Charlie Hoistman: Skittery I (excerpt, 2011)
Charlie Hoistman: Skittery I (excerpt, 2011)
“Skittery 1″ is a short excerpt from a longer 25-minute electronic piece made with SuperCollider, my preferred noisemaking environment. I had made lots of pieces in a kind of Fripp & Eno style long-delay, sound-on-sound method, using steady tones with long attack and decay. I wanted to try a very different texture from this, so fed a sequence of some of these same tones through a short clipped envelope with an extremely short attack and release, which had the effect of chopping them up into short staccato blips. As I recorded the results I tweaked the note and delay length to alter the texture. Harmonically, the piece uses a pentatonic scale using Just Intonation.”
Programmed and recorded January 15, 2011
you can also find more of his music at a snow of butterflies and the soundbites podcast
Dan Kreiger (aka For Jerz): The Notorious B.I.G. & Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag: Just Playing/Dreams (NSFW)
Dan Kreiger (aka For Jerz): Just Playing (Dreams) ft. The Notorious B.I.G. & Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag (NSFW)
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The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” – Just Playing (Dreams) [pianist/pd: Dan Kreiger] by Dan Kreiger aka For Jerz
“One thing that I have always loved about The Notorious B.I.G. is the overall musicality and beauty of his voice. It is somehow simultaneously low and high in timbre, and also carries a passionate tone that I find indescribably gripping.
Because of his natural ownership of the meter, as well as the timeless quality of his voice, I believe that Biggie’s rapping invites different accompaniments. I decided play Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” in its entirety along with Biggie’s “Dreams (Just Playin).”
Perhaps the least organic aspect of this project was using ProTools. In other words, I close mic’ed a Boston acoustic grand piano, put on headphones, and played Joplin’s classic ragtime piece along with Biggie’s acapella vocal track.
John Coltrane once said that losing his place while playing with Thelonious Monk was like “falling down an empty elevator shaft.” Coltrane was commenting on the fact that Monk had a sense of time so unique and solid, that one must be completely engaged and immersed in the groove in order to follow along.
The challenge while creating this Joplin/Notorious B.I.G. piece was reminiscent of Coltrane’s quote. Biggie’s time is spot on and one wrong note or rhythmic error on my part meant “edit, undo, start over.” Therefore, I had to know Joplin’s piece well before I could play it with Biggie. BIG’s always in the pocket, and therefore I knew that as long as I stuck with him rhythmically and dynamically, then the music would hook up.”
http://www.dankreiger.de
http://www.dankreiger.com
soundcloud page
Douglas Leedy: Entropical Paradise (1968)
Douglas Leedy: Entropical Paradise (1968)
six sonic environments created on the moog synthesizer and buchla modular electronic music system
Tracklist (right click to download)
A Entropical Paradise I 20:14
B Entropical Paradise II 20:28
C White Landscape 20:00
D The Harmonarium 19:40
E Star Engine 21:00
F Doria 20:50
notes by douglas leedy
“entropical paradise is different in concept, execution and purpose from most recordings of music. in fact, it isn’t intended as music at all, but as sound, as acoustical environmental “programming” which should be heard but not necessarily listened to. (you may listen to it, however, as music, if you like.)
each record side is the result of a different “program” governing in a random way decisions of pitch, amplitude, duration and to a certain extent timbre, and each creates a different atmosphere when it is played. you may find some sides pleasant, others not, and your reaction may depend on external circumstances – the time of day, where you are, whose company you are in, and so on. you may play the records to your taste – in any order, loudly or softly, a whole side or just a part. if you want more than the twenty-or-so minutes per side and you have an automatic turntable, you may be able to set the mechanism to play one record again and again.
these audio environments, once programmed and set in motion on the moog and buchla electronic music systems, could theoretically run continuously but without repetition indefinitely. that is, the programs are non-repetitive since certain random characteristics have been introduced (owing to limitations of the equipment used, a small portion of several programs had to be realized manually.) there are many analogies in nature to this type of programming, and in fact it is the operation of nature after which these sound environments are patterned. one analogy is the breaking of waves upon an ocean shore: there is an endless succession of waves, and yet each wave is different, even unique. so constant repetition and constant change are one organic process.
entropy is what life and art are said to be continually battling – the inexorable tendency of forces everywhere in the universe, including those within our own bodies, to grow uniform, to come to rest, to achieve a state of equilibrium, to reach the final perfect calm of all things. a paradise, but for whom?
i won’t attempt to describe in words, other than the titles, any of the six environments, since experiencing them makes description unnecessary. two programs, however, were influenced by personal readings in science fiction: “the harmonarium” was suggested by the creatures of which kurt vonnegut, jr., wrote in “the sirens of titan,” creatures who lived in huge underground caverns on the planet mercury and fed upon that planet’s musical vibrations. the creation of “star engine” brought back to my mind c. s. lewis’s sci-fi novel, “out of the star planet.”
the sounds on these records were made by the moog synthesizer and the buchla modular electronic music system of the electronic music studio at the university of california, los angeles. because of the nature of this recording, no attempt has been made to eliminate or reduce electronic background noises such as hiss, hum and occasional unexpected transients. these are ordinarily considered a plague in recording, but here they function as an integral part of the recorded experience.
i am indebted to chris shelton and wadley j. brood for technical assistance, and to the same two and gerald strang, steve soomil, craig buhler, ken yapkowitz, dennis matthews and bob richardson for inspiration, encouragement, cooperation, and for the free sharing of ideas and enthusiasm that has taken place at the ucla electronic music studio. though they may be unaware of it, they have all contributed a great deal to these recordings.”
Thomas McIntosh and Emmanuel Maden (the user): Symphony #2 for Dot Matrix Printers (1999)
Thomas McIntosh and Emmanuel Maden (the user): Symphony #2 for Dot Matrix Printers (1999)
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“The Symphony for dot matrix printers is a work which transforms obsolete office technology into an instrument for musical performance. The Symphony focuses the listener’s attention on a nearly forgotten technology: the dot-matrix printer. Specifically, it employs the noises the printers make as the sole sound source for a musical composition. Leaving the constituent elements untouched, the process imposes a new order upon them, reorganizing the sounds along a musical structure. Dot matrix printers are thus turned into musical ‘instruments’, while a computer network system, typical of a contemporary office, is employed as the ‘orchestra’ used to play them. The orchestra is ‘conducted’ by a network server which reads from a composed ‘score’. Each of the printers plays from a different ‘part’ comprised of rhythms and pitches made up of letters of the alphabet, punctuation marks and other characters. [The User] uses ASCII textfiles to compose, orchestrate, and synchronize sonorous and densely textured, rhythmically-driven music. During the half hour performance, the sounds are amplified and broadcast over a sound system. The audience is also presented with live images of the sound sources: the motions of the mechanisms, rollers and gears are captured using miniature video cameras installed inside the printers and projected onto large screens.”
