The Assignment: Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive. More on the 663rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Drive Way — The Assignment: Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive — at https://disquiet.com/0663/ 

This week’s project was proposed by novelist Robin Sloan (Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Sourdough, Moonbound) in response to a post I made on social media about the annoying sound of an HDD drive I accidentally purchased. I had mistakenly thought it was an SSD drive. We previously did a project inspired by Sloan’s work almost exactly 7 years ago, at the end of August 2017 (more details at disquiet.com/0296).  

Step 1: Either record the sound of an HDD drive or use a field recording available online, such as this one from Freesound:  https://freesound.org/people/eardeer/sounds/401271 

Step 2: Consider how that drive sound, even when quiet, could be irritating if heard while one is listening to music.  

Step 3: Per Sloan’s proposal, “record music to harmonize with, or play against, the whirr.” (It’s up to you if you want to include the sound of the drive along with your music.)

More on the 663rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Drive Way — The Assignment: Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive — at https://disquiet.com/0663/

Image: Don MacKeen 2024

computer drone [disquiet0663]

Hello, 
I'm a self-taught composer, still discovering my musical identity, step by step.
I've been on SoundCloud for almost two years now, and this platform allows me to discover incredibly talented people. I'm immensely proud and grateful to everyone who's interested in my work.
Thank you for your support and encouragement, and thank you to everyone I interact with here for their support, it's very inspiring.

I wish everyone the very best !

My music asks listeners to be like dreamers uncovering hidden patterns in passing clouds. Support me @ patreon.com/blisterpop

*Thank you all for your kind support*

Happy 2025

All here, in reality, are works in progress and are therefore apt to change at any time. All those except XIII Sisters and RAW which, as many of you may have done, I literally gave away in return for their placement in a library. Something I won't be doing again any time soon. If you have a use for something you hear here please just ask.

 .ooO -------------------------------------- Ooo.

ChatGTP said of AI Music...
'Creative AI tools can be seen as sophisticated plagiarism software, as they do not produce genuinely original content but rather emulate and modify existing works by artists subtly enough to circumvent copyright laws'

Sometimes it takes a dispassionate, independent view to actually see the truth of it ...

 .ooO -------------------------------------- Ooo.

There are links to XiiixxiQ below. Your mileage may vary as to whether it decides to work on your system or not. It only runs on a Mac because I really don't have time to do all the necessary work to make it compatible with anything other than my 2015 MacBook Pro :-(. It is still being developed (for my own use) and improved, and I may yet get round to doing another release if I can find the time to tidy it all up.

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.

During the early 1990s I studied Mathematics and Computer Science. The world wide web was still largely text-based and mostly empty. Today things are obviously different, though I still thoroughly enjoy art, design, cinema and music in all its forms. I have traveled all over the world for nearly two decades, visiting just over 140 countries. Japan is my favorite. All of this I attempt to incorporate into my music and art.

Abstract Sound Structures, Musique Concrète & Live Electronics.
Experimental abstract animation videos.
It is my aim to create and/or edit my tracks & videos using free or open-source software only.
Influences include: J.S. Bach, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Giacinto Scelsi, Mauricio Kagel, Conlon Nancarrow, Christian Wolff, Harry Partch, Luc Ferrari, Morton Feldman, Cornelius Cardew, Bernard Parmegiani, Ana-Maria Avram, David Tudor, Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros, Renaissance Polyphony.
All my work is published under a Creative Commons licence & can be freely downloaded (as wav) or remixed.

I am a poet & musician. Here, you can find solo pieces (poetry) and works by Spirit Turnpike. I play with mixes of voice, basses, guitar, samples, field recordings, and electronic music. 



I have been named New York State Beat Poet Laureate (2024-2026) by the National Beat Poetry Foundation.

I deeply appreciate the collaborations I have encountered across different platforms, as building music together is liberation.

Collaborations: New Haven Improvisers Collective, The Arawax, Global Nuisance,  Salon Du Monde Fremont (internet TV), Disquiet Junto, Marco Lucchi (Orchestra Eclettica e Sincretista). 

Publications: 

Website of The Bread is Rising Poetry Collective
www.thebreadisrising.org

Musical Leadership, a blog on music & arts: almartinez.substack.com

computer drone [disquiet0663]

Lazenbee Industries