As the institution of modular synthesis stretches its patch cables from the academic ateliers of its origin into the bedroom studios and DIY spaces of the experimental underground, a wide roster of distinct personalities continues to contort the idiom into increasingly warped permutations. Modular rigs, each customized into uniquely tangled configurations by their users, offer the freedom of truly alien tones and randomized rhythmic phrasings, yielding spontaneous compositions that harness the forces of chance and active discovery within the shells of deliberately structured sessions.
Chicago-based synthesist Jeremiah Fisher showcases a remarkably deep palette of modular tactics on his new Children’s Archipelago cassette (available now via Suite 309). He keeps us scratching our heads in sublime confusion over the course of a dynamic song cycle whose miniature sessions juxtapose hi-fi easter eggs born of unknowable patch manipulation. As 1/3 of the current incarnation of long-running avant project Panicsville, Fisher jams his corrupted synth output straight into the tumult generated by bandmates Andy Ortmann and Brett Naucke — often in the context of some hallucinatory performance art skit (brewing and drinking coffee; assuming the roles of cowboy sheriffs in the old west) that elevates their jams into the realm of true multimedia dissociation. In a solo setting, with only the audio feed to entertain us, Fisher maxes out his mixes with enough quivering fine-grain synth missives and tangled melodic phrases to melt our little minds with the warmth of pure bleeping ecstasy. Sessions turn on a dime from loping rhythms into up-tempo lattices of rapidfire pulses. Highlights like “Morphing Games” and “Dusk Magic Programming” revel in sudden shifts in mood and waveform texture, barreling forward on linear trajectories that encompass more disparate tones than any one rig should be able to conjure, without ever descending into pure chaos.
• Jeremiah Fisher: https://soundcloud.com/jeremiahfisher
• Suite 309: http://suite309media.blogspot.com/
More about: Jeremiah Fisher, Sam Gas Can
