a long n dark one with some strange notes that snuck in where they had no business being, but worth the payoff when i finally find that BEAT PATTERN YO!!!!! that hits your ear on the minor 2nd interval about 15 min in and then resolves...that's rock n roll. i could play only that for all eternity into the afterlife

the Bombarde stop comes out around 12:00 for a shortcut to the fuller sound expression

tuning: Werckmeister 3

image: "electrical musical instrument" patent filed by L. Hammond, 1934 (full patent here https://patents.google.com/patent/US1956350A/en)

synesthete tag: dark grey-blue that only gets darker and greyer and bluer. unyielding moodiness

longform organ improv 2.25.24 #1 - C minor

takes a minute to get going but wants to be heard

this minimalist percussive pattern centers around an ostinato of two parallel 6th intervals over an F drone - Bb & G (4th & 2nd intervals of root) + Ab & F (minor 3rd & root). the percussive syncopated nature of the higher note breaks up the monotony of the drone, over the Bb to Ab tension sitting in the middle of the frequency range. possibly inspired by record skips, glitches, an invisible backbeat, both out of time and in time. been listening to Clams Casino lately and it's showing up whenever i decide to do anything more percussive on keys idk

2:27 the whole thing opens up

tuning: Just Intonation - may officially record this one in a different tuning. one that's a little tweaked but not AS tweaked

image: glitchy TV at my nail salon, 2022

synesthete tag: digitally-dappled purples and mauves and blues like the image. flickering in and out like phosphenes. retinal hallucinations

-------
notes to self (timestamps taken from computer streaming, they're diff on mobile, why?!):
  - 7:44 i like the lower progression not moving note for note with the upper here, it's more chill. start with this then you can do the Bb Ab Bb later
  - important to get the higher frequencies popping out on the higher G & F, otherwise they get buried like it happened when you tried this again, has to pierce thru in order to hear the percussiveness
  - tremulant helps to disguise how fucked the just intonation tuning actually sounds. if you decide to record this in JI make sure there is tremulant bc it did not sound as good when you tried it again without it. if using a less funky tuning, take tremulant out so it's not distracting

longform organ improv 2.25.24 #2 - F minor minimalist

purity is surety

no 9ths! no 7ths! be gone extraneous notes! get in loser we’re inducing hypnagogia

when i add other notes in, i love the texture it creates and the journey it can take my ears on, but when it comes to the interval that dives straight into my soul, turns the key, throws open the door with a gust of wind and starts carving extra space in there, it’ll always be the pure 5th. i’m doing this for me okay?!

gradually pulling stops and eventually a little global tuning adjustments to keep the movement of the drone alive

D is always and forever green in my brain so the image is green Chladni figures

i don’t remember what tuning i was in. i was also in a new stoplist library, i don’t remember that either. i showed up here with a cup of coffee on 2 hours sleep and got straight to it

sorry about the cough halfway through ugh. i got cocky with the simplicity of the notes and the freedom of my hands, decided to luxuriously take a sip of my coffee and choked on it. metaphorical!

D pure 5th 3.26.24

frequencies rubbing —> harmony —> progress —> back to rubbing

idc about “it’s about the journey not the destination” platitudes. what if the destination is also the origin? what if you’re an ouroboros? that’s just rude

synesthete tag: emerald, peridot & light moss shades of green. lichen colors too. a time-lapse of lichen growing over wet logs

stoplist library: arp schnitger
tuning: romantic

stops pulled:
• pedal: super octave, octave, principal, violone, flute
lieblich bourdon, bourdon
• swell: nasard, geigen
• great: harmonic flute, alt tuning, bass coupler

image: me & my mirror image and an upside down red heart that created

_________
notes to self:

alt A to F# with A to E once you add the RH. the E is GREAT sounding. time stamp 4:55. then do upper passage after.

