Analog Suicide

“I Speak Machine”, the new girl on the block.

Tara — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:09:13 +0000

Freshly reset from killer jetlag and a dainty touch of flu, I sit here, mid morning, contemplating all of the pieces of my creative life that have surfaced, namely a new, dark, disturbing & satisfying new project, I Speak Machine. All these thoughts chime around my head, serenading me like someone’s put a nest of newborn canaries on my head. And this isn’t just the Theraflu talking…this has been exciting me rather deeply & deliciously.

I suppose I must now explain what I Speak Machine is & how it came into being…pretty simple really (famous last words). I was comissioned by PRS & Sensoria Festival to write an electronic music symphony and to also create an effects processor that I would use to represent one of the characters in the symphony….one morning, I woke with a melody tracing through my head like an ice skate on a lake, over & over: “I Speak Machine, I Speak Machine now…”. I loved not only the phrase, but how it described the music I now want to make – a blend of the organic, represented by the human voice, and the mechanical – represented of course by “the machines”. Then, what started out as a song became the name of the symphony, then became the name of an alter-ego that creates darker, starker, more electronic sounds than Tara Busch naturally would. I hope this makes sense – it is so difficult to talk about how and what you create without sounding like a self-indulgent lunatic.

I had the pleasure of performing I Speak Machine last week at the wonderful Sensoria Festival, and I’m so very pleased to say the response was wonderful! Sheffield is a vibrant, exciting music city to begin with, so I was very flattered that the audience appreciated it so much. See?

Sound check at Sensoria, pic by Maf Lewis.

Photo from Pixelwitch’s Flickr, more here.

I’ve written a decent bit about the making here, but will take you further into the making of it this week. I’m tweaking the mixes and taking it from Ableton back into Logic (translation: from the live setting to the album version) and will, as always, happily share the components, how I make the sounds and all that (hopefully) juicy stuff. We’ll also be tweaking AnalogSuicide.com this week to accomodate the arrival of I Speak Machine – the newest member of mine & Maf’s AnalogSuicide.com collective. So to speak!

So, may I present to you my new twin, my new alter ego, “I Speak Machine”. I hope you dig the new sounds! These are demo versions that you are more than encouraged to download & share. More very soon.

‘I Speak Machine’ – Update from ground control…

Tara — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 20:01:19 +0000

Fun fact on a rainy Sunday: I am currently ensconced (love that word..) in my Los Angeles studio working on my new project “I Speak Machine”. Not long to go until the April 22nd performance in Sheffield at the Sensoria Festival! Yes.

A very important ingredient in I Speak Machine...

I briefly described the project here, but it has since taken on a life of its own, the story changing a bit and the music taking a more “mechanical v/s organic” direction than previously imagined.

Here is how I tried to describe the project to a friend in a recent letter…:

“It’s a 30 minute symphony about a female scientist that creates an android named G.E.N.A – which stands for “Genetically Enhanced Neural Android). The story is pretty simple – G.E.N.A eventually becomes sentient, wants to become human and destroys the scientist that created her, taking the scientist’s heart and brain; the “human components”, as her own. For this symphony, we are building an effects processor to use which will be the voice of the android and I will perform the symphony live with the processor. ”

This is quite a happy in congruency to any previous work I’ve done, focusing on playing the human voice against and in alliance with the machines I play…computers, synths. It’s a nice return to being a singer first and formost – the most organic instrument I can think of – against the most mechanical. And by myself.

As far as the effects processor, it will indeed be something along the lines of “Radiophonic”. If a Dalek could sing, through a vocoder and a frequency follower (is that the right terminology?) like an MS 20′s ESP. That.
Here are a few clips of me cooking this “sympho”…more to come soon.

One of the songs has stemmed from this:

Back to work…perhaps I should change my professional name to “I Speak Machine”. Seems apt. I will delve more into the machines behind this music soon.

Abstraxa! The New Buchla Album by Benge of John Foxx & The Maths..

