Atónal Blús

The Icelandic band Atónal Blús released their new album Höfuðsynd. The band consists of vocals, harmonica, theremin, guitar, bowed double bass, percussion and drums. This is the title track. I played this on an (at the time) unmodified Etherwave Standard.

Jesper what a wonderful video which stirred up my many memories. For twenty years I could watch people surf from my apartment in Huntington Beach CA. A friend and me would jog five miles regularly on the water’s edge on the hard sand not dodging rocks but tar balls. The video represents when my wife back then wanted to tag along. My question is what brute force is pulling the anchor and not leaving any tracks in the sand?  Keep up the fine theremin performances.

Christopher

Loving this Jesper!!!

I love this Jesper!

Real surprise to me how well the theremin and electric guitar complement each other - and the harmonics on the whole track are superbly crafted IMO..

Yes - Real nice to hear original music like this where the theremin is used cleverly and beautifully!

;-)

Fred.

Thanks for the nice words!

@Christopher: I'm not quite sure how they managed to drag the anchor without leaving any trace of the dragger. I asked around and the only information I got was that is was a secret :)

@Fred: I ran the Etherwave through an early 90's Mesa Boogie Studio .22+ pentode tube amp and distorted the input stage. It has an edgy sound to it. The guitar was for the most part recorded through the same amp so that might be why they seem to blend so well.

" I asked around and the only information I got was that is was a secret :)" - Jesper

So thats where the Roswell UFO ended up! (or perhaps it was being pulled by a theremin connected to the sun, as explained here.)

"I ran the Etherwave through an early 90's Mesa Boogie Studio .22+ pentode tube amp and distorted the input stage. It has an edgy sound to it. The guitar was for the most part recorded through the same amp so that might be why they seem to blend so well." - Jesper

More interesting! - I really liked the sound of both instruments, I suspected that the EW had been "processed" but wouldnt have guessed that it was the same processing as applied to the guitar!

Fred.

I much prefer running my theremin through tube amplifiers. It adds some character to the sound that I like and that I don't seem to get from more "neutral" sounding equipment. I think of the amplifier/speaker as much a part of the theremin sound as the theremin itself. In the same way the resonating acoustic body of a cello amplifies, processes, filters and projects the almost perfect sawtooth waveform produced by the bowed string, I think the amplifier/speaker (resonating body) can color the raw theremin waveform in a musically desirable way.

"So thats where the Roswell UFO ended up! (or perhaps it was being pulled by a theremin connected to the sun, as explained here.)"

Some ufologists think there were more than one UFO at Roswell. Some also believe that they landed in the mythical country of Iceland. Anyways three crashed our wedding this summer. They were delicious. 

" In the same way the resonating acoustic body of a cello amplifies, processes, filters and projects the almost perfect sawtooth waveform produced by the bowed string, I think the amplifier/speaker (resonating body) can color the raw theremin waveform in a musically desirable way." - Jesper

Oh Yes!  I absolutely agree with you on this! I think this is true with all theremins including modern ones, but that with older (RCA etc) theremins the "theremin" was a composite of the whole instrument including cabinet, power amplifier and speaker/s, and that (unlike modern theremins which are designed to be driven into a 'flat' amplifier / speaker system) all components were selected / crafted to work together for optimum output quality.

Fred.

PS - I love your cake!  LOL ;-)

Having a wife who accepts such loonacy looks like a really good sign IMO! .. I wish you much happyness!

I saw Atónal Blús at the recent Iceland Airwaves 14 festival. You guys were amazing, what a great venue too. I have the urge to try the theremin after this. I nearly went and bought an Etherwave, but have gone for the cheaper option of the OpenTheremin Uno to see if I have the patience and ability to learn how to play.

Wish me luck on my quest 😉

Hey John,

I'm glad to hear you liked our set and that you want to try the theremin :) Yea Iðnó has a very nice atmosphere and we really enjoyed playing there. Hope you had a great time in Iceland!

The instrument I play is an Etherwave Plus with a few modifications done to it. When you play in a loud setting like a rock band, it is crucial to have good monitoring to be able to hear what pitch you are playing. I use a pair of closed headphones connected to the "pitch preview" output of my theremin so I can hear the note before lifting my volume hand. Furthermore I have a tuner connected to the same output for visual pitch indication. So when I play in loud settings I play using both a belt and suspenders otherwise it is next to impossible to play in tune.

The Open.Theremin.UNO is great but I wouldn't recommend it as your first theremin unless you have experience with the world of Arduino and Maker Culture. It is basically an Arduino shield and it doesn't come with antennas or even a case. You'll have to fabricate that yourself, put the whole thing together and program the Arduino. There's a number of good theremin kits out there but for a beginner I would recommend the Etherwave Standard since it comes as a complete functioning musical instrument (unless you get the kit version of course). It is also reasonable easy to play straight out of the box and it sounds good too. There's a lot of them floating around and they seem to keep their value pretty well of you for some reason decide to sell it again. Another option is the Burns B3 series theremins. I haven't tried any of them myself but they seem like good beginner's instruments with a much mellower tone than the Etherwave. Yet third option is something like the UK made LV-3 from lostvolts.com 

Playing the theremin is easy. Mastering it is next to impossible. But if you are committed to practicing you will be rewarded :) I wish you the best of luck on your quest!

Jesper