Upcoming Tour/Shows, istilldream reviews, Production of new Carcinogen Album

It's been a while!

First updates - Check the shows page - I'll be on tour in October with the Andrew Alden Ensemble, performing his work "Nosferatu".. culminating in a special Halloween performance at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA!

Second - istilldream has received some AMAZING reviews on "The Siren's Sound" and "Sun in Scorpio Music"! Thank you to the writers for both of those pages for taking the time to listen and critique the album... it means the world to me!


"This is indeed one major cinematic-drone release I’ve come across in a long time. Our friend from Sun In Scorpio Music sent me this release earlier this morning. A new blog for sure but most definitely a music sharing platform with the same interest as ours. [ Readers ]… Check it out if you haven’t yet and [ Artists ]… by all means do consider forwarding your project to S.I.S.M.

In the light to press this as a single limited 12″ LP. Something really special. Each album will have something unique, so at this stage BANDCAMP is set on [ Purchase Only ]. If you can afford it, go right ahead and help giving birth to a single limited 12″ LP as it’s TOTALLY worthy on an experimental-ambient note. If you can’t afford it at this stage, be sure to give it a full streaming session and let’s hope sooner or later the album get set on Name Your Price [ N.Y.P ]. Have fun lads, this is a BRILLIANT ONE."

(http://www.thesirenssound.com/2012/08/16/istilldream-istilldream/)


"istilldream. is the ambient project of John Forrestal, based in East Boston, Massachusetts, which originally began as a singer-songwriter project in late 2007. This self-titled album is a great work of art, a cinematic experience. It is an experience of emotional absorption, various and grandiose sound textures, complimented by field recording and spoken voice samples. It seems to tell a story, delivering the deepest of emotions."

(http://suninscorpiomusic.blogspot.ca/2012/08/istilldream-istilldream-lp-2012.html)

Finally, I just finished up the engineering and mixing of the new Carcinogen album - check them out, if you're into tough-as-nails metal with an old school vibe. A bunch of really solid Long Island guys playing some awesome music.

http://carcinogen.bandcamp.com/track/excoratory-surgery

istilldream EP - DONE!

After 2 years of writing about 40 songs that didn't make the cut, I'm glad to say that this project has a new album.

It's quite a different turn from my first album, which was a digital release, and was more of a singer-songwriter album. This album, I went completely in a different direction.

This album, I'm looking to press as a single limited 12" LP. Something really special. Each album will have something unique.

Artwork is done. Music is done.

this is the new istilldream.

new tracks up on the studio website

There's some new mixes from the past year or so on the studio website!!!

(I was having some trouble with uploading to the site, but now it's all fixed (hopefully.)

http://www.subterraneanrecordingstudios.com/

three new pieces along the way: "snapshots" & an untitled piece

some new works coming along. i was asked by Ramon Castillo to write a piece using a solo instrument that will be looped electronically and manipulated live, and i am currently sketching ideas for that - not sure of a name just yet, but i've been very interested in the concepts behind tiling / "girih" patterns in islamic buildings, and periodic/aperiodic patterning, and so i think there'll be some underlying concepts with that..

i also have begun to work on a collection of small "snapshot" pieces - found sounds, and music composed around them, at any given time. the first one is based around a recording of birds outside of my window in the morning. the audio is available on my soundcloud!

last, a new choral piece, using yet another franz wright text, superimposed with the greek text "Αἰωνία ἡμνήμη", which stands for "may your memory be eternal" (Eonia imnimi is the transliteration.) i've begun to experiment with new ways of using isorhythm, which really shine in this piece.

check out the new layout on the website, too! i added a new portfolio and bio page, along with an updated contact page. feel free to reach out on any of those websites if you need any work done, or private lessons!

