Like the rest of you, I was enormously disappointed when Thomas Carnacki's debut appearance on WFMU for November 18th was abruptly cancelled due to the host becoming ill. However, this lapse of manifestation in the actual has left open a space for speculation: what would it have been like if it had taken place as scheduled? Taking this notion a step further, since a whole range of imaginary possibilities are now available: what would it had been like if the viral organisms responsible for the cancellation had hosted the broadcast instead? And what if the guest performers were proboscis monkeys recovering from a glue huffing addiction? This recording is a speculation along those general lines, but (fortunately) less specific in the details.

Sadly, we'll never know what the genuine outcome would have been, and this imaginary version is a poor substitute for the actual Carnackified electromagnetic disturbances that would have taken place.

Imaginary Re-Enactment Of A Thwarted Thomas Carnacki Appearance On WFMU, 2014-November- 18

This basis for this track was constructed from a field recording of wind turbines made near the Avant-Garde Festival in Schiphorst, Germany: what sounds like an organ or harmonium is actually layered and pitch-adjusted recordings of the wind turbine generator drone. Other electrical and mechanical sources recorded at different locations were added to enhance flavour.

I've searched my archives & the internet, but I simply can not find the name of the accordion player who's work has been deformed and disordered for the ending section. I know I recorded it at a 'Cold Cuts' session in Berkeley in 2003 on the same day one of my tracks was used as a soundtrack for a butoh improvisation and Dawn & Sheila McCarthy did a rare (maybe unique?) duo performance. Apologies to the mystery accordionist for the lack of credit on the record.

The full album 'I Made This For Someone Else, But They Didn't Want It So I'm Giving It To You' is available at irrappext.com (or in digital form at irrappext.bandcamp.com).

The Circadian Arcade

Here's a lopsided celebration of my ancestors' bold and controversial decision to leave the comfort of the oceans for dry land, and thereby condemning themselves to a lifetime of clumsily gulping air through their sloppy mouths. I think that the dolphins probably ended up much better off in their choice to stay put (or at least they would be if all those compulsively overzealous human apes would leave them alone). Regardless, I admire the adventurous resolve shown by those intrepid lungfish 375 million years ago.

The full album 'I Made This For Someone Else, But They Didn't Want It So I'm Giving It To You' is available at irrappext.com (or in digital form at irrappext.bandcamp.com).

Devonian Lungpower Anniversary Promenade

A short interlude that is self-explanatory enough for non-scientific applications.

The full album 'I Made This For Someone Else, But They Didn't Want It So I'm Giving It To You' is available at irrappext.com (or in digital form at irrappext.bandcamp.com).

In The Woods Near Where My House Used To Be I Discovered A Quantum Anomaly In A Dark Blue Honeycomb

A sample track from the double-disc 'Matériaux Déplacés' (2015). A peculiar location recording that loitered just inches away from bestial calamity.

Go to irrappext.com for full details and availability.

Somehow I Will Reach You [Oakland, California; May 2004]

Another sample track from the album 'Matériaux Déplacés' (2015). Blending electro-acoustics, electrical source textures and improper upright piano management.

Go to irrappext.com for full details and availability.

An Electromagnetic Field Has Taken An Unnatural Interest In My Sister's Piano

Another unprepared-prepared-piano-oriented improvisation track from 'Matériaux Déplacés' (2015).

Go to irrappext.com for full details and availability.

Misemployment Of A Resonant Device In A Domestic Environment - Citation #9

Another field-recording-based sample track from the double-disc 'Matériaux Déplacés' (2015). The Burren dawn chorus and it's featured soloist.

Go to irrappext.com for full details and availability.

Cheeky Dove Mumbles [County Clare, Ireland; April 2014]

Still one more track from the double-disc album 'Matériaux Déplacés' (2015). An audio interpretation of a fascinating biochemical process that has induced unrestrained madness and catastrophe fetishism in the present day.

Go to irrappext.com for full details and availability.

Theme For Paleozoic Biomass Aggregation

Track 1 from the never-quite-released and long-limbofurcated 2nd irr. album 'Foreign Matter, Nor Frequency Carrier'. Originally composed in 1998 using materials recorded between 1991 and 1998, this is a fully scrubbed, reconstructed and remastered version created in 2015/2016.

The old version of the track was recorded on a cassette 4-track, which imposed significant limitations on what could be done with it. This new version takes all of the original source recordings -- including many that had to be left off for technical reasons, or were lost due to the very primitive mixing skills I had at the time -- and expands & clarifies them into a form that is much closer to the original intent.

