Marc Weidenbaum's Blog, page 487
July 22, 2012
When a Synthesizer Isn’t a Synthesizer (MP3)
Despite the zone-out droning and ether-thin intonations, there’s no synthesizer per se to be heard on Arriving at Night in Ithaca, a project by the duo of Paiyatuma (MP3). That’s Thomas Park and Shane Morris, who together conjure up all manner of nocturnal moods. Reportedly the constituent parts are all wind instruments (including “trombone, flute, and found sounds such as bottles and whistles”), though they’re so deeply sublimated into the greater whole — a whole that also has its share of natural elements, including apparent insect song — that the effect is less of constituent parts and more of a deep rich texture.
Download audio file (kpu114-02-arriving-at-night-in-ithaca-radio-edit.mp3)
Kudos to the duo for releasing the music in a variety of formats — not only MP3 and Ogg Vorbis and the “lossless” FLAC, but also as a shorter radio edit. The version linked to from this post is but an eight-minute reduction of the longer work, which stretches out to three quarters of an hour. The release was originally posted at the kikapu.org netlabel. It’s housed at archive.org.
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July 21, 2012
Past Week at Twitter.com/Disquiet
Kudos to @delicious for getting rid of "stacks." Tags are sufficient. #
Broke another pair of earbuds. I need a sponsor. #
If you could wear out MP3s, some tracks on this Quakers Instrumentals album would've been reduced to .ds files by now. #
Likelihood that the person who committed the horrible crime in Denver was insane & so many people saying horrible things now are sane. #
New track from Lee Scratch Perry's team-up with the Orb: http://t.co/LzIPX3Ud. Truly no disrespect, but I eagerly await the instrumentals. #
Beginning to confuse press releases about 7" singles and 7" tablets. #
Disquiet Junto project 29, inspired by @greatdismal's Count Zero, now live. Instructions went to email list and are at http://t.co/XdREURGZ. #
Gotta say, customer service at @ninjatunehq is top notch. #
Major congrats. Can't wait to dive in. RT @dizzybanjo: We did it! It's out!! The Dark Knight Rises Z+ App http://t.co/9xKDbUFZ #rise #rjdj #
Just got a correction. August 7 is the due date for @primusluta's excellent alien-signal call for submissions: http://t.co/VINKX82A #
Cool project. MT @primusluta: UPDATE: Open Call for Compositions "The Alien" – submissions close on August 17, 2012 – http://t.co/VINKX82A #
SoundHound routinely drops the ball at the taco truck. #
My interview in the 7/19 Nature issue about Alphas includes info on infrasound-themed episode: http://t.co/OcWbT36w #syfy #
New issue (7/19) of Nature has my interview with Alphas showrunner Bruce Miller on science of superheroes: http://t.co/l2znb016 #firewall #
29th weekly Disquiet Junto music project begins in about 30 hours. The theme is from the William Gibson (aka @greatdismal) novel Count Zero. #
Rules for Disquiet Junto project 29, inspired by a William Gibson comment, are with the translators. Get in touch if you wanna translate. #
The next weekly Disquiet Junto project, the 29th, will focus on a sonic observation by @greatdismal (aka William Gibson). #
Kickstart that salvage pronto. RT @aljavieera: Salvaged tsunami horns, for sale at Ohmega. CC @soundscrapers @disquiet http://t.co/wWXPnZj1 #
RIP, Brazilian musician Ed Lincoln (b. 1932), early bossa nova and easy listening figure: http://t.co/fFWcVWjY #
Weather bug (@DETXL). MT @drab_makyo: Dig sound of tires on wet pavement when haven't looked outside to know it's rain. Ditto crunch of snow #
July 25: Rumored date of new OS X arrival and, more importantly, date my favorite local dim sum place re-opens after two-week vacation. #
Near-simultaneous arrival of new No Doubt single and Orb/Perry teamup highlight the admirably wide reverberations that dub set forth. #
RIP, Turkish composer and producer İlhan Mimaroğlu (b.1926). via @pheezy #
Entirely my (dis)pleasure. RT: @misterunderwood: @disquiet Your RIPs are always the best / worst :( #
RIP, experimental filmmaker Stephen Dwoskin (b. 1939); collaborated with composer Gavin Bryars on several works (via http://t.co/kzzqMQj8) #
Almost 30 tracks so far in this week's netlabel-remix Creative Commons project in the Disquiet Junto: http://t.co/EyVxz803 #
Finished Redshirts by @scalzi. So good. Yes, Cabin in the Woods in Space. Also: The City on the Edge of Forever remixed by Auster & Coover. #
Due to a series of events, my 22-month-old now thinks the appropriate way to order dim sum is to say, "More bun, hon." #
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July 20, 2012
Rural Murk (MP3)
The Chicago-based musician Cinchel doesn’t say much of anything about his recent posting at his soundcloud.com/cinchel account, but it certainly is lovely. The track, “20120718 acc2,” is a slow movement of light strumming, reverberant humming, and an underlying rhythm like that of a far away train rattling through a dense, moist forest. The following cultural reference registers more positively with some than with others, but trust that it is intended as fully appreciative when suggested that the track sounds, for all its sublimated pleasure, like Led Zeppelin just before it bursts out of its occultist haze and rocks out. Here, however, the rock never comes. There is just the lovely murk of songless ruralisms left to lull themselves to sleep.
Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/cinchel. More on Cinchel, aka Jason Shanley, at cinchel.com.
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July 19, 2012
Disquiet Junto Project 0029: Count Zero
Each Thursday evening 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 to the Junto is open: just join and participate.
This week’s project makes use of field recordings, a not uncommon source of sonic material in the Disquiet Junto series of weekly music projects. The particular idea this week originates in the following description at the start of chapter 17 in the 1986 novel Count Zero by William Gibson. I selected this version of the book’s cover, because it’s the paperback I own:
This idea of running water as music, in particular as “one of the oldest songs,” is highlighted in various ways in the chapter, which is titled “The Squirrel Wood,” and in the book as a whole. In the next paragraph of the chapter there’s an implied contrast to an artificial canopy in a forest, with its “mimetic approximations of leaves and branches.” More broadly, this is a novel in which there is an ongoing concern about possible Voudoun spirits running loose in cyberspace. The console jockeys make their money, and their names, reading signals: gleaning meaning from perceived noise.
I’d had the idea for some time of using running water in a Disquiet Junto project as the proposed source of a track, so my imagination was primed when I came across this notion in the novel when I recently reread it for the first time in many years. I was rereading Count Zero because of all Gibson’s novels, it lingers with me the most, in part because of its themes of corporate espionage, which I find fascinating, but also because this is the book of his that I found most difficult to pierce when I first read it. One interesting final note: This chapter holds special meaning in the broader novel, because it is the only chapter whose title is repeated. “The Squirrel Wood” is also the title of the book’s final chapter.
In any case, that’s all backdrop to this week’s project.
The assignment was made late in the day, California time, on Thursday, July 19, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, July 23, as the deadline. View a search return for all the entries as they are posted: disquiet0029-countzero.
Below are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto). They appear below translated into five additional languages: Croatian, German, Japanese, Spanish, and Turkish, courtesy of Darko Macan, Allan Brugg, Naoyuki Sasanami, Norma Listman, and M. Emre Meydan, respectively.
Bonus: In advance of the project’s announcement, I tweeted some information about it from the twitter.com/djunto account, and William Gibson himself (aka twitter.com/greatdismal) retweeted it not once but twice:
Disquiet Junto Project 0029: Count Zero
This week’s project is inspired by an aside that occurs at the opening of chapter 17 of William Gibson’s classic cyberpunk novel Count Zero, originally published in 1986. The chapter is titled “The Squirrel Wood.” It opens as follows:
“The plane had gone to ground near the sound of running water. Turner could hear it, turning in the g-web in his fever or sleep, water down stone, one of the oldest songs.”
This idea of water running down stone, of a gentle but insistent natural stream, being one of the “oldest songs” is explored further in the chapter in various subtle ways. The Disquiet Junto project this week is to explore that idea: that there is music in the natural environment. We’ll makes songs from running water.
The instructions are as follows:
Step 1: Locate and make a field recording of source material that involves running water. It can be a stream, as in the Gibson book, but it needn’t be natural. The sink, a toilet, a hose in the backyard — any such source material would be fine.
