Name: Utopian Scholastic by Matthew Mirliani
Duration: 5 min 9 s
Description: Inspired by the aesthetic of the same name, the Dario Argento film Phenomena, a trip to the Natural History Museum in New York, general millennial nostalgia for science museums, as well as Spotify playlisters and artists who have attempted to capture this sound. https://cari.institute/aesthetics/utopian-scholastic

Inspired by the aesthetic of the same name, the Dario Argento film Phenomena, a trip to the Natural History Museum in New York, general millennial nostalgia for science museums, as well as Spotify playlisters and artists who have attempted to capture this sound. https://cari.institute/aesthetics/utopian-scholastic

Utopian Scholastic

Disquiet Junto 0697 is the first in a series of three, where each successive prompt's response is a contribution to a trio created via asynchronous collaboration.

To get this one going, I decided to contribute a bass/arp layer. I recorded three tracks on a keyboard controller and played back the notes on a tabletop Moog Minitaur bass synth while sculpting the sound in realtime. I love the Minitaur’s monophonic analog sound so much, and it’s a joy to perform on.

There is minimal processing on the tracks (light sculpted distortion and chorus) and no reverb. It’s also in mono so easy to pan left in the next prompt! If anyone wants stems, please let me know.

The piece is in C minor at 80bpm. I tried to provide a foundation while leaving plenty of room for other people, hopefully I struck that balance. I can’t wait to hear what you do with it!

More on the 697th weekly Disquiet Junto project, First Third — The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio — at https://disquiet.com/0697/

The Minotaur's Lament (disquiet0697)

Disquiet Junto Project 0697: First Third
The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio.

I used a drum kit made from a sample of water dripping in a hotel bathtub, obviously warped in various ways.  I used a sequencer that triggers the samples in a random way then I went back and did some editing, leaving some pauses.

With the Bathwater (disquiet0697)

This is the second third of the #DisquietJunto Trios project. The left-panned section was Torpid Scorpion's contribution, while the piano on the right comes from me.

Second Third - Disquiet0698

Disquiet Junto Project 0698: Second Third
The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio.

There were many pieces I liked a lot from part 1 and I tried out a couple of combinations. 
I settled on the track by Samplair: https://soundcloud.com/user-248104983/disquiet0697. 

I combined this with a recording of some ‘extended technique’ zither. 
The extended technique being that the zither is excited using a fast rotating disc with a magnet attached to it. Depending on the frequency with which the magnet rotates (compared to the resonant frequencies of each string), it can force oscillations in one or more strings. The sound this produces is quite rich and complex with lots of movement.

Interestingly, the combination of these sounds, which can at times be quite harsh and distorted, with Samplair’s ‘nightmare carnival’ made for a track that I found… rather soothing.

More on the 698th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Second Third — The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio — at https://disquiet.com/0698/

Soothing nightmare carnival (disquiet0698) - with Samplair

More on the 698th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Second Third — The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio — at https://disquiet.com/0698/

Gautama Rhinoplasty, ft. Matthew Mirliani [disquiet0698]

This is my second submission to this week's Disquiet Junto assignment. The audio panned all the way to the left was recorded by Matthew Mirliani as the first part of a trio. The right channel contains dandante's contribution for the second part of the trio. My contribution can be heard panned to the center.

More on the 699th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Third Third — The Assignment: Record the final third of a trio — at disquiet.com/0699/

Third Third Two [disquiet0699] w/Matthew Mirliani and Dandante


More on the 699th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Third Third — The Assignment: Record the final third of a trio — at https://disquiet.com/0699/

I added to a duet by Matthew Mirliani and modusMatt. Thanks for letting me work on this!


https://soundcloud.com/matthewmirliani/disquiet0698?si=a0aac2de183b4e3bbd04f08d9c127f01&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Disquiet0699 - Enchanted Bathwater

I filled my gap with Alain Badiou ... for a change ... Excerpts from the brilliant European Graduate School video of Badiou lecturing in English on the Subject of Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBxf_hncrN8

More on the 701st weekly Disquiet Junto project, Gap Ear — The Assignment: Break apart a piece of music and fill the resulting spaces — at https://disquiet.com/0701/

more halF unusuaL

halF voiD [disquiet0701]

An original electronic sequence split into nine sections with gaps between. The gaps are filled in with clips from other original tracks selected more or less at random, with cross-fading for smooth transitions.

More on the 701st weekly Disquiet Junto project, Gap Ear — The Assignment: Break apart a piece of music and fill the resulting spaces — at https://disquiet.com/0701/

Fillings (disquiet0701)

Recorded, edited, mixed & mastered on 28 May 2017 & 06 Jun 2025 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa, USA. 

Synths, effects

Photography/Art - Jim Lemanowicz, 06 Jun 2015 & 06 Jun 2025, Massapequa, NY, USA 

©2015, 2025 Jim Lemanowicz

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This original version of “Usually May Disappear” was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0701: Gap Ear. The Assignment: Break apart a piece of music and fill the resulting spaces.

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

More on the 701st weekly Disquiet Junto project, Gap Ear — The Assignment: Break apart a piece of music and fill the resulting spaces — at https://disquiet.com/0701/

Utopian Scholastic

Matthew Mirliani

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