Electronic Press Kit for Franck Martin

Bio

Franck Martin makes rooms disappear.

Born in France, shaped by twenty years in the Pacific Islands, and based in San Francisco, he performs on a quadraphonic modular synthesizer — an instrument that doesn't exist until he wires it into being, live. Each set is a single 15–30+ minute transformation: raw electricity becomes texture, texture becomes motion, and the audience ends up somewhere they didn't know sound could take them.

He works at the edges of what a listener can perceive — micro-tones, quadraphonic space, Ambisonics, Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio — not as gadgets, but as raw material for altered listening. A Recording Academy Voting Member, he produces electronic music, organizes and promotes well-attended concerts, and builds each performance as an immersive, slow-shifting world rather than a sequence of songs.

Pictures

Click on picture to see it in full

Bookings

Book the transformation.

Franck performs long-form live sets (15–30+ minutes, or the evening) on a quadraphonic modular synthesizer. See the technical rider, photos, and 360° / spatial audio videos.

franck at peachymango.org

What people say

• "It really took me out of this world." — Balanced Breakfast
• "…creating an aural journey unlike any other listeners have probably heard." — Wesley Derbyshire, Hi-Res Edition
• "The careful use of panning, ping-pong effects, and surround sound elements allow the listener to get pulled into the three-dimensional musical landscape. Not only is the darkness envisioned, but it is felt on a more visceral level." — Rob Benny, On The Fringes of Sound
• "I make noise, some people are nice to me and call it music" — Franck Martin
• "In what key is this? The key to open your mind" — Franck Martin
• "It is like a nouveau art film when people are expecting Disney" — Justin Anderson

Discography

• Discography — complete list of albums with production notes
• Music Videos
• 360 Audio Videos

Concerts and Events

Past Events

• Events in 2019
• Events in 2020

Music Links and Social

Press

"Franck Martin […] performed a solo set on a modular synthesizer with several standalone instruments. […] The result was a slowly changing beat pattern with an eerie inharmonic voicing and gentle undulation." — CatSynth on Church of Thee Super Serge at Robotspeak

"Franck Martin's innovative entry video was filmed near the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco using a 360 camera (view this video on YouTube for the full effect). His choice of instrument is just as creative: a portable modular synth. The sounds of the water crashing on the shore add to the improvisational nature of Martin's piece. Just like the tourists walking by in the video, we were stopped in our tracks watching this entry." — Clara Maurer, NPR

"After listening to Franck's new album Symphoney, I really understood what he is trying to do with his music. It really took me out of this world. Each song, or part in this album's case, really takes you to a different realm which is a super powerful thing for music to do. Avant-garde music has always been so interesting and powerful to me, I think some of these tracks would be great in a movie or visual art piece. Franck's style of music has really shown me how avant-garde music can be extraordinary" — Balanced Breakfast

"I can hear a tinge of the early Tangerine Dream albums Alpha Centauri and Zeit lurking in the midst of Martin's six part Symphoney piece. For those who have attended noise symposiums, this work would be well received by their fans. The dissonance and order are diametric opposites that expand the aural experience to the point where the spatial placement aids in anchoring the pieces." — Wesley Derbyshire, Hi-Res Edition

"Franck Martin has entered the Tiny Desk Contest multiple times, but I still remember his 2019 entry: a mobile, modular synth unit filmed near the Golden Gate bridge with a 360-degree camera! This one's no less scenic, but stable, as Martin's mix of Buchla and Moog synths soundtrack the mountainous Pacifica skyline with headphone-panning dark ambient." — Lars Gotrich, NPR

"Listeners have been placed into a very unique soundscape that one could classify as truly weird or even consider it a movie soundtrack. Regardless of how one classifies Passages, it goes far beyond the realm that we live in, creating an aural journey unlike any other listeners have probably heard." — Wesley Derbyshire, Hi-Res Edition about Passages

"Franck Martin's latest release "Passages" immediately reminds me of the sound design from the first 10 minutes of the 1985 cult film and animated cinematic masterpiece "Night On the Galactic Railroad." Similarly metaphysical in nature, in sound and in feel, to me, Franck Martin's album is the distorted sister of Haroumi Hosono's haunting soundtrack." — Elise Mills, Fault Radio about Passages

"The production and audio effects are well done, carefully placed, and presented with clever nuance. The careful use of panning, ping-pong effects, and surround sound elements allow the listener to get pulled into the three-dimensional musical landscape. Not only is the darkness envisioned, but it is felt on a more visceral level." — Rob Benny, On The Fringes of Sound about Passages

"The title How Dare You! is taken from the text of the famous Greta Thunberg speech at the United Nations, and the whole album uses snippets of the speech, read by Martin's wife, Jasmine Ali. It's an intensely moody sonic journey, Martin's powerful personal and artistic statement against climate inaction and disaster, that fits in with his work overall which often addresses social issues." — Marke B., 48Hills

"Last year, we wrote about Franck Martin, a local modular synthesizer wizard who hosts a monthly electronic music showcase at Noisebridge in the Mission every fourth Thursday. He'll be at Gray Area on January 14 with his Modular California Vibes project, which includes Joachim Garraud (a famous French Touch DJ and producer for David Guetta and Jean Michel Jarre), Trovarsi (co-founder of Socal Synth Society), and Hugo Paris (Creator of the 4ms SWM module.) [..] The idea behind Modular California Vibes was to arrange commutable synthesizer music with a link to nature. "Joachim has a mobile studio powered by the sun called LAGoodVibe," continued Martin. "We took it to the desert to be amongst ourselves and nature. We tried to be carbon neutral as much as possible, respect the environment and put all this vibe into the music that we created from just being there with friends in four different locations. We recorded our adventures as a documentary to share it with people."" — John-Paul Shiver, 48Hills