draw the whole thing out waaaaay more - what’s the rush, what is the hurry? hard for a piece called Are We There Yet!! but makes sense. longer before RH joins. longer in between LH changes. no need to keep it busy

i think there are too many musical themes going on in this beginning to end…should maybe just stick with middle section and build that, save the rubbing thing for the end or maybe don’t do it at all? thinking of kazuko always telling me “edit, edit, edit”

Are We There Yet 4.2.24

[doesn’t really land without headphones]

a bookmark of sound i made on my novation peak i’d like to come back to. 3 oscillators - several tones in there - harmonious beat patterns - the low pulse feels like a hug for my brain

image: very cool wooden door at the hotel imperial in vienna!!!! i stared at it for the longest anyone has ever stared at it i’m sure

good, good, good oscillations 4.28.24

is this my first organ upload since europe??

one of those things that pretty much only sounds the way it should sound on an organ - the sustain that doesn’t diminish and the airiness.

loosely inspired by “o world and the clear song” by sarah davachi i suppose, in retrospect

temperament: likely romantic or baroque, not sure which, global tuning at -2 cents

synesthete tag: a seafoam green and pastel blue palette 

image: long exposure of three traffic lights by lucas zimmermann. the way they blend into each other here reminds me of the three chords, the subtle shifts that carry you into the new chord, softly and hazily

3-chord progression 5.19.24

(title has nothing to do with anything; just my brain scratching itself)

i went to europe, and then i got completely slammed at work, and i’ve been mostly tweaking the existing stuff i like with an eye toward recording them later this year - but here’s a new one i like. it’s been exactly 8 months since i first sat at the organ and i FINALLY feel able to improvise 15 minutes beginning to end; no hiccups, no awkward transitions, everything fading in and out seamlessly. so this is just to celebrate that - that somehow, in the midst of what has already been one of the busiest years of my life, that i’ve been able to get to this place

Gm9merica 6.6.24

lol am i healed?!? this is the loudest major thing i’ve ever played in my life

tis short because i just wanted to get the idea down

might return to it and leave the major 3rd out, i feel like it hurts my brand

big major 7.11.24

had some fun with pythagorean temperament at the end of practice the other day and found this recording particularly endearing due to the smashing of the keys, the smoke alarm bell chirp from time to time and and that sweet sweet truck backing up in the 5th interval

accidental sound collage. we love


(i haven’t been posting because i am zeroing in on recording for real! yay! no more lofi iphone voice memo hiss! it shall be MADE REAL SOON)

artwork by @m_d_n_f_ on Instagram

Derpythagorean

improv #1 post LA fires and return from evacuation

kinda jazzy black key chord as a tonal center, finding pleasurable notes around that, some impressionist noodling toward the end that doesn’t really work but i’ll save it for something else

+ benny meows at the very very end

MUTUAL AID RESOURCE DOC HERE: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KMk34XY5dsvVJjAoD2mQUVHYU_Ib6COz6jcGH5uJWDY/edit

[ drawing of building in the sand by my Dad @blindhorsecanyon ]

*LA 1.m4a

minor 2nd dumb thing i don’t like but i’m forcing myself to do this okay bye

never thought i’d see the Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood on an emergency location map but here we are

LA 2.m4a

Raised in Laurel Canyon and classically-trained on piano beginning at the age of 6, JRØNES makes longform ambient and drone music steeped in resonant melancholia and deep dialogue with Soul/Self/Instrument, guided by the instincts of atypical neurology. Equally at home making uplifting/healing and sinister/menacing sound, their sonic experiments can take the shape of prayers or curses, depending on mental and emotional state in combination with what the instrument asks for in its timbre.

JRØNES' forthcoming debut album, composed to a cellular degree over 9 months and recorded on the organ at Ridgewood Presbyterian Church in alternate tunings, mixed and mastered by some of the best in the genre at Circular Ruin Studio, encompasses a harmonious yet discrete offering of tone quality and frequency range, utilizing prepared organ elements, extended duration and the constancy of drone underpinning to deliver works of deep listening that are ideal for meditative and altered states, healing sessions, reflective commutes and otherwise intentional and contemplative states of the mind and spirit.

JRØNES

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks