Since its creation by DJs at radio CJSR in Edmonton in 1989, the Boreal Electroacoustic Music Society has been dedicated to the production and promotion of sound-oriented experimentation. We use the broadest and most inclusive definition of electroacoustic music, welcoming creativity in any medium. Our membership includes music professors, rock band players, dancers, poets and professional instrumentalists and composers, as well as enthusiasts and dreamers from every walk of life. We perform several concerts a year in addition to occasional recordings, festivals and workshops. This CD is very representative of our shows. We hope you enjoy it!

Don Ross, president

Producer: John Armstrong

Executive Producer: Don Ross

Artwork & Design: Pilot-Design

Mastered by Pioneer Mastering

You can purchase a copy of UnSound 2 for $10 + $3 shipping and handling. Mail cheque or money order made out to "BEAMS" to:

P.O. Box 35088
Oliver Postal Outlet
Edmonton, AB, Canada
T5K 2R8

Dave Clarke: Tabla Rasa (4:00)

Dave Clarke is a Sterling Award winning musician and sound designer working mostly in theatre. Tabla Rasa is from After Image, a dance show choreographed by Heidi Bunting. This show was the first of several fruitful collaborations with clarinetist Don Ross.

Shawn Pinchbeck: Ajulennuline (4:52)

Shawn Pinchbeck's artwork explores a range of electroacoustic practice including interactivity, multimedia and live performance. Ajulennuline is a word that literally translates as brain flying like a bird, but in the Estonian language evokes something more poetic: thoughts in a dreamy state, the act of the mind drifting from one thought to another, or ideas soaring high above everything.

Don Ross: Sometimes when I practice... (4:12)

Don Ross is a freelance clarinetist and composer and artistic director of Saint Crispin's Chamber Ensemble. Sometimes when I practice... was recorded and mixed in his basement using Sonar6 software.

Tippy Agogo: Dilenmma of Poor Oedipus (5:05)

The Butcher of Thebes, from his 2008 album Creep Forward, is mainly Tippy Agogo's voice via an eight second digital loop with a digital delay hooked up to the vocal mic. The live layers contain bottle tones, an Ethiopian blues scale, and a toaster wire strung across a broken guitar. The overall watery sound is added on Protools.

Thom Golub: Preoccupation for Two Basses (5:21)

Thom Golub is a bass player, improviser and composer. Preoccupation joyfully combines all three practices. What started as a piece for the Occupants, his duo with dancer Gerry Morita, was then transformed into a duet with himself, recorded at studio Melba.

Karen Porkka: Ash on my Belly (3:33)

Karen Porkka is primarily a jazz vocalist and saxophonist but is influenced by many styles of music. She plays with the new Edmonton group The Parkers. Karen teaches for Grant MacEwan College Outreach. Ash on my Belly is a new composition inspired by the electronic and acoustic sounds of the Norwegian band Wibutee.

Doublethink: Collage 4:23

doublethink is the solo project of Matthew Berezan. He uses bent circuits, processed electronics and field recordings. For Collage he used the freeware program Hyperupic to convert images into sound, and then electronically processed them.

LEO .fx: Celtic Ayre 2:37

LEO.fx features John Armstrong on Theremin and Vince Sanregret on didgeridoo. Celtic Ayre was recorded by Carson Cole during a lunar eclipse in 2004. The song made the top five of Moog Music's Theremin composition competition in 2005.

Dave Wall: Black Eyes, Blue Hair - Duet 3 5:15

Dave Wall's Blue Eyes, Black Hair was written for Brian Webb Dance using the Roland GT-3 guitar effects processor, and choreographed with Tania Alvaredo. There are three five minute duets and two twenty minute solos. This is the third duet.

Reinhard VonBerg: BSQ 4:25

BSQ is an excerpt from Reinhard von Berg's Master's thesis created at the University of California, San Diego. One layer is a string of a grand piano being actuated by a butter knife; the other was created on a Moog synthesizer: a square wave was pitch- and level-controlled by several slow square waves very slowly sliding in and out of phase with one another.

Condaleeza Rice Paddies: Modulate This 3:00

The Condoleezza Rice Paddies is a collective formed in 2004 with Bill Damur, guitar, Gene Kosowan, keyboards and Will Truchon, radio tuner. Modulate This is a selection edited from a 10-minute score performed live with additional sound processing by John Armstrong at The Works Art & Design Festival.

Gary Lee: The Unveiling 2:47

Gary Lee is a poet, painter, musician and videographer. The Unveiling is a spiritual hymn disguised as an erotic love poem with Bill Cramer, electric guitar, Ron Serna, acoustic guitar, Bob Mittlestadt, bongos and sitar, and Gary Lee, glass percussion, shaker and spoken word. It is the title track from his 2001 album.

Theta State: Dragon 3:26

The sounds of Jeremy Coughlin's group Theta State were created to ease your mind and free your spirit. Dragon is a journey into a simpler time, where childhood creativity is nourished and allowed to bloom. Additional contributors: James Dyer, Greg Stearns.

Philip Jagger: Blackbirds 3:16

Philip Jagger is the frail traffic sound blooming into word.