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Disquiet Junto Project 0438: Deep Plan

The Assignment: Compose a piece of music in which something special is situated at the very center.

May 21, 2020May 22, 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 Monday, May 25, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, May 21, 2020.

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

**Disquiet Junto Project 0438: Deep Plan**

The Assignment: Compose a piece of music in which something special is situated at the very center.

Step 1: There is just one step this week: Compose a piece of music in which something special is situated at the very center.

Background: You might simply interpret that instruction as you choose to. For additional context, you might consider this centerpiece a surprise, or you might hint at it at the opening. It might be a gap, or a presence, or something in between.

**Seven More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:**

Step 1: Include “disquiet0438” (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 “disquiet0438” (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-0438-deep-plan/

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 Monday, May 25, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, May 21, 2020.

Length: The length is up to you. This may be the rare circumstance when longer is better.

Title/Tag: When posting your tracks, please include “disquiet0438” 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: Given the nature of this particular project sequence, it is 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 438th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Disquiet Junto Project 0438: Deep Plan — The Assignment: Compose a piece of music in which something special is situated at the very center — at:

https://disquiet.com/0438/

Current Listens: Electroacoustic Mellotron + Double Bass

Heavy rotation, lightly annotated

May 17, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

This is my 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.)

▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰

NEW: Recent(ish) arrivals and pre-releases

▰ The always exciting Madeleine Cocolas is back with a new full-length, Ithaca (Room40), filled with percolating, emotional music. The compositions blend elements that folks who listen to techno and classical minimalism might think of as their own, and will learn they have to share nicely with others. A standout is the stately “The Heart Doesn’t Lie (Except When It Does),” a slow solo piano work that is generous with its pauses.

<a href="http://room40.bandcamp.com/album/ithaca">Ithaca by Madeleine Cocolas</a>

▰ A who’s who of experimental musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area collaborated with Tim Walters on *Shatter in Place*, a fundraiser for Bay Area Safety Net (“a non-profit designed to help support artists in the Bay Area during the COVID-19 crisis”). A highlight is “Multiplication Street,” which makes the foment of Lisa Mezzacappa’s double bass available, as with all the other contributions, to serve as “electroacoustic source material” for Walters’ artfully mercurial transformations. The other contributors are Myles Boisen, Kyle Bruckmann, Brett Carson, Tom Djll, gabby fluke-mogul, Phillip Greenlief, and Gino Robair.

<a href="http://timwalters.bandcamp.com/album/shatter-in-place">Shatter in Place by Tim Walters</a>

▰ “Adagio for Mellotron and Modular Synthesizer,” at once both patient and tensile, features the latter by itwasthewires and the former by Marco Lucchi. Lucchi’s collaborations have been a highlight of my SoundCloud stream [lately](https://disquiet.com/2020/03/23/flacholet-meierkord-separasjon-lucchi/).

▰ A single-instrument performance on a sampler is never truly a single-instrument performance, not when you consider what was sampled. In the case of r beny’s lush, dreamy “Vestals,” this includes piano, strings, and synthesizer material. The video was recorded live for Do It Yourself, Together, a streaming festival put together by Synthstrom Audible, the company that makes the Deluge, the instrument he’s playing. Synthstrom was supposed to have some concerts (live, in person — remember those?) back in March, where every performer would just use the Deluge. They were, of course, cancelled due to the current circumstances. I was really looking forward to one [scheduled for March 21](http://forums.synthstrom.com/discussion/2624/oakland-ca-usa-march-21-2020) in Oakland, California, across the Bay from where I live, but it didn’t happen. R beny was among those scheduled to perform that evening.

▰ The new weekly Robert Fripp series of quiet instrumental tracks each come out at what seems to be 2am if you live in California, which is a more humane 10am in England. The gorgeous third entry, recorded back in 2006, was released this past week. Somehow his account still has under 8,000 subscribers.

Disquiet Junto Project 0437: Echo Relocation

The Assignment: Record someone else's field recording of their environment playing within your own.

May 14, 2020May 17, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Deadline: This project’s deadline is Monday, May 18, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, May 14, 2020.

Tracks will be added to [the playlist](https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0437) for the duration of the project.

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

**Disquiet Junto Project 0437: Echo Relocation**

The Assignment: Record someone else’s field recording of their environment playing within your own.

This project is a collaboration with the artist and experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats.

Step 1: Select one or more of the field recordings submitted to the Junto last week. There is a playlist of nearly 50 at

[https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0436](https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0436)

And a couple more sprinkled through the discussion at

[https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0436-planetary-headspace/](https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0436-planetary-headspace/)

Step 2: Play the track(s) in your own environment, indoors or outside, situating other people’s acoustic environments in your living space.

Step 3: Record the confluence of near and distant sounds.

Step 4: Share your new field recording for others to play and record in their own living environments.

**Seven More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:**

Step 1: Include “disquiet0437” (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 “disquiet0437” (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-0437-echo-relocation/

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 Monday, May 18, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, May 14, 2020.

Length: The length is up to you. Let nature take its course.

Title/Tag: When posting your tracks, please include “disquiet0437” in the title of the tracks, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.

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

More on this 437th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Disquiet Junto Project 0437: Echo Relocation — The Assignment: Record someone else’s field recording of their environment playing within your own — at:

https://disquiet.com/0437/

This project is a collaboration with the artist and experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats.

Current Listens: Dub Eno + Fripp Soundscape

Heavy rotation, lightly annotated

May 10, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

This is my 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.)

▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰

NEW: Recent(ish) arrivals and pre-releases

▰ Listen as the rapid arpeggios are contrasted with a flowing, emotional through line. The upcoming Hélène Vogelsinger album, *Contemplation*, doesn’t come out until June 12, on the Modularfield record label, but the lead track, “Astral Projection,” has been up for awhile now.

<a href="http://helenevogelsinger.bandcamp.com/album/contemplation">Contemplation by Hélène Vogelsinger</a>

▰ This field recording is something I’ve played on repeat for hours at a time. Listen as the echo of test sirens in Boulder, Colorado, “seem to play sustained chords for a few minutes,” as Alan Bland, who made the recording, describes it.

▰ The three tracks on Ghost Signs’ The Holy Ghost and Other Lost Souls explore dense drones, at once heavenly and simmering. Highly recommended if that description appeals to you. It came out a month ago today, and has been a frequent listen.

<a href="http://ghostsigns.bandcamp.com/album/the-holy-ghost-and-other-lost-souls">The Holy Ghost and Other Lost Souls by Ghost Signs</a>

▰ *Music for Airports in Dub* goes back to the start of 2020. Thomas Park took stems from the classic Brian Eno album *Music for Airports* and, using his own generative software, written in the language Python, created dub from them.

▰ The second of what promise to be 50 free streaming “ambient instrumental soundscape” tracks from Robert Fripp went live on May 8. It dates from 2009.

▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰ ▰

ARCHIVAL: Old(er(ish)) records top mind

▰ The shifting wave forms of Éliange Radigue’s *Trilogie de la Mort*, released in 1998, were my frequent companion on public transportation. Now that, like much of the world, I’m stuck in the quiet of home, they’re becoming all the more vibrant to me.

Disquiet Junto Project 0436: Planetary Headspace

The Assignment: Share a recording of your local environment to create a communal soundscape.

May 7, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Deadline: This project’s deadline is Monday, May 11, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, May 7, 2020.

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

**Disquiet Junto Project 0436: Planetary Headspace**

The Assignment: Share a recording of your local environment to create a communal soundscape.

This project is a collaboration with the artist and experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats.

Step 1: Make a field recording, indoors or outdoors. Your recording may be of any length. If you make your recording outdoors, be attentive to sounds of nature that are now more audible due to restrictions on human activity during the pandemic. If you are under strict quarantine and cannot go outside, create your soundscape indoors, capturing the domestic sounds that you consider characteristic of your current circumstances.

Step 2: Upload your recording per the standard Junto instructions below.

Step 3: Download field recordings by other Junto members. Play the downloaded tracks in one ear, leaving your other ear open to hear the sounds in your midst. As you listen to the stereo soundscapes, your hearing will be extended, situating you in acoustic environments that you’ll share with other participants.

Note: This method may also be used beyond the Junto as a means of aurally transcending social distancing in your own community. Simply send your field recording to a friend and ask your friend to reciprocate.

**Seven More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:**

Step 1: Include “disquiet0436” (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 “disquiet0436” (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-0436-planetary-headspace/

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 Monday, May 11, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, May 7, 2020.

Length: The length is up to you. Let nature take its course.

Title/Tag: When posting your tracks, please include “disquiet0436” in the title of the tracks, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.

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

More on this 436th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Disquiet Junto Project 0436: Planetary Headspace — The Assignment: Share a recording of your local environment to create a communal soundscape — at:

https://disquiet.com/0436/

This project is a collaboration with the artist and experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats.