I took old audio cassettes where I'd recorded music off BBC radio in the mid 1980s and blended three things I've never found recordings of since: Gershwin's funeral march (from Radio 4 maybe?), Richard Rodney Bennett's Siesta (arrange for piano and theremin I think) and the Brylcreem TV ad. Overlayed on this are the annoying bits where the radio presenters talk over the music. Presumably to stop people like me making pirate recordings. These were bits I couldn't/wouldn't erase as I wanted the whole track (often live sessions).

This was posted in response to the Disquiet Junto project. More on this 552nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — The Radio in My Life (The Assignment: Record music in response to a John Cage and Morton Feldman conversation) — at: https://disquiet.com/0552/

Thanks to Tobias Reber and Musikfestival Bern for collaboration on this project. More on the festival at:

https://www.musikfestivalbern.ch/
https://www.instagram.com/musikfestival_bern
https://www.facebook.com/musikfestivalbern

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

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0552-the-radio-in-my-life/

somethings won't erase - disquiet0552

I'm starting a new ongoing collaboration with musician Louise Walters, and am also beginning to think about an installation I will create called 'Disquiet, Still'. This is made out of improvised piano at Louise's house and her footsteps.

Naviar Haiku Challenge: www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku
Naviar Records store: www.naviarrecords.bandcamp.com
Subscribe/support the project: www.naviarrecords.com/support-us/

haiku by Ozaki Hōsai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozaki_H%C5%8Dsai

On the field
where evening has died out –
my footsteps

picture by Amir Kalhor https://unsplash.com/@amirkalhor

Footsteps died out (naviarhaiku448)

Built out of a short extract from an improvisation between @stellato-strings (violin) and myself (piano) there's some Audacity pitch change going on and I'm keeping this week's @naviar-records Haiku Challenge as sparse as possible, with organ stop shifting and very low growling Garageband string ensemble. The picture is from a sunset this week in Margate.

without a voice
the heron would disappear –
morning snow

Widely regarded as one of the most important female haiku poets, Fukuda Chiyo-ni was a Japanese poet of the Edo period. She started writing haiku early in her childhood and was strongly influenced by Basho’s poetry (probably because her teachers were his students).

The fundamentals in Basho’s poetry include: sabi (detached loneliness), wabi (poverty of spirit), hosomi (slenderness, sparseness), shiori (tenderness), sokkyo (spontaneity), makoto (sincerity), fuga (elegance), karumi (simplicity), kyakkan byosha (objectivity), and shiZen to hitotsu ni naru (oneness with nature). Fukuda Chiyo-ni was particularly interested in the latter, since most of her poetry deals with the realm of nature.

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 26th October 2022

haiku by Fukuda Chiyo-ni http://haikukan.city.hakusan.ishikawa.jp/english/about/index.html

morning snow (naviarhaiku459)

This piece was created from materials created by a recorded improvisation of @stellato-strings playing violin and me on the piano. It's this week's response to the @naviar-records weekly Haiku challenge:

Icarus
the pelican hovers
mid flight

We discovered Kimberly’s writings on Twitter. If you find the haiku we chose inspiring, make sure you explore her Twitter profile for more evocative poems.

“I am blessed to live by the sea. This informs a lot of my ‘ku. I also try to write honestly about my struggles with depression. Not sure how successful I am on that topic. It’s hard. The nature poems come easier. I began writing haiku about four years ago. I try to write daily, giving myself Sundays & holidays off. ‘Ku is a kind of discipline for me—much like a daily walk or yoga practice. Haiku quite simply saved my life.”

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 16th November 2022

haiku by Kimberly A. Horning https://twitter.com/everydaydeath12

the photograph was taken by me in Holborn this morning.

Icarus (Naviar 462)

This week's response to the @naviar-records haiku challenge is a cut from the improvisation session I did with @stellato-strings a few weeks back. It really is the gift that keeps on giving. This a live excerpt, no editing or adding. 

the fall
of memory
leaves
Jim Young [haigo – Oyoguhito] is an old poet writing from his beach hut on the Gower peninsula, Wales, UK.

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 23rd November 2022

haiku by Jim Young https://haikueye.blogspot.com

I took the picture on a walk southside of the river opposite the Houses of Parliament a few days ago at sunset.

The Fall (naviarhaiku463)

This is my response to this week's Disquiet Junto prompt.

More on this 572nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Rhythm Kit (The Assignment: Make a beat that someone else will add to) — at: https://disquiet.com/0572/

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

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0572-rhythm-kit/

Rhythm Kit (disquiet0572)

welcome, 2023. 

music and piano by leon clowes. violin by @stellato-strings

title arising from, and music made in response, to the  @naviarrecords  haiku challenge (naviarhairku469: New Year's Day).

New Year’s Day–
that I’m still on this journey
unbelievable

Among the four great masters of Japanese haiku, Kobayashi Issa was the most prolific: during his lifetime he wrote over 20,000 haiku, hundreds of tanka, and several haibun. If you want to find out more about this prolific author I suggest you check out this database of his haiku.

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 4th January 2022

haiku by Kobayashi Issa https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kobayashi-issa

Still On This Journey (naviarhaiku469)

lovely to sit at @stellato-strings piano again and record improvisations again for the first time in 2023. more pieces to be made in the coming weeks from yesterday afternoon's session. for starters here's me, the piano and its harmonics, the wind chimes outside, Audacity editing and the life game of chance (there's no such thing as chance) at play.

This is this week's response to the weekly Naviar Haiku challenge:

Evening sky,
the silhouettes of farmers in their fields
deepen.

(translated by James Abrams)

A wandering poet and ascetic Zen priest, Santōka was a disciple of Ogiwara Seisensui, one of the first poets to discard the traditional use of the 5-7-5 structure in haiku.

Santōka’s poetry emphasizes the necessity of sabi (solitude) in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment and serenity.

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 18th January 2023

haiku by Santoka Taneda https://www.chzc.org/Nonin.htm

picture is by me of the Anthony Gormley figure currently keeping watch outside Turner Contemporary.

Silhouettes (naviarhaiku 471)

This is this week's response to the Naviar Records Haiku Challenge.

filling my shadows
glorious rays bringing growth
heavenly ascent

Jennifer Doty was born and raised in the beautiful wilds of the Ozarks in southern Missouri. She was taught to value literature, music, the arts and spirituality. Her upbringing encouraged creativity, open mindedness and self-expression.

Always attracted to the outdoors, she draws much inspiration for her poetry from nature, as well as human nature. Her interest in poetry and writing as a form of self-expression began in her early teens, only recently is she beginning to publicly share her work.

Jennifer obtained a B.S. in Child, Adult and Family Services and an M.S. in Health Sciences. She has always had a passion for helping others. She raised 2 children and currently spends time helping with her four grandchildren. She enjoys family, writing, travel, photography, painting and working on improving her guitar skills.

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

 

Deadline: 22nd March 2023

haiku by Jennifer Doty https://twitter.com/jenncord

picture by Elton Sa https://unsplash.com/@bigeruta

heavenly ascent (naviarhaiku480)

Taking the https://soundcloud.com/user5032541 piece https://soundcloud.com/user5032541/disquiet0591-swellchords I created an answer to the Swell Chords call using Arctic Breeze to respond.

The second of two response's to this week's Disquiet Junto's prompt. More on this 592nd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Better Than One (The Assignment: Record the second third of an asynchronous trio), at: https://disquiet.com/0592/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0592-better-than-one/

better than one two [disquiet0592]

In responding to this week's @naviar-records haiku challenge, I was exploring the live loops capabilties of Logic Pro. hHere I am taking nine tiny sample slices of improvising with @stellato-strings and slooooowing it right down to five.

Here's information about this week's prompt:

in dream world
was I laughing at a turtle?
winter seclusion

Among the four great masters of Japanese haiku, Kobayashi Issa was the most prolific: during his lifetime he wrote over 20,000 haiku, hundreds of tanka, and several haibun. If you want to find out more about this prolific author I suggest you check out this database of his haiku.

