About Matt Hamilton: Ambient Guitar and Sound Collage
Obligatory Introductory Stuff
If you would like a CD, just email me and I'll burn one off for you. There is also a CD of music at Spun Records in Nashville, TN, that I recorded with my previous band, Voight-Kampff. It is a trio of 2 guitars and drums.
I was born and raised in East Tennessee in Knoxville. I moved to the Nashville area to study audio engineering at Middle Tennessee State University. I received my Bachelor of Science Degree in Recording Industry Production and Technology with a Minor in Music and Mass Communication in 1998. While in college, I also studied composition with an emphasis on minimalism and serialism composing the electronic chamber piece "It's Building Up". Performances with the free improv band, Voight-Kampff, also began during this time.
My Influences
As a result of my involvement with Voight-Kampff, I have been heavily influenced by the ideas of John Cage and indeterminacy. However, this is tempered with a deep love of the minimalist cyclical music of Terry Riley, Philip Glass and Steve Reich. I also cite the guitar work of Robert Fripp and King Crimson as influences. This results in a performance style that runs the gamut from cyclical structures to textural ambience and complex atonality. In the spirit of John Cage, I will often employ pieces of metal and unorthodox playing techniques to create a type of prepared guitar performance.
Homemade Instruments and Harmonics
An interest in experimental musical instruments has led to performances on the Can-jo (a single-stringed instrument made from a soup can) and balloon xylophone. My pursuit of new sounds has led to unorthodox performances such as one event where I played a crushed soda can amplified with contact mics that was constructed minutes before the performance. I became interested in the harmonic overtone series in music as a result of hearing Glenn Branca's Symphony No. 3 (Gloria) subtitled: "Music for the first 127 intervals of the harmonic overtone series." If you want to blow your mind, check it out. I built a version of his harmonic guitar based on plans that I found in this great book called Musical Instrument Design by Bart Hopkin. If you are at all interested in building your own instruments, you owe it to yourself to check this book out.
About the Songs
Most of my recent work has been solo. Voight-Kampff kind of wound down and died. For my solo music, I use a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler to layer textures and melodies with electric guitar. The songs are improvised on the spot. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
2/12 Guitar (Excerpt): This song was recorded on-the-fly at home. This is only an excerpt because most of my songs last about 20 minutes and develop very slowly.
Buzz and Click Show 2005 (Excerpt): The floating sound forms of Tony Conrad and La Monte Young are figuring more into my recent works. This recent performance at the 5 Spot showcases this. In this excerpt, I am using an Ebow to create drone frequencies, then going slightly in and out of tune to get the pulsing sound.
Art Radio: This is an example of one of my musique concrete works. The source material was a series of interviews conducted by Paul McLean for a weekly radio show. Each show focused on a different artist or local gallery owner answering the question, "What is art?" Paul asked me to create this piece for him. This is the third time I had collaborated with him on a sound collage piece. I have a whole disc of similar stuff if you'd like to hear more. This is the complete work. I have just started playing around with ProTools and its capabilities. We'll see where it leads.
Other Projects, Etc.
I'm currently involved in various projects in the Nashville, Tennessee area. I have served on the board of the Ruby Green Contemporary Arts Foundation, and also donated my time as audio engineer and sound recordist for experimental music shows taking place there. I was one of the founders of VK Music, a "labor of love" organization that works to bring experimental music performers to the Nashville area as well as promoting local experimental musicians, such as David Maddox and Brady Sharp. I am also heavily involved in the film and television production community as a location sound recordist for various television shows, music videos, short films, and feature films. For instance, I am currently the lead audio guy on the reality show Tuckerville on TLC.
Miscellaneous Stuff and a Farewell
As a result of my involvement in a series of multi-media exhibits, I have constructed musique concrete pieces. At these shows, I contributed audio installations and sound collages created from found sound. I have shared the stage with percussionist Gino Robair, vocalist Joseph Zitt, and German Improvisers Harald Kimmig, Karl Huebsch and the late Peter Kowald. People often find it necessary to tell me that I thinks too much. I will perform for coffee at your home.
Where to Buy My CD's in the Nashville Area
If you like what you hear, you can purchase my CD's at Spun Music in Nashville. Currently, a collaborative effort with the band Voight-Kampff is available for under $8. This is a more experimental album of freely improvised live performances between myself, Brady Sharp, and Drew Rydberg. It is a trio of 2 guitars and drums. The CD is KranKmusiK. You can ask to listen to it before buying. Ask for it by name and let me know what you think!
Matt Hamilton: Ambient Guitar and Sound Collage's Friend Space (Top 12)
Matt Hamilton: Ambient Guitar and Sound Collage has 101 friends.
Hello there, if you want to check out our new FREE album, do it here: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=46925001&blogID=352650625 Take it easy!
haha awesome in true reich style i accidentally opened up your page twice....couldnt figure out what had happened at first...but you know what its so totally appropriate for your work :)
love 212...you know i would love to get back into some musical stuff with you. i miss our college conversations about glass, chaos, ignatius of antioch, wittgenstein, comics, et al...
oh and thanks again for the email. it helped.
The photo was taken in Vancouver, last month! I'll put up some Bonnaroo photos soon!
My friend is visiting now from there, she came w/me to Roo. We'll be getting out lot's so give me a call and join us! I'll take a mixture of both for the CD... Thanks!
Just listening to music on Myspace and listened to your songs again. Improvisectomy 3 was my fav. Art Radio was just... wild. Keep at it. Would love a CD.
Me and Penny drank tea, ate popcorn and listened to one of your sound collage cds last night. The one with the peoples talkin' bout art. You're the next Glen Gould/Lauri Anderson/Gavin Bryars/John Cage all in one! (translation: i thought it were awesome!)
i like your resume.
i'm glad you're applying for a cup of coffee...
and the music is splendtastic.
the pulp ficition ambience.
(god, i hope you like pulp fiction)
Hey, when are you gonna put up your reworking of "Every Rose Has a Thorn?". The way you massaged those power chords in a Frippish soundscape disconbobulated my mind.
