To Dream Perchance To Loop…

“Loopfests are today’s definitive non-genre-based celebration of creative sonic expression – and I am very honored to be included somewhere between the loop-newbies and the pioneers of loop-history…”   Rejyna

This Looptober has been packed with festivals up and down the western edge of the USA. From Colorado and Nevada to Washington and Oregon, live looping artists have presented their personal brand of loop-based music.

This week and coming weekend, California hosts the 15^th Y2K International Live Looping Festival, and the following Wednesday and Thursday, Long Beach hosts the SoCal Loopfest.

Rejyna will perform her set as part of the Y2K International Live Looping Festival on Sunday, October 25 at 3:00 p.m. at the TANNERY WORLD DANCE & CULTURAL CENTER, 1060 River Street #111, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060.

Rejyna will kick off the 2^nd night of the SoCal Loopfest on Thursday October 29^th at 7:00 p.m. at DiPIAZZA’S, 5205 E Pacific Coast Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90804.

Rejyna’s Looptober Shows

Rejyna’s YouTube channel (http://youtube.com/rejyna) features several of her loop-based songs from her solo CD’s “Solo Sojourn Live” and “IDIO” which can be purchased at the shows and online at:

CDBaby: http://cdbaby.com/artist/rejyna
Bandcamp: http://rejyna.bandcamp.com/releases
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Rejyna_Idio?id=Bkm3flebgdlrhazqwtqjusmy34y
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/idio/id942318560
Amazon: http://amazon.com/dp/B00PPR0VJI/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_5nSPvb0PFE6MD

Rejyna can be followed on many social and music networks, including:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/rejynamusic
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rejyna
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/rejyna
ReverbNation: http://reverbnation.com/rejyna
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/2VQjPIc0aCTqZwQl2YiByT
Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/rejyna/album/idio
Digitech Artists: http://digitech.com/en-US/artists/rejyna

The Y2K International Live Looping Festival is celebrating their 15^th year with performances from an impressive list of live looping artists from all over the globe:
Rick Walker (USA)
Andrew Aldridge (Canada)
ANI (USA)
Aram Shelton (USA)
Bill Walker (USA)
Cabezas De Cera (Mexico)
Cian (Mexico)
Cindy Sawprano (USA)
Daniel Thomas (USA)
DARKROOM (England)
ECNEGRU (France)
Entertainment for the Braindead (Germany)
Fabio Anile (Italy)
GAEA (USA)
Gary Regina (USA)
Giacomo Fiore (Italy)
Goh Nakamura (USA)
Henry Plotnick (USA)
Hobbs (USA)
John Connell (USA)
Josh Elliott (USA)
Jules Arindam (USA)
Lance Glover (USA)
Lucid Brain Integrative Project (France)
MandoMan (Japan)
Michael Mullen’s Trio Of One (USA)
Noah Peterson (USA)
Oa (Matt Davignon + Hugh Behm-Steinberg)
Per Boysen (Sweden)
Phil Clevenger (USA)
Philipp Zuercher (Switzerland)
Randolf Arriola (Singapore)
Rejyna (USA)
SA (Singapore)
SHORES OF LATENCY (Emmanuel Reveneau + Laurie Amat)
Steve Moyes (Wales)
Ted Killian (USA)
The Stochastics (USA)
Complete information can be found at: Y2K International Live Looping Festival

The SoCal Loopfest will present performances from:
Noah Peterson – San Antonio, TX
Josh Elliott – Tomah, WI
ecnegrU – Nanes, France
Tigr Hors – Columbus, OH
Steve Moyes – Gillingham, Medway, England
Robert Matheson – St. George, UT
Steuart Liebig – Los Angeles, CA
Cabezas de Cera – Mexico City, Mexico
Shores of Latency – Providence, RI & Paris, France
Just Alliance – Las Vegas, NV
Rejyna – Los Angeles, CA
Son Fish – Turlock, CA
Joseph Soul – Irvine, CA
Zack Walters – Long Beach, CA
Alissa Vox Raw – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Entertainment for the Braindead – Berlin, Germany
Aldo Caldo – Austin, TX
Cian – Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
The Electric Noodle – San Francisco, CA
riz orkestra – Los Angeles, CA
Complete information can be found at: SoCal Loopfest

