In this July 2024 edition of Theremin 30, host Rick Reid plays new theremin music from Peru, the Netherlands, Finland, and Singapore. Rick's guest is Shueh-li Ong, who has a new album out called MissOriented Metaphor.
FEATURED MUSIC*
- "Canción para un regreso" - Veronik (Lima, Peru)
- "Op Deze Stoel" - Overlanders (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
- "Unet" - Kepa Lehtinen (Helsinki, Finland)
- "Calor" - Shueh-li Ong (Singapore/USA)
*The full-length recordings featured in this show were used with the knowledge and permission of the artists and composers. Please support the artists by visiting their websites, purchasing their recordings, and attending their performances.
ADDITIONAL MUSIC
- "Opera Glasses" - Phlogiston Theory & Ron Allen (Denver, CO / Seattle, WA, USA)
- "Time Shadows" - Phlogiston Theory (Denver, CO, USA)
- Various excerpts from MissOriented Metaphor by Shueh-li Ong
INTERVIEW GUEST
CALENDAR OF THEREMIN EVENTS
- Visit the Theremin 30 Calendar of Theremin Events for links and details of events mentioned in this episode.
MEDIA LINKS
- The Theremin 30 Playlist on YouTube includes music videos and concert performances of songs featured in this podcast.
- Shueh-li Ong's MissOriented Metaphor album release livestream special: part 1, part 2, part 3
CONTACT
- Write to the show: theremin30podcast@gmail.com
- Record a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theremin30/message
- Support this podcast: https://www.theremin30.com/p/tip-jar.html
CREDITS
- Producer/Writer/Host: Rick Reid
- Opening and closing announcer: David Brower
Copyright 2024 Rick Reid
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TRANSCRIPT
Please note: This transcript was created with the help of speech-to-text AI. It may contain some errors.
David Brower 0:00
Rick, this is Theremin 30. 30 Minutes of Theremin, music, news, events and interviews with a new episode about every 30 days. Now. Here's your host from Chicago, Illinois, Rick Reid.
Rick Reid 0:18
Hey. Welcome to the July 2024, episode of the theremin 30 podcast. This time around, I've got new Theremin music from the Netherlands, Peru, Finland and Singapore. My special guest is Shelley Ong here to talk about her new album called Miss oriented metaphor. And if I sound a little spaced out today, I'm just having trouble getting back into a good sleep schedule. I recently traveled to Denmark to spend a week with a bunch of Theremin playing friends from I think, 11 different countries. And between jet lag exploring Copenhagen late into the evenings and the very short nights in the Scandinavian summertime, I didn't get much sleep, at least not at the right times. Even a week later, I'm still feeling it, but I think I can manage to stay awake for the next 30 minutes. I hope you can too. So let's get started.
In just a bit, I'll play a track featuring Wilco Botermans on Theremin first though, I have new music from veronik When I interviewed her for the october 2021 episode of the theremin 30 podcast, she told us about a new album she was working on at the time. She's released a couple of singles from the project since then, but now the full album, illusionist pelagrossas is out on her Bandcamp page, Spotify and other streaming outlets in my poorly pronounced Spanish, this track coming up is called concione para un regress, and according to Google Translate, that means song for a comeback.
