This is the shorter version of a much longer track to be titled "Dr. Locrian's Asylum," from the forthcoming album Exhibits from the Imaginary Museum, a collection of music inspired by the works of Thomas Ligotti (<a href="http://www.ligotti.net">http://www.ligotti.net</a>).

Some neat info about this composition: it's primarily in A Locrian, though centered around the D. The restatement of the main theme at the end, though, is in D Locrian for a somewhat odd, unbalanced feeling. The main theme was created by assigning the degrees of the A Locrian mode to the letters of the alphabet, starting with octave 4 and going up to octave 7. Then, I spelled out the name DR HARKNESS LOCRIAN using the assigned notes. And that's where the melody prettymuch came from!



Derek C. F. Pegritz - Dr. Harkness Locrian (Short Version)

Elizabeth Fawn composes minimalist classical music with electro-acoustic techniques.

Derek C. F. Pegritz is not a band. He is barely even a person. He makes "music" by stitching millions upon millions of 1s and 0s together by hand using a patented process involving lots of really, really tiny wires. These audio sculptures can sound like grinding, despondent ambient groans or twitchy, glitchy beat salads--or, usually, both at once. Pegritz is a proud user of Renoise 2.5 (http://www.renoise.com), Ableton Live (http://www.ableton.com) and Camel Audio VST plugins (http://www.camelaudio.com/).


I'm just a guy that likes to make little electronic ditties. Nothing special. Little thoughts in my head travel to my fingers and through the wires to your head. I hope I can make you happy with the little pieces I've constructed. Enjoy!

We are Autosuggestion. We are an eclectic experimental band from Elkins Park, PA with rock, pop, jazz, electronic, and noise leanings. We like music. We like sound. We like beans. We like you.<div>
</div><div>Our MySpace address is: http://www.mypace.com/autosuggestionband/</div>

I'm a percussionist and composer. I have a BFA and MFA from CalArts in World Music. I specialize in non-Western percussion, particularly from India (tabla, mirdangam. khanjira, ghatam, thavil) and Africa (djembe, dunduns, and Ghanaian drumming). I compose percussion oriented music and dark-ambient, atmospheric, sci-fi soundtrack sounding music, which you can hear here: http://www.SpaceageFurnitureMusic.com

A.I. Awakens is the first recording in the Spaceage Furniture Music series by Chris Armstrong. The title of which is inspired by the 1960s recording, Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music by Esquivel. The term, "Furniture Music," was coined by composer Eric Satie  to refer to music used as a sonic backdrop rather than as the primary focus of a listener's attention. It is music that provides an ambiance and sets a mood.

The music for A.I. Awakens was chosen for its atmospheric and generally "cinematic" vibe. It is programatic, in that it depicts the evolution of artificially intelligent robot-insect, macro/nano bot type beings from servitude to sentience and then, soon afterward, to total neural cascade failure...a false start in the rise of artificial intelligence...but leaving the door open for possible future successes...and more recordings in the Spaceage Furniture Music series.

This recording is my first major undertaking as a composer and is dedicated to the memory of James Tenney (1934-2006), American composer of, in his words, "unpopular music." I was lucky enough to have taken several of his classes at CalArts and had in-depth conversations with him about composition and the theory and practice of experimental, contemporary "art" music.

He was always very generous with his time and also very patient with my many critical statements and questions about modern music. He once wrote on one of my papers: "I'm very surprised at your ultra-conservative attitudes about music. I wonder if there's anything I can do to help change your mind." He did eventually help me to extend my aesthetic boundaries a bit and I'm very grateful to him for that.

Other CalArts professors who influenced my ideas about composition through discussions and/or classes were: John Bergamo, Art Jarvinen, Marc Lowenstein, and Stephen "Lucky" Mosko. Thanks for your patience and wisdom as well. 

Derek C. F. Pegritz - Dr. Harkness Locrian (Short Version)

derekcfpegritz