Tracklist: 

1. Giant Steps - a chorus of voice clones attempts to replicate John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, a piece often presented as an apotheosis of human creativity and complexity. For this reason, it’s also sometimes used to demonstrate computer music techniques ('Wagner harmonises giant steps’) 

2. Sunogenesis - Lyrics by Suno CEO Mikey Schulman 

3. No One Buys Books - Lyrics based on this article about the state of the book publishing industry. Even celebrity books flop. 

4. Wilful Copyright Infringement - A song about the scraping practices of generative AI. Lyrics by the Recording Industry Association of America. “Given that the foundation of [these businesses] has been to exploit copyrighted sound recordings without permission, [they have] been deliberately evasive about what exactly [they have] copied. This is unsurprising. After all, to answer that question honestly would be to admit willful copyright infringement on an almost unimaginable scale.” 

5. ASMR hitlist - An ASMR CEO hitlist. 

6. I Think, If You Wrote A Book, You Fucked Up - Lyrics by disgraced crypto CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, in a particularly clear example of tech-CEO brain. 

7. Call numbers - The library reference codes for books held in the State Library collection with ‘how to read’ in the title: as lyrics. 

8. Fair Use - Lyrics taken fromthe lawsuit against Suno and Udio. Made in Suno. 

9. It’s Just Not For That - Lyrics from a podcast interview with Suno CEO Mikey Shulman. Genre prompt: Medieval Bardcore. 

10. Audible Anagrams - All possible anagrams of the word ‘audible’. 

Audible Anagrams

Giant Steps

No One Buys Books

Fair Use

Call numbers

ASMR Hitlist

Its Just Not For That

I Think, If You Wrote A Book, You Fucked Up

Wilful Copyright Infringement

Sunogenesis

Our devices are listening to us. Previous generations of audio-technology transmitted, recorded or manipulated sound. Today our digital voice assistants, smart speakers and a growing range of related technologies are increasingly able to analyse and respond to it as well. Scientists and engineers increasingly refer to this as “machine listening”, though the first widespread use of the term was in computer music. Machine listening is much more than just a new scientific discipline or vein of technical innovation however. It is also an emergent field of knowledge-power, of data extraction and colonialism, of capital accumulation, automation and control. It demands critical and artistic attention.

Established in 2020 by artist-researchers Sean Dockray, James Parker, and Joel Stern, Machine Listening is a platform for collaborative research and artistic experimentation, focused on the political and aesthetic dimensions of the computation of sound and speech.

machine listening

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