PHANTOM BROADCAST 2002 John Duncan Shortwave Released by Allquestions AQ 04

Photo by Giuliana Stefani

FRESH 2002 Performances by zeitkratzer Composed and conducted by John Duncan NAV-FLEX TRINITY zeitkratzer Ulrich Krieger (saxophones) Franz Hautzinger (trumpet) Melvyn Poore (tuba) Alexander Frangenheim (double bass) Michael Moser (cello) Burkhard Schlothauer (violin) Luca Venitucci (accordion) Ray Kaczynski (percussion) Reinhold Friedl (piano) Marcus Waibel (sound, electronics) Released by Allquestions and X-tract. AQ 03/x-t 2005

Photo by Giuliana Stefani

Recorded at Podewil, Berlin; March & October 2001. Mixed at WW-Studios Berlin by Marcus Waibel, Reinhold Friedl & John Duncan. The cooperation between John Duncan and zeitkratzer is largely due to the excellent support of Elke Moltrecht, music curator at Podewil Berlin, who also had the idea to bring them together as artists in residence at Podewil Berlin.

NAV 2001 John Duncan and Francisco López Data files Shortwave Double CD in doublefold digipak cover Released by .absolute. and Allquestions Not content with the material that won them an Honorable Mention at the 2000 Prix Ars Electronica, Duncan and López have completely recomposed this work to two CD's, NAV-FLEX (Duncan) and NAV-gate (López), by adding each others' sources to their own.

PALACE of MIND 2001 CD with Giuliana Stefani released by Allquestions Italy Dual-fold heavy paper cover Inside cover photo by Giuliana Stefani Design and layout by Giuliana Stefani and John Duncan

Photo by Giuliana Stefani

TAP INTERNAL 2000 Solo CD released by Touch UK Back cover photo by Giuliana Stefani Front cover x-ray courtesy Dr. Grazia Fazio Design and layout by Jon Wozencroft and John Duncan Hear TAP INTERNAL

Photo by Giuliana Stefani

"TAP INTERNAL is beautiful and -- in classical "Duncan style" -- cruel, in that it puts you in contact with our deepest psyche and lays it bare, turning the auricular membrane inside out, leaving an indelible mark of new frequencies that are beautiful to abandon yourself to, but... just at the moment of hypnosis the scenario is completely convoluted and the sound becomes coarse and varied, cuts the air and tries to attack -- and once more the brain is forced to change its attitude, define a new reaction to the input. "The beauty and uniqueness of John Duncan's music is fully captured in this continuous change of situations, dynamics, sounds and emotions which is, in a word, the microscopic photography of life itself." -- Massimo Ricci, translation by G. Stefani

CRUCIBLE 1998 Outdoor concert at Topolò Event Festival Topolò, Italy Released in cedarwood box by Die Stadt

THE ELGALAND-VARGALAND NATIONAL ANTHEM 1998 For chorus and percussion Recorded and mixed by John Duncan and Zbigniew Karkowski Chorus: Ingrid, S. Onishi Percussion: Thunder Incorporated Side A of a limited-edition 7-inch EP with OLD HIVE by Andrew Chalk and Christoph Heemann on side B Limited edition by Die Stadt Fax: +49.241.75993

SEEK 1997 Solo broadcast over de Avonden VPRO Radio 5, The Netherlands Recorded and mixed by John Duncan L'ATESSA composed with Ciro Iamarco Released on Staalplaat The Netherlands HYMN --- L'ATTESA --- SCRAMBLE

THE JOHN SEE SOUNDTRACKS 1997 CD including the full soundtrack from MOVE FORWARD and all soundtracks from the limited-edition picturedisc LP THE JOHN SEE SERIES released on RRRecords BREATH CHOIR AIDAYUKI PASSION BREATHCHOIR MIX INKA POWER LOVE

SPLIT SECOND 1997 Track included on Tulpas Released on Selektion

HOME: UNSPEAKABLE 1996 Composed by John Duncan and Bernhard Günter Released on trente oiseaux

THE CRACKLING 1996 HERE SPARK CORE TIDE CHARGE ACT PROCESS CHANGE STEEL WATER

Composed by John Duncan with Max Springer Recorded by John Duncan at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) Computer sequences engineered by Max Springer and Benzine Design and Layout by Tom Recchion Mixed at AVW, San Diego Available from allquestions.net NECROPOLIS The Stanford Linear Accelerator tunnel is a straight line of prefabricated steel structures several stories high, connected end-to-end, 2 miles (3+ kilometers) long. Inside, microwave electron drivers are set every 10 meters, each unit emitting an intense, disorienting 120Hz buzz that creates phasing effects with the other units near it, all in an enclosed straight line that stretches out to a vanishing point. These drivers propel electrons in parallel paths along the tunnel up to velocities just under the speed of light, toward a collision chamber at the far end where the paths split and the electrons are driven into each other head-on. The collision chamber is a solid-steel cylinder roughly 20 meters thick, with a hollow center roughly the same diameter as the length of a one-bedroom apartment. The temperature of the center at the moment of collision reaches 3 billion degrees Kelvin, cooled by a liquid nitrogen cryogenic system. The chamber and several monitoring stations are mounted on a multi-story steel scaffold that was originally designed by shipbuilders to support a supertanker in drydock. This entire structure occupies the far end of a much larger prefabricated steel building, that itself is easily large enough to house several 747's, one on top of the other. The place is full of contradictions: structures built to dwarf and outlast their creators, designed to generate subatomic events that take place in a time scale that is experientially impossible to imagine, using forces and processes that are hostile or lethal to human life, yet are entirely human-created. A 'city of the dead' that seems to have an existence of its own with or without its operators. For this work, the electron is understood as a metaphor for the process of life: isolated, compelled by a system that uses the electron's own energy to force it into a path that leads at a constantly increasing pace to certain destruction -- to a point of certain change, of complete resolution and the beginning of a new process.

CHARGE FIELD 1996 Track composed with Giuliana Stefani included on Antiphony Released on Ash Ash 3.4

Photo © Julian Hills

CHANGE 1996 Track included on The Mind of a Missile Released on Heel Stone Stone 003

TRINITY 1996 Track included on A Fault In The Nothing Double-CD released on Ash UK Ash 2.6

HYMN 1996 Track included on State of the Union produced by Elliott Sharp CD released on Atavistic, USA

THE RUUD E. MEMORIAL CHOIR / PSYCHONAUT 1996 Clear-vinyl limited-edition EP released on Robot Records, USA. THE RUUD E. MEMORIAL CHOIR 30-voice choir directed by Duncan. PSYCHONAUT recorded at FLARE, Amsterdam Mixed at the Sweelink Academy Electronic Music Studio, Amsterdam

THE RUUD E. MEMORIAL CHOIR In the winter of 1992, Ruud Ekelhof travelled to Estonia to join friends there for a one-day trek across the frozen Gulf of Finland to Helsinki. Soon after they started out, the more experienced local hikers noticed that the ice was cracking under their weight and the group decided to turn back. Determined to go forward, Ruud refused to join them and went ahead on his own. Six months later, his body was discovered floating in Helsinki Harbor. Within days of this news, Ruud's closest friend Arkadi was found dead with his girlfriend, esphixiated in a household accident. During the preparation of a joint memorial planned for Ruud and Arkadi, a set of notebooks were discovered where Ruud kept his writings, including texts he'd written in a secret language that he and Arkadi had developed. I copied the complete text of these notebooks for a 30-voice choir, giving each member one page that was unique, one page that was shared by at least one other choir member, and one page that was shared by all. This recording was made at a live performance held during the all-night memorial service held August 1993. Texts from the secret language are spoken by Peat Moss.

INCOMING 1995 Solo CD released on Streamline INCOMING FLARE VOICE FIELD CEREMONY PASS Recorded in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Aachen and Mei Tam Village, Thailand INCOMING, CEREMONY and PASS composed with Christoph Heeman Streamline 1005

Releases before 1995


© 1995 - 2009 John Duncan