'…like smokestack lightning rolling through the sub-conscious…'

Biography

Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel is Scott Burland (theremin) and Frank Schultz (lap steel). Scott and Frank have been long time friends, but have only recently come together to combine the sounds of these two non fixed pitch instruments.

Their name describes the instrumentation in exactly the way it does not give you the full spectrum of what sonic sundries they impart, open with rich textures, swooning collages, and hypnotic pulses, like a warm bath in the aural abyss. In addition, their approach is sure to irritate the purists, as they both have taken many liberties with the traditional style of their respective instruments.

All performances are improvised.

Releases

EMP054 | Good Noise Bad Noise vs Duet For Theremin And Lap Steel | Live Manatees

Download: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Stream: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Download: Cover Art - Disc Art

Tracklisting: 1. Knees With Trees | 2. Under The Porcelain

Live Manatees @ The Internet Archive :: Live Manatees @ Last.fm

'…I LOVE this music!!' - Rhys Chatham

'A class act...' - Chris Stack, Marketing Manager, Moog Music, Inc.

'There was a sense that you two were up on stage, visibly slowing down time and very deliberately and gracefully allowing the timbres to emerge and evolve – bravo!' -  Joey Bargsten

'This music has wider appeal than you may realize!' - Howard Wershil

'The music on this cd is a mesmerizing, smooth sound that will fuck you up in any possible way you would want to be. Both eerily beautiful and cinematic.' -   EXP/AM Review

'…like smokestack lightning rolling through the sub-conscious…' - Dave Keifer

'...a great example of contemporary sound art.' - Thomas Gaudynski, The Gaudynski Report

Below from Creative Loafing Atlanta, written by Chad Radford:

The name says it all.

Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel is a character study of two instruments that have about as much in common with each other as "Star Trek" has with "Green Acres."

Yet both instruments have traditionally been used to add background color and texture to their respective musical locales. The electronic theremin captures the eerie, sci-fi sounds of outer space, while the lap steel produces the wavering whir heard everywhere from Hawaiian luaus to front-porch jamborees in the wilds of Appalachia.
For Scott Burland (theremin) and Frank Schultz (lap steel) the instruments themselves are the stars of the show. Burland and Schultz push to draw out the pure, natural sounds of their respective instruments, using increasingly fewer effects on the music.
During performances, both men carry the sober and studious faces of scientists examining swirling test tubes in which strange chemical compounds emerge.

Burland waves his hands in slow motion, as if he's conjuring the supernatural whine of the theremin from the ether. Schultz stares deeply into the strings of his lap steel guitar. The chemistry they share takes shape in an improvised back-and-forth, where waves of ambiance and dreamy drones weave into one another to form a spectral web of sound.

The music is experimental by design, but easy on the ears, never demanding too much of its listeners.

"They're both instruments with no fixed pitch." Burland adds. "It's all kind of loose, but there's a lot going on. I definitely think of it as nighttime music."

Contact

Duetonline | Duet For Theremin And Lap Steel @ Myspace