September 2014 – Disquiet

An instrumental hip-hop beat crafted from a snatch of “Triadic Memories” by the late composer Morton Feldman, who is beloved for his extended and extravagantly silent music? Why yes, thank you. This is “Memory” by Bstep. It’s barely a minute in length and takes a single, five-note segment — a splinter, really — of Feldman’s celebrated solo piano work, and then lays it above a spare metric pulse. The added beat is so spare, so old-school, it might have been something that Feldman, who died in 1987, heard during a visit to Manhattan for a concert premiere in his later years. What makes “Memory” work is how it teases out of that final note of the five-note figure a thin wisp of sound that then lingers over the beat like a fog.

Track originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/benstepner. More from Bstep, aka Ben Stepner, at twitter.com/bstepbeatz.

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Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.com and at Disquiet.com, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate.

For the duration of the project new tracks will be added to this playlist:

This assignment was made in the evening, California time, on Thursday, September 25, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, September 29, 2014, as the deadline.

These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):

Disquiet Junto Project 0143: Tuning the Hood
The Assignment: Play a live duet with the world outside your window.

The steps this week are straightforward, and fairly open-ended. You’ll be recording a live performance of between two and five minutes.

Step 1: Choose a single musical instrument that you feel comfortable performing on solo for an extended period of time.

Step 2: Position yourself near an open window.

Step 3: You’ll be recording your performance, as well as the sounds outside your window. Position the microphone in a manner so that, to whatever extent possible, the outside is at a volume level somewhat equal to that of your instrument. This might best be accomplished by using two microphones simultaneously, and adjusting the volume after the performance and recording process are complete.

Step 3: Upload the finished track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 4: Listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow participants.

Deadline: Monday, September 29, 2014, at 11:59pm wherever you are.

Length: Your finished work should be between two and five minutes in length.

Upload: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, only upload one track for this assignment, and include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto.

Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0143-tuningthehood” in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.

Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, please be sure to include this information:

More on this 143rd Disquiet Junto project — “Play a live duet with the world outside your window” — at:

Disquiet Junto Project 0143: Tuning the Hood

Month: September 2014

via instagram.com/dsqt

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt

Morton Feldman, Crate Dug

A beat built from the composer's "Triadic Memories"

via instagram.com/dsqt

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt

Disquiet Junto Project 0143: Tuning the Hood

The Assignment: Play a live duet with the world outside your window.

via instagram.com/dsqt

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt