- Long day, but a productive one, in between tsunami-gazing. Time for a walk to the ocean. #
- Looking at screenshots of screenshot-capture applications. #
- A "radiophonic exploration and impressionistic interpretation" of "superior canal dehiscence syndrome" http://j.mp/fXypO3 via @theunobserved #
- Disaster-preparedness comics drawn by David Lasky: http://j.mp/dQiG2L #japan #tsunami #72hours #
- Today's probably not a good day to go to the Apple store to ask the Genius-bartenders for advice about my iPod Touch's charging issues. #
- Just Blaze show tonite in SF at 103 Harriet: 100% proceeds (tix + bar) -> Japanese tsunami relief http://justblaze103harriet.eventbrite.com #
- Plan: Get ton of work done. Then read scathing reviews of Battle: Los Angeles to sufficiently lower expectations, so as to ensure enjoyment. #
- Watching Today on NBC for news of Tsunami; instead see report of murder, with recreations and eerie music. The news shouldn't have a score. #
- All thoughts with Japan. #
- The term "drone" is like a sausage wrapper, lending a sense of uniformity to what is, in fact, often a chaotic mix of constituent parts. #
- Apparently someone requested Missing Persons' "Walking in L.A." @beatlist #democracy #
- [email protected]_Jenius Yeah, a not dissimilar inspiration, @JelliNoise and @beatlist — reminds me of the Box. I loved that cable channel. #
- Cafe I'm in uses this software ( http://bit.ly/gRc2Sw ) so customers can collectively select songs to be played over house stereo. #
- Film of Red Dead Redemption should be interactive to extent that plot stalls until everyone in theater can break horse properly. #
- It's so beautifully clear out, why not listen to this @wcraghead recording of rain, birds, and an umbrella? http://bit.ly/hrbmyC #
- Regarding sonification of Firefox .exe file: the layers in the waveform look unusual for @soundcloud. http://j.mp/eeRmG5 (MS Paint, less so) #
- Evening sounds: hard drive, washer, dryer, dishwasher, recordings of sparse piano, hard drive/fan, garage door. #
- So many PR emails these days mention 7" releases, I've come to where I don't believe half of them exist — as if 7" just means "single." #
- RIP, Kodansha International; so many books on my shelf, in my teens and 20s, had that K on the spine. #koboabe #murakami http://j.mp/gVC7pS #
- RT @stasisfield Extensive biography of Ahmed Basiony, Egyptian artist killed during the recent revolution: http://bit.ly/fZF3AB #
- First Tues in long time haven't heard San Francisco noon siren. Earbuds? Cafe radio? Chatter? Proximity? AOTAC (all of the above, combined)? #
- Sounds after midnight: TV doing its post-use creak, kitchen fluorescent bulb buzzing lightly, bus evidencing sudden decision to obey stop. #
- Falling back in love with the geometry of chord progressions. #ukulele #harmony #
- "squeaker keeps baby amused and stimulates … hearing" — meet Sophie, a consistent part of my domestic soundscape: http://j.mp/gUTbQ0 #
- Depending on when trash is picked up, the beeping & grinding mean different things. Mondays it's a weekly reminder of reentry into society. #
- That intermittent beeping means granola is slowly becoming granola in the oven. Raisins wait patiently on the kitchen counter top. #
- Apparently the best way to get better sound out of my netbook is to use Tivo to stream MP3s to my living room stereo. #overkill #butnice #
- "@maxrichtermusic: on way to studio heard a tenor somewhere practicing only high As. Coming back an hour later – still going." #eartwit #
- "@compactrobot: perhaps if it came in bright red, like the Olivetti Valentine." [Yeah, Olivetti plastic red, not Ferrari fiberglass red.] #
- Another step in burgeoning computer-typewriter romance: Olivetti debuts tablet. Will it include canned typing noise? http://j.mp/hPZA4W #
- Last night I pondered clackety interactive soundtracks to word processors: http://j.mp/f3UTqJ. Today learned about http://usbtypewriter.com/ #
- Mistakenly thought a reflection on my pen meant it was alerting me to an incoming message. It did: "Too many gadgets." #
- RIP, Brian Barritt (b. 1934), author, psychedelic explorer, Youth collaborator, kosmiche participant: http://j.mp/hThDZN http://j.mp/i5K5Ya #
- Noted that TightVNC misspells"authentication" in its startup window. Wondering how poor spelling correlates with security precautions. #
- "They didn't like to use that word because in Russian 'dada' means 'yes yes,' contradicting their nihilism." #
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
• 0460 / Creative Destruction / The Assignment: Show how you got to a tortured sound.
• 0459 / From a Distance / The Assignment: Make music intended to be heard from afar.
• 0458 / Phrase Shift / The Assignment: Make music in a sequence of parts with shared elements.
• 0457 / System Alert / The Assignment: Compose sounds for an OS.
• 0456 / Line Up / The Assignment: Interpret a painting by Agnes Martin as if it were a graphic score.Full Index
And there is a complete list of past projects, 460 consecutive weeks to date.