Tara — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:02:03 +0000

I first met Benge last May when I was asked by Luke Turner at The Quietus to collaborate with John Foxx and The Maths. I had indeed heard his work previously – from his work with John on the brilliant, elegant Maths album ‘Interplay’ to his beautifully crafted and packaged synth album, ’20 Systems’. It was on a recent trip to Los Angeles that Benge added the awe-inspiring Buchla system to his army of synth weaponry…thus creating the abstract, mind melting album Abstraxa!

I got to chat with Benge a bit more when he was last in Los Angeles about the inner workings of his new system and creating this album solely from one blinking, bleeping, blooping, wild machine that is, the Buchla!
Listen here, then check out the interview below:

Abstraxa by Benge

Tara: Tell me how your new album Abstraxa came about?

Benge: I put together a small Buchla system last year and I have spent quite a lot of time getting to know it. It works very differently to all the other modulars out there, with the possible exception of the Serge Modular which has some similarities and came from the same school of thought (ie California in the late 1960s, early 70s). So, having got my head round its quirky and somewhat unconventional programming structure, (Buchla doesn’t provide proper user manuals, that would take the fun out of learning it!) I decided to concentrate on composing some pieces, with the idea of letting the Buchla lead the way rather than me impose too much of myself on it.

T: So were all the pieces on the album self-composing? I mean – did you just let the Buchla run by itself?

B: Not exactly, but I did set the Buchla up so that I could interact with the sounds as they went along. So for example, I would set up a short sequence with automated timbres (via LFOs) and then manually adjust the clock speed and pitch of the oscillators and modulations. I would then record a second pass and respond to the changes in the first one so it was like using chance elements to help compose the pieces.

T: When did you know the pieces were finished?

B: I wanted to keep this record really simple, so with that in mind I tried to do as little as possible. There were quite a few attempts that I discarded after listening to them for a while. In the end I recorded lots of pieces and kept the ones that seemed to work best, on their own and also as a group.

T: You added some reverb and delay effects to the tracks, what was the thinking behind this?

B: Actually I didn’t add the effects on top of the tracks, I built them into the system patches. One of the nice things about modular synthesis is you can decide the signal flow and design your own audio chains. On the Buchla, there’s a really great mixer (the 227e System Interface) which allows you to automate levels and panning with LFOs and also patch in external signals. So I set up some of the channels to go out to a simple spring reverb and also a delay line then brought the effected signals back into the automated patch on the mixer, and sometimes through other treatments like the band-pass filter and so on. So the effects were integral to the way I composed and interacted with the tracks.

T: Overall the record sounds like it could have been recorded 40 years ago. I know in your other work with your collaboration with John Foxx (as The Maths) you make use exclusively of old equipment. Why do you have this fascination with vintage gear?

B: Actually most of the Buchla 200e is brand new and uses modern digital processors to do it’s thing, but I guess it stays true to the original design concept, which is now almost 50 years old. But yes – I do have a total obsession with old stuff, and I think this comes from a desire to explore all these amazing machines that have sometimes been forgotten about. I mean, not in the case of the Buchla, but some of the things I use in the studio, and even some of the procedures I use, have been superseded so many times and refined and perfected and miniaturised and eventually turned into virtual computer versions that they have no character or soul left. So I prefer to use all the forgotten and abandoned things because I think they have more character. And as John Foxx recently pointed out to me, recording these old electronic instruments and effects units on very modern high resolution digital recorders and speakers means we can hear it all so much better than when the original equipment was made. You can suddenly hear the raw power of these pure analog signals.

T: Your work seems to be getting more abstract with each album (the last one being Twenty Systems). Is this trend going to continue?

B: I don’t have a plan to do that, but I guess this is the direction I am exploring more with my solo work. I feel that my various collaborations take up more melodic and rhythmic explorations, and when I work by myself I want to kind of do the opposite. Usually after a busy day in the studio making more structured music I go home and put some really abstract sounds on to clear my head. I love listening to early Morton Subotnick, or something like Michael Czajkowski’s People The Sky, a really obscure Buchla album which was recorded on Subotnick’s Buchla 100 system I believe, in 1969. I had my Buchla system set up at home while I’ve been learning how to use it, and this album is the result of my initial experiments.

T: Will you release this as a CD album as opposed to just online via Bandcamp?

