- Latest favorite new-to-me word: "acoustemology" (i.e., acoustic epistemology): "a sonic way of knowing place" http://j.mp/cvoV3D #
- The sonar ping in "Early Winter (For Phill Niblock)" off Alva Noto's new For 2 album sounds eerily like The Listening Post by Hansen/Rubin. #
- Up for some quick weekend copyleft sonic activism? If you make music from existing sounds, reply to this or get me at [email protected]. #
- The restaurant I'm in admonishes against not only cellphones but also computers in the dining room. That's a first. #
- Cover art for upcoming Oval album, Oh, appears to be one of those PETA-baiting birds-on-a-guitar-wire projects by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot. #
- Saw 2 headlines, thought they were related: "Lost iPhone Prototype Spurs Police Probe" "A State With Plenty of Jobs but Few Places to Live" #
- Listening to forthcoming Oval album, titled Oh, due out June 15 from Thrill Jockey. #
- In response to print request the printer across the room revs up; its monastic hum gently reassures that the tech infrastructure is holding. #
- Location isn't everything. Tribeca Film Fest has $45 pass to 8 streaming films, plus discussions, panels & short films: http://is.gd/bEWky #
- Last week on Fringe: turntables & time travel. Tonight: out-of-phase tuning forks & universe-jumping. Like if Steve Reich played Doctor Who. #
- Last week Fringe = genius. Whoever does dissertation on Turntable as Symbol of Quantum Nostalgia in Work of JJ Abrams please send me a copy. #
- Pardon. It's the Society for the *Preservation* of San Francisco Scenery. Great art prank. Reminds me of DeLillos's "most photographed tree" #
- Signs in Alamo Square attributed to Society for Protection of SF Scenery seem to bar, or alert to barring of, photography of Painted Ladies. #
- I know "there's no such thing as streaming music" but when I'm on @soundcloud I spend less time on music I don't have the option to download #
- Beep boop: how kids in third grade draw synthesizers: http://is.gd/bC7yd Who knew modular synths could be this adorable? #
- Thanks to Brian Biggs of @mrbiggsdotcom & @robotdancerobot for drawing my new analog Twitter background. More info at http://is.gd/bBoMh #
- RIP, Guru (b. Keith Elam, 1962), best known from hip-hop duo Gang Starr. Listening to nothing but him & DJ Premier today http://is.gd/bAHr1 #
- Remain fascinated that the vibration on my phone is considerably louder on most surfaces than is the phone's ring at the lowest volume. #
- Pauline Oliveros is on Twitter @olivep … "Are you listening now?" … "The last sound that you heard – what was it?" #
- RIP, James M. Brody (b. 1941), composer, teacher, student of Iannis Xenakis: http://is.gd/byyWU http://is.gd/byz1L #
- Made yesterday another "no computer day," but a half hour with Listening Post @sjmusart by Mark Hansen & Ben Rubin may have been cheating. #
- Commas are a true luxury on Twitter. #
- RIP, jazz musician and author Mike Zwerin (b. 1930), veteran of Birth of the Cool”“era Miles Davis. #
- From backyard the passing propeller plane emits two sounds: engine rumbling like old washing machine; thick whine coming in and out of focus #
- Sunday morning = Alva Noto's recent album, For 2. #
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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, 2022: This day marks the 26th anniversary of the founding of Disquiet.com.
• January 6, 2023: This day marked the 11th anniversary of the start of the Disquiet Junto music community. -
Recent
• April 16, 2022: I participated in an online "talk show" by The Big Conversation Space (Niki Korth and Clémence de Montgolfier).
• March 11, 2022: I hosted a panel discussion between Mark Fell, Rian Treanor and James Bradbury in San Francisco as part of the Algorithmic Art Assembly (aaassembly.org) at Gray Area (grayarea.org).
• December 28, 2021: This day marked the 10th (!) anniversary of the Instagr/am/bient compilation.
• January 6, 2021: This day marked the 10th (!) anniversary of the start of the Disquiet Junto music community.
• December 13, 2021: This day marked the 25th (!) anniversary of the start of 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.) -
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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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• 0541 / 10BPM Techno / The Assignment: Make some snail-paced beats.
• 0540 / 5ive 4our / The Assignment: Take back 5/4 for Jedi time masters Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond.
• 0539 / Control Breath / The Assignment: Let your slow breathing guide a piece of music.
• 0538 / Guided Decompression / The Assignment: Get someone from tense to chill.
• 0537 / Penitent Honk / The Assignment: Do sound design for "a missing gesture" of vehicular life. -
Full Index
And there is a complete list of past projects, 541 consecutive weeks to date. Archives
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