Name: disquiet0690 by Matthew Mirliani
Duration: 2 min 55 s
Description: More on the 690th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Knot Bad — The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score — at https://disquiet.com/0690/

What a great concept! Well executed, restrained, quirky but not gimmicky, I really enjoyed this piece!

After watching the wonderful TV series "In My Skin", I tried to compose a track to match this touching story. While playing the piano melody on my midi keyboard, I recorded the mechanical sounds of the keys using a smartphone and a dictaphone.
This recording approach was inspired by this week's Disquiet Junto project, but doesn't follow that prompt closely.
These recordings (treated with various effects) were mixed with the piano, and strings and synth sounds were added to the track, all to support the guiding emotion drawn from the story.

More on the 689th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Supporting Players — The Assignment: Elevate the presence of your non-instrument equipment — at https://disquiet.com/0689/

In My Skin - the Sound of Sound  (Disquiet0689)



Composition pour le Naviar Haïku Music challenge 584.
Sur un haïku de Kajiwara Hashin:

heaven and earth:
neither exists apart from
snow fluttering down

www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/


fluttering down

More on the 690th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Knot Bad — The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score — at https://disquiet.com/0690/

disquiet0690

My track notes regarding the creation of this track can be found here: 

Disquiet Junto Project 0690: Knot Bad
The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score.

Step 1: Find a piece of wood, the grain of which captures your imagination.

Step 2: Consider how the shapes of the grain might be interpreted as a graphically notated score. (If you are not familiar with the concept of a graphic score, read up.)

Step 3: Record a piece of music in which you interpret the grain of the wood you selected in Step 1 as a graphic score.

[Disquiet Junto 0690] Contin You'd Uhm

Ooooh good ... Here's another track that the SoundCloud algorithm refuses to recommend to potentially interested listeners ... If you're interested in music that a robot doesn't consider 'music', why not give it a listen! 😜

More on the 690th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Knot Bad — The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score — at https://disquiet.com/0689/

more halF unusuaL

halF knoT [disquiet0690]

An electronic composition created in Pure Data, a touch of reverb added.

Drifting Petals (naviarhaiku585)

This week's Disquiet Junto prompt instructed us to find a piece of wood with interesting grain, and interpret it as a graphical music score.

My music desk is a pretty solid piece of furniture, and the dark stain makes the wood grain stand out prominently. I noticed that the grain on one side of the desk contained two interlocking swirls, and the radiating pattern reminded me of a magnetic field. So I decided that this week's composition would be played with wood and magnets.

I used a contact mic to record the percussion part, playing the top of the desk like a hand drum. Then I recorded three layers of guitar played with an ebow: an electromagnetic "guitar pick" characterized by infinite sustain. Ebow has the drawback of making dynamics difficult but I was able to make it growl and howl enough to get some texture and noise out of the performance. 

The bass layer was played on a Schecter Damien 7-string guitar with an altered tuning. I managed to play the bottom string freehand with the ebow, floating rather than resting on surrounding strings, which required multiple takes unfortunately. I just really, really needed that low B♭. The other two guitar layers were played on the St Vincent guitar. 

Offboard, the guitars went through my standard bank of stomp boxes, including an Eventide Harmonizer, Keeley Halo, ARP-87 and Julia pedals from Walrus, and a trusty RAT distortion pedal. DAW effects were mainly reverb and Chromaglow, plus a stereo delay and EQ on the percussion part.

More on the 690th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Knot Bad — The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score — at https://disquiet.com/0689/

Lost in the Ironwood (disquiet0690)

This was my contribution for Disquiet Junto Project 0690: Knot Bad. The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score.

Here’s a copy of my post on the Disquiet Junto 0690 discussion thread on Lines:

This was inspired from a live edge black walnut board I’ve had for many years. I used to do some woodworking, and this is a souvenir from those days. I might someday incorporate it into an art or craft project, but for now, I keep it around as something to be simply admired.

I used the horizontal grain patterns and the imperfections in the middle of the board, as the graphic score. First, I assembled a Morphagene reel using slices from various pieces I created as well as field recordings I had. Included in the samples was a recording of the sounds of a piece of wood being lightly dragged across the surface of the board that included the imperfections. This created a drone like foundation using the modular synth. I then created some tracks in Ableton Live following the “notation” of horizontal center grains and notches. Used Slate+Ash Cycles for instruments and Valhalla Delay for effects. I also added an outdoor field recording from our front yard. 

I imagined sights, sounds, music and other memories that the tree might have experienced when it was alive.  Those things, embedded within the grains of wood, are released here with this soundscape as a remembrance of those years. At least, that was my intention.

More on the 690th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Knot Bad — The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score — at https://disquiet.com/0690/

Memory From A Walnut Grove [disquiet0690]

Recorded, mixed & mastered on 22 Mar 2025 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa, USA. 

Organ & effects

Photography - Jim Lemanowicz, 21 Mar 2025, Massapequa, NY, USA

©2025 Jim Lemanowicz

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This original version of “The Buyer With The Asymmetrical Nose” was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0690: Knot Bad. The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score.

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

More on the 690th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Knot Bad — The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score — at https://disquiet.com/0690/

The Buyer With The Asymmetrical Nose (disquiet0690)

found some wood grains in my dining table. obvious jump is from grains to granular, so went with a looping sample going into beads. the graphic score is the sequence of darker grains - roughly up/down is pitch, darker areas introduce more noise, and each grain in the wood triggers a burst granular sample, starting with a larger grain becoming smaller

(that's the idea anyway)

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More on the 690th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Knot Bad — The Assignment: Interpret wood grain as a graphic score — at https://disquiet.com/0690/

disquiet0690

Matthew Mirliani

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