#adam forkner

[krecs-blog]

Gearlust: KAPA Continental

One of the more iconic guitars available for studio users would be the KAPA Continental, or "Falcon" guitar, permanently emblazoned in the minds of Dub Narcotic Sound System fans everywhere. A guitar so quintessentially Dub Narcotic Studio - Olympia, Wash 98501, perhaps more than any other piece of equipment in the studio. This fixture has been in house for over 25 years, and recently underwent a fresh tune up.

Calvin says:

This is what they call a house-brand for Veneman’s music which is a music store in the D.C. Area. It’s a KAPA Continental, KAPA is the brand that is made specifically for Veneman’s music, in Edmonston, MD. It’s an unusual guitar in that it’s very regional. Only people in the D.C. area would have this guitar. The reason I have this guitar is in September of 1989, the Go Team were playing a show at a place called D.C. Space, and another guitar of mine, the Kay guitar, broke. There was a guy at the show named Mitch Parker from the band Crippled Pilgrims, and he said “Hey! I’ve got a guitar you can have!” because I was in the middle of a tour and the [Kay] guitar had broken in half. While we were packing up the drums he went home because he just lived a couple of blocks away and got this guitar, and brought it for me.

That tour ended prematurely when the van - it was the first automobile I had owned, a red Ford Falcon van (‘65); threw a rod, as they say. So we realized it wasn’t going to be practical for the band to continue in the van. What seemed more practical was to strip the van of anything useful, including license plates and anything that might identify us, and just leave it on the side of the freeway. So that’s what we did, or what I did; and in stripping the van I stripped off this Falcon logo, and when I got back to where we were staying (in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. with the band Love Child) I slammed it on the guitar. People often refer to this guitar as "the Falcon". Everyone’s played it. When I first acquired it I played it for the rest of that tour, which was about a week before the van died. And then it came back to Olympia and it wasn’t used as much for a few years. I had Paul Schuster, who was in a few different bands on K including Some Velvet Sidewalk, P.E.Z., Internal/External, and also worked at the guitar shop, Moon Music, down the street fix it up. He altered it considerable to make it playable, the neck was a little bit warped and a few other things that he was able to straighten out. So then after that it was more useful, I played it a lot in Dub Narcotic Sound System and then lots of people have used it in sessions. I know that Adam Forkner played it many times and he was on every record. He played with Little Wings, Dub Narcotic Sound System, The Microphones, Mirah, I don’t even know. Yume Bitsu was his band that he originally recorded on K, then White Rainbow and [[VVRSSNN]]. Oh, and Beat Happening played this guitar. In ‘89, at the end of that year just 3 months after I got this guitar we played a show at the Paramount Theater sponsored by the Rocket magazine called Nine for the '90s. It was nine bands that were going to make the'90s the decade and we were for some reason chosen. Bret liked this guitar so he played it, and at one point, I don’t remember what song it was, but in playing he hit the switches and turned off the pickups. Heather and I just kept going so it was like acapella with drums, and he was like “What’s wrong?” but he didn’t know because he’d never played this guitar before. Eventually he figured it out and he turned it on. He just happened to turn it on at a very dramatic moment, it seemed like he did it on purpose, like as far as the audience knew it was just a part of the song. It was like the guitar drops out, and then it came right in right at this part that seemed like it was where the guitar would come back in. So the audience was just like ‘YEAHHHH!” It was crazy, because I’d never played a show so big and I hadn’t experienced the crowd mentality that you get at a larger show. The response was funny, but it was exciting. There’s a photo of him playing that guitar inside the album cover of Music to Climb the Apple Trees by [KLP109]. That’s where this guitar came from. We’ve had it for 25 years and it’s still going.

Get in touch and come play it: studio@krecs.com - Mike

[juiceboxxxusa]

White Rainbow’s Adam Forkner is an electronic polymath (not purist) who makes bangin’ beats for Lil B songs and people who get the weirdness behind Dr. Bronner’s, and who saves his most sincere affection for the kind of musicians he calls “in-betweeners.” This interview by D.M. Collins.

good interview with forkner

[bishopsirondrum]

Looks like its going to be a guitar afternoon with these two hitting the mailbox today.

New Bums - Voices in a Rented Room (Ben Chasney + Donovan from Skygreen Leopards)

White Rainbow - THRU.U (Adam Forkner of Yume Bitsu, etc and badass guitarist on all your fav records, solo ambientish work)

[infinite-expectation]

green eggs & ham

surface of eceon | "the grasshopper king" | the king beneath the mountain | 2001 yes, i knew that surface of eceon was tied to yume bitsu. and yes, i really like yume bitsu. but when i saw adam forkner’s side projects’ names (surface of eceon, white rainbow) both my anti-new-age and anti-cheesy-electronica radars alerted and i resisted. to be fair to myself, how many gay-wad electronica compilations are out there with bands with names like “empathy wave”, “luna sol”, “astralasia” or “voodoo warriors of love”? plus, there is a lot of talk of crystals and positive energy and such coming from mr forkner. but in the end, i have to admit that i judged this book by its cover. (i've been guilty of this before.) recently, i read an interview with mr forkner on pitchfork’s web site that made it seem like the whole new age thing was tongue-in-cheek. the possibility of it being a joke (even if it turns out not to be) gave me an excuse to try it out. and what do you know? i love it.

[f0restpunk]

White Rainbow - DUUUUK IT OUT (by jibkidder)

[ojososcuros]

yayayayayay dancing to this all day. <3

[dolphinshark]

Riffs and Variations

(Alternate Takes, Live Versions, and Early Mixes)

Dirty Projectors - “Fucked For Life (Live)”

“If you’re going to be a Doctor Who fan, you’ve got to accept change.”

That’s what I told my little sisters when it was announced that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill would be leaving their roles as Amy and Rory Pond1 on the British science fiction show. I only got my sisters into the show a year ago, starting with the beginning of Matt Smith’s tenure as the eleventh version of the Doctor. Though they’ve gone back and started to watch earlier series of the show, they still think of the show as one that stars Matt, Karen, and Arthur.

It happens with every fan of the show. Your first Doctor leaves and you’ve gotta get used to the new guy.2 Or your favorite of the Doctor’s human companions leaves and you have to get used to the new people he chooses to travel with him. No matter where you start, eventually you’re going to have to deal with change.

A few weeks after I had that conversation with AKG and MAG,3 it was announced that Angel Deradoorian was on "hiatus" from Dirty Projectors. A few weeks later it was announced that Brian McOmber left the band completely and had been replaced by Mike Johnson. Honestly, I was a bit blindsided. I knew that the Dirty Projectors' "Past Members" section on Wikipedia was quite lengthy, but I thought that the group had finally crystallized into a permanent line-up.

Then I realized that I had fallen into the same trap that my sisters had. I knew that being a fan of Dirty Projectors meant that at any moment Dave might decide to force everyone else out of the band and record a new Dirty Projectors album with a group comprised of Chris Kirkpatrick, Billy Bob Brockali, and Pete Best. But, I thought that the group that I knew, the line-up I was first introduced to, would be the exception.

But the thing is, if you're going to be a Dirty Projectors fan, you've got to accept change.

Which brings us to the track above. "Fucked For Life" originally appeared in a substantially different form on the group's New Attitude EP in 2006, shortly before Amber Coffman and Susanna Weiche joined the band. The version at hand comes from a Daytrotter session4 the following year, after the Girly Projectors had joined the band. Listening to each of those versions back to back makes the band's transition during this period clear. While the original recording sounds like the guts of a pop song that Dave eviscerated and pulled apart (but in a good way), the one above sounds fuller and more propulsive, mainly because of the expanded orchestration. The original marks the beginning of the end of Dave's early work, while the live recording serves as a bridge to the current, full-blooded band that Dirty Projectors has become.

It was listening to this track that I came across a new way of thinking about Dirty Projectors (for me, at least). While I had always known that Dave was the central creative force in the group, I had still always though of the band's other members as collaborators. The reason for this (obviously) is that they do collaborate with Dave, but they do so in a way that is quite different from most other bands. Instead of "partners" or "assistants," I think it might make more sense to think of the non-Davey Projectors as instruments. They're less of a musical associate, and more a vessel that Dave channels his creative works through. 

When I listen to the reeling opening of the live version of "Fucked For Life," I hear the song being played on the perfect instrument. Dave and Amber's voices stream over his ambling, loping guitarwork. It sounds like the fullest realization of what "Fucked For Life" could be. The group as was arranged at that time was comprised of individuals who could make the sounds that Dave needed to make his compositions sound the best that they could. 

