Sounds sourced from the real world and transformed into something either unreal or hyperreal serve as the foundation of a new compilation from the furthernoise.org netlabel. It is titled Explorations in Sound, Vol 3: Music of Sound and was curated by Roger Mills. Field recordings subjected here to digital modifications include rubber bands (yanked and flicked into numerous variations by Solange Kershaw, MP3), the electric hum of a lamppost (investigated for all its subtlety by Rebecca Mills), and the rush of traffic (modified to approach something melodic by Gail Priest, MP3). Those are just three of the album’s 11 tracks. Other participants include Thanos Chysakis, Robert Curgenven, Dithernoise, Iris Garrelfs & Douglas Benford, Derek Morton, Lea Piontek, John Kannenberg, and Phil Hargreaves. Get the full set as a Zip archive at furthernoise.org (ZIP).
Image of the Week: iKalimba
One of many new music-creation interfaces for Apple’s iPhone — an electronic kalimba, or African thumb piano:
Image by John Biehler (johnbiehler.com), via Peter Kirn‘s createdigitalmusic.com.
Quote of the Week: Tenori-Off
Recent Twitter post by Josh Santangelo (endquote.com, stimulant.io), a Seattle, Washington-based web developer:
Ordered a Tenori-On (tenori-onusa.com). Soon, there will be one more crappy amateur electronic musician in the world.
Original at twitter.com/endquote.
Joseba Irazoki’s Guitar Intrumental MP3s
When downloading Joseba Irazoki‘s new EP, Negurdin, from the con-v.org netlabel, if your time and bandwidth is limited, stick with the odd-numbered tracks. Irzaoki is one of the most interesting guitarists today working outside of traditional song form. The vocals on the album, to the extent there are any, appear on the even cuts as mournful, even bereft. The odd numbered tracks (MP3, MP3) tone down the vocals in favor of delicate instrumental drones with complex chordal interplay and tireless attention to texture and atmosphere. The material was recorded in the Basque region of Spain last autumn, and released last month. Get the full set at con-v.org. (Irazoki was the subject of another recent Disquiet Downstream entry, back in April: disquiet.com)
Henry Mancini Hip-Hop Remix MP3s
The aspiring hip-hop producers who populate the forums at cratekings.com work together for mutual musical benefit — and not only by commenting on each other’s work and pushing the collective to tweak each sample, hone each beat, and better craft each instrumental track that they post. They also collaborate, as on the 14-track compilation of remixes of themes by Hollywood screen-music legend Henry Mancini. The set, Crate Kings vs. Henry Mancini, is available as a series of individual tracks (ZIP) or as a single mix, put together by Rafferty, one of the tribute’s contributors (MP3). Participants include Figment, DJ Oaty Love, DJ Tru Blu, Olivertone, Kid Konnect, Illstylus, Pyro. More info at cratekings.com.