Marc Weidenbaum's Blog, page 413
July 30, 2014
Time in the Library with Mark Rushton
There are many mysteries to the Internet, among them why Mark Rushton has a total of just 173 followers at the moment on his SoundCloud account. He’s an active and frequent participant in ambient music online, with a deep archive at markrushton.bandcamp.com and a must-subscribe podcast, just to note a few of his outposts. In any case, among his most recent treats is an extended version of an earlier Disquiet Junto entry. Back in June he was among the members to record the sound of their local library and turn it into music. The first take was two minutes, which he found wanting, and so he has extended it by nearly three times. He talks a bit about the source audio in the original post:
I decided I would try to get a recording by checking out a couple of books. There were two people staffing the Service Desk, so there was a chance for additional sounds in the recording. I figured I could easily get a minute’s worth of recording, and I did. The microphone was peeking out of my shirt’s pocket in a rather unobtrusive way. I tried to be quiet and be careful with my breathing as the mic was pointing upwards at my nose.
Since the elevator exit is right around the corner from the Service Desk, I left that sound in. I thought that was an interesting start. Surely if you work the Service Desk you have to hear it all the time.
The extended version takes even more time to locate the musicality in those source elements and create a lithe, gently percussive, quotidian fantasia from them.
Track originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/markrushtoncom. More from Iowa City–based Mark Rushton at markrushton.com.
via instagram.com/dsqt
The public bus wording suggests still images in contrast with constant voice surveillance.
Cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt.
July 29, 2014
Two Pages from a Diary
Earlier this month I mentioned that the Downstream section of this site would no longer be restricted to (legally) freely downloadable music, that the section — which makes note of a piece of music daily — would expand to include music that is streamable for free in full. I chose to make the announcment with an appreciative nod to Taylor Deupree’s ongoing near-daily sound diary. This was both because it was a fine example of the sort of format and material that was being bypassed undesirably when the Downstream was restricted to free downloads, and also because an earlier such project by Deupree, back in 2009, had served as a big source of inspiration at the time for the power of casual, mid-process artist posts to provide insight into a musician’s creative process.
To wit, today’s Downstream entry is another in Deupree’s ongoing series of sonic studio snapshots. Recorded and posted just yesterday, as the track title makes clear, “July 28, 2014″ is a thick, slow-motion tempest of cicada activity: whirring wing beats and crepuscular drone. In an extended liner note, Deupree digs into the technology he used to make the track, all in this case part of his return to modular synthesis. Even if you don’t follow instrumentation with an particular interest, what is of interest is just how new some of this tech was to Deupree at the time of the track’s recording. The newest item, an oscillator, had been played by him for under an hour.
Here’s another recent piece from Deupree’s sound journal (“July 25, 2014″): a creative use of a sequencer to play a piano-like series of notes, all heard here as if through melted glass:
Track posted originally at soundcloud.com/12k. More from Deupree at taylordeupree.com and the record label he runs, 12k.com.
July 28, 2014
A Classical Timbre
Forelight’s “Speckled Light” bears the primary tag “ambient” in its SoundCloud posting. The track embodies a certain ether vibe that certainly accounts for the association, but the track challenges the category as well. For all its shaft-of-sun frozen-moment epiphany-on-hold stasis beauty, it opens with a fast moving crescendo and comes to embody waves of underlying rhythmic current, the sort of motion that can cause disorientation, like being in the back seat of a cab after a long night. It’s a beautiful track. There are numerous “types” of tonality in ambient music, from dance-club lounge, to slick synth spiritualism, and the timbre here is more inherently symphonic: chordal, dense, rooted. And there’s the added mystery of about two minutes of hissy near silence that follow the five-and-a-half-minute audio.
Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/forelight.
July 27, 2014
Two by Robert Crouch
Two pieces from one musician. “June 19″ is a rich drone-informed excursion with a slowly morphing core. Robert Crouch, who committed “June 19″ to tape, explains in a brief liner note that it is “completely improvised,” and that such an approach is unusual for him. He lists an array of modular synthesis components employed (“Mutable Instruments Braids, Intellijel Korgasmatron II, Makenoise Rene, Makenoise Echophone, Pittsburgh VILFO, Grendel Formant Filter, and Harvestman Tyme Sefari II”), but the music is the thing, in this case an often sultry piece of near stillness that sounds like what Herbie Hancock might have recorded in the early 1970s after spending a long afternoon in at a museum exhibit of a John Cage retrospective.
While “June 19″ dates from a little over a month ago, an untitled piece from about a year back makes a good point of contrast. In breathy tempo and general hazy aspect, it is a parallel work, but slight adjustments in tone make is considerably less sultry and more ethereal — less Earth, more Heaven. Crouch has tagged it as “microsound” and it has a lower-case aesthetic certainly that’s fitting to that tag, though an underlying texture, like that of a ragged speaker cone, serves ultimately to ground the recording.
“June 19″ and the untitled piece were originally posted at Crouch’s soundcloud.com/robert-crouch account. More from Crouch, who is based in Los Angeles, at robertcrouch.com.
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: Is Voice the Uncanny Valley?
There may have been no better place than io9.com to keep track of Comic-Con, and this popped up in a summary of the Person of Interest panel. That’s the CBS series with an admirably long-game approach to narrative. It’s about an AI coming into sentience. That AI has become more of a character, and as the series enters season four it now is up against a competitive AI:
“Pressed for an answer about whether or not the AIs would get voices, Jonathan Nolan responded, ‘We’re working on the voice thing. But you may not like where it goes.’”
Full coverage at io9.com. It’s rarely advisable to read comments, but there are some strongly worded concerns in the resulting thread about lending voices to the AI, worth checking out if only as an expression of a point of view.
This entry cross-posted from the Disquiet linkblog project sound.tumblr.com.
via instagram.com/dsqt
A feature in many playgrounds in San Francisco. Half the fun is finding its twin.
Cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt.
July 25, 2014
Cori Marquis and Molly Sheridan on Dance, Music, and Video
This week’s Disquiet Junto project, in which compositions are created to complement a video of new choreography, owes a debt to Aphex Twin. It was while researching the aftermarket uses — the cultural afterlife — of his album Selected Ambient Works Volume II for my book in the 33 1/3 series that I came upon Cori Marquis. Now a choreographer and dancer based in New York, she had, while an undergraduate at Stanford University, created a work based on music from the record — more to the point, her project was twice removed, since she had used music from the Alarm Will Sound album of Aphex Twin covers.
I learned a lot about contemporary dance while preparing to interview Marquis for my book, and learned even more when interviewing her, especially about how music is often secondary to the choreography. As an outsider to dance, I mistakenly assumed that dance is an expression of the music, when in fact the relation between dance and the music that is danced to is often quite complicated, even remote.
As this week’s project came into focus, I suspected that the insightful folks at NewMusicBox.org would be interested and indeed Molly Sheridan, the site’s Executive Editor, has published an excellent interview with Marquis about the relation between film and choreography, the relation between music and choreography, and her inspiration for this piece. The full article, “A Feedback Loop of Movement and Sound: Five Questions with Choreographer Cori Marquis,” is online at newmusicbox.org
This, for example, is Marquis on the attraction of film for choreographers:
“You can get the intimacy of film with the physicality of motion; you can alter the viewer’s visual perspective as well as the timing and pacing of the work. The editing becomes part of–or maybe most of–the choreography. You can bring site-specific work beyond the location. You can create physically unfeasible images. And logistically, it can be presented an infinite number of times, with the possibility of a huge geographical reach and scope in audience without the financial obstacles of touring a cast around the world.”
And this is her response for a request by Sheridan for a little more context for what’s happening in this piece of choreography:
“The idea for this dance film is rooted in the ephemeral nature of live performance, and specifically the transient way dancers trace and use space. I wanted to investigate what it is to record these floor patterns and points of contact so that they do not disappear the moment they occur. A clear vehicle for this became paint on bodies, with dance on film. The work uses multiple colors of paint to track two dancers: their points of contact with the floor, themselves, and each other; in athletic phrase work; partnering; and nuanced improvisation. The film primarily utilizes semi-aerial and intimate close-up shots.”
Read the full interview at newmusicbox.org.
July 24, 2014
Ambient at the Grey Lady
The paper of record has a feature called Chronicle that allows you to experiment with “Visualizing language usage in New York Times news coverage throughout its history,” as the service describes itself. You can compare frequency of multiple words, or just chart one. Apparently “ambient” is on a roll:
I’m not sure that there’s actually been a downturn in the past year. A lot of words I checked tapered off at the end, making me wonder if they aren’t adjusting for 2014 being barely half through.
The service is similar to if more elegant than Google’s Ngram Viewer, where “ambient” charts about the same, aside from the downturn:
Try it out at chronicle.nytlabs.com. Here’s the announcement article from yesterday. If you come upon any interesting data, let me know. (Thanks to Ian Lewis Gordon for the tip.)
Disquiet Junto Project 0134: Music from Choreography
Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com 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.
This assignment was made in the late evening, New York time, on Thursday, July 24, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, July 28, 2013, as the deadline. The instructions are available in English, French, and Italian — the two translations courtesy of, respectively, Éric Legendre and Claudio Gallo (twitter.com/daualset).
These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):
Disquiet Junto Project 0134: Music from Choreography
Compose music to accompany one minute of a dance video by Cori Marquis.
This project is to contribute one full minute of music to accompany a video of original choreography. The project steps are as follows:
1: Watch the nine-minute video at the following link. It was choreographed by Cori Marquis expressly for this Disquiet Junto project:
2: Choose a random number from 0 to 8. One option is to use this following link, which will automatically generate a result:
3: Your one-minute segment begins with the number resulting from Step 2. For example, if you get the number 6, then you compose from 06:00 through 06:59. If you get the number 0, then you compose from 00:00 through 00:59.
4: When you are done, upload the track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud, following the directions below.
Note: Please note that participating in this project means you understand that Marquis may employ some of the music you produce in a final cut of the video, and she may edit the music. Marquis may also reach out to some participants to see if they want to develop the work further. If you have any questions, direct them to marc@disquiet.com.
Deadline: Monday, July 28, 2014, at 11:59pm wherever you are.
Length: The length of your finished work should be 1 minute.
Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, 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. Also note the segment of the video you worked on.
Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0134-MusicFromChoreography″ in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.
Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).
Linking: When posting the track, please be sure to include this information, and note the segment of time you composed for:
More on this 134th Disquiet Junto project — “Compose music to accompany one minute of a dance video by Cori Marquis” — at:
http://disquiet.com/2014/07/24/disqui...
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
Join the Disquiet Junto at:
http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet...
Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:
. . .
Here are the instructions in French:
Projet Disquiet Junto 0134 : Musique à partir d’une chorégraphie
Composez une musique pour accompagner une minute d’une vidéo de danse de Cori Marquis.
Ce projet consiste à composer une minute de musique pour accompagner une vidéo d’une chorégraphie originale. Les étapes du projet sont les suivantes :
1 : Regardez la vidéo de neuf minutes en suivant ce lien. Elle a été chorégraphiée par Cori Marquis expressément pour ce projet Junto de Disquiet :
2 : De façon aléatoire, choisissez un nombre de 0 à 8. L’une des manières est d’utiliser ce lien suivant, qui automatiquement va générer un résultat :
3 : Le minutage de votre segment d’une minute débute à partir du nombre obtenu à l’étape 2. Par exemple, si vous obtenez le nombre 6, vous composerez à partir de 06 min 00 sec. jusqu’à 06 min 59 sec. Si vous obtenez le nombre 0, vous composerez à partir de 00 min. 00 sec jusqu’à 00 min. 59 sec.
4 : Lorsque vous avez terminé, téléverser la piste au groupe Junto de Disquiet sur SoundCloud, en suivant les instructions ci-dessous.
Note : Veuillez noter que la participation à ce projet signifie que vous comprenez que Marquis peut utiliser une partie de la musique que vous avez produite dans un montage final de la vidéo, et qu’elle peut aussi monter la musique. Marquis peut également contacter certains participants pour connaître s’ils veulent développer plus avant leur travail. Si vous avez des questions, les poser directement à marc@disquiet.com.
Date limite : Lundi 28 juillet 2014, à 23 h 59 où que vous soyez.
Durée : Votre pièce complétée doit avoir une durée d’une minute.
Information : S’il vous plait, lors du téléversement de votre piste sur SoundCloud, veillez à inclure une description de votre processus lié à la conception, la composition et l’enregistrement. Cette description est un élément essentiel du processus de communication inhérente au Junto de Disquiet. Notez également le minutage du segment vidéo sur lequel vous avez travaillé.
Titre/mot-clé : Lorsque vous ajoutez votre pièce au groupe Junto de Disquiet sur Soundcloud.com, veillez à y inclure l’expression « disquiet0134-MusicFromChoreography » dans le titre de votre pièce, mais
également comme mot-clé.
Téléchargement : Il est toujours préférable que votre piste soit définie comme téléchargeable, et permettant de la remixer avec une attribution (soit une licence Creative Commons permettant une diffusion à des fins non commerciales avec attribution).
Lien : lorsque vous publiez votre pièce, S.V.P. inclure ces informations et noter le minutage du segment vidéo sur lequel vous avez travaillé :
Plus de détails à propos de ce 134e projet Junto de Disquiet — « Compose music to accompany one minute of a dance video by Cori Marquis » :
http://disquiet.com/2014/07/24/disqui...
Plus de détails à propos du projet Junto de Disquiet :
http://disquiet.com/?p=16588
Rejoindre le groupe Junto de Disquiet :
http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet...
Discussion générale à propos du projet Junto de Disquiet :
http://disquiet.com/forums
. . .
Here are the instructions in Italian:
Progetto 0134 Disquiet Junto: Musica per coreografia
Comporre musica di accompagnamento di un minuto di un video della danza di Cori Marquis.
Questo progetto prevede di contribuire con un minuto di musica per accompagnare il video di coreografie originali.
Le fasi del progetto sono i seguenti:
1: Guarda il video di nove minuti al seguente link. E’ stato coreografato da Cori Marquis appositamente per il progetto Disquiet Junto:
2:. Scegliere un numero casuale da 0 a 8. Una possibilità è quella di utilizzare questo seguente link, che genererà automaticamente un risultato:
3: Il tuo segmento di un minuto inizia con il numero risultante dalla Fase 2. Ad esempio, se si ottiene il numero 6, si compone a partire dal minuto 06:00 al 06:59.. Se si ottiene il numero 0, allora si compone dal minuto 00:00 al 00:59.
4: Quando hai finito, caricare la traccia al gruppo Disquiet Junto su SoundCloud, seguendo le istruzioni riportate di seguito.
Nota: Si prega di notare che la partecipazione a questo progetto implica il consenso che Marquis possa impiegare alcune delle musiche prodotte in un edizione finale del video e che la musica sarà modificabile. Marquis potrebbe contattare qualche partecipante per considerare un ulteriore sviluppo del lavoro. Se avete qualche domanda, scrivete a marc@disquiet.com.
Scadenza: Lunedi 28 July 2014, alle 11:59, ovunque tu sia.
Lunghezza: la lunghezza del vostro lavoro è di 1 minuto.
Informazioni: Quando pubblicherai la tua traccia su SoundCloud, per favore inserisci una descrizione del processo di pianificazione, composizione e registrazione. Questa descrizione è un elemento essenziale del processo comunicativo inerente a Disquiet Junto. Si faccia notare anche il segmento del video hai lavorato.
Titolo / Tag: Quando si aggiunge la traccia al gruppo Inquietudine Junto su Soundcloud.com, si prega di includere il termine “disquiet0134-MusicFromChoreography” nel titolo della traccia, e tra i tag della traccia.
Download: E’ preferibile che la traccia sia impostata come scaricabile e che permetta di attribuire remix (per esempio, una licenza Creative Commons che permette la condivisione non commerciale con attribuzione).
Links: Con la pubblicazione del brano, si prega di essere sicuri di includere queste informazioni e prendendo nota del segmento di tempo che si è composto.
“More on this 134th Disquiet Junto project — “Compose music to accompany one minute of a dance video by Cori Marquis” — at:
http://disquiet.com/2014/07/24/disqui...
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
Join the Disquiet Junto at:
http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet...
Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:
