Ambientronika (0..o)

The Transient Hour

Ambient Xll

STYLUS : I VOW TO THEE, MY COUNTRY : THAXTED
A discredited theorem on celestial electromagnetism + astrologic mythology overlay before the Graduate Student Forum, Princeton 1953

Saturday 20 July 2013
Lucy and Vernon Wright Theater 
The University of Baltimore Student Center, Baltimore MD USA

Worlds in Collusion, a project of High Zero Foundation supported by The Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and University of Baltimore present a live performance from Washington, DC-based STYLUS turntable ensemble, using prepared vinyl recordings + live digital editing in a score informed by Morse code, musica universalis + failed research methodology.

.. -. /  .--- ..- .--. .. - . .-. /  .- -. -.. /  .. - ... /  -- --- --- -. ... /  .-- . /  .... .- ...- . /  .- /  ... -.-- ... - . -- /  -. --- - /  ..- -. .-.. .. -.- . /  - .... . /  ... --- .-.. .- .-. /  ..-. .- -- .. .-.. -.-- .-.-.- /  - .... . /  .--. .-.. .- -. . - /  .. ... /  -.-. --- .-.. -.. --..-- /  -.-- . - /  .. - ... /  --. .- ... . ... /  .- .-. . /  .. -. /  -- --- - .. --- -. .-.-.- /  .. - /  .- .--. .--. . .- .-. ... /  .--. .-. --- -... .- -... .-.. . /  - --- /  -- . /  - .... .- - /  .. - /  ... . -. -.. ... /  --- ..- - /  .-. .- -.. .. --- /  -. --- .. ... . ... /  .- ... /  -.. --- /  - .... . /  ... ..- -. /  .- -. -.. /  - .... . /  ... - .- .-. ... 

"In Jupiter and its moons we have a system not unlike the solar family. The planet is cold, yet its gases are in motion. It appears probable to me that it sends out radio noises as do the sun and the stars." Immanuel Velikovsky

I VOW TO THEE, MY COUNTRY : THAXTED uses the Morse code transcription of Immanuel Velikovsky's comments on radio noises from Jupiter as notation for each turntable part, which is then played staccato + legato on vintage Classical recordings. The records are variously inscribed with block letters spelling C-O-L-L-I-D-E + J-U-P-I-T-E-R. Radio wave drones, Morse code, MIDI piano + live mixing/effects are also interspersed with the punctuated vinyl outbursts as turntablism roles/responsibilities shift between the players, in subtle mimicry of the transitions + transferences of radiographic energy. The piece closes with a melancholy epilogue for transistor radios, piano + cello.

STYLUS performs with multiple vintage classroom turntables as their instruments, using locked-groove + prepared vinyl to create a sound that is minimalist, pulse-like + hypnotic, yet also dynamic + punctuated. 

STYLUS participants for this performance: JS Adams (artistic director); Jeff Bagato; Michael Denny; Chester Hawkins; Guillermo Pizarro (live mixing + loops); Gary Rouzer + Jeff Surak. 

STYLUS warmly embraces the modern compositional elements of turntablism + the contemporary sound-art of Christian Marclay + Philip Jeck. Other influences include such historic constructs as the Futurist manifesto L'arte dei Rumori, Dadaism, Automatism + Russian Constructivism along with Louis Braille, Samuel F.B. Morse, Milan Knížák's Broken Music, the graphic scores of Cornelius Cardew + Fluxus performance, plus the prepared instrumentation + happenstance of John Cage.

WEB: www.stylus.adams-dress.com

THANKS! Chris Videll (audio recording); Raquel Leone (photograph); Jeff Carey : High Zero Foundation (Baltimore MD); Sonic Circuits (Washington DC); James L. Roth (MIDI); Doug Poplin : BLK w/BEAR + Bach Sinfonia (cello); H. Paul Moon : Zen Violence Films

© + ℗ 2013 Trace Music

STYLUS : I VOW TO THEE, MY COUNTRY : THAXTED : LIVE @ WORLDS IN COLLUSION

Marsen Jules-(02) Während

Originally conceived as a Royal Ballet-commissioned collaboration between composer Max Richter, choreographer Wayne McGregor and artist Julian Opie, Max Richter’s gorgeous score to ‘infra’ is deservedly given life of its own in this album-length release from FatCat’s instrumental/orchestral imprint 130701 Records.

The initial setting for ‘infra’ was as a ballet - written in autumn 2008 and premiered in November of the same year at The Royal Opera House in London – although here Richter’s score is given the full scope of a standalone new album. Expanded and extended from the original piece, ‘infra’ comprises music written for piano, electronics and string quintet, including the full performance score as well as material that has subsequently developed from the construction of the album – more a continued reference to the ballet than as a “studio album” in the strictest sense. The composition resonates with Max’s characteristic musical voice – majestic, involved textures; fluent and sweeping melodies; an enigmatic and inherently intellectual understanding of harmonic complexities that compels and mesmerizes.

Richter’s work on the ballet came initially from McGregor’s invitiation, a request for 25 minutes of music for his piece, inspired by T.S. Elliot’s ‘The Wasteland’ and named after the Latin term for ‘below’. This eventually became more collaborative as the project developed – Wayne would ask for Max to extend or alter certain passages of music in accordance with his own amendments to his choreography and concept, whilst logging the whole process for a BBC documentary (broadcast, along with the ballet in full, on BBC2 in November 2008). The dance performance was backed with digital images created by Julian Opie – observational scenes of street life, haunting and curiously balletic despite being of the everyday – and Max’s score is an appropriately close reference to the traveling theme:

“I started thinking about making a piece on the theme of journeys. Like a road movie. Or a traveler’s notebook. Or like the second unit in a film - when the scene has been played, and the image cuts away to the landscape going by. This started me thinking about Schubert's devastating and haunting "Winterreise" (Winter Journey), so I used some melodic material from Schubert as a found object in parts of my new piece.“

The recording of ‘infra’ took place in one day at London’s AIR Studios – recorded onto 2” tape, engineered by Nick Wollage and overseen by Max - before a return to the mixing studio (Max’s StudioKino and Trixx in Berlin) for Max’s typically intricate and lengthy process of crafting completed pieces from the recordings.

Infra

Journey 3

Another mix for you.
This one was done for Richard S. Boswell's "Silence and Light" exhibition at Magnet in San Francisco in 2012.  The sounds used were inspired by Richard's paintings of the time.  His painting has continued to evolve since this show, but to me these sounds still resonate with his work. 

I took some liberties with "edits" on this mix, as well....to enhance the ethereal.

The image attached is by the artist, and if memory serves was one of the images in the show.  It's the only piece of his early work I have digitally, so I'm hoping the time period is accurate.

Here's a link to his current work:
www.richard-s-boswell.com

"Silence and Light"

STYLUS : OUR SIGNATURES BLEW UP IN SPACE : Live @ Rhizome DC
JS Adams : turntable + electronics / score + backing track
Christopher Mathews-Larsen : turntable + recording
Patrick Gillis : turntable
Beau Finley : turntable + backing track

STYLUS : OUR SIGNATURES BLEW UP IN SPACE : 22 DEC 2019

A Retrospective Collection of Sensitive Instrumentals from Scandinavia.

Sailboats on a lake in autumn. Late summer and the coming of the winter in the air. Music Video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eZFxKAGS6Z0



Pearl Track 01

Second track off of my new album, LIVING MEMORY.

Download the whole album here:

https://jasonamullinax.bandcamp.com/album/living-memory

Jason Mullinax- modular synths, microgranny, woodblock, effects

Nicholas Natalie- woodwinds

Rich O'Meara- percussion, additional synth

Everything Is Cancelled

Artist: GES
Album: Anthology of American Pop Music
Label#: faitiche22
Format: LP/DL
Release: Oct 23rd 2020

Six great pop standards remembered: five pop songs are dissected by sampler, stretched, compressed, and re-collaged. In this way, their identity is lost. What remains is a vague concreteness: flashes of déjà vu and remote echoes that evoke the original.
 
GES (Gesellschaft zur Emanzipation des Samples)
Active members:	Helmut Schmidt, Jan Jelinek
Founded: 2009
Headquarters: Federal Court of Justice, Karlsruhe, Germany

GES Glossary (excerpts):

- Acoustic Surveillance Series
A 7-inch vinyl record series curated by GES focussing on historical methods of acoustic surveillance. Each record introduces a surveillance system from the past. Starting with Uguisubari in 2017, the series will continue with the release of Oreccio di Dionysio in 2021. GES is open to further suggestions on this subject.

- Circulations
What happens to copyright claims when music from a passing car is captured in a street recording? Is it legal to use this recording freely or is it necessary to obtain licensing rights? Circulations re-enacts this recording situation: audio players are placed in public spaces, where they reproduce the desired sample material. The acoustically choreographed space is then recorded, creating a field recording in which everyday noises circulate together with seemingly incidental music.

- Emancipation of Sampling
Fuelled by its criminalization, the act of sampling existing recordings forfeited some of its artistic prestige (see Sampling). GES wishes to rehabilitate and re-emancipate the practice of sampling as a form of art in its own right. Strategy: 1. Name samples and sources explicitly. 2. Choose samples that are as popular and as recognizable as possible (Beatles, Carpenters, etc.). 3. The editing and manipulation of the sample must not compromise its recognizability (negotiable). 4. Use as many samples as possible. 5. Always name more sample sources than were actually used in the composition. 

- Field Recording
A compositional practice widely used in sound art and ethnomusicology that involves the recording of natural acoustical phenomena. Two additional requirements are usually imposed: The recording process should take place outside a studio environment, i.e. outdoors. And the person recording does not generate any of the acoustic material him/herself. GES expands this definition by introducing the concept of choreographed public space (see Circulations).

- Gambling
An acoustic event favoured by GES, already used in numerous sound collages (must take place in public). The most popular option is thimblerig, a cup and ball gambling game commonly played in the street. Compositional instruction by GES: Place an audio playback device in the proximity of a thimblerigger. Play works for orchestra (by Debussy or Mahler). Move slowly towards the gamblers with a microphone.

- Kraftwerk
The German band founded by electropop musicians Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter (a.k.a. Die Prozessoren) is the natural enemy of GES. Protected by computer-generated avatars, Kraftwerk operates a quote-hostile cultural hegemony. Their strategy: Install a special brand in the collective consciousness by means of a sophisticated system of quotations and references that may in turn not be quoted by anyone else. Other bands with such delusions of omnipotence: U2, Metallica.

- Sampling
Compositional practice whereby recorded music is fragmented, turned into sound collages and transferred into different contexts of meaning. Since the advent of affordable sampling technology in the 1990s, the music industry has been trying to criminalize and/or promote the practice. Both strategies are driven by the same principle: Profit.

GES: IOnlyCloseEyesToYou

Playing is the debut release from Busy Microbes, a collaborative project between Nick Edwards (Ekoplekz) and Katie English (Isnaj Dui).   Although they have never met in real life, both artists are fans of each other’s work and after an ill-fated first attempt at recording together a few years ago, Playing came together refreshingly easily during the UK-wide lockdown of Summer 2020.  

Using an array of synths, effects pedals and acoustic instruments, the duo built up the tracks by pinging ideas back and forth, reacting to each other’s additions.  Reflecting the range of the two artists, the collection is deliberately varied and ranges from squelchy electro to unsettling ambience.

Release date: November 16th 2020
Format: CDr + Digital

RC88 Busy Microbes - Playing (album sampler)

36 Of 365

Second Day Withdrawn  - An Afternoon Fare

One Mile Either Way

A Time Not Long Ago  (Hold Sway)

“Music from artists who have inspired and consoled me during this strange time, who have enabled me to travel without moving, and find a sense of connection through sound. In all these tracks I feel a sense of opening into something that transcends boundaries.” - Julia Kent (@julia-kent).

Track listing:

@sarahdavachi - Perfumes III
Okkyung Lee - The Yellow Porcelain Bird
@elizabethjoankelly - Beau Travail
@stephanie-merchak - That December Night When Everything Changed and an Ocean Turned to Dust
@galyabisengalieva - Kantubek
@fatima-al-qadiri - Breach
@jlinnarlei - Kundalini
Nesa - Buried P. 3 - 2017 edition
@nnavonausswolff - Sacro Bosco

Accompanying image is "variations" on East Broadway by Julia.

Free City Radio broadcasts every Wednesday on @radiockut in Montreal at 90.3fm and is hosted by Stefan @spirodon Christoff.

Julia Kent - Free city radio mix

BLK w/ BEAR advocates a communications aesthetic wherein audio/visuals are distilled to key base components through image pixelation and sound/time manipulation. We celebrate the physical manifestation of misfired communications, broken language and broadcast interference. We champion delay and decay. We champion audio bleed, field recordings and the deconstructed surface noise of altered vinyl recordings. We herald cyclical repetitions and misappropriated realignments, intentional over-processing, signal saturation and digital malfeasance, audio pranksterism. Through aggressive enlargement and recontextualization of the mundane and every-day we hope to usher listeners and viewers into a deeper introspective relationship with previously familiar – now unstable – environs.

Trace Recordings artists BLK w/ BEAR have garnered glowing reviews and international airplay for the thought-provoking and moving 'Wish for a World Without Hurt' collaboration with London's ROTHKO and the limited edition 'fahrenheit_drafts' 12-inch single. Audio has accompanied film/video projects in NYC and London and selections from 'Wish for a World' were used in the Discovery Channel's poignant 'The Flight that Fought Back' program. The four-track 'Version 3' extended play is available for download at the Long Division with Remainders '14 versions of the same EP' project site and now available in a box set collection with all fourteen versions plus an additional digital-download outtakes EP including a 21-minute remix of BLK w/ BEAR's Version 001. Additional material has been released through Little Cracked Rabbit, Public Record, and Sonic Circuits - District of Noise.

Addition projects :: THAT / BLK TAG / STYLUS / the sloth ensemble / Littlebytes / Halfbytes / THAT CLOUD ... more.

(( x__o)) Hy! .·´¯'·.¸¸// [o_Ó] .·´¯'·.¸¸ // [o_Ó] ·.¸¸.·´¯'·.// [o_Ó] .·´¯'·.¸¸
 日本を愛する世界のツイッター達が、たった１週間で作り上 Anarchist Post-materialist Existentialist

STYLUS : I VOW TO THEE, MY COUNTRY : THAXTED : LIVE @ WORLDS IN COLLUSION

BLKwBEAR

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