Pronto
Mikael Jorgensen, Greg O'Keeffe & friends.
ARP in Portland
Jul 2nd
Pronto to perform at Solid Sound Festival 2010
May 13th
We have been asked to perform at this years Wilco curated Solid Sound Festival, August 13-15th, in North Adams, MA at the enchantingly Willy-Wonka-esque Mass MoCA complex. It’s going to be an wicked awesome weekend of music, art and comedy.
Artists confirmed so far, ‘sides us:
- Wilco
- Mavis Staples
- Autumn Defense
- On Fillmore
- Nels Cline Singers
- Vetiver
- Avi Buffalo
- Sir Richard Bishop
- The Mountain Men
- Brenda
- The Books
- Deep Blue Organ Trio
- Bread And Puppet
- Todd Barry
- Hannibal Burres
- John Mulaney
- Kristen Schaal
Tickets are available HERE
Soniccouture & Mikael Jorgensen release RMI Rocksichord sample library in NI Kontakt format!
Mar 23rd
I’ve teamed up with Soniccouture to release the sample library of my RMI Rocksichord in Native Instruments’ Kontakt format:
http://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p58-rmi-rocksichord/
Pronto LP02 Recording Update
Mar 16th
Greetings friends.
We’ve been extraordinarily busy in the studio for the past week. Tucked in between two substantial Wilco tours, we’ve managed to eek out about 16 basic tracks for what will be “The Next Pronto Record.”
This time around Greg and I are recording with the delightful and deft Adam Chilenski on electric and acoustic bass at The Bunker in Brooklyn with John Davis and Aaron Nevezie behind the controls. This session has exceeded all of my lofty expectations as far as sounds and performances go. Pick good people and trust in their skills and instincts and you can’t go wrong.
Yesterday we had our old friend, and Pronto alum Erik Paparazzi swing by and play some excellent guitar on two songs, “Stupid Angels” and “Biz Dev.” Nice.
It’s surprising to me how difficult it is to articulate just how excited and pleased I am with the goings-on of the past week. In six short days we’ve produced a considerable amount of material that requires further consideration and microscopic evaluation. I can’t wait to get it going and finish this thing by the Fall of 2010.
Thanks for stopping by.
Mikael
More love from BoingBoing.net for both Pronto & Wilco!
Mar 8th
Xeni lets us in on her recent visit to Amoeba Records in Los Angeles, CA. Some clarification is needed however: the Pronto record she’s describing is “The Cheetah,” which is our glitchy, computery one, while the record she’s holding is “All Is Golden,” which is our 70′s pop rock one. Here’s more:
“Amoeba Records is one of the world’s greatest independent record stores, with many thousands of square feet of new and used vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and assorted rarities in film and music. They’re in SF, Berkeley, and Hollywood. The kinds folks who run the joint invited me in to pick a handful of items I’m excited about, and the video that resulted is embedded above. I chose:
• The incredible Alan Lomax in Haiti box-set (we’ll be blogging more about this one on BB soon!)
• Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru (a tip of the chapeau to Susannah Breslin, and to my brother DJ Carlito for turning me on to this one)
• N.A.S.A. “Spirit of Apollo” (we’ve premiered a number of the music videos from this project on Boing Boing Video)
• Q-Burns Abstract Message and Eighth Dimension Records (we’ve used snips from his work as theme music for Boing Boing’s audio podcast, and for our video project—I’m a longtime fan!)
• Wilco, “Wilco (The Album)” (I loved their latest record, and I believe they’re one of the greatest live acts on the planet.)
• Pronto, “All is Golden” (Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen‘s side project, glitchy electronic minimalism, I mispronounce his name horribly in this video… sorry Mikael!)
• Die Antwoord!
Amoeba Records: What’s in My Bag? / Xeni Jardin
The complete “What’s in My Bag” archives are here, with many interesting past guests.”
Pronto video series
Dec 29th
Hallo friends,
We’re offering up the videos that our good friend Michael Lascarides made, or uh… should we say “coded,” for six of the songs from “The Cheetah.” He’s got lots of crazy generative video business going on that he can explain far better than any of us. There are six videos total from “The Cheetah” as well as a live version of “Listen Lover” from our show this past May at The Mint in Los Angeles, CA. We’ll be releasing one per week until we’re fresh out. Be sure to check http://www.prontosphere.com/video/ for the latest!
We had the pleasure of being featured on BoingBoing last week, so big thanks to Xeni Jardin & the BB crew for helping to spread the gospel.
For now, we are hard at work prepping and recording new material for Pronto LP02. Look for it in Spring of 2011.
Become a fan of Pronto on Facebook here and then point yr rss reader here and get all the updates, automagically.
Happy New Year,
Mikael
Pronto live at The Mint video clip
Dec 16th
Here is Greg, Erik, Tunde and I playing “Listen Lover” at The Mint in Los Angeles, CA this past spring:
Pronto “Listen Lover” live at The Mint in Los Angeles, CA from Pronto on Vimeo.
