keyboard are the actors, as much as the whole (and each) keyboard itself, and their player? And in such a scenario, whose story would they be playing?

Like in most of Kokori's tracks, this one was made after the euro-making day job. It's title is a reference to Neal Stephenson's Anathem universe, and its context can be grabbed from here.