All of my creations for the Disquiet Junto project.

Disquiet Junto Creations

Songs created for Weekly Beats 2024. My fifth round of Weekly Beats fun. Check them out here too: https://weeklybeats.com/miraclemiles

Weekly Beats 2024

For Disquiet Junto Project 0499: Out of the Landscape. 
The Assignment: Record a piece of music in which a sound emerges from a field recording.
Field recording from walking across the beautiful University of Wisconsin Madison student union terrace, then into the building, and back out again. Opened voice memos on the iphone and let it roll. I enjoyed walking by the group of students talking about how Poison opened for Def Leopard. The sound that I added was created with a tongue drum. In this emergent imaginary field recording, I like to imagine it’s a bell from a campus tower that takes on a life of its own. Perhaps it’s just in the sun-addled listener’s imagination, or perhaps the bell tower operator is having some fun for us during this beautiful sunset.

Madison Bells [Disquiet0499]

Ghost Baby Dub

Les Champignons (The Mushrooms)

Created for the Disquiet Junto Project 0515: Talking Cure
The Assignment: Write music for a psychotherapist’s waiting room.

About this track: 
If I were waiting for a therapy appointment, I would want to feel calm and contemplative. Nature makes me feel this way, also music. A nice pondering melody perhaps. A BPM near my resting heart rate of 60. So I used nature sounds (from Freesounds.org). I like being by water. I included some water sounds here. You have to be careful with the water sounds in lobbies. People may have to go to the bathroom too much. Also frogs. But I don't think I found a frog sound. It's mostly birds here. Lots and lots of birds. Hearing these birds made me thankful for birds, and sad for the ones my cats have murdered. I wonder if bird are real? So next I did my best to play calm and contemplative melodies on the D celtic minor Rav tongue drum because its fun to play and makes me happy. Pitched the tongue up an octave on one track. Converted to midi harmony for piano and a synth for other tracks. I'm not 100% sure if I would like this to play in a lobby. Perhaps its too intense. Hard to say. I'd probably be down for the experience.

Please download and do stuff with this track. 
Creative Commons attribution-ShareAlike: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ 

More on this 515th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Talking Cure (The Assignment: Write music for a psychotherapist’s waiting room) — at: https://disquiet.com/0515/

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-0515-talking-cure/

Liminal Ponderance [disquiet0515]

Ice cube in a wine glass sampled for Disquiet Junto 0523. Played around with the sample on the Circuit Rhythm, then into Ableton for layering those recordings and arranging. Duplicated a couple of the tracks and added some spectral resonance, very low in mix. Played some drums because the cube samples had some sweet rhythms and I couldn't get Beastie Boys "Ill Communication" out of my head.

More on this 523rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Chill Communication (The Assignment: Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something with it) — at: https://disquiet.com/0523/

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-0523-chill-communication/

Got That Chill Communication [disquiet0523]

For my asynchronous collaboration contribution to Disquiet Junto 0527 Magic Number 3 of 3 (and Weekly Beats 2022 Song 5) I built upon last week’s awesome track from @Daniel-Diaz (https://soundcloud.com/daniel-diaz/more-reflections-disquiet0526-with-noodle-twister) and Noodle Twister (@user-130801280). As soon as I heard this groove and catchy bassline I wanted to play some drums with it. So I started there, did a few takes using Ableton’s comping feature for the first time, which was fun. The next goal was some chords and maybe a lead of some sort. Almost went down rabbit hole on sounds, but settled on Arturia’s virtual Clavinet with some wah and grit. Then added a little extra percussion. Finally added the vocal samples from Natalie Major, downloaded from Noizz. I actually almost removed the vocals today, but in the end, here they stay.This was a lot of fun, and it’s been great hearing what everyone has come up with, there’s some truly amazing music from this group!

More on this 527th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Magic Number (3 of 3) (The Assignment: Complete an asynchronous trio begun by two other musicians) — at: https://disquiet.com/0527/

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-0527-magic-number-3-of-3/

Third Reflection (Good Feeling) w/ Daniel Diaz & Noodle Twister [Disquiet0527] [Weekly Beats 22 #5]

Our merry band of sonic explorers (Cyber Forest) unveil the truth about Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Labor violations, danger ... and tax stuff. Another cautionary tale. 

The making of this journey: This is an edit of a live improvised jam where we have License on drums and dub chords, via Octatrack, myself on bass via Monostation, keys from the Circuit and textural voices, and Dan on the Willy Wonka rants. I added a bit more verbs, delays and mix goodness (Sausage Fattener of course) around here, chopped up from a long jam into this shorter story.

Willy Wonka Dub (with Cyber Forest) - [Weekly Beats 2022 Song 6]

Made for Disquiet 0539.  The Assignment: Let your slow breathing guide a piece of music.

