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Today's Artist introduces himself as a synthesist, drummer, electronic groove creator and sound sculptor. He mixes experimental sound sculpting with a hybrid of electronic and acoustic grooves. .......N'Joy

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Synthesist, drummer, sound sculptor and electronic groove creator, Peoria-Illinois-based "Vir Unis" (real name: John Strate-Hootman, 26 October 1969, Morton, IL, United States ) is a significant voice in the world of atmospheric / tribal / ambient music. With an emphasis on rhythm and pulse, underpinned by deep synthesizer textures, Vir Unis realizes music that moves between the organic intensity of ever evolving fractal grooves and the harmonic complexity of mist strewn sonic atmospheres. Co-founder of AtmoWorks

After performing as a drummer in various synth pop and new wave bands in the 1980's, he worked for several years in solitude developing atmospheric and experimental music via a simple analog 4-track cassette deck, one effects box, delay pedal, drum machine, and a synthesizer. Acquiring his first computer, Vir Unis was first introduced to digital recording via Sonic Foundry software in 1996. Realizing the vast potential that the digital realm offers the electronic musician, he quickly set about creating a new world of possibilities for himself, both atmospherically and rhythmically. Starting out as a drummer and percussionist, these kinds of software tools helped shape a lot of the ideas that he was developing in his mind, but could not produce with the audio tools of the time, given the limitations of magnetic tape. However, being based in this minimalist approach to creating music, he was accustomed to pushing the instruments that he had to the furthest point and beyond, thus creating an atmosphere in which the imagination could thrive in either the digital or analog world. Forging a new and experimental fusion of analog percussion sources and digital editing became the primary focus for the next several years. Combining these electronic grooves with the sonic and misty psychedelic atmospheres that he had been working on for the past decade seemed the perfect alchemy and the next level he had been seeking.

In the summer of 1998, Imaginarium was released. This was a collaboration album with Midwest duo Ma Ja Le and was produced by the legendary electronic music composer Steve Roach. This proved to be quite a fortuitous event for many reasons, but the main reason was a lasting collaboration between Roach and Unis, developing their ongoing exploration of fractal groove creation into what Roach has called "Elegant Futurism". Their first collaboration, Body Electric, was released on Projekt in February of 1999. Well received by both critics and listeners alike, Body Electric received much radio airplay nationwide and remained in the Airwaves and New Age Voice top ten for over 8 weeks. Later that year, Vir Unis released his first solo album, The Drift Inside, in November of 1999 on Minneapolis based label GreenHouse Music. Produced by Steve Roach and Vir Unis, The Drift Inside focused primarily on self-reflective inner space music. Being completely beatless, his first solo album offered a different side to the tribal and electronic groove albums with Steve Roach and Ma Ja Le. However, The Undivided Flow, his contribution to The Ambient Expanse (Mirage), did offer a glimpse at the music that was developed on The Drift Inside. He also contributed one track, Beneath the Hive, to GreenHouse Music's first compilation album, Convergent Evolution in 1999. The Drift Inside has received several highly charged and positive reviews. A favorite of many space music fans, it was #2 on the New Age Sampler Radio show for The Ambient Hour which broadcasts on 89.9 FM, WWSP from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. Vir Unis was also interviewed for their Millennium Featured Artist Series during this time. The Drift Inside was also featured in February 2000 on Hearts of Space program entitled "Luminosity".

Of music, Strate says, "I consider music to be a visual medium. Not just in imagining pictures while listening to music, but in a much more direct way. I see music when I listen to it. It creates patterns, textures, and all sorts of mandala like structures. In designing images on the computer, I try to capture the things I see in music. Painting, drawing, and computer aided design is all musical too. So, there's this sort of synesthesia that occurs naturally if you tune into it, and that's why a lot of artists are able to cross over into various mediums, because they all derive from the same source".

Vir Unis performed on 4 March 2000 at The Gatherings Concert Series in Philadelphia. This was his first concert ever on the east coast of the USA, second solo concert ever and demonstrated his talent for exploring, through music, the areas of space within and outside of the audience. A recording of this concert has been released via MP3.com.
Following the 4 March Gathering, Saul Stokes and Vir Unis performed their first collaboration live on the 03.05.00 broadcast of STAR'S END. Vir Unis + James JohnsonVir Unis returned to Philadelphia on 12 April 2003 to once again perform at The Gatherings Concert Series. Joining him was friend and collaborator, noted sonic explorer James Johnson. The duo presented live material in the vein of their recent release, Perimeter and its follow-up 3CD set, Perimeter 2 - released in Philadelphia on 12 April.

Among music composition and recording, Vir Unis has also been credited as a graphic designer for all his own solo albums, the cover artwork for Steve Roach's Midnight Moon (Projekt), and most recently, Blood Machine and the upcoming Sonic Foundry Vir Unis ACID Loop Library. Vir Unis has also musically contributed to Steve Roach's solo album, Light Fantastic (HOS/Fathom) as a guest artist, which earned Steve the AIIFM award for 1999, and also Roach's Serpant's Lair (Projekt), which was a collaboration album with percussionist Byron Metcalf. Always looking to keep the music and ideas fresh and evolving, Vir Unis is relentless in his search for new sounds, new grooves, and new worlds in which to create. Combing the various sources of acoustic and electronic sounds from the ground up into an analog and digital fractal stew and utilizing the latest software and hardware, Vir Unis' goal was nothing less than to create 100% original electro-psychedelic mind-body music.



2001 Interview

AV:  You started your musical career playing drums. Bearing in mind other synthesists like Klaus Schulze, Chris Franke started out on the same route, what made you change to synthesizers?

VU:  Actually, my brother had a Moog Rogue and a Prophet 600 and I remember being quite fascinated with the possibilities to create strange and alien sounds.  I didn't really care too much about conventional sounds and playing chops or recognized musical forms.  I was very intrigued with the idea that one could sculpt sound and the patterns could just keep changing infinitely. I liked synthesizers because they were their own instrument.  I despised the more featureless black box sample playback machines that were starting to come out.  They seemed to have more in common with a Stealth Bomber than they did a musical instrument!  I was way more intrigued by the analog synthesizers and all the blinking lights, sliders, faders, and knobs they had.  From there I started listening closely to some of the more atmospheric string sounds that a lot of New Wave pop bands were utilizing in their songs and recognizing how they sort of sprung from a lot of the early Brian Eno recordings and also stuff that David Sylvian and Richard Barbieri were doing with their band, Japan.  So I set out with really no concrete plans other than to just sit in front of the synth and just dream.

AV:  What exactly is a "fractal groove" in technical terms?

VU:  "Fractal grooves" are really a process born out of extracting rhythmic patterns from within patterns.  It's also an endless and infinite array of possibilities, so I was certainly fascinated with this concept when I first discovered how you could literally produce 30 different type of grooves from a single loop.  It's a matter of increasing complexity, taking one simple groove and pushing it through this process to create highly sophisticated and what Steve Roach calls "elegant futuristic" beats.  The idea is to create several varying degrees of a type of loop and blend them together in oscillating crossfades that create this sort of mandala like fractalization.  It gives that sort of psychedelic and liquid  lava lamp like flow to the grooves.

AV:  Can you remember the first electronic recording you heard and how it affected you?

VU:  I can't recall the exact title of the first electronic recording I heard.  But, I can recall first listening to space music in the mid eighties.  A girlfriend of mine had a tape she made of a program that I had just heard about called "Hearts of Space".  I remember how lush and mind expanding it sounded in comparison to the more upbeat electronic pop music that I was listening to and performing at the time.  It wasn't something that I listened to all the time or very much, for that matter, so when I did listen to it it was a unique and special event.  So this atmosphere of it being a special event started to develop.  It began to affect me slowly but deeply.  It really felt like the soundtrack to a dream, and increasingly I felt connected to it at a deeper level, as it felt like something that I had been searching for a long time.  Staying up late and listening to this music in a dark room became a favorite ritual over time.

AV:  How do you go about preparing for a concert? Is it a disciplined approach with hours of rehearsal or is a lot done on the spur of the moment in the concert hall?

VU:  My preparation for a concert is more psychological than anything else. Of course, I go through all the usual preparations of getting a few sounds programmed on the synthesizers and putting together backdrop atmospheres, although I prefer to mainly twist the music on the fly.  Mostly I tend to become very quiet, preferring little or no speech, and slowly start to focus on being in the moment and being carried by the current of the beats and sounds.  Usually this approach melts away the nervous energy that builds up preceding a performance.  Most of the shows that I've done recently have been based on improvisation.  You make yourself prepared emotionally and physically and the spirit will move you to create the right stuff.  This is something that makes the shows much more exhilarating, on the edge, and less of being a sound pilot/dj for the crowd. I definitely think it's much more interesting to see a performer moving and interacting with other musicians.  That's why a lot of my recent shows have been with others.

