Murky drones are the thing on the Primes EP Psychwolf, a four-track set of meandering ventures into the woolly sonic hinterlands. Three of the tracks clock in at under four minutes, while the closing piece, from which the album takes its title, plays for almost 20 minutes. Length aside, though, all are sewn from the same raw material: slow pulses that have a see-saw ease, glistening trebly figments that provide a glimpse of hope amid the sorrow, and moany intrusions that linger like a bad memory. The tracks aren’t organic enough to be pure drones, or melodic enough to be even vaguely pop; they’re something else entirely, something with narrative intent. Especially recommended are “Healer” (MP3), which has the blood-in-ear whir of a close encounter, and “114 Percent” (MP3), which emanates the municipal dread of an industrial soundscape. More info on the release at notype.com and archive.org. More on Primes at primes-music.com.
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about
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Marc Weidenbaum founded the website Disquiet.com in 1996 at the intersection of sound, art, and technology, and since 2012 has moderated the Disquiet Junto, an active online community of weekly music/sonic projects. He has written for Nature, Boing Boing, The Wire, Pitchfork, and NewMusicBox, among other periodicals. He is the author of the 33 1⁄3 book on Aphex Twin’s classic album Selected Ambient Works Volume II. Read more about his sonic consultancy, teaching, sound art, and work in film, comics, and other media
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Upcoming
• December 13, 2021: This day marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of Disquiet.com.
• December 28, 2021: This day marks the 10th anniversary of the Instagr/am/bient compilation.
• January 6, 2021: This day marks the 10th anniversary of the start of the Disquiet Junto music community. -
Recent
• July 28, 2021: This day marked the 500th consecutive weekly project in the Disquiet Junto music community.
• 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. -
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• 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).
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disquiet junto
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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 -
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• 0517 / Inside Out (Co/Exist 2 of 3) / The Assignment: Record a minute or two of civilization.
• 0516 / Outside In (Co/Exist 1 of 3) / The Assignment: Record a minute or two of nature.
• 0515 / Talking Cure / The Assignment: Write music for a psychotherapist's waiting room.
• 0514 / Chord Channels / The Assignment: Take two chords and connect them over time.
• 0513 / Ghost OST / The Assignment: Play that spooky music.
Full Index
And there is a complete list of past projects, 517 consecutive weeks to date. Archives
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Downstream
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Recent Posts
- Disquiet.com 25th Anniversary Countdown (7 of 13): Home Decorating in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
- Rewinding 2021 in The Wire
- Buddha Machine Variations No. 40 (MBP BMV VCV)
- Disquiet.com 25th Anniversary Countdown (6 of 13): Laraaji in 2015
- Disquiet.com 25th Anniversary Countdown (5 of 13): Our Lives in the Bush of Disquiet