The Hillmo Suite

What is the sound of one stalactite growing?

Altar Of The Dead

This is inspired by, but I hope not too derivative of, Iannis Xenakis' "Persepolis".  Musically speaking, I find there to be such a fine line between the positive of drawing inspiration from the great work of others, and the negative of being overly influenced by the work of those artists I admire the most.  The effort I offer you here is part of my ongoing quest to find my own sound, something I have yet to achieve.

New Persepolis: Homage to Iannis Xenakis

"Catharsis for Two Screaming Cats, One Noisy Korg and Several Miscellaneous Accompanists" is another step in the journey to one day find my own new sounds.  

Catharsis for Two Screaming Cats, One Noisy Korg and Several Miscellaneous Accompanists

This was inspired by the pioneering electronic music in some 1950s science fiction movies, such as Forbidden Planet.  I recorded this about ten years ago, and have kept it unheard on a hard disk until now.  I hope that some of you might like it.

The Pilfered Few Remain Unaware That They Are Trapped in a 1950s Science Fiction Film

This three-part track attempts to render in sound the emotions and mental pictures evoked on reading the three books of the "Divine Comedy" by Italian poet Dante Alighieri (circa 1265 - 1321).  The three books comprising this epic are "Inferno", "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso", respectively.  

The spoken Italian text in part one of the track is from Canto I (lines 1-3) and Canto III (lines 1-11) of "Inferno".  In particular, the repeated refrain "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate" from Inferno III.9 is the famous exhortation to "Abandon all hope, you who enter" that is written above the entrance to Hell.  Dramatic stuff indeed, to challenge any aspiring creator of music!

The single word "ahimè" in part two is Italian for "alas", and was inspired by the image of smoke-choked Purgatorians in Canto XVI of "Purgatorio". 

I acknowledge influence/inspiration from the following: The astonishing electronic works of Else Marie Pade were a strong stimulus/challenge/inspiration to stretch my abilities to the limit, in preparing the present piece. "Intoutof" by The Hafler Trio, the final "divine voices" part of "Neptune" by Gustav Holst, and "The Plain Truth" by Maurizio Bianchi provided indirect inspiration.  "Hearing Solar Winds", by David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir, inspired me to try my hand at multi-tracked throat singing.  

My voice is the source for the vast majority of the sounds on this track, as I am currently fascinated by the infinite variety of sonically-rich audio that can be created by the human larynx.  

Additional sound sources include: A low-timpani sample sourced from the Free Wave Samples site http://freewavesamples.com hosted by Zeta Centauri, blowing bubbles in a glass of water using a drinking straw, a short screwdriver shaft being scraped along a wooden walking stick, a flapping feather duster and (in the closing 100 seconds) a Korg MS-10 synthesizer. Effects applied were those built into the Yamaha MG12XU analogue mixer, and those which come pre-loaded with Audacity (downloaded from http://www.audacityteam.org).  

Audacity and the Yamaha MG12XU were used for recording the track, with Audacity being used to mix and assemble it.  Microphones: a Behringer C-1 condenser microphone, and two Korg CM-200 contact microphones.  The only other piece of equipment, not already mentioned above,  was a recycled laptop computer running Linux Mint.

The Divine Comedy: Homage to Dante Alighieri: earsheltering.free.fr/earsheltering088.html

This is an extremely unusual foray for me: music with a melody.  

The melody was recorded using a Korg MS-10 analogue synthesizer put through the reverb on a Yamaha MG12XU mixer, while the didgeridoo-like bass tracks were the Korg MS-10 put through the MG12XU phaser effect.

Afghan Cameleers in the Australian Desert

In the months leading up to the recording of this piece, I listened several times to Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Helikopter-Streichquartett", in which the four members of a string quartet play their respective parts from within separate helicopters during takeoff, flight and landing.  Interestingly, while recording the helicopter-like sounds in the present piece, I was in a power-electronics frame of mind and was consciously thinking of neither helicopters nor Stockhausen.  

The resulting piece sounds like a helicopter, nonetheless.

To record this track I used a Korg MS-10 synthesizer (which contributes the occasional crackle due to its ancient electronics), my thumbs rubbing two Korg CM-200 contact microphones, and both whistling and clapping hands recorded via a Behringer C-1 condenser microphone.  Effects were added via a Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal effects pedal, Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive pedal, a defective Zoom 505 effects pedal (whose frequent dropouts, while initially annoying, ended up being incorporated into the final track) and the effects built-in to my Yamaha MG12XU mixer.  All recording and subsequent manipulation was done via the free open-source Audacity software (http://www.audacityteam.org/) on a recycled laptop computer running Linux Mint.

