Disquiet – Page 679 – Listening to culture. Playing with audio. Sounding out technology. Composing in code.

The Sinking of the Titanic (Live, 2017)

Performed March 26 at the Big Ears Festival by composer Gavin Bryars' ensemble

April 2, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Gavin Bryars’ *Sinking of the Titanic* was the very first release on Brian Eno’s mid-1970s record label, Obscure Records. The album, from 1975, also included “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet,” which became better known in the subsequent decades than the title composition, in part perhaps because its structure — a minimalist work built on a fragment of a homeless man’s singing — bears resemblance to the decade older “It’s Gonna Rain” by Steve Reich, and later certainly because of a celebrity reworking when Bryars re-recorded it with Tom Waits performing the vocal. *Sinking of the Titanic* is a very different work from “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.” It’s a slow-motion chamber performance in which the ensemble performs an act of veritable theater, the piece intended to suggest the sound of a band playing as the ship goes down. This three-part video was apparently shot at the recent Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 26, 2017, a Sunday. The videos are from the excellent account of [Seijin Lee](https://www.youtube.com/user/seijinlee), who has access to an incredible and ever expanding catalog of live shows. I created the little playlist so the three parts can be easily viewed in sequence.

Playlist of three videos is at [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAgCxRbmR1MJffPwP4luULAVbBJrgwiUx). More on the event at
[bigearsfestival.com](http://lineup.bigearsfestival.com/band/the-sinking-of-the-titanic-). More from Bryars at [gavinbryars.com](http://www.gavinbryars.com/).

What Sound Looks Like

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt

April 2, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Evidence of last week’s trip to Florida. I eavesdropped on the birdwatchers, paying special attention to how birdcalls helped them in their identification practice. Even this second-hand, scattershot, half-heard information woke me up to the environment.

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt.

Disquiet Junto Project 0274: Broken Sound

The Assignment: Record a piece of music in the genre called "broken sound."

March 30, 2017March 31, 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, April 3, 2017. This project was posted in the morning, California time, on Thursday, March 30, 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 0274: Broken Sound

The Assignment: Record a piece of music in the genre called “broken sound.”

Step 1: Imagine there is a genre called “broken sound.” Not “broken beats,” not “sound art,” but “broken sound.”

Step 2: Imagine what might characterize the “broken sound” genre.

Step 3: Create an original piece of music in the genre called “broken sound.”

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 “disquiet0274” (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/the-genre-of-broken-sound-disquiet-junto-project-0274/

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, April 3, 2017. This project was posted in the morning, California time, on Thursday, March 30, 2017.

Length: The length is entirely up to the participant.

Title/Tag: When posting your track, please include “disquiet0274″ 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, as well as the identity of the source track that yours accompanies:

More on this 274th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Broken Sound: Record a piece of music in the genre called ‘broken sound’”— at:

https://disquiet.com/0274/

What Sound Looks Like

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt

March 29, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Doorbells are generally buttons to be pushed, rarely if ever pulled. Sometimes these buttons are illuminated, though generally not. The ones that are illuminated don’t merely help guide the visitor’s finger; they also surface the fact of the electricity that mediates the interaction: that the bell, like the light, is the result of the AC power of the building into which entrance is being requested. Doorbells replaced knockers, the non-electrified notification system of banging a small hard object connected to the door by a hinge. Not all non-electric door-announcement systems are knockers, however. Some ring bells as the result of a spin, bringing to mind bicycle bells. The question is when these spun doorbells originated. Are they a mechanical means to accomplish a post-electric entry sound, or are they a pre-electric premonition of the now common doorbell?

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt.

The Drone Comes in Phases

A piece by Newcastle Upon Tyne's Dominic Dixon

March 29, 2017March 29, 2017 / By Marc Weidenbaum

At 25 minutes in length, “Phasic” by Dominic Dixon (aka talkingmakesnosense) of
Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K., might feel like hours of life on hold — or it might seem like a few minutes cycled through quickly. The piece uses dense, rich drones that waver in and out of sync —Â hence the track’s title. The phasing renders a slow tonal mantra, a downtempo head-nodder of an organ recital, a sweeping envelope of miasma synthesis. Depending on your point of view, it is majestic or intimate.

Track originally posted at [soundcloud.com/tmns](https://soundcloud.com/tmns/phasic). More from Dixon at [talkingmakesnosense.com](http://www.talkingmakesnosense.com/) and [twitter.com/talkingnosense](https://twitter.com/talkingnosense).