The Disquiet Junto is a group I founded on Soundcloud.com. The purpose of the group is to use constraints to stoke creativity. Each Thursday evening I post a clearly defined compositional assignment, and members of the Junto are to complete the assignment by 11:59pm the following Monday. The initial Junto assignment was made on January 5, 2012, the first Thursday of the new year.
The inspirations for the group’s existence are numerous. There are the weekly Beat Battles sponsored by Stonesthrow, and also hosted at Soundcloud.com, in which dozens if not hundreds of participants craft instrumental hip-hop beats from a shared sample. There is the tradition of Oulipo, whose embrace of creative constraints is personified by one of its co-founders, the author Raymond Queneau. Several comics artists with whom I have worked, including Matt Madden, have bonded under the banner of Oubapo, and there is, in fact, a related musical tradition, which goes by Oumupo. (I was reminded that the Iron Chef of Music projects at kracfive.com were also an influence on my thinking. They were for many years a big part of the Downstream department here.)
The word “junto” comes from the name of a society that Benjamin Franklin formed in Philadelphia during the early 1700s as “a structured forum of mutual improvement.” In Franklin’s honor, the third Disquiet Junto project explored the glass harp, an instrument he experimented with in the development of what he christened the armonica.
The idea for the Junto arose after the completion of a Disquiet project at the end of December 2011. That project, Instagr/am/bient, was more loosely curated than other such projects I had commissioned, beginning in 2006 with Our Lives in the Bush of Diquiet. Instagr/am/bient proved quite popular, with over 20,000 listens and almost 4,000 downloads in its first month, and this success suggested to me that I experiment with an even looser format — the irony being that this “looser” format is, in fact, dedicated to constraint. Much to my surprise, the very first Junto project resulted, in four days, in 56 original pieces of music by as many musicians. The assignment was to record the sound of ice cubes in a glass and to make something musical of that recording.
If for the musicians involved, the Disquiet Junto is an experiment in creative constraints, for me it is as much an experiment in what I would describe as “community organizing as a form of curation.”
Visit the group — and, better yet, sign up and participate — at soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto. There’s also an email announcement list for the group. If you would like to be added to the suscription list, you can join up here: tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto.
This page serves as an index of the assignments. They are listed here in reverse chronological order. The tag for each assignment links to either a post on Disquiet.com about the project, or to a search return on Soundcloud that yields the tracks in that project:
69: disquiet0068-deriv The Assignment: Make music from field recordings of earth, water, air, and fire. Start: 2013.04.25 … End: 2013.04.29
68: disquiet0068-deriv The Assignment: Combine three songs from the first release of the new deriv.cc netlabel. Start: 2013.04.18 … End: 2013.04.22
67: disquiet0067-odysseymachine The Assignment: Compose music for a phrase from Homer’s The Odyssey. Start: 2013.04.11 … End: 2013.04.15
66: disquiet0066-nonofi The Assignment: Collaborate posthumously with the late Jeffrey (Nofi) Melton. Start: 2013.04.04 … End: 2013.04.08
65: disquiet0065-pianoverlay The Assignment: Compose music atop a randomly assigned segment of a pre-existing track by Jared Brickman. Start: 2013.03.28 … End: 2013.04.01
64: disquiet0064-halflive The Assignment: Compose a piece to align with, from memory, 60 seconds of everyday sound. Start: 2013.03.21 … End: 2013.03.25
63: disquiet0063-gregorianorianian The Assignment: Make a new piece of music based on an echo-laden re-recording of Gregorian chant. Start: 2013.03.14 … End: 2013.03.18
62: disquiet0062-lifeofsine The Assignment: Make music using just three sine waves. Start: 2013.03.07 … End: 2013.03.11
