Marc Weidenbaum's Blog, page 209
December 24, 2020
Disquiet Junto Project 0469: [Missing in Caption]
Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto group, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. (A SoundCloud account is helpful but not required.) There’s no pressure to do every project. It’s weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when you have the time.
Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, December 28, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, December 24, 2020.
These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):
Disquiet Junto Project 0469: [Missing in Caption]
The Assignment: Make music that pushes the constraints of descriptive television captions.
Step 1: You’ve likely watched TV with the captions on and seen how the music is described: “[eerie synth music]” or “[romantic classical music]” or “[melancholy piano].” Reflect on that experience, in particular what the captions accomplish, as well as what, in their brevity, they fail to describe.
Step 2: Choose a caption of your own creation, or borrow from a show or film you’ve recently watched.
Step 3: Record music that is true to the caption selected in Step 2, and in the process also push past that caption to make sound that the caption falls short of encapsulating.
Seven More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:
Step 1: Include “disquiet0469” (no spaces or quotation marks) in the name of your tracks.
Step 2: If your audio-hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to also include the project tag “disquiet0469” (no spaces or quotation marks). If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to subsequent location of tracks for the creation of a project playlist.
Step 3: Upload your tracks. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your tracks.
Step 4: Post your tracks in the following discussion thread at llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0469-missing-in-caption/
Step 5: Annotate your tracks with a brief explanation of your approach and process.
Step 6: If posting on social media, please consider using the hashtag #disquietjunto so fellow participants are more likely to locate your communication.
Step 7: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.
Additional Details:
Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, December 21, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, December 17, 2020.
Length: The length is up to you. Is it a scene, an episode, or a feature film?
Title/Tag: When posting your tracks, please include “disquiet0469” in the title of the tracks, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.
Upload: When participating in this project, be sure to include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.
Download: It is always best to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution, allowing for derivatives).
For context, when posting the track online, please be sure to include this following information:
More on this 469th weekly Disquiet Junto project, [Missing in Caption] (The Assignment: Make music that pushes the constraints of descriptive television captions), at:
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
Subscribe to project announcements here:
https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0469-missing-in-caption/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this project is by Rune Vallesether, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:
December 23, 2020
Pure Sonic Foam
The pure sonic foam of this Ambalek video, “The Hidden Path,” can, like much great quiet music, appear unassuming at first. Dispense, please, with the sense as a listener that something this quiet must be played quiet, as if there is some cultural balance to be maintained, to be adhered to. Turn it up. Turn it up, and immerse yourself in the shifting strata of sound, the cloud formations and serene textures that play atop, alongside, and against each other. And if you’re interested in the process, be sure to scroll down on the video’s page, where Ambalek goes into detail on the tools and techniques employed.
This is the latest video I’ve added to my ongoing YouTube playlist of fine live performance of ambient music. Video originally posted at the YouTube channel of Ambalek. More from Ambalek, who is based in London, at soundcloud.com/ambalek and instagram.com/_ambalek.
December 22, 2020
2020 HindSight
2020 HindSight Millennium Beat EP by Nex Millen
February, July, September, and December were my favorite months this year. Not this year meaning this year, but this year as memorialized in a dozen tracks, one for each month, on Philadelphia producer Nex Millen’s 2020 HindSight Millennium Beat EP. From tightly clasped hi-hats to loungey keys, jittery atmospheres to nearly subaural bass line melodies, refracted guitar samples to vocal playfulness, stereo hijinks to ratatatat percussion, those four tracks are among the album’s moodiest. Each, presumably, map’s Millen’s state of mind over the course of 2020’s countless horrors. Now his instrumental hip-hop is something to relax to, to recuperate to. There’s much more to 2020 HindSight than just those four tracks, but they’re the ones helping me make it through the last few weeks of the year.
Album originally posted at nexmillen.bandcamp.com. More from Nex Millen at twitter.com/nexmillen.
December 21, 2020
Advances and Atmospheres
Bitter Magicians by Orbitalpatterns
“A Vessel in the Fog” was the title of a live video that Orbitalpatterns, the Michigan-based synthesizer musician, posted back in July on his YouTube channel. Shortly after its initial release, I praised how its textures “twist and turn like clouds of smoke, turning in the air before vaporizing and being replaced by something else, something similar and yet apart.” That track now is one of seven that comprise Bitter Magicians, a fine album of exploratory compositions. Many of the pieces evolve considerably as they advance. Take how “The Magicians Notebook” moves from wispy and hesitant to something denser, more full-throated, or how the singsong sway of “Demi-Gods Ramble” gets more orchestral as it presses on. Which isn’t to say, as an atmosphere-minded musician, Orbitalpatterns (aka Abdul Allums) shys away from the sublime. If anything, the final track, a warpy treat titled “That Last Mile Will Go On Forever,” is engulfed by its own echoes by the time it slurs to a close. Bitter Magicians is a tremendous collection throughout.
Album originally posted at orbitalpatterns.bandcamp.com. More at instagram.com/orbitalpatterns.
December 20, 2020
Current Favorites: Aphex on Guitar, Advent Sounds
A weekly(ish) answer to the question “What have you been listening to lately?” It’s lightly annotated because I don’t like re-posting material without providing some context. I hope to write more about some of these in the future, but didn’t want to delay sharing them. (This weekly feature was previously titled Current Listens. The name’s been updated for clarity’s sake.)
▰ TA2MI’s Kanchi | Complete Cure explores downtempo, instrumental hip-hop with a freshness that will not just appeal to but even push the comfort level of DJ Krush fans, the samples all the noisier, the beats all the more broken. TA2MI is Tatsumi Akinobu, based in Yatsushiro, Japan.
Kanchi | Complete Cure by TA2MI
▰ Simon Farintosh adapts various works for classical guitar, including music by Aphex Twin. Here’s a gorgeous, romantic take on “Flim,” off the latter’s Come to Daddy. Farintosh, who was born the year after the release of Selected Ambient Works Volume II, lives in British Columbia.
▰ Hilary Robinson continued her winter-solstice advent calendar of sound sketches today with a track of melodica and train noise. There may be one more track in the series coming, since tomorrow is the 21st, though Stonehenge celebrated the solstice Sunday evening. She is based in London, England.
December 19, 2020
twitter.com/disquiet: Score Obscenity + Sonic Archaeology
I do this manually each week, collating the tweets I made at twitter.com/disquiet of which I want to keep track. For the most part, this means ones I initiated, not ones in which I directly responded to someone.
▰ I was listening to a movie score (all instrumental) and noticed it was labeled E (meaning Explicit in music, unlike in video games, where it means Everyone, which yes is very confusing). Why E? Because one of album’s 14 tracks had a four-letter obscenity (the F one) in the title. There are edited versions of songs and albums available in a variety of genres, where the sung/spoken obscenities are bleeped or replaced. But far as I can tell, this instrumental album exists only as E(xplicit), and all due to this one word in a track title.
▰ “It is possible that some 8,000 years ago, in this acoustically resonant haven, people not only hid from passing coastal thunderstorms, they may have used this place to commune with their dead — using music.” The exploration of sound in archeology: sapiens.org. Also: “New technological developments can also bolster a music archaeologist’s case as to whether an object produced sound: Repeated use leaves tell-tale signs on the objects, microscopic friction marks that hum their history.” (via Lucas Gonze)
▰ The computer’s dictionary recognizes the brand names of most of the products in the pantry, but not the word “soundscape.” This truly is David Foster Wallace’s world, and we’re just living in it.
▰ “A Fifth of Beethoven” on the composer’s 250th birthday. This 1976 hit was, for many of us, an entry point into classical music, up there with John Williams’ score to the first Star Wars movie the following spring.
▰ I have no idea what NaN degrees is, but apparently my phone has finally acknowledged that it doesn’t understand San Francisco weather.
Actually, I do know. It’s NaN as in “not a number,” and not as in cloudy with a chance of flatbread (which would also require and extra a).
▰ The New York Times’ Electoral College map apparently reimagined democracy in light of Conway’s Game of Life. Despite concerns, faithless cellular automata failed to materialize, and the system has been confirmed Turing complete (and, as a side note, outdated).
▰ I’m used to hitting forward 8 or 9 times each episode of Star Trek: Discovery, to bypass the opening credits, but I hung around this week for the mirror-universe sequence. Reminded me, of course, of those Fringe alternate-universe episodes and how they had alternate opening credits (blood red for several seasons, then concrete grey later). Fringe also used different music (notably for a flashback ’80s episode, which had its own credits).
▰ And on that note, have a great weekend, folks.
December 18, 2020
Hector Plimmer x Kidkanevil
Tapeloop (Kidkanevil Remix) by Hector Plimmer
Another great A/B listen, comparing and contrasting an original and its remix. First came “Tapeloop,” a brief, lofi, understated groove from Hector Plimmer. It’s high impact low impact, modest moves in service of a greater mood. There’s a brief keyboard riff, echoing lightly above a smothered, raspy handclap of a beat. Occasionally it pitches up or down. And then it slinks into the shadows. It’s called “Tapeloop,” and it’s barely a minute and a half long, so you hit repeat.
To the remixer’s credit, when Kidkanevil goes to work, he manages to augment and add, dissect and course correct, without ever losing what made the original so compelling. He glitches it out in a manner that reflects the original’s surface tension. He adds vocals that sound like someone doing hyperspeed play-by-play on the production. He injects and carves, but never loses the balance that made Plimmer’s source audio function. Kidkanevil plays Jenga with the building blocks, yet the material never even teeters. Not every remix needs to pay tribute to the original, but when it’s done right, it helps you understand the original.
“Tapeloop” originally appeared as the fifth track on Plimmer’s late 2019 album, Next to Nothing. The Kidkanevil remix is part of an ongoing series that has included Alex Harley, Matthew Herbert, Elkka, and Bex Burch.
Album originally posted at hector-plimmer.bandcamp.com. More from Plimmer, who is based in London, at soundcloud.com/hectorplimmer, twitter.com/HectorPlimmer. More from Kidkanevil, aka Gerard Roberts, at kidkanevilofficial.com.
December 17, 2020
Disquiet Junto Project 0468: Mirror Rorrim
Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto group, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. (A SoundCloud account is helpful but not required.) There’s no pressure to do every project. It’s weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when you have the time.
Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, December 21, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, December 17, 2020.
These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):
Disquiet Junto Project 0468: Mirror Rorrim
The Assignment: Create a new persona for yourself, and record a duet together.
Step 1: Make up a new musician, someone other than yourself. Give them a name, as well as creative traits different from how you perceive your own, perhaps even in stark contrast with your own.
Step 2: Record a duet together, you and the person you invented in Step 1.
Step 3: If you would like, when posting the track include some description of your collaborator, and about your working relationship.
Seven More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:
Step 1: Include “disquiet0468” (no spaces or quotation marks) in the name of your tracks.
Step 2: If your audio-hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to also include the project tag “disquiet0468” (no spaces or quotation marks). If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to subsequent location of tracks for the creation of a project playlist.
Step 3: Upload your tracks. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your tracks.
Step 4: Post your tracks in the following discussion thread at llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0468-mirror-rorrim/
Step 5: Annotate your tracks with a brief explanation of your approach and process.
Step 6: If posting on social media, please consider using the hashtag #disquietjunto so fellow participants are more likely to locate your communication.
Step 7: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.
Additional Details:
Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, December 21, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, December 17, 2020.
Length: The length is up to you. Maybe you have learned something about time this year.
Title/Tag: When posting your tracks, please include “disquiet0468” in the title of the tracks, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.
Upload: When participating in this project, be sure to include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.
Download: It is always best to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution, allowing for derivatives).
For context, when posting the track online, please be sure to include this following information:
More on this 468th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Mirror Rorrim (The Assignment: Create a new persona for yourself, and record a duet together), at:
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
Subscribe to project announcements here:
https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0468-mirror-rorrim/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this project is by Timothy Takemoto, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:
December 16, 2020
Fresh Ink
I left my pen leaning against my notebook accidentally. It bled through, one page after another.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Marc Weidenbaum (@dsqt)
December 15, 2020
Live Cassette Loop Jam
This rough-textured live ambient cassette loop jam noted the Sonars account on YouTube hitting the 1,000-follower milestone. It’s lush, with echoes of Gavin Bryars’ work, suggesting a sepia-toned version of a damaged old document, the aural equivalent of a photograph altered by time and the elements, changes both cultural and elemental. While listening, get lost in the nostalgia-tinged atmosphere. Also keep an eye (and ear) out the moment, just after the two-minute point, when the pitch, and attendant pace, are slowed markedly.
This is the latest video I’ve added to my ongoing YouTube playlist of fine live performance of ambient music. Video originally posted on YouTube. Sonars is a self-described electro-psych duo from the United Kingdom and Italy. More from them at sonars.bandcamp.com and instagram.com/sonarsmusic.