B: I wanted to do this as an exclusive digital download release and see what it felt like and its been pretty good actually. There’s something really refreshing about recording and mastering an album and then putting it out there immediately without having to wait for all the usual release-schedule things, which can take months and months to do with a conventional CD. But I might re-issue it in some form in the future, maybe as a 12 inch vinyl or something.

T: Whats next for you?

B: As Benge I’ve got another quite abstract synthesiser only mini-album called Loop Series coming out very soon as a C30 cassette on the Chemical Tapes label. In fact I literally just opened the parcel today with my copies of the tape in and they look beautiful, so its time to dig out and hook up the old stereo tape player again.

Find Abstraxa here on Bandcamp and watch this space for more updates!

Benge links:
Twitter
His blog, It’s Full of Stars
bengestudios.com
expandingrecords.com
chemicaltapes.com

Ending Tomorrow, March 1st – Help Bob Moog Foundation’s Fabulous, Juicy IndieGoGo Campaign!

Tara — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:50:44 +0000

As you well know, Dr Bob’s SoundSchool is something very dear to my heart - Michelle Moog- Koussa & the Bob Moog Foundation have recently kicked off a fantastic IndieGoGo campaign to help bring the Sound School to kids everywhere…

Do hurry, however – the campaign ends at 11:59pm tomorrow, March 1st!

The perks & prizes? Rather sweet! Here’s more about the whole campaign from the IndieGoGo site…and from the BMF site…hop in before it’s too late, it’s for a tremendous cause! If you’re not familiar with IndieGoGo, you can contribute to your chosen campaign at differing amounts, of course the more you contribute, the jucier your “perk” is.
And…you may win this (I could always use another Voyager, couldn’t you?):

…And our friend Marc Doty, synth wizard from the BMF gives us more insight on the beloved, highly coveted Voyager:

Lastly, a segment on Asheville’s local station gives you a little more detail too…right here.

Pop over here and give the BMF your love!!

Tara Remixes Ren Harvieu’s “Forever in Blue”…The ‘Recipe’!

Tara — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:06:58 +0000

First, have a listen!

Next, before I continue…here’s a word about Ren Harvieu, first of all – if you haven’t heard her, you really should. Her voice is smoky and sweet; reminiscent of the great Dusty Springfield with the cool, suttle sexiness of Sandy Shaw. Her album is out soon; here is the original…

The recipe:
Over Christmas and New Years, we were staying in North Carolina at my parent’s house eating and drinking and…remixing our way through the holidays. My parents, for the past several years, have been living in a remote house “out in the country” in North Carolina on a lake (slightly reminiscent of Friday the 13th, which I always was fond of). Next door, there is a creepy, mothball scented house – the inhabitants left for Hawaii and never came back, leaving the house for my parents to look after…

Sunrise out the studio window...

I holed up in the master bedroom, rearranged the bizarre 1970′s “country charm” furniture to suit my needs, and decided to use the unsettling environment to my advantage.

The insane yet fabulous -sounding music box collection...

Perhaps it worked? I woke at dawn (best time for me creatively) and crossed the yard in the freezing cold to the neighbor’s house, and turned on the machines.

While working on this, I became very influenced by John Carpenter’s Halloween score (I’d play it each morning while warming up the machines & making coffee, as well as Kavinsky’s “Nightcall”) & nightly doses of American Horror Story ( the theme by Cesar Davila Irizarry and Charlie Clouser is to die for)…I liked the thought of letting Ren’s lush, heartbroken vocal lie on top of a narly, nasty bed of dusty, distorted Farfisa through the Moogergooger Cluster Flux.

I also made the decision to try and use the Pro One for as much of the drums as possible, as I wanted to hone my sound sculpting skills here. The kick in the beginning is the Pro One through the Moogerfooger delay , as well as the “white snare” you may hear. The rest of the drums are courtesy the dearly beloved NI Battery 3.

This is also the first remix that I did not sing on, as I felt it didn’t need it. Maybe next time…Anyway – hope you enjoy it, and watch this space for more news about Ren’s release and where to scoop up my remix.

Mystery Circuits’ Sweet New Machine – The “Trommemaskine”!

Tara — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:05:46 +0000

Our lovely friend Mike Walters, who played synths and many of his Mystery Circuits machines on my Pilfershire Lane record has created a rather fabulous new machine, the Trommemaskine!

Built for Alex Maiolo’s girlfriend, Olivia (Alex played guitar, bass, banjo, and a dizzying spectrum of effects processors on Pilfershire Lane and now runs the awesome Seriously Adequate Studio in Chapel Hill), you can read more about what’s happening under the hood of the Trommemaskine here on Mike’s Mystery Circuits site….including the making of it! Very cool how he documents the process, as always.
Watch:

Here’s Alex having a go, too:

More Mystery Circuits in case you missed the original postings of Mike’s work..here he is discussing the wonderful Melloman during the making of Pilfershire Lane:

Jeez! Just the mere mention of these fellas makes me miss being in a band with them. More in a bit…

New Mini – Film by Maf, scored by Tara…

Tara — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:41:00 +0000

Here’s a quick dose of what was running through our heads on the way across…I believe this tunnel was somewhere in Tennessee. I found this film oddly sensual, hence the score that popped to mind. Quite sure this will lead to being included in this. This is a grain of how things to come will sound, I think!

The recipe was simple, all Logic 9 with a USB M-Audio Keystation Mini 32 controller, written & mixed in the headphones (this is starting to sound like a disclaimer!) in my hotel in Flagstaff…lots of reversed samples, Flex time and slightly perverse whispering into my Rode USB mic. Fun.

Synths on Route 66! And Home Sweet Home.

Tara — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:25:23 +0000

It hasn’t quite melted into my blurry, slightly road-loony skull that we’ve landed safely in LA…the only place in the world I truly call home. We are camped out temporarily in a lovely old villa in Los Feliz, and I’ve just finished setting up a semi- studio in our apartment to finish work on this.

So, we happened upon an especially beautiful spot in New Mexico, dotted with crumbled clay houses, and rusted car skeletons surrounded by leafless trees that looked as though they were covered with ash, magical and delicate….a perfect spot have a little Monotribe tweak through the car stereo, as Maf filmed me here:

And..here are few pics Maf took at the Petrified Forest in Arizona, me playing with ravens and standing in the middle of the road because I couldn’t resist the pose or being a bit of a dork…

Home sweet home…It’s wonderful to be back.

Amarillo…& “A Portrait of Eliane Radigue”.

Tara — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:46:09 +0000

Here we are. Reeling from a steak overdose. More in a bit…
In the meantime, I’m managing work an a thought that I started last night, watching this, sent to me via twitter:

A Portrait of Eliane Radigue (2009) from Maxime Guitton on Vimeo.

Soap & Skin…Day 1.

Tara — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:39:49 +0000

Half a brain full of wine, and I am listening intently and in rapt amazement to Soap & Skin, and have been on & off all day during our trip through Tennessee. A friend gave me her 2 albums to check out and…let me just say in my somewhat humble opinion; this is the most excited I’ve been about music in a great while. Thus I had to report at least something before I either: #1 pass out or #2: decide to be productive and finish a song with my ‘studio in a bag’:

Nevermind me though. More road pictures lie within my ridiculously compulsively attended Twitter page. Listen to Soap & Skin. Far more important:

Tomorrow We Start…NC to LA!

Tara — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:14:43 +0000

I really should be fast asleep, but it looks like the insomniac is going to win this battle for the moment…too many thoughts tumbling, I suppose….including this little vocal part that hit me in the car today. Brought home, sang into Rode Podcaster and smacked Universal Audio’s Space Echo on it , mainly because I couldn’t help it. I’ll continue cooking it, perhaps:

Anyway…Maf took this photo just now, of our delicious chariot purring in the driveway, waiting to carry us up & over Memphis (where we will visit my uber-super musical genius brother, Todd) tomorrow evening. A trunk full of Moogerfoogers, my Pro One and a soon-to-be-repaired Yamaha CS5 will be riding in the back, what better companions could there be? No, not shoes.

More in the morning…in the meantime, Iisten to this…my brother’s tune “Black & Green Pool In A Dream” – a delicate, dark, trippy acoustic lullaby that I adore deeply. Til next time..

To the HWY…and many random thoughts..

Tara — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:45:36 +0000

The morning greeted me with pelts of rain, hammering away on the window in my sister’s house, which has since given way to beams of sun slicing through the clouds. We’re up in Raleigh, NC, returning our rental car and visiting my sister. I’m musing heavily over our impending road trip, having spent the early morning watching this nugget of sauntering sweetness:

Driving…We finally made up our minds about what car will bring us across the country and back to our home in LA. I’ll manage to post some more photos soon, but it is indeed something I’ve been lusting over for a while.

Sexpot on wheels...

We leave for LA tomorrow ( or maybe Sunday) so I thought I’d try to document it in a little road diary, right here…perhaps involving a bit of noise, in a tidy yet wild brown paper package akin to Dorothy’s Balloon ride back to Oz. This is certainly that ride!
My ingredients are minimal, though I have plenty of plug ins & apps via my laptop, iPhone & iPad…and I do love my broken glockenspiel, Rode Podcaster and Monotribe. Certainly a time when an OP1 would come in handy! Nevertheless, limitations are very healthy:

Which brings me back to the love of driving & how creatively stimulating it is. And to long road trips. And to the magic of the world whizzing by in a beautiful, honey coated blur. Music swirling in your head and in your hands, mountains, desserts, creatures, expoding sunrises, drunk sunsets, Jim Morrison, foul coffee, potholes, 72 ounce Porterhouse steaks, Grand Canyon, road diaries, drowsy hotels and everything held together by USB. The Doors ‘Waiting for the Sun’, Cliff Martinez’ ‘Drive’, Clint Mansell’s ‘Moon’, Neu!, Hawkwind, Tangerine Dream, Stereolab…
Leaving you with this for now, a bit of dark beauty:

Also & a bit off topic – More soon in regards to I Speak Machine & the ‘Daily Stems’ I was on about..In the meantime, I’ve made a new Twitter page for it, please follow if you so desire.

A Brainstorm… & Back to Los Angeles..

Tara — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:33:24 +0000

Over the past several months (since the John Foxx tour, in fact), we’ve been in such a state of lovely flux that I left this blog snoozing a bit….but I now, with this a big move to LA imminent, am excited to blog daily again.

To Heathrow...

I’m thinking that I’ll use this blog as more of a production diary, sharing little clips (such as a new idea I may implement known as “The Daily Stem”), videos and “sonic recipes” with you as I work on these projects, a sort of reinvention if you like…As a certain strategy suggests:

I feel that this approach is authentic & it excites me. As you may have figured out, this blog isnt exactly deeply technical, it is here to express a love of machines and music, and also chat in my odd, hyper-excited fashion about other artists that I am infatuated with.
For example, you must hear Mary:
Mary Epworth – Black Doe (Radio Edit) by mary epworth

Anyway, the notion of being back in LA stirs my heart to joy, and I’m excited to dive into several film/ live score orientated projects that are underway right now (watch this space for updates). However, less excitedly, the past few days have consisted of car shopping and gear packing, and slaying what seems to be a never ending to-do list. Anyway…

Car shopping....The closest I'll get to owning my childhood dream car.

As a small catch-up, I thought I would post a few bits from the past few months…all great, spending time, creative & otherwise with friends old & new & magical & bizarre. Seriously….

A recent visit to vintage heaven.

A collection of juicy drum machines at Benge's..

From Christmas to New Year, we were rooted firmly at my parent’s house, far out in the country in the not-so-dazzling metropolis of Statesville, North Carolina. Island Records asked me to quickly cook up a remix at that time, so I reunited with my beloved Farfisa Compact Deluxe & Pro One, and set up camp in the neighbor’s house next to my parents – a creepy, cobweb infested house that the neighbors left for my Dad to look after.

My beloved!

It’s full of bone-chilling country kitsch items; think antique barbershop chairs covered with stained brown leather, several wooden heart-shaped plaques stating “Bless this Mess” and “Kiss the cook”, a huge collection of wax dachsund figurines, and of course, the metal music boxes:

…but oddly a great place to write…and the music boxes actually sound very cool!
Copper Music Box.. by TaraBusch
There’s a tiny catch up, and I will soon start posting my noisy adventures for you in the form of “Daily Stems” and other goods. Back to packing, or else I’ll ramble all day……..

NAMM 2012 – Juicy, Beautiful Creatures of Note…Teenage Engineering, Buchla & Universal Audio…

Tara — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:41:05 +0000

As the NAMM festivities as still curled up in bed 8 hours behind my current time zone (or just going to sleep), I watched with slight, sweet envy all the things that are on the horizon for us this year.

I always keep a keen watch on Sonic State during NAMM-time for their wonderful, tech savvy videos. Nick Batt & Andy Macreeth have become great friends of ours over the past few years since the hatch of Analog Suicide 4 years ago. Synthtopia and of course Matrixsynth are also amongst my favorites sources.

Here are a few bits of beauty that have really excited me, the first being the dazzling Buchla Skylab.

I read via Synthtopia that Buchla has some very fresh reformatting to come in general:
“..His company, Buchla & Associates, has been acquired by a group of investors, who are creating a new company Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments. Buchla wil be the Chief Technology Officer of the new company…
..Buchla also introduced a new modular synthesizer, the Buchla Skylab. The Buchla Skylab is a compact and slightly more affordable configuration of the Buchla 200e modular line.”

Buchla Skylab, photo from Synthtopia

Rather delicious, the thought of having a Buchla on my lap during a long haul flight…

Onward, I am in the market for a new interface to replace my MOTU traveler. I have been a fan of Universal Audio since I first conjoured up the nerve to work a compressor on my own, and I’m quite taken by the new Apollo:

I am also charmed by the wonders of Izotope, and have indulged myself quite a bit in their software this year, namely Ozone and their wonderful Nectar vocal plug in. And on their horizon is a tasty update, Ozone 5 – I can’t wait to use it!

And of course, no NAMM update would be right in this world without Moog – so of course, here’s the Sonic State peek at the big, juicy, bass beast – the Minitaur…

Lastly, check out the latest gorgeousness from Teenage Engineering..I have long since been lusting after the OP-1, and they now have this. Oh my:

More in a bit. Still reeling from that Skylab, quite frankly. With that, let’s end with a conversation between two beautiful creatures – the OP-1 and our dear friend Benge’s Buchla:

Behold! Meeting the New Moog Minitaur, Pt. 1..

Tara — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:28:40 +0000

Happy New Year, all! And with the beauty of a new year comes mountains of gorgeousness in the shape of the new tiny- but-super-mighty Moog Minotaur! Yes, I’m excited.

Meeting Minitaur...

Since drooling over the Taurus 3 pedals at MoogFest this year, I longed for something with the all enveloping bass minus the mass – and behold! Moog have created a forward thinking, super-concentrated creature about the size of a Moogerfooger with all the sweetness of the Taurus.

Delicious.

This week, Moog asked us to pop in and film a short segment testing out the lovely Minotaur and of course I could never resist such a request! The sound is spectacular and plump, boasting 2 VCO’s and the famous succulent filter we all know and adore…I will have this posted soon, so stay tuned for part 2!

Big shoes and bigger bass....a must.

In the meantime, here’s Moog’s intro video…watch this space for our own adventure with Minitaur.

Tara interviews John Foxx & Benge for SonicState.com!

Tara — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:05:31 +0000

Our dear friend from SonicState.com, Andy Macreeth ( also the DP on our upcoming short film, ‘The Silence’) caught up with us at XOYO on the last night of our tour with the wonderful John Foxx & The Maths. I’m famously awkward on camera if I’m talking, but Benge & John are ever fabulous, funny and informative and Andy did a great job as always.

“I Speak Machine”….A sonic story of a dark A.I. romance.

Tara — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:41:48 +0000

It’s been a few days short of a month since we landed in LA, ensconced in my favorite neighborhood, the Los Feliz hills near Griffith Park. Much has happened and managed to run through my fingertips & into Logic, though I have been more & more quiet on the blogging front…apologies as usual!

I am currently working on a short electronic symphony for PRS and Sensoria in the UK – drawing odd bits of inspiration is quite easy in this city!