Hear The Big Helicopter Go Whack Whack Whack: from earsheltering.free.fr/earsheltering088.html

The image that began to emerge in my head, while recording this rather demented track, was being immersed in a flock of Archaeopteryxes.  These extinct creatures were birdlike dinosaurs that lived about 150 million years ago.  

In coming up with these sounds, perhaps there has been some unconscious influence from the Oskar Sala soundtrack to the Alfred Hitchcock film "The Birds", and maybe even from the sound of the Dementors in the Harry Potter movies.  I was also a little surprised to hear some evident influence of Tangerine Dream's "Zeit", which is one of my favourite albums, sneaking into some of the more ambient layers of this track.

The vast majority of the sounds are derived from my voice.  There are a few sounds made with found objects (e.g. flapping a metal cream whisk, banging on a can), and a couple of quick sound washes with my new synth.  Some processed samples of real birdsounds are used from 2mins10s until 2mins25s.  Almost all sounds have been put through one or more audio effects, although I am inspired by some of my colleagues to try not using any effects at all in some of the things I will record in future.  

Microphones: Behringer C-1 condenser microphone, Zoom H-1 Handy Recorder stereo microphone, Korg CM-200 contact microphone (x2).  Found objects: Flapping cream whisk, banged tin can, tapped tabletop.  Synthesizer: Roland JX-03.  Effects: Built-in effects on Yamaha MG12XU Mixer, built-in effects for Audacity software.  All sound assembly done using Audacity.

A Flock of Archaeopteryxes

A Flock Of Archaeopteryxes: from earsheltering.free.fr/earsheltering088.html

Feeling at a bit of a loss for musical ideas, I sat down in my music-making space with a single starting point: the pronunciation of the thinly-disguised expletive "fark" using a crow-like sound, made famous in my part of the world (Australia) by the comedian Graham Kennedy.  

Accordingly, the vast majority of the voice-generated samples on this piece are me pronouncing the word "fark".  I appreciate how puerile this is, but, as stated above, I was stuck for musical ideas and decided to give this a shot.

The title is a play on words, mutating James Joyce's striking phrase, "the undifferentiated flux of existence".  This is the underlying theme I wish to explore, sonically, in this piece.

The track starts off with a laugh, indicating my (failed) initial intention that the whole track should sound like a musical joke.  The descending choir-like massed vocal sounds are a nod to David Hykes' Harmonic Choir (especially "Hearing Solar Winds"). The piece then descends into power-electronics noise, with me seeking to use such harsh noise as one "instrument" among many.  There is then some keyboard noodling over a synthetic didgeridoo, before abruptly changing to some sort of cyber-hippy sounds vaguely inspired by Amon Düül's "Paradieswärts Düül".  The massed choir then returns to give an unexpectedly new-age, almost meditative, feel to the closing parts of the track.  Again, the influence of David Hykes is evident here.  

Sound sources: My voice (mainly "fark", but also the occasional nonsense word and even one intelligible phrase), Korg MS-10 synthesizer, acoustic guitar, recorder, and flicking a metal glass.  Sound effects are used, as well as feedback by connecting mixer outputs to inputs.

The Undifferentiated Farks Of Existence: from earsheltering.free.fr/earsheltering088.html

Sincere thanks for stopping by my little corner of SoundCloud.  

Ephemerality, alienation and absurdity are my themes in this track.

The spoken words near the end of the piece, "The unplumbed, salt, estranging, snotgreen sea beckons ye wretched of the Earth", are my pastiche of three quotes that permit interpretations allied to my themes: (a) "The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea" (constituting the "echoing straits between us thrown") from "To Marguerite: Continued" by Matthew Arnold; (b) "The snotgreen sea" from James Joyce's "Ulysses", which is itself something of a parody of the "wine-faced sea" of Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey"; (c) "Arie, ye wretched of the Earth" is tapped out in Morse-like code by one of the main character's fellow political prisoners in Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon", always with the same mis-spelling of "Arise".  A subset of this spoken three-quote mashup gives the track its title.

