Martin Irigoyen

Martin Daniel Irigoyen (born January 14, 1977) is an Argentine musician, composer, sound designer and sound experimentalist, best known as the guitar player of the band Sodium Channel. He has also played guitar for Les Honchos (with no-wave musician Ariel Diaz, before relocating to the US), Cherokee (Guitar and bass), La Orden Negra (drums), Tierra del Sol (bass), 72 al Sur (bass), and many others.

He started experimenting with sound and recording at the age of thirteen with fellow artist Nicolas Barroso with whom he started Experimental Voices, a project that involved different aspects of sound exploration and performing. At any given time they would switch instruments or engineering roles, often improvising a "first-pass" take and re-improvising on a new layer later without listening to the previously recorded one. They also built an array of "informal" instruments designed by themselves. Some of those instruments included the "Elephone" (an elephant-sounding wind instrument), the "Latarra Electrica" (an electric guitar made out of tin) and the "Nadofon" (Nothingphone). On top of using their own instruments, they often played in different tunings or used effect combinations to alter the timbre of standard musical instruments. They also developed recording and mixing techniques to suit their needs at the time (both Irigoyen and Barroso claim that their "gear and budget were severely limited, so we had to get creative") some of which include tracking inside a closet, using an armoire as an FX chamber, recording through their TV set and so on.

Irigoyen has a wide range of personal signature sounds, techniques and styles. He uses various effects and utensils to create original guitar soundscapes mainly influenced by Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. He uses alternate tunings and plays several different styles. Critic Daniela Cleveland from Independent Musician Magazine wrote: "Sodium Channel closed the show with a performance that was both tight and distinctive. ‘Silt’ was demonstrative of their ability to build atmosphere, with a long intro that came forth roaring, with Martin Irigoyen using a slide to elicit a lone whistling sound..." and Chelsea Cochran from Left Off the Dial says: "Screaming guitar melodies swirl as pounding power chords and a heavy bass drive forward in an unstoppable motion."

His equipment on stage is diverse and mostly unusual. Some of the items he uses for his performances include screwdrivers, tweezers, hangers, vibrators, drumsticks and more.

Martin also directed a video for the now defunct avant-garde band Modelle Nude with shots of San Francisco and Santa Cruz for the song "Futur" from their last EP.

He is currently working on several projects both as a musician and a producer. Some musicians he plays with include Anuj Arora and David Bosse, former guitarists for San Francisco Bay Area-based band Blatant Innuendo; drummer Ron Andronico; musician and producer Nicolas Barroso and other artists. Most recently he has created music and sound effects for several videogames and toys, including sound design on the highly regarded Electronic Arts Sims 2 franchise.

Discography

EXPERIMENTAL VOICES
*1993 - Decolors from Adentro
*1994 - Musica Orbital y Paraflexica
*1995 - Cintas sin piedad
*1996 - Este disco en un desastre!
*1997 - Teresa y el sanguche de salame
*1997 - Fool
*1998 - Pandereta Varonil
*1999 - El Rey de la Raya

LES HONCHOS
*1994 - Un Mundo de Amor
*1996 - Cancioncita
*1997 - Pietá
*2000 - Gayrageonc

CHEROKEE
*1998 - Es una maza

SODIUM CHANNEL
*2003 - Attempted EP
*2004 - ::PLUG::
*2005 - [reverse obvious]

THE DRAM JAM
*2007 - EP

TET OFFENSIVE
*2007 - Sound of the Tet

NOIZE
*1999 - Infrasonic
*2007 - Serenata Spatiale

References

# [reverse obvious] review by Chelsea Cochran. [http://www.leftoffthedial.com/Sodium_Reverse.htm]
#Independent Musician Magazine review by Daniela Cleveland. [http://www.soundclick.com/bands/reviews.cfm?bandid=105904]
#Band of the week - The Skyline View. [http://media.www.theskylineview.com/media/storage/paper619/news/2005/10/10/Entertainment/Band-Of.The.Week-1016192.shtml]
#The Owl Magazine album review. [http://www.theowlmag.com/cdreviews.asp?id=143]
#Garageband.com reviews. [http://www.garageband.com/artist/sodiumchannel/songs]

External links

* [http://martinirigoyen.com Martin Irigoyen] official website
* [http://myspace.com/sodiumchannel Sodium Channel] on MySpace
* [http://myspace.com/blatantinnuendo Blatant Innuendo] on MySpace
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q1WyLiDcvKc Modelle Nude on YouTube]
* [http://entwinedmind.com/music/ep/ Recent work on EntwinedMind]