Live Sets

Palm Reader 7: David Grunzweig
“Veiled, Mirror, Absolute”

A live performance centering modular synthesis, guitar, and looping. Recorded at @chillits in Laytonville, CA, in September, 2024. 

Dedicated in memory of Yvonne Boegman 

“Like a silver bowl filled with snow, like a heron hiding in moonlight”

3-words by David

David Grunzweig: @tape-ghost

Palm Reader 7: David Grunzweig

@tape-ghost is a project of David Grunzweig exploring the musical possibilities of artificial field recordings, microtonality, and polyrhythm composition. With a focus primarily on technology and utilizing new methods for sound synthesis and mangling, Tape Ghost productions range from ambient to psychedelic club tracks. Tape Ghost's style is largely influenced by the work of Voices From the Lake, Wata Igarashi, Monolake/Robert Henke, Cio D'or, Lucy and Rrose. A graduate of Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, David is an audio signal processing engineer by day for a company specializing in sound spatialization and acoustic simulation.

. . . 

this is an all original live set by tape ghost, in response to...

"The intent of this set was to create a new set exploring a variety of themes and sound design concepts that have been of interest to me lately. Starting with formant synthesis in an attempt to make drones that resemble human vocals more closely, I developed a synthesizer in Reaktor that pulls from a variety of traditional formant filtering techniques and expanded it with some additional ideas. The rest of the digital elements in the set pull from granular synthesis techniques and Phase Modulation synthesis. These were chosen based on the fact that they do not have an analog equivalent and require digital systems to be achieved. The remaining equipment used was an Elektron Digitakt for drums and midi sequencing and my Eurorack modular system. Each decision was made in an attempt to create a performance and composition in which each device used functions in a way that is particularly unique to it’s capabilities. Thematically, the set focuses on a few ideas, primarily the juxtaposition between viewing our lives personally and existentially. Certain sounds illicit associations and experiences that we may have had personally or have learned about. Particularly sounds like chanting, droning, and the use of large reverberant spaces transports many to spaces of worship, spaces designed to turn our attention away from the micro of our personal lives to the cosmic. Placing this setting against the use of polyrhythmic drum arrangements was intended to allow people to detach or entrance, to feel themselves melting into their surrounding. The sound design is also influenced by a desire to explore the boundaries between the real and artificial in recorded music. No field recordings were used in this performance, but the intent was to create sounds which maintain a vague connection to our world and ask the listener to derive their own distinction between the familiar and the unknown."

. . . 

photo by Index thumb (http://www.indexthumb.com/)

"This image of a mountain, like Tape Ghost’s set, speaks to the ancestral, primal elements of our psyche — those ancient ghosts that haunt our modern-day consciousness. It suggests the power these archetypal forces still hold for us today, and reminds us to honour and respect our elemental origins. By blending analog stills with digital compositing, the photograph reflects the paradox of our organic-yet-digital existence, while also hinting at the liberation that lies within the harmony of these seemingly contradictory perspectives. Photographed somewhere on a misty mountain somewhere in Wales, while utterly lost."

Ghunghru

ghunghru 006 // tape ghost

My live set from the Noctuary SF x Asterisk Collective show on October 20th opening for Amanda Mussi. Starts with some atmospheric and minimal dub techno and moves towards blistering drone.

All original compositions, 90% unreleased.

Released Track: Incision [Perfect Location Records]
https://perfectlocation.bandcamp.com/album/recovery-and-retrograde

Live at Noctuary x Asterisk

Live at Noctuary x Asterisk 10/2018

Tape Ghost(@tape-ghost) is the techno and ambient project of San Francisco based musician David Grunzweig. He is the co-founder of the Asterisk Collective and has released music on Perfect Location Records and Ghunghru.

Tape Ghost | Fault Radio LIVE Set at Classic Cars West, Oakland (January 6, 2019)

Recorded live at Chillits 2019.

Cover Image by Indexthumb: www.indexthumb.com

Live at Chillits 2019

Aka Tape Ghost
1/2 of @nightseaproject

Releases on: As You Like It, Ghunghru, Spontaneous Affinity, and Perfect Location Records

Inquiries: tapeghostmusic@gmail.com