Month: October 2009

Sonic Exploration by Marc McNulty (MP3)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Were the Barrons, of Forbidden Planet soundtrack fame, still alive and working today, they might very well sound like Marc McNulty, the musician and sound artist whose explorations of small sonic spaces result in squiggling effects that suggest an otherworldly aura. He recently contributed a half-hour performance to the Rare Frequency podcast series (rarefrequency.com), and it’s a characteristically internecine journey through microscopic dank pockets of slomo whirligigs, melting tonal affect, and tantalizing garbles (MP3). Which is to say, it sounds both like a modern use of digital audio tools to explore audio objects, and like the special effects from an ancient science fiction film. Tomorrow’s music is yesteryear’s foley sounds.

[audio:http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rfPodcasts/~5/SHGmrhmylLE/Podcast_Spec_39_Marc_McNulty_Live_on_Rare_Frequency.mp3|titles=”Lamictal”|artists=Marc McNulty]

Much more on McNulty as his website, earphone.org, which is generous with MP3s. According to a post on his site, the piece performed on Rare Frequency is titled “Lamictal,” which appears to be the name of a prescription drug used to treat bipolar disorder and epilepsy.

Cole Pierce’s Piano Clockwork (MP3)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Recipes can be judged, at least in part, by their ingredients. The parts of Cole Pierce‘s 2008 sound installation Piano Clockwork read as follows: “improvised piano, a clock running on a low battery, faulty mics, and tape manipulation.” It was presented at the Old Gold gallery in Chicago from October 24 through November 16 of last year. He’s uploaded a nearly 20-minute segment of the installation’s audio, and as with any good cooking, it retains elements of the ingredients, but is somehow transformed through alchemy.

Yes, there is the piano, heard in lush, echoing waves. And yes, there is the clock, represented through an occasional metronomic pulse, like feet slowly beating a path across wet ground. But it is much more than that — heard here, those sounds are buried deep in a thick envelope of backward-masked wisps, and a verdant haze of rough noises.

To download the MP3, click on the little arrow in the interface above.

More on the exhibit space at oldgoldexhibitionsandevents.com. These are two images shot at the site, from Pierce’s blog, colepierce.com:

MP3 Discussion Group: ‘Monochromes Vol. 1′ (Line) by Tu M’

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

For the next few days, some fellow ardent listeners will join me here for the latest edition of Disquiet.com’s “MP3 Discussion Group.”We’ll be comparing notes on the recent Tu M’ album, Monochromes Vol. 1, which consists of four lengthy, drone-like chamber compositions. The album was released in June 2009 on Line, a subsidiary of the 12k record label. Tu M’ is a duo, consisting of Rossano Polidoro and Emiliano Romanelli, who live in Pescara, Italy; they’re credited on the album as both having performed on “laptop, mixing board.” There are video works associated with the Monochromes‘s music, viewable at tu-m.com/monochromes. The videos are a kind of abstract geography that matches the subdued pace of the music.

Also at the tu-m.com site are two sample MP3s of the music heard on Monochromes:

[audio:http://www.tu-m.com/download/TUM_Monochrome00_2008.mp3|titles=”Monochrome # 00″|artists=Tu M’] [audio:http://www.tu-m.com/download/TUM_Monochrome03_2009.mp3|titles=”Monochrome # 03″|artists=Tu M’]

There are more details on the album at the label website, 12k.com/line.

The week’s discussion will occur in the comments section below, and participation is, certainly, open to anyone who would like to offer an opinion.

Thanks to the folk who have agreed in advance to join me this week:

Alan Lockett: “I write music reviews and commentary on ambient/drone, the more adventurous end of techno/house, post-dub, and IDM. Based in Bristol, epicentre of the Dub-zone in the Wild West of England, I can mainly be read on igloomag.com and furthernoise.org.”

Julian Lewis: “I write much of Lend Me Your Ears, a UK/Spain-based MP3 blog that appreciates less obvious music.”

Clippy Self-Programmed Blip Pop MP3

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

There is experimental music, and there is experimental programming, and there is the music that arises from experimental programming. John Keston, of the audiocookbook.org website, set out to build himself a simple sequencer in the popular software Max/MSP, and the resulting audio he’s shared with his audience is less a composition by intent, than it is a proof-of-concept for his programming. Still, it’s an excellent little song (MP3).

[audio:http://audiocookbook.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/clippy_step_sequence.mp3|titles=”Clippy Step Sequence”|artists=John Keston]

The sequencer Keston had in mind is a step sequencer, which is to say a simple grid of sound patterns. The sequencer he ended up with allowed for such variables as BPM and note length, and he posted it for general use at his website along with — for the more general listener — that sample bit of audio. While the interface for the software sequencer, reproduced below, seems complicated, it’s quite easy to picture the green grid in one’s mind as the sample clip plays out — the music quite purely is data as sound.

The audio is essentially either on or off, with minimal allowance for harmonic complexity. It begins like some rudimentary digital mechanism, before speeding up like a car easing its way from a frontage road onto a highway. And Keston shows he’s as much a composer as a programmer by bringing the piece to a musically logical close, essentially backing the work back to its starting position.

Read the full post at audiocookbook.org.

Image of the Week: Frank Bretschneider’s Visual Geometry

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Raster-Noton’s Frank Bretschneider was among the performers at the Decibel Festival in Seattle late last month, and this image is representative of his “audio-responsive digital geometry”:

As the complex figure’s shape suggests, it needs to be experienced in motion to be fully appreciated. Festival report, including video of Bretschneider’s performance, at xlr8r.com. Image courtesy of raster-noton.net. More on Bretschneider at frankbretschneider.de.