downstream – Page 241

Olivia Block Welcomes the Eclipse

With an archival piece recorded for the NNA label

August 21, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

The slowly rising, cicadas-in-heat, increasingly crunchy, white-noise opening of Olivia Block’s “Aberration of Light” sets the stage for the 30-minute sonic experience that follows. Originally released on the NNA label back in 2015, the piece was posted by Block on [her SoundCloud page](http://nnatapes.com/available-releases/olivia-block-aberration-of-light-c62) today, timed to the solar eclipse. The music originated earlier still, back in 2011, as a four-speaker installation. The white noise ebbs and flows as the piece proceeds, enhanced by, per the NNA writeup, a modest but grounding horn section comprised of James Falzone (clarinet) and Jason Stein (bass clarinet). For some time it is riotous, and then reduced to an eerie hum, like wind across a vast prairie. At others it is richly tonal, as when those two clarinets weigh in with deep drones that eventually engage in threatening levels of fierce patterning. As it comes to its close, that sense of impending violence — whether in the void of near silence or the tension of layered drones — breaks free into full-on tumult.

More on the composition at the website of the releasing label, [nnatapes.com](http://nnatapes.com/available-releases/olivia-block-aberration-of-light-c62). More from Block, who is based in Chicago, at [oliviablock.net](https://www.oliviablock.net) and [twitter.com/oliviablock](https://twitter.com/oliviablock).

Disquiet Junto Project 0294: Offline Status

Pay tribute to the late Bassel Khartabil by turning his spoken words into music.

August 17, 2017August 22, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Each Thursday in the [Disquiet Junto group](https://disquiet.com/junto/), 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.

Tracks will be added to the above playlist for the duration of the project.

This project’s deadline is 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, August 21, 2017. This project was posted in early evening, California time, on Thursday, August 17, 2017.

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

Disquiet Junto Project 0294: Offline Status

Pay tribute to the late Bassel Khartabil by turning his spoken words into music.

Note: Tracks from this project, and from previous Bassel-related Junto projects, may be played on the Over the Edge radio show on August 24th.

Step 1: This is the second of two consecutive projects we’re undertaking, following the news of Bassel Khartabil’s death. (If you’re new to the Junto, Bassel was an open-source coder who did a lot of work in CGI before being imprisoned in Syria. Word of his execution just recently became public. This is the sixth project we’ve done about him over the years.)

Step 2: Download the following short snippet of an audio file, just seven seconds, of Bassel speaking. In it you’ll hear his voice, as well as the lofi glory of mundane Internet communication, and some beeping inherent in everyday digital tools. You’ll use all this audio in your own track for this project. It’s on dropbox.com.

Step 3: Listen closely to Bassel’s voice and the other sounds that make up the file from Step 2.

Step 4: Record a piece of music that either begins with or ends with the full audio of Bassel’s voice. Use your own original instrumentation as well as elements extracted from the audio file as part of your composition to either extend from or lead up to the provided audio.

Five More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: If your hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to include the project tag “disquiet0294” (no spaces) in the name of your track. If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to my locating the tracks and creating a playlist of them.

Step 2: Upload your track. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your track.

Step 3: In the following discussion thread at llllllll.co please consider posting your track:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0294-offline-status/

Step 4: Annotate your track with a brief explanation of your approach and process.

Step 5: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Deadline: This project’s deadline is 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, August 21, 2017. This project was posted in early evening, California time, on Thursday, August 17, 2017.

Length: Keep your piece to under two minutes.

Title/Tag: When posting your track, please include “disquiet0294” 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: For this project, please make sure 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). This is aligned with the license of the source audio, and with Bassel Khartabil’s work.

Linking: When posting the track online, please be sure to include this information, along with details of your source audio, including links to it:

More on this 294th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Offline Status: Pay tribute to the late Bassel Khartabil by turning his spoken words into music. — at:

https://disquiet.com/0294/

Thanks to Niki Korth, Jon Phillips, and Barry Threw for encouraging this project. More on Bassel here:

Home

Disquiet Junto Project 0293: Emerge/Immerse

Make music for Paige Dansinger's Palmyra 3D/VR images, paying tribute to the late Bassel Khartabil.

August 10, 2017August 11, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Tracks will be added to [this playlist](https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0293) for the duration of the project:

This project’s deadline is 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, August 14, 2017. This project was posted in early afternoon, California time, on Thursday, August 10, 2017.

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

Disquiet Junto Project 0293: Emerge/Immerse

Make music for Paige Dansinger’s Palmyra 3D/VR images, paying tribute to the late Bassel Khartabil.

Step 1: This is the first of two consecutive projects we’re undertaking, following the news of Bassel Khartabil’s death. (If you’re new to the Junto, Bassel was an open-source coder who did a lot of work in CGI before being imprisoned in Syria. Word of his execution just recently became public.) Paige Dansinger is making VR drawings in Tilt Brush inspired by Bassel’s Palmyra CGI work, drawing from her own interest in making a better world. For this project we’re going to make sound, in Bassel’s honor, to accompany her 3D work. View Paige’s pieces at:

http://www.newpalmyra.org/projects/junto-emerge-immerse/

Step 2: Think about the sort of sound that might accompany, contribute to, or otherwise be a component part of a VR experience. Now, record a short piece of music, up to two minutes, that is about something emerging — something being brought to life, or coming out of a cave, or otherwise coming into being.