Step 2: Extract a segment of the recording. That segment will serve as the basis for your composition, as its foundation. It will provide both rhythmic and melodic material. You can either use one long piece of the recording, or you can create the foundation of the track by combining and looping one or more brief segments of your original field recording.
Step 3: Add elements and treatments to the foundation recording of running water. Do so with the intention of highlighting the water’s internal sense of rhythm and melody. Do not embellish so much that the foundation recording becomes unrecognizable.
Deadline: Monday, July 23, at 11:59pm wherever you are.
Length: Please keep your track to between 2 and 4 minutes.
Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, please 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: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0029-countzero” in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.
Download: As always, you don’t have to set your track for download, but it would be preferable.
Linking: When posting the track please include this information:
The inspiration for this track came from the opening of chapter 17 of William Gibson’s 1986 novel Count Zero.
More on the 29th Disquiet Junto project at:
http://disquiet.com/2012/07/19/disqui...
More details on the Disquiet Junto at:
. . . . .
Project Instructions in Croatian:
Disquiet Junto Projekt 0029: Count Zero (Grof Nula)
Ovotjedni projekt nadahnut je mjestom s početka 17. poglavlja klasičnog kiberpank romana Williama Gibsona “Count Zero” (“Grof Nula”), izvorno objavljenoga 1986. Poglavlje se zove “Šuma vjeverica”, a počinje ovako:
“Blizu mjesta gdje se zrakoplov prikrio žuborila je voda. Turner ju je čuo, obrćući se po svojoj g-mreži u groznici ili u snu: vodu na kamenju, jednu od najstarijih pjesama.”
Ta zamisao o vodi što teče preko kamenja, nenapadnom ali upornom prirodnom potoku kao jednoj od “najstarijih pjesama” kroz poglavlje se poslije razrađuje na različite suptilne načine. Ovotjedni Disquiet Junto projekt traži da istražite zamisao kako glazba postoji u našemu okolišu. Od vode što teče načinit ćemo pjesme.
Upute:
1. korak: Pronađite i snimite zvučni zapis tekuće vode. To može biti potok kao u Gibsonovoj knjizi, ali ne mora čak ni biti prirodan. Sudoper, zahod, crijevo za polijevanje … bilo što od toga dobro će poslužiti za vaš zvučni zapis.
2. korak: Izvucite dio zapisa. Taj će vam dio poslužiti kao osnova kompozicije, kao njezin temelj. Dat će vam i ritmički i melodijski materijal. Kako biste dobili podlogu možete upotrijebiti jedan dug komad zapisa ili kombinaciju/petlju (loop) jednoga ili više kratkih komada izvornoga zvučnoga zapisa.
3. korak: osnovnom zapisu tekuće vode dodajte elemente i obradu, ali učinite to tako da istaknete postojeći ritam i melodiju vode. Nemojte uljepšavajte toliko da osnovni zvučni zapis postane neprepoznatljiv.
Rok: Ponedjeljak, 23. srpnja/jula, minutu do ponoći po lokalnom vremenu.
Trajanje: Neka vam snimci traju između 2 i 4 minute.
Informacije: Kad stavljate svoj snimak na SoundCloud, molim vas dodajte i opis procesa planiranja, komponiranja i snimanja. Taj opis je ključan element komunikacijskog procesa koji je u srži Disquiet Junta.
Naslov/Tag: Kad stavljate svoj snimak na Disquiet Junto grupu na Soundcloud.com, molim vas da uključite “disquiet0029-countzero” u naslov snimka te u njegov tag.
Downloadiranje: Kao i uvijek, ne morate omogućiti download vašega snimka, ali mi je draže ako to učinite.
Linkanje: Kad stavljate konačni snimak, molim vas da dodate sljedeću obavijest:
The inspiration for this track came from the opening of chapter 17 of William Gibson’s 1986 novel Count Zero./Nadahnuće za ovaj zapis bio je početak 17. poglavlja romana “Count Zero” Williama Gibsona iz 1986.
Više o 29. Disquiet Junto projektu na:
http://disquiet.com/2012/07/19/disqui...
More details on the Disquiet Junto at/Više o Disquiet Juntu na:
. . . . .
Project Instructions in German:
Disquiet Junto Projekt 0029: Count Zero
Das dieswöchige Projekt ist von einer Bemerkung gleich zu Beginn von Kapitel 17 in William Gibsons klassischem Cyberpunk Roman Cout Zero (Erstveröffentlichung 1986) inspiriert. Das Kapitel ist “Der Eichhörnchenwald” überschrieben, und beginnt wie folgt:
“Das Flugzeug war in der Nähe von fließendem Wasser gelandet. Turner hörte es, als er sich im Schlaf oder im Fieber im g-Netz umdrehte, das Plätschern von Wasser auf Stein, eins der ältesten Lieder.” (translation from the German edition, Heyne Verlag)
Die Idee von Wasser, das einen Stein hinabfließt, von einem sanften, aber unaufhaltsamen Strom, als einem der “ältesten Lieder“ wird in dem Kapitel auf unterschiedliche Weise weiter erkundet. Das Disquiet Junto Projekt dieser Woche ist dafür da, diese Idee zu erforschen: dass Musik in der natürlichen Umgebung vorhanden ist. Wir werden Lieder aus fließendem Wasser machen.
Die Anweisungen sind wie folgt:
Schritt 1: Macht Quellmaterial ausfindig, das fließendes Wasser beinhaltet, und fertigt eine Feldaufnahme an. Das kann ein Bach sein, wie in Gibsons Buch, aber es muss nicht natürlichen Ursprungs sein. Das Waschbecken, eine Toilette, ein Schlauch im Hinterhof — all das ist in Ordnung.
Schritt 2: Nehmt einen Abschnitt der Aufnahme. Dieser Abschnitt wird als Basis eurer Komposition dienen, als ihr Fundament. Es wird sowohl rhythmisches als auch melodisches Material bereitstellen. Ihr könnt entweder ein langes Stück der Aufnahme verwenden, oder ihr könnt die Grundlage für den Track dadurch erschaffen, dass ihr ein oder mehrere kurze Segmente eurer ursprünglichen Feldaufnahme combiniert und looped.
Schritt 3: Fügt der zu Grunde liegenden Aufnahme des fließenden Wassers Elemente und Behandlungen hinzu. Habt dabei die Absicht, die innere Wahrnehmung des Wassers von Rhythmus und Melodie hervorzuheben. Umspielt es nicht so sehr, dass die grundlegende Aufnahme unkenntlich wird.
Abgabefrist: Montag, 23. Juli, um 23:59 Uhr, wo immer ihr seid.
Länge: Bitte haltet den Track zwischen 2 und 4 Minuten.
Information: Bitte fügt eurem Track, wenn ihr ihn auf Soundcloud hochladet, eine Beschreibung des Planungs-, Kompositions- und Aufnahmeprozesses hinzu. Diese Beschreibung ist essentieller Bestandteil des kommunikativen Austauschs, der Disquiet Junto eigen ist.
Titel/Tag: Wenn ihr euren Track der Disquiet Junto Gruppe auf Soundcloud.com hinzufügt, schließt bitte die Bezeichnung “disquiet0029-countzero” im Titel und als Tag mit ein.
Download: Wie immer, ihr müsst eure Tracks nicht zum Download freigeben, es wäre aber wünschenswert.
Verlinkung: Wenn ihr euren Track postet, fügt bitte die folgende Information hinzu:
[Die Inspiration für diesen Track stammt von dem Beginn von Kapitel 17 von William Gibsons Roman Count Zero von 1986.]
Mehr über das 29. Disquiet Junto Projekt unter:
http://disquiet.com/2012/07/19/disqui...
Mehr zu Disquiet Junto unter:
. . . . .
