Jeremy Blake (aka Jeremy Leaird-Koch) is the kind of omni-dimensional talent who that seems tailored for the age of Web media. Yes, he’s an electronic musician, but … have a listen to his SoundCloud, and you’ll find the common thread is craft more than genre. And yes, he’s also a video editor, who’s also making imaginative and dazzling visuals.
Let’s instead just wander into his studio, virtually speaking, and let him play for us on a nice, assembled gathering of custom hardware.
And drifting off on this chillout groove is a nice way to take a pause in your day…
Ableton – Clock and recording | [Sonic Potions] LXR drum machine (clock from Ableton – clock to Zaquencer) | Behringer BCR200 – running Zaquencer | 2x MeeBlip [SE] and Access Virus A (Zaquencer) | [Teenage Engineering] OP-1 (clock from Ableton tape loops and live playing)
It’s all a nice rig, desktop units pouring over with personality. We’ve talked before about how nice the Zaquencer sequencer on the BCR is. The OP-1 pads sound gorgeous. And it’s really nice seeing the LXR drum machine as a centerpiece (instead of something more obvious like an Elektron, perhaps). It’s a remaining open hardware kit design even as others have disappeared, and while it’s not the easiest build, it’s a really cool bit of kit.
One of the bits of hardware is, of course, co-created by CDM. MeeBlip designer/engineer James and I been revisiting our own MeeBlip SE lately; he’s got not one, but two of them here. And there are things we like about it, even if we prefer the sound, controls, and filter on the newer model. I love the way it sounds here, though, which could certainly be applied to the Child of MeeBlip, MeeBlip anode.
More from Jeremy’s music feed:
And I love this “Vanitas” release:
On the visual side, here’s his showreel – see, this kind of Renaissance-do-everything approach is what I love about the California scene at its best (Jeremy is Oakland-based):
[S+V] – sound+vision 2014 Showreel from Jeremy Leaird-Koch on Vimeo.
More:
https://soundvision.bandcamp.com