We started the show with the Peruvian recording artist Veronica with song for a comeback. It's a track from her new album, illusionist pellegrosis, or dangerous illusions. If you go to this month's show notes at Theremin thirty.com and click on her name, you'll go right to her band camp page where you can listen to and purchase the full album. And after that, I played a track called opti stool, or on this stool from the eclectic Dutch band overlanders, featuring guest musicians, vilko bodermans on Theremin and Joris Vermeulen on a double Reid instrument called tenora. To hear more music from overlanders, click on their name in this month's show notes. It's time now for the theremin 30 calendar of Theremin events. Lydia Cavanagh continues her online group Theremin classes on most Sundays on July 18, modulate featuring thereminist Chris Conway and sound artist Jez Creek, will perform at the Church of sound event in Nottingham, England. July 23 is the birthday of the late great Dr Samuel Hoffman. Commemorate the day by watching a movie featuring his Theremin in the score. On July 25 noritaka ubukata performs with his custom made there sin in Tokyo, and Stephen Hamm has a gig in Vancouver, BC, Canada. For details about these events and more, check out the full calendar at Theremin thirty.com and if you have an event you'd like me to place on the calendar, contact me through the website. Let's get back to the music now, with a single from Kepa Lehtinen that came out about three months ago, but I haven't had a chance to play it until now. This is called Unet in Finnish or dreams in English.
That was Unet or dreams by Finnish composer and thereminist Kepa lechtinen. You can see the official music video for that song on the theremin 30 YouTube playlist. Just. Search for Theremin 30 on YouTube or follow the link in this month's show notes.
Shueh-Li Ong is a multi Continental, multi instrumentalist with not one, but two live streaming shows on YouTube, and she just released her fifth studio album, Miss oriented metaphor. I visited with Shelly recently to find out all about it. Shelley Ong, it's so good to see you again, actually hear you again on the theremin 30 podcast.
Shueh-Li Ong 15:36
Thanks, Rick. So good to see you and hear you too. It's been a few years, but always glad to see your smiling face.
Rick Reid 15:44
It's been about three years since you've been on the show, and back then we talked about your musical history and how you got involved in the theremin. So I don't want to repeat that, but I do want to find out what you've been doing since then.
Speaker 1 15:57
Well, in the last few years, I've endeavoled to experiment with different ways in which I could articulate the voice of the theremin, and it was a slow kind of assembly, because there was a lot of playing around with until I got something that I went, Aha, I could use this. So it's been a while since I released an album. I thought, why not consolidate these experiments in new composition and then further develop them as I put them together as I went along? And I wanted to also create a repertoire of original music. You probably know this, I have a degree in piano performance, and I did study synth techniques during my post grad period. So I'm naturally inclined towards live performance. It's kind of like, you know, kids in the playground I like to play.
Rick Reid 16:53
Yeah, I seen some videos on your YouTube channel where you collaborated with some of the musicians that I think are on the new album. Sort of the early development of some of these tracks.
Speaker 1 17:03
I was road testing these works for venue versatility and playability with live musicians again, because I wanted to make sure these could be executed live. And again, these pieces were really more for my live performance repertoire. But you know, people like to receive my fans and friends like to receive these finished works in a recorded version. So hence the album. That seems to be the way musicians do it. They write, they record it, and then they play it. So, but I wanted to play it and then record it a friend of mine, bassist Brian Mooney, who appears on the album, he had reached out to me to work with me in live performance. So he played the first gig with me on the New Jersey prop house music series in 2018 and I enjoyed working with him live and on my music video, so much. And I said to Brian, you know, these are new pieces. Would you like to play on the music video with me, as you know, version one? So I I had a, I had, like, a recording or a document of what I had done. And he said, Sure. And I enjoyed his working with him so much, he repeated his performance, so to speak, on the album. And guitarist Dean parks, he didn't appear on my music videos for this album, but he had worked with me before on my third album, which was written under my Monica zanovites. And when he record on my third album, Crossing Paths, I became such a fan of his excellence, and I'm not mad another musician like him, I plotted to have him appear on this fifth album, Miss oriented metaphor.
Rick Reid 18:50
The album title is mis oriented metaphor. Yes. What does that mean?
Speaker 1 18:57
Miss oriented metaphor was nicknamed the concerto. So it began as a concerto because I had in mind it would be an instrumental with the soloists being the theremin the synthesizer, and I had a tin whistle in there as well, against luscious orchestration. You know, as you would imagine, a concerto would be the title plays on the words oriental, disoriented and the Cassandra metaphor, which in Greek mythology, Cassandra is the daughter of Troy, and she was given the gift of prophecy, but cursed With having her prophecies disbelieved.