It's fascinating that music, like breathing, can help us into transformed states. So I loved the idea of trying to create a piece of music that begins with, and evolves from calmly breathing. I expected to make something very mellow, some low pulsing and droney pads that compliments the breath, but once I started creating, I came up with something a little different. Added a little more energy, inspired by breathing, and observing the backyard. 

I sat in the backyard, half reclined in a chair, with the Zoom recorder on my chest, breathing. As thoughts came into my head, instead of waiting for them go away and going back to breath, I vocalized the thoughts. I noticed how some birds are living in a thorny rose bush, finding safety from predators (like my cats unfortunately) in a dangerous place. I noticed a new fence in the neighbors yard to separate a wild overgrown garden from a manicured lawn. Noticed plants growing tall, spreading seeds in the spring, and I wanted to let them all grow, to stop cutting it all back. With our gardens, and with life we build some fences, but the order may be just an illusion, it's still chaos underneath, and there's a kind of peace knowing that. 

Finished song in Ableton by listening to the breathing, adding things that came to mind, lots of Hybrid Reverb. Then did my first every recording with the circuit monostation through a talkbox pedal, which became the lead  part in this. That too was an exercise in breathing, and kind of messy. Looking forward to playing with that more. 

As someone weekly beats pointed out, this song itself has a bit of illusion of order - there's some chaos bubbling around underneath some calmer vibes.

---

More on this 539th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Control Breath (The Assignment: Let your slow breathing guide a piece of music) — at: https://disquiet.com/0539/

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-0539-control-breath/

Illusion Of Order [disquiet0539] [Weekly Beats 17]

For Disquiet Junto 0543. The Assignment: Share a tip from your method toolbox. Also shared version of this over on Weekly Beats. 
A lot of this track was made using a technique I love: taking a piece of audio then using the Ableton Push 2 and the Simpler device to retrigger, chop manipulate and play around with the sample to create something new. There are many ways to manipulate samples, but I like this method because it's fast, I can improvise musically without a lot of fussing around, and I can do it fully on the Push hardware, no computer or mouse needed. Simpler is simple, and the 64 pads and 8 knobs on the Push 2 make playing with samples fun, fast and easy. Happy accidents occur, and things usually sound to my liking with minimal fussing about, so I can just flow and have fun.
Another attribute I like to add to songs are my own voice sounds, but heavily altered since I'm not much of a  traditional singer. Bonus points when the voice can turn into perscussion or another instrument. I often take these voice recordings and chop and play with them in Simpler as described above. The intro and middle of this song has some of my early experiments with a talkbox pedal. It's harder than it looks. And kind of a wet mess. But I'll keep playing with it. Used the Circuit Monostation as the instrument into the talkbox. So not sure if talkbox will turn into a favorite method for voice manipulation, but I know I'll keep messing around with vocals sounds.

More on this 543rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Technique Check (The Assignment: Share a tip from your method toolbox) — at: https://disquiet.com/0543/

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-0543-technique-check/

feel what you - need - what you feel [disquiet0543] [Weekly Beats 19]

Made for the 573rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Float Mode (The Assignment: Add material atop a pre-existing beat to form a complete track) — at: https://disquiet.com/0573/

About this contribution: 
I started playing with a few and ultimately ended up working with @SinnySounds "Two Over Three" with its catchy persistent poly-rhythms in 6/8. I layered in some sounds that came out of the same live session as the beat I shared for my Rhythm Kit contribution last week. I wanted some low end drum sounds, so I added @Freeways rhythm kit track "M8@DAFDrum>M8" with it's huge bass sound. There's also some ambient outdoor sound from this: https://freesound.org/people/pcaeldries/sounds/65813/

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-0573-float-mode/

Persistent Calling (with SinnySounds and Freeways)  [disquiet0573]

As instructed for this Disquiet Junto 0578, I took the rabbit as my temporary musical spirit ally, and made music inspired by it. I played the tongue drum, looped some parts then played the e-drums along with those loops. One take on each, so that's that. I pictured some hopping and frolicking, then made little rabbity leaps with my hands.
Shared video of less edited, slightly longer version for a Jamuary here: https://youtu.be/CBoRWs3R05g


More on this 578th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Rabbit Spirit Ally (The Assignment: Make music for Lunar New Year), at: https://disquiet.com/0578/

Associated public-domain cover image by Johann Daniel Meyer (1748).

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-0578-rabbit-spirit-ally/

For the Rabbits [Disquiet0578]

For the Disquiet Junto Project 0579: Memory Serves
The Assignment: Rerecord a piece of music.
What would it sound like if a funk band covered one of our songs? This is the posthumous question explaining this loose approximation of the Creatures Once song Only (https://youtu.be/8ts7z71310M). The song is one of the first we made, and one my favorites. The original drums were step sequenced when I was first learning Ableton and the Push. A little too on the grid rigid maybe. So as the drummer in my imaginary funk band, I have always wanted to play live drums along with this song to get a looser groove going. So that’s how I started. After playing some busy live drums (I was excited), the imaginary funk band’s bass player and dual keyboardists decided to try and recreate the bassline, and some of the melodic parts. I (they) did this by looking at the steps lighting up on the Push pads, listening to the guitar, then trying to play them from memory. So it came close (not really) but much looser and not exactly the same, which is fun. Something the imaginary funk band would do if you played them a song once and said, “ok, go play it!” I kept jus a few snippets from the original in here for flavor.
I have always wanted to try and re-learn and recreate a previously recorded song (maybe try and play something live). Now I know it will be as hard as I imagined, but fun. Also a good way to create something brand new.

More on this 579th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Memory Serves (The Assignment: Rerecord a piece of music), at: https://disquiet.com/0579/

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-0579-memory-serves/

Only Memory -[disquiet0579]

Disquiet Junto Project 0580: Evo Evol Evolve
The Assignment: Record a piece of music that develops like an organism evolves.
This is from a Feb 11th live jam with Creatures Once bandmate Monstrosus. A lot of jams naturally evolve into the musical creatures they are trying to become when they grow up. Like many others this one started with one of us playing some sounds, then we keep layering and evolving. This was edited for length, down from 25 minutes, and when some elements stop and start. Added a little extra reverb and delay. Then recorded some live drums earlier today for as the final more dramatic phase in the evolution.
Image from Dall E-2 experiments for our upcoming album, prompt: “3d render of a salamander mixed with crane bird hybrid creature in the high desert of eastern washington”, so that seems to fit here too.

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/

Evolving Creatures [Disquiet0580]

A country techno creation for Disquiet Junto 0582 X Techno. The Assignment: Make a new subgenre. 
This is a new mix of a Creatures Once band jam. Every once in a while the country, western, bluegrass, and folk sounds that surround us up here in the Pacific Northwest sneak into our creations, and it can be fun to indulge. Amazing guitar and harmonica playing from band mate Monstrosus(https://www.youtube.com/@monstrosus13). The first mix of this jam was shared for Weekly Beats last year and it was more of a hip-hop vibe. I used some fun dog GoPro footage for the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq0BoIesOwA&ab_channel=CreaturesOnce). Here's my attempt at a techno mix. I may have strayed too far from the parent genre here, but it was fun to make! It was also fun to read about existing sub-genres and listen to some great tracks this week. Its been while since I've listened to some techno, and it was energizing. Every time I would search for a sub-genre idea I had, like jazz, or lo-fi, I would find some examples already out there. There's some many sub-genres of techno and other electronic genres. That's a great sign. I nice wide open field for creativity.

More on this 582nd weekly Disquiet Junto project, X Techno (The Assignment: Make a new subgenre), at: https://disquiet.com/0582/

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-0582-x-techno/

Nickel in My Pocket -(Country Tekno Mix) - [disquiet0582]

For disquiet 0593, added vocal percussion sounds to last week's submission by fectoper (https://soundcloud.com/fectoper/the-zeigarnik-effect-phase-2feat-x-i-i-i-x-x-idisquiet0592?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0592), which built on week one from x i i i x x i (https://soundcloud.com/xiiixxi/disquiet-junto-the-loneliest-number-disquiet0591?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0591)
Loved these submissions and felt like adding drums and percussion. Kept things vocally focused and improvised some vocal percussion through the Roland E4 and Kaoss pad. Kept some original recordings, and sliced some up on the Push 2 to create some new parts. Light processing to bring up some low end to get a kick sound from the voice.

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/

The Zeigarnik Effect (phase 3)(feat. X I I I X X I And Fectoper)[disquiet0593]

This creation is for the Disquiet Junto Project 0598: Mixmaster Mic.
The Assignment: Record the same sound with multiple mics; mix the results.
The sounds: improvised on the F integral handpan for 15 minutes based on a rhythm that came into my head while riding the stationary bike and watching Picard. Then improvised on the Cajon for 5 minutes based on the recent memory of the previous handpan session. 
Mic setup for handpan: condensor mic, cardiod dynamic mic, zoom handheld stereo recorder, gopro camera, organelle device set to a chorus effect at 50% wet, magnetic contact pickup attached to the handpan. For Cajon: The two microphones and the organelle. 
Process: stacked all the tracks and muted sporadically. Then muted more and more. Cut a few sections of the session for length. 
Thoughts: This was a great way to add some variation to a recording. I enjoyed the process and much of the results. I hope to use the process, or one like it, again. 
Fun things I heard: the sound of the floor creaking, the dog barking, my feet stomping. Happy accidents when the cajon and pan kind of lined up well even though they weren't played together.

More on this 598th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Mixmaster Mic (The Assignment: Record the same sound with multiple mics; mix the results), at: https://disquiet.com/0598/

The image to the “cover” of this project is from an 1880 U.S. patent.

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-0598-mixmaster-mic/

Mixmaster Mic Percussion Improv - [Disquiet0598]

Made in response to Disquiet Junto Project 0617: Haunt Scape
The Assignment: Halloween is coming up. Do your thing.
There is just one step to this project: Halloween is nearly here, so make some haunted sounds for people to play for trick-or-treaters.

I don't always enjoy the scary things, but I really enjoyed making some scary music. I jammed for about an hour on some hardware gear with this prompt in mind. Later that night, I walked around the house recording my creeky wood floors and rusty doors. Then cut for length and added some effects and edits in Live. 
While I was making these sounds, my wife Monica created this digital collage image. We enjoyed this simultaneous creative process and plan on doing it again. She wrote about this here: https://waxingphotopoetic.substack.com/p/circle-of-tree-thieves-creaking-in?r=7wafc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

More on this 617th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Haunt Scape (The Assignment: Halloween is coming up. Do your thing), at: https://disquiet.com/0617/

The cover image (enlarged, type added) is from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull#/media/File:3d_CT_scan_animation.gif

That image is credited to Arielinson and used thanks to a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

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-0617-haunt-scape/

Tree Thieves Creak in the Hollow - A Haunt Scape [Disquiet0617]

For the Disquiet Junto Project 0620: Beat Accrual Accrual: https://disquiet.com/0620/
The Assignment: Turn someone’s slow-build beat into a finished track.
I accrued more rhythm onto the infectiously groovy @x i i i x x i  track https://soundcloud.com/xiiixxi/disquiet-junto-beat-accrual-disquiet0619
Looped sections of that track, then played the e-drums live along with it using 808 sounds. Quickly picked out segments that sounded like they may work and felt lucky when they did. Did some effected vocal sounds for texture.

More on this 620th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Beat Accrual Accrual (The Assignment: Turn someone’s slow-build beat into a finished track), at: https://disquiet.com/0620/

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-0620-beat-accrual-accrual/

Live Beat Accrual with x i i i x x i -  [disquiet0620]

Happy Lunar New Year! Welcome the year of the dragon!
I wanted to make a song about the power that dragons, and this year will (hopefully) have. I have forgotten most of the mythology of dragons, I need to go learn more about these amazing creatures. Especially since I was born in the year of the dragon. I like to think they are real, out there in the mountains somewhere, taking flight and avoiding sight. My head is filled with movie and fiction dragons. Like the miserly grump Smaug from The Hobbit. But also the cute animated ones, and that jolly lad named Puff. 
When I started this on drums, I couldn't help but channel the intensity that surrounds these flappy friends. I channeled Smaug more than Puff in this track. But I like to think the dragon in this track is still a friendly sort. I wanted to do a chill interlude where the dragon shares his truth, but didn't have time for that. I may need to do a dragon part 2 next week.
Looking forward to hearing some other songs this week. I hope there are some other dragon songs up here this week? 

Originally shared for Weekly Beats 2024: https://weeklybeats.com/miraclemiles/music/welcome-the-dragon

Music produced in Ableton Live

image made in Bing Image Creator (Dall E 3), prompt: abstract synthwave modern art of a serene and powerful dragon flying through luminous clouds in a sky full of stars and planets

Video with more AI images: https://youtu.be/hwlj5U-uvrc

Welcome the Dragon

Started this one out as a little "therapy jam." This is what I'm calling making music when not feeling so great, with the hopes of feeling better. Most of the time a nice music session can turn that frown upside down, and it worked for me this week.  I'm grateful for the therapy jam. 
F minor handpan and cajon are the base of this. Handpan improvising first, then playing cajon along with that. Then did what I could to add more sounds, arrange a little to make it fun.
I've been really into quarter not triplets lately, some 3 over 2 vibes, more songs to come with those riddims.

I asked my wife to help with title. She listened and said she thought about running through the woods, and then finding whatever it is we sought. Looking forward to hearing WB music this week, and I hope you all can find whatever it is you may need to find.
Shared for Weekly Beats 2024 - https://weeklybeats.com/miraclemiles/music/finding-it

Finding It [wb.24]

For Disquiet Junto 0637: The Assignment: Record the second third of an eventual trio.
I added to Sinny Sound's "Lucky Link": https://soundcloud.com/sinnysounds2/lucky-link-disquiet0636?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0636
I wanted to add some light harmony to underscore the melody. Converted the melody to midi harmony in Ableton. Made some light adjustments to midi notes here and there. Used the Schwarzonator 2.0 device to help add some additional chord notes. Chose some light key sounds from Kontakt 40's keys and Playbox. Also light bass from Lode, and melodic tabla. Tapped in the shaker parts. Panned hard right with orginal panned left. 

Enjoyed listening Sinny Sound's lovely melody while making this. I'll be humming it all week!

It was fun listening to everyone's "Left" tracks this week, I'm always in awe by this community's talent and creativity!

More on the 637th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Right (2 of 3) — The Assignment: Record the second third of an eventual trio — at https://disquiet.com/0637/

Lucky Link Village (with Sinny Sounds) [disquiet0637]

I used @daniel-diaz track Australopithecus https://soundcloud.com/daniel-diaz/australopithecus-disquiet0637-with-tristan-louth-robins which built on  Tristan Louth Robin's (@red_robin) Epochs https://soundcloud.com/red_robin/disquiet_junto_0636-epochs-left-1-of-3-72-bpm

I knew I wanted to play some drums along with their nice groove. Played djembe, then shekere, then full kit. Added in some rhodes harmony and lead and flute leads. Some chanting voices for a celebratory or ceremonial feel. Made me think of traveling across some great plains filled with animals. Evolving this more was fun, thanks to Daniel and Tristan for the great parts to build on!

More on the 638th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Center (3 of 3) — The Assignment: Complete a trio begun by two other musicians — at https://disquiet.com/0638/

Tres Hominis [disquiet0638] with Daniel Diaz and Tristan Louth-Robins

As we go, we go. To places we need to be.

Created for Weekly Beats 2024. This is song 29

An edit of a session with Creatures Once bandmate Monstrosus who played a little Casio keyboard through a bass pod effects unit. Turned his parts into few tracks here, good stuff as always. We did a good hour or so. This was the most uptempo section. I started it with the tongue drum and percussion loop.

Weekly Beats link: https://weeklybeats.com/miraclemiles/music/as-we-go

Some comments from Weekly Beats participants:

"when the beat comes back in @ 2:45.... i wanna live in that moment
wow, this is such a wonderful groove. going back in for my 4th listen" - jwh

"This track feels like a journey to a desert landscape, somehow. A bit mysterious and adventurous. Cool!" - Minnamari

As We Go (Creatures Once jam edit with Monstrosus) - [Weekly Beats 2024 - Song 29]

Created for Weekly Beats 2024. My song for week 33. Here's what I wrote:
Hope for today, hope for the future. I try at least. I stayed in the same space as last week since that was feeling right still. I'm feeling like this a good space for me. Took another previous recording of the tongue drum and built around that. I like to keep adding and adding, which makes mixing hard. Scaled back a little, getting closer to finding it. Now my ears are a little fried. We'll see what I think in day or two going back to listen. Enjoyed this though, and that's what I needed.

Comment from Weekly Beats community:

"Wow when the track opens at 0:40, it's like stepping out into a full samba in Brazil. The groove is strong. The revert clash is a super interesting element. That tongue drum is such a perfect instrument to mix rhythm and melody. It was great listening to that track on a Friday afternoon, welcoming the week-end!" - Kedbreak136

Distant Hopes [Weekly Beats 2024 Song 33]

I went to a couple Thursday night blues jams in a bar attached to a Chinese restaurant. Fun to get up and play some drums (on a decent house kit) with various people. Do some shufflin, some rocking, hold down those 12 bars. Blues and bluesy rock are not something I listen to often, but a good genre as a jumping off point for open jams in bars. I made a living for about year as drummer in blues band in my early 20's actually, but that's a story for another day. So down at the jam, we get some blues dancers moving around on the tiny dance floor, a good little friendly scene I'll probably go back to get a little live playing fix.

So that little tidbit relates to this week's song in a way. This week's song samples the public domain song St. Louis Blues by TED LEWIS and HIS BAND (https://archive.org/details/78_st-louis-blues_ted-lewis-and-his-band-handy_gbia0268157b?utm_source=DisquietJunto&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=disquiet-junto-project-0660-louis-blues-st). I started playing with this for the Disquiet Junto (https://disquiet.com/0659/?utm_source=DisquietJunto&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=disquiet-junto-project-0660-louis-blues-st) project last week, which I didn't finish. The prompt was to: "Break a public domain song into parts and reorganize them." After hearing so much blues lately I had been thinking about doing something like that. After some false starts trying to execute on my first plans, I finally decided I needed to get up a boogie, so I followed the muse and this is what came out. Took a break from making this to do some chores and words popped in my head so said them into the phone. Played with Ableton 12.1's new Auto Shift auto tune device to edit that voice recording, I'm liking it. I wonder what the Thursday night blues dancer's  would think about this track?
Song 35 for Weekly Beats 2024. Posted here: https://weeklybeats.com/miraclemiles/music/back-in-the-day-public-blues

Back in the Day (Public Blues) - [Weekly Beats 2024, Song 35]

Song 36 for Weekly Beats 2024. Here's what I posted about it:

A gentle bop. Created with sounds from a jam with band buddy Monstrosus last night. Made up some words to add to this today, and reminded myself that I'm grateful for taking some actions now. Putting the fear in a wee gentle box, and saying chill there for now, annoying friend. Then doing the things. No better time, just getting older. It feels literal now. Procrastinated enough years, now's the time. Easier said than done perhaps. But it gets easier to do as well.
https://weeklybeats.com/miraclemiles/music/now-not-yesterday

Now Not Yesterday [Creatures Once Jam] [Weekly Beats 2024,Week 36]

Shared for Weekly Beats 2024. Song 37. Link below. Here's what I wrote with that submission: 

Yeah, my hard drive is spinning right now. Swimming with music. I saw about 15 musical artists this weekend at the a local music festival that returned this year after its multi-year pandemic-induced hiatus. 80 bands total, two nights, 9 venues. A lot to choose from. Bicycles helped. 