From the Haiku Guy website:

“Perhaps Issa’s dream is symbolic. Like a turtle, he is hunkered inside his shell (hut), waiting out the harsh winter weather. Or, William Nicholas offers a different interpretation, noting that the turtle is linked with good luck and longevity in Japan. In 1812 Issa was still a bachelor; he married two years later. At this point in his life he longed for the good luck of marriage and family life, hence the dream turtle’s teasing laughter?”

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 17th May 2023

haiku by Kobayashi Issa https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kobayashi-issa

picture by Todd Trapani https://unsplash.com/photos/ymEcUhbjCrI

in dream world (naviarhaiku488)

Here'e this week's response to the weekly @naviar-records haiku challenge

Dividing the autumn sky
Into two
A huge chinquapin tree

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 (the seasonal reference), even though the more modern trends were already tending towards seasonless haiku.

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 24th May 2023

Haiku by Kyoshi Takahama https://www.masterpiece-of-japanese-culture.com/literatures-and-poems/haiku/takahama-kyoshis-haiku-poems

Picture by Will https://unsplash.com/photos/x1JObX8KM8w

Into two (naviarhaiku489)

I really admire the direction that @encym took the @noodletwister and @sinnysounds collaboration. I took the three iterations and panned them on Audacity, then used effects and fade. Here's what transpired.

More on this 594th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Threemix (The Assignment: Remix an asynchronously produced trio), at: https://disquiet.com/0594/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0594-threemix/

Coming Home (Disquiet0594)

I'm writing on piano (well, a Bosendorfer Grand Piano present on Logic) as I've got a piano piece commission so I'm triallling ideas for that. Plus, tentatively getting used to the whole new world of possibilities of this DAW.

This is this week's response to the @naviar-records haiku challenge:

The cold forest flaunts
A newly webbed blanket of
Wood anemones

Pritee Rel is a teacher living in Alberta, Canada, with her husband, two children, a dog, and a cat. Besides reading and writing, Pritee likes going on long walks/hikes with her dog.

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 31st May 2023

Haiku by Pritee Rel https://twitter.com/PriteeRel

Picture by Annie Spratt https://unsplash.com/photos/pfBwKO8rzjY

webbed (naviarhaiku490)

This is this week's response to the @naviar-records haiku challenge.

Desolate street at dawn
Last night’s turmoil
Whispers in the wind

Second haiku written by me that makes it to the Haiku challenge. I hope you’ll find it inspiring.

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 21st June 2023

Haiku by Marco Sebastiano Alessi https://www.naviarrecords.com

Picture by K8 https://unsplash.com/photos/vEESxiQXASk

Desolate (naviarhaiku493)

This is my response to the 600th @disquiet Junto project. Many thanks to @marcus_fischer for the samples for this track.

More on this 600th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Reaching Out (The Assignment: This is a shared sample project. Rework a set of seven WAV files provided by Marcus Fischer), at: https://disquiet.com/0600/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0600-reaching-out/

This project’s cover image is a detail of a photo also by Marcus Fischer.

Reaching Out (disquiet0600)

In response to this week's @disquiet prompt I took fragments of last week's music from @ray_cobley (rhythm track + piano), @user-807707609 (synth arpeggios) and @marcolucchi (plucked strings).

The best things happen in threes, I've always found.

Being an 80s goth, I took an echo, reverb and modulation to make a cut up technique call and response piece. The echo suggests the tempo is faster than the 30bpm.

This was a helpful project as I learned how to slow down audio in Logic Pro, how to mix tracks directly to an audio download, and scratched around the edges of the effects multiverse available in the software. 

I learn in bits or my brain explodes.

More on this 610th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Speed Limit Pt 2 (The Assignment: Combine two or more pre-existing 60 BPM tracks into something new — at half the speed), at: https://disquiet.com/0610/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0610-speed-limit-pt-2/

Speed Limit Pt2 (disquiet0610)

Uncannily I had been working on this piece this morning using the harmonics from piano chords I'd played and recorded a while back. I'm exploring and teaching myself how to compose usimg the editing and effects of the Logic Pro X multiverses. I'd been drawn to soft quiet sounds and was using delays and echoes to create subtle patterns that play off one another.

I was halfway through this and then @disquiet Marc sent this email prompt out saying this ...

"Step 1: The underlying idea is to produce music that, so to speak, listens to itself. This would be music that employs techniques to revisit itself — repurposes itself — as it proceeds. From reverb to echo to tape loops to granular synthesis to accessing a buffer, various techniques serve such a compositional and performance purpose. Consider a means to achieve this result."

... which was exaclty what I was doing anyway. I must be psychic.

More on this 611th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Music That Listens to Itself (The Assignment: Record a piece of music that repurposes itself as it proceeds), at: https://disquiet.com/0611/

Some of the music resulting from this project may be included in a September 29, 2023, event at the Berkeley Alembic in Berkeley, California: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/expanded-listening-music-that-listens-to-itself-tickets-712124101357

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0611-music-that-listens-to-itself/

Music Itself Listens To (disquiet0611)

I took some of @kate-gallaher's recorder loops from yesterday to make this response to the @naviar-records weekly haiku. 

Here's the details about this week's challenge:

'Disappearing
snow on mountain peak
unfurls a rainbow'

Sôen Nakagawa was a key figure in the transmission of Zen Buddhism from Japan to the Western world. Author Sean Murphy, in his “One Bird, One Stone: 108 Contemporary Zen Stories”, tells us an interesting story about the Zen Buddhist master during his time in the U.S.:

“Soen loved to walk around New York City. He’d stare at the lighted skyscrapers, at their tops, he claimed he saw Buddha figures in the lights. “Look at the Buddha,” he’d point, “Shining Buddha!” He’d fill the sleeves of his robes with nuts and berries from Central Park or herbs growing in the sidewalk cracks, and add them to his bowl at the next meal. He loved the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and when asked a question about why some particular point of ceremony needed to be performed in a certain way, he might burst into song, responding “Tradition…!”

Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku
 

Deadline: 11th October 2023

A cut up of the Haiku poem by John Hinks is used for the title https://soundcloud.com/flownblue

excerpt of picture used here is from Joe Hu https://unsplash.com/photos/ZXaCeb7rwfE

Disappearing On Mountain (naviarhaiku509)

This week I have made a longer electronic piece in response to @naviar-records' Marco's haiku. 

Here's the info about this week's prompt:

'Endless echo
footsteps on an empty house
once full of life'

To participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Deadline: 1st November 2023

'Endless' takes its titel from the 'Endless echo' haiku by Marco Sebastiano Alessi

The image I've used is part of a picture by Raya Mal https://unsplash.com/photos/closed-window-ggeI8TyPeZM

Endless (naviarhaiku512)

This piece is built on Ableton Live out of the recordings I recrently made of @kate-gallaher and @stellato-strings playing flute, recorder and violin, sometimes using melodies from John Walsh's The Bird Fancyer's Delight, then also with me on the piano.

The image is from me asking Adobe AI for a picture of 'baroque dreamcatchers on a Sunday afternoon in South London'.

The piece is a response to this week's @naviar-records challenge based on a haiku poem by Jerome Berglund and here's the information about that:

'ore train
bright colors
passing quickly'
Submission deadline: 14th February 2024

 

 
TO PARTICIPATE
 
- Make a song in response to the weekly assigned poem (a new poem is published every Wednesday)
- When choosing a title for your piece also include the assignment number, for example “Title of your track (naviarhaiku527)”
To submit your track:
- If you’re a Soundcloud user, upload it on Soundcloud and send me the URL via private message, or tag me in the track.
- If you upload your music on Youtube, Bandcamp or anywhere else, upload your submission and then send me the link by email at marco@naviarrecords.com or contact me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
- If you don’t use any music platform, upload it to this Dropbox folder and I’ll include it in the weekly playlist. If you choose this option, make sure you include your name in the track’s title.

Your track may be included in Naviar's weekly podcasts and free (pay-what-you-want) compilations. If you can, please set the track as downloadable on Soundcloud and allow others to remix/reuse it by using a Creative Commons License.
 
For more information visit http://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku
Jerome Berglund has worked as everything from dishwasher to paralegal, night watchman to assembler of heart valves.

Many haiku, haiga and haibun he’s written have been exhibited or are forthcoming online and in print, most recently in bottle rockets, Frogpond, and Modern Haiku. His first full-length collections of poetry Bathtub Poems and Funny Pages were just released by Setu and Meat For Tea press, and a mixed media chapbook showcasing his fine art photography is available now from Yavanika.

passing (naviarhaiku527)

The recorder playing on this piece is by @kate-gallaher and there is violin from @stellato-strings

This is my response to this week's @naviar-records haiku challenge. Here's the details about that:

'The first thunder
Is likely to shake
The tiered doll stand.'

Like Santoka and Seisensui, Kawahigashi Hekigoto (1873-1937) was an important advocate of the free verse haiku.
Besides being a writer and critic of haiku, Hekigoto was a literary scholar, noh dancer, art critic, calligrapher, social commentator, and mountain climber.
 

Haiku by Kawahigashi Hekigoto

Picture by Yusuf Evli

Submission deadline: 13th March 2024

The first thunder (naviarhaiku531)

In the second part of the three week @disquiet Junto Project, I took @triermusic's Ableton Live track of street musicians and added three Logic Pro X bass. I panned Nate's track halfway left and my basses to the middle of the right and kept the tempo of 81bpm.

More on the 637th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Right (2 of 3) — The Assignment: Record the second third of an eventual trio — at https://disquiet.com/0637/

Right 2of3 Disquiet0637- with Nate Trier

Using slowed down fragments of recordings of pedalled piano notes, @stellato-strings touching her violin with the bow, a creaking piano stool and ticking clock, I created this piece using loops and effects on Ableton Live.

It's my contribution to this week's @naviar-records haiku prompt.

The title 'along' is taken from this haiku poem by Takashi Matsumoto:

'Flowing along
changing its colors
a soap bubble.'

Takashi Matsumoto was a Japanese poet originally from Tokyo. Born into a family deeply interested in nō theater, he also devoted himself to it in his youth until 1921, when he came into contact with Hototogisu magazine and haiku poetry. Beginning the following year, Matsumoto became a student of Takahama Kyoshi. In 1946, he launched the magazine Fue 笛 ('The Flute').

The image is from a fraction of a picture by Rodion Kutsaiev.

For more information about @naviar-records and the weekly haiku challenges please visit: http://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

along (naviarhaiku533)

This Ableton Live-devised piece takes its title 'Tall,' from the first word of a haiku poem by John Hinks, a regular contributor of music and poetry to this Naviar community, who has recently passed away. Thank you for your gifts of art, @flownblue.

'Tall, wide-arching trees
Assume a cathedral shape
Until darkness falls'
 
I found out today that John passed away. John participated in the Naviar Haiku challenge for over 4 years, almost every week, and shared both his music and poetry with us. He'll be deeply missed.

"John Hinks, aka FlownBlue, was a prolific and talented composer, and a regular participant in the Haiku challenge. Aside from his solo project, John was also involved in multiple projects: ‘Windfall Light‘ (with Jim Tetlow), ‘Abstract Blue‘ (with Kevin Buckland), ‘Light Fragments‘ (with Steve Escott), Szukanie (with Michał Wojciechowski), and Meadowlight (with Emma Reed)."

Haiku by John Hinks

The image used here is a fragment of a picture by Mike Petrucci


Submission deadline: 17th April 2024

 
TO PARTICIPATE
 
- Make a song in response to the weekly assigned poem (a new poem is published every Wednesday)
- When choosing a title for your piece also include the assignment number, for example “Title of your track (naviarhaiku536)”
To submit your track:
- If you’re a Soundcloud user, upload it on Soundcloud and send me the URL via private message, or tag me in the track.
- If you upload your music on Youtube, Bandcamp or anywhere else, upload your submission and then send me the link by email at marco@naviarrecords.com or contact me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
- If you don’t use any music platform, upload it to this Dropbox folder and I’ll include it in the weekly playlist. If you choose this option, make sure you include your name in the track’s title.

Your track may be included in Naviar's weekly podcasts and free (pay-what-you-want) compilations. If you can, please set the track as downloadable on Soundcloud and allow others to remix/reuse it by using a Creative Commons License.
 
For more information visit http://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku

Tall, (naviarhaiku536)

DRUSKOMANIJA Festival Open Call entry

Downloadable WAV file of the backing track for the leon clowes composition 'The Wanderer's Waltz'.

In order of appearance these parts are:

(i) Haunted voices (not included in the score)

(ii) Mellotron as basso continuo (see score)

The Wanderer's Waltz - Haunted Voices + Mellotron Part

Greetings from a very windy Blackpool in the UK, where I'm visiting for a conference. 

For this week's @disquiet task I remixed a @naviar-records track I made not long after I started with Logic Pro X:

https://soundcloud.com/leonclowes/rock-bottom-naviarhaiku475

I transferred this track to my new love: Ableton. I'm sorry Logic, I still have feelings for you, but things are just ... easier with me and Ableton. There's room for the two of you though. 

I employed chance techniques with the audio effects, then tidied it up a bit after the first attempt I made of the live set. Not much though, not many changes were made, just some slight shifting. There's a bit of a 'too loud' twang at about a third of the way in, but I'm pretty happy with this and prefer it to the original. 

After I mixed it down, i then tried changing a few of the effects and seeing what that might do post production. Terrible. Didn't work. Rick Rubin tallks a lot about how first takes are often the best.

The original title of this piece was 'Rock Bottom' and so ... 'Bottom Rock'. Although it wasn't intentional when I named it the first time round (as the phrase would have been taken from the @naviar-records haiku poem that week), 'Rock bottom' is often mentioned by people in addiction recovery rooms (I'm in recovery myself), and actually, thinking back to this moment when I created this piece, I was about to enter the period for a large part of 2023 when I felt I really was at creative 'rock bottom'. There's no such thing as coincidence.

More on the 641st weekly Disquiet Junto project, Re-re-re-re-revise — The Assignment: Take an old track and make it better — at https://disquiet.com/0641/

Bottom Rock (disquiet0641)

This ambisonic sound piece was included in the Screen South Immersive Sound Showcase at Folkestone's inaugural Queercall Festival in March 2024. 

300 years ago, John Walsh’s baroque recorder tunes (The Bird Fancyer’s Delight’) were composed for players to teach commonplace British birds. Today, some of these species are dwindling, and so this lament draws on those melodies (performed by @kate-gallaher on recorder and @stellato-strings on violin), field recordings of Folkestone sea, wind and birds at dawn, and mucking about with Gerry McNee on the Teisco 110f in WORM Rotterdam’s vintage synth studio. 

It was all made possible thanks to the dream production team of Christian Duka (Amoenus) and Gavin Roberts (Screen South). Screen South also kindly loaned the a Zoom H4n Pro recording equipment to record the Folkestone bird and sea sounds, and provided Ableton and ambisonic sound training and support.

Until the last bird sings (at Queercall Festival)

Soprano Salomėja Petronytė and pianist Lukas Butkus performed this piece - it's the first part of song cycle I'm composing - on Tuesday 28 May at Festivalis Druskomanija. The backing track is a mellotron sound and a recording of haunted voices which may have been in Hackney or Ipswich. I'm not sure which.

The photograph is of Salomėja and myself was taken after this performance, captured by Ilmé Vyšniauskaité.

Thank you to Eleanor Nicolaou for the help and advice with writing for voice, and Kate Gallaher for the expert Sibelius scoring.

The Wanderer’s Waltz

Responding to Disquiet Junto Project 0658: Re-Amplify, I played “Kokytos” by Daniel Glaus through three sets of speakers in my living room, bedroom and at double speed on my mobile phone. I walked around the flat recording this on a Zoom mic, then uploaded the track to Ableton, adding lots of effects. This then became two versions that were played through Ableton Live. I then returned to this tonight and recorded another Ableton Live set, and with some shapeshifting of the live edit - out came this.

More on the 658th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Re-Amplify — The Assignment: Re-record and re-compose an organ improvisation by Daniel Glaus — at https://disquiet.com/0658/

Re-Amplify (disquiet0658)

A few months back using a Zoom mic I recorded @kate-gallaher playing recorders in the nearby woods to her home. Many birds were around us singing. This piece, 'spoke no' takes a short rhythmic fragment that she improvised which I compressed slowed down on Logic. I used echo and reverb to build rhythm and dictate paste, and then created new pitches through Ableton, combining this with the layers already created on Logic. This is the first time I've use Logic and Ableton to work on one piece.

This piece is a response to this week's @naviar-records weekly haiku challenge. Here's the information about that:

they spoke no words
the visitor, the host
and the white chrysanthemum

For this week's challenge, I picked another poem by Ōshima.

Ōshima Ryōta was a Japanese poet of the Edo period. Some sources say he was a disciple of Yosa Buson, while others say his master was Hattori Ransetsu. He's mostly remembered for his essay “Bashō ku kai” 芭蕉句解 ('Study of Bashō's haiku') published in 1759, a magnum opus of his studies and literary theories on Matsuo Bashō's work.

Haiku by Ōshima Ryōta
Picture by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov

Submission deadline: 28th August 2024

spoke no (naviarhaiku555)

With this week's @disquiet challenge, using Ableton Live, I took the denoised version and, using audio effect Robo Voice, slowed the track to just under half the tempo (from 120 to 55) so that the effect created an evolving new rhythm. I recorded this version while playing a 8 second section the opening bars at the same half speed. This second sample has a full range spatial effect that for me recalled the sound of American freight trains. (I have a mild but not adversely affecting obsession about that iconic sound.) I didn’t want to add anymore. It felt like there was enough going on and that the short track was complete.

More on the 660th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Louis Blues St. — The Assignment: Break a public domain song into parts and reorganize them — at disquiet.com/0659/

Louis Blues St (disquiet0660)

Living city centre London my home environment is surprisingly quiet, but doing this @disquiet project allowed me to focus on listening to those permanent hums in the background. I got close into the very-old-needs-replacing refridgerator and the air filters throughout the flat.

Recording 22 seconds worth of sound each time, some were deleted when other noises interrupted their sounds. Stripping this down to four looped samples, I played each track inidiviudally, live mixing these effects in Ableton Live:

sound one - Around the head auto pan; Vibrato special chorus ensemble, then add phasing
sound two - Concrete Chamber and Big Room reverbs
sound three - Drums in a Canyon hybrid reverb, Bright Small Box cabinet, Shifter Flanger shifter
sound four - Stereo Notch, Only the good parts, Kick Boom auto filter

I then layered the four tracks to create what you hear here.

More on the 661st weekly Disquiet Junto project, Consumer Drone Product — The Assignment: Record a piece of drone music using sounds from your home — at https://disquiet.com/0661/

consumer drone product (disquiet0661)

In 1987 I first got my hands on a polyphonic (Elka) synth and with a Roland Boss drum machine and a Tascam Porta One, wrote and recorded my first synth pop song, 'A Love Divine'.

After re-recording this in 2022, musician @ashgre asked to remix it. Much more than that, they reworked it! I'm absolutely delighted with this 80s 12 inch-stylee revisit, thank you Ash :))

Ash also made the image art based on this photo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-arm-with-tattoo-holding-apple-20088223/

Leon Clowes

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