Born of an short story idea that Maf had, it is the story of a man that falls in love with his own creation: a small black box that houses a female A.I. Of course, he created this “monster” to soothe his loneliness and provide companionship. The fun part is, I, in collaboration with a few proper mad scientists, will be creating this AI box to be used live. It will actually be a yet – to – be – determined voice effects processor and I get to voice the part of the wicked AI mistress. We will be touring this show next year in the UK as well as a few shows in LA. I am writing the bare bones of it using much digital love from Native Instruments, Universal Audio, Izotope, a Rode Podcaster mic (very smooth & lovely, I must say) and my trusty MPK Mini. Though I am very much out of my studio elements, and I am doing my best to make the most of “limitations”.

Above: Beautiful doorbells at our house, I will utilize for a song or 2.

Photo above from aintitcool.com.
I have my head buried in everything from Demon Seed (I know…say what you will. I liked it!) to 2001: A Space Odyssey to Moon – if you have any suggestions as to books or movies that involve robots or artificial intelligence that becomes sentient and sinister, let me know.

I promise to rear my head again soon with more details!

Rocket Wife Remix Contest Winners Announced!

Tara — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:03:23 +0000

Hello from lovely LA, and apologies for the rather much needed hiatus! There are many things that I need to share since I last posted, including our smashing time at MoogFest 2011 (which I will share details about in a bit) but I’m back in LA to write and reqroup – no better place to do so at the moment!

Performing at MoogFest 2011, Photo by Maf Lewis

Performing 'Suspense' at MoogFest 2011, photo by Maf Lewis

Now that we’re reacquainted, let’s announce the winners of our Bob Moog Foundation/ Tara Busch ‘Rocket Wife Remix’ contest!

For those that are unaware, we released a benefit EP for the Bob Moog Foundation in August, which will help to bring Moog instruments into classrooms all across the US to help teach children science through synthesis – known as ‘Dr Bob’s Sound School’. All the proceeds from the EP and the remix contest go to benefit this cause. Have a look!

John Foxx & The Maths/ Tara Busch Interplay Tour…Some lovely highlights!

Tara — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:00:54 +0000

Well, my attempt to cover this in proper tour diary, on the spot fashion was thwarted by the lack of decent internet connection – but here are a few bits that really shine in my memory! Maf & I had a wonderful time, and are deeply grateful to all who came out to spport the tour and cheer us on! Glasgow in particular was a bombastic wonderland; though each city was very appreciative and welcoming of me – not a bad reception for a support act!

Here are some pix & vids:
At XOYO London, photos by Richard Pearmain

Performing ‘We Can See Mars’ & ‘Superstar’ at The Arches, Glasgow, via vdomorph on YouTube:

John Foxx & The Maths Performing ‘Running Man’:

And more pics from York &

Warming up in Glasgow...

Glasgow…

Me & Maf, jubalent in Glasgow post show...

The magnificent Mr. Foxx & me!

Breakfast in York - size *does* matter...

Much more to post from the tour…just landed in Raleigh, NC last night, and off to get ready for the marvelous MoogFest today! I will write a big bombastic post about my involvement in MoogFest this year when I next land in Asheville – it’s gonna be fabulous! Check out the MoogFest schedule here in the meantime and I’ll catch up with you in a bit.

Tour Diary Quickie w/ Me & John Foxx & The Maths-Manchester, Liverpool & off to Glasgow…

Tara — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:48:32 +0000

Goodness!

We’ve left Cardiff till next year, and have been a bit sleepless. I’m feeling every muscle melt into the mattress here in Liverpool, willing myself to shake my tail feathers off to soundcheck. Liverpool football fans raising hell in the bar below….. I’m after all the Beatle spots, but not sure we’ll have time to find them….
Anyway, wanna see some quick pics?

Hannah & Serefina glitt-fy-ing, about to hit the stage.

John Foxx & The Maths, about to rock...

Sleepy hotel window..

[caption id="attachment_2565" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="& the eyeliner slides down my face..."][/caption]

Off to Glasgow, more in a bit! I failed to collect any Beatle memorabilia here in Liverpool…shameful. I’m also zapping up many updates here on my Twitter page too! Look.