In the following ‘how-to loop’ tutorial videos, Rejyna adds text to explain the various pedal switches she uses to create her original songs:
Common Voice

Looking For You

Jorie Green Thumb (Song For Mom)

For those interested in looping, Rejyna also published a comprehensive review of her looper-of-choice at http://www.amazon.com/review/R3OFOFY7M5IQGO

All Material is © Rejyna
℗ W.E./Citadel of Cynosure Productions
All Rights Reserved

Synthetic to Organic: Citadel guitarist takes you from distant space to the desert sands!

Citadel guitarist/vocalist Rejyna, offers two more fresh songs from her new CD, IDIO.
‘Mandolian Mirage’ is a mando-laced folk-rock piece that transforms you into a nomad, blissfully roaming the desert sands.  ‘Galactic Projectories’ is an android-voiced rock anthem casting you as the last organic human to narrowly escape from assimilation by thrusting yourself into deep space.

Both cuts are from Rejyna’s new CD, IDIO, available at cdbaby.com/cd/rejyna3   Rejyna is a live-looping artist who uses pedals and effects with her voice, guitar, synth guitar and drums to create lush songs that sound like a full ensemble.  Her work in the band Citadel gives her a prog-metal and folk-world edge that slices nicely thru her solo presentation featuring a diverse palette of song stylings.

GALACTIC PROJECTORIES
Click Here To Listen on ReverbNation
Click Here To Listen on SoundCloud
LYRICS:

“Imagine you are the only human who is not sync’d to the galactic mainframe.  It’s against the law to be an ‘organic’ – to be without cyber implants, nanotech plasma pumps and A.I. i/o – – – and you’re on the run…”

Long are the days
in the dark on the run
Star upon star
rendering dawns with no suns

Outlawed and betrayed
and bountied and shunned
Off-grid genetic codes,
the damage is done –

Gaze into the null of the void
Swim in the slicing silence of space,
last of your kind, last hope for your race

Beyond the stars, beyond the sky
Beyond the earth, beyond the light

Cascading nebula rainbows of light
Outside space, between fire and ice
Endless horizon line, light-speed wave ride
Surfing and sailing anomaly tides

Cold ironsides with arrays of pulse guns
Laser guides, crew AI, replicant sons
Solitude, servitude, sterile and sanctified
Frantic and fraught, fretting with compromise

Wake in a state of delusional dreams
Nothing perceived is as it would seem
Studied and probed, abducted, displayed
Galactic projectories or cerebral charade?

Beyond the stars…

MANDOLIAN MIRAGE
Click Here To Listen on ReverbNation
Click Here To Listen on SoundCloud
LYRICS:

Sand fills the day’s horizon line,
there’s not much time
until the colder nights arrive
and white Winter stars align, a sign…

Enticed mandolian mirage,
safe passage through the tempest

The sky, the silence
The day, no shade
The night wind violently
etches furrows in my face

Gitano gently luring
sweet sounds surround
a solemn sunset in the sands

See what you are
in echoes of an army of guitars
Mirrors from sand,
silvered glass in the nomads land

Dance, dance
Renounce the silence with your hands
Sing, play
Our voices amend night into day

The mind, the vision
The heart in hand
Reflection enduring
Slake essence alluring

The sky, the silence
The day, no shade
The night wind violently
erases footsteps without a trace

Enticed mandolian mirage,
dream salve soothes chafe and chaff
and strums reflect like water flowing…

TECH TIDBITS: All music recorded using multiple memory slots on one Digitech JamMan Solo, vocals sung thru a DigiTech Vocalist Live Pro, loops stitched and massaged in SoundForge.  No midi guitars or synths were used on these songs.  All musical sounds are acoustic guitars (Ovation and Yamaha) thru the Boss GT3 effects board, and drums are played on a Yamaha DD55.  No tape machines, virtual multi tracks or DAW’s were harmed (nor used) in the making of these recordings – this is indie DIY…enjoy.

