After an initial track of deep foreboding, and deeper silences that seem to confirm ill fate, Rafael Flores and Mystified‘s collaboration, Intrigue, on the Webbed Hand netlabel, ventures in several directions. The second track adds a voice to fill the gaps, as well as the analog flutters of 1950s science fiction films. And then things really get interesting. There’s what appears, by the titles (“Mineral I,” “Mineral II”) and the rush of water, to be a transformation of a field recording into a tumble of shudders and a low riding hum that makes that opening track sound like a spring breeze. There are also wild, synthetic storms to be heard (“Manantial Que No Cesa”), bleepy exotica (“Hello Stations”), white noise (“Buzzbase”) and much more. The album’s two keepers suggest its breadth between them; there’s the dreamy passing of old trains on “Convey,” which runs in place like a recurring nightmare, and the filmic arc of “Vera + Cruz,” which opens with a surprisingly dramatic chamber string section and then proceeds to descend below a pipe organ’s lowest stop. What holds it all together is an emphasis on desperately slow rhythms, ill-gained found sound, and a refreshing lack of concern for fidelity. Get the album at webbedhandrecords.com. More info on Rafael Flores at soundsense.blogspot.com. More info on Mystified (aka Thomas Park) at mystifiedmusic.com.
Current Activities
Upcoming
• July 29, 2021: This day marks the start of the 500th consecutive weekly project in the Disquiet Junto music community.
• December 13, 2021: This day marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of Disquiet.com.
• January 6, 2021: This day marks the 10th anniversary of the start of the Disquiet Junto music community.Recent
• There are entries on the Disquiet Junto in the 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.
• A chapter on the Disquiet Junto ("The Disquiet Junto as an Online Community of Practice," by Ethan Hein) appears in the 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.)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
• 0500 / Humming to Your Selves / The Assignment: Play a tune by yourself and as if by two people whom you invent.
• 0499 / Out of the Landscape / The Assignment: Record a piece of music in which a sound emerges from a field recording.
• 0498 / Sonic Entomologist / The Assignment: Create a new hybrid insect from the sound of two different insects.
• 0497 / Benjamin's Glass / The Assignment: Pay tribute to Benjamin Franklin and his armonica
• 0496 / Isolation Room / The Assignment: Create new music around one strand of something you made in the past.Full Index
And there is a complete list of past projects, 500 consecutive weeks to date.