CIAN = Liz Ruvalcaba - vocals and electronics , Eliud Ernandes - bass and electronics
C.T.U = Jeff Singh - keyboards , Frank DeMarzo - drums , Bill Austin - guitars and tape manipulations
= mix by Bill Austin 11/07/2014 

Life Goes On - CIAN and C.T.U

I am a live looping/multi-instrumentalist and audio/visual electronica artist.   I'm also a professional drummer/percussionist/producer 
who also is fascinated by creating lo fi, toy digital video, trailing edge webcam and crap cell phone videos to 'animate' my abstract electronica and live looping compositions.      I've also been heavily involved with designing apps, software and hardware in the both the audio and visual worlds 
of Live Looping.      I founded and produced the  Y2K International Live Looping Festivals in Northern California for the last 11 years and live with my beautiful and talented singer/songwriter wife,  Chris Wedertz in Santa Cruz, California.

La banda surge, en un principio, de la actividad onírica de Eliud Ernandes y la complicidad de su no muy ocupado amigo Gustavo Larroyo, a partir de uno de esos diálogos en los que ninguno de los dos lograba empatar el contenido de la conversación con la realidad exterior.

Después de tomar sus medicamentos, estuvieron de acuerdo en la necesidad de trabajar en algo donde hubiera absoluta libertad creativa, que pudiera tener la posibilidad de dar rienda suelta al instinto por encima de la forma tradicional de canción, e incluso de lo que suele denominarse concepto. Justifican un poco a esos crímenes de lesa humanidad que llaman composición, argumentando gusto por el rock progresivo, el jazz y otros muchos géneros musicales y no musicales, como la obra de Julio Cortázar, de la que tomaron el nombre de Berthe Trépat, la pianista histérica, obesa y desagradable que toca piezas incomprensibles en la novela Rayuela, personaje al que ambos se parecen en más de un sentido; sobre todo físicamente.

Con el tiempo, otros dos internos de ese gran hospital que es la vida decidieron unirse a ellos (aunque convencidos con algo de extorsión y chantaje). Momo le prestó su voz a la pianista y Francisco Molina le puso unos buenos golpes.

A partir del cuarto espresso doble, y convencerse mutuamente de que lo que tenían enfrente no era otra alucinación provocada por el exceso de cafeína, sino una banda, decidieron grabar un primer disco y en el proceso arrastraron por lo menos a alguien más a ese oscuro abismo del desequilibrio, Saúl Gaxiola hasta entonces un ingeniero sensato, pero comenzó por experimentar con micrófonos y luego...

La premisa a partir de la que se trabaja es la más descarnada honestidad, cada compás está cargado de la identidad de los integrantes, de su historia personal y lo que han tocado a través del tiempo, sin la pretensión de sonar a otra cosa que a eso que ni ellos mismos comprenden del todo.

§

The band emerged, in the beginning, from the dreamlike activity of Eliud Ernandes and the complicity of his not very busy friend Gustavo Larroyo while having one of those dialogues in which neither of them could match the content of the conversation with external reality.

After taking their medications, they agreed on the need to work on something where there was absolute creative freedom, which might be able to let the instinct go lose over the traditional form of song, and even what is often called concept. They somewhat justify those crimes against humanity they call composition, arguing their taste for progressive rock, jazz and many genres, musical and non-musical, such as the work of Julio Cortázar, from which they took the name of Berthe Trépat, the hysterical, obese and unpleasant pianist who plays incomprehensible pieces in the novel Hopscotch, a character to which both are alike in more than one sense; especially physically.

Over time, other two inmates of that large hospital, which is life, decided to join them (although convinced with some extortion and blackmail). Momo lent her voice to the pianist and Francisco Molina gave her a few good punches.

Starting on the fourth double espresso, and after convincing each other that what they had in front of them was not another hallucination caused by excess of caffeine, but a band, they decided to record a first album and in the process they dragged at least someone else into that dark abyss of the imbalance, Saul Gaxiola until then a sensible engineer, but who began experimenting with microphones and then...

The premise from which they work is the starkest honesty, each measure is loaded with the identity of the members, their personal history and what they have played over time, without pretending to sound like nothing more than to "that" which not even they understand completely.

Singer, composer and multi instrumentalist live looping artist from Guadalajara, México. Her main instrument is her voice which makes her music sound atmospheric and ethereal, yet deep rooted in mexican tradition.

Do you really care? Are you actually reading this right now? We'd love for our music to speak for itself but for some reason we need to explain our passion for music, the troubles we've overcome to get where we are, and what connections, affiliations, or accreditations we've collected . We wouldn't be trying to push ourselves to perform for those who enjoy original music and continue to polish our craft if we didn't have what we thought it takes to "make it" in the music world. We take pride in our music, from writing to performing. Our many emotions are poured into our songs and performance, as we are a group of individuals who appeal the the common man and the within us all. As we try not to take life too seriously (what's the point?), we take our music and performances very seriously. Founded in 2012, we have already found small successes and have been recently commissioned to release 4 tracks for Atlanta film festival’s 2012 winning director’s next feature film. We look forward to having the opportunity to play anywhere and anytime and really, really hope to quit our jobs in the process!!!

Individually we look like this:

Adam Daniel, vocals 
-Mr. Personality ain’t got shit on him 
-would become a Mormon for the ability to marry more than one woman 
-has a fetish for owls 
-keeps at least twenty hats in his car in case he needs to change his identity 
-gets more than his car washed at the car wash 
-may be a quart low, but hasn’t been checked in a while

Brandon Burke, a.k.a, Mr. Herke. guitar 
-Keeps beer in his wine fridge 
-Wants to wear his pajamas to the grammy’s 
-Lost a fight to a Toyota Tercel (rumor has it he was hit while he wasn’t looking) 
-recently beat Mario Bros in under 6 minutes/wears 3D glasses to see the world in 3D 
-can’t keep enough beer in his wine fridge 
- loves vegas

Mike Jones, bass 
-has the most common sense in the band, not like it’s hard to do 
-is known for his magical fingers (ladies you know what I mean) 
-could win a staring contest with the devil, if he had the time 
-is kind of a big deal 
-knows how to successfully remove facial tattoos 
-can maneuver a car without any brakes

Eric Robertson, drums, spirituality guru 
-Believes the universe is made up of sensible people, even though we tell him otherwise 
-may not have his green card 
-has broken into his own car on occasion (to give people the idea that he is a thug/for the insurance) 
-has a job that really sucks, no really, it sucks 
-wants to taste/always chasing the rainbow but can never seem to find it

Para representar lo que percibimos visualmente, debemos recrear los tres colores primarios de la luz, rojo, azul y amarillo, cuya combinación en diferentes proporciones genera la gama cromática de todo lo que vemos. Sin embargo, para inventar paisajes sonoros, delinear imágenes auditivas, pintar el aire con sonidos e iluminar el silencio, bastan dos elementos, dos entes creativos que al unirse forman el azul primigenio de donde emergen todos los colores sonoros imaginables: CIAN.  

CIAN es la afortunada consecuencia de la comunión entre la vocalista Lizeth Ruvalcaba y el bajista Eliud Ernandes, quienes, a principios de 2013, por simple diversión ensamblaron un par de canciones con base en capas de sonido generadas con voz y bajo únicamente. Para ello utilizaron ‘loopers’, dispositivos digitales que graban lo que el músico toca o canta y lo repiten para formar alfombras (loops) sobre las que se pueden ejecutar nuevas figuras.  

La idea era no utilizar sonidos previamente grabados, sino generarlos sobre la marcha, sobreponiéndolos o reemplazándolos conforme avanzara la canción en turno; una labor ardua y minuciosa, tanto por el rigor de la ejecución donde un pequeño error o un simple chasquido indeseado —y repetido por el looper— puede echar a perder la pieza que se interpreta; como por la variedad tímbrica que se debe extraer a los instrumentos para que se distingan conforme se acumulan en las capas que se graban al vuelo. 

A diferencia de otros músicos que incursionan en esta técnica llamada 'looping', CIAN no se limita a grabar una alfombra sonora para luego improvisar sobre ella, sino que cada fragmento, cada sonido que se graba en los loopers, es parte de una composición con estructura bien definida. 

El resultado es espectacular, no sólo porque el dueto resuelve magistralmente las dificultades descritas, sino por la cálida belleza contenida en los temas, que sitúa el arte muy por encima de la técnica, haciendo que el oyente se olvide de la ejecución y se concentre en el gozo estético.  

Desde su nacimiento, CIAN mostró un sonido personal distintivo, tan intenso como original, que los identifica de inmediato; algo muy difícil de lograr al primer intento. Creo que esto se debe a la actitud creativa del ensamble, que no parece haber buscado dicho sonido de manera deliberada, sino que lo dejó fluir naturalmente, sin preconcebirlo, como resultado de las influencias, la maestría y la interacción de sus integrantes, aunadas a su evidente experiencia en audioproducción.   

Por ello es imposible ubicar a CIAN en un género musical específico, ya que en su obra confluyen el jazz de ECM, el soul, el rock progresivo, el tecno, los cantos irlandeses, el ambient, los frippertronics y hasta el minimalismo de Steve Reich, además de influencias que mi oído no alcanza a discernir. 

Tan nutrida fusión de géneros y estilos no puede menos que ofrecer un inmenso colorido musical, lleno de sonoridades diversas, elaborados contrapuntos y paisajes auditivos llenos de magia. Prueba plena de que, para generar música en toda su magnificencia cromática, bastan dos elementos creativos, imaginativos y talentosos: Liz Ruvalcaba y Eliud Ernandes: CIAN.  

Jorge Alveláis
Músico de Rock Progresivo y Pop Rock.  
Productor musical y audiovisual.

Hi there. Welcome to my world of sounds and songs here in soundcloud. Over here are various forms and states of my original works, sketches, demos, works in progress and outtakes and complete preview tracks from my own personal archives(unless stated otherwise). Please feel free to stream, download and share with others and correspond with me to purchase or donate via my email randolf@embryosongs.com. Thanks for the chance to connect and share the moments with you. Aldabest to you always. 

Preview n download my album CCCD at http://soundcloud.com/randolf-arriola 
For purchases and fan support donations please use paypal; randolf@embryosongs.com

For booking enquiries, correspondences and online networking please contact via the following; 
My Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/randolfarriola
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Randolf-Arriola/468323163325104
Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/randolfarriola?feature=mhee
https://instagram.com/randolf_arriola/
https://twitter.com/randolfarriola
Website: http://randolfarriola.com/ or http://embryosongs.com/
Email info@embryosongs.com to order the CD


Singapore-based musician and songwriter Randolf Arriola.

I'm a member of Loopersdelight.com the world's largest International community of creative musicians, sound artists and music technology who share the common ground of sonic explorations with Live Looping as a performance method with it's wide applications in creative and educational, artistic and entertainment fields.

I was 1 of 4 headliners among 75 International performers at Y2KX International Live Looping Festival held in Santa Cruz, San Jose and San Francisco .in Oct 2010.

I'd like to thank you for joining and showing your support. I do look forward to more of the rest of us joining in over time. The current and ongoing Loopers Delight and Live Looping groups that i have been a member of have always been and will always continue to be the prominent communities that house the best of the best in the world of Live Looping of which i am always grateful and humble to be a part and participant of. With this Live Looping 101 FB Group i am hoping to create a satellite interest group for more folks from South East Asia and perhaps over time develop interest and reach out to more participants from the rest of Asia. Along the way when some of you wish to progress further and venture deeper into the rabbit hole i will urge you without hesitation to join the International community of some of the most brilliant creative folks i know and have played with at "Loopers Delight" and "Live Looping" FB groups. Hopefully through all this will spawn more and eventually achieve what me and others hope for...to bridge the cultural diversities in this world and along the way let good things happen. Along the way please keep good thoughts and fingers crossed for me as i undertake small but necessary steps to turn the dream to reality. Thanks for the support and friendships always everyone! Something for everyone here. Cheers everyone. :)

Randolf Arriola
(Founder of Live Loop Asia)

Do check out my other recommended links;

Live Looping Asia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/livelooping101/

The world's best resource on all things Live Looping
http://www.livelooping.org/

FB Satellite Group for Live Looping org
https://www.facebook.com/groups/livelooping/

Guitar Gear 101 FB Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/guitargear101/

Live Loop Asia
https://www.facebook.com/liveloopasia


... various musical projects involving guitar and bass player Bill Austin =

Life Goes On - CIAN and C.T.U

Bill Austin 1 / C.T.U