Rick Reid 19:41
You play multiple instruments and you're playing with the band this time. Did you record together in the same room at the same time, or is this a multi track thing that was done remotely?
Speaker 1 19:52
I wanted this album to feature a few of my friends, and because of the nature of the genres. Yes, and the style in which the tracks, I call the movements, because it's supposed to be a concerto, they each movement has different sections to it and and they span several genres, so I wanted a real person's appearance to kind of tackle these changes, these transitions, but they would follow my written score, but in certain parts, they would imbue their lines with their own. What take on things for a drama it be feels for bass players, similarly, and of course, I had a guitarist, the one and only Dean parks, where lines were written for him, of certain guitar sounds that I was looking for, but others where I went, I said, Just do what you feel you hear in whatever genre it is that We're working in egy. I'd say this will be stadium rock in field, you know, but he's had six, almost seven decades of experience, so no big deal. And there was one part in the finale where I said, you know, this is your solo cadenza. I'd like you to be flamboyant dean. And I recorded remotely, but in real time. So he looked at me and he said, You asked for it. The other musicians recorded independently of me, but again, I had directions and I had my demo. So my method of writing is I write record straight into my door, and I play the instrumental lines the way I would want to hear it in my finished product. Bear in mind, these pieces must be playable live. All those things that you hear, those will be reproduced live.
Rick Reid 21:55
Now, speaking of live performance, the way you're releasing this album is non conventional, non traditional, as well.
Shueh-Li Ong 22:03
Well, I've been running this live stream that features friends and friends of friends in the music and entertainment industry called music and chat. And Rick you and I talked about that previously, so I thought, well, you know, I have my viewership there already, and these are the people who've been supporting my work and supporting me in this live stream situation. So why not use the live stream and thank my friends and fans at the same time in the release of this album, end of June on the 29th and 30th of June, that's the weekend before Fourth of July. And I will release the album in two parts. The album is in digital form, so first part will be the first three tracks, and the second part will be the next three tracks, and I'll feel questions live as well. So, yeah, live stream. So anyone can put in questions in a live chat, and I will respond to them. The album, again, is in digital form. But if I have what I call YouTube chat, my youtube channel donors. It's a PayPal, you know, donation, little spot, if you donate 35 and above, I will actually hand assemble a physical CD, autograph it, and mail it to you, US residents only, because postage overseas is quite exorbitant.
Rick Reid 23:36
Okay. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me about your new album. You have such an interesting and unique take on the theremin, especially, and really all the genres that you draw from. It's really fascinating to listen to.
Speaker 1 23:51
Thanks, Rick, thanks so much for having me. It's always a pleasure talking to you.
Rick Reid 23:56
If you missed the live streamed album release event on Shelley's YouTube page. It's still available to watch anytime there's a link to it in this month's show notes on Theremin thirty.com and you can stream and purchase the full misoriented metaphor album on her band camp page. I have the link for that too. Now let's finish the show with a track from Miss oriented metaphor. This is called calor, which is the Spanish word for heat. Shelly tells me this part of her concerto was inspired in part by flamenco music.
It's time to thank Veronik, overlanders, Kepa Lehtinen, and Shueh-Li Ong for sharing their music with us this month. Please support these artists by following them on social media, streaming or downloading their music and attending their live performances. Also, thanks to Shueh-Li Ong for being my guest this month, and as always, a special thanks to the listeners who helped me cover my expenses with small one time or monthly donations. If you'd like to help out, go to the theremin 30 website and look for the tip jar while you're there. Check out the library of past episodes for more great Theremin music from around the world. I'll be back soon with another episode. Until then, I'll see you somewhere in the ether.
David Brower 29:50
You've been listening to the theremin 30 podcast. Visit Theremin 30 on the web at Theremin three zero.com.
