Blog Archives

Single nr. 4: Two Miniatures for Tap Dance and Drums, with Michaela Antalová

3/23/2023

Michaela Antalová is a drummer with a great sense for detail, timing and subtlety. I knew her from a couple of improvisations, and was very curious how it would be to record music with her. We met at Urban Sound Studios and set up our stuff. This music studio is a typical one, with several booths for recording, a big window between the sound engineer’s room and the studio, and an enormous console for him to work with. Jock was sitting there, hearing the music through the microphones, and talking to us through a speaker in the studio. Since we wanted to record at the same time, together, not separately, Jock did his best to put up walls between me and Michaela, wanting to limit how much our sounds would bleed into each other's microphones. After a short sound check we started recording, without any preparations or agreements. The only thing we decided on beforehand was to aim for relatively short tracks of 5-7 minutes. We then listened to the recordings, and spoke about what we liked about them before improvising some more of the same material, and then choosing the two tracks that we wanted for the album.

The music I make with Michaela can have a beat and a groove, but more important is the out-of-time placing of sounds that are similar to the other player's instrument. In the end, it’s hard to distinguish our sounds from each other. We both happened to have several toys with us, and a lot of the small sounds are coming from a plastic play drum and a tiny music box. To me, it feels like we’re making microscopic music, hyper aware, with the ears close to the source, full of textures and a feeling of space. In contrast to most of the recordings of this album we listened to the tracks right away, and used what we had heard to make better choices in the next round. We were super sensitive and aware of sound, silence and timing. I felt like I had to be totally ready for anything in my body, but at the same time be very sparse in what I chose to play. There was a suspense and alertness which made me carry myself in a different way. At some point this was released into a rolling groove.

About Michaela Antalová
Michaela Antalová is a Slovak drummer living in Oslo, traveling worldwide to perform solo concerts and to play with different projects. Michaela is an active composer and writes for both bands, larger ensembles and percussionists. Her music contains complex textures arranged with different orchestrations that change gradually with nuances. Leading her own ensemble Mikoo and touring with her solo drum performances, Michaela drifts through genres playing a variety of percussion, hand drums and drum kit. She is occupied by exploring improvisation in many settings and using this experience in baroque, world, singer-songwriter and experimental music.

Improvised by Michaela Antalová (drums and more) and Janne Eraker (tap dance on wood, sand, play drum, loose taps)
Recorded and mixed by Jock Loveband at Urban Sound Studios

Single nr. 3: Cute, with David Arthur Skinner

3/2/2023

David Skinner is an amazing musician, playing old jazz music in new ways. While taking a quick break from renovating his home, he sent me a new 5/4 version of the old standard Cute. Originally, Cute is a tune that’s famous for its drum fills, played by Jo Jones in the Count Basie Orchestra, and, notably; with brushes.

Naturally, I spent a lot of time getting comfortable in the 5/4 time signature. David and I decided that I would play the exact melody together with him during the head, but also fill the breaks in between the melody. This turned out to be super challenging for me. The melody has long notes, and requires me to hold my balance, whereas during the breaks I felt obliged to try to produce fast and intricate rhythms. Shifting gears like this was hard, but after a while I developed a set of groove steps and some more “fancy” steps that I thought fit well. I called my neighbor and drummer Ulrik Ibsen Thorsrud, and asked for some feedback.

Tips from Ulrik were:

Be more consistent in the swing groove
The quarter note is the most important, especially before a syncopation
But be careful of too many heavy beats
Incorporate some slides and small sounds in the long notes of the melody, to keep the flow
Be intentional with the start and end of the slides

Another great insight I got was that I had had the wrong idea about the sound of my stamps. I thought they would resemble a heavy and emphasized note on the drums, but it turns out the stamps are more loud and high pitched than bassy-sounding. Really it is my heel that sounds closer to a bass drum. Adapting all of this feedback caused me to reconstruct how I tap danced the piece completely. I choreographed a whole new part, so that I could do the slides without falling, play the ghost notes and accents, and all the while shift my weight where it needed to be.

Then we went to work at Nynorskens hus, a huge ballroom with a high ceiling, beautiful paintings and chandeliers, where Norwegian folk dancers have their training and events. There were two very different floors there. On stage was a black, raked, non-slip floor, sounding quite muted. The rest of the room had a lacquered parquet floor, quite slippery, with less bass and more high frequencies. On stage my movements were more restricted, because I was more stuck to the floor, and since the sound was more muted I could dance “harder”. There were already a lot of subtle sounds in the floor, for example scraping sounds were soft and nice. On the slippery parquet floor it was easier to tap dance at speed, but the sound was also a bit high-pitched and hard. Nevertheless, when David started playing, adding all of his sounds to the room, the tap dance sound fit better and I liked how it sounded together. Also, we were physically closer, so it was easier to stay connected. Actually, the track we chose for the album was just a joke; we did it at a ridiculous speed, just for fun. Listening back to all the recordings, this one is where I’m the least exact, and many of my sounds disappear in the rush. But we decided that we like it best, because the recording bubbles with energy, interaction and fun.

Performed by David Arthur Skinner (piano) and Janne Eraker (tap dance on a parquet floor)
Composed by Neil Hefti
Recorded by Audun Strype at Nynorskens hus
Mixed by Audun Strype

About David Arthur Skinner
David Arthur Skinner is a jazz pianist, bandleader and composer, who specializes in swing jazz and stride piano. He has released three solo piano albums based on these genres, namely Diagonal Jazz (2013), Cubistic Boogie (2015) and Skinner plays Skinner (2017), in addition to the duo album Look Both Ways (2022) with the drummer Magnus Eide. Skinner is interested in atypical time signatures, as well as other ways to tease and confuse his audience. He has absolute control over the groove, all the while overlaying it with asymmetrical melodies and polyrhythms. Skinner also performs (usually in a regular four beats to the bar) at his own monthly jazz club “Café Society Oslo”, where the best swing dancers in town gather to dance to the music.