Project Instructions in Japanese:
Disquiet Junto Project 0029: カウント・ゼロ
今週のプロジェクトのお題は1986年に出版されたウィリアム・ギブスンのサイバーパンク小説の古典、『カウント・ゼロ』17章のちょっとした挿話から閃きました。章題は“リスの森”で、次のようにはじまります。
「乗り物は水が流れる音のそばの地表へと進んだ。ターナーにはその音が聞こえたのだ。g-webのダイヤルを、彼の興奮または眠り、そして石を流れ落ちる水に合わせた。最古の音楽の１つに」
“最古の音楽”と表現される、穏やかではあるが強烈な天然の石を流れ落ちる水のアイデアは、その章で様々な繊細な方法でより深く探求されます。今週のプロジェクトは自然環境にある音楽を探求します。流れる水で音楽を作ってみましょう。
以下が指示です：
ステップ１：元になる流水のフィールドレコーディングの音源を作ります。ギブスンの本にもあるように、それは小川の音でもいいでしょう。しかし自然の音である必要はありません。流し台、トイレ、裏庭にいる馬などーーどのような音源でもかまいません。
ステップ２：そのフィールドレコーディング素材を展開します。そのセグメントはあなたの構成におけるリズミカルかつメロディック両方の土台となります。録音されたものから長い部分を使っても、短い部分を切り取って合わせたループを作ってもかまいません。
ステップ３：流水の録音の土台に素材や加工をつけ加えます。ただし水が本来持つリズムやメロディを強調する狙いのため、その土台の録音が判別不能なほど装飾加工を施さないでください。
〆切：7月23日月曜日11:59pm あなたの居住地にかかわらず
長さ：2分から4分の間の長さにしてください
情報：作品をサウンドクラウドのグループに投稿する際には、あなたの構想、作曲、録音の過程についての説明をつけてください。この記述がこのグループの本来の目的であるコミュニケーションに大事なものとなります
タイトル／タグ：Disquiet Juntoグループに作品を投稿する際には“disquiet0029-countzero” をタグとしてタイトルに追加してください
ダウンロード：いつものように必ずしもダウンロード可能にする必要はありませんが、望ましい
リンク：投稿する際には以下の情報を追加してください
The inspiration for this track came from the opening of chapter 17 of William Gibson’s 1986 novel Count Zero.
More on the 29th Disquiet Junto project at:
http://disquiet.com/2012/07/19/disqui...
More details on the Disquiet Junto at:
. . . . .
Project Instructions in Spanish:
Disquiet Junto Proyecto 0029 Conde Cero
El proyecto de esta semana esta inspirado en el incidente que abre el capitulo 17 de la novela cyber punk de William Gibson Conde Cero, titulado “Madera de Ardilla”.
“El avión había aterrizado cerca del sonido agua corriendo. Turner la podía escuchar, el G-web se convirtio en su fiebre o sueño y el agua sobre las piedras, una de las canciones más antiguas”.
Escoje una fuente sonora para tu grabación, esta debe que involucrar agua. Como en la novela de Gibson puede ser un arroyo, pero tambien puedes usar otras fuentes como: una llave de agua, regadera, escusado o una manguera, no necesariamente deben ser fuentes naturales.
Escoge un segmento de la grabacion, este segmento te servirá como base para tu composición. Este sera tu material melodico y ritmico. Puedras usar una grabacion larga, o una base que combine y repita segmento mas cortos de tu grabacion original.
Adicionalmente deberás incorporar elementos y molificaciones (tratamientos) de tu grabacion original de agua en movimiento. Lo deberás hacer con la intecion de resaltar la escénica interna de ritmo y melodía que inspira el agua. No lo modifiques tanto que la grabacion original no sea irreconocible.
Fecha limite: Lunes 23 de Julio a las 11:59pm del lugar donde te encuentres.
Duración: Favor de mantener tu pieza de 2 a 4 minutos.
Información: Incluir una descripción de tu proceso de plantación, composición, y grabacion. Tu información es esencial para la counicacion en Disquiet Junto.
Titulo: Por favor incluye el termino “disquiet0029-countzero” en el titulo de tu track cuando lo subas al grupo Disquiet Junto en Soundcloud.com, también usalo como tu tag cuando lo quieras buscar.
Descarga: Es preferible que tu mezcla se pueda descargar, pero no es necesario ( es tu decisión).
Enlaces: Cuando subas tu track, por favor incluye la siguiente información:
The inspiration for this track came from the opening of chapter 17 of William Gibson’s 1986 novel Count Zero.
More on the 29th Disquiet Junto project at:
http://disquiet.com/2012/07/19/disqui...
Mas información en Disquiet Junto:
. . . . .
Project Instructions in Turkish:
Disquiet Junto Projesi 0029: Count Zero
Bu haftanın projesi, William Gibson’ın 1986 tarihli klasik cyberpunk romanı “Count Zero” dan esin aldı. Kitabın 17. bölümünün adı “Sincap Ormanı” ve şu şekilde başlıyor:
“Uçak akan su sesine yakın bir yere inmişti. Turner ateşinin -ya da uykusunun- etkisi altında g-ağının içinde dönenirken duyabiliyordu sesi. Taştan aşağı akan suydu bu, varolan en eski şarkılardan biriydi.” *
* (“Sıfır Noktası” – çeviren: Özlem Kurdoğlu – Sarmal Yayınevi – İstanbul, 1999)
Burada bahsedilen; suyun taşın üzerinden akarken çıkardığı yumuşak ama ısrarcı sesin, bilinen en eski şarkılardan biri olduğu fikrine kitabın ilerleyen kısımlarında da çeşitli şekillerde değiniliyor. Bu haftaki Disquiet Junto projesi, bu fikri keşfetmeye yönelik; yani doğal ortamda müzik olduğu fikrini. Akan suyu kullanarak müzik yapacağız.
Talimatlar şu şekilde:
1: Akan suyun olduğu bir mekan belirleyip burada ses kaydı yapın. Bu, Gibson’ın romanındaki gibi bir akarsu olabilir, ama mutlaka doğal bir ses olması gerekmiyor. Lavabo, tuvalet, bahçe hortumu gibi ses kaynakları da kullanabilirsiniz.
2: Yaptığınız kayıttan bir bölüm seçip ayırın. Bu bölüm, yapacağınız bestenin temeli olacak ve hem ritmik, hem de melodik yapıyı belirleyecek. İster kayıttan uzun bir parça alıp kullanın; ister kısa bölüm(ler) alıp bunları tekrarlayarak parçanızı oluşturun.
3: Bu temelden yol çıkarak, parçanıza öğeler ekleyin ve düzenlemeler yapın. Akan su sesinin ritmik ve melodik yapısına uygun olacak şekilde çalışın. Kaynak sesini tanınmaz/anlaşılmaz hale getirecek kadar çok müdahale etmeyin.
Son Teslim Tarihi: 23 temmuz pazartesi, 23:59 (bulunduğunuz ülkenin saatine göre)
Uzunluk: Lütfen bestenizin uzunluğunu 2-4 dakika arasında tutun.
Bilgi: Yaptığınız parçayı paylaşırken, lütfen bu parçanın planlama, besteleme ve kayıt süreciyle ilgili bilgi de verin. Bu açıklama, Disquiet Junto’ya içkin iletişim sürecinin önemli bir parçasıdır.
İsim/Etiket: Parçanızı Soundcloud.com’daki Disquiet Junto grubuna eklerken, lütfen “disquiet0029-countzero” kelimesini hem parçanın isminde, hem de etiket (tag) olarak kullanın.
Download: Her zamanki gibi; parçanızın indirilebilir olması gerekmiyor, ama öyle olması tercih edilir.
Linkler: Yaptığınız parçayı paylaşırken, lütfen şu satırları ekleyin:
The inspiration for this track came from the opening of chapter 17 of William Gibson’s 1986 novel Count Zero.
More on the 29th Disquiet Junto project at:
http://disquiet.com/2012/07/19/disqui...
More details on the Disquiet Junto at:
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July 18, 2012
Music for Abacus (MP3)
The Montreal-based musician who goes by Analogue01 has routinely provided glimpses at his ingenuity. Not long ago, in response to a Disquiet Junto project (number 19) on graphic scores, he took the angular geometries of the subject image and recreated them as dots on a punch card. The origin point was a photo by Yojiro Imasaka; he took it and then reduced it through a series of steps to the sort of thing computers of yore would read for their rudimentary data. The result was a splendid exploration not only of the structures inherent in the subject image but, as he put it in a post-project summary post, of the role of the grid in composition. He runs through the process on his website, with some excellent photos of the various stages.
Among his more recent projects is one whose brief explanatory note when posted to soundcloud.com (“Sine waves + abacus. Rough improvisation at home on a Monday.”) asked more questions than it answered. Over at his analogue01.com site, he provided a bit more information: “Here’s a rough, improvised piece that I recorded yesterday afternoon. Just sine waves, an abacus, and some pedals. The sound of me trying to make sense of my gear. This probably what I would sound like if I were to perform live.” And via Twitter, when prodded, he provided a bit more detail still:
Me: “What role did the abacus play?”
Him: “It’s the “gurgley” percussive sound in the background.”
This is the track in question:
The “‘gurley’ percussive” to which he refers is very much core to the track. It makes for a lovely, rhythmic ambient piece, and while the track stands alone as a tidy experiment, it also sits nicely alongside the earlier punch-card project as an example of making music from earlier equipment associated with calculations.
Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/analogue01. More on the musician at twitter.com/analogue01 and analogue01.com.
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July 16, 2012
The Orb vs Lee Scratch Perry (MP3)
Time does interesting things to perceived generation gaps. Take the current collaboration between electronic figures the Orb and dub godfather Lee Scratch Perry. On the one hand, there is a gap of over two decades between them, and the team-up certainly suggests a heavy amount of reverence on the Orb’s part toward Perry — and deservingly so; it’s arguable that the pop-esoteric realms explored by the Orb wouldn’t have existed had Perry not played his part in the development of dub — that, to push dub for a moment less as genre and more as metaphor, music like that of the Orb exists as a distant reverberation of a previous music that took reverberation as its essence.
On the other, had a more youthful act taken Perry, born 1936 in Jamaica, on as a guest, the melding would likely not be as thorough as it appears on the first listen they’ve provided, a free download (available currently at theorb.com) titled “Hold Me Upsetter.” Here’s a full-length video:
The hosts may be the more youthful participants, but they’re in their mid-50s, and have quite their own history. Perry’s voice, in fine form, fits in well with the dank beats the Orb posit here. The track is a teaser for the full set, which has the resplendent title The Orb Featuring Lee Scratch Perry Present The Observer in the Star House, due out September 3. An full instrumental set is part of the release, and that is particularly welcome.
More on the Orb at theorb.com.
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July 15, 2012
Norwegian Noise (MP3)
The Touch Radio series has posted a live recording from March of this year from Brookline, outside Boston, by Norwegian noise figure Lasse Marhaug. The music is densely rhythmic. It’s the dub techno of rusty machines. There are stretches that come across like some notorious train crossing, heavy rattles whose countervailing pulses slowly verge toward a singular mesh of resounding beats (MP3). That, however, is the climax of the work, and it is willfully tentative in its arrival. The intense percussive activity develops by steps. It emerges out of a splendid morass, beginning as electric byproducts — sparks and whirs — and then, at a pace, gathering strength and form.
Download audio file (Radio80.mp3)
Originally posted as part of the Touch Editions podcast, Touch Radio, at touchradio.org.uk. More on the (non)event at which it was recorded at nonevent.org. More on Marhaug at lassemarhaug.no.
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sound.tumblr.com: mute buttons, dog whistles, music libraries
There’s a new Disquiet.com side project, or side blog, over at sound.tumblr.com. As noted here on July 6, it’s a collection of lightly annotated links associated with a class I’m teaching this fall at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, titled “Sounds of Brands / Brands of Sounds.” There was a period shortly after the launch of the sound.tumblr.com site when I thought about dispensing with it, and just collecting that material here on Disquiet.com. But then I decided otherwise. Though much of the material makes sense on Disquiet.com, much of it would be significantly tangential, so for the time being I think I’ll just create standalone posts here on occasion, maybe once a week or twice a month, that link through to highlighted posts from the Tumblr site.
Recent posts include controversy over mute buttons on video ads at gas-station pumps, the concept of the “ad hit” (a band’s song that is perceived a hit as an ad, not simply because of an ad), an article in The Believer by Lindsay Zoladz on the concept of the music library (broadly defined as the clip art archive of sound), a BBC history of the music library, thoughts on a video of Paul Weller of the Jam playing on the stage of a clothing store in New York on , the question of whether the playlist is the new jingle (in light of an announcement by Spotify, the music-streaming service, that it will develop recommended listening collated by large-scale brands), a condom manufacturer’s attempt to quasi-scientifically determine the best song for a couple, Audi’s development of car noises for its silent cars, commercials that reportedly contain sounds only dogs can hear, visualizations of surround-sound theaters, and a contest to develop a “mnemonic sound.”
