Marc Weidenbaum's Blog, page 222

Current Listens: Fullman + Tenet + Funki Porcini

This is my 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. In the interest of conversation, let me know what you’re listening to in the comments below. Just please don’t promote your own work (or that of your label/client). This isn’t the right venue. (Just use email.)

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NEW: Recent(ish) arrivals and pre-releases

▰ Best known for her Long String Instrument, Ellen Fullman is heard in late-1980s musique-concrète mode on Music for the Man Who Grew Common in Wisdom, due out October 16 from the Besom Presse label, based in Los Angeles. One track is already available for streaming. Listen as a stereo recording of lapping water lapses into a rhythmic pulse.

music for the man who grew common in wisdom by ellen fullman

▰ The director of the new thriller Tenet, Christopher Nolan, may prefer we see it in theaters, but at least its score is online, courtesy of the record label WaterTower Music, for those of us maintaining significant social distance. Music by composer Ludwig Göransson.

▰ Funki Porcini is a favorite from way back at the dawn of electronica, and his latest does not disappoint. Motorway opens with cinematic beats before proceeding through a mix of lush ambience imbued with a sense of intimacy, surveillance, and drama.

Motorway by Funki Porcini

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Published on September 06, 2020 20:45

A Variety of Elevations

By definition, a doorbell is a three-dimensional object, four dimensions if you count the sound of that bell ringing as it is experienced over time. To press a doorbell is to push, to exert some amount of pressure — to, in effect, prematurely enter the premises, if only by a millimeter or two. Still, in most cases, a doorbell presents an effectively flat visage, two dimensions, generally white and circular. Even as time passes and the doorbell falls — almost inevitably, at least in urban settings — into disrepair, that flatness is its natural mechanical state. But sometimes the third dimension has a means of making itself felt. Putting aside the readymade punk-rock-flyer quality of the dwellings’ numbers, the buttons on this doorbell are situated at a variety of elevations. This is due to damage over time and subsequent attempts to address the damage, not some sort of experimental next-level user-interface design. Apartments 1 and 2 are truly distended, the color-coded red and yellow tape seemingly providing some sort of support to the mechanisms. Even apartment 4 is further out than the baseline depth provided by apartment 3. I usually shoot doorbells straight on, but this one required an angle and some elevation to be faithfully represented.

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Published on September 05, 2020 22:40

Quantum Violin

If the sounds of Quantum Violin enacted by Mia Zabelka and Glen Hall are remarkable — dense miasma from which undulate denser waves and through which eventually pulses a vibrant heart — so too are the means by which they were accomplished:

Quantum Violin has a sub-structure formed by sounds generated by a Quantum Oscillator that are audible throughout the piece. It was programmed with 8 different sets of parameters, giving the ‘drone’ a slowly varying texture. This sub-structure was created to signify physical reality’s undergirding in the quantum realm, a constant vibrational ‘hum’. Two tracks of Mia Zabelka’s violin were given 3 ‘treatments’ within this sonic landscape. Two treatments were done by IRCAM’s artificial intelligence software, OMax, which segmented and recombined the violin’s performances to coincide with movements in the video, which forms the visual aspect of the quantum world: geometric and vibrating. The third treatment was to atomise the violin’s sound into the microsound sphere using IRCAM’s CataRT, that segmented it into sonic ‘quanta’, tiny grains 0.071 milliseconds, to produce minute clicks, representing the smallest sonic events possible, while still remaining audible. Mia Zabelka’s violin exists as the centre of a quantum sound galaxy.

Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/miazabelkamusic. More from Zalbelka, who hails from Austria, at miazabelka.com.

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Published on September 04, 2020 20:50

Disquiet Junto Project 0453: Dial Up

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 Monday, September 7, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, September 3, 2020.

These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):

Disquiet Junto Project 0453: Dial Up
The Assignment: Imagine the technologically mediated First Contact through sound.

Step 1: The SETI Institute posts an artistic challenge this month. This month’s was issued by the organization’s co-founder, Dr. Jill Tarter. (portrayed as Dr. Ellie Arroway in Contact). Watch the brief video introduction here:

Step 2: In brief, the idea is to consider that First Contact between humans and extraterrestrials will likely be technologically mediated. “We use technology as a proxy for intelligence, and then we go looking with various types of telescopes and detectors to see if we can find evidence that somewhere else someone or something else has used technology to modify their environment in ways that we can sense over vast distances.”

Step 3: Consider what First Contact might be like elsewhere in the universe in light of Dr. Tarter’s challenge.

Step 4: Produce a piece in music/sound that responds to the challenge.

Optional Step: There is a Facebook group for the SETI Art Imaginarium, and you might post your work for this week’s project there:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheArtImaginariumbySETI/

Seven More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: Include “disquiet0453” (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 “disquiet0453” (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-0453-dial-up/

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 Monday, September 7, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, September 3, 2020.

Length: The length is up to you. Positive introductions tend to be concise.

Title/Tag: When posting your tracks, please include “disquiet0453” 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 453rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Dial Up (The Assignment: Imagine the technologically mediated First Contact through sound), at:

https://disquiet.com/0453/

Serrated Simplicity

This marvelous rusty old object is the most rudimentary — and glorious for it — sort of turntable. It’s like if Louise Bourgeois’ spider sculptures and Pierre Bastien’s sonic constructions had a baby. The gear, all serrated simplicity, goes round and round while the tips of four bent wires make tentative contact. They’re pulled along by the surface tension of the gear, until each gives way with a brittle squeak. The device is called the Quadrophone Gramophone, and it’s from the artist who goes by the VAPE.

Video originally posted at youtube.com.

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Published on September 02, 2020 21:04

Stages of Autechre Expectancy

It was early this morning when I logged onto Autechre’s website to pre-order their new album. Where it said “Checkout” it also said “Sign” because Sign is the name of the album. I was confused because I thought I needed to sign in, even though I’d already signed in, so I stared at it for a while. Like I said, it was early.

These are the stages of Autechre listening, of being expectant of a forthcoming release:

Stage 1: Huh, it’s been awhile since there was a new album.

Stage 2: I sure hope the next one isn’t another massive multi-hour release.

Stage 3: Oh, it’s here! And it’s just a single CD, barely an hour of music.

Stage 4: Wish it had been another massive multi-hour release.

Speaking of Autechre’s release schedule, it’s a sign for me of how messed-up April 2020 was (as the pandemic kicked into full gear) that I somehow missed (meaning: utterly forgot) until yesterday that there had even been a seven-city live set () released way back then. What feels like “way back then” but was just a few months back.

And as someone point out online today (forgive me, there was a flurry of Ae activity, of Aetivity, so I’m not sure who), the shape of the image on the cover of Sign resembles the shapes from AE_LIVE 2016/2018:

All the cover art is by the firm the Designers Republic. Sign is due on October 16, 2020.

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Published on September 02, 2020 20:53

Remaining Sane on Twitter

Seven key ways to maintain Twitter sanity:

7: Turn off alerts

6: Stick with reverse-chronological order

5: Don’t use it evenings and weekends

4: Block accounts

3: Mute accounts

2: Mute words

1: Set your Trends location to a place where you don’t know the language

My Trends were “in” Tijuana, Mexico. Then border politics got heavy and my Spanish turned out to be better than I thought it was. So I “moved” to Seoul, Korea. That was awesome: Aside from BTS and some Covid news, I was blissfully ignorant. I just “moved” to Iceland where there seem to be no Trends at all.

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Published on September 01, 2020 20:14

Occasional Reminder

Sorry I haven’t replied to your request for music coverage. It isn’t you. It isn’t me. It’s everyone else. I listen continuously and write about what I’m drawn to write about. I can’t reply to every email. I get hundreds per day. Thanks for understanding. If you want to help ameliorate the situation, which is widespread, only send your PR to individuals you think are actually a likely audience for it, and encourage your musician and music-PR friends to do the same.

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Published on September 01, 2020 09:09

Panic Girl x R Beny

Almost a year after releasing the album Cake on Jupiter, Munich-based synth musician Panic Girl has followed it up with a remix collection. Six of the original album’s eight tracks are reworked by the likes of ISAN, r beny, Mess Montage, Synth Witch, Jericho, and Lightbath. “Himalayan Tea” was the opening track on Cake on Jupiter, as it is here. It’s also the first listen we have of the record, due out October 9, 2020:

Cake on Jupiter Remixes by Panic Girl

Below is the original for reference. Note the percussive undergirding, and listen for how it trails across the stereo spectrum. This is the stuff of which r beny’s dream was made. In his piece, above, the beat is gone, leaving some of inspiring sonic gentility in its wake.

Cake on Jupiter by Panic Girl

Both Cake on Jupiter and Cake on Jupiter Remixes are available at panic-girl.bandcamp.com. More from Panic Girl (aka Martha Bahr, who is also half of Lucid Grain, the other half being Anatol Locker) at panic-girl.com.

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Published on August 31, 2020 20:50

Current Listens: Special Instagram Edition

This is my 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. In the interest of conversation, let me know what you’re listening to in the comments below. Just please don’t promote your own work (or that of your label/client). This isn’t the right venue. (Just use email.)

There’s always chatter about how various streaming services size up next to each other, and how services like Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and YouTube, among others, fit into the mix. The fact is, a good amount of my “discovery” happens on Instagram, so this entry in the weekly Current Listens series focuses on some examples. Now, Instagram videos tend to be short. You have click through to IGTV to see longer versions, which I only do on occasion. My listening/viewing experience tends more toward seeing bits of performance clips in a row, and then heading over to the respective musician’s longer-form work elsewhere. These three artists, from up and down the West Coast, are among my numerous favorites.

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NEW: Recent(ish) arrivals and pre-releases

▰ The musician who goes by Scanner Darkly is a Jedi knight of firmware upgrades and modular-synthesizer ingenuity. This here is a piano phase work in the style of Steve Reich. Scanner Darkly is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by scanner darkly (@scanner_darkly_) on Aug 8, 2020 at 3:02pm PDT

▰ Arckatron is a master of the MPC, though he also stretches out on the SP-404. Here’s a taste of a work in beatcraft progress. Arckatron, aka Shawn Kelly, is based in Los Angeles.