TENORI-ON

DAMIAN TAYLOR

Björk’s Musical Director and self-confessed ‘studio geek’ talks Tenori-on...

PICTURE BY DANIEL GRIFFIN

Björk’s current world tour utilises some of the most cutting edge on-stage technology out there so it’s no surprise to find at least one Tenori-on in the thick of it. Her Musical Director tells us about life on the road in the middle of a mountain of music technology...

Björk is as well known for her quirky image as she is her stunning music. That’s something that comes across in her live shows which are always something to behold both visually and sonically. But for her current world tour she has pulled all the stops out, even by her standards. On stage, alongside the diminutive Icelandic megastar, are a multi-coloured 10-piece female Icelandic brass section, a virtuoso classical keyboard player, an avant guarde percussionist/drummer plus two electronic musicians: Mark Bell (LFO) predominantly handling beats and bass and Damian Taylor taking care of the "musical and effecty" end of the electronic spectrum. In addition to the 15 performers, the stage is crammed with some of the most awe-inspiring music technology you could imagine. And, in typically innovative Björk fashion, she's devised a way to further enhance the visual feast by bringing the technology to the fore.

Three large plasma screens are placed around the stage to reveal what the players are doing. One moment Mark or Damian's Jazzmutant Lemur - a futuristic touch screen controller - is shown in action as a tactile bridge to their Ableton Live software. The next moment the top down intricacies of the Reactable are featured as it generates and alters sound in real time. The images of these hi tech surprises are juxtaposed against close ups of the traditional instruments onstage. But it’s a Tenori-on that appears during the track Who Is It? that often causes the most jaws to drop in the audience. Damian uses one to great effect on one of Björk’s catchiest songs and the Plasma screens reveal its input in wide-eyed glory to the crowd. It’s a great part of a show that has garnered amazing reviews around the world: from North and South America to Australia, and from around Asia to the most recent shows in the UK.

The technology man

For Damian, the man surrounded by gear on stage, it’s been quite a journey, and we’re not just talking about the Björk tour which has seen him travel to the four corners of the globe. Previous to this tour he’d already worked with some of the biggest musical innovators of recent times, as he reveals...
“Basically I’m a freelance studio geek!” he laughs. “Sometimes I produce, sometimes I engineer, some things I write and I also play and program. My career kick-started with Pro Tools in the 90s working alongside producer/writer Guy Sigsworth. Things spiraled from there after I joined Guy to help out with Björk's Vespertine album. I also did a million weird projects, productions and remixes with UNKLE, co-wrote and co-produced Adam Freeland's artist album and spent seven months on the Prodigy album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned alongside Liam Howlett and my dear friend Neil Mclellan. I've done so many other sessions and projects that I really have a hard time remembering them some days!”
Taylor was asked to work on Björk’s Volta album and it was as the sessions drew to a close that the idea of using the visual technology for the resulting tour began...
“The whole thing started in November 2006,” Damian recalls, “We were at the mix sessions with Spike Stent. Björk was sent a link to a YouTube video demonstrating the Reactable. Mark Bell then pulled up some clips of the Jazzmutant Lemur and Björk loved the visual representations that both instruments offered. It seemed they could really connect an audience with the otherwise hidden world of live electronics. She felt it would be cool to really feature them, make them part of the stage set rather than using abstract pre-recorded visuals and projections.”

During the tour Yamaha’s Tenori-on was launched to great acclaim and Björk's camp was offered an early chance to try this new instrument as another visual addition to the stage show. Soon the tour bus was alive with the lights and sounds of the Tenori-on...
“I got a totally new age vibe - but in a nice way!” says Taylor remembering when he first powered up his Tenori-on. “It was a lot to do with the on board sounds which are pretty digital and precise, and the uplifting ‘ooooo’ kind of feeling you get from them. But what was really cool was the Tenori-on's ‘all in one’ approach. I like the way it’s really immediate. It’s great to use a hi-tech music device without a computer monitor that encourages you to use your fingers! It's fresh, built on new ideas.”
“After our initial messing about on the bus Björk gave it the nod and we thought it would be fun to try it live.” Damian continues. "Who Is It? has lots of spiky and intricate vocal parts on the multitrack which weren't yet represented in an existing brass arrangement so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the Tenori-on's sample playback capabilities. I grabbed a whole bunch of "doops" "boops" "Oooos" and random vocal sounds off the multitrack and loaded them in. The sonic characteristics of the sampled vocals sat perfectly around the warm, heavy brass arrangement and Björk's lead vocal, and then just jamming with the on-board sequencer gave us musical progression and dynamics - plus a really nice bunch of imagery for our video guy, Anthony Cairns, to use on screen.”
So what’s Damian’s favourite aspect about the Tenori-on approach to music making? “I think probably the ‘switch on and go’ factor,” he replies. “It’s more like having an instrument than a sequencer, just turning it on and making music. It’s a great ‘instant’ gratification thing for musicians, electronic or otherwise. In the same way you can just pick up an acoustic guitar, or sit at a piano, you can grab the Tenori-on and play. You don't need to boot up a computer, switch on your speakers, set up your mixer, initialise a MIDI track in a sequencer etc etc. It has that distilled but fun and usable interface, it’s straight up and immediate, compact and self contained.”
And Damian is not the only person in the Björk camp to have experimented with this new approach to making music...
“Björk had a good play with it when we first tried it out and she really likes it,” says Damian. “She's into the fact that it makes the brain work in a different way, breaks routines and habits. I have a feeling she’ll get more into it after the tour when she heads back to the studio. In the meantime she keeps one in her suitcase for whenever the mood strikes, and she makes a point of mentioning the Tenori-On in my list of instruments when she introduces the band towards the end of our sets.”
So how does it feel for Damian to be on such a high profile outing with some of the most cutting edge gear out there? “I do have to remind myself that it's pretty unusual for any band to have a setup even remotely like this! It's funny playing a festival and seeing an endless stream of guitars and drums, or maybe turntables - I forget there's only a few of us in the world playing the Reactable right now, and it was a big blessing to be able to get ahold of the Tenori-On so early.” he says. “You can definitely see the crowd reacting to these new things - when I fire up the Tenori-on, for example, they kind of go ‘wooh, what’s that?!’ I wind up with a bunch of emails after each gig from people who have tracked me down online, demanding an explanation! Using the Tenori-On and the other gear is really exciting and fresh for me after all those years in the studio too. I got so used to always using a computer, a mouse, some faders and knobs. Now it's playing music with all these different interfaces, graphics, feedback, tactility - plus thousands of people responding to it... The Tenori-on is a real winner because of its ‘one box’ approach. Anyone can just chuck it in a bag and hop on the train or drive to a gig, or fire it up anytime in the back of a tour bus as we did. One hugely important point for people to bear in mind is if you want you can link it up to anything through its MIDI i/o. This means you can use it to control your own sounds and setups, there is so much potential to find your own unique way to use it.”

