downstream – Page 167

SineRider, Off-Screen and On

A live ambient performance

March 25, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

There are several key factors in [the ongoing playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAgCxRbmR1MJxihgJkCPEnehAPvjoF71-) I maintain on YouTube of fine live performances of ambient music. There are three, in fact, and the very first is: “I’m only including recordings I’d listen to without video.” As something like test evidence, I came upon this piece, “Peat Moss” by Sine Rider, today on SoundCloud, and it turns out it’s the audio from one of his performance videos. It’s a warbly drone, like someone left the melody out to dry over night and hadn’t considered the damage that the morning dew might do. Except it didn’t do damage. It rendered the melody ever more fragile, and ever more beautiful for that fragility. And here’s the original video:

Track originally posted at [soundcloud.com/sinerider](https://soundcloud.com/sinerider/peat-moss). More from SineRider, aka Devin Powers of Norwood, Massachusetts, at [sinerider.bandcamp.com](https://sinerider.bandcamp.com/) and [youtube.com/sinerider](https://www.youtube.com/SineRider).

Minimalism and Its Echoes

Nathan McLaughlin is at the height of his powers.

March 24, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Nathan McLaughlin’s performance this Sunday was a highlight of a weekend packed with free live online shows. There are many more such shows to come during our time of widely distributed isolation, and I recommend not only a listen to his gig, if reflective solo guitar sounds up your alley — but also one if you’re planning on playing live online yourself. He does so much, so simply, and (audio glitches in the archived transmission aside) with enviable concentration, that it’s a model for such a thing as destination viewing. The video is just him, in a wooden chair, with an acoustic guitar in hand, and enough (largely off-screen, though there is a reel-to-reel machine rolling along against the wall) equipment to lend his already raga-like playing a nimbus of graceful echoing. There’s a clear aesthetic connection between his minimalist finger-picking and the hall of sonic mirrors in which it occurs — so clear that the two factors in fact blend together. Close to the end, he ruptures the fabric of performance by stopping his picking. He turns the guitar up in his lap, as a recording of his playing plays on. And then he takes a bow to the strings, and creates a drone that consumes all that came before, and then he gets up from the chair and walks off-screen, leaving the drone to drone, until he slips back in to lower the volume to a finish. I’ve been listening to and writing about Nathan McLaughlin’s music at least since [January 2006](https://disquiet.com/2006/01/11/electro-organic-mp3s/), back when he went by the name Doogie, and, at least to my ears, he’s never sounded more thoughtful and focused.

Video originally posted at the [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsij_3rvS8Q) channel of the Decentralized Sonic Quarantine Network. More from Nathan McLaughlin, who is based in Hudson, New York, at [nathanmclaughlin.bandcamp.com](https://nathanmclaughlin.bandcamp.com/).

A Cello Transformed, and Transformed Again

When Henrik Meierkord met Marco Lucchi

March 23, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

“Flacholet” is described by its composer-performer, Henrik Meierkord, who is based in Stockholm, Sweden, as “An organism of cello.” That is apt. The track is as if the cello has taken on a life of its own, a life enabled by some sort of electronic assistance. The slow sawing of the strings is rendered with depth and warmth, and the droning that it yields becomes as much a part of the composition as the originating tones. Halos of sound appear, and textured moments yield brief, sharply defined cameos before fading into the lush lull.

And as it turns out, the track itself has taken on a life of its own, as well. It was picked by by Marco Lucchi, of Modena, Italy, with Meierkord’s consent, and pushed even further into atmospheric realms. “Separasjon” builds on the drone-like qualities of the original, reducing the highs and lows of the drama in favor of something hushed but no less powerful.

“Flacholet” originally posted at [soundcloud.com/enrikeierkord](https://soundcloud.com/enrikeierkord/flacholet). More from Henrik Meierkord at [henrikmeierkord.bandcamp.com](https://henrikmeierkord.bandcamp.com/) and [soundbread.se](https://www.soundbread.se/). “Separasjon” originally posted at [soundcloud.com/marcolucchi](https://soundcloud.com/marcolucchi/henrik-meierkord-marco-lucchi-separasjon). More from Marco Lucchi at [marcolucchi.bandcamp.com](https://marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/). (Meierkord was the cellist featured in the score to the 2018 Oscar-nominated stop-motion animation [*Negative Space*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI2lsdXJQ40).)

After Live: Leaving Records Roster Party

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Emily A. Sprague, and more Saturday at 1pm Pacific

March 20, 2020March 19, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Another day in global mutual self-isolation, another advance notice of a stellar virtual concert. Leaving Records [announced](https://twitter.com/LEAVINGRECORDS/status/1240416919217295360/) that the following will be playing live tomorrow, Saturday, March 21, starting at 1pm Pacific Time. The time zone’s appellation also fits the tranquil electronic music of the performers: Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Emily A. Sprague, Brin, Cool Maritime, and Matthewdavid’s Mindflight. Set your calendar to pull up [twitch.tv/leavingrecords](https://www.twitch.tv/leavingrecords) at the appointed time. You may want to set up an account early, if you don’t have one already. This show begins four hours after [Scanner’s announced show](https://disquiet.com/2020/03/17/scanner-march-21-2020/) that day.

Disquiet Junto Project 0429: Solitary Ensembles

The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio that others will complete.

March 19, 2020March 19, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

We’ve done projects along the lines of this one in the past, and it’s always worked out well, with surprising and wonderful results, new connections made, new partnerships forged, unexpected pairings created.

Current circumstances around the world bring new meaning to the project. The idea this week is that you will record the first third of what will eventually become a trio. Next week people will add to tracks from this week, and the week after people will, in effect, complete the trios. Some of this week’s projects will, inevitably, be used more than once, leading to interrelated branches of creativity — and more importantly, connecting musicians around the world.

It’s a foundational concept of the Disquiet Junto, since January 2012, that the participants all gain energy and inspiration from the knowledge that somewhere around the world, other people are cogitating on and acting on the same four-day project as they are. Projects such as this particular one build on that idea by bringing together various subsets of the far-flung Junto community into short-lived, ad-hoc, self-guided groupings — what we’re currently calling Solitary Ensembles.

The difference this time, of course, is there exists a larger set of factors we all have in common at the moment, and we have them in common not just with the 1,500 or so other subscribers to the Junto mailing list, but with the world’s populace. We aren’t just facing this creative challenge together. We are facing a new challenge in the form of the global pandemic and its ramifications — physical, emotional, economic. Which is to say: thanks, as always, for your generosity with your time and creativity, and all the more so during these strange times in which we find ourselves.

Oh, and one procedural note: It’s a rule in the Junto that musicians should only contribute one track per project. That remains the case this week. However, next week, in order for as many of this week’s tracks as possible being re-worked, that number will be increased. At the moment, I’m not certain by how much. I’ll sort that out and mention it next week.

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, March 23, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, March 19, 2020.

Tracks will be added to [the playlist](https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0429) 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 0429: Solitary Ensembles**

The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio that others will complete.

Step 1: This week’s Junto project is the first in a sequence intended to invite, encourage, and reward collaboration. You will be recording something with the understanding that it will remain unfinished for the time being.

Step 2: The plan is for you to record a short and original piece of music, on any instrumentation of your choice. Conceive it as something that leaves room for something else — other instruments, other people — to join in.

Step 3: Record a short piece of music, roughly two to three minutes in length, as described in Step 2. When done, if possible, pan the audio so that your piece is solely in the left side of the stereo spectrum.

Step 4: Also, and this is important, be sure, when done, to make your track downloadable, because it will be used by someone else in the next Disquiet Junto project.

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

Step 1: Include “disquiet0429” (no spaces or quotation marks) in the name of your track.

Step 2: If your audio-hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to also include the project tag “disquiet0429” (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 track. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your track.

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

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0429-solitary-ensembles/

Step 5: Annotate your track 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, March 23, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, March 19, 2020.

Length: The length is up to you. Shorter is often better. Two to three minutes is probably about right for this project.

Title/Tag: When posting your track, please include “disquiet0429” in the title of the track, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.

Upload: When participating in this project, post one finished track with the project tag, and 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 429th weekly Disquiet Junto project — The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio that others will complete — at:

https://disquiet.com/0429/