Lizard Music reunion & benefit show Sunday November 29th, Red Bank, NJ
Nov 23rd
Friends of Pronto,
Please forgive this somewhat off-topic message, but something important and fun is happening Sunday that you should know about.
Some of you may remember that back in the early 1990′s I was in a band called Lizard Music. We dominated the coffee houses and wintertime matinee shows at seaside dive-bars, in and around Monmouth County, NJ. On Sunday, November 29th, for the first time in 15 years, Erik Paparazzi, Chris Guice, Craig Smith, Dave Kopperman, Buck Pryor & I will reunite to play a benefit concert for our friend and Red Bank resident: Pinky Adubato!
Pinky suffered severe spinal cord injuries on a hiking trip near Albuquerque, NM and has been recovering slowly, but steadily. You can read about her recovery here: http://pinkyadubato.blogspot.com/
We hope to raise money to offset Pinky’s ongoing health care and the expenses surrounding her inevitable, heroic return to the greater Red Bank area. Please come down for the good times and great oldies. Here are the details:
Sunday, November 29th at The Downtown Cafe in Red Bank, NJ [map]
4:00pm Doors open and DJ Stardust will set the mood
6:00pm Red Bank pals and legends: The Ribeye Brothers
7:00pm Lizard Music
Tickets are a suggested donation of $25.00 at the door.
All Ages!
MORE INFO:
More about Pinky:
http://pinkyadubato.blogspot.com/
Buy some of Pinky’s Artwork on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pinkyart
Join the event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=3D185168760066&index=3D1
Google Map of The Downtown Cafe
Lizard Music video directed by Paul Finn:
The Ribeye Brothers live at Maxwells:
Thanks,
Mikael
Thanks for coming!
Oct 27th
Thanks to all who came out to the shows last month.
We had a fantastic time touring with The Fruitbats and making some new friends in the midwest and hope to see you all next time.
For now, we of Pronto are concentrating our efforts on writing and recording, so stay tuned for some new newness in the coming months.
Hugs,
Mikael
Blurt review of “All Is Golden”
Sep 11th
http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/1452/
“Good songs shouldn’t be difficult to find, but they are. Instead, we focus on innovative recordings, cross-cultural meldings, grooves, and new technologies. More >
Pronto Fall 2009 – New Release, Videos, Tour & Merch
Sep 5th
Hi there.
We’ve been busy this summer and have some excellent things to tell you about.
Here goes…
NEW RELEASE: “THE CHEETAH”
Today, we of Pronto celebrate these glorious, wistful days with the release of a digital-only collection of instrumentals called “The Cheetah,” in three distinct downloadable flavors:
1 – “The Cheetah” music only version will be available through the Contraphonic web store & iTunes for only $8.99.
2 – “The Cheetah – Enhanced Version” includes five music videos created by Michael Lascarides available exclusively through the Contraphonic web store for $13.99.
3 – “All Is Golden + The Cheetah – Enhanced Version + Listen Lover video, (Live from The Mint in Los Angeles by Joe Grzeskowiak/Unitus Productions) – Deluxe Bundle” will also be exclusively available through the Contraphonic web store for $19.99.
“The Cheetah” has its origins in 2001 when Chris Girard and I were exploring the technological side of music at SOMA Electronic Music Studios, in Chicago, IL. Once we had a collection of songs, we decided to import Greg O’Keeffe from Brooklyn to play drums on it with Noel Kupersmith playing upright bass. We also asked Rob Mazurek to play cornet on a few of the songs, and from these sessions come the first eight tracks on “The Cheetah.”
The next song “Monster,” was an began with a simple chord pounding relentlessly into oblivion with a neanderthal drum beat thickly layered with synthesizers. This is one of the rare tracks that doesn’t feature any other musicians on it, and my drumming during the coda indicates why this may or may not have been the best of ideas. Michael Lascarides has made a companion video for this song:
“Marsella Rambla,” “Soybot” and “rRan” are three songs that were coaxed almost completely from the computer. Using heroic doses of Cycling 74′s MAX/MSP, M, a Yamaha TX-816, and a Nord MicroModular we crafted and coded our way through to gurgly warm vundersounds.
MIDWEST / EAST COAST TOUR
Also today, Chris Girard and I embark on a week long tour supporting The Fruit Bats, beginning in Nasvhille, TN at the esteemed Exit/In:
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- 09/08 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
- 09/09 – Knoxville, TN – Square Room
- 09/10 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
- 09/11 – Washington, DC – The Black Cat
- 09/12 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
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Upon our return from this first leg, the entire band – Chris, Greg O’Keeffe, Tunde Oyewole & myself, will make our way through the mid-west, concluding this round of touring with a show at Union Hall in Brooklyn, NY:
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- 09/15 – Pittsburgh, PA – Brillobox
- 09/16 – Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
- 09/17 – Memphis, TN – Levitt Shell
- 09/18 – Rock Island, IL – Rock Island Brewing Company
- 09/19 – Madison, WI – Forward Music Festival
- 09/20 – Chicago, IL – Rainbo Club [ free show ]
- 09/23 – Brooklyn, NY – Union Hall
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Please check our Shows page for more info.
MERCHANDISE
We’ll have the ever popular “Norwegian Sweater” t-shirts, All Is Golden CD’s and Posters, Movere Workshop 12″vinyl, and handsome download vouchers for “The Cheetah” available for purchase on the upcoming tour. Come say hello at the merch booth.
PRONTO ON INTERNETS
We are on Facebook, Twitter and myspace. Please join the fun and stay tuned for more suprises.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of your lovely faces out on tour this month.
-Mikael
“MONSTER” video by Michael Lascarides
Sep 1st
Says Michael:
“The first single from Pronto’s forthcoming album “The Cheetah”, available Sept 8th, 2009 from Contraphonic Records contraphonic.com. Read up on Pronto at prontosphere.com. They’re good chaps.
For those who are curious, this video was pretty much coded from scratch using the Ruby programming language (with just a little Illustrator and QuickTime to tie things together). No animation software was used in its construction.”
For more info on Michael and his generative ways, please visit technofetish.com.
Free AIG bonus track for you!
May 9th
We’re releasing an unreleased track from the All Is Golden session!
You can listen to “Buy Your Blues” here.
Enjoy!
Mikael
PST Pronto begins today!
Apr 30th
Tonight I’m playing at the Make Out Room in San Francisco, CA at 8pm. Tomorrow I’m on the radio at KALX 90.5 at about 2:30 pm and finally a show at The Little Fox Theater in that Ampexy town, Redwood City, also at 8pm.
We are super psyched for our LA area shows in a couple of weeks. Check the tour section for more info and tickets!
Ciao!
Mikael.
Pronto gets jazzy-ups
Apr 6th
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=32345
All Is Golden
Pronto | Contraphonic (2009)
By John Dworkin
There’s a new game in the music world: Six degrees of Wilco. Current Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen’s band Pronto is the latest degree in a wide network of Wilco connections. All Is Golden is Pronto’s debut and Jorgensen composed and sings all the material. The musical influences are varied: power pop; retro ’70s funk; Chicago Transit Authority pop/jazz horns; and songwriter Americana like The Band or Randy Newman. The dilemma of deciding whether to be a jack of all trades or master of none comes to mind, though it all out works well, with plenty of catchy hooks and memorable phrases, despite it feeling like there’s still a decision to be made.
More >
Pronto goes west!
Apr 3rd
We are slowly adding a few west coast dates in mid-May. Mikael will also be playing solo in San Francisco at the Make Out Room on April 30th. Check the Tour page for more details.
ScoutMD profiles "Listen Lover" from All Is Golden
Mar 31st
http://web.me.com/scoutmd/Scoutmd/Blog/Entries/2009/3/20_Listen_Lover.html
Today’s Song for the Day is “Listen Lover”, by Pronto, from their new release, All Is Golden.
This album is full of sunny 1970’s pop music, even though it was just released a week or so ago. Standout tracks, in my opinion, include today’s tune, “Good Friends Have Gone”, “When I’m On The Rocks”, “Say It All Night”, and “I Think So”, among others.
Eight of the thirteen tracks on this album are barely over three minutes or less. Maybe that’s from where the band gets its name.
I should mention that this band is fronted by Mikael Jorgensen, the keyboardist/ProTools expert of the band Wilco. I think Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times said it best when he wrote: Mikael Jorgensen: Not just the guy with the laptop.
Have a little of Mikael Jorgensen’s blog here.
And have a little of the official Pronto web site here.
And buy yourself some Pronto goodness here.
All Is Golden gets great, bad review
Mar 30th
Adam Coozer doesn’t like All Is Golden, yet awards it 1.5 stars.
http://www.readjunk.com/reviews/cdreviews/pronto-all-is-golden/
Side project from Wilco’s keyboardist with members of Iron & Wine and Cat Power.
Sound good? It isn’t.
The music is overdone and overproduced with a menagerie of horns, organs, and pianos, and is particularly shlocky on the many ballads and slow-tempo songs. Multi-instrumentalism is nothing new to these bands, but Pronto has an unfortunate Billy Joel/Elton John vibe that is hard to stomach.
Even if you like this music (assuming you’re in a Bar Mitzvah cover band), the vocals will surely be an impediment. Suffering from “non-vocalist stepping into vocalist in his side band” syndrome, Mikael Jorgensen’s is terribly off-key and strained. His voice and delivery remind me a bit of Keith Moon, another guy who shouldn’t have strayed from behind his instrument.
This isn’t good at all.
Bottom Line: Pronto is a good name, because that’s how quickly I wanted to shut this off.
Notable Tracks: “Listen Lover” is a jaunty tune that would’ve been good with another vocalist.
Overall Rating: 1.5 stars