Damian is also keeping himself busy with recording projects including producing a new artist from New York called Atarah Valentine and his own musical outlet Stone Lions. Mainly, though, he's very excited about working with Björk in the studio again to further develop and explore the methods and lessons they learned from these new instruments in her live shows. “I’m looking forward to burying myself in my little studio in Canada to find more and more cool ways to use them,” so says the luckiest ‘studio geek’ around.

www.damiantaylor.com

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MAKE YOUR OWN TENORI-ON...

...well, not quite - but nearly!

While you are dreaming of owning the real thing... why not have a few hours of fun with this new 3D paper model of media artist, Toshio Iwai with the Tenori-on.

Made as a tribute to Toshio Iwai by the UK-based creative paper artist 'Tubbypaws', this model is easy to build and needs no batteries! Simply download the pdf, ask an adult to cut around the edges and then glue it all together.

Follow the instructions and, before you know it, you will have your very own Toshio and Tenori-on at home!

Its almost as much fun as the real thing! Download your 3D paper model HERE

TENORI-ON HELPS OVERCOME BARRIERS TO CREATIVITY

Tenori-on captures the imagination of so many different people. From the creative and professional media artist to non-musicians alike, this new form of musical interface is opening many new avenues of musical exploration and creativity.

A recent independent dissertation by UK-based Graham Wynne is a fascinating document as he explores the extent to which instruments such as Electroplankton and Tenori-on are overcoming barriers to creativity in modern music production. With related quotes from Toshio Iwai, Brian Eno, Steve Reich and Norman Fairbanks you can read Graham's dissertation HERE

TENORI-ON WOWS AUDIENCES DURING BJÖRK TOUR

Björk's current world tour utilises some of the most cutting edge on-stage technology out there, so it's no surprise to find at least one Tenori-on in the thick of it...

Read the full story HERE

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION FOR OWNERS OF TENORI-ON

Please click here to read this important announcement about Tenori-On

IMPORTANT UK TENORI-ON PRICING NEWS

Due to the current exchange rate situation its become necessary for us to increase the UK price of Tenori-on. This advance warning of this pending increase gives you a few days to take advantage of the current price before it goes up!

The tenori-on uk online store price will be increased on 1st April 2008 from the current £599 to £629 inc VAT.

THE YAMAHA TENORI-ON REVOLUTION CONTINUES WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF GLOBAL LAUNCH EVENTS

Following the hugely successful media and public launch of the critically acclaimed Tenori-on in the UK, we are excited to announce Tenori-on Global Launch events and a new multi-language website.

Read the full story HERE

Tenori-on really is about the Future of Loops

Future Loop Foundation join the list of high profile Tenori-on users…

Tenori-on fever continues! As demand for this most innovative light and sound sequencer continues to grow, the word is also out in the artist community that this is one must-have, must-play gadget. Mark Barrott, Future Loop Foundation’s technology-loving front man, has been after one since launch and recently finally got his hands on one…

“It really opens your mind to new possibilities,” he says. “It’s Steve Reich for the modern age…” And Mark knows all about new possibilities. A decade ago he was leading the way on the drum n bass scene before turning chillout. Last year’s ‘Album Of The Year’ Memories From A Fading Room spawned a couple of summer soundtrack classics (appearing all over the BBC and Sky TV) and he’s currently gearing up for a ground-breaking audio and visual spectacular tour.

Read the full interview HERE

The list of high profile artists queuing up to get their hands on Yamaha’s Tenori-on is staggering. Many, in fact, have been left disappointed due to short supplies of the innovative light and sound sequencing tone module. So far Björk has been spotted on tour with one in South America and Peter Gabriel is known to be experimenting with one at Real World, but another cutting edge artist lucky enough to get his hands on an early unit was Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet.

DAMIAN TAYLOR

The technology man

NEWS

MAKE YOUR OWN TENORI-ON...

TENORI-ON HELPS OVERCOME BARRIERS TO CREATIVITY

TENORI-ON WOWS AUDIENCES DURING BJÖRK TOUR

IMPORTANT UK TENORI-ON PRICING NEWS

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