Recorded, edited, mixed & mastered on 11 Sep 2025 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa, USA.

Synth, samples, effects

Photography/Art - Jim Lemanowicz, 21 Oct 2020, Manhattan, NYC, USA

Music & art © 2020, 2025 Jim Lemanowicz

---

This original version of “How Monotonous, Herr Pencil” was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0715: Err Apparent. The Assignment: Make a mistake on purpose. Build something from it.

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

More on the 715th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Err Apparent — The Assignment: Make a mistake on purpose. Build something from it — at https://disquiet.com/0715/

Patreon & Soundcloud - blisterpop
YouTube - Jimmy Lem
TikTok - jimmlem
Bluesky - jimmylem.bsky.social

How Monotonous, Herr Pencil (disquiet0715)

sound art for disquiet0716.

More on the 716th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Dense Fog Advisory — The Assignment: That’s your band’s name; now record something — at https://disquiet.com/0716/.

My daughter is in Svalbard in the Arctic Circle right now, studying geophysics and sent me a picture of abandoned coal mines in the fog. I used that as the imaginary cover for the imaginary band and also imagined it as a still from a documentary with the band providing the soundtrack. Mostly clangs from metalic found objects and a broken toy guitar. Recorded with contact mics. No big effects just the natural reverb of the objects.

The Abandoned Mines of Svalbard (disquiet0716)

Improvisation played on a break of rehearsal.

Post Is Post

toccata metallica

Bardia

Traces

空から地上を透視すれば
街路も村道も鉄道も産業道路も生活道路も
白墨で描いたような無数の薄白い軌道が重なり
切り刻まれ、ささくれだっている
仕事、買い物、旅行、配達、徘徊、逃走、探索、追跡
人と動物と物が動きまわった痕跡は消えることがないが
わたしの足跡と自転車の車輪が描く軌道を見分けることはできない

Seeing through the ground from the sky.
Streets, village roads, railways, industrial roads, and community roads are all full of traces like pale tracks drawn with chalk.
The ground is like a wall with doodles.
Work, shopping, traveling, deliveries, wandering, escaping, searching, or being tracked.
Traces of moving about of humans, animals, and objects never disappear.
I cannot find my footsteps and ruts of my bike from traces interwining each other on the ground.


Traces

Moon song (home ambient)

UNTIL DAWN

PRODOMO

A collaborative work by Babacane (https://soundcloud.com/babacane) and FaceOnFigure
----------------
The Ab'us trial
----------------
In the innermost sanctum of certain temples there's a pool in which the darkness resides, ever pulsing, ever in flux. When one's life cycle is about to reach its end, they are offered the Ab'us trial, a ceremonial confrontation with the void.
Entering the sanctum, leaving the crutches of religious practices behind, they are given the chance to engage in battle with the dark unknown.
The abyss reacts with menacing pulses, periodically pushed back by the unique harmonies of the participant's spirit, a back and forth culminating in the vocal manifestation of the person's innermost wish to end the battle, either by domination or with a truce.
Hence this incantation is unique for each individual, aggressive and threatening for some, calming and harmonious for others, based on the characteristics of their spirit.
If the battle is unsuccessful, the participant's soul is dissolved in white noise, their spirit put to sleep until their cycle can start anew.
If the individual manages to forge a harmonious cooperation with the darkness, together they reach the Plane of Rest, a place void of earthly thoughts and desires.
The harmonies and beats of the spirit merge with the tamed pulses and noises of the abyss, taking the form of unique and improvisative music in which the spirit can rest until they are ready to continue their journey.
Moving on to a destination of their own choice, freely travelling across the vast oceans of white noise, with the darkness as their companion.

- 0.00 - 0.40 -- introduction to the sounds of the abyss
- 0.40 - 0.55 -- the participant enters the sanctum, a bell sound signals the start of the confrontation
- 0.55 - 1.10 -- the abyss is alerted by the presence and reacts to it in the form of distorted sounds
- 1.10 - 1.35 -- the participant moves closer and challenges the abyss
- 1.35 - 2.05 -- the first push
- 2.05 - 2.35 -- the abyss reacts with strong pulses
- 2.35 - 3.05 -- a sharper and harsher second push, aiming to cut and wound the darkness
- 3.05 - 3.15 -- the darkness is weaker and pushed back
- 3.15 - 4.00 -- the incantation as the final blow, words offering the choice of cooperation or defeat
- 4.00 - 4.25 -- the dark pulse is disjointed, a bell sound signals the end of the confrontation
- 4.25 - 4.50 -- the last, mellow push, offering a hand to the defeated opponent
- 4.50 - 5.00 -- the darkness yields
- 5.00 - 9.00 -- the well deserved rest after the confrontation
---------------------------------------------------------------

The Ab'us trial

The Narcotic and the Sacred

Artist and non-musician making sound art with found objects.

The Abandoned Mines of Svalbard (disquiet0716)

Raincat

Recent comments

JoaGymshoe

Related tracks