Microtonal

Wanna know about the vast world of experimental and nonwestern harmonies? Look no further! This is a potpourri of all the music out there that bends the rules away from 12 equal notes per octave.

Message me if you find any tracks that should definitely be included!

For a YouTube-based playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_zQK5KSD4m0MAFWAM2ELgZzlRI7iYA5f

Xenharmonic & Microtonal

Rocket Socks (studio version) (2013)

The Stern Brocot Band -- Vassilis Angelis (drums), Anna Berry (vocals), Maxime Canelli (guitar), Simon Holland (fretless bass), Andy Milne (AXiS-49 -> Relayer -> The Viking), Simon Rolph (vocals). Engineered by Jim Hoyland. Mixed by Andy Milne.

Watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PQ3uUZhDXw

TiHYL (studio version) (2014)

A piece in the microtonal Porcupine temperament (period = 1196.91 cents, generator = 162.32 cents). The main chord progression loops in a way that is impossible in standard Western tunings like 12-TET. All parts composed and performed by Andrew Milne using the Lumatone and Exquis keyboards, the microtuning is done by RelayerForAll, and recorded/mixed in Ableton Live with Pianoteq, Surge, and Arturia synths.

This is an initial sketch to serve as a guide for live performance with a band.

Once Seen (initial sketch) (2024)

After an overnight computational search for perfectly balanced scales with lots of consonant intervals, I came across this beauty. This is a piece I wrote in that scale the next day.

The scale is: 0, 76.7, 261.4, 490.4, 642.3, 763.9, 967.9 1200.0 cents.

just a bunch of noodling really -- nothing too serious.

Catnip (2016)

This song will be part of the "Agnostic Depression Characteristic of the 21st Century Voice" collection.

You don’t insist upon your way
You don’t insist upon your way
You don’t have labored points to prove
You don’t steal goods in desperate times
You don’t take sides when they’re not there
You don’t treat petty tricks as art
You don’t shun truth and common sense    
You don’t insist upon your way
You don’t insist upon your way
You don’t raise your voice
You don’t raise your voice

Unusual Unreal Unbelievable You (11 - EDO)

A bit of musical gap, following birth of my daughter Astra in 2006 and immersing myself in research. This is the first microtonal piece of music I've written. It's in the magic temperament, and is based on a ten-tone well-formed scale with a couple of modulations. It was written and performed on a Thummer, and uses the Dynamic Tonality synth The Viking.

Magic Traveller (2008)

The Stern Brocot Band perform Yak Butter. Inspired by Tajik Yak herder melodies, this piece is in a microtonal temperament called porcupine. It is played by Vassilis Angelis (drums), Maxime Canelli (guitar), Simon Holland ('cello), Andrew Milne (QWERTY). The engineering and mixing was done by Jim Hoyland at the Music Research Studio of The Open University, UK. You can watch the video version of this piece at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNJr1YOOqF8.

Technical details: The tuning is period = 1196.9c, generator = 162.3c, scale = 1L, 6s MOS scale. Dynamic tonality synths were 2032 and TransFormSynth, played through Relayer (all software is freely available from www.dynamictonality.com).

Yak Butter (studio version) (2012)

from NANA WODORI - knowsur - album at Split Notes Microtonal Netlabel
http://split-notes.com/spnt004.php

SUNERU

HIKARU

HANERU

YOMU

Musically, I'm interested in the roiling interstices between the improvised and the composed, the unfamiliar and the familiar, the directed and the collaborated.

Catnip (2016)

Andrew J Milne