Sadly I saw a lot of sparsely attended shows, but also got the rush of somewhat larger audiences moving together, lost in the music (I danced the most the band Down North from Seattle). And while its disappointing to see smaller crowds, it was kind of fun to quickly walk into a venue, get a great place to watch, and have no lines for anything.

So this song is mainly me playing drums and handpan today. Took a handpan noodle and layered pieces together, panned sides and center. Still deciding if I like that, some parts yes, some less. After seeing artists play live this weekend, I felt like doing the same. I also saw a local Afrobeat band  Evergreen Afrodub Orchestra that got me moving and inspired this groove. So I started playing some drums in that feel, but then pivoted a little to different groove. Other sounds in this are from the recent live jam with band buddy Monstrosus. Then it starts and ends with the sound of a hard disk drive spinning up and chattering with data. I started playing with that sound in response to this weeks Disquiet Junto project: Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive.

I feel inundated with data in any give week, but after the music festival and having many conversations and meeting new people, my data storage is even more filled that usual. My brain is a digital drive spinning up some rhythms from the depths. I just wish it could shut down with the click of a switch instead of chattering away all night long. Time to go search for that switch and get ready for a new week, and new data, and the best part - a new song.

Weekly Beats link: https://weeklybeats.com/miraclemiles/music/data-life

Data Life [Weekly Beats 2024 - Song 37]

Made for Disquiet Junto Project 0665: Clicks + Cuts Music Factory
The Assignment: Record a track in honor of the late Achim Szepanski.

Background: Achim Szepanski (1957-2024), founder of the Mille Plateaux record label, among numerous other accomplishments, died this week. This project is in his honor. You needn’t know much if anything to begin this project; just follow the instructions. As always, discussion of the topic at hand in the project’s llllllll.co message thread is encouraged.

Step 1: Listen back to the first Clicks + Cuts compilation album (originally released in 2020). It is streaming on YouTube (the first hour or so of that playlist).

Step 2: Consider the common elements in various tracks: the glitch effects, the sense of space, the attention to tiny details, the industrial minimalism, the emphasis on sampling, the tempo, the groove. What else do you hear?

Step 3: Record a track in the spirit of that first Clicks + Cuts album.
---
My notes:
I had not heard of the label, but was familiar with some of the artists on that compilation. I enjoyed the music and it was fun to try and make something inspired it. I used various samples including my handpan, camera, bathtub and water sounds from a Mr. Bill sample pack. The only non-sample part was is the bass track, which is from Ableton Drift synth. Processed the handpan samples with the excellent PitchLoop89 device in Ableton.
I imagined attempts at taking photos of, under and around water as this evolved.
---
More on the 665th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Clicks + Cuts Music Factory — The Assignment: Record a track in honor of the late Achim Szepanski — at https://disquiet.com/0665/

The image associated with this project was created by Lubomir Panak in 2011. Originally posted on Flickr, it is used thanks to a CC BY-NC 2.0 license. This is a detail of the original image, and it has been tilted at an angle, with the project information superimposed.

Drizzled Mementos [Disquiet0665] [Weekly Beats 2024 Song 39]

For Disquiet 0666: The Assignment: We’ve hit a devilish numerical milestone. Do your thing.

From the depths it comes. Creeping through the mire. Bringing decay as we prepare for the long winter ahead. Discovering what awaits as the veil between the living and the dead thins.
Stay safe out there!
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More on the 666th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Beauty and the Beast — The Assignment: We’ve hit a devilish numerical milestone. Do your thing. — at https://disquiet.com/0666/

This week marks the 666th consecutive weekly Disquiet Junto project. Many numbers along the way, since the Junto first began in January 2012, have inspired interpretation. This particular one has hovered on the horizon for a long time. And now we’ve arrived. Take a moment to go dark and make some noise.

Creeping Mire [disquiet0666] [Weekly Beats 2024 Song 40]

We see the gains every day we want to sustain!
Video here: https://youtu.be/gM5NgMwNoJA 
Here's the result of something I've been wanting to do on a weekly track for a while: feature my son A.V. on the sax-o-ma-phone! 
He likes the hip hop and the jazz, so with that general direction in mind, I laid down some foundations on the Push: bass, chords and finger drum beats. We sat down Saturday night after dinner to jam. Hearing my foundation he immediately had feedback on moving chords around, changing the key, which was awesome. Then I sat down on drums and we jammed together with the backing tracks. Fun experience I hope we do again soon!

Sustain Gains (Weekly Beats 2024 Song 42)

Made for Disquiet Junto Project 0675: Arc of the Drone
The Assignment: Record a drone that goes from simple to complex to simple.

To create this, I recorded a heating vent blowing air, a handpan note, and a few tracks from the Circuit Monostation monosynth, which drones very well (and was also being used for my Weekly Beats submission this week). The drone starts simply with those sounds. Then in Ableton, made the drone more complex with a few more tracks using devices from the excellent Drone Lab pack (sample instruments and Operator synth through various processing chains), and the Max for Live Harmonic Drone Generator device. Ended with the same recorded sounds from the beginning.
It was a relaxing and interesting process doing this. I may have to experiment more. I look forward to listening to this Junto playlist. 

More on the 675th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Arc of the Drone — The Assignment: Record a drone that goes from simple to complex to simple — at https://disquiet.com/0675/

Drone Road [disquiet0675]

Made for weekly beats 2024 week 31.  Here's what I posted about it: 
Had fun jam with License on Friday night. A highlight of the weekend. It's been many months since the last one. We were both saying how much fun it was, how can we let many months pass between jams?! So this beat is an edit down of one part of the long night. There were a couple other audio tracks that didn't record (forgot to arm recording on them, oops). But what did record and is used here was bass line from circuit monostation, drums from License's Analog RYTM and portable modular rig which was he tamed into spitting out fun madness. We kept saying, where is that sound coming from, who's doing that? Oh the modular is doing its thing. The sequences from the modular kept making me want to play live drums along with it, so I did a lot of that, used some 808 samples on the edrums mostly, and put some of it in the middle section of this beat. Wanted to add some more tracks to this today to replace recordings I missed, but ran out of time, and I kind of like how this ends up more minimal. Since License is all about the minimalism, I think he'd be ok with that plan too.

Licensed Beat [featuring License]

Made for Disquiet Junto Project 0686: Catch Your Breath
The Assignment: Listen to yourself inhale and exhale; make music from what you sense.

I appreciate this prompt because any reminder and opportunity to pause and breathe is very welcome and makes the day better. Breathing has an ebb and flow, and the ever present pulse of the heart becomes apparent. Thoughts come and go. That's what I noticed while observing my breathing. So this song has the pulse of the hear at about the BPM I was at. It has ebb and flow: breathy noise, but also a river. I thought of rivers and ocean waves as breathing. And for the thoughts, some breathy flutes, strings and other tones including a first test of the awesome P_4L II (Plaits for Live) synth (https://ricola.gumroad.com/l/P_4LII). 

More on the 686th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Catch Your Breath — The Assignment: Listen to yourself inhale and exhale; make music from what you sense — at https://disquiet.com/0686/

Breath Caught [Disquiet 0686]

The pirates are plundering the people again. Making a real circus of it. This song was written to call attention to the social injustices of the world that need correcting. A song to dance to in spite of the injustices. A song for burning the oppressor’s effigies in wild abandon at the bonfires of reckoning and collective cathartic release. It’s the people’s turn to plunder and party.

Or maybe we just pulled this out of the magical musical ether. It means something or nothing.  We sure like it and want to share it. During a session in the main Creature Den at Miles’s house, the ideas were flowing freely. Faulks just starts playing this bouncing keyboard riff. Like nothing we’d played before. Sounded like being welcomed to the circus, or a nightclub polka. Miles puts down some drums and bass quickly to keep it going. Faulks picks up his guitar and works his magic for the next hour or two. Plenty of material for Miles to later edit into a track to be released for the Weekly Beats 2020 project. This version released here is pretty much the same as it was that night.

Originally made for Weekly Beats 2020, here's what I said there: 

Not a commentary on geo-political affairs or anything. Just had a live session with collaborator AM Faulks, and the organ made me think of a circus (I might not remember what circuses are actually like though). Did some mixing, arranging and recording of new vocals and drum parts this week. Sliced up guitar samples played new parts. Added some ambient audio recorded on the popular ride at disneyland on a recent trip there. As soon as I did I thought I could imagine this playing at some weird kind of pirate party with circusey performances. That may be all in my head, but I'm enjoying the image for now. Anything to distract from those geo-political affairs and global pandemics. Hope you all are doing well. I feel fortunate to have a healthy family so far, and still have a job I can work from home.

Pirate Circus

A Cyber Forest joint. This edit was originally made by Miles for Weekly Beats 2020, then released on the Creature Once album Displaced Astronaut - https://creaturesonce.fanlink.to/displacedastronaut

Here's what was posted over on Weekly Beats: 

This was supposed to be a mouth-watering song about brunch. While an epic brunch classic was the song I set out to make, alas, this is not that song. Something different emerged from these three hours of recordings.

These sounds are from a jam session from a couple weekends ago. Myself, License, and fellow co-worker and maker of weird sounds (and brunch lover) D-Money. I started some riffing on Biscuits and Gravy to start things off (maybe I was hungry). Then D-Money on some vocals and the Circuit picked it up later with some tasty mimosa toasts. License held down some drums and some great samples on his Octatrack, then contributed some vocals too. Later he hooked up the O-Coast to the Circuit Monostation and things got, well, extra juicy.


I'd like to say that what I did put together has a meaningful story and theme. Something about how some of the changes we have seen in our country just do not seem correct. There is unfounded violence and injustice. We need justice, we need peace, and we need it now. Even Karen is calling for it. It's time we take the rotten orange of a system, peel it open and squeeze out the juice .... and make mimosas while the new oranges grow.


Maybe that story called to me and helped me pick what I did for this song out of the 3 hours of recordings I dug through. It's a blessing and a special kind of curse to have that much audio to dig through. Maybe that story emerged and guided me, or maybe I poked around at random, picking out the juicy bits that tickled my weekend weird bone, chopped them up, and ha

Cyber Forest - Juicy

Our travellers continue their voyage through space and time. They arrive at an intersting moment: School is taught online by semi-autonomous robo-teachers. It appears there's a new lesson on page "Bird" of the learning books: Birds Aren't Real. They never were. They're mechanical, and they have a purpose. How could we have thought otherwise? This sends the travelers deep into the introspection and the mesmerizing complexity of space and transient time. The birds follow. We don't care if they are real. They have joined us. Or have we joined them?

Like last weeks, all sounds in this track are from a live in-person improvised session with fellow weekly beatista License and our fellow traveler D Money. I played Circuit Monostation for bass and leads, some Kaoss pad voice sounds, D-Money with voices on the Mininova vocoder, License on the 0-coast, and Octatrack for drums duties. I chopped and re-arranged, but have not otherwise altered or edited anything we played. Here's our full session I made this from: https://soundcloud.com/miraclemiles/birds

Made for Weekly Beats 2020 Week 41

Cyber Forest - Birds Aren't Real

This is the second song we wrote and collaborated on together and the second song released for the Weekly Beats 2016 project. Aaron MIles wrote the chords, bass and drums while he and his family were literally seeking solace and shelter at his parent’s house during an ice storm-caused power outage. It was a week of hunkering down with family and waiting out the storm, similar to what we’ve been going through in 2020 during the pandemic. In a later recording session, AM Faulks laid down more keyboards (both chords and leads) and the gorgeous guitar leads. The lyrics that were added in 2020 reflects on the gratitude of having family and friend support: “Where would you want to be, if not here with me?”

LYRICS
Take take
Take take the time
Let the flow take root

A mirror of your respect
Look at what’s good for us

Darling take flight

Where would you want to be, if not here with me?

Take take
Take take the time
Let the flow take root

A mirror of your self-respect
Look at what’s good for us

Turn out, turn out within
Synchronize respect
Dial in, take flight

CREDITS
AM Faulks: Guitar, Keyboards
AA Miles: Drums, Bass, Voice, Keys, Production

Solace (aka Soul Ace)

This a remix of https://soundcloud.com/mattmadd/duodronedrumtrio-disquietjunto0474-revised-and-corrected which was the third part of a triadic collaboration with joyneski and melondruie for last weeks Disquiet Junto. As recommended in this weeks junto assignment, I dug into all three of the contributions to find parts to use, then added more of my own. I heard a latent shoegazing droney noise rock vibe in so I went in that direction, doing what I can to do what needs to be done. As I mix, conceive, arrange, chop and tweak, (and wonder what the heck is happening), I'm reminded that I know nothing. Not exactly true, I probably (maybe) know something. Just as our ego tells us we're pretty darn smart and cool, we're reminded we don't actually know all that much. So keep learning, you fool. 
As I was browsing Disquiet.com to find info for this week's post, I stumbled on this 50th anniversary tribute to Allen Ginsberg's Fall of America album (https://allenginsberg.bandcamp.com/album/allen-ginsberg-s-the-fall-of-america-a-50th-anniversary-musical-tribute), and the track "Elegy for Neal Cassidy." Was great to hear that (thanks for sharing that Marc). I love that word, elegy. So since I know nothing, this week can be an elegy for the presumed knowledge it's time to let go of, and a reminder to learn something. 
The image: Someone took some smashed asphalt at the park and made some cairns. Thank you person, for making my walk special today. 
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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.

Elegy For False Knowledge - [Disquiet0475] - Remix of Matt Madden, Joyneski & Melondruie

Creating eclectic music and enjoying the journey. 
I participate in Weekly Beats (as miraclemiles) and the Disquiet Junto. 
This account has my solo and Creatures Once band music.

August Miles and Creatures Once

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