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July 14, 2012
Past Week at Twitter.com/Disquiet
I don’t live there anymore, but someone’s staring a new comic store in my hometown: http://t.co/qzPOuY6e Cc @escapepodcomics #
If memory serves it was in Feb (aka V-day) issue. MT @mmaddencomics: Via @jccabel, rare collaboration between me n wife http://t.co/vWTAE3zi #
RIP, Norman Sas (b. 1925), inventor of electric football, progenitor of video games: http://t.co/2unmjHB0 #
Thanks @dpnem for inspiring this week’s Disquiet Junto project. Details just went to the email list & are available at http://t.co/QNC4M2Ql #
Details on 28th (!) weekly Disquiet Junto go out shortly. Themes: #netlabel #remix #creativecommons (Apologies for the delay.) #
Woo hoo! That USB light item I chipped in on at @kickstarter made its goal. In three days, at that: http://t.co/fsWfgK92 #
Has no memory of the first Total Recall being particularly good. #
It was, indeed, nice to wake to my Dropbox account having doubled in size. #
Apparently one benefit of playing a harp in a waiting room is the ability to take bathroom breaks without fear of someone stealing it. #
Be safe, comrade. MT @DETXL: When I put my bike helmet to my ear I can hear the ocean! And an eerie whisper that portends manner of my death #
A bit more on the “alternative musical interfaces” panel I’ll moderate @gaffta on Sept 19: http://t.co/hVGVjdyB #
Mobile/tablet-responsive http://t.co/Yh8y3liM now live. If you have a chance, give it a go. I’ll post an overview in the next day or so. #
Missed the noon siren today in San Francisco, but enjoying the 5pm digital carillon at Sonoma State. #
It’s about time. MT @stephentotilo: Going forward, Kotaku writers will pen the majority of the gaming reviews in the @nytimes Arts section. #
The Internet has been a whole lot less eerie since I installed Do Not Track Plus in Chrome. #
Whatever you’re listening to on your Mac, the second you start taking screenshots it automatically becomes Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film.” #
I’d like to see a sonic version of this, by the way: http://t.co/fsWfgK92. Or hear it, that is. #
Just @kickstarter‘d this USB light ping, per @pheezy‘s tip. It’s USB version of the in-glasses thing I hoped for 2 weeks ago. #
The DC Comics email list appears to have sent out news of a Singin’ in the Rain 60th anniversary event. Corporate synergy. #
RIP, British saxophonist Lol Coxhill (b. 1932): http://t.co/hXydP5rz #
Received email spam from the account of a friend who died a year ago. #
Keeping http://t.co/Fjk1qo9m on its own. Durex/Spotify playlists seem off http://t.co/Yh8y3liM’s charter. Will re-blog key items. #
Mobile/tablet-friendly responsive version of http://t.co/Yh8y3liM is now in effect. There are some kinks to work out, but it’s pretty close. #
My 22-month-old counting: “1, 2, 3, 7, 1, 1.” It’s the Toddler Conet Project. #
At the Crocker seeing the Mel Ramos exhibit for the first time since Sactown Magazine published my lengthy interview. #
Was the third Transformers film an investment in making the first two look good by comparison? #
Excited to see how our epic Autechre discussion group looks when new http://t.co/Yh8y3liM comment template kicks in this weekend:… #
13 tracks so far in the 27th Disquiet Junto project (text -> sound), 2 of them from 1st-timers: http://t.co/9tsXKgVB #
Was listening to new @vuzhmusic EP. Stopped listening, but it seemed to keep playing. Sound was washing machine several walls/rooms away. #
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When the Undercurrent Is the Current (MP3)
Another fine piece from Savaran, aka Mark Walters of Wales, whose work has been featured here in the past (a Delphic drone back in 2011, and an experiment with the Animoog app more recently). The new track, “Mithraeum,” is a filmic bit of synthesized mood, a tone narrative with a pulsing rhythm, shaft-of-light fissures, and a swelling undercurrent that reveals itself, slowly, as the full substance of the work — it’s undercurrent as current, a piece in which the full extent of it never edges beyond the level of suggestion, like a shadow play minus any sharp edges that might actually distinguish the figures let alone render them recognizable.
Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/savaran. More on Savaran/Walters at savaranmusic.wordpress.com, soundcloud.com/savaran, and twitter.com/savaran_music.
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