Marc Weidenbaum's Blog, page 451

Disquiet Junto Project 0073: Faulty Notation

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 week’s project was developed with Geoff Manaugh of BLDG BLOG as part of a course he taught in spring 2013 at Columbia University’s graduate school of architecture about the San Andreas Fault. Participants in this Junto project will interpret an individually assigned segment of a map of the fault as if it were a graphic notation score. The image up top is an example of such a map segment. Note: Do not base your piece on the above image; it is simply provided as an example. The project instructions appear below.

If this all goes according to plan, we may develop a free iOS app of the resulting music, in which users can touch the map to trigger the associated recording, and learn more about the San Andreas Fault, graphic notation, BLDG BLOG, the Disquiet Junto, and related topics.

The browser-based map-dispersal code was developed by Ken Mistove (kenzak.com). Additional design assistance from Boon Design (boondesign.com).

This assignment was made in the evening, California time, on Thursday, May 23, 2013, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, May 27, as the deadline.

Below are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto). This is the map legend referenced in the instructions:

Disquiet Junto Project 0073: Faulty Notation

This week’s project is about earthquakes. Each participant will receive a distinct section of a map of the San Andreas Fault. The section will be interpreted as a graphic notation score. The resulting music will, in the words of Geoff Manaugh of BLDG BLOG, “explore the sonic properties of the San Andreas Fault.”

There are 4 steps to this project:

Step 1: To be assigned a segment of the map, go to the following URL. You will be asked to enter your SoundCloud user name, and then to enter your email address. You will receive via that email address a file, approximately 1MB in size, containing your map segment:

http://kenzak.com/disquiet/disquiet00...

Step 2: Study the map segment closely. Develop an approach by which you interpret the map segment as a graphic notation score. The goal is for you to “read” the image as if it were presented as a piece of notated music. Read the image from left to right. Pay particular attention to solid black lines, which represent fault lines. For additional guidance and inspiration, you may refer to the map legend at the following URL. The extent to which you take the legend into consideration is entirely up to you:

http://disquiet.com/2013/05/23/disqui...

Step 3: Record an original piece of music based on Step 2. It should be between two and six minutes in length. You can use any instrumentation you choose, except the human voice. (Note: Do not use any source material to which you do not yourself outright possess the copyright. This is highly important, because we may look into developing a free iOS app of the resulting recordings.)

Step 4: When posting your track, 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.

Deadline: Monday, May 27, 2013, at 11:59pm wherever you are.

Length: Your track should have a duration of between two and six minutes.

Title/Tag: Include the term “disquiet0073-faultynotation” in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: Please consider employing a license that allows for attributed, commerce-free remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, be sure to include this information:

More on this 73rd Disquiet Junto project, which involves reading a map of the San Andreas Fault as if it were a graphic notation score, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/05/23/disqui...

This project was conducted as part of a course of study led by Geoff Manaugh (BLDG BLOG). More on his research at:

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/...

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet...

Duet for Harmonica and Computer (MP3)

“Harmonica30″ is a duet by Joo Won Park for harmonica and computer. Notes are slowly intoned on the harmonica, and those sounds in turn trigger a series of halo effects.

The halos range from what could be compared to old-school Wurlitzer organ to something more along the lines of pixelated wind. In Park’s telling the shifts are as much about spacial experimentation as about harmonic development. Or, perhaps more to the point, they are about harmonic development as spatial development. This is from a brief note that accompanies the track on its SoundCloud page:

“The computer part is algorithmically generated so that the timing and the dynamics of the accompanying part varies from one performance to another. The harmonica sound gradually moves to a larger room as the piece progresses.”

There’s also a video on YouTube of the harmonica performance, which allows the processing gap, the space between what is physically played and what is heard, to be more apparent:

.