-j

world music tumblr

through a friend's advice, I decided to start a small side-project, where I just post things that I am currently reading about on tumblr. music from other cultures and such...

http://iamjohnforrestal.tumblr.com/

i have been shōwn the light... / kota cahaya

working on two new pieces as of late... one is for gamelan elek trika, called "kota cahaya", and the other is called "i have been shōwn the light through your wings that guides me the way".

the latter of the two, "i have been...", is my take on the "field recordings" approach that bang-on-a-can has done as of late. i found a video (completely by chance, i was on youtube watching different instruments), and i came across this really high quality video of a young woman playing the Japanese shō, which is a polyphonic woodwind instrument that plays high cluster chords. well, she goes into talking about traditional chords, and playing this rising gesture, and i thought immediately, "this would make a great basis for a piece". so i downloaded it and spent hours just thinking about how to approach this new idea. i wanted to fuse several musical things together, namely the instrumentation and scalar approach from India, the gamelan music of Bali that i've been involved with, and the minimalist structures i'm so fond of. i figured to leave the Japanese music be represented by none other than the video itself, as that speaks loudest and foremost.

i go into more depth about the construction of the piece on my soundcloud. i hope you enjoy. there is a score available here.

Kaji Aso Pictures

Here's some pictures from the koto performance at Kaji Aso Studio! (Don Perrault Photography)

Here is a finished recording of the piece "ro.bot", for heliphon.

 

Lincoln Center / Ensemble "Robot" (Heliphon!)

Just got back from a recording of my piece "ro.bot" for heliphon, a robotic pitched percussion instrument! A good friend (and former professor) Ramon Castillo (check him out - theramon.com) gave me the opportunity. What an awesome experience.

The title of the piece, well, speaks for itself. I use different "rows" of rhythmic displacement against two varying patterns, one that is a slight "homage" to the Reich opus "Music for 18 Musicians" (didn't realize it until afterwards!), and a rhythmic contrapuntal pattern found in the kotekan or "flower" parts of Balinese Gamelan music. Enjoy!

There's also a live-streaming concert of the rest of the performances! Click Here (I'm at 1:18:00)

In addition, we just got back from Lincoln Center! What a blast- one of the best weekends of my life. There's reviews of Gamelan Galak Tika's performance (as well as the rest of the concert that featured Asphalt Orchestra and the legendary Bang On a Can All-Stars) on several sites, including the NY Times and Pitchfork!!!!!

Pitchfork Review (I'm the one in the bright orange jumpsuit!!)

Feastofmusic.com - Great article!

the New York Times!!! (They especially loved us!!)


And what good would this post be without some pictures!?

 - The View!!!!!!

 - My "director's chair"

 - Backstage

 - The name-tag! WHAT!!

 - Load-in

 - Krista / Rehearsal

 - Rehearsal / Re-stringing / final once-over..

 - Rehearsal...

 - A final bow..

 - The best performers and musicians that I know!! Gamelan Galak Tika / Asphalt Orchestra / Bang on a Can All-Stars / the original Bang on a Can members Julia Wolfe/David Lang/Michael Gordon!!!!

Here is a recording of Arvo Pärt's Berliner Messe, performed by the Arlington Street Chorus on April 8th, 2012. I sang the tenor part. The "Gloria" came out especially wonderful. (The quality is a bit muddled, as the mics I used were pretty far away.)

New clip! There's still some slight editing in the mix to be done, but it's really coming together. Recorded with a live string orchestra, written in memory of the tragic events during the earthquake that hit Japan in 2011.

I used the traditional Hirajoshi scale found in koto music (e.g., Sakura, Rokudan no Shirabe). I'm not sure if one would hear it that way, as it shares many similarities to much of the music that I write!

I hope you enjoy.

I am accepted into Boston University for their Master of Music program!

Also, a new recording of "Salve Regina", by Crepusculum, led by Alexandra Schwinn! If you haven't checked them out yet, please do. Absolutely incredible musicians. (starts 8 or so seconds in. sorry.)

Testing the blog portion of my website.

Here's a picture:

Here's a video from Youtube:

Here's a link to my studio website