That's why it's okay for the line-up of Dirty Projectors to change. As much as fans might love a member of the group, the band is ultimately an array of instruments designed to channel the songs of their leader in the best way possible. As Dave Longstreth's work progresses, so too must the people he needs to create that work. Just like Doctor Who, for Dirty Projectors to continue, there's going to be change. And as fans, we've got to accept it.

-TWG5

1. THIS INTENTIONAL MISTAKE IS AN INSIDE JOKE FOR DOCTOR WHO FANS. HAHAHAHA WHAT FUN WE HAVE

2. If you’re unfamiliar with the show, it focuses on a time/space-traveling alien who can “regenerate” into a new body when he’s dying. Thus, the show has followed the same character for nearly 50 years, but he’s been played by eleven different actors.

3. View AKG's Dolphin//Shark reviews here.

4. Make sure you read the interview that accompanies that page because Dave makes an awesome joke about tuberculosis.

5. Okay, I guess I've gotta assign Dirty Projectors/Doctor Who analogues. Dave Longstreth is the Doctor. Amber Coffman is Rose Tyler. Angel Deradoorian is Amy Pond. Nat Baldwin is Rory Williams. Brian McOmber is Captain Jack Harkness. Haley Dekle is Donna Noble. Mike Johnson is Adam Mitchell. Jenn Wasner is River Song. Susanna Waiche is Martha Jones. Adam Forkner is Jamie McCrimmon. Ezra Koenig is Sarah Jane Smith. Rostam Batmanglij is K-9. Jake Longstreth is Susan Foreman. Wes Miles is Jo Grant. Sam Bernstein is Adric. Anneli Chambliss is Nyssa. Emily Cheeger is Teagan Jovanka. Alex Farrill is Harry Sullivan. Will Glass is Barbara Wright. Spencer Kingman is Ian Chesterton. Charlie Looker is Peri Brown. Hank Miller is Zoe Heriot. And James Sumner is Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. If you need me to explain the logic behind any of those, just ask.

[eforalpha]

Video: White Rainbow - DUUUUK IT OUT

[White Rainbow]

[deepdrone]

White Rainbow - Sea Thru

I made a 16mm film last year titled Thanksgiving and I used this song as an accompaniment. It's one of my favorite drone works, and I will always associate it with the snow and the cold. Since it's snowed so much today in Chicago, I thought I would share it. Make sure to grab the whole piece at his bandcamp because it's like 40 minutes long.

[infinite-expectation]

green eggs & ham

surface of eceon | "the grasshopper king" | the king beneath the mountain | 2001 yes, i knew that surface of eceon was tied to yume bitsu. and yes, i really like yume bitsu. but when i saw adam forkner’s side projects’ names (surface of eceon, white rainbow) both my anti-new-age and anti-cheesy-electronica radars alerted and i resisted. to be fair to myself, how many gay-wad electronica compilations are out there with bands with names like “empathy wave”, “luna sol”, “astralasia” or “voodoo warriors of love”? plus, there is a lot of talk of crystals and positive energy and such coming from mr forkner. but in the end, i have to admit that i judged this book by its cover. (i've been guilty of this before.) recently, i read an interview with mr forkner on pitchfork’s web site that made it seem like the whole new age thing was tongue-in-cheek. the possibility of it being a joke (even if it turns out not to be) gave me an excuse to try it out. and what do you know? i love it.

[whateverson]

Purple & Green Sunshine video.

Green's fashion oh my God. The belt.

[krecs-blog]

A sneak preview of White Rainbow's upcoming Dub Narcotic Disco Plate, "The Making of Thriller" b/w "The Making of Star Wars" [DBN125] showcases them interstellar soul beats Adam Forkner has been churning out for years - hyper-speed black hole hypnosis.

No need to cry out in anticipation, "The Making of Star Wars" features the collaboration of Forkner and Calvin Johnson that we know you've all been dying for (whether you knew it or not)!

[ectoplasmgasm-blog]

http://www.mediafire.com/?t3ymexyugdz

[otiobr-blog]

From Now On Let's by White Rainbow

White Rainbow is a hyper ambient and psychedelic project by Portland, OR native Adam Forkner. A fiend when it comes to making music, Forkner has self-released 10 albums since March 2010. His latest work, From Now On Let's: The Mixtape, boasts a myriad of glitches, beeps, and unique sample usage. The title track is a perfect introduction to White Rainbow as horns and mind-bending drop-offs create the sort of collage of sound that's reserved for a night full of dancing.

Check out his Bandcamp here.