From the CD, IDIO, by Rejyna

Warning: Live Loops Ahead…

http://cdbaby.com/cd/rejyna3

c. Rejyna Douglass-Whitman  (BMI)

Published by W.E./Citadel of Cynosure Productions (BMI). All Rights Reserved.  Unauthorized duplication, repurposing, exhibition or performance is prohibited by US and international copyright laws.  Citadel is a registered US Tradename, used herein with exclusive permission.

Rejyna tours annually every October as part of the LoopFest concert circuit from Seattle to Long Beach and beyond.  A prolific poet, artist, composer and producer, she also works in the film and print industries and performs regularly in and around Los Angeles.
http://facebook.com/rejynamusic
http://reverbnation.com/rejyna
http://soundcloud.com/rejyna
http://twitter/rejyna
http://youtube.com/rejyna

‘Common Voice’ from the new IDIO CD!

Citadel band member, Rejyna, has uploaded a 2nd song from her new CD, IDIO, titled ‘Common Voice’

Hear the song here:
Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/rejyna/common-voice-go-easy
ReverbNation:  http://www.reverbnation.com/rejyna/song/22180153-common-voice

Rejyna notes, “this is a fun song to play and the words hold a lot of meaning for me.  We have choices and freedoms that many do not and the lyrics to this song remind me to stay active, stay vigilant, stay alert and above all – add my common voice to the cry for liberty for all – and of course, the guitarist in me loves playing the shred leads between acoustic rhythms – and playing the drums and having the looper repeat what I play is something that appeases the novice drummer in me…”

01 – Common Voice (Go Easy)
There was a time
when the common voice among us
had no chance to dare a king
Dreams and wondering
were smothered into suffered silence
subjugated by imperial strings 

Now’s the time
for the common voice among us
to challenge netharias kings
Songs and sidewalk speeches
struggle to abate the silence,
to stay the liberated from surrendering 

Do we see it’s all all right? 
Do we see it’s all of light?

Still the surf and the noble
share a common threat
as our homeworld
suffers from neglect –

Easy, go easy
Say you want to love
Say you are for love

Right now, shout it out,
roundabout, all around the world.
Write it down, right it out,
your mind light can shine now.

Make your rhyme outside time
Speak your mind
to eyes blinded by the fright
Use, lose, abuse
or choose to unite
There are no second chances
to roll the liberty dice…

Music recorded using multiple memory slots on one JamMan Solo, Vocals sung thru an SM57 DigiTech Vocalist Live pro and tracked on a DigiTech GNX4, loops stitched and massaged in SoundForge.

Rejyna: IDIO ~ http://cdbaby.com/cd/rejyna3

From the CD, IDIO, by Rejyna
http://cdbaby.com/cd/rejyna3
c. Rejyna Douglass-Whitman  (BMI)

Published by W.E./Citadel of Cynosure Productions (BMI). All Rights Reserved.  Unauthorized duplication, repurposing, exhibition or performance is prohibited by US and international copyright laws.

“Looking For You” from the new CD, IDIO

Just Uploaded to ReverbNation, now you can listen to the full song “Looking For You”
from the new CD ‘IDIO’ by Citadel guitarist/vocalist, Rejyna.  

“This song is one of those that just came to me when using the looper to record a song idea.  The chord change is simple, maybe even danceable, which is kind of a new thing for me.  It is the treatments and loop layering that I got creative with on the DigiTech JamMan and then even more in SoundForge.  The lyrics are some of my simplest but maybe some of my most direct.  It’s is certainly fun to perform this one with my live looping rig.”  [Rejyna]

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG IN A NEW WINDOW ON REVERBNATION

IDIO by Rejyna

Looking For You

I am the one who’s been looking for you
all of this time, all of this time…

Hide and I will find you
When and where and why

Try to memorize your eyes
The likeness of your smile

Where you go I follow
Here and there and now

All your life, you’re waiting
Love and peace and song

You are all I see
so why can’t you see me?

I am the one
who’s been looking for you
all of this time, all of this time…

All Music, Lyrics, Performance
c. Rejyna Douglass-Whitman

From the CD, IDIO, by Rejyna
http://cdbaby.com/cd/rejyna3

Published by W.E./Citadel of Cynosure Productions (BMI). All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, repurposing, exhibition or performance is prohibited by US and international copyright laws.
http://rejyna.com

Download the song from Reverbnation for $1.29 (50% goes to charity) or download the whole 16-song CD for $10 at http://cdbaby.com/cd/rejyna3

Rejyna at Y2K13 International Live Loop Fest | Looptober Tour 2013

Rejyna’s Looptober Tour Live from the Y2K13 International Live Loop Fest, Treasures Roadhouse, Watsonville, CA

Video cameras by Jazmyn Whitman and George Wiltshire. Edited by Jazmyn Whitman for Jazmyn Marie Media Services.

Thanks to Rick Walker and the Walker Family, all the volunteers at the Festival and Bourn Archer and Crew at Treasures Roadhouse.

Special Thanks To Rejyna’s Looptober Tour Kickstarter Backers:
Jim Ussery ~ Jazmyn Whitman ~ p ~ Creighton Freeman ~ Eric Clemens ~ Casey Piller ~ Paula Shepherd ~ Joy Greenberg ~ Midi Maniac ~ Lara Shema ~ Adrienne Gray ~ Joe Rollin Porter ~ Stephen Briggs ~ Ted Killian ~ Rhondalynn Brown ~ Billy Zenn ~ Marji Whitman ~ Mark Hosselton ~ Linda Harris ~ Christina Buck ~ Eric Ahlteen ~ Jeff Dalrymple ~ Rita Jones ~ Robert Wiese ~ Amy Lee ~ Ralph Denick ~ Marc Newton ~ Sherry Price ~ Bruce Peecher Jr.

Thanks To Those In Attendance, the Amazing International Community of Live Looping Artists (AICLLA), Rick Walker and Chris Wedertz, Bill Walker and Nancy Levan, Noah Peterson, Stephen Briggs, Hans Lindauer, Tim Minarchi, Amy Lee (ANI), John Connell, Maha Jumale Taitano, Kari Betush.

Extra special Loops of Love to my mom-n-daugher roadcrew: Marji and Jazmyn Whitman

Please support the Y2K Loopfest at http://y2kloopfest.com and Treasures Roadhouse @ http://treasuresroadhouse.com

More Info:
http://rejyna.com
http://cdbaby.com/artist/rejyna

Tweets by rejyna

http://facebook.com/rejynamusic
http://youtube.com/rejyna

Gear Geekery:
Audio-Technica ATM73a mic to Digitech Vocalist Live Pro to Yamaha MG82cx board – routed to looper thru board FX send –

Yamaha APX500II (or Ovation Balladeer) guitar to Boss GT3 to Yamaha MG82cx board – routed to looper thru board FX send –

Yamaha DD-55 electronic drums to Yamaha MG82cx board – routed to looper thru board FX send –

A single DigiTech JamMan Solo looper is used in this performance. The JamMan solo looper output is routed back into the MG82cx and sent to an ATM M3 IEM, and to the house board, as a premixed feed.

SETLIST:
By Design (Many Struggles)
In Wonder
Dreamworld
Happy Hands

All material written, arranged and performed by Rejyna. All Material is c. Rejyna and W.E./Citadel of Cynosure Productions (BMI) All Rights Reserved, Posted by Authors and Content Owners.

Booking Contact: citadel_1@msn.com

Citadel’s Rejyna and The Looptober Tour

Warning: Live Loops Ahead (One of Rejyna’s Looptober Tour pun posters – http://facebook.com/rejynamusic)

Did you know that Looptober is the month that follows Stomptember?

If you didn’t know that already, Rejyna is hoping to get you up to speed with her Looptober Mini-Tour and promo campaign.  Her poster series combines witty wordplay with images that are intended to imbed the word ‘loop’  with pun-infused imagery like street signs, loop straws, Hot Wheels loop tracks and a well-known cereal brand.  (Look in the ‘Photos’ section at http://facebook.com/rejynamusic)

How does the member of a progressive metal/folk rock band migrate to the world of solo live looping?  “Accidentally…“ Following gentle urging from family and eclectic venue owners, Rejyna has re-discovered her solo-performing persona through the i/o of a looper, effects and a vocal harmonizer.

Ironically, Rejyna was surprised to discover there was a new home for her multi-genre style of music.  “When I first started using the looper and harmonizer in my solo acoustic set, I had no idea there was a whole movement centered around live looping.  I was simply trying to make playing solo more fun by adding vocal harmonies and lead guitar parts overtop of the basic chords in my repertoire.  Although I had seen or heard about other artists using loopers, I was only exposed to the ambient, improv, noise and freeform loopists.” 

Contrary to what Rejyna and others may think, the live looping movement is not focused on a particular style of music.  In the ‘about’ section from Rick Walker’s (a veteran live looping artist and promoter) Y2K Loopfest website, it says: “To this day, in that community, there is no style or genre of music associated with the movement. The only thing that links thousands of emerging live looping artists is a strong and supportive sense of community and a love for the concept of looping live in public.”   As one can tell by the ‘archives’ links on Rick’s site, the art of live looping is not a ‘new’ thing:  “The annual Y2K International Live Looping Festival, was begun in 2001 by Rick Walker, himself a found sound/live looping artist. It is the first international live looping festival and longest running one in history.” (http://y2kloopfest.com/about/)

Let’s back up a bit for those who don’t know what ‘live looping’ means. Live looping involves the use of a device (there are many types from several MI manufacturers) that allows a performer to record musical sections in front of the audience and then replay that piece while adding other sound and effect layers to it.  It may involve footpedals (stompboxes), computers, conventional and non-conventional instruments (trash can lids, wood saws, etc.), voice, silence and noise – stacked, layered, stripped, reversed, time-shifted.  Anything goes EXCEPT that the use of anything pre-recorded is not allowed.  This isn’t karaoke…

Being a loop newbie, Rejyna was surprised by the invitation to perform with the other live loopers.  “While I admire those artists tremendously, I did not consider that my song-based approach to looping would fit into their niche. See, I use a looper to build organized musical pieces on stage, and while bridge sections in my songs do allow for freeform experimentation, I was nonetheless surprised, anxious and quite honored to be invited.” 

Resisting her apprehension about fitting in, Rejyna accepted.  “I told myself, they wouldn’t have invited me if they didn’t think my style would fit – so, I accepted invitations to live looping events in Portland, Seattle, Danville and Santa Cruz.  I hope they like what I’m planning to exhibit…  I’m calling this my ‘Looptober’ tour” and while my main goal is to share my songs, my guilty pleasure in all of this is that I will get to be inspired by the best-of-the-best in the looping community.  I am certain that the music I release in the future will benefit immensely from the things I witness from the other artists on this mini-tour.

If you are familiar with the style of music that Citadel puts out, you’ll be surprised to hear how Rejyna takes those songs into the solo realm.  Her set features a few Citadel songs re-done looper-style mixed in with her new compositions.  She will be promoting her CD Solo Sojourn Live and is planning to release a DVD/Blu-Ray disc of the Looptober tour in December.

If you’re in or near one of these cities in Looptober, make sure to attend, unless you don’t mind behind left out of the loop:

Oct. 11^th – J&M Café, Seattle, WA (https://www.facebook.com/events/381359998620826/)

Oct. 13^th – Analog Café, Portland, OR (http://www.facebook.com/events/352601574838095/)

Oct. 16^th – Meenar Music, Danville, CA (https://www.facebook.com/events/432590403522293/)

Oct. 18-20^th, Y2K13 Loopfest, Santa Cruz, CA
(http://y2kloopfest.com/about/)

You can check out Rejyna’s music and videos by simply spelling her first name correctly in your search engine – she’s on CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, ReverbNation, YouTube, SoundCloud, Facebook, Twitter – and her personal website reveals that music is only one of the mediums she calls her playground – http://rejyna.com

Maybe one of the next blog entries will give us a clue as to how all this solo indulgence has affected the upcoming Citadel CD…ahem?!?

Loop Straws make beverages taste better, so the same must apply to looped music? (One of Rejyna’s Looptober Tour pun posters – http://facebook.com/rejynamusic)

3 Songsmiths: Mark, Joe and Rejyna

Mark See, Joe Rollin Porter and Rejyna are bringing their songs to Java Central. You’ll get a good mix of guitar-based music styles while you enjoy excellent baked goods, exquisite java beverages and smoothies, and the family-friendly atmosphere of Java Central Cafe in Uptown Westerville.

Support the Independent Artists and the Venues!
Show starts at 7:00 p.m. – All Ages – No Cover – Bring the family!
Java Central, 20 S State St Ste B, Westerville, Ohio

Mark See

Mark See is a singer, songwriter, guitarist that has played around Columbus for many years.  His style is a mix of rock, pop, blues, and country with a few jazz chords thrown in to mix things up.  He has played primarily in his own band Creatures Of Habit, but has a history of sitting in with other bands for extended times.  He has one full length CD called Creatures Of Habit and a four song EP called Trinkets.  He is currently at work on his next CD, tentatively called Nickles And Dimes and feels that this will be his best work yet!  You can find and contact Mark on Facebook and MySpace at http://myspace.com/creaturesofhabitmarksee

 

Joe Rollin Porter’s fingerstyle acoustic guitar playing and vocals transcend genre and style, viscerally connecting with music lovers of widely diverging tastes.  His live performance can bring a room full of loud distracted drinkers to a hushed silence, hanging on every note.  The music primarily consists of Joe’s own arrangements of traditional American folk songs, with a dose of early rural blues and an occasional dash of Celtic flavor as well.  The end product is truly unique. 

Joe Rollin Porter

Joe does not attempt to “authentically” replicate old-time music. Nor does he try to modernize the old songs to make them appeal to contemporary commercial tastes.  Rather, after years of absorbing and internalizing traditional folk music, the songs flow out as natural self-expression.  The result is an individual artistic statement that injects new life and energy into the folk tradition, keeping the heritage alive and growing.

If you don’t care about any of that, but you like great fingerstyle guitar playing, or simply enjoy high quality entertainment, Joe provides that too.  Find out more about Joe at http://joerollinporter.com/ – http://cdbaby.com/cd/jrporter

 

 

Rejyna

Rejyna is a composer and performer who has played in several bands, including her own band, Citadel, which has released several CD’s that mix rock, progressive, folk and metal.  Citadel formed in Ohio after being chosen for the first QFM Hometown album.  The band ventured to Los Angeles and continued to perform and release albums, co-producing the first progressive rock festival: ProgFest.  In additon to music, Rejyna is also active in film, video and literature.  She has worked on the restoration of many films including Star Wars, James Bond, and several Disney animated features.

As a solo musician, Rejyna uses her acoustic guitar with various pieces of technology that enable her to present the sound of several players on stage.  She doesn’t use pre-recorded backing tracks – instead, she uses loopers and vocal harmonizers to weave intricate songs in real-time.  Creating layered sonic acoustic rock music in front of live audiences, Rejyna’s songs can be soft and tranquil, loud and fast or a mix of all these elements.  Her song structure ranges from simple to complex.  Rejyna cites several influences including Jethro Tull, Rush, Al DiMeola, Yes, Kansas, Shadowfax, Seals and Crofts, Poco, Gentle Giant, Dave Mason, Dan Fogelberg, CSNY, Ambrosia…

Rejyna recently recorded a live show and released it on CD, featuring acoustic versions of several songs from the Citadel repertoire alongside previously unreleased original material.  She is currently performing in and around the central Ohio area and plans to release another solo CD after finishing her work on the upcoming Citadel CD.  You can find Rejyna in several places online: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, ReverbNation – and her personal website is http://rejyna.com , and her music is at http://cdbaby.com/cd/rejyna  as well as on iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, Napster and many other online retailers.