From the Athenian Truckstop Halloween mix 2021: atheniantruckstop.bandcamp.com/album/issue-1-halloween-mix

Anderson Spooker

Disquiet Junto Project 0546: Code Notes
The Assignment: Make music that includes a secret message.

I basically assigned distinct percussion/guitar riffs of 2 beats to each letter of the alphabet.  It felt a little dry so I added a little synth to every instance of the letter E.

The encoded phrase is "We must make our freedom by cutting holes in the fabric of this reality, by forging new realities which will, in turn, fashion us."  It's the first sentence in a longer passage by the anarchist collective, Crimethinc.  I ran across it in David Graeber's book, The Utopia of Rules.

which will, in turn, fashion us. (Disquiet 0546)

First track on Incogioto, a guitar oriented collection of jams written over the past few years. More fun than conceptual with few experiments sprinkled in.

https://moduspony.bandcamp.com/album/incogioto

Incogioto

if you only knew what I did for this 6 piece bakeware set

The Assignment: Record a piece of music that develops like an organism evolves.

Normally I don't submit an already complete track, but this track I did with Zachary Zena Giberson (Ooey) and nnirror for an upcoming album just happened to be the same idea as this week's prompt.  The track is divided into two parts.  In the first half, a mollusc evolves one way and in the second half, the process starts over and evolves differently.  I was interested in the idea that even a subtle change in environment and an organism could turn out completely differently.  The mallets you hear moving in predictable intervals sort of mark sequential changes which trigger different guitar work (kind of like adaptation).  In the second half the mallets move at different intervals.  The crazy sounding primordial stew you hear briefly in the beginning and again in the middle is nnirror's contribution.  Zach and I were working with a bunch of samples he sent in the beginning of the project. I kind of imagine an asteroid crashing into earth and setting off some chain reaction that led to life evolving(not sure if there's anything to that theory but I know I've heard it before.) Zach did a lot of the ambiance and weird sounds which I think gave it kind of a dark vibe.  The name is a reference to Coltrane's A Love Supreme.

More on this 580th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Evo Evol Evolve (The Assignment: Record a piece of music that develops like an organism evolves), at: https://disquiet.com/0580/

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-0580-evo-evol-evolve/

A Slug Supreme (with Zachary Zena Giberson and nnirror)(disquiet0580)

The Assignment: Use probability to remove material from a track.

I made a 3 track piece specifically for this idea instead of using something I already had because I figured it should be done with tracks that always have something happening so the silence is more noticeable/dramatic.  I think the moments where everything cuts out are the most dramatic.  Silence is sort of the 4th track in that sense (or what ever is going on around you when listening).  The piece itself used a fair bit of aleatory.  "Dr Chaos" is a max for live instrument I used with the drum kit.  It plays random samples at a regular beat division (1/8th, 1/16th, etc.). The 2 other tracks are just moving through different interval cycles (minor 3rds and perfect 4ths) at different paces so they create different unpredictable harmonies.  I used Random.org to decide where to cut and how long the cut should be (1-8 beats).  I figured cutting on beats instead of seconds would give the breaks a rhythmic quality.

More on this 586th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chance the Eraser (The Assignment: Use probability to remove material from a track), at: https://disquiet.com/0586/

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-0586-chance-the-eraser/

Nothing Hear (disquiet0586)

Disquiet Junto Project 0593: The Charm
The Assignment: Record the second third of an asynchronous trio.

Just added some guitar to @half-unusual and @daniel-diaz 's track from last week.

More on this 593rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, The Charm (The Assignment: Complete an asynchronous trio begun by two other musicians), at: https://disquiet.com/0593/

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-0593-the-charm/

Invitrio (w/ Daniel Diaz & HalF UnusuaL) (disquiet0593)

New album "Fleeced of their Wares" out 7/17/23

https://moduspony.bandcamp.com/album/fleeced-of-their-wares

Also on superpolar Taïps: https://superpolar.bandcamp.com/album/fleeced-of-their-wares

Vivian Pickles

Fleeced of their Wares

Quick Six

CD Motel

ocotillO

originaL tracK: https://soundcloud.com/funderstorm-f-u-n/02-f-u-n-are-you-having-fun

funderstorM - F.U.N. (arE you havinG fuN yeT) [moduS ponY remiX]

If you're not familiar with exquisite corpse: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse

related tracks: 

https://soundcloud.com/yellow-salamandr-4-1/exquisite-corpse

https://soundcloud.com/yellow-salamandr-4-1/corpse



righT lefT turN ("Exquisite Corpse" collaboration with Yellow Salamand'r and Circle of Squares)

Production chain: Senfsuck (intro beat/synth), moduS ponY (intro guitar), Schmaidl (strings), Carine de Kinsame (vocals), Yellow Salamander (ambient drone beat), moduS ponY (guitar + beat), Senfsuck (outro beat/synth)

thE "liE to be LoveD" title came from Kinsame's lyrics but an alternate title would be: "SenfsucK SandwicH with a mushY centeR"

"liE to be LoveD" (Senfsuck, moduS ponY, Schmaidl, Carine de Kinsame, Yellow Salamander)

scarsdalE vibE

Decided to link the different parts together in reverse this time, which was pretty challenging considering this one got more and more obtuse as it got passed along, bpm changes and whatnot.

Cast (in order of appearance): Yellow Salamand'r https://soundcloud.com/musicmike-1 (opening closing drone), https://soundcloud.com/mitalupa (first beat + weird synth), https://soundcloud.com/schmaidl (second beat + piano and violin), moduS ponY (last beat + guitar, bass, synth. Also, the drone you hear between sections to glue things together).

threE beatS and a dronE or twO (Yellow Salamand'r, Schmaidl, Mita Lupa, moduS ponY)

Little and Less is the single from Residue, an instrumental, guitar based EP from M. Ackerman.  Check out the rest of the EP: https://m-ackerman.bandcamp.com/album/residue

Little and Less

Entire album available for free on Bandcamp:

https://moduspony.bandcamp.com/album/you-need-this-album-an-exploration-of-advertising-and-some-other-stuff

Vocals - Koala Bear (https://soundcloud.com/whoisnumas)
Everything else - moduS ponY

Sample is from this humorous series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMXwFlp9IoI

Soda Jerk (feat. Koala Bear)

The foundation for Zehn Minuten was a randomly generated string of piano melodies, sometimes tonal, sometimes atonal. Loops were extracted from the piano collage based on their tonal or rhythmic ambiguities, or simply how catchy or compelling they were. Along with other instrumentation and samples from a variety of sources, these loops served as parts of compositions, that were then sutured together into one ten minute arrangement.

This is one half of a split with Belmont Lacroix.  Tapes or downloads are available via Strategic Tape Reserve: https://strategictapereserve.bandcamp.com/album/split

(Split) by moduS ponY and Belmont Lacroix

Zehn Minuten

I thought "gronky" sounded ugly and weird so I basically took some honky tonk tropes (mainly the rhythmic foundation) and applied those adjectives in certain ways musically (chord changes in that little break, effects used overall, instrumentation, pitch shifted vocals).

More on this 302nd weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Gronkytonk: Record a single in the genre introduced in Malka Older’s novel Infomacracy) at:

https://disquiet.com/0302/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0302-gronkytonk/

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Photo associated with this project is by Michael Banabila. It’s used via Flickr thanks to a Creative Commons license:

flic.kr/p/EqsRd5

creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Dog Bite my Jesus Baby (disquiet0302)

Disquiet Junto Project 0346: Drum Machinations
The Assignment: Make a beat with new drum machine sounds provided by other Junto musicians.

Drum sounds courtesy of @vgmrmojo 's track: https://soundcloud.com/vgmrmojo/give-the-samples-some-disquiet0345

I had this idea recorded on the fly on my iphone from a while back and decided to use it for this assignment.  It's 3 drum sounds that always play in the same order, which makes it bleed into the next measure creating 3 variations that take 3 measures to recycle.  the guitar chords take 4 measures, so it takes 12 measures for them to catch up to each other. I believe there was another Junto assignment years ago that played on this idea.  vgmrmojo's weird drum sounds I thought were perfect for the idea because they sort of go along with the sense of randomness the rhythm conveys.

More on this 346th weekly Disquiet Junto project (Drum Machinations / The Assignment: Make a beat with new drum machine sounds provided by other Junto musicians) at:

https://disquiet.com/0346/

Major thanks to Matt Nish-Lapidus and Jason Wehmhoener for having helped put together this and the preceding project.

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0346-drum-machinations/

There’s also a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet to join in.

Image associated with this project is by Jeff Howard, used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license:

https://flic.kr/p/bCCEZi

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

catsup (disquiet 0346)

Knuckle Wash

Interpretations of ideas from a notebook with connections to the avant-garde rock scene in 1970’s Los Angeles.

In the summer of 2017, a notebook of some interest came into my possession. Along with grocery lists, Spanish lessons, and some terrible poetry (all in two sets of handwriting) it seemed to also have been used to document musical ideas. After some struggle to reconnect with the owner, I sat down with the aging gentlemen in a popular downtown restaurant known for it’s French dip sandwiches. I would buy him several of these sandwiches before I got his full story and the story of the mysterious notebook. As it turned out, the pseudonymous “Richard Something” as he was known, was somewhat of a missing link in the fractured 1970’s avant-garde scene in and around Los Angeles. According to Richard, he was often on the periphery of that scene, briefly rubbing shoulders with the likes of Wild Man Fischer, members of Los Angeles Free Music Society, and members of the defunct (and unfortunately named) West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. He even played baseball with a young Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo), later of the Magic Band, where they both grew up in Hawthorne, CA. Richard’s only known (but sadly lost) recording, recorded in his childhood friend Emmit Rhodes’ garage, is the single “Rock Sausage.” This became the subject of a lawsuit with local radio station KROQ, and DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, who used the recording as an intro to his show without attribution or permission in 1976. After winning a modest sum in that case, Richard went on to sue the inventor of the pet rock, Alkaseltzer, and as it happens, the restaurant we had been sitting in (Richard claimed that it was he and not Phillipe Mathieu that invented the French dip sandwich even though it was invented some 30 years prior to Richard being born.) Richard, unfortunately won none of these lawsuits and left Los Angeles for the California desert shortly after.

None of what happened during his 30 + years in the desert can be confirmed and much of it is quite unbelievable. However, as he tells it, it was the most productive time of his career as he recorded and toured a string of albums as “Richard Something & the Salton Sea Bees,” a band Richard described as “Bela Bartok meets Hank Williams.” None of these albums nor any information at all on this band could be found. It is from this time that the notebook in question supposedly originated. Allegedly, it was from a collaboration in the early aughts that never came to fruition with, as Richard dubiously claims, myself. I told him this was impossible but the man remained convinced we worked together for a time. Many of the ideas, according to Richard, were ideas he had going back decades but never had a chance to record for one reason or another.

We fell out of touch shortly after I got his story, which I was beginning to suspect was 70-80% bullshit. It was with some reluctance that I finally returned to Ulterior Frequencies, and to the curious notebook that spawned the idea for the album. I decided the pieces were interesting enough to explore and started recording in early 2019. I have not heard from or seen Richard since that week 3 years ago.

Although the standard format in the time that these ideas were put to paper (the early 2000s) would have probably been compact disc, Ulterior Frequencies is now available on the more modern, high fidelity cassette tape.

Ulterior Frequencies

Sine Here

Just a quiet textural beat to build on.

More on this 472nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Jam Time (1 of 3) / The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio that others will complete — at:

https://disquiet.com/0472/

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-0472-jam-time/

There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Image associated with this project is by Meg Jones, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:

https://flic.kr/p/mDRT9

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

new unit (disquiet0472)

Some guitar melody added to ikjoyce's synth track: https://soundcloud.com/ikjoyce/disquiet0472-jamtimebacking

I chose to play in F harmonic minor instead of natural minor. The sharp 7th sounds a little off sometimes but I like it.

More on this 473rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Placebo Effect (1 of 3) / The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio that others will complete — at:

https://disquiet.com/0473/

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-0473-placebo-effect/

There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Image associated with this project is by Israel Avila, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:

https://flic.kr/p/5bFGMU

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Disquiet0473 (w/ ikjoyce)

This is the last part of an asynchronous jam with halF unusuaL and Lake Forest Sound Machine.  I recorded some guitar melodies to https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-robodub-disquiet0473-with-lake-forest-sound-machine

...which was a duet with https://soundcloud.com/lakeforestsoundmachine/robodub-disquiet0472

The original track was pretty tonally chaotic. I picked out a few frequencies and from that chose to jam (for the most part) in B melodic minor/harmonic minor but there's a lot of fourths which gives it kind of a goofy feel. There's also some chromatic moments.

More on this 474th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Police Action (3 of 3) / The Assignment: Complete a trio by adding a track to an existing duet by two other musicians — at:

https://disquiet.com/0474/

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-0474-police-action/

There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Image associated with this project is by orangechallenger, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:

https://flic.kr/p/cGSjx7

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Robodubdub (disquiet0474 w/ halF unusuaL and Lake Forest Sound Machine)

Original track: https://soundcloud.com/torstengoerke/somebodys-gonna-leave-disquiet0474?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0474

I basically had 4 tracks with different effects that I switched between kind of haphazardly. one with delay, one pitch shifted down 6 half steps, one with LFO and resonator, and the original track which I was going to leave alone but then I decided to make it sound like a clock radio with saturation and EQ.

More on this 475th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Low End (4 of 3) / The Assignment: Remix a trio by doing forensics on its component parts — at:

https://disquiet.com/0475/

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-0475-low-end/

There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Images associated with this project are by (left to right) Meg Jones, Israel Avila, and orangechallenger, all used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:

https://flic.kr/p/mDRT9
https://flic.kr/p/5bFGMU
https://flic.kr/p/cGSjx7

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Torsten Goerke, Daniel Diaz and David Gibbs - Somebody's Gonna Remix (Disquiet0475)

Part of superpolar Taips "cassingles" series.  Tapes with exclusive B side available at https://moduspony.bandcamp.com/album/systemmetry

Also check out superpolar.bandcamp.com

Cassette

Systemmetry

M. Ackerman (formerly modus pony) is an instrumental composer and multi-instrumentalist. He likes toast with peanut butter and a little honey.

M. Ackerman

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