Disquiet Junto Project 0532: Other Means
The Assignment: Make music about something you find difficult or unproductive to talk about.

Step 1: Consider the following question: When is “talking” helpful or productive for you?

Step 2: Now consider things that talking about doesn’t seem to help, or perhaps even hinders, for you.

Step 3: Make music about the topic or concern that arose from Step 2.

Disquiet Junto Project 0532: Other Means

Click onto each one to see my detailed process notes

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

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2022 March April Juntos

A long overdue mix for a never-ending work in progress.
Guitars, bass, drum beats
Photo: bicycles fished up from the Seine river, Paris, 2020.


Shared as part o this junto challenge:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0532-other-means/

Torcimiento (disquiet0532)

Disquiet Junto Project 0532: Other Means
The Assignment: Make music about something you find difficult or unproductive to talk about.

Went for the 'unproductive' route. It's attempting to be a mediator, an interpreter, a compiler, a linker, with an alien species that talks in the language of a different species type. No Rosetta Stone here baby!

Track art - Creative Commons photo of Europa, and my closed mouth.

Thanks for listening. Hope you enjoy.

Alien Mediation (disquiet0532)

When is helpful not to talk?
Connecting to the natural world.

Early morning I walked up into the bush, with my clarinet, flute and a sound recorder. I pressed record and walked through the trees across the side of the valley to play clarinet from a distance, silenced my mind a aimed to let the trees speak through the clarinet. Then reversed positions with the recorder and tried to 'talk' with the birds.

More on this 532nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Other Means (The Assignment: Make music about something you find difficult or unproductive to talk about) — at: https://disquiet.com/0532/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0532-other-means/

If We Stop Talking To Ourselves We Can Hear The Others [disquiet0532]

In 1997, members of a religious cult called Heaven’s Gate believed that the passing of the Hale-Bopp comet would be followed by a spaceship. Convinced that the spaceship would take “true believers” aboard to the Afterlife, several members bought an expensive telescope to gain a better view of the comet. Within days, they requested a refund; when asked why they returned the telescope, they complained that the item was defective because it didn’t show the spaceship in the comet’s wake. Shortly thereafter, all 39 members of the cult killed themselves. 

Cognitive dissonance is a term coined by psychologist Leon Festinger to describe the state when a person’s beliefs and behavior contradict one another. It manifests itself in various ways, from what we eat to how we vote. The COVID-19 pandemic was a breeding ground for cognitive dissonance; political and cultural biases invaded factual discourse, impeding our capacity to solve a global condition whose reverberations persist to this day.

Suss Müsik sought to explore the vexatious nature of dissonance using DIY-glitch technologies and manipulated vocalizations. Sounds emitted from handmade devices were recorded to tape and “performed” using a hacked cassette Sony Walkman. The most interesting bits were sampled into loops and run through a grain synth engine. The vocal effect (which features a sample of psychologist Dr. Dan P. McAdams) recalls that of sound art pioneer Alvin Lucier, whose seminal piece I Am Sitting In A Room suggests a new form of musicality: spoken words verbalized and abstracted, the non-tonic becoming tonic and back again.

The piece is titled Festinger and was recorded live to 8-track. 

More on this 532nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Other Means (The Assignment: Make music about something you find difficult or unproductive to talk about) — at: https://disquiet.com/0532/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0532-other-means/

Festinger [Disquiet0532]

More on this 532nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Other Means (The Assignment: Make music about something you find difficult or unproductive to talk about) — at: https://disquiet.com/0532/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0532-other-means/

Dont Wanna Talk About It (disquiet0532)

Recorded & mixed Mar 11-13 2022 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

Guitar, no-input mixer, effects. 

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

This original version of "Anger Issues" was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0532: Other Means. Make music about something you find difficult or unproductive to talk about.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

This was originally released under the artist name "Heatsink."

Music For Shopping

Anger Issues (disquiet0532)

Recorded on a train between Boston and New York, 31 Mar 2022, between 11:15am and 11:30am by Jimmy Lem for Blister Pop Unlimited.  

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

This original version of "mice three mice mice" was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0535: Jigsaw Disjunction. Break a familiar melody into pieces and play it in a different sequence.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Process notes -
This was recorded using Xynthesizr by Phonolynth, Eventide Ultratap, and Supergroup Audiosave within Audiobus 3 on an iPad Mini 4.

Xynthesizr allows the use of randomization and custom scales - my scale here consisted of only the first five notes of a major scale - do-re-mi-fa-sol.

This track was originally released under the artist name "Code Abandon."

mice three mice mice (disquiet0535)

Choosing fewer musical elements can be like shedding skin.

Recorded, mixed, released Apr 07 2022. 

Synths, effects, skin. 

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

This original version of "Shedding Skin" was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0536: Metaphor Play. Take a favorite figure of speech as a  creative prompt.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Project discussion at llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0536-metaphor-play/

Originally released under the artist name of "Slant 7"

Shedding Skin (disquiet0536)

A short sound poem illustrating one sad sorry car horn surrounded by an uncaring and angry world. 

Synths, cars

Recorded, assembled, mixed and mastered 14-16 Apr 2022 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

This original version of "Apologetically Horny" was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0537: Penitent Honk.  Do sound design for “a missing gesture” of vehicular life.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0537-penitent-honk/

This track was originally released under the artist name "Modern Crochet."

Apologetically Horny (disquiet0537)

I woke up with a simple idea - do the OPPOSITE of what I am supposed to do and then just reverse the whole track. 

Recorded, mixed & mastered 21/22 Apr 2022 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

Synths, birds, lawnmowers & effects.

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

This original version of "Sleeping With A Grease" was submitted as part of ​Disquiet Junto Project 0538: Guided Decompression.  Get someone from tense to chill.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Project discussion on llllllll.co: 
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0538-guided-decompression/

This track was originally released under the artist name "Gossamer Horatio."

Sleeping With A Grease (disquiet0538)

My wrist was hurting as a result of poor sleeping position choices - hence the title.  Every sound here originated with either my breath or the wind and no wrists were harmed during the making of this musical number.  

Recorded, mixed & mastered 28 Apr 2022 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

This original version of "Gimme Some Wrist" was submitted as part of ​Disquiet Junto Project 0539: Control Breath. Let your slow breathing guide a piece of music.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Project discussion: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0539-control-breath/54827/4 

This track was originally released under the artist name "Melania Beta."

Gimme Some Wrist (disquiet0539)

My music asks listeners to be like dreamers uncovering hidden patterns in passing clouds. Support me @ patreon.com/blisterpop