In an interview at thekey.xpn.org, Park talked about what “computer music” means to him:

“I think of it as trying to do something that’s unique with the computer, rather than imitating human performance. I try to make music that a computer can do better than a human, or that is too bothersome for a human to make. And I’m interested in creating a duo between the computer and me. A lot of times, I don’t know what the computer will spit out. When I make music on the stage, there is no pre-recorded sound. What I play goes straight to the computer, and the computer processes and changes what I play. The process the computer goes through is intentionally made so that the outcome is different every time.”

Track originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/joowon. Thanks to Jane Shin for recommending that I check out Park’s work. More from Joo Won Park at joowonpark.net.

Reading Between the Remixes (MP3)

Remixes are a great way to hear the original in new context. It is perhaps as close as we can get — at least in advance of Google Earmuffs — to hearing through someone else’s ears. And if listening to multiple remixes of one song bring out elements in that original work that you might not have previously paid attention to, listening to multiple remixes by one artist of multiple other artists brings out common elements, giving you a sense of what the remixer listens for.

As in yesterday’s featured track here, a Heathered Pearls remix of an slow industrial rock song by Dirty Beaches, a Pearls reworking of electronic pop likewise emphasizes the lush spaciousness that in the original is merely one element among many. The original in this case is “Lines” by Solar Year. It is slow-motion electronica with echoes of Erasure and Depeche Mode. Gone in the Pearls edit is the robot shuffle and the aching angelic vocal, and in their place is pure sound bed, a shifting cumulus of soft tones.

For comparison, there’s a video of the original version, off the album Waverly, due out in late June, here:

Track originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/ceremony. Heathered Pearls is Jakub Alexander. Solar Year is David Ertel (that’s his voice) and Ben Borden. More on Solar Year at onesolaryear.com and the releasing record label, ceremonyrecordings.com.

Decanting Dirty Beaches’ Embalmed Spirit (MP3)

Heathered Pearls was exactly the right remixer for the Dirty Beaches song “Casino Lisboa.” The original, off the new album Drifters/Love Is the Devil, is like some latter-day, slow-motion amalgam of the Cramps and Consolidated, a world-weary dirge vocal amid the clank of self-consciously routinized industrial rock. In the Heathered Pearls edit (referred to somewhat casually as “Heathered Pearls’ dead time rework”), it is as if the track is being revisited in the memory of its remixer. Slivers of the vocal repeat like a song can when caught in the gears of the lizard brain. It ekes out a sense of forward momentum, but really just gets caught in its own circuitous loop. The result loses none of the embalmed spirit of the original, if anything emphasizing it. It does lose some choice moments from the source material, including a brief excursion into a guitar solo that sounds more like the wind brushing a metal fence, but the trade off is worth it.

Here is the original “Casino Lisboa,” in the form of its mesmerizing video:

Remix originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/heathered-pearls. Heathered Pearls is Jakub Alexander. Dirty Beaches is Alex Zhang Hungtai. More from Hungtai/Beaches at dirtybeaches.blogspot.com.

Duane Eddy Meets Robert Moog (MP3)

The opening strum is pure Duane Eddy, the deep swelling rumble that summons up vast empty geographic spaces, but the way the tremulous tone continues to reverberate sounds more like something out of Robert Moog’s workshop. That wavering in Babel Ensemble’s “MD13Xc2″ is thick, robust, and on a short cycle, and as it proceeds it veers back and forth between melodic component and rhythm. Slowly the guitar overlays gain collective density. They don’t obscure each other so much as lend increasing depth — the original tones sound further away, as if with each step the guitarist leaves early chords churning in place in the ever-receding distance.

Track originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/babel_ensemble. Babel Ensemble is a project of Jakob Rehlinger, who is based in Toronto, Canada. Thanks to the excellent listener who goes by Roamin (roamin.ca for having drawn my attention to this track by reposting it on Soundcloud.

Modular Flurry (MP3)

The notes fling like they’re ringing out on a digital hang drum. The phrases seem to pause long enough to suggest a momentary ease, before launching again into serial flurry. The track modulates occassionally, the full tonal setting shifting entirely between different foundations, between relative extremes of shrill and muted, sharp and dull. The track is credited to Handhewn. The brief note associated with the track, “Mayhem + Creature,” relates to the Serge modular system employed.

