Sam Phillips passed away last week, on July 30, 2003. Regarded as one of the founders of rock’n’roll, thanks to his work with Elvis Presley, Ike Turner and others, Phillips was also an early experimenter in recording-studio technology. An obituary in the Memphis newspaper, the Commercial Appeal, summed up Phillips’ Sun Studio innovation well: “Beyond producing the music made there, Phillips cooked up the room’s angled white-tile ceiling and walls, a clever sonic design envisioned … as if an oversize speaker were on its side. Many have commented on its unique design, which contributed to what we know as the ‘Sun sound.’ Onetime Sun engineer/songwriter/producer Jack Clement has even described the studio as an instrument in and of itself.” (Click here for the full text of the July 26, 2003, obit.) … (2) Wired.com reported on a new musical interface, the Audiopad, developed at MIT by James Patten and Ben Recht. Click here for the July 31, 2003, news story and here for the Audiopad’s website. … (3) Composer Max Richter has launched his website. Richter has recorded with Future Sound of London and Roni Size and he released his own album, memoryhouse, last year on the BBC’s Late Junction label. He is preparing a new album, The Blue Notebooks, inspired by Franz Kafka, for release on the FatCat label’s 130701 imprint.
Current Activities
Upcoming
• February 5, 2020: The first session of the 15-week course I teach at the Academy of Art about the role of sound in the media landscape.
• April 15, 2020: A chapter on the Disquiet Junto ("The Disquiet Junto as an Online Community of Practice," by Ethan Hein) appears in the forthcoming book The Oxford Handbook of Social Media and Music Learning (Oxford University Press), edited by Stephanie Horsley, Janice Waldron, and Kari Veblen. (Details at oup.com.)
• December 13, 2020: This day marks the 24th anniversary of Disquiet.com.
• January 7, 2021: This day marks the 9th anniversary of the start of the Disquiet Junto music community.Dates TBA
• There are entries on the Disquiet Junto in the forthcoming book The Music Production Cookbook: Ready-made Recipes for the Classroom (Oxford University Press), edited by Adam Patrick Bell. Ethan Hein wrote one, and I did, too.
• At least two live group concerts by Disquiet Junto members in the San Francisco Bay Area are in the works for 2020.
• I have liner notes for a musician's solo album and an essay in a book about an art event due out. I'll announce as the release dates come into focus.Ongoing
• The Disquiet Junto series of weekly communal music projects explore constraints as a springboard for creativity and productivity. There is a new project each Thursday afternoon (California time), and it is due the following Monday at 11:59pm: disquiet.com/junto.
• My book on Aphex Twin's landmark 1994 album, Selected Ambient Works Vol. II, was published as part of the 33 1/3 series, an imprint of Bloomsbury. It has been translated into Japanese (2019) and Spanish (2018).
disquiet junto
Background
Since January 2012, the Disquiet Junto has been an ongoing weekly collaborative music-making community that employs creative constraints as a springboard for creativity. Subscribe to the announcement list (each Thursday), listen to tracks by participants from around the world, read the FAQ, and join in.Recent Projects
• 0472 / Jam Time (1 of 3) / The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio that others will complete.
• 0471 / Phase Transition / The Assignment: The Assignment: Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something with it.
• 0470 / Calendar View / The Assignment: Create a sonic diary of the past year with a dozen (or more) super-brief segments.
• 0469 / [Missing in Caption] / The Assignment: Make music that pushes the constraints of descriptive television captions.
• 0468 / Mirror Rorrim / The Assignment: Create a new persona for yourself, and record a duet together.Full Index
And there is a complete list of past projects, 472 consecutive weeks to date.