a r t i s t : Dogr
t i t l e : In Korean Wilds and Villages
d a t e : 2009
l a b e l : sonig 77CD
g e n r e : Avantgarde/Chamber Pop
r l s. d a t e : Sep/2009
t r a c k s : 10
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 54,3 MB
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Produced by Andi Toma / Mouse on Mars
Sonig is proud to present the debut album of dogr, a young,
New-York-based American artist who is skilled with
instrumental expertise, artistic conceptualism, and an
unworldly vocal virtuosity. With his debut, he finds a
mesmerizing way to comply with unheard musical ideas and
conducts most-satisfying webbed experiments, not only for the
sake of a great art being discovered or riotously exploited;
but for the sake of clear and beautiful language, accurate in
its contraction, while original in its downright musical
quality. Moreover, dogr never loses his curiosity nor his
beatnik bare experimentalism. The production of Mouse on MarsÆ
Andi Toma adds an analogue thrill to the spiraling epic record
that is In Korean Wilds and Villages.
So who is the young man behind this faunal alias? David
Michael DiGregorio is dogr. He started in coastal New England
with a piano teacher who gave him lots of Bach to play. At a
young age he created harmonies using a a four-track mini-
cassette tape recorder, his voice, and a old Roland JX-8P with
programmer. Growing older, he moved on to 16-mm experimental
filmmaking and electro-acoustic composition, using a Bolex
camera and a Serge modular synthesizer.
During his years in Amsterdam, his time was spent with head
and ears full of swollen voices, mostly his own, multiplied;
inspired in part by his earlier time in a big gospel choir,
and his interest in the Korean operatic form called pansori,
in which one singer assumes the role of the narrator,
different characters in the story, and even the sounds of
animals and nature. After many experiments using delay and
loops to create massive vocal textures, he began telling the
stories of others through his own music.
Many of the pieces comprising In Korean Wilds and Villages
come from the in the room series of musical/visual/theatrical
storytelling performances, conceived by artist Sung Hwan Kim.
The collaboration resulted in music featuring the sound of
many voices made by one. Many of the instruments used on the
album are also instruments and props used in the performances,
for example, the broken, wheezing harmonium on "things are
more exciting than they are"; the bell sound recorded in Seoul
on ôfiks it upö; and the makeshift slide guitar of "grows on
top of the old one" and "o how this city has changed".
Many songs on In Korean Wilds and Villages are pieces in which
melodic phrases wind into journeys. The text pulls the
listeners out to the realm of story-telling in a macroscopic
sense; meanwhile, the winding melismata and grains of voice,
like detailed veins under the skin, draw the listener
microscopically into the music as it is in progress.
(www.sonig.com)
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01-things are not more exciting than they are [02:50]
02-man on earth [04:27]
03-(han river) heaven & work [03:24]
04-my must needs over there [06:18]
05-don't worry [03:34]
06-fiks it up [06:02]
07-the man transform'd [02:55]
08-grows on top of the old me [02:43]
09-o how this city has changed [06:23]
10-jook [03:08]
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41:44 min