Live Cinchel Mediated Guitar Performance

A house show in Chicago

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

This may not be the same Cinchel performance, a “house show,” I caught glimpse of on [Periscope](https://www.periscope.tv/cinchel/1lPJqqZOMvlJb) a few months back. That piece was softer, more practice-like, more as if we were peering over his shoulder as he worked through new and old techniques. This piece, nearly 13-minutes live, is commanding, as he pushes his electric guitar through (largely) off-screen pedals and software, milking chords for their densely layered, drone-cum-shoegaze intensity. An occasional glimpse of a shoulder and hair suggests this was, indeed, a performance with an audience. It’s authoritative stuff, and a great example of the way ambient/noise guitar — the piece regularly edges past the zen comfort zone of purely blissful music — is as much about the live processing as it is about handling the six-string.

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/) Video originally posted at the [youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36_2UHiHXK8&feature=em-subs_digest) channel of Seijin Lee. More from Cinchel, aka Jason Shanley of Chicago, Illinois, at [twitter.com/cinchel](https://twitter.com/cinchel), [cinchel.bandcamp.com](https://cinchel.bandcamp.com/), and [cinchel.com](http://cinchel.com/).

Disquiet Junto Project 0250: Soothing Sounds for Junto

Make some peaceful music for an infant child.

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

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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 was posted in the morning, California time, on Thursday, October 13, 2016, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, October 17, 2016.

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 0250: Soothing Sounds for Junto

Make some peaceful music for an infant child.

This project marks the 250th weekly occurrence of the Disquiet Junto series, and it is done as well to congratulate the Junto participants Antenna Research (aka Karin L. Kross and Bruce Levenstein) on the birth of their son.

Project Steps:

Step 1: Back in the early 1960s, Raymond Scott released a set of music for infants, titled Soothing Sounds for Baby. We’re going to produce music along those lines today. Feel free to revisit Scott’s great collection.

Step 2: Compose a piece of music intended for a newborn child, something peaceful as they first experience the world outside the womb.

Five More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: Per the instructions below, be sure to include the project tag “disquiet0250”(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. (Assuming you post it on SoundCloud, a search for the tag will help me construct the playlist.)

http://llllllll.co/t/soothing-sounds-disquiet-junto-project-0250/4927

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 was posted in the morning, California time, on Thursday, October 13, 2016, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, October 17, 2016.

Length: The length is up to you. Four minutes feels about right.

Title/Tag: When posting your track, please include “disquiet0250”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 250th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Soothing Sounds for Junto: Make some peaceful music for an infant child”— at:

https://disquiet.com/0250/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

http://llllllll.co/t/soothing-sounds-disquiet-junto-project-0250/4927

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Rattle photo lightly adapted from one by Daniel Goude, used thanks to a Creative Commons license:

flic.kr/p/5qoWZk

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

Ambient Turned Up to 11

A track from Maastricht-based Onar

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

There’s a sense with a lot of ambient music that if played loud it would change genres, that a simple alteration in amplitude would turn something meditative into something abrasive — which is to say, into something else entirely. That’s certainly true for some music that uses saw waves and white noise as a foundation. Hearing it at a high volume exaggerates the rough edges, brings out the harsh elements. But then there are tracks, like Onar’s “Let’s Try11,” that maintain a sense of calm, of peace, of gentleness, even as they’re turned up and up, which is a likely response when hearing this lovely piece. It’s built from swells, and swells upon swells, with an undercurrent of everyday ambience. The track’s title, purposefully or not, brings to mind Spinal Tap’s old joke about super-charged amplifiers. Turn this up to 11, and luxuriate in it.

Track originally posted at [soundcloud.com/onar](https://soundcloud.com/onar/lets-try11). Found via a repost by Dave Dorgan. Onar is based in Maastricht, Netherlands. More at [onar.bandcamp.com](https://onar.bandcamp.com/).

Disquiet Junto Project 0249: 80 Phases

Wish the minimalist composer Steve Reich a happy birthday.

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

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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.

This project was posted in the morning, California time, on Thursday, October 6, 2016, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, October 10, 2016.

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 0249: 80 Phases

Wish the minimalist composer Steve Reich a happy birthday.

Major thanks to Neil Stringfellow for proposing and helping to craft this project.

Project Steps:

Step 1: October 3 marked the 80th birthday of composer Steve Reich. Prepare to record a tribute to him.

Step 2: Select a short segment of sound or music that can be looped and, per Reich’s own technique, “phased.” Fortunately, the song “Happy Birthday” has entered the public domain. Consider using it.

Step 3: Take the segment from Step 2 and play it on repeat, layering the loop with slightly different timing to create a phasing effect. Play around with this, editing the loops until you have some successful or interesting sounds/accidents.

Step 4: Add some extra sounds or textures if you think the piece needs it.

Five More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: Per the instructions below, be sure to include the project tag “disquiet0249”(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. (Assuming you post it on SoundCloud, a search for the tag will help me construct the playlist.)

http://llllllll.co/t/happy-birthday-steve-reich-disquiet-junto-project-0249/

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 was posted in the morning, California time, on Thursday, October 6, 2016, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, October 10, 2016.

Length: The length is up to you. Four minutes feels about right.

Title/Tag: When posting your track, please include “disquiet0249”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 249th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Wish the minimalist composer Steve Reich a happy birthday”— at:

https://disquiet.com/0249/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

http://llllllll.co/t/happy-birthday-steve-reich-disquiet-junto-project-0249/

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Rain image by Rory MacLeod, used thanks to a Creative Commons license:

flic.kr/p/bVJFJb

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

A Beat Amid Voices

A new track from Oakland-based Marilyn McNeal

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

screen-shot-2016-10-04-at-7-59-12-pm

Marilyn McNeal’s new album, *Spacetime*, ranges from off-kilter techno (“Frere”) to folktronic blues (“Nice Home”) to downtempo beatcraft (“String Theory”), and in numerous other directions as well, often simultaneously. There are six tracks total, and each puts a unique spin on whatever realm of music it might feel closest to approximating. Perhaps the most significant treat is the track that, naturally, is most difficult to even begin to classify:

That track would be “Tower,” which loops several vocal lines — one deep and slow, one high-pitched and rapid, one ethereal and modulating this way and that — all of them echoing in and out of sync with each other. Through the post-verbal quilt runs this fascinating little beat, not much more than a terse click track, so innocuous it might not even be evident on initial listens. How that beat holds its own needle-drop composure amid the psychedelic syllabic cascades is just one of the piece’s many pleasures.

Track originally posted at [soundcloud.com/marilynmcneal](https://soundcloud.com/marilynmcneal/tower?in=marilynmcneal/sets/spacetime). More from McNeal, who is based in Oakland, California, at [marilynm.org](http://marilynm.org/) and [twitter.com/popularmagicsf](https://twitter.com/popularmagicsf).