aaaahhhhh a swarm of flying nanobots in my ear, i love it

This is brilliant - love it. Insect electronics. Insectronics!

More on this 137th Disquiet Junto project — “Produce an original piece of music that fits the genre ‘old-time electronica’″ — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/08/14/disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Photo associated with this track, of a working Babbage Engine, by Larry Johnson, courtesy of a Creative Commons license at:

https://flic.kr/p/8uw1KJ

Disquiet Junto Project 0137: Old-Time Electronica

For this assignment I focused on creating something in the style of the pioneers at GRM in France and to a certain extent the Radiophonic Workshop (which will always be dear to my heart when I think of pioneers of Electronic music).

I began using granular synthesis to create a selection of textures and "raw" electronic sounds. I then used a selection of techniques including the reversing of sounds and tape emulation to fill the audio and attempt an "authentic" sound even though my medium is digital rather than analog sounds. Finally I panned the seperate sections hard left and hard right to emulate early stereo mixes.

As vintage electronic sounds is a particular love of mine I may submit several pieces for this assignment. I would like to attempt something in the style of Bruce Haack or maybe the more cinematic 70s electronic sounds. Stay tuned!! : )

Forelight

More on this 137th Disquiet Junto project — “Produce an original piece of music that fits the genre ‘old-time electronica’″ — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/08/14/disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Photo associated with this track, of a working Babbage Engine, by Larry Johnson, courtesy of a Creative Commons license at:

https://flic.kr/p/8uw1KJ

GeRM Style - Electronique Musique [disquiet0137 - Oldtimeelectronica]

Really vague about what electronica means but it suggests "pop" to me rather than experimental. "Old-time" brought to mind the Wendy Carlos "Switched on Bach." Disco music also came to mind. 

I used a Kaosillator with 2 patches that sounded retro to me, created 2 tracks and then aligned them in Logic and wrapped it up using a Channel EQ preset called Boombox, a word which for me conjures days of yore.


Rather goofy, was not sure if I should post it, but it is mercifully short.

***********



More on this 137th Disquiet Junto project — “Produce an original piece of music that fits the genre ‘old-time electronica’″ — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/08/14/disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/


Heckuva Pile  [disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica]

This is a remix of the Edison Concert Band's recording of "Nearer, my God, to Thee" (1902). The original recording was downloaded from archive.org. I did "electronic processing" on this old-time hymn to create something impossible at the time it was created: a time-stretched version with a drone created from part of the recording as well, and a phasing effect created by slightly different stretch lengths. My hope is that this version helps people hear this hymn in a new way. (Apologies that I went over the time-limit guidelines a little.)

More on this 137th Disquiet Junto project — "Produce an original piece of music that fits the genre 'old-time electronica'" — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/08/14/disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Nearer, my God, to Thee (remix) [disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica]

Disquiet Junto Project 0137: Old-Time Electronica

Pineal Pionears [disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica]

For me, this means going back to composers like Louis and Bebe Barron and their 1956 magnetic tape soundtrack to “Forbidden Planet” (check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNKhju6Pryg ), as well as Morton Subotnick, Walter Carlos and all those records from the Princeton University computer music workshops that I got my hands and ears on in the 60s.

Steps taken:

In the spirit of minimalism, I worked only with 2 sine waves and a click track, both generated by Audacity. These were modified using plugins and pitch shifting, with shorter more heavily modified sections used to create a gradually changing soundscape.

(See the whole Forbidden Planet poster here: http://cdn-images.9cloud.us/476/piccit_the_forbidden_planet_poster_1296502960.jpg


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The Assignment: Produce an original piece of music that fits the genre “old-time electronica.”

All Disquiet Junto projects employ constraint as a means to stimulate creativity and productivity. Sometimes this means limiting oneself to specific source material, other times to a conceptual approach, and there’s always the additional constraint of time: the deadline is approximately four days, depending on your time zone.

For this Disquiet Junto project, the constraint is a matter of terminology. This week we’re exploring how the concept of “genre” can itself serve as a restraint, and we’ll accomplish this by pushing back at genre conventions.

The project instructions are straightforward: Record an original piece of music that you feel belongs within the genre of “old-time electronica.”

Restrictions: You can use any source material, any instrumentation, except the human voice.

More on this 137th Disquiet Junto project — “Produce an original piece of music that fits the genre ‘old-time electronica’″ — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/08/14/disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica/ 

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/?p=16588


Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/    




Pineal Pionears [disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica]

As a solo parent this weekend, my plans to hook up gear and produce handmade electronica haven't eventuated. So I returned to an earlier idea to work with a MIDI file and honour my introduction to electronic music as a child listening to Wendy Carlos' Switched On Bach.

This piece uses Lokomotiv, Absynth and the Minimojo Reaktor VST synths and was edited for brevity.

More on this 137th Disquiet Junto project — “Produce an original piece of music that fits the genre ‘old-time electronica’″ — at:
http://disquiet.com/2014/08/14/disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:
http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:
http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:
http://disquiet.com/forums/

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Sebastian_Bach.jpg

Switched on Joy of Man's Desiring [disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica]

My interpretation of "old time electronica" was to take a song associated with the dawn of pop music and treat it as the raw material for an electronic track. My choice is "Daisy Bell", a public domain song written in 1892 by Harry Dacre, and used in the first computer speech synthesis at Bell Labs in 1961; Arthur C. Clarke saw this demonstration and incorporated it into the screenplay and novelization of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The first section of the track is the original chorus melody and chord progression played on soft synths in Ableton, with a light percussion track made from samples from Beats & Breaks. For the second run-thru of the chorus melody  the chord progression is replaced with a version made using the Coltrane Changes; John Coltrane pioneered chord substitutions in his performances that used a major third movement to give an odd, airy quality to the harmony. For "Daisy Bell", which is in C major, the original chord progression follows the melody closely, as is the custom for most popular music. In its place I used the Dm7-G7-C progression. 

The jazzy timbre of those chords reminded me of Squarepusher's record Hard Normal Daddy, which used chords and melody combinations usually associated with jazz in conjunction with breakbeats. This track gradually adds more percussion elements, all chopped up from samples from Beats & Breaks.   

Once the new chord progression is introduced, the softsynth playing the melody has a random MIDI note generator, C major scale effect, and Bass-Beat Decoder added to it, with MIDI notes being triggered at the same rhythm as the original melody. The random notes were played & recorded to a separate track, and that MIDI information was placed in the initial softsynth track, with the MIDI effects removed. 


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More on this 137th Disquiet Junto project — “Produce an original piece of music that fits the genre ‘old-time electronica’″ — at:

http://disquiet.com/2014/08/14/disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Daisy Hell [disquiet0137-oldtimeelectronica]

manic

sister

Stream/Download the piece in its entirety here...

https://hadleyroe.bandcamp.com/album/dream-latitude-for-brit-marling

Dream Latitude (For Brit Marling) (excerpt)

Stream/Buy/Download :
https://pitp.bandcamp.com/album/the-inner-garden

Tears Had To Fall

Summer Rain

impromptu 2025-04-18

"There is an abyss of being which man has never fathomed."

I stared. Chalmers had risen to his feet and he was gesticulating helplessly with his arms. "I am passing through unearthly angles; I am approaching—oh, the burning horror of it!"

"Chalmers!" I cried. "Do you wish me to interfere?"

He brought his right hand quickly before his face, as though to shut out a vision unspeakable. "Not yet!" he cried; "I will go on. I will see—what—lies—beyond——"

- The Hounds of Tindalos, Frank Belknap Long

The Edge of Potential


Iarð skal rifna
ok upphiminn

Earth shall be riven
and the over-heaven.

- Skarpåker stone, Sweden

Art credit: Christopher Le Brun

The Breaking of Bifröst

recording of kaleidoscope figure drawing set on 9/18/25

kaleidoscope figure drawing set on 9/18/25

Imagined Essex

Railway Rhythm
Song pressed onto a dubplate and played back via a period gramophone player.
 
Railway Rhythm is a song made entirely using sounds recorded at Mangapps Railway Museum, the working railway and museum in Burnham on Crouch, Essex.   The museum holds 18 steam and diesel locomotives and over 80 carriages and wagons of considerable historic and technical interest.
 
During a field trip, students learned about these historic engines and recorded the sounds they found most fascinating with hand held equipment.
 
Back at school, we then transformed the historical sounds into a song, taking inspiration from the museums collection and period railway paraphernalia.  This song has been pressed onto a vinyl dubplate and presented on a period gramophone player.
 
Artist
Stuart Bowditch / Barons Court Primary School / 35 x Year 3 students (Ages 7-8)
 
Want to Know more?
Mangapps Railway Museum - www.mangapps.co.uk

The BC Band - Railway Rhythm

My 33 1/3 series book about the Aphex Twin album <i>Selected Ambient Works Volume II</i> was published in 2014. The book was one of the top 5 bestselling titles for the calendar year, and in 2015 was ranked by Pitchfork as one of the "33 best" of the 100-plus books in the 33 1/3 series. It has subsequently been translated into Japanese (2019) and Spanish (2018)

Since 2012 I have moderated the Disquiet Junto group, which began on SoundCloud. More at disquiet.com/junto. 

I've written for Nature, Pitchfork, The Wire, Down Beat, Boing Boing, NewMusicBox, Red Bull Music Academy, Art Practical, the website of The Atlantic, and many other publications. 

I've exhibited sound art at galleries in Los Angeles (Crewest), Manhattan (apex art), and Dubai (DUTAC), and I had a audio-visual installation at the San Jose Museum of Art as part of its 45th anniversary.

And since 1996 I've run the website Disquiet.com about the intersection of sound, art, and technology.

Experimental Electronics and other sonic weirdnesses

If you like my stuff please keep an eye on my Bandcamp/youtube or catch me on instagram 

Releases 


always have always will

https://forelight.bandcamp.com/album/always-have-always-will


Cozy Up Time

https://forelight.bandcamp.com/album/cozy-up-time

4//lIGhT//McLean - I

https://forelight.bandcamp.com/album/4-light-mclean-i


Collected Electronic Works 

https://forelight.bandcamp.com/album/collected-electronic-works-2021-2024


Various Erosions (available on cassette and digital download at):
https://couriersound.bandcamp.com/album/various-erosions

3 visual experiments - 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMTvEW3kLo89zB7_cCfscjc4M9eAeN2QW&si=cZabs9pUZ-x0E2IN

Earthquake relief charity compilation:

https://aquietroom.bandcamp.com/album/50000-charity-for-earthquake-victims

#saveukraine charity compilation contribution: https://aquietroom.bandcamp.com/album/saveukraine-charity-for-unicef

Soundcloud EPs 1-3 
https://forelight.bandcamp.com/album/soundcloud-eps-1-3

Meditation I&II: https://forelight.bandcamp.com/album/meditation-i-ii

gossamer single (name your price): https://forelight.bandcamp.com/album/gossamer 

Liminal Noise - 10 Years Of Culture As A Dare compilation
https://liminalnoiserecords.bandcamp.com/album/ln015-culture-as-a-dare-compilation

Courier Sound - Silhouette Cameo 3 Compilation(4//lIGhT appears on Digital Release Only): https://couriersound.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-cameo-3

A/V set broadcast as part of Culture As A Dare! Festival 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcGuUrFb8pU&t

GeRM Style - Electronique Musique [disquiet0137 - Oldtimeelectronica]

4//lIGhT

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