Track originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/handhewn. More from Handhewn at twitter.com/handhewn.

Past Week at Twitter.com/Disquiet

Today’s work powered by CTRL ; (in Google Docs) and OPT CMD H (in OS X). ->



Makes me so happy. RT @colab_toronto: the latest @djunto project has made me more excited about making music than I've been in a long time. ->



I keep my eye on @indabamusic remix contests. The website's favicon always makes me think Twitter's favicon exploded: http://t.co/ksChNh3c8S ->



So, with Android 4.3 due for likely announcement next week, when are folks guessing it’ll be released? ->



Latest version of Android app Draft (@mttvll) is great. This and Keep are the apps I write in on my tablet and phone: http://t.co/H3FrUusjxJ ->



Fog horns are out in force. If these were the sounds of actual animals, the beasts would be majestic. ->



Fog horns pulled an all-nighter. ->



Stock up. RT @wifsten: Audio supplies you didn’t know you needed http://t.co/APVzz79BWS ->



10 musicians score a trailer for a documentary film about competitive blind sailing: http://t.co/vFAdoMZoDd. And there are more to come. ->



I like to think there isn't any score in the show Elementary. All the characters simply listens to the same music that I do. ->



So, Google Drive still doesn't allow offline editing for spreadsheets? Any ETA on when this situation will improve? ->



Today’s productivity powered by CTRL U. ->



.@subgirl Yeah, that mode is good. For me it's the score as much as anything: ominous tone texture that could just be playing on my stereo. in reply to subgirl ->



The term “freetard” really lays the foundation for a constructive discussion, doesn’t it? ->



Longer battery life will/would be nice, but in terms of laptop design I’d be happy with lighter power cord. ->



On the Internet no one knows you're a dog. Moderate a communal music group only to figure out a member is one of your favorite musicians. ->



Almost 20 musicians score the trailer for documentary on competitive blind sailing: http://t.co/ASNGWbblMV. Six hours to go to participate. ->



27 Zip drives dating back to 2001. Data transfer complete. Not one error. ->



"The haunting melody of 'Laura’s Waltz' had to be one of the finest compositions ever written for the 6581 SID chip." Austin Grossman's You ->



Tuesday noon alert puts up valiant struggle against the droning refrigeration units at café. ->



Anyone Norwegian out there able to tell me how to pronounce the musician/artist Tore Honoré Bøe's name? ->



Beautiful vinyl set of Junto work by Grzegorz Bojanek on @etalabel: http://t.co/YwDJymCd8V #yellow #wayyellow ->



Pondering if I can (tech-wise) survive a 7-day domestic trip with just Nexus 7, Bluetooth keyboard, and cellphone. ->



Tomorrow's the last day of sound class for the semester: week 15. Thanks to @mlaffs, who'll talk with us about music PR. ->



Finished reading Austin Grossman's You. Wondering what novel to read next. ->



Thanks for joining us. MT @mlaffs: Feeling fancy when I got introduced as "the guest speaker" to @disquiet's class http://t.co/QhA6P0oZBf ->



Final day of 15-week sound class that I teach happens to coincide with Brian Eno's birthday. #conspiracy ->



Many student projects in the final class: film music, the Chinese dizi, heaphones, band promotions, shifts in music in past three decades. ->



Sometimes my MacBook Air boots with the screen at 800 x 600. It’s like a Mac Classic emulator. #featurenotabug ->



Following Google I/O but flummoxed by overwhelming predominance of newsless link-bait posts. It's like news spam. ->



This week's Disquiet Junto project will be about residential music. It will require a brief field recording to be made. ->



My old butterfly keyboard ThinkPad. http://t.co/MiccSiL0l5 ->



Grok. Detail from side of Robert Heinlein paperback box set. http://t.co/1ZkwZJKTBN ->



