Headlands by Daniel Berkman
Headlands is a compilation of live improvisations and composed pieces for Kora, Gravikora and electronic devices recorded at the Omnicircus and various locations in San Francisco, California between 1997 and 1998.
After the completion of the 1998 release Feverdreams, I had the quandary of figuring out what to do with all the outtakes, noisy bits and compositions that didn't seem to fit the dark, dreamy and apocalyptic tone of Feverdreams.
But one overcast, cold and windy day in San Francisco, my friend and colleague David Earl and I took to the Marin Headlands to record the Gravikora being played by the wind in the tunnels there.
I plugged the Gravikora directly in to a Korg Pandora so there was no ambient noise. I used random effects to treat the wavelike rhythm of the wind through the nylon strings of my instrument.
When we got back to the studio to listen back at what we made, I realized these "wind vignettes" were the missing link to the homeless tracks and rejects from Feverdreams. Headlands was born.
I made the first mix of these tracks in 2003 and burned them to a cd, made some temporary art and even talked about Headlands as a legitimate release but I never released it.
Did I fear it was inferior to my other Kora albums?
The compositions were recorded direct into the mixing board and so didn't have the studio quality I originally envisioned for them, I didn't take them as seriously. They felt like sketches.
But 17 years later, they sound perfectly in their element, fresh, bubbling with character and creative invention.
I feel these pieces stand the test of time. I consider Headlands to be a "live" concept album, a late nineties chapter to the evolution of Kora and Gravikora music and it's integration into electronic music.
~Daniel Berkman
Tracklist
| 1. | Headlands 1 | 1:32 |
| 2. | Hommage à Ravel | 3:46 |
| 3. | Headlands 2 | 0:26 |
| 4. | Trinity | 5:09 |
| 5. | Headlands 3 | 0:41 |
| 6. | Charmed | 8:52 |
| 7. | A Piece Of Heaven | 7:06 |
| 8. | Headlands 4 | 2:05 |
| 9. | July 23rd, 1998 | 4:26 |
| 10. | Artfly | 7:13 |
| 11. | Sten | 2:50 |
Videos
Credits
Instruments:
Kora, Gravikora, Korg Wavedrum, Electronic Devices and
Roland GR300 Guitar Synthesizer, laptop, wind.
Composed and Performed
by Daniel Berkman
Produced by Daniel Berkman
Digital Editing and Mastering
by Daniel Berkman
Photography
by Diane Jackson & Daniel Berkman
Cover Art
by Daniel Berkman
License
All rights reserved.Tags
Recommendations
Daniel Berkman is a Bay Area electronic musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, looper and innovator of the Kora (a 21-stringed harp-lute from West Africa) and it's modern counterpart, the Gravikord.
Daniel composes for dance, film, instrumental, vocal and also has recordings under his electronic music moniker Colfax.