Cognitive Disorder #1 (Expectation) [2016 remaster]

Preamble to '10 Stations' post 1: Distributing The Y And The G (During Migration From 4993)

Leading up to the release of the next irr. app. (ext.) album '10 Stations' I'll be posting a series of tracks related to the construction of the album. Some posts will be actual excerpts, but most will be alternates & variations made during the development stage, or a combination of different elements used (and sometimes ultimately not used) to work out arrangements & ideas.

This first track is a montage of various extended textural elements, some of which have been given a more subtle application on the forthcoming album, and many of which did not end up on the album at all. This track is not particularly representative of most of the final '10 Stations' tracks: it's more of an exercise in textural clustering. Some of you might find it useful if you are looking for a way to break the ice with any bats or dolphins in your neighbourhood, or if you need a soundtrack to keep you awake during your nightly searches for gravitational waves.

Distributing The Y And The G (During Migration From 4993)

Preamble to '10 Stations' post 2: Ambiguous Effluvia

Leading up to the release of the next irr. app. (ext.) album '10 Stations' I'll be posting a series of tracks related to the construction of the album. Some posts will be actual excerpts, but most will be alternates & variations made during the development stage, or a combination of different elements used (and sometimes ultimately not used) to work out arrangements & ideas.

The second 'preamble' post is, again, not an actual track from the album, but an audio digression built on some of its raw elements that I thought might be interesting in a different context. The basic idea was to put together an improvised trio of boiling oatmeal, freeform drumming and stumblebum guitar. A few other elements were added in for atmosphere & variety, like the sound of the legendary Ragebox being stimulated by a small, battery-operated fan. I've also posted a 'reduction' version of this track with most of the guitar and some of the drum elements removed (for those of you who are unable to appreciate the queasy and harmonically-inconsistent approach to playing the guitar that is put to use here).

Ambiguous Effluvia

Preamble to '10 Stations' post 2.5: Ambiguous Effluvia [reduction mix]

Leading up to the release of the next irr. app. (ext.) album '10 Stations' I'll be posting a series of tracks related to the construction of the album. Some posts will be actual excerpts, but most will be alternates & variations made during the development stage, or a combination of different elements used (and sometimes ultimately not used) to work out arrangements & ideas.

This a 'reduced' variation of the second preamble post, with the dominant guitar elements removed and many of the drum parts either removed or eased more into the background. This better allows the Ragebox tremulation to shine forth, and leaves more room for some of the other background elements. The result is more atmospheric, and therefore better suited as background listening for any tricky surgical procedures than would be the full version.

Ambiguous Effluvia [reduction mix]

Preamble to '10 Stations' post 3: The Future Was Yesterday

Leading up to the release of the next irr. app. (ext.) album '10 Stations' I'll be posting a series of tracks related to the construction of the album. Some posts will be actual excerpts, but most will be alternates & variations made during the development stage, or a combination of different elements used (and sometimes ultimately not used) to work out arrangements & ideas.

Unlike the other preamble tracks posted so far, 'The Future Was Yesterday' is an actual track from the '10 Stations' album. There will be 10 tracks on the album, and this is track #6. It's not particularly representative of the other tracks, but I deliberately started each track using different audio sources so that the results would be varied. This one was started using electronic sources, although some 'concrète' and various other elements have been integrated for added commercial appeal.

The Future Was Yesterday

Preamble to '10 Stations' post 4: Alluvium And Pneuma [Nozzle Emphasis Mix]

Leading up to the release of the next irr. app. (ext.) album '10 Stations' I'll be posting a series of tracks related to the construction of the album. Some posts will be actual excerpts, but most will be alternates & variations made during the development stage, or a combination of different elements used (and sometimes ultimately not used) to work out arrangements & ideas.

This post is a substantially remixed excerpt from a much longer album track titled 'Alluvium And Pneuma'. A variety of unconventional approaches to percussion & instrument-playing are incorporated into the original track, and this mix was made to highlight a few of them -- particularly a drumkit recording which was made by playing the drums with the brush-nozzle attachment on a hose from a running vacuum cleaner. Directly using the recording microphone to play a slack-headed floor tom, a miniature electric fan rubbing against metal tines, and using an electric toothbrush to instigate harmonics from a guitar neck are some of the other methods involved here.

Popular tracks by irr. app. (ext.)