http://vimeo.com/105566322

What better way to keep us from meaningful, focused work than with “5 Irrelevant Facts That Will [insert exaggerated emotional response here]”? Each fact features catchy bullet points and amusing pictures to satisfy the transient attention span prevalent amongst millennials. Coincidentally, most content from these Internet posts and feeds are also transient in cultural relevance. These heart-felt stories, memes, or pop culture references fade into irrelevance within weeks of their inception as new topics vie for significance.

This composition, 5 More Irrelevant Facts, acts as a metaphor for all topical Internet content presented as a list of random, nonsensical bullet points designed to hold fleeting attentions. Instead of a logical structure following linear thought, this composition includes five brief sections, each seemingly random in relation to the preceding material.

Despite the initial appeal of online posts with a numbered list format, interest in the feed eventually fades. As such, the final section of this composition promptly retracts from the foreground and becomes a distant memory. Fortunately, the popularity of numbered lists may soon grow tiresome and the purpose of this composition will become as transitory as the subject it examines.

5 More Irrelevant Facts [click for video link]

Cast in three parts, each with three internal sections that expand or contract with each iteration. 

Read by David Murray

Led Askew (for solo double bass) [demo reading]

III. …and I approve this message

We all make mistakes.
We learn from them, correct them, and move on.
But some mistakes are too big to forget:
My opponent promised us privacy for citizens and transparency from the state.
Instead, the roles were reversed.

We all make mistakes.
We learn from them, correct them, and move on.
But don’t, no don’t forget about the sexting scandal with a young intern half his age.
Or his support for voter restrictions, claiming that racism was dead!

But let’s move on.
And what about his promises to bring our troops home?
But they are still overseas!

Let’s face facts.
We can’t afford my opponent’s mistakes.
We can’t afford four more years of blunder.
We can’t afford to turn a blind eye!
I am __ ! and I approve this message.

EXCURSUS III. ...and I approve this message

II. please see your doctor…

For years, I let Ulcerative colitis ruin my life.
My daughter’s soccer games, my weekly yoga class, I missed them all
because I let Ulcerative colitis ruin my life.
But now Minalax lets me run through life
without life running through me!

Side effects may include:
headaches, flashes of light, mild tendinitis,
as well as erectile dysfunction.
You may experience headaches, heartburn, hair loss,
constipation, high blood pressure,
headaches, heartburn, hair loss,
bleeding, swelling, sweating, itching, nausea, cancer,
spasms, seizures, jaundice, and in some rare cases death.

Stop taking Minalax and call your doctor right away
if you experience any dizziness, amnesia, suicidal thoughts,
frequent shortness of breath, dry mouth, chest pain, facial flushing…

For years, I let Ulcerative colitis ruin my life, don’t let it ruin yours.
Please see your doctor if you think Minalax might be right for you.

EXCURSUS II. please see your doctor...

I. …filmed in front of a live studio audience

Oh, don’t mind me!
My brother, please don’t mind me!
I just dropped by to catch the show.
My cable is out and I will die if I miss this episode!

Hold on there, sis. Hold on. What show is this one now?
The one where women compete for approval from one “ideal” man,
where adultery is commonplace, where love is currency,
where all are rejected but one “perfect” bride?
Hmm, ‘sure sounds like quality television to me!

My brother, oh, mon frère,
don’t be a smart ass and turn the tv on.

I did, sis. It is on.

It is on? But there’s no picture, no sound or tone.
There’s no picture, no sound, no show…only static.

EXCURSUS I. ...filmed in front of a live studio audience

https://vimeo.com/114844399

Aurum is a sonic miniature that compresses all personal semantic associations of "gold" into five short sections or syllables, with its central section being the longest and most introspective. 

Aurum [click for video link]

Created for an art exhibition entitled, A Theory of Human Motivation, in which Molly Garrett and Cody Kauhl use sound, animation and projection as a means to reinterpret Abraham Maslow’s thoughts to fit a contemporary and personal context.

Find Molly's work at:
http://molly-garrett.com

A Theory of Human Motivation - Soundtrack to an Art Exhibition

Commissioned by Ted King-Smith for the concert, Celestial Metamorphosis, as part of the 2015-16 ArtSounds concert series. Premiered at the Kansas City Art Institute on 9 February 2016. 

RAIN

Salvo

Nature untouched by modern society possesses a sincerity not rivaled in areas of human influence.  However, mechanized objects that lay motionless for ages begin to return to the soil from whence they came.  By breaking, cracking, or rusting, these machines now sound and behave quite differently than when first constructed.  Although many of these agents need to be activated via switch, button, or plug, the resulting sounds are now autonomous, both in form and function.  

Autonomous Agents is an electroacoustic composition in which recorded samples of mechanical objects are constructed and arranged in a manner that transforms the static sound textures of technology into flourishing gestures more akin to living organisms.  The machines in this composition vary in size from locomotive wheels to computer hard drives, from open reel tape recorders to car motors. The spinning motions inherit in the construction of these machines produce a natural relationship between the seemingly contrasting sounds and timbres. 

Autonomous Agents

Cody Kauhl is a digital media artist that pairs found sound and video with the intimacy of the human voice. His work has been performed internationally in collaboration with organizations including the International Computer Music Conference and the Toronto International Electroacoustic Symposium. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance and No Divide KC. Cody graduated in 2011 with a B.M. in Music Theory/Composition at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and received his M.M. in Music Composition at the University of Missouri – Kansas City in 2015.

Cody Kauhl

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