Travis Orbin – Finite / Sophia’s chamber music

Travis’s fourth solo EP, ‘Finite’, is out now! It’s written for four instruments – drums, violin (performed by TGC’s own Sophia Uddin and recorded by me), bass (Cameron McLellan returns) and synth. Give it a listen or purchase a copy at Bandcamp:

Or check out Travis’s tracking video:

Read more about the EP at http://travisorbin.com/Finite.htm.

On a related note, Sophia has launched a website, which can be found here. She has also uploaded some chamber music, which can be heard at Soundcloud. I play the inside of the piano on this folk arrangement:

Upcoming shows!

The Gabriel Construct’s live lineup has merged with Chapman Stick/U8 Touch Guitar player Matt Tate’s Pavlov3, essentially becoming one band with two leaders. We have a number of shows coming up.

Upcoming shows

-Pavlov3 @ Progtoberfest II on Saturday October 22, 2pm (Facebook) (Tickets)
We will be playing on the same day as many legends, including Mike Keneally and Trey Gunn. We couldn’t be more excited!

-The Gabriel Construct opening for Kayo Dot at Cobra Lounge! Sunday 10/23, 8PM (Facebook) (Tickets)

-Both bands @ Harding House Halloween Festival. Saturday October 29, 4pm (Facebook)
We will be playing alongside some of the best local Chicago bands, including a light sleeper, Origin of Animal, and Lovely Little Girls.

-Pavlov3 opening for Renaissance at Arcada Theater, St Charles, IL! Saturday 11/12, 8pm (Facebook) (Tickets)

-Pavlov3 opening for Felix Martin at Cobra Lounge! Sunday 11/13, 8pm (Facebook) (Tickets)

-Both bands @ Q-Bar in Darien, IL on Saturday November 18 at 8pm (Facebook)
This will be TGC’s first show outside of Chicago, and we’ll be playing alongside our friends in Legacy Black, who will be playing their first show ever!

-The Gabriel Construct headlining at Martyrs, Chicago, IL on December 12 (with The Phantom Broadcast and Conflux) (Facebook) (Tickets)

-Pavlov3 opening for Sons of Ra album release party @ Reggies Music Joint, Friday December 16 at 7pm (Facebook) (Tickets)

I am also working on a sheet music book for Pavlov3, which I imagine will be the second sheet music book ever for Chapman Stick and U8 Touch guitar. And on that note, the Stick Men drum book is complete and you can check out a bonus score and track from their new record here.

TGC @ Beat Kitchen, 9/7/16

9.7ig_tgc

We will be playing a show at Beat Kitchen at 9PM on Wednesday September 7, 2016 with Gushing Cloud, Pavlov(3) and The Four Three. Bill Banks, Sophia Uddin, Thor Bremer and will be playing in both TGC and Matt Tate’s newly reconfigured Pavlov(3). We first played with Pavlov last October at Martyrs. I’m excited to finally share the stage with Matt!

The Four Three is trombonist Mike Hagedorn’s new trio with Alex Perkolup and Jeff Goulet, and this will be their second show (go check out their first one on Wednesday!). All three of them are members of Lovely Little Girls and Hot Garbage, and have been known to play with Cheer-Accident.

Gushing Cloud is the electronic solo project of saxophonist/bass player Cory Bengtsen (also of Lovely Little Girls and sometimes Cheer-Accident). This will be the first GC show in 2 years. Witness the madness below and I think you’ll be as excited to see this as I am:

Buy Tickets ($8)
Facebook Event

Stick Men Book

The Stick Men book has been printed and is available for purchase at Bandcamp! Thanks a ton to everyone who contributed – we raised far more than we originally anticipated! The book looks beautiful:

It’s available with or without playalong tracks.

I didn’t realize this while working on the book, but I believe it’s the first book of sheet music ever made for Markus Reuter’s Touch Guitars. I’ve also been working with Markus on his art music compositions, and got the opportunity to collaborate with him on arranging his first published piece for solo piano. You can hear the debut performance below:

Travis Orbin – Projects II

Travis’s third solo EP, Projects II, is out now. It’s a bit like Projects with synths. Adam Edgement (Dyed in Grey) returns on guitar duty, while Cameron McLellan (Protest the Hero) delivers a blistering bass performance in his first appearance on Orbin’s music. I had the pleasure of playing keys and recording a sax freakout by TGC’s own Jeff Seigfried for the final track. Give it a listen below or purchase a copy at Bandcamp:

Here is Travis’s full tracking video for this EP:

Read more on the EP at http://travisorbin.com/ProjectsII.htm.

Stick Men Campaign

I have been enjoying the pleasure of working with Stick Men (Tony Levin, Markus Reuter, Pat Mastelotto) to create a sheet music book for their records ‘Absalom‘, ‘Open‘, and ‘Deep‘. Today, we have launched a crowd funding campaign on PledgeMusic to fund the printing of this book: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/stick-men-scored

We are excited to announce that we have been working on a sheet music book for our records ‘Absalom’ and ‘Deep’. In order to allow fans and players to delve deeper into our music, the book will feature notation and tablature (in the original tunings) of all of the stick and touch guitar parts from those records and the title tracks from ‘Open’, plus anecdotes about each song. We will be producing both physical and digital PDF versions of the score, plus a PDF version of the acoustic drum parts for Deep. All packages will also include an early version of a new studio track, entitled ‘Embracing the Sun’.

Gabriel Riccio (of Trey Gunn’s book) is creating notation for all of the parts and working closely with Markus Reuter and Tony Levin to make sure the tablature reflects exactly how the parts were played on their instruments. However, the notation will give you the tools to translate this music to another instrument of your choice, whether it be standard guitar or bass, piano, glockenspiel, or qanun. It can also serve as a study score if you’d like to analyze the music and dissect its inner workings.

If we reach 125% of our goal, we will also include our arrangement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.

You will also be able to purchase digital playalong tracks to accompany the score. There will be 3 versions of each song – one without drums, one without touch guitar, and one without stick.

Your pledge is very valuable, as it will allow us to commission the transcriptions, print high quality spiral bound physical copies of the book, and mix and master the playalong tracks. If you can’t contribute, sharing the campaign will also be of great help.

Thank you,
Tony, Pat, Markus & Gabriel

Here is a sample page:
02 On Off_0004

Edit: The project has been funded at 145%, far beyond what we originally imagined – thanks a ton for all of your support!

vod vs Stephen Harper

harperiaDaev Tremblay of Can This Even Be Called Music? (one of my favorite blogs for experimental music) contacted me with a rather unusual request on Thursday – he wanted me to soothingly sing protest lyrics against Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper over some experimental black metal. This sounded appealing to me both musically and politically, so I decided to give it a try. However, he needed it done by the next morning, so I knocked this out in a few hours. This is possibly the fastest I’ve ever finished a track, and while I would consider my vocal performance a demo in a lot of ways (I didn’t warm up, tracked the whole thing sitting down, and many of the takes are first takes, or even the very moment that I came up with the melodic line), I’m strangely satisfied by it. Enjoy!

Footage from three first shows

Here is the first half of the first TGC show ever:

The video features performances of Arrival in a Distant Land, Retreat Underground, Subway Dwellers, and the first part of Fear of Humanity. Take a look at the full setlist, or check out an excerpt from Sacha Mullin’s opening set.

Here is a video of the song ‘Sun Dies’ from the show Sophia and I played with CHEER-ACCIDENT on June 19 (also featuring Sacha Mullin and Dante Kester, and also at Martyrs’):

Setlist – Sophia and I also performed on ‘Language Is’ and ‘Rockabilly’, and Sophia made an appearance on ‘Ice Cream and Lies’.

And here is some footage of a cover of the So Weird song ‘Questions’ from the first show I played as a sideman for Sacha (June 13th at The Burlington – setlist):

Logical Phalluses

band photo with name

Logical Phalluses are the demented, sex-crazed alter-ego of The Gabriel Construct. Inspired by John Waters, John Cage, John Christ, John Zorn, John Cale, John Butler, John Tavener, John Frusciante, John Wetton, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Mr. Bungle, and Tronald Dumpf.

Lineup: see the lineup for Spinning Webs, plus Alex Ellsworth (cello)

‘Pyrorapture’ written by Skull Fist
‘Fred & Ethel’, ‘A Vacation in Your Spleen’ and artwork created by Blood Mask
Recorded and produced by Gabriel Riccio except:
Drums & percussion arranged, recorded and mixed by Travis Orbin
Piano on Pyro & F&E recorded by Jeremy Goody at Megasonic Studios
Mixed and Mastered by William Wells at Eeyore’s Lair

Drum tracking video:

Drum charts:
Pyrorapture – Drum Set | Percussion
Fred & Ethel – Drum Set | Percussion