sound.tumblr.com

The Disquiet.com satellite linkblog about sound in the media landscape

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Been getting my [sound.tumblr.com](http://sound.tumblr.com) account going again. It’s the linkblog I produce to correlate with the course on sound in the media landscape that I teach at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Broadly speaking it’s about the sounds of brands and the brands of sounds. It’s about audio and commerce.

Recent posts include:

â—¼ [a new company founded by Emma Clarke](http://sound.tumblr.com/post/54939454729/second-act-for-former-voice-of-the-london-tube), the former voice of the London Underground;

â—¼ [a pair](http://www.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.com/) of [sound-related promotions](http://www.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.com/) that are part of Coke’s “Ahh Effect”campaign (mentioned here earlier this week);

â—¼ a report on [the persistence of radio](http://sound.tumblr.com/post/54932478876/93-percent-of-americans-adults-listen-to-radio-each) (some 93 percent of adult Americans reportedly listen to radio every week);

â—¼ a [generative sound promotion](http://sound.tumblr.com/post/54931697182/the-headphone-manufacturer-aiaiai-turns-an) by AIAIAI headphones (developed with Yuri Suzuki; see video above);

â—¼ [“a special window for public transportation that uses a transmitter to silently release high-frequency oscillations that your brain will convert into sound”](http://sound.tumblr.com/post/54930059712/ads-get-expressway-to-yr-skull-a-special-window) (see video below);

â—¼ and [Jay-Z’s data-mining app](http://sound.tumblr.com/post/54925466577/why-does-jay-z-need-your-gps-location).

A Creative Commons Discussion (MP3)

David Nemeth (Acts of Silence) interviewed by Robert Nunnally

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

**Robert Nunnally**, in the fourth episode of his podcast, has interviewed **David Nemeth**, a prolific annotator/commenter in the more exploratory realms of Creative Commons music. Nemeth’s [actsofsilence.com](http://www.actsofsilence.com/) is a must-read for reviews of new releases, and the site is a key resource thanks to its massive [directory of netlabels](http://www.actsofsilence.com/netlabels/), over 500 as of its most recent update. Nemeth also runs [theeasypace.com](http://www.theeasypace.com/), which is, despite its title, a more rapidly paced survey of recent releases.

Following a brief introduction, during which Nunnally talks about the increasing role of Creative Commons licenses in film, Nemeth speaks at length about his own self-education about electronic music, the benefits and challenges of the approach, and a variety of other related topics. The interview was accomplished in an unusual manner. It isn’t a conversation recorded live. It is Nemeth recording himself responding to written questions he received from Nunnally. The absence of Nunnally’s questions suggests the structure of an Errol Morris documentary. And there is an interesting transition each time a new segment of the Q&A begins, because the background sound can be heard to shift. The result brings to mind short black-screen title cards in a feature-length film:

Graham Wafercast Episode 4, David Nemeth Interview, host: Robert Nunnally (Gurdonark) by Gurdonark on Mixcloud

It’s downloadable from Nunnally’s [box.com](https://www.box.com/s/x7y6acogb8oftz5hzulx) account. Track originally posted for free streaming at [mixcloud.com/gurdonark](http://www.mixcloud.com/gurdonark/graham-wafercast-episode-4-david-nemeth-interview-host-robert-nunnally-gurdonark/). More from Gurdonark/Nunnally at [gurdonark.blogspot.com](http://gurdonark.blogspot.com/).

Cues: 1,100 Tracks, DG Sublabel, Amon/Kronos

Plus: an iOS magazine, sounds of Coke bottles, more

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

â—¼ ***Random Access:*** **Jos Smolders**, back in the golden age of the compact disc, 1994, released *Music for CD Player*, a collection of 99 short tracks intended for the listener to sequence. He’s now released a sequel in the form of an [1,100-track album, titled *Music for FLAC Player*](). Yes, that is 1,100 tracks, the overwhelming majority of which are one second or less in length, and all but 30 or so of which are under 45 seconds:

Writes Smolders of the project:

>The [Music for CD Player] disc contained 99 tracks. The original plan, however, was to have many more tracks. However CD Redbook protocol allowed a maximum number of 99 tracks, with a minimum length of 3 seconds. With the Internet as a platform these limitations are gone. The number of tracks for an online album are limitless and the length of the tracks can be near zero.

â—¼ ***Recomposing DG:*** The esteemed classical label Deutsche Grammophon is launching a new label called Panorama (via [classical-music.com](http://www.classical-music.com/news/deutsche-grammophon-launches-%E2%80%98panorama%E2%80%99-crossover-label)). The first Panorama album will be from the highly collaborative **Schiller** (aka **Christopher von Deylen**). DG had previously released a series of genre-pushing “recomposed” albums including **Max Richter**’s reworking of **Vivaldi**’s *Four Seasons* and **Matthew Herbert**’s reworking of **Mahler**’s 10th Symphony.

â—¼ ***Amon v Kronos:*** “V838 Monocerotis” is the title of a new piece **Kronos Quartet** has
commissioned from **Amon Tobin** as part of the ensemble’s 40th-anniversary
celebration: [amontobin.com](), [kronosquartet.org]().

â—¼ ***iOS Care:*** [*I Care if You Listen*]() is a new iOS
multimedia magazine about contemporary (i.e. classical) music. The initial issue features
interviews with composers **Clint Mansell** and **Arlene Sierra**.

