video @ https://youtu.be/ZnmfVBkzXnc

misty daydream
Vikings land on the shore
of my childhood

haiku by Michael Dudley http://michaeljdudley.com

For more information visit http://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

visuals (YouTube)

halF daydreaM [naviarhaiku484]

See the accompanying visuals @ https://youtu.be/pcGYPoWRkqw

This piece uses sounds recorded in the process of making a loaf with a breadmaker ... enjoy!

halF kaleidoscopE

More on the 676th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Sub Melody — The Assignment: Bury a slow melody deep inside a drone — at https://disquiet.com/0676/

more halF unusuaL

halF suB [disquiet0676]

Messing with a crystal bell ... !

slanting sunlight rays
a warm hazy afternoon
the forest to hear

Marc Sheridan is an ever-curious person who loves what is just around the corner: the unusual and the mysterious. Even everyday objects and scenes can always be viewed differently.

He is English but currently living in the US, and he always remembers what Ansel Adams once said, "You don't take a photograph, you make it." Marc believes that photography rewards him with a greater connection to everything around him.

Lately, Marc has been writing haiku, but he's not sure whether he illustrates his photos with haiku or reveals his haiku through photography.

He has been published in numerous magazines in the US and the UK and has exhibited up and down the West Coast of the US for the past 23 years.

Haiku by Marc Sheridan: https://bsky.app/profile/northernvoodoo.bsky.social

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

halF slantinG [naviarhaiku592]

Nearly 5 years ago, I uploaded a track called halF nutS ... https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-nuts ... Who'd have thought I'd be going nuts again now! 😁

This is another GRM Tools Atelier noise experiment ... and you can see the accompanying visuals (as well as the original nuts recorded for mangling) on the halF unusuaL YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/At3lfc1nK6M

Oh, and you can see me turn into a sock puppet ... 😜 Weresock transformation around about 1:30 ... 🤫

halF nutS 2

A quiet cabin;
hunting milkcaps, I was soon
lost among the pines

Kagami Shikō was a Japanese poet, considered one of the ten outstanding disciples (Shōmon jittetsu 蕉門十哲) of Matsuo Bashō. He was in turn the master of the famous poetess Fukuda Chiyo-ni.

Originally from the present-day Gifu Prefecture, Kagami Shikō became a monk at Daichi-ji Temple, and in 1690 he became a pupil of Bashō, later accompanying him on some of his journeys and recording his last will in 1694.

After Basho's death, he kept travelling around Japan, writing several essays on haiku and collections of writings until his death in 1731.

Haiku by Kagami Shikō: https://wkdhaikutopics.blogspot.com/2012/03/kagami-shiko.html

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

halF hunteD [naviarhaiku624]

A remix of a vintage recording of “Nina” by Hans Kindler (1892 – 1949). The recording credits G. B. Pergolesi (1710 – 1736) as the work’s composer, but more recently it has become attributed to Vincenzo Legrenzo Ciampi (1719 – 1762). Listen to the original: https://archive.org/details/78_nina_hans-kindler-g-b-pergolesi_gbia0055100a

More on the 729th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Community Remix (Nina) — The Assignment: Rework a shared recording from over 100 years ago — at https://disquiet.com/0729/.

halF kindleD [disquiet0729]

Here are the links to full tracks for each snippet, January to December 2025:

January: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-reverberant-disquiet0683?si=4c709e1043f44b108e000eeb4535b3c3&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

February: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-behavioural-disquiet0687?si=b01d886cd6bb4d8aa0d9977d2272ab19&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

March: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-knot-disquiet0690?si=ecba7bf77a7b4674adc5e9d601b85ce2&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

April: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-immutable-naviarhaiku588?si=3df341fe1bce435586d981fa10ac16c3&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

May: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-shadowwork?si=9f140c76a7ae4d03bab2b24c76707a86&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

June: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-unhinged-naviarhaiku596?si=ca2005d45f79449784f05d1c7262f98f&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

July: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-icanseebymywatch-disquiet0705?si=dc8dd93de793469788dbc4cfdf5ef096&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

August (nearly): https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-cuppa-naviarhaiku604?si=cad53a2965184a949abdd44306b206d3&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

September: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-dropped-naviarhaiku610?si=bdd78ccb84cd46da9b28f627d760a10e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

October: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-red-naviarhaiku614?si=fb08706952834fa8b7fe380e4793a6ab&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

November: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-marketed-naviarhaiku618?si=20133e9827a747a7b986b79eeae13c68&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

December: https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-triton-collaboration-with-salon-57?si=cab01c11dcf44113b97a5ad8dc594ee6&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing


More on the 730th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Calendar Advent — The Assignment: Create a sonic diary of the past year with a dozen (or more) super-brief segments — at https://disquiet.com/0730/.

halF documenteD [disquiet0730]

Happy New Year 2026! It's that time again ... 🎉❤️

More on the 731st weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chill In — The Assignment: Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something with it — at https://disquiet.com/0731/.

halF cubeD [disquiet0731]

Built entirely from the sounds of a Christmas toffee tin —
cellophane crinkles, tin taps, scrapes, and festive accidents.

This is the audio-only version of the halF unusuaL 'Christmas video' ☃️
Same sounds, same structure — just sound.

Check out the accompanying visuals on the halF unusuaL YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/d3mjhNFDJbw

Hear the source sounds from their original context on the PaintbrushASMR YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/aaACSiKmC7U

🎄 Made with found festive textures
🎧 Headphones recommended
🎁 Merry Christmas

halF toffeE 🎄

An ASMR music experiment built from foley textures, subtle rhythm, and flowing sound design.
Made with Krotos Reformer Pro — in this case not for realism, but for sensation (and a little fun).
Check out the accompanying visuals: https://youtu.be/G5rPycqVMrI

halF tingleD 🦋

on New Year's Day
tall as a sleeping man...
the clouds

As customary, the first haiku of the year is by Kobayashi Issa.

Among the four great masters of Japanese haiku, Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) was the most prolific: during his lifetime he wrote over 20,000 haiku, hundreds of tanka, and several haibun.

Haiku by Kobayashi Issa: http://haikuguy.com/issa/search.php

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

halF cloudbustinG [naviarhaiku626]

A single paulownia leaf
sunlit as it falls
to the ground.

Takahama Kyoshi was a Japanese poet active during the Shōwa period of Japan. He was the editor of the haiku magazine Hototogisu (previously edited by Shiki), where he promoted a more traditional style of haiku, as opposed to other popular schools which did not follow the pattern of seventeen syllables at that time.

Kyoshi also highlighted the symbolic function of the kigo (seasonal reference), even though the more modern trends were already tending towards seasonless haiku.

Haiku by Takahama Kyoshi: https://www.gov-online.go.jp/eng/publicity/book/hlj/html/202210/202210_12_en.html

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

halF sunliT [naviarhaiku627]

Collaborative messing with GravitraX to create this little piece of fun! ... Watch the accompanying visuals on the halF unusuaL YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/IsS4L9aB4jg

This actually started life as an ASMR video ... the clicks and clunks of Gravitrax are a bit of a niche trigger thing in that world. You can see the original ASMR video on the Paintbrush ASMR YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/YlZAfRnug3g

There's also a growing collection of 'perception studies' on the same channel that might interest some of you on here ... test yourself out at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaqPg09aMSIOVmwiCmMnbJqGnVT3NQS4j

Enjoy`! 😜😁🤗

halF gravitraX

In the UK we spell 'color' as 'colour' ... I think the extra 'u' gives it colour?

More on the 732nd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Color Drenching — The Assignment: What does it sound like? — at https://disquiet.com/0732/

halF colorlesS [disquiet0732]

In the dark beyond,
a sound falls down —
the moth.

Dakotsu Īda trained under Takahama Kyoshi, and was chief editor of the poetry journal Unmo until his death. His son Ryuta Iida, a famous haiku poet himself, took over as the editor of Unmo after his father’s death.

Haiku by Dakotsu Īda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakotsu_Iida

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

more haalF unusuaL

halF beyonD [naviarhaiku628]

Messing with the sound out of my back bedroom window - Big thanks to the delivery driver and two pigeons who performed beautifully ... I think it was their first performance together as well! 🙏👏

More on the 733rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Window Drop — The Assignment: Add to the sound outside your window — at https://disquiet.com/0733/

halF deliverY [disquiet0733]

Watch the live performance video:
youtu.be/SQnvMz9QPNo
(where you can also see and hear the original sine wave file)

This piece begins with the most basic possible sonic source: a sine wave at 220 Hz — the simplest waveform money can buy! 😁 That single tone is used in GRM Play, with GRM Pitch and GRM Time providing further transformation, all shaped inside Atelier.

There is only one modulation source — visible in the bottom left of the video on the halF unusuaL YouTube channel. However, Atelier’s polyadic modulation system allows that single movement to unfold across multiple parameters, creating a rich, evolving and unpredictable soundscape from very humble — the most humble — beginnings.

No samples, no layering, no automation lanes — just process, emergence, and listening.

halF sinE

This took on a bit of a dark tone as I was working on it ... I think I may have been watching a little too much Twin Peaks recently ...! 😳😜 It is David Lynch's 80th birthday, though ... ❤️ RIP David 🤗

autumn storm–
the scarecrow
falls first

Morikawa Kyoroku (1656-1715) studied with the great Basho for ten months, who was the one who chose his nickname Kyoroku because he excelled in all six (roku) art forms: calligraphy, painting, spear, sword, horse riding and haiku.

Haiku by Morikawa Kyoroku: https://www.lucacenisi.net/2023/02/21/three-haiku-by-morikawa-kyoroku/#more-2277

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

halF scarecroW [naviarhaiku629]

It would have been David Lynch's 80th birthday yesterday. This is an alternative music track to the 'Lady in the Radiator' scene from Eraserhead ... almost certainly better experienced along with the clip from the film on the halF unusuaL YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/tniq8laQG0o 👀

More on the 734th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Meet Cue — The Assignment: Write music for a scene from a favorite film — at https://disquiet.com/0734/

halF eraseR [disquiet0734]

Accompanying visuals: https://youtu.be/8Rryji574M4

Rhythm track built from the little plastic tube thingies that come with TePe interdental brushes — knocked, tipped, and swirled on a wooden table. Those sounds become the foundation for an upbeat, slightly angular synth piece ... Enjoy!

halF interdentaL

One leaf falls;
then another —
on the wind.

A follower of Matsuo Bashô, Hattori Ransetsu was a samurai who became a monk after his master's death. Just like the great Bashô, Ransetsu also was a frequent traveller and recorded this in his journals with haiku.

Haiku by Hattori Ransetsu: https://breathhaiku.wordpress.com/tag/hattori-ransetsu-haiku/

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

halF anotheR [naviarhaiku630]

I rediscovered my old sessions on Endlesss (the lockdown jam platform) and built this track live, loop by loop on the app. Each layer you hear was created in the jam environment, then exported as stems and pulled into Ableton Live for arrangement and polish.

What started as a quick experiment turned into a surprisingly high-energy 120 BPM groove — not my usual tempo at all — so obviously it needed a slightly unhinged digital dancer to match, who you can see on the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/LD3dr7kB5_o

This video shows the whole process:
📱 Phone jam creation
🎛️ Stem export
💻 Arrangement & polish in Ableton
🕺 Questionable AI choreography

Music tech meets playful chaos.

halF loopeD

Probably best enjoyed with the visuals: https://youtu.be/jyHHODXhsiE

More on the 736th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Feed Me — The Assignment: Write a piece of music emulating the dopamine engine that is social media. — at https://disquiet.com/0736/

halF dopaminE [disquiet0736]

slowly gliding —
a snail in the grass
follows the clouds.

Vincenzo, aka El Wud, is an electronic musician from Naples, Italy.

A regular participant in our haiku music challenge, El Wud uses sound overlaps, causal collisions and cosmic echoes to create evocative soundscapes.

Haiku by El Wud: https://soundcloud.com/el-wud-1

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

halF snaiL [naviarhaiku632]

when you return
don't forget my house!
departing swallows

Among the four great masters of Japanese haiku, Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) was the most prolific: during his lifetime he wrote over 20,000 haiku, hundreds of tanka, and several haibun.

Haiku by Kobayashi Issa: http://haikuguy.com/issa/search.php

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

halF returninG [naviarhaiku633]

This MAY make a little more sense if you also watch the video ... https://youtu.be/N-W41RNXX-Q

The eurorack module you hear to the right is the incredible Arbhar from INSTRUō  ... the full video will be released on June 11th on the halF unusuaL YouTube channel ... more on that soon 🤫

The full piece for the snippet you hear to the left was created for Naviar Records  and you can hear it at https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-returning-naviarhaiku633

More on the 738th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Speak Not — The Assignment: Saying something without saying it — at https://disquiet.com/0738/

halF recurrenT [disquiet0738]

See where this came from: https://youtu.be/2BNz5G0eo-4 ... including a more detailed description for more info ...

More on the 739th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Deepest Sympathies — The Assignment: Make music focused on sympathetic strings, or something akin to them — at https://disquiet.com/0739/

halF sympatH [disquiet0739]

Take a peek at the crazy visuals that go with this track: https://youtu.be/zqMhLdxyXOk ... Watch some of my Blender explorations; you can clearly see that I don't know what I'm doing!

can you hear the stars?
shiny trills, thrills in the dark
my mind’s orchestra

This haiku by Leanne Wicks is part of the Stay Cool project - a collaboration between Naviar Records and Red Earth Ecology that aims to promote techniques for Japanese-inspired prose and foster international collaboration.

Leanne describes her roles as an ornitheologist and textile artist with Anglo heritage creating in Dabee/Wiradjuri Country in the Capertee Valley, NSW. She sees birding as a daily spiritual routine and interprets the world through connection with birds.

Haiku by Leanne Wicks: https://songlarkstudio.com

To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

halF minD [naviarhaiku635]

The eagle-eared will know that if there’s any key at all, C Minor is a bit of a go-to home base for halF unusuaL. So for this week’s Disquiet Junto brief the left hand had to be in that key … with some simple triads from E Major in the right hand … sometimes apart, sometimes together as a polychord - so I guess it’s halF polychorD 😁

More on the 740th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Polychord Amorous — The Assignment: Write a piece of music based on a chord progression of polychords — at https://disquiet.com/0740/

halF polychorD [disquiet0740]

For this week's Disquiet Junto prompt I got thinking about telegraph poles and the clanking sound they would make if they fell down, or maybe against each other ... I don't have any telegraph poles to hand, but I do have some wooden drum sticks, so I banged those around and slowwwwwed them right down, so they sounded 'bigger' ... This was offset against a mini bell orchestra performance (making use of said drumsticks) ... I'm learning Blender at the moment, so if you like the idea of audio-reactive particle manipulation, using the two images you see in the thumbnail for this piece, then you might enjoy watching https://youtu.be/t-BSDrM3kPw ... niche as it might be! 😁 

More on the 741st weekly Disquiet Junto project, Balance Beam — The Assignment: Write music for bell and drone — at https://disquiet.com/0741/

halF equateD [disquiet0741]

Best experienced with the visuals: https://youtu.be/pB54OrQO4i4

The ‘sensitive math’ (SM) genre is a relatively new arrival. By definition chromatic, it is a form that is ‘sensitive’ to both sound and sight — where musical structure is inseparable from visual geometry.

This piece grew out of an extended chromatic piano improvisation, later mapped into 3D space using Blender.

In SM, the mathematical aspect emerges through a simple constraint: the 12 edges of a cube are assigned the 12 notes of the chromatic scale. Any permutation is valid, giving rise to 19,958,400 possible “SM scales” (accounting for rotational symmetry).

This piece uses the well-known FBR4.3 allocation — aficionados will recognise it immediately.

Not all allocations are equally stable.

halF unusuaL

More on the 742nd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Sensitive Math — The Assignment: An exercise in genre speculation — at https://disquiet.com/0742/

halF sensitivE [disquiet0742]

See accompanying visuals @ https://youtu.be/H_Bwdd2KUMQ

Spoken word: Michael Finnissy - Music Matters, BBC Radio 3, 9th April 2016

Listen to the whole episode on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0769hbg

halF fivefortysiX [featuring Michael Finnissy]

A deep listening mission to isolate and really appreciate the relief of the repeated phrase ...

halF hiddeN

Welcome to this evolving sound-space — part of a growing, organic ecosystem with a life of its own.

I explore the edges of music and not-music: texture, noise, chance, micro-sound, loops, ASMR drift, and tones that feel familiar in their strangeness. Some pieces lean musical, some lean perceptual — all of it is listening research in disguise.

This is where many of the more “music-shaped” experiments live — sketches, loop studies, ambient fragments, and sonic accidents that sometimes turn into worlds.

✨👂 Listen curiously
👀 Notice what your mind does
🔁 Loops, attention, texture, drift

For the full audio-visual + workshop side of the project — perceptual experiments, Atelier patch walkthroughs, and sound you can see — find me on YouTube http://youtube.com/@halfunusual

Same experiments. Different doorway.

Thanks for being here — your listens, follows, and support keep the lab lights on 🙏

halF unusuaL

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