Musical influences which had a tangible impact on this particular track: (a) The devastating descending glissandi in the first track of Maurizio Bianchi's "Technology 1"; (b) Distant memories of the electronic music on some classic science fiction television such as 1970s "Doctor Who"; (c) David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir's "On Hearing Solar Winds"; (d) "Kasoundi" by Clinton Green and Andrew McIntosh; (e) An amalgam of every depressive black metal vocalist I have ever listened to (e.g. Turdus Merula and Xasthur).  

Sound sources: Multi-tracked voice, Korg MS-10 synthesizer, Roland JX-03 synthesizer, plastic Yamaha recorder, piece of plastic edge-trimmer wire attached to plank of wood with 3-inch PVC pipe as a bridge, primitive bow (for the plastic wire) made with string rubbed in wax.

The Snotgreen Sea Beckons Ye Wretched of the Earth: from archive.org/details/earsheltering088

I have long been fascinated by the ancient city of Babylon, hence the present track.  

The spoken text is a conflation of Revelation 17:5 and 18:2, attempted in the koine Greek of two millennia past, with the odd screwup in pronunciation (e.g. of "the abominations").  Perhaps these screwups are a fitting irony, when one considers the legend of the Tower of Babel and its associated scrambling of an initially universal primal language.

Ordinarily, I strive to avoid seeking to sound too much like a cheap imitation of those whose music I most admire.  I suspended this practice for the present track, which exhibits strong influences from Organum (e.g. "In Extremis"), Throbbing Gristle and Current 93 (e.g. "Ach Golgotha (Maldoror Is Dead)" from "Nature Unveiled").

Sound sources: Multi-tracked voice, Korg MS-10, Roland JX-03, running water in the shower, makeshift gong made using a cooking-pot lid suspended with twine.

Lastly, in case you might be interested, here are some previous SoundCloud postings which may be viewed as sister tracks to the present offering, since they also draw on apocalyptic themes:

https://soundcloud.com/david-paganin/the-divine-comedy-infernal-purgatorial-and-paradisical-drones-for-ye-wretched-of-the-earth

https://soundcloud.com/david-paganin/the-annihilating-angel-is-coming-to-get-you

https://soundcloud.com/david-paganin/rage-rage-against-the-dessicating-void

Babylon the Great has Fallen: from earsheltering.free.fr/earsheltering088.html

This is a mix of ten out of the fourteen tracks on my debut full-length release.  The album is titled "Pointless Orbits" and it is available for free download from the Earsheltering netlabel, at http://earsheltering.free.fr/earsheltering085.htm 

This release of original experimental music is perhaps best described by the range of musical influences from which it draws.  These vary from from old-school industrial to musique concrète and contemporary classical, from kosmische musik to minimalism and dada, from power electronics to any form of genuinely experimental music.  This ultimately uplifting album seeks to explore a range of themes pertaining to human freedom in a postmodern world.  Such themes include alienation, psychological repression, the existential vacuum, obsession, rage, absurdity, mourning, regret and the concept of self.

I am very grateful to Anthony from Earsheltering for this opportunity.  Please do check out some of Anthony's works at https://soundcloud.com/planetaldol

"Pointless Orbits": Mix from Earsheltering release at earsheltering.free.fr/earsheltering085.htm

Here is my tongue-in-cheek portrayal of what it might have sounded like if Frankenstein were to have jammed with a psychedelic backing band exhibiting mild shamanic tendencies.

The "mad organ" fragments that open and close the track represent an at-best partially successful attempt to improvise on a keyboard with zero respect for both tonal centres and scales.  The middle part of the piece is my first attempt at (graphically) composing a score prior to commencing the recording of any sounds.    

Influences on this track: Arata Didge's magnificently expressive didgeridoo playing, myriad composers who have utilised graphical scores (e.g. Cornelius Cardew and Cat Hope), mad organ music in B-grade 1960s and 1970s horror films, the amazing monophonic keyboard improvisations on Side 1 of Maurizio Bianchi's "Technology 1" tape, John Coltrane's "Ascension" LP, and classic break-all-musical-rules Krautrockers such as Limbus 4 ("Mandalas" LP), Amon Düül II ("Phallus Dei" LP), Guru Guru ("UFO" LP) & Tangerine Dream ("Electronic Meditation" LP).

Equipment used: Korg MS10 and Roland JX-03 synthesizers, steel-string acoustic guitar, voice, recorder, effects pedals.

Frankenstein's Psychedelic Jam Has Risen from the Grave

I reflect often on the evanescence of life. The Tibetan Buddhist practice of making and then destroying sand mandalas is one of the most powerful metaphors for such evanescence. These sand mandalas give both the inspiration for, and the title to, the present track.

A quite separate influence on this track is my love of pipe-organ music. Organ pieces by Bach and Messiaen are never far from my ears. Both have influenced the (cheap Casio organ preset sounds) running through this track: Bach through his divine counterpoint, and Messiaen through the extremely interesting and unusual sonic colours he gets from exquisitely unfamiliar chords. Paul Hindemith's organ sonatas were also of influence.

I am aware of the irony that the music of geniuses such as Bach and Messiaen will endure, while my my own feeble efforts will evanesce.

This track was prepared for a radio show broadcast by Horridus/Devilsclub (see @devilsclub) on March 10 2017, for his guest presentation of the “Mid Valley Mutations” show (see midvalleymutations.com/) on KMUZ Community Radio in the USA (see www.kmuz.org/). I express my sincere thanks to Horridus for this opportunity.

Sound sources: Dried Jerusalem artichoke stalk tapping on my laptop computer, Korg MS-10 synthesizer, Roland JX-03 synthesizer, Casio CTK-4200 keyboard, voice, effects pedals.

Evanesce the Sonic Sand Mandala: from earsheltering.free.fr/earsheltering088.html

These sounds explore a number of internal darknesses, described by the track titles of the full Cian Orbe EP that is freely available at http://bit.ly/2nGXujT , from which this mix is compiled. These darknesses are my Muses, my source of creativity, and I am grateful for them.  

The themes and associated sounds are perhaps a little bleak, yet all of this music is intended to be ultimately uplifting.  

Sound sources: Korg MS10 and Roland JX03 synthesisers, voice, feedback, marbles in a metal bowl, metal work tools striking a metal dress-maker frame, stalks of dried Jerusalem artichoke striking plastic whipper-snipper wire, running shower water. Effects via Yamaha MX12XU mixer, Zoom G3 guitar pedal, and Audacity software.  Microphones: Behringer C1 condenser, Zoom H1 portable recorder, and two two Korg CM200 contact microphones.  All tracks recorded, edited and mixed using Audacity (http://www.audacityteam.org/).

Spoken Italian text: Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto III, lines 81-84.  Here, a ferryman in Hell tells the cursed souls that he will "take them to the other bank" of the great river before them, so that they can live "in the eternal darkness, in (scalding) heat and (punishing) ice".  Please excuse the pathetic translation, which does no justice to the power of Dante's searingly intense Italian poetry.

Key influences on these particular sounds: Maurizio Bianchi's "Technology 1", Oskar Sala's "The Birds", Tibetan sub-harmonic chant, Pierre Schaeffer's "Apocalypse de Jean", David Hykes' "Hearing Solar Winds", Olivier Messiaen's organ works, Jean-Michel Jarre's "Equinoxe", several early Whitehouse LPs, Current 93's "Ach Golgotha (Maldoror Is Dead)", Ernie Althoff's "Skitter", and Clinton Green's later turntable works. 

I am sincerely grateful to Sábila Orbe from the Cian Orbe netlabel for the invitation to work on this EP.  Please listen to the wonderful music of Sábila Orbe and Mist Spectra at https://soundcloud.com/humanfobia and https://soundcloud.com/sabila-orbe, Sábila Orbe's side project at https://soundcloud.com/filmy-ghost, and of course the Cian Orbe netlabel at https://humanfobia.jimdo.com/cian-orbe-netlabel/ .

"Vacuum Palimpsest": Mix from Cian Orbe EP at bit.ly/2nGXujT

Under the shorter title "Hexapods from the Planet Bogger", this whimsical track was my solo contribution to the collaborative EP "Vacua for a Lost Millennium", by  Zachary Zena Giberson and myself.  This EP, published by Cian Orbe at https://archive.org/details/cior-103-zachary-zena-giberson-david-m-paganin-vacua-for-a-lost-millenium-ep, collides our respective musical styles and thematic obsessions in a juxtaposition that is at once cohesive and dissonant, counterpointed and dislocated, blended and immiscible. We strove to make our EP a finely-woven surreal sonic web of contradictions intended to delight and to confound, to energise and to challenge.

Sincere thanks to Zachary Zena Giberson (https://soundcloud.com/zacharyzenagiberson) for the privilege of working with him, Vince Giles (https://soundcloud.com/vince-giles) for challenging me to evolve my music practice and giving me concrete pointers for how to do so, and to Sábila Orbe (https://soundcloud.com/sabila-orbe , https://soundcloud.com/humanfobia , https://soundcloud.com/filmy-ghost) for hosting the EP on his Cian Orbe netlabel at https://humanfobia.jimdo.com/cian-orbe-netlabel/.

Hexapods From The Planet Bogger: from bit.ly/2BpWwlH

Shrugs of Eternity (devilsclub and David M. Paganin)  

Mix from "Sew Room Dummies" album on Cian Orbe netlabel at:
https://archive.org/details/cior-121-devilsclub-david-m-paganin-sew-room-dummies

Shrugs of Eternity are horridus (a.k.a. devilsclub) and David M. Paganin. 

"Sew Room Dummies" is the first collaboration between horridus and David M. Paganin. It melts their respective styles into a plastic celebratory synthesis of the solar eclipse occurring in Oregon USA on the completion date (August 21, 2017)  for their project.  This molten homage to a certain solar syzygy, suffused with that Christmas ornament / celestial body vibe, is humbly presented for your sonic delectation.

horridus, the driving force behind devilsclub, is based in Cascadia, Oregon, USA.  horridus has anonymously created experimental electronic music since 2012, although his musical experimentations date back far earlier.  Sounds of unbridled complexity emerge from his Hordijk modular system.  He distances himself from boring rules, censorship,  servitude to money, and the illusion of selling art. 

David M. Paganin is from West Footscray, Victoria, Australia. The expressive musical themes that interest him relate to human freedom in a post-modern world. Such themes include alienation, psychological repression, the existential vacuum, obsession, rage, absurdity, mourning, regret, neurosis, depression, death and the concept of self. All sounds are intended to be ultimately uplifting, affirmations of human vitality and spirit.

horridus would like to say a very special thank you to Sarah, Pat Gundran, Bob, Austin Rich, Rob Hordijk, Tom Bugs, Jürgen Michaelis, and Wolfgang Neumann.  Both horridus and DMP give their sincere thanks and deepest respects to Sábila Orbe.

Track list:
1: Yottamorph (4'11")
2: Yugamorph (3'59")
3: Zettamorph (12'04")
4: Zeptomorph (7'56")
5: Examorph (14'28")
6: Molting patina (12'26")

Total duration:  55'04"

Contacts: 
horridusa@gmail.com
david.paganin@gmail.com

*All Cian Orbe Releases on: https://humanfobia.jimdo.com/cian-orbe-netlabel/

Shrugs of Eternity (devilsclub & David. M. Paganin): Sew Room Dummies mix from bit.ly/2nJnLS3

This is a mix of several tracks from my "Sonic Sand Mandala" LP, released as Earsheltering 088 on December 4, 2017.  

The full album is available for free download at https://archive.org/details/earsheltering088 .

This album of unusual music has ephemerality as its core theme.

As always, I am grateful for your time in listening to these humble sounds.

Evanescent Elephant: Mix from earsheltering.free.fr/earsheltering088.html

I love making my own music.

The expressive themes that interest me include alienation, psychological repression, the existential vacuum, obsession, rage, absurdity, mourning, regret, neurosis, depression, death, and the concept of self.  These themes may be bleak, yet all sounds are intended to be ultimately uplifting affirmations of human vitality and spirit.

Influences range from old-school industrial to musique concrète and contemporary classical, from kosmische musik to minimalism and dada, from power electronics to any form of genuinely experimental music.  While absorbing and acknowledging these influences, it is important to me to find and evolve my own sound.  

Contact: david.paganin@gmail.com

Compilation track, Dysgeusia, 2018: https://bit.ly/2SahLgf
Collab w/ anonymous waves, 2018b: http://bit.ly/2F5aeba
Collab w/ anonymous waves, 2018a: http://bit.ly/2FP6ewQ
Collab w/ anonymous waves, 2017: http://bit.ly/2AK7dhz
Compilation track, Dysgeusia, 2017: http://bit.ly/2iG35Fd
Compilation track, Cian Orbe, 2017: http://bit.ly/2BZgsJd
Compilation track, Petroglyph. 2017: http://bit.ly/2AM8g0D
Compilation track, Earsheltering, 2017: http://bit.ly/2BQj6QG

David M. Paganin

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