“Stephen closed his eyes to hear his boots crush crackling wrack and shells. You are walking through it howsomever. I am, a stride at a time. A very short space of time through very short times of space. Five, six: the Nacheinander. Exactly: and that is the ineluctable modality of the audible. Open your eyes. No. Jesus! If I fell over a cliff that beetles o’er her base, fell through the Nebeneinander ineluctably! I am getting on nicely in the dark.”
-- James Joyce, Ulysses ("Proteus")

Taking its starting place from that excerpt of Stephen Dedalus’ stream of consciousness, "A very short space of time through very short times of space" is concerned with the development and reflections of musical materials in different sonic spaces that accumulate, rupture, and otherwise transform. I am most interested in volatile and fragile materials that are thus seemingly contradictory. These materials may oppose each other (dense versus sparse, dark versus bright, short versus sustained, etc.) but do not categorically conflict. Instead of seeking resolution, they strive for alchemical transcendence.

James Joyce's poetic prose in Ulysses embraces the inherent volatility of life and moves rapidly from the interior to the exterior, from the sacred to the profane, and from the masculine to the feminine, catching glimpses of everything possible between these extremes. Materials in the piece are, like Stephen Dedalus’ thoughts, mutable and constantly decontextualized, fragmented, and recombined.

This piece was composed for Flannau Duo in early 2024 and came to life through collaborative exploration with Jonathan and Kyle at various stages. I hope performers and listeners each find something surprising in this space of time.

Flannau Duo
Jonathan Hannau, prepared piano
Kyle Flens, percussion
World Premiere, 9.6.2024
Constellation Chicago

A very short space of time through very short times of space (2024, world premiere)

This is an unedited sound monologue that I conducted once I rigged my set-up to record the sound that was coming in directly through my headphones. What amounts to aimless noise was actually a grander and semi-successful attempt to record a live, real-time piece of musique concrète.

Musique concrète Live Mix (8/13/24)

Here's a rendition I've been working on for awhile. For some reason, I thought that the classically noxious Lou Bega rendition of "Mambo No. 5" would work well in an easy listening/exotica styling. My intention with this was not to mock the styles of music herein, but rather to try and honor the aesthetic tenets of one of my favorite musical movements: glockenspiels, vibraphones, spacy synthesizers, and reverberated, surfy guitars. 

Okay, and I acknowledge "Mambo No. 5" is an inherently funny song in its own right. A little bit (of Monica). 

"Mambo No. 5" (Space Age Pop / Exotica Cover)

These two miniatures have undergone several processes of “translations" - some (but not all) of their musical material began in a piece I composed several years ago, which I desired to re-cultivate under different circumstances. Sparse but with a tense energy, they are inspired by Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities," which are desolate but contain a distinct sense of hope and remain open-ended. I see this piece as both a source of rejuvenation and an ongoing process to continue into the future.
— HAB

Bailey Wantuch, violin
14 November, 2024
Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montréal, Québec
Lorenzo Paniconi, recording and mixing 
Image: Invisible Cities (cover), Italo Calvino; Vintage Classic edition (Penguin)

Book of Hidden Cities (i, ii) (2024)

The first single/lead-off track from a new album.

Give it a download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EqAk5pH-gopY7_rEGZ0p2o68emS9_DcI/view

Acousma

Pumpkin

Listen to the original: https://alphabet-business-concern.ban...


"Odd Even" by Cardiacs (Instrumental Cover)

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f5NVrjlmZT7R6v2076O3IcytF7BcjMn1/view?usp=drive_link

Here's a new single by me. I also put together and designed the cover art. (Source photo: Life Magazine, Jul. 14, 1961 edition, pg. 12)

Hope you enjoy.


Lyrics:

If you're tough, well, then get going
Ennui's not ever slowing
Mindset keeps ebb and flowin'
Why must I keep feeling this way?
One stop shop, no blood flowing
It's hopeless where we're going
And everything I like about you is flowing into me

When the levee breaks, the blood curdles
And this year of heartaches creates hurdles
I've been searching far and wide, aching for a pesticide
Do you think that will do the trick?
You'll wallow in my own sick

We're going nowhere slow
A road to nowhere home
And everyone's eloped
Except the best in show

For the wish you kiss
Away come birthday's bells beckon a forlorn mist
Impenetrable fist of Armageddon
Are we getting wiser or denser?
The dunce cap stays on tighter

Do you want to know a secret
While everybody knows how to fake it (fake, fake, fake)
You and I, we're different, we're different
Maybe I'm not the smartest
Have to work twice as hardest
Can't put the sloth on a harness
It's ajar far away

We're going nowhere slow
A road to nowhere home
And everyone's eloped

And when you come to, you'll feel it
Was it all untrue?
Your playhouse is built of bone
Renders his words untrue (what he says to you)
Walloped from winter's blows
The sullen heads of people careening from their highs and lows
You're in a drought
No, you can't get out
And though you sulk and pout
They want you to just shout, "Hello, you!"

Serendipitous prose
Mining the gunk outside of my cubbyholes
Scratch and sniff me clean
Whatever do you mean? (What do you mean?)

We're going nowhere slow
A road to nowhere home
And everyone's eloped (everyone's eloped)
We're going nowhere slow
A road to nowhere home
And everyone's eloped (everyone's eloped)
Except the best in...

Show

Best in Show

Listen to the song sans my commentary: https://soundcloud.com/matthewb122/best-in-show
Download it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f5NVrjlmZT7R6v2076O3IcytF7BcjMn1/view

Best in Show (Commentary Track)

Here's where I'll post all of my main "official" tracks--in the meantime, check out my music repository: https://tinyurl.com/musicdir (still actively updating it)

Best in Show

Matthew Bianchini

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