I could not write this music down; it was still strange to me and its territory was unfamiliar. But I could hear it. I could feel the world in its perfection within me, and I could also retain something of it, a small part and echo of it, reduced and translated. -Hesse, "Gertrude"
Record Label
Rowing At Sea, Time Release, Odd Shaped Case, Plop
Born in 1974, Ryan Francesconi later grew up in the forests of far Northern California. After a childhood dominated by guitar solos, bad haircuts and foggy coasts, Ryan attended California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, earning degrees in Guitar, Composition and Electronic Music. In addition to formal music studies with guitarist Miroslav Tadic and composers David Rosenboom and Lucky Mosko, Ryan studied programming with Soundhack creator, Tom Erbe, and developed the software, Spongefork, which became a widely used tool for creative sound manipulation. Through the music of Bela Bartok and Tadic’s introduction to Macedonian folk music, Ryan discovered his love for the Balkans’ folk music, which formed the center of his life for the next ten years. He traveled to Bulgaria and Greece in search of the tambura, kaval and bouzouki and brought back instruments and inspiration for new music. His groups, The Toids and Trio Mopmu, were formed, later releasing three albums of Eastern European inflected compositions.
After returning to San Francisco in 2000, Ryan began recording in other styles, releasing three albums of ambient manipulated acoustic music under the RF moniker as well as a variety of compilations and collaborations. Using his programming skills to his advantage, RF applied subtle electronic coloring to field recordings, vocals and classical instrumentation to create a rich personal sound world. During this time, he was often associated with electronic musicians, yet Ryan still remained most at home with acoustic composition.
While teaching a summer workshop in Bulgarian music, Ryan met California harpist and singer Joanna Newsom, and the two began to scheme ways to make some music together. In 2006, while recording Joanna for Ryan and Lili De La Mora’s album, "Eleven Continents," Joanna asked Ryan to help convert the orchestral parts of her upcoming release, "Ys," into something that could be toured as a band. Condensing the original Van Dyke Parks scores to a few instruments required a few weeks of frantic scribbling on staff paper after which they toured constantly for the next year and recorded the Ys Street Band EP. Later, Ryan reworked the original full scores again for the live orchestral performances of "Ys" in the US, Europe and Australia in 2007 and 2008.
Loving the northern air, Ryan now lives in Seattle. His latest project is working on an acoustic guitar and vocals album, which might be described as if the English Nick Drake was in fact Bulgarian.
THANKS FOR THE ADD! I'LL BE SURE TO GET YOU UP ON MY TOP 40 AND IF I GET SOME SHOTS OF YOUR SHOW... DEPENDING ON HOW BUSY I AM. I'LL BE SURE TO PASS THEM ON TO YOU. I'M SURE IT WILL BE A GREAT SHOW!
Ryan, your music is absolutely incredible my friend. I remember that Ibanez of your chirping out Steve Vai solos, among others. Long ways away from those days man.
はじめまして！ サントラ～エレクトロニカを制作している大阪の音楽ユニットです。フレンド承認ありがとうございます。よろしくです。 We are Japanese electronica - ambient unit. Nice to meet you and thanks For Adding us! Best Wishes, from Osaka, Japan.
