hear a live track - theremin, voice, effects - live in CCs Oblong Studios - 3mb 6m30sec

photos Chris Conway live theremin

video Christo playing theremin live - mov - 4.5Mb
just a bit of fun really - at the Consonance Filk Convention in California

new CD release
The Planet Scanners
The Third Expedition

The 3rd album by electronic improvisers The Planet Scanners is released this month on the Auricle Music label.

Improvised and recorded live at their amazing reunion concert at the Bambu in Leicester this is The Planet Scanners third expedition takes them even further soncically with shimmering soundscapes and hypnotic passages.

Their 1st album features artwork of Saturn's rings, their 2nd showed the Earth. Their 3rd takes its theme from Mars with Nasa pics of recent Mars expeditions and track and album titles taken from chapters of Ray Bradbury's classic Martian Chronicles book.

Check out soundclips here

Chris Conway - theremin, synthesizers, flutes, kalimba, vocals
Mick Oxtoby - electric violin, effects
Andy Fitzsimons - percussion
Simon Styring - guitar synthesizer, guitar, effects

buy cd - only £10/$15 - free postage

Jackie Leven Recording Session

Renouwned Scottish singer-songwriter Jackie Leven asked CC to play theremin on a track on his forthcoming album on the Cooking Vinyl label. CC's theremin opens the track and the album on it's own ona track called Love at the Gun Club. The album should be out early summer 2008.

Hands Off UK Theremin Symposium - report

CCs in action at Hands Off

CC had a wail of a time at the Hands Off UK Theremin Symposium in July - he did a 20minute set which went down well, sold some theremin CDs, and met 2 of his heroine theremin players Barbara Buchholz (left ) and Lydia Kavina.
(right)
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for full report on CCs day performance and day at the Hands Off UK Theremin Symposium go here

photos - here

The Word Magazine - Theremin Photos

Christo's picture along with 50 other thereminists was featured in the UKs Word Magazine in their coverage of Hands Off Theremin Symposium.
See pic full size here CC is 3rd from right. prof Theremin's great niece Lydia Kavina in front and to the left of CC.

Plus this great b&w snap was taken by someone there too of CCs set.

The theremin was invented in 1920 by Leon Theremin (pictured left) and was the first electronic instrument and is unique in as much as it is the only instrument you play without touching.
Classical music was written for it by composers such as Varese, and it's first great player was Clara Rockmore who concertised across the world with the instrument in the 30s.
In the 50s it was used in films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still and It Came From Outer Space, and Hitchcock's Spellbound.

In the 60s & 70s it was used by rock groups and it has found a new home in the music of electronica today.

For more info about the theremin a great resource is Theremin World, plus http://www.theremin.info/

Whats a theremin?
theremin FAQs
Spellbound is a great online radio station that plays theremin music

Reviews.................................................
Spellbound Radio
"Contact Light is a wonderful ambient theremin album"

Audion Magazine
In sharp contrast, track wise, this disc contains ten pieces. The idea behind this disc was to further explore the use of the Theremin, and develop a new palette for it. The sound is very much now, but with a footing in the strange sci-fi sounds of the 1950's.
At its deepest I'm more often reminded of the spacier Michael Stearns or Steve Roach, although the melodic context and sounds are generally quite different. Overall, it's in a world of its own, and full of surprising touches.


Wind & Wire - Dec 04
Chris has dabbled with some electronic music on his Ayurveda and Scanning Planet 3 albums, now he's gone the whole hog and created a completely electronic album with Contact Light which features extensive sounds of a theremin and was recorded live without multi-tracking. An interesting piece of trivia is that the title refers to the first words a human said on the moon when the light came on indicating something under the Eagle's feet.

The atmosphere created by this album is definitely rooted in the heavens, yet it isn't typical spacemusic - if there is such a thing. A live approach to the recording has given the sound a freshness and immediacy due to it not having many textures, also the theremin creates a uniquely alien aura. Indeed, the second track "Emergence" with its watery background got me imagining being on the shore of another planet as the ghostly wails of the theremin hint at unusual lifeforms hidden somewhere in the distance.

Only in the last track "Slow curve home" do we start to hear anything resembling a rhythm or melody, most of the album is a kind of atmospheric collage formed by samples, drones, washes, and haunting wails. On this final track a muffled sequence forms a nice resonant structure over which a short string of notes is repeated and washes of spacey sounds do brief dances before being replaced by something slightly different.

Electronic music's greatest strength, in my opinion, is its ability to transport the listener to different realms -- and not always those intended by the musician -- because of the spectacular range of possible and otherworldly sounds that can be created. Contact Light is a good example of music in this vein, though it may take several listens to really appreciate. - Dene Bebbington