61: disquiet0061-textinstagrambient The Assignment: Record a single for which the cover would be the image suggested by a @textinstagram tweet. Start: 2013.02.28 … End: 2013.03.04
60: disquiet0060-audiobio The Assignment: Record something about yourself and your music/sound in your own words and voice Start: 2013.02.21 … End: 2013.02.25
59: disquiet0059-vwls The Assignment: Make music from three randomly assigned vowels. Start: 2013.02.14 … End: 2013.02.18
58: disquiet0058-endlesscommons The Assignment: Celebrate the Creative Commons by remixing three tracks from the Endless Ascent netlabel. Start: 2013.02.07 … End: 2013.02.11
57: disquiet0057-phonemetransmit The Assignment: Use sounds from the Phonetics Lab Archive at UCLA to depict emotions. Start: 2013.01.31 … End: 2013.02.04
56: disquiet0056-matteroftime The Assignment: Use sounds from the Phonetics Lab Archive at UCLA to depict emotions. Start: 2013.01.24 … End: 2013.01.28
55: disquiet0055-twoscrews The Assignment: Combine two Nils Frahm solo piano pieces into one. Start: 2013.01.17 … End: 2013.01.21
54: disquiet0054-audiotextual The Assignment: Create an original musical score for the day’s news. Start: 2013.01.10 … End: 2013.01.14
53: disquiet0053-ice2013 The Assignment: Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something of it (redux). Start: 2013.01.03 … End: 2013.01.07
52: Disquiet0052-bumpcc The Assignment: Celebrate the Creative Commons by remixing three tracks from the Bump Foot netlabel. Start: 2012.12.27 … End: 2012.12.31
51: Disquiet0051-audiojournal The Assignment: Create a 2012 audio diary with a dozen five-second segments. Start: 2012.12.20 … End: 2012.12.24
50: Disquiet0050-morsebeat The Assignment: Encode a word or phrase in Morse Code and employ that as a track’s rhythm. Start: 2012.12.13 … End: 2012.12.17
49: Disquiet0049-deckduet The Assignment: Make a track, 50% of which is the sound of a tape cassette deck in motion. Start: 2012.12.06 … End: 2012.12.10
48: Disquiet0048-libertederive Celebrate the Creative Commons license that allows for derivative works by remixing music from the Three Legs Duck netlabel. Start: 2012.11.29 … End: 2012.12.03
47: Disquiet0047-partymuted Turn the muffled voices of a distant party into the foundation of a recording. Start: 2012.11.23 … End: 2012.11.26
46: Disquiet0046-silentballot Investigate a recording of the voting process for its “sonic fingerprint.” Start: 2012.11.15 … End: 2012.11.19
45: Disquiet0045-sherlocksawyer Combine material from the public domain adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Tom Sawyer. Start: 2012.11.08 … End: 2012.11.12
44: Disquiet0044-sandy2012 Transition from storm to calm using field recordings from Sandy 2012 Start: 2012.11.01 … End: 2012.11.05
43: Disquiet0043-dazzledmachine Make mechanical roars from the sound of a retail space. Start: 2012.10.25 … End: 2012.10.29
42: Disquiet0042-naivemelody Use your oldest and newest instruments in recording an original track. Start: 2012.10.18 … End: 2012.10.22
41: Disquiet0041-dirtyminimalism Produce an original piece of music that fits the genre “dirty minimalism.” Start: 2012.10.11 … End: 2012.10.15
40: Disquiet0040-kirschnerplus1 Turn a Kenneth Kirschner piano/viola duet into a trio. Start: 2012.10.04 … End: 2012.10.08
39: Disquiet0039-remixingnowaki Combine three tracks from the Nowaki netlabel into one. Start: 2012.09.27 … End: 2012.10.01
38: Disquiet0038-asrealasitgets2 Create from scratch what appears to be a field recording of a large department store. Start: 2012.09.20 … End: 2012.09.27
37: Disquiet0037-asrealasitgets1 Record sound from a large retail space, preferably a department store. Start: 2012.09.13 … End: 2012.09.17
36: Disquiet0036-cstillconcerto Turning something “classical” into something “abstract expressionist,” in tribute to Clyfford Still. Start: 2012.09.06 … End: 2012.09.10
35: Disquiet0035-becksongreader Make music from a sample page of Beck’s Song Reader sheet music. Start: 2012.08.30 … End: 2012.09.03
34: Disquiet0034-theradius Use the theme song of the Radius broadcast as the source of an original composition. Start: 2012.08.23 … End: 2012.08.27
33: Disquiet0033-turntable Make music with a turntable but without vinyl. Start: 2012.08.16 … End: 2012.08.20
32: Disquiet0032-sonicvote Treat a chart of U.S. presidential-election polling data as graphic notation. Start: 2012.08.09 … End: 2012.08.13
31: Disquiet0031-onomatch Make music from a recording that is initially considered to be silent. Start: 2012.08.02 … End: 2012.08.06
30: Disquiet0030-nonsilent Make music from a recording that is initially considered to be silent. Start: 2012.07.26 … End: 2012.07.30
29: Disquiet0029-countzero Make music from running water, inspired by William Gibson’s novel Count Zero. Start: 2012.07.19 … End: 2012.07.23
28: Disquiet0028-netlabel Remix one of two tracks of a recent netlabel release. Start: 2012.07.12 … End: 2012.07.16
27: Disquiet0027-texting Make a track by turning the instructions text into sound. Start: 2012.07.05 … End: 2012.07.09
26: Disquiet0026-composting Record the music to a PSA using sounds sampled from your garbage bin. Start: 2012.06.28 … End: 2012.07.02
25: Disquiet0025-skedsong Turn one or two sets of sonic alerts (project 24) into a song. Start: 2012.06.21 … End: 2012.06.25
24: Disquiet0024-alertsuite Make a set of four functional sounds for email, IM, and other alerts. Start: 2012.06.14 … End: 2012.06.18
23: Disquiet0023-palindrone Make an extended drone structured as a palindrome. Start: 2012.06.07 … End: 2012.06.11
22: Disquiet0022-sonicdecay Record an instrument. Then degrade the recording, and make something of the result. Start: 2012.05.31 … End: 2012.06.04
21: Disquiet0021-4seasons Create a piece with one field recording representing each of the four seasons. Start: 2012.05.24 … End: 2012.05.28
20: Disquiet0020-nodebeat Make a piece of music with the NodeBeat app and one other instrument. Start: 2012.05.17 … End: 2012.05.21
19: Disquiet0019-rojiura Treat the provided photograph as a graphically notated score. Start: 2012.05.10 … End: 2012.05.14
18: Disquiet0018-3×3 Make a three minute track from three sounds, alternating their relative prominence. Start: 2012.05.03 … End: 2012.05.07
17: Disquiet0017-transition Make a seamless transition between an original field recording and a provided, preexisting track. Start: 2012.04.26 … End: 2012.04.30
16: Disquiet0016-backforeground Take samples of sandpaper and dice. Make a track with one as foreground and other as background. Start: 2012.04.19 … End: 2012.04.23
15: Disquiet0015-rgbinteract Create sounds from colors, and make them interact with each other. Start: 2012.04.12 … End: 2012.04.16
14: Disquiet0014-oumupo Do a sonic-narrative version of Matt Madden’s 99 Ways to Tell a Story. Start: 2012.04.05 … End: 2012.04.09
13: Disquiet0013-wildup Make new music from a multitrack recording of a Shostakovich symphony. Start: 2012.03.29 … End: 2012.04.02
12: Disquiet0012-cutpaste Use “cut and paste” to combine two 1928 recordings of rural music. Start: 2012.03.22 … End: 2012.03.26
11: Disquiet0011-motoring Record an everyday mechanical rhythm, and make something of it. Start: 2012.03.15 … End: 2012.03.19
10: Disquiet0010-reflect Remix one of the previous Junto project tracks. Start: 2012.03.08 … End: 2012.03.12
09: Disquiet0009-avian Create a cross-species collaboration between bird song and acoustic guitar. Start: 2012.03.01 … End: 2012.03.05
08: Disquiet0008-voice Rework a spoken-word recording of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. Start: 2012.02.23 … End: 2012.02.27
07: Disquiet0007-subtract Create by removing material from an existing field recording. Start: 2012.02.16 … End: 2012.02.20
06: Disquiet0006-cylinder Remix three archival Edison cylinder recordings. Start: 2012.02.09 … End: 2012.02.13
05: Disquiet0005-layer Add sounds to a pre-existing field recording of everyday life. Start: 2012.02.02 … End: 2012.02.06
04: Disquiet0004-mfischer Remix the Marcus Fischer piece “Nearly There.” Start: 2012.01.26 … End: 2012.01.30
03: Disquiet0003-glass Record a live performance for “expanded glass harp.” Start: 2012.01.19 … End: 2012.01.23
02: Disquiet0002-duet Duet for fog horn and train whistle — using only those two provided samples. Start: 2012.01.12 … End: 2012.01.16
01: Disquiet0001-ice Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something of it. Start: 2012.01.05 … End: 2012.01.09
And this is the initial post I made on Disquiet.com, announcing the project on January 7, 2012: “Sneek Peek.”



