downstream – Page 142

O.A. Jensen of Nordland, Norway

Deep amid "Ninas Garden"

October 6, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Deep swells. Soft shadows. Rhythmic elements buried under dense drones. A sense of motion in constant contrast with a sense of stillness. These are all shared elements of a certain type of ambient music, and they are in full effect in “Ninas Garden” from the musician Havdis, aka O.A. Jensen of Nordland, Norway. Those aspects here are expertly executed. What distinguishes the work further arrives about halfway through, when it nudges ever so slightly to something song-like, as shifts between chords become apparent, lending structure to the gathered sounds. The change isn’t quite glacial, but it is subtle, excellently so.

Track originally published at [soundcloud.com/havdis](https://soundcloud.com/havdis/havdis-ninas-garden).

Current Listens: Newly Sequenced, Windshield Filter

Heavy rotation, lightly annotated

October 4, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

A weekly(ish) answer to the question “What have you been listening to lately?” It’s lightly annotated because I don’t like re-posting material without providing some context. In the interest of conversation, let me know what you’re listening to in the comments below. Just please don’t promote your own work (or that of your label/client). This isn’t the right venue. (Just use email.)

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NEW: Recent(ish) arrivals and pre-releases

I admit that if I’m not careful, this could end up being a new Jeannine Schulz album and a new Orbital Patterns video every week (I say that in the hopes that they discover each other’s music and team up). But so be it. My listening is my listening.

▰ Orbital Patterns welcomes a new sequencer into his synthesizer rig, and [the result](https://youtu.be/Vwq2gMgPYA4) is a super slow melody that’s part jazz sermon, part illbient atmosphere:

▰ Glistening, blippy, [pop-leaning](https://youtu.be/9fxc5W9XV4o) instrumental piece performed live by S. B. Arweiler.

▰ The highly talented Jeannine Schulz has been releasing a steady stream of music at a pace in inverse proportion with how slow and placid is the music itself. Much of that has been on her own Bandcamp page, but last week the label Stereoscenic, of Cleveland, Ohio, announced [*Ground . The Gentle*](https://stereoscenic.bandcamp.com/album/ground-the-gentle), 10 tracks available for pre-order as a CD, but already streaming in full. Start with the aptly named “Heaven-Sent,” all cautious chords and dirty-windshield textures.

<a href="https://stereoscenic.bandcamp.com/album/ground-the-gentle">Ground . The Gentle by Jeannine Schulz</a>

Davachi, Live

A new set in lieu of touring

October 2, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

<a href="https://sarahdavachi.bandcamp.com/album/figures-in-open-air">Figures In Open Air by Sarah Davachi</a>

Bandcamp’s occasional Friday fire sale — when the company passes its share of profits straight on to the musicians and labels that are its lifeblood — is about to come to an end. Its conclusion is, as I type this, about two hours away on a long day in what has been one of the longest and strangest weeks of a long and strange year. Stranger than strange. “Strange” suggests “interesting if perhaps from a distance,” whereas this is a year from which one wants to gain substantial distance. Until such times, music that takes advantage of long time periods, music suitable to the long present, is a valuable thing. Sarah Davachi is expert in such things. As a “supplement” to [*Cantus, Descant*](https://sarahdavachi.bandcamp.com/album/cantus-descant), her recent two-CD set of contemporary music for the organ, one dating back to 1479, she has announced another collection, [*Figures in Open Air*](https://sarahdavachi.bandcamp.com/album/figures-in-open-air), a half dozen — presumably lengthy, given the release is also on two CDs — live performances. One track is up as a preview, “Diaphonia Basilica,” recorded on the 1954 Casavant Frères pipe organ at the Église du Gesù in Montreal, Canada. The liner notes mention the presence, as well, of cellist Marianna Houle and French horn player Pietro Amato. Listen closely, and certainly that explains the sheer depth of the dense vertical tonalities that comprise the track. But you could also miss them entirely, so tightly do they align with the organ’s breathy embrace. I’m fairly certain I was at the March 2018 concert during which another of the tracks was recorded, at the Lab in San Francisco. Of course, there are in essence no live concerts right now, due to the pandemic. In fact, this live album was released, Davachi explained yesterday on Facebook, “in lieu of the touring” she had planned later this year. This year being the long year. The long year that necessitates music for the long present. Music like “Diaphonia Basilica.”

Album posted at [sarahdavachi.bandcamp.com](https://sarahdavachi.bandcamp.com/album/figures-in-open-air). More from Davachi at [sarahdavachi.com](https://www.sarahdavachi.com/).

Disquiet Junto Project 0457: System Alert

The Assignment: Compose sounds for an OS.

October 1, 2020October 1, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto group, 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. (A SoundCloud account is helpful but not required.) There’s no pressure to do every project. It’s weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when you have the time.

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, October 5, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, October 1, 2020.

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

Disquiet Junto Project 0457: System Alert

The Assignment: Compose sounds for an OS.

Step 1: There’s an operating system called Haiku. It’s open source. Learn more at [haiku-os.org](https://haiku-os.org).

Step 2: The OS is currently running a contest for System Sounds. Read the details at the subpage on [haiku-os.org](https://www.haiku-os.org/news/2020-09-11-system-sound-contest/).

Step 3: The due date for our Junto project is this Monday, October 5, though the due date for the actual contest is November 25th. Regardless, please read through the instructions and create sounds accordingly. In terms of posting the sounds as part of this Junto project, please create a single track with each sound in sequence.

Thanks to Erik Schoster for suggesting this project.

Seven More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: Include “disquiet0457” (no spaces or quotation marks) in the name of your tracks.

Step 2: If your audio-hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to also include the project tag “disquiet0457” (no spaces or quotation marks). If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to subsequent location of tracks for the creation of a project playlist.

Step 3: Upload your tracks. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your tracks.

Step 4: Post your tracks in the following discussion thread at llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0457-system-alert/

Step 5: Annotate your tracks with a brief explanation of your approach and process.

Step 6: If posting on social media, please consider using the hashtag #disquietjunto so fellow participants are more likely to locate your communication.

Step 7: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Additional Details:

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, October 5, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, October 1, 2020.

Length: The length is up to you. Alerts tend to be brief.

Title/Tag: When posting your tracks, please include “disquiet0457” in the title of the tracks, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.

Upload: When participating in this project, be sure to 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. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.

Download: It is always best to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution, allowing for derivatives).

For context, when posting the track online, please be sure to include this following information:

More on this 457th weekly Disquiet Junto project, System Alert (The Assignment: Compose sounds for an OS), at:

https://disquiet.com/0457/

Thanks to Erik Schoster for suggesting this project.

Mexican Audio Damage

Courtesy of Alejandro Morse

September 29, 2020October 2, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

You’ll need to check your speakers. Edgar Medina, who goes by Alejandro Morse, so damages the sounds that constitute the base level of the track “(Splendid View to) an Artificial Lake,” off the forthcoming album *Aftermath*, that you’ll wonder if something has gone haywire with your audio system. Even after being told, still you’ll find need to check your speakers, to make sure wires haven’t frayed, to make sure a cat hasn’t gotten in the house and scratched at your cones, to make sure water hasn’t taken its toll. None of those things have happened — well, not to your speakers. As for the audio on “(Splendid View to) an Artificial Lake,” it has been scraped like barnacles off the hull of a boat, like paint from an old bench, like unwanted truths from a Wikipedia page. In posting the track to SoundCloud, the releasing record label, Dragon’s Eye, attributed the tag #ambient to it, but that seems more like provocation than categorization. The mix of happenstance field recordings and genteel tonal elements is bonded under shared scrubbing, the disparate elements united as the objects of Morse’s destructive, exploratory intent.

Track originally posted at [soundcloud.com/dragonseyerecordings](https://soundcloud.com/dragonseyerecordings/alejandro-morse-splendid-view-to-an-artificial-lake). More from Medina/Morse, who is based in Leon, Mexico, at [alejandromorse.bandcamp.com](https://alejandromorse.bandcamp.com/). *Aftermath* is due out this Friday, October 2.