Per Boysen is the most frequent Looproom inhabitant. Usually groups are formed for particular projects, touring as well as for recording. And many concerts are presented as solo live looping performances by Per.
Influences
The Looproom is all about improvisational live looping in an experimental context. "Live Looping" means that you record yourself as you are playing instruments and mess around whith your recorded loops while you keep on playing and recording. Should be done in real-time without using prerecorded material.
Sounds Like
I play music that is open, improvising, breathtaking and sometimes a complete failure!
The music I make these days is based on story-telling. As a creator of instrumental music the story-telling dimension is extremely important for me. I play many musical instruments together with electronics... yes, I'm saying I PLAY the electronics! The technique for doing that is called Live Looping. You record your own playing with foot controller pedals, loop it, bend it, hack it, crack it, whack it; all while you keep playing the acoustic instrument as part of this instant orchestration. In one go you become the composer, the director and every musician in the orchestra!
Trying to recapture what it actually is that I’m doing…
In jazz it is common that one musician improvises lead themes over a fixed chord structure background played by other musicians. In my music the same musician, or musicians, typically improvises both the lead themes and the chord structures at the same time. This multi lateral improvisation is made possible by advanced live looping techniques.
"Ornette Coleman has said that one of the basic ideas in his music is to encourage the improviser to be freer, and not obey a pre-conceived chord-pattern according to a set of ideas of 'proper' harmony and tonality: 'Let's try to play the music and not the background.”
--Martin Williams (from the liner notes to Atlantic S-1364)
I think “playing the music rather than the background” is one side of what I’m doing. The other side is that I’m “exclusively playing only backgrounds”. Whatever way the listener choses to interpret my music, there will always be some empty parts of the screen to be filled in by the listening mind. In my opinion this psychologic aspect of participation is a key element in “open music”. What happens is that these elements manifest as specific “virtual melodies” in the mind of the listener. And amazingly they respond directly to the directions, transitions and gestures that I use as musical mind maps when I improvise my music in the first place. Even though I carefully leave them out, by not explicitly playing them, these undercurrents live on as the foundation that glues it all together.
Swedish multi instrumentalist Per Boysen is a crossover crusader that loves music and hates genres. Enthusiastic listeners have hinted at “Nu-Jazz” or “Minimal” while others refer to Brian Eno. On stage Per plays the Alto Traverse Flute, the Tenor Sax, the Fretless Electric Sustaniac Guitar and the Electric Wind Instrument. Plus his special meta instrument; the live looping laptop, to be played by foot control pedals.
Guitar Player Magazine June 7/2007: "Among the many festival highlights was Swedish guitarist, sax, flute and EWI player Per Boysen's Jon Hassel-like soundscapes".
As a consulting musician he is also working with a row of software instrument developers to help out in the creation of tomorrows electronic instruments. Besides playing music he has also written expert studies for WIPO in Geneva, the Nordic Musician Union and The Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs (Statens Kulturråd). Other works including books in Swedish on the music business as well as being a freelance journalist, editor and columnist for Scandinavia’s biggest guitar and computer studio magazines. Boysen is also frequently booked as a speaker, trainer and consultant regarding Apple Logic, Ableton Live and assorted live looping techniques.
--> 2008
Producing the 2nd Swedish Live Looping Tour with support from the Swedish Art Concil (Kulturrådet) and in collaboration with the Finloop Festival of Helsinki.
--> 2007
Digital online release of two albums at Jamendo.com.
Great reviews!
--> 2006
Release of the Art Of Leadership DVD, increased interest in Pboy's "concert
lectures" (combined live looping concert and speech), quartet group
performance it Italy, at The Bari Festival (improvising a multi media opera).
Solo concerts in Sweden and USA.
--> 2005
Performed at Loopfestival Zûrich, produced 5.1 surround
music for DVD, teached live looping to students.
--> 2004 Performance inside Mimerlaven at The Norberg Festival for electronic music>>> Release of the album Organisational Culture Loops
(Noden Recordings). A collaboration with world class speaker David Cowley,
normally active at Ashridge Management College, UK.
--> 2003 First Swedish Looping Tour>>>
With support from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee (Konstnärsnämnden)
pBoy produced this tour, to play together with Swiss/Brazilian looping guitarist
Matthias Grob (inventor of the Digital Echoplex looper) and American looping
percussionist Rick Walker. Many other Swedish musicians were invited as
guests on particular local shows. pBoy and Grob were documented by the Swedish
TV program Musikspegeln and The Music Room of CNN.
per2per>>>
Improvising electronica duo formed by Per Åhlund and Per Boysen. First concert performed at the Sound and Un-Sound Festival for improvised music in Stockholm, Sweden, arranged by FRIM together with The Stockholm Jazz Festival.
Former credits include international major label releases with extremely
visual punk-electronic dance-pop band Plastico (artist) as well as Swedish
gold seller Peter LeMarc (studio musician). pBoy has also appeared in art
performances directed by Swedish artist Dan Fröberg (Stockholm Art
Show, &8220;Nya Gärdesfestivlen&8221; etc), created quadraphonic
(4 channel surround) film music, TV music and gallery sound installations.
I decided to skip this page, since it makes it difficult for people to find me (under that "looproom" moniker). So, I'd like to invite you (and others) to hook up with me through my new page instead.
hey, thank you for adding me . i dig your music,too :) i get that you are playing with the Zone Mobius looper? How do you manage it? I really consider using it (with a midi-floorboard) in a solo-live context and play my own music. I tried it by using a microphon in front of my guit.-amp and send the looped signal into a monitor. It works suprisingly great :)
from Italy, a loop for you:"thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!", "thanks for the add!"
Hi Per, I really enjoy your music, and find your comments and attitude on the LD maillist to be instructional and inspirational. Thanks for the add! Warm regards, Ken
