This is the 12th comic in the ongoing series I’m doing with Hannes Pasqualini. See a full index of Frame by Frame comics at disquiet.com/fxf. More from Hannes at horizontalpitch.com and papernoise.net. We aim to post a new installment the first and third Monday of each month.
One of my favorite things about Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine), the art exhibit by Kara Walker currently at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is paying attention to the sound of all the gears of the various moving figures. If the Roberts Family Gallery, on the first floor of the museum, is relatively empty, you can hear them clearly.
At the end of each week, I usually collate a lightly edited collection of recent comments I’ve made on social media, which I think of as my public scratch pad. I find knowing I’ll revisit my posts to be a positive and mellowing influence on my social media activity. I mostly hang out on Mastodon (at post.lurk.org/@disquiet), and I’m also trying out a few others. And I generally take weekends off social media.
▰ Was not expecting someone to walk by outside playing harmonica as I worked, and now I’d like to hire this person to provide this as an occasional service
▰ RIP, legendary composer Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025), whose name always got me humming a certain Del the Funky Homosapien song.
▰ Just 11 weeks until the 700th consecutive weekly Disquiet Junto music community project. That’d be Thursday, May 29.
▰ The “horns” emoji is one I use all the time, pretty much daily. I only recently learned there is a distinct “metal” version, with the studded wrist band.
▰ Woke up, had breakfast, looked over yesterday’s notes, found this incomplete bit, a total head-scratcher. Feel free to complete it: “It’s funny, but when I left the note …”
▰ There’s something about ships in the distance on the water (Ocean Beach, San Francisco) that the lenses of my phone don’t quite do justice to, but I do, in the moment, get a serious Ralph McQuarrie vibe from them, like these are spaceships just returned from some other side of the universe, rather than what they are, which is flat large vessels carrying consumer goods from one coast to another.
▰ Latest “voice commands in the car” adventure, which I suppose makes this a “voice-to-text adventure”: The car recites aloud a text message from a friend. In reply, I say, “Rock and roll.” The car proceeds to tell me why it can’t access my music app.
▰ In case you’re wondering how AI tech support is going.
Full disclosure: the problem was eventually solved, but the process sure didn’t get off to a positive start, that’s for sure.
▰ You’re* definitely en route to cyborg if forgetting your** earbuds*** makes you**** feel unprepared, even incomplete.
* that is: I’m
** my
*** AirPods
**** me
▰ My favorite current backing track is that [vibrant clattery typing by countless humans in vast call center] sound on the various “Spam Likely” (for the record, I’ve never received a “Spam Likely” alert that turned out not to be spam) phone calls I get on a regular basis. And no, I never pick up; voicemail is my point of reference for this ongoing research project.
▰ Ton of reading underway, didn’t finish reading anything.
A new issue of This Week in Sound just went out to paid subscribers, with three contemplative (and contemporary) works for organ, featuring recent music from Maria W Horn and Mats Erlandsson (Sweden), Alyssa Aska (Austria), and Sarah Davachi (Canada / US).
These “Listening Post” issues of This Week in Sound are intended as thank yous to paid subscribers — a bonus round, supplementing free issues that feature a broader array of sound studies coverage. Each installment of the Listening Post is a mixtape of recommended ambient and adjacent audio.
These sound-studies highlights of the week originally appeared in the March 12, 2025, issue of the Disquiet.com weekly email newsletter, This Week in Sound. This Week in Sound is the best way I’ve found to process material I come across. Your support provides resources and encouragement. Most issues are free. A weekly annotated ambient-music mixtape is for paid subscribers. Thanks.
▰ NINJA STARS: Tokyo is home to a “silent theft” event — called “盗-TOH-” — “challenging participants to take home products without making a single sound.” Per coverage in Tokyo Weekender: “The rules are simple yet nerve-wracking: enter the venue, select items you want to take home, and leave without making any sound. The venue is equipped with over 200 highly sensitive microphones that catch even the slightest noise. Make a sound, and your ‘theft’ attempt is immediately terminated. Each participant or group has just 60 seconds to complete their silent mission. … What makes 盗-TOH- particularly fascinating is how it transforms the concept of ‘stealing’ into a legitimate, rule-bound challenge. The event’s disclaimer specifically notes that it ‘does not promote or condone criminal activities’ — rather, it creates a uniquely Japanese blend of tension, skill, and reward.”
▰ POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: The noise of construction may be diminishing thanks to technological advances, per Feargus O’Sullivan of Bloomberg: “A wave of electrification is sweeping the construction industry, fueled not just by environmental concerns and tightening pollution mandates but also by demands for machinery that is less disruptive than the diesel-powered standard. The transition from fossil fuel to electricity is notably less discussed for backhoes, wheel loaders and forklifts than it is for passenger vehicles, but it is one that could make a real difference in creating cleaner, quieter cities and a healthier environment for workers and residents alike. That in turn stands to deliver other positive effects, easing public resistance to noisy construction projects and potentially paving the way for less costly development.”
▰ DULY NOTED: The New York Times pays attention to an underknown, and under appreciated, role in the classical music industry, that of the music editor: “Like a page-turner for a pianist or a sheet music librarian, music editor is the kind of job that only the idiosyncratic structures of classical music can produce. It requires an extremely high aptitude with all aspects of notated music, an understanding of the intricate layers of this literate, visual tradition — not just of notes on a page, but also of how minute cosmetic changes to their appearance might fundamentally alter how those notes sound — and a strong working knowledge of all the strands of music-making that have sought to expand, critique and dismantle notational systems over the past century.”
▰ GRACE NOTES: (1) Bed Time: “If a teen under 16 is still using the app after 10PM, TikTok will interrupt their feed with a full-screen ‘wind down’ reminder, which will play ‘calming music to help teens relax and be mindful of the time.’” ▰ (2) Beak Up: There’s an illustrated guide to identifying how birds chatter. It’s by Becca Rowland and due out June 24. … (3) Music of Changes: And the book may eventually need an update, as research shows “birds can change their tunes as their populations evolve.” ▰ (4) Screen Time: Apparently pets like Flow, the animated movie that won the Oscar: “Matiss Kaza, who produced and co-wrote the film, said in an email that he suspects that it’s the real animal sounds used in production that attract the attention of our domesticated friends.” (5) Ear Ring:New AirPod Pros are likely three months away, reportedly promising heart rate monitoring and better noise cancellation — with cameras, perhaps, down the road in a future version. ▰ (6) Welcome Home: And Apple may be developing its own doorbell. ▰ And the next Apple mouse may take dictation. ▰ (7) Water World:“Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery about the origins of the human outer ear, revealing that this distinctive mammalian feature evolved from an unexpected source: fish gills.” ▰ (8) Like a Prayer: There’s discussion ongoing as to whether laws in India forbidding street preachers and loudspeakers are fighting noise pollution or religious activites.
▰ Credit Due: Thanks, Michael Rhode, for the music editor piece and the birdsong book, and Rich Pettus for the bird song research piece and the gill piece.