Five More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: If your hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to include the project tag “disquiet0293” (no spaces) in the name of your track. If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to my locating the tracks and creating a playlist of them.

Step 2: Upload your track. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your track.

Step 3: In the following discussion thread at llllllll.co please consider posting your track:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0293-emerge-immerse/

Step 4: Annotate your track with a brief explanation of your approach and process.

Step 5: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Deadline: This project’s deadline is 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, August 14, 2017. This project was posted in early afternoon, California time, on Thursday, August 10, 2017.

Length: Keep your piece to under two minutes.

Title/Tag: When posting your track, please include “disquiet0293” in the title of the track, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.

Linking: When posting the track online, please be sure to include this information, along with details of your source audio, including links to it:

More on this 293rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Make music for Paige Dansinger’s Palmyra 3D/VR images, paying tribute to the late Bassel Khartabil — at:

https://disquiet.com/0293/

Thanks to Niki Korth, Jon Phillips, and Barry Threw for encouraging this project, and to Paige Dansinger for the collaboration. View Dansinger’s 3D drawings of Palmyra here:

http://www.newpalmyra.org/projects/junto-emerge-immerse/

Disquiet Junto Project 0292: Eclipse Music

In coordination with St. Louis Art Hack Day, make some solar-inspired tunes.

August 3, 2017August 3, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

This project’s deadline is 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, August 7, 2017. This project was posted in morning, California time, on Thursday, August 3, 2017.

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

Disquiet Junto Project 0292: Eclipse Music

In coordination with St. Louis Art Hack Day, make some solar-inspired tunes.

Step 1: There’s a solar eclipse coming to the United States on August 21. This is the first full solar eclipse in the U.S. in a long time, since June 8, 1918. The next such eclipse in the U.S. won’t be until August 12, 2045. Ponder the eclipse, and that time frame. Take note that this project is being done in coordination with the upcoming Art Hack Day in St. Louis. If you’re in the area, consider joining in in person. If you’re not (true for the vast majority of Junto participants), your resulting Junto music from this project will be played as part of the St. Louis art showing on August 19. (And certainly you can opt out of that last bit, if you’d like.) Major thanks to Tyler Mathews and Jon Phillips for encouraging this project. Details here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-hack-day-st-louis-eclipse-tickets-35500853007

Step 2: Think about the constituent elements in (the various facets of) an eclipse, what it means in terms of sensory experience — in cultures ancient and contemporary.

Step 3: Record a piece of music that that is inspired by the sense of the eclipse that came out of Steps 1 and 2.

Five More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: If your hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to include the project tag “disquiet0292” (no spaces) in the name of your track. If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to my locating the tracks and creating a playlist of them.

Step 2: Upload your track. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your track. (If you don’t want your music played at the Art Hack Day event, please note so in the public field associated with your track, or email me at [email protected] to let me know.)

Step 3: In the following discussion thread at llllllll.co please consider posting your track:

https://llllllll.co/t/make-music-for-a-solar-eclipse-disquiet-junto-0292/

Step 4: Annotate your track with a brief explanation of your approach and process.

Step 5: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Deadline: This project’s deadline is 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, August 7, 2017. This project was posted in morning, California time, on Thursday, August 3, 2017.

Length: The length is entirely up to the participant, though three to five minutes is suggested.

Title/Tag: When posting your track, please include “disquiet0292” in the title of the track, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.

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 online, please be sure to include this information, along with details of your source audio, including links to it:

More on this 292nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Eclipse Music:
In coordination with St. Louis Art Hack Day, make some solar-inspired tunes — at:

https://disquiet.com/0292/

Major thanks to Tyler Mathews and Jon Phillips for encouraging this project. Details on the related August events here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-hack-day-st-louis-eclipse-tickets-35500853007

5 Cassette Players Walk into an Aphex Twin Cover

A very warbly "Rhubarb"

July 31, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

The past week or so have been big news in Aphex Twin land, from the opening of his own digital superstore, at [aphextwin.warp.net](aphextwin.warp.net), packed with extra tracks and [candid bits of liner notes](https://twitter.com/disquiet/status/888441319298748416), to a [headlining gig at a Japanese music festival](http://thequietus.com/articles/22935-aphex-twin-fuji-rock-cassette), and the subsequent inevitable [price spike for a commemorative tape](https://twitter.com/BruceLevenstein/status/891819551188553728) of the concert. Lost in the tumult was this little video cover of “Rhubarb,” the third track from the *Selected Ambient Works Volume 2* album. In the video it’s being performed on the Crudman — well, on a quintet of Crudmen. The Crudman is an ingenious hack of a Walkman. The aftermarket technology allows the speed of the tape to be controlled as if it were a synthesizer module. Because the tapes in this video all have simply a sine wave tuned to C on them, the speed adjustment alters the note value of the audio emitted from the player. There are more details on the recording process at the [Crudlabs YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlqvEp44H5E), and at the [crudlabs.org](http://www.crudlabs.org) website, including (for the more gadget-literate audience) this breakdown of the device’s controls: