downstream – Page 254

Beats from Old-School NYC, via Japan

A split EP of the Speedknots and N.Y. Confidential from Takara Digital

February 6, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Takara Digital is a new, Japan-based record label releasing out of print and otherwise rare hip-hop. Takara was founded in 2016 by Yuzuru Kishi, and has already published albums from late greats including J Dilla and Big L, as well as still-kicking figures like Pete Rock and MF Doom. As of this writing, there are already 10 albums in the Takara catalog. One recent highlight is *The Nineteen Ninety Eight Split EP*, which is half the Speedknots and half N.Y. Confidential. Of the EP’s 16 tracks, four are instrumentals (my primary focus as a hip-hop listener). According to the brief accompanying liner note, the two halves of the EP were originally released separately. These are collectors’ items. On Discogs.com, the Speedknots vinyl has sold for as much as [$300](https://www.discogs.com/Speedknots-Remember-Me/release/4183819), and the N.Y. Confidential for close to [two thirds](https://www.discogs.com/NY-Confidential-NY-Confidential/release/1257750) of that amount. All the productions are seriously old-school, emphasizing instrumental samples, found sounds, and surface noise. A standout is the slow-paced, loose-limbed “Knotz Landin (Instrumental).” The vocal has a wacky delivery, part Beastie Boys, part Basehead. The instrumental is pure atmosphere, a little organ snippet on repeat above a rim-shot beat, some syncopation provided by what sounds like a broken speaker pushed past its comfort level. The whole thing has a slightly ominous, circus-after-midnight vibe.

<a href="http://takaradigital.bandcamp.com/album/the-nineteen-ninety-eight-split-ep">The Nineteen Ninety Eight Split EP by The Speedknots & N.Y. Confidential</a>

Album originally posted at [takaradigital.bandcamp.com](https://takaradigital.bandcamp.com/album/the-nineteen-ninety-eight-split-ep). There doesn’t appear to be a website for Takara Digital, just the Bandcamp page.

The (Other) Helicopter Quartet

Aka Chrissie Caulfield, Michael Capstick, and a floor full of guitar pedals

February 5, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

This Helicopter Quartet isn’t four Stockhausen-annointed violinists in their own individual whirlybirds. This Helicopter Quartet is two musicians — Chrissie Caulfield on violin and Michael Capstick on guitar, and he appears to play a theremin app on a smartphone toward the end of this video — along with a floor full of guitar pedals. The pedals more than fill out the billing, though the duo together strive to eke out as subtle a space as possible. This piece is called “Quiet,” appropriate for a work that for all its myriad constituent parts sounds like one person working alone with a limited toolset, if not a limited palette. It’s all slow, arching tones, looped and layered, the seesaw of a slow lapping of water against a pier, the mood as calm as the deepest recesses of the night.

“Quiet” is a trial run toward a track from the Helicopter Quartet’s forthcoming album. Video originally posted at Chrissie Caulfield’s [YouTube channel.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4tbgraxsxE) It’s the latest piece I’ve added to [my ongoing YouTube playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAgCxRbmR1MJxihgJkCPEnehAPvjoF71-) of fine [“Ambient Performances.”](https://disquiet.com/2016/04/30/a-youtube-playlist-of-ambient-performances/) More from Caulfield at [chrissieviolin.info](http://chrissieviolin.info/). More from the Helicopter Quartet at [helicopterquartet.bandcamp.com](https://helicopterquartet.bandcamp.com/).

Hear the Refurbished 1970s Bell Labs Alles Machine Synthesizer

In a 2016 performance by Oberlin TIMARA undergraduate Judy Jackson

February 4, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Oberlin’s TIMARA school has exactly one video on its [YouTube page](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKQOxzMpDZ7S5ojk1Exyggg), and it was uploaded this past week. What it shows is the early synthesizer the Alles Machine, named for Hal Alles, who built the instrument while at Bell Labs in the 1970s. Computer music pioneer Max Matthews also contributed to the Alles Machine’s development. The video is a performance from 2016 by TIMARA undergraduate Judy Jackson.

The Alles Machine has been in TIMARA’s collection since the early 1980s. This is from [a TIMARA blog post](http://www.timara.oberlin.edu/) on January 30, 2017: “[T]he instrument was donated to the TIMARA Department, although it was barely functioning and lay dormant till recently. TIMARA engineer, John Talbert, has repurposed the machine for future generations of TIMARA composers.” Talbert is one of the half dozen faculty at TIMARA, which stands for Technology in Music and Related Arts, and counts among its alumni the classical critic and composer Kyle Gann, electronic musician Bob Ostertag, and playful digital-media artist Cory Arcangel.

The original deployment of the Alles Machine involved a Digital Equipment Corporation’s LSI-11, a sibling of the PDP-11. An article from a 1983 publication of the International Computer Music Association by Talbert and his TIMARA colleague Gary Nelson describes (see: [umich.edu](http://quod.lib.umich.edu/i/icmc/bbp2372.1983.010/1/–alles-machine-revisited?page=root;size=100;view=text)) how Max Matthews visited Oberlin during the 1979-1980 school year, and that led to the TIMARA acquisition of the Alles Machine. Nelson and Talbert traveled to Bell Labs in June 1980: “After several weeks of asking questions and taking notes,” they write, “we gathered up technical documentation, circuit diagrams, and the machine itself and headed back to Ohio to begin a challenging but rewarding period of what the seal of Oberlin College calls ‘learning and labor.'” (And if you want to go wayback, here’s a [PDF](http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/pdp11/handbooks/PDP11_Handbook1979.pdf) of the 1979 [PDP-11 Processor Handbook](http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/pdp11/handbooks/PDP11_Handbook1979.pdf).)

It’s unclear when and for how long the Alles was mothballed, presumably decades, but a 2016 document from Talbert, [linked to from the TIMARA site](http://timara.con.oberlin.edu/jtalbert/Alles/alles.pdf), details how the Alles Machine was recently disconnected from the antiquated LSI-11 and now functions thanks to a Mac Mini (“loaded with programs such such as the MPIDE Programming Environment, Max/MSP and Steim’s junXion”). Here’s a shot of the Max/MSP interface:

Jackson is a senior at Oberlin, where she is pursuing dual majors, one of them in computer science, the other at TIMARA. Her performance with the refurbished Alles Machine opens with brittle static, the white noise of a failing radio signal from which slowly emerges random, more softly tonal elements, which in turn give way to a warping sing wave. Jackson proceeds to work with these elements, eventually ushering in ever more raucous waveforms. It may be my imagination, but she appears to have opted for an outfit that resembles the one worn by Laurie Spiegel in this widely viewed video of a 1977 Alles Machine performance:

The Judy Jackson performance on the Alles Machine also appears on TIMARA’s [Vimeo channel](https://vimeo.com/201033038). More on TIMARA at [timara.oberlin.edu](http://www.timara.oberlin.edu/). More from Jackson at [soundcloud.com/judy-jackson118](https://soundcloud.com/judy-jackson118).

Disquiet Junto Project 0266: Vocal Cuts

Use segments of your own held vowel to make music.

February 2, 2017February 3, 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 this playlist for the duration of the project:

This project’s deadline is 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, February 6, 2017. This project was posted in the morning, California time, on Thursday, February 2, 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 0266: Vocal Cuts

Use segments of your own held vowel to make music.

Step 1: Set up a recording device to properly capture in detail your singing — more specifically, you holding a single vowel for an extended period of time.

Step 2: Practice holding a vowel for a long time, until your voice starts to give a little and the vowel disintegrates. Try “ah” and “oo” and “uh,” in particular. Maybe avoid “ee,” as it can be harsh. Don’t hurt yourself, don’t stress the end — just let it fade out naturally. This isn’t about pushing it until you have to breathe. It’s just about holding it until the vowel comes to a sense of closure.

Step 3: Listen back to the recording. Think about distinct segments within it, moments with differing qualities.

Step 4: Extract those segments and label them accordingly.

Step 5: Record a short piece of music consisting only of the segments from Step 4. You can cut and paste them, and certainly layer them. Try to not do anything to them — filters, effects, etc. — other than occasionally altering volume, as need be. A mono recording is best, too — no stereoscopic play.

Five More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: If you hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to include the project tag “disquiet0266” (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:

http://llllllll.co/t/vocal-cuts-disquiet-junto-project-0266/6350

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, February 6, 2017. This project was posted in the morning, California time, on Thursday, February 2, 2017.

Length: The length is up to you, but two to three minutes sounds about right.

Title/Tag: When posting your track, please include “disquiet0266” 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: 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:

More on this 266th weekly Disquiet Junto project, “Vocal Cuts: Use segments of your own held vowel to make music”:

https://disquiet.com/0266/

Beat Down(load)

A collection of early hip-hop instrumentals from Damu the Fudgemunk

January 31, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

<a href="http://damuthefudgemunk.bandcamp.com/album/how-it-should-sound-volume-1-2">How It Should Sound Volume 1 & 2 by Damu The Fudgemunk</a>

Damu the Fudgemunk is a remarkable hip-hop producer, his cuts balancing 4/4 listenability with tasty confections of off-kilter grace beats and textural expressivity. Now the Redefinition Records label has collected 27 Damu cuts from the 2000s to create *How It Should Sound Volume 1 & 2*, a two-LP (and downloadable) collection. Much of the music predates Damu’s 2007 debut album, *Travel at Your Own Pace*. The earliest piece, “Gestation,” from 2003, puts a loping beat below melting horns and a low-slung bass guitar. Like DJ Premier, Damu favors jazz samples truncated for head-nodding loops. Listening to him at his best is to appreciate the malleability of the source material, both in its unintended reutilization and the way the transformations bear the imprint of the appropriating creator.

It’s available at [damuthefudgemunk.bandcamp.com](https://damuthefudgemunk.bandcamp.com/album/how-it-should-sound-volume-1-2).