â—¼ ***Sonic Footnotes:*** Ora, the occasional broadcast/podcast by **Daniela Cascella** and **Salomé Voegelin**
about “listening and writing,” has followed up its [debut episode]() with a [reading list](), featuring the hosts’ own books and titles by **Gert Jonke**, **W.H Auden**, and **Clifford Geertz**, among others.

â—¼ ***Donut Hole:*** **Jordan Ferguson** is, like me, writing a book for the 33 1/3 series. Like me, he is focused on something that is fairly unusual for the series, in that both our books are about albums that have little in the way of words, let alone of lyrics. My book-in-progress is on Aphex Twin’s *Selected Ambient Works Volume II*. Ferguson’s is about **J Dilla**’s *Donuts*. And [like me](http://333sound.com/2012/12/04/the-33-13-author-qa-marc-weidenbaum/), he submitted to an interview for the publisher’s website. But, being a smart guy, he did his as a (http://333sound.com/2013/07/01/the-33-13-author-qa-jordan-ferguson/):

Also, **Evie Nagy** (formerly of Rolling Stone, now at Billboard) has been [interviewed](http://333sound.com/2013/06/25/the-33-13-author-qa-evie-nagy/) about her 33 1/3 book, which will focus on **Devo**’s *Freedom of Choice*.

â—¼ ***Sounds of Brands:*** Coca-Cola employed **Kurt Hugo Schneider** to [milk sounds of its cans and bottles](http://www.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.com/) to make music. From [Adweek’s coverage](http://www.adweek.com/videowatch/coke-bottles-and-cans-serve-instruments-promotional-music-video-150986): “The recording obviously has some studio bells and whistles layered on it, but Adweek was assured that Schneider is truly playing the Coke ‘instruments.'” In another sound-related entry in the Coke series, you’re invited to see how long you can listen to [someone singing “ah.”](http://www.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.com/)

A Week on Rdio

Genre blackout, metadata funhouse, playlist generation

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

20130707-rdioI’ve been using Rdio.com for about a week now, and I’m enjoying it. For $4.99 a month, it’s certainly an affordable option. The sound quality has been fine (on phone via T-Mobile, and via wifi on a Nexus 7 in the kitchen, as well as on a laptop). The two major selling points are access to spur-of-the-moment selections — especially for some ancient rock’n’roll, like the Who or the Kinks — and quick listens through current releases, like Sigur Rós, Kanye West, or the revived Black Sabbath.

In terms of catalog, Rdio is far from the Borgesian universal library these services are sometimes likened to. A writer at the New York Times said, back in March, [“I rarely come across an instance when Rdio can’t supply a song I’m looking for,”](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/between-rdio-and-spotify-im-with-team-rdio/) but that may say more about the relative breadth of the writer’s taste than it does about the depth of Rdio’s holdings. There are large, bewildering holes in the discographies of prominent electronic artists — plenty of Aphex Twin albums, for example, but almost none of the myriad EPs and singles. There are just six full-lengths from DJ Krush, and just eight from Keith Fullerton Whitman, both of whom are more prolific than those numbers suggest. Then again, from Grouper there are 11, which is nearly complete, and the Tim Hecker selection is also strong. The main gripe is Rdio’s album-centric orientation, the result of which, in hip-hop and r&b, means very little in the way of instrumental tracks. In electronic music, the limited presence of singles has the unfortunate result of dimishing the connections between artists that are usually highlighted in the logrolling we call remixes.

The absence of genre on Rdio is strange, at once confusing and freeing. Tracks are devoid of the standard categorizations like “rock” or “country” or “jazz.” It’s healthy, in that you stop wondering whether album *X* is really genre Y, and just listen — that said, the absence of genre and tags really limits discovery and filtering options.

Speaking of context, the site is woefully limited in that regard. There are no liner notes, and what track metadata is present frequently provides a funhouse-mirror view of an album’s history: Photek’s *The Hidden Camera* was released in 1996, but is listed on Rdio as a March 2003 release (Spotify has the year correct); Prince’s *Dirty Mind* is listed as 1984, when it was 1980 (again, Spotify has it correct).

In any case, I’m enjoying Rdio so far, and have started some playlists intended for general consumption (paralleling but not overlapping much with the [“Carousels” I launched on SoundCloud](https://disquiet.com/2013/06/04/introducing-disquiet-carousels/)). Right now there are two: [“Disquiet / Ambient”](http://rd.io/x/QX4MFjMfUlY/) and [“Disquiet / Beats.”](http://rd.io/x/QX4MFjMdZEg/)

Tuonela Reports from Whoville (MP3)

A track of dust

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

So little appears to occur in the drone that is **Tuonela**’s “Shadow of a Shadow” that you might remove your earbuds to hear what is leaking through from the world at large. You’ll be using earbuds, or headphones, because the little that is occurring is so static — in both the primary meanings of the term, the one invoking motion and the other noise — that it requires attention. After removing your earbuds, you will recognize that nothing from the world at large resembles the thin hiss of “Shadow of a Shadow,” and so you will return to it, like Horton the Elephant attentively attending to a bit of dust.

Track originally posted for free download at [soundcloud.com/tuonela-1](https://soundcloud.com/tuonela-1/shadow-of-a-shadow). More from Tuonela, who lives in Australia, at [tuonela.bandcamp.com](http://tuonela.bandcamp.com/)