If Jackson Pollock had used earbuds.
Cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt.
via instagram.com/dsqt
An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: Armadas of Hydrophones
On the sonic aspects of naval intelligence:
>”Basically, any instrument that can digitally eavesdrop on the military’s stuff is of concern, including seismometers, which measure vibrations so low most wouldn’t typically consider them sound.”
From an article by Matthew Braga at [theatlantic.com](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/listening-in-the-navy-is-tracking-ocean-sounds-collected-by-scientists/378630/?single_page=true), via the great 5 Intriguing Things email list by Alexis Madrigal, an editor at The Atlantic.
This entry cross-posted from the Disquiet linkblog project sound.tumblr.com.
Alternating Foreground and Background
A live performance by Italian musician Nicola Fornasari (aka Xu)
Attenuated strings, a low level static that resembles vinyl or cassette surface noise, extended near silences — the tension in the track “Droplets” off the Xu album *Circular Buffer* is between foreground and background. When the strings cut in, the minor distractions of that noisy substrate become almost inaudible, yet when the strings are on hold, or even quiet down a tad, that same near-silent texture comes fully into the fore. Xu is the Italian musician Nicola Fornasari.
Track originally posted for free download at [soundcloud.com/nicola-fornasari](https://soundcloud.com/nicola-fornasari/droplets-xu-circular-buffer). The full album is available for free (name your price, that is) at Fornasari’s [bandcamp.com](http://xu-substance.bandcamp.com/album/circular-buffer) account. More from Fornasari at [substance.it](http://www.substance.it/). (Found via a repost from [soundcloud.com/roamin](https://soundcloud.com/roamin)).
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: On Gyrosurveillance
That fly on the wall could be the vibration of your cellphone:
“In the age of surveillance paranoia, most smartphone users know better than to give a random app or website permission to use their device’s microphone. But researchers have found there’s another, little-considered sensor in modern phones that can also listen in on their conversations. And it doesn’t even need to ask.”
From an article by Andy Greenberg at wired.com.
This entry cross-posted from the Disquiet linkblog project sound.tumblr.com.
SOUND RESEARCH LOG: The “Metallic Accent” of the Vocoder
The New Yorker posted a short, 11-minute mini-documentary about the Vocoder. Laurie Anderson praises its corporate aesthetic. Frank Gentges discusses its military history. Dave Tompkins talks about Bell Labs technical innovations (noting its “metallic accent”), among other things. There’s music from Kraftwerk, Afrika Bambaataa, and Newcleus, whose Cozmo D is interviewed; somewhat dispirated, he says with a half shrug, “Some of the dopest shit we have came out of military technology.”
The documentary is the second in the newyorker.com‘s Object of Interest series.
This entry cross-posted from the Disquiet linkblog project sound.tumblr.com.