AV:  You have worked with Steve Roach on a number of albums now. What is the single most important thing you have learned from this veteran of the scene?

VU:  Actually, several things.  Integrity.  Grace.  Focus.  Dedication.  I've met very few people in this life as focused and dedicated to their craft as Steve Roach.  Time and time again he has blown me away with how deep his art flows.  This is a man who makes no compromises with the outer world, instead choosing to dive into the dark and bring back something profoundly human, rich, and enduring. It's a hero's quest, and working with him has only served to clarify my calling, my destiny.

AV:   Is there a single piece of musical equipment that you would just love to own?

VU:  I would love to own a top of the line Lexicon reverb.  It's pure space contained in a black box....

AV:  Have you ever been tempted to try and break into the mainstream music charts by releasing a commercial "pop" piece of music?

VU:  I come from a background of playing in bands that though they have been a bit on the unconventional side still created musical forms from the well of popular culture.  I did this for approximately 7 years, so I've had my fill to last a lifetime.  Since I've been on my own, it's been all about creating my own space.

AV:  A lot of your music is very reflective and spiritual. Do you have your own personal belief system or do you practice a faith that comes through with the music?

VU:  I don't practice any sort of organized religious doctrine.  I tend to shy away from the dogma that lies at the outer perimeter of religion and go immediately to it's essence which I feel connects all the world's ideologies and traditions.  I come from a Christian environment that had very little to do with the actual teachings of Christ, so the reflective and spiritual aspect of my music is really an attempt to get past these layers of cultural conditioning and dive deeper to the truth that lies inside.  I have a lot of beliefs and ideas that spring from a more eastern philosophy or approach to life, so I certainly have an affinity with Buddhism, Taoism, and Zen, but by no means am I a scholar of any these ways of life.  Essentially, my religion, if anything, is my music.

AV:  Beyond Perimeter what projects do you have in the works for next year that we might be looking for?

VU:  A collaboration with Saul Stokes should be finished by the end of the year.  This is titled "Thermal Transfer" and will be released on Hypnos' new affiliate label, Binary.  An official release date hasn't been scheduled yet, but it's expected to be out sometime around early February 2002.  It's really a nice mix of Saul's homemade synth style electronic music and my fractal groovescapes and atmospheres.  We've been working on it for about a year, so I'm really excited about seeing it finally come to life. I also have a solo album, tentatively titled "Mercury and Plastic" coming out sometime next year.  It's a continuation of Pulse n Atmo and a lot of the work that I've done with Steve Roach and James Johnson. A live disc from the Space For Music Festival that Interstitial and I performed at in Milwaukee last May will also be released sometime early in 2002.  We're hoping to encode it in 5.1 surround for a really expansive experience.  That will probably be released on my new artist direct label, "In The Bubble Music".

I also hope my long time collaboration with MJ Dawn, Steve Roach and Subatomic God will be finished.  It's taken a lot of twists and turns these past four years and I'm really anxious to see it finally finished.  Expect some real high energy and fast paced groovescapes on that one!  Other than that, James Johnson and I have been talking about releasing a live CD that would consist of tracks collected from our Fall 2001 shows that we're in the middle of right now. Also a collaboration with guitartist Chris Short, entitled Hub of The Mono Gods, may be finished sometime in the Spring or Summer of 2002.   Actually, despite this list of collaborations and solo projects, I really intended to relax some more next year, but the projects are already stacking up!

AV:  Do you have any plans for appearances for the balance of this year and into next year that have been finalized?

VU:  My next scheduled apprearance is Nov. 4th and 6th in Toronto, Canada for 1groove.com and The Ambient Ping.  The show at the Ambient Ping is actually a release party for "Perimeter" with James Johnson.  We'll be performing material from this album at both shows.  Other than those two concerts, nothing else is scheduled for the remainder of this year....At least, for now....

AV:  Lastly where do you see yourself in say ten years time?

VU:  It's hard to say.  All of us, in this world, are really on the edge of uncertainty.  The world really does spin on a dime, and who knows what will happen with any one of us.  Of course I have my personal hopes and aspirations that I work towards, but I really try to stay focused on the present and the immediate future.  In ten years time, I do know that I will be on the same path that I am now, but with hopefully a lot more insight, patience, respect, and compassion.  Other than just being alive and breathing, what more could I ask for?


Well i made an effort to tell you about the man, even if the net delivers very little on him, and now i guess here at Rho-Xs we have the best advertorial on him now, hmmm someone should create a wiki page on him

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Originally created as a souvenir for a concert performance, Aquaculture is a three way improvisation between Vir Unis James Johnson & Christopher Short recorded in a single session, single take. Aquaculture defies gravity with ultralight streams of beauty... Preternaturally serene, these otherworlds are brought to life by James Johnson, Vir Unis and Chris Short who display amazing restraint in the organically evolving subtleties of Aquaculture, as airy as it is liquid. With this trio you expect good things, and you get them... an A.

 Vir Unis, James Johnson, Chris Short - Aqua Culture I   (flac  341mb)

01 Aqua Culture 63:13

Vir Unis, James Johnson, Chris Short - Aqua Culture I     (ogg  153mb)

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From October 23 1888 through December 26th 1888 Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin spent time living and working together in Arles France, which included the famous incident of Van Gogh cutting part of his ear off. Vincent called the studio the "Yellow House".

Recorded at the Victorian Mansion John was living at during that time. Yellow House was culled from two improvisations between Vir Unis (John Stratehootman) and Christopher Short. One in the evening and one in the morning.Two friends getting together having a musical conversation and a good one at that. Even before the completion of the music, John and I decided the Yellow House was to be the title and conceptual theme of the album. The improvisations were taken by Christopher and edited down, arranged and overdubbed. John did the final mastering.

 Vir Unis and Christopher Short - The Yellow House  (flac 402mb)

01 Monastery Of The South 16:34
02 On The Threshold Of Eternity 8:47
03 Journey Of The Wayfarers 10:11
04 Stormy Seas 8:47
05 Quest For Paradise 3:40
06 Starry Night 25:56

 Vir Unis and Christopher Short - The Yellow House     (ogg  171mb)

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Here’s a work that has affinity with the fractal groove releases of Steve Roach, Vir Unis and the collaborative works they did together. “Tokyo Highway” incorporates “fractal” computer-generated beats, oriental/tribal percussion and high-tech electronics without much melody. The 44-minute/six-track release offers a myriad of clean, groovy, pulse and minimal-oriented sonic exercises with an edge, together evoking a futuristic mood and feel. Contrary to that, a mellow- introspective sphere is painted by “Metasystems Transition” and the ethereal/melancholic “Passing through the Macroscope”. All in all it’s an interesting blend of active ambient and reflective soundscapes.

Vir Unis and The Elf Machine - Tokyo Highway (flac  235mb)

01 Static Reflections 7:51
02 Memetic Transfer 6:19
03 Prebiotic Complexity 8:26
04 Metasystems Transition 9:11
05 Dissipative Structures 9:21
06 Passing Through The Macroscope 2:52

Vir Unis and The Elf Machine - Tokyo Highway (ogg   115mb)

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The fractal groove creation, sophisticate percussive elements and progressive-atmospheric ambient sound design presented on “Stand still like the Hummingbird” all deliver a new chapter of imaginative, non-melodic sound paintings by John Strate-Hootman. The minimalist music extends further on earlier sonic excursions such as “Mercury and Plastic” and integrates new sample and looping technologies. The continuous, electro-acoustic outcome features futuristic, tribal and energizing passages that strengthen and support each other while feeding the power-current flowing gently underneath. There are deep and ultraviolet colored aural landscapes to explore while geometrical images of rhythms and electro-acoustical hybrid grooves forge new paths. To my ears, the emotive/introspective element is best expressed on “The Moon and Tomorrow”, as the abstract high-tech vibe roams far more profound on all other pieces. All electrifying grooviness culminates on the 24-minute title track, where a slight tribal touch and liquidness shines through its minimalist veins occasionally. Overall, the aural futurism “Stand still like the Hummingbird” is best appreciated with headphones to sense it deeper, captivating and mesmerizing effects.

Vir Unis - Stand Still Like The Hummingbird   (flac  298mb)

01 Sons Of Thunder 5:23
02 A Calling Through The Wind 8:14
03 A Deepening Shift 5:09
04 Since Feeling Is First 5:01
05 The Moon And Tomorrow 4:15
06 In The Shade Sat Quietly 3:48
07 Stand Still Like The Hummingbird 24:02

Vir Unis - Stand Still Like the Hummingbird   (ogg   143mb)

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