4500

Composed/remixed of field recorded bits of CTM installations, Skalar and Uncanny Valleys of a Possible Future.

A quieter, calmer side of things; in reflection of seasonal deception, wherein January momentarily pretends that it’s March.

a spicy jam I made on the train.

Today was one of those days where I really just didn’t feel like doing it. I’m still waiting on stable internet at home, so I was backlogged in posting tracks from the previous two days (they were finished on schedule, but not posted). After all that, and a late evening at work, I had to force myself to get up and actually make something. I’m glad I did, but even with the light at the end of the tunnel, some days are still tricky.

An optimistic foil to yesterday’s. This one actually felt like it could use some cohesive rhythm, but I still haven’t quite figured out the tech of incorporating rigid rhythmic elements into the rig. It’s a pretty blatant violation of the timing rule, but it felt like the right length for the work.

All puss and no party like a pimply face

I’m stabilizing a bit after moving at the beginning of the month. Having the Block Party rig set up more permanently leads me to granulating more, and playing more with guitar. This one came out a good bit longer than 45 seconds, but it has a somewhat concise trajectory for a noise drone piece.

A wandering bass cycle fades in over pantomimed foghorns. The ships navigate through the fog. The birds squawk and peck. As the day ends, so another one beings.

Beats waiting in loops hidden in improvised recordings. A return to the Block Party setup leaves me with some features to be desired in the playability of loops department. But, where tools present a wall, a good strategy is often to turn into a different direction.

A digital cape, or a misspoken escape. An attempt to simultaneously maintain routine, and to break out of it.

The dough starts rough, and after a few rolls, falls over itself, as it slowly starts to congeal. This piece is a flakey pie crust, in the school of Rhys Chatham or Glenn Branca. Set in 3 time, its 14 tracks were blind-recorded with the through-line of “record the same thing each time”. Obviously some variations emerged from the performances, and some from improvisation, and willful neglect. The crust gains its life from imperfections.

An exercise in sparse, spacious composition, inspired by listening to the latest episode of the Norelco Mori podcast. Let the space breathe life into dead machines.

Another track that sounds like it could be the soundtrack of an underground Mario level.

Two-thirds through. Today a piece in the fun-a-day style of some friends in San Francisco that sounds like it could have come from a 90s three-piece with a dead member. ZZ Top Rage.

Lindsay got this Christmas nutcracker that we’ve named Fredrick. He’s still hanging out throughout the winter, so I thought I’d put together a theme song for him.

The sound of the void, somewhere in between planets.

I was aiming for something minimal and repetitive today, and I think I hit the mark. This sounds a bit like I’d imagine a film score for the scene when the character is stuck at a red light at 3 in the morning that takes 15 minutes to change.

Influenced equally by the quiet strumming in a slint song, and the heavy slowness of sleep. Made this on the correct day, but didn’t have internet to post it.

Today I gave myself an hour time limit (which I still overshot by 30 mins). The result is a two-part guitar song that I probably otherwise would have added an effects/atmosphere track to as well, but couldn’t swing it with the time constraint. It turned out to be a nice vehicle to experiment with the repetitive motifs in the higher register, and with chord voicing in the lower.

Today I felt compelled to revisit a chord progression that I’ve been playing with for a couple of years now. This recording is an experiment in accompaniment, though I’m not sure yet how successful I consider it. It’s an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach of sorts, with the main progression slowly introduced as a fade in over the first couple iterations. This definitely isn’t the final phase of this chord progression, but I do think it’s the first time I’ve released it anywhere.