72nd Disquiet Junto project going live later this evening. ->



Making relaxing music from domestic alarms. The 72nd weekly @djunto project is now live: http://t.co/79Rnj3gVbj http://t.co/XjWrMj8rJr ->



Fiddling in Codecademy a week before my 25th college reunion, just to get me back in the freshman-year frame of mind. ->



So happy to have contributed. MT @SenseTheWind: New teaser coming soon thanks to a collaboration w/ @djunto:
http://t.co/knEfUFSDuz ->

Human White Noise Machine (MP3)

The psychedelics are confirmed at about two minutes in, when echoed vocals warble and waft and turn back on themselves, like some ancient recording-session outtake from a forgotten Led Zeppelin album. Until then it is all tumult and sporadic drumming, and after as well. What it is is “Drama Class” from People of the North, off the Sub Contra album, due out June 11 from Thrill Jockey. The band is an offshoot of Oneida, featuring that group’s Kid Millions (drums) and Bobby Matador (“keyboard, synth, vocals”) and various guests, all apparently also from Oneida. The track in question has the slow head-bobbing drone-ness of doom metal, even as the percussion brings to mind something European and free improvisatory. It’s maximalism, writ small, like a human-powered white-noise machine.

Track originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/thrilljockey. More on the album at thrilljockey.com. More from the crew at enemyhogs.com, the rare band website is beautiful enough to make you bypass your RSS reader once in awhile.

Disquiet Junto Project 0072: Domestic Score

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 afternoon, California time, on Thursday, May 16, 2013, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, May 20, as the deadline.

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

Disquiet Junto Project 0072: Domestic Score

This week’s project is based on field recordings of wherever it is that you live. The goal is to produce a relaxing score to your domestic life by employing noises that intrude on that life.

Step 1: Make a recording of your doorbell, or whatever noise it is that someone would make when announcing their arrival at your residence. If you don’t have a functioning doorbell, then, for example, record the sound of a knock on your door.

Step 2: Record between one and three additional sounds that intrude on your life: your phone’s ring, perhaps, or the alarm on your microwave oven.

Step 3: You will now have between one and four sounds recorded. Using those sounds as source material, compose a new, original piece of music that could easily be described as gentle or meditative. You can transform them as much as you choose, but each should in some way still be evident and recognizable in the mix. You cannot add any other sounds to the project.

Deadline: Monday, May 20, 2013, at 11:59pm wherever you are.

Length: Your track should have a duration of between two and six minutes.

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.

Title/Tag: Include the term “disquiet0072-domesticscore” in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: Please consider employing a license that allows for attributed, commerce-free remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, be sure to include this information:

More on this 72nd Disquiet Junto project, which involves making a domestic score from sounds recorded in your own home, at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/05/16/disqui...

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet...

Image found via wikimedia.org.

16°30’37″N, 88°22’1″W (MP3)

The 95th Touch Radio entry is by Tony Myatt, and it is another in the series’ enticingly detailed field recordings. This one was made in Placenia Bay, in Belize. The entries in the Touch series tend to fall into one of two camps: pure field recording and sound in which field recordings serve as source material (though there are, increasingly, also documents of humans that we call live concert recordings). Myatt’s presents itself as a subset of the pure field recording approach, in that it appears not to be a single event but a sequence of sonic shapshots collected into one MP3.

Download audio file (Radio95.mp3)

Writes Myatt at the opening of his journal of the recording event:

After a long day of finicky experimentation in the sun, I returned to the bay to wash salt water from the equipment and to hose down. From 16°30’37″N, 88°22’1″W I looked out on a tranquil evening scene and decided to attempt one last recording.

I had recorded throughout the day in shallow coral seas off the coast of Belize. I’d attempted to capture a spatial impression of the clouds of clicks and pops produced by crustacea and who-knows-what; a sound present at almost every ocean location on Earth.

Track originally posted for free download at touchradio.org.uk.