The Koala Sessions
The Koala Sessions are pieces created using a mobile phone application, called Koala. It’s a pocket-sized sampler and sequencer from Elf Audio in the UK. I became interested in Koala for educational purposes, but soon came to see in it potential for extending my own electronic practices. Sessions 1 and 2 are not likely to be the last of their kind.​
Session 1 is subtitled “Noise”, as it exclusively uses samples produced by my own Noise Sculptor instruments. The opening and closing sequences are prepared improvisations I performed with my noise sculptor. Everything between is sequenced via the Koala app. Session 1 also makes use of the AudioStretch app, which employs the PaulStretch algorithm to perform signal freezes. It put the sound right in my hands and allowed me to shape and sculpt the moment’s sounds with my fingers. Finally, the project received a little post processing via Ableton Live and Izotope’s RX.
Session 1 is characterized by an active balancing between freeze and metric time. Stylistically it blends idioms from popular styles like electronica and rock with the hammering walls of drone. Movements between these can be easily followed in the video, via the interplay of Koala and AudioStretch. When freeze is enacted metric time is eclipsed by the free and tactile passage from moment to moment. It was a genuine pleasure to create. ​
Session 2 is subtitled “Voice”, because every sample is of my voice. Some of the samples are choral harmonies created for my PhD dissertation. In this piece they serve as analogs to synth pads. The percussion and solo vocal chops were created exclusively for this piece, and recorded directly into my iPhone via its mic. These were treated exclusively with Koala’s own internal processing tools. I did not use AudioStretch for this piece, but I did again use Live and RX. Post processing for this piece was somewhat more involved than for session 1.
Rather than interluding metric time with freeze, this piece opens with droning singularity. In fact timelessness does not give way to meter until nearly thirteen minutes into the piece. And then meter remains uninterrupted until around the 20 minute mark. Session 2’s drones are gentler, employing a more glacial scintillation rather than the frothing turbulence of Session 1. Its metered passages are more firmly situated in the realm of electronics and touched with elegance by the choral materials.
​The Koala app seems to have been created as something of point of entry for those interested in electronic music production. And the AudioStretch application was intended to be a transcription tool. I saw opportunities for creative expansion in them, but also an opportunity for play. I can fit it in my pocket, tinker with it at my leisure. My other instruments sometimes loom with a great weight, accretions of all the centuries of meaning we’ve burdened them with. This was a toy in my hands. No pressure. Just imagination, just play. Yes, sometimes I want to consider something important. But sometimes I just need to play. Please enjoy my Koala Sessions.