Live performance of The Invisible Hand at CCA Glasgow 09/05/2024 as part of Cryptic Nights.

A 17 minute sound art performance using eight looper pedals and sound sculptures made from litter and found objects. No effects were used, instead the inherent resonance of the objects was allowed to speak. The objects were played using feathers, animal bones and broken piano parts. The sound was captured using contact mics.

The Invisible Hand is a metaphor used by Adam Smith to extol the unintentional virtues of capitalism. That idea is turned on it’s head to refer to capitalism's toxic over-production and waste. The title also relates to the use of looper pedals.

The Invisible Hand (Live at CCA)

Disquiet Junto Project 0703: That’s How You Got Killed Before

This one’s been sitting on my hard drive for 16 months. It came from a session with my friend and collaborator Bobby Rangell — we had recorded some flutes for a job, then took advantage of being in the studio to jam a bit: bass and flute, sometimes with a drum machine click.
It was a super productive day. I later revisited and shared many of those flute-based tracks… but this one?
Like the others, it was just two tracks: mono flute and stereo bass, with a 2-bar drum machine loop. But I made a patching mistake that day — the bass came out super thin and low, and mixed weirdly with Bobby’s long reverb. So I just… deleted my bass track. Why? No idea.
Months later, I went back to it — and found only Bobby’s flute and a 3-note Roland 707 kick pattern. No idea what I originally played. Worse: Bobby’s blowing was super abstract. I couldn’t even figure out the key. Still can’t.
Then I got Marc’s email this morning and thought, why not try something different?
Instead of trying to remember what we did, I improvised on top of Bobby and the 707 kick playing electric bass, just following my own ideas and added some drum loops that weren’t there when we played, then I played a Fender Rhodes and some synth textures following my new bass, trying to structure what was probably and abstract free impro.
instead of trying to figure out what key were we playing in (I recall in all our impros we just kept one steady key) I introduced chord changes, played around with modulations, and laid down harmonies that don’t necessarily match what Bobby was playing. So now you hear his flute moving freely over harmonies that were never there in the original — sometimes clashing, sometimes strangely aligning. I liked the tension it created.
I spent a full day in the studio doing this. Honestly, I don’t think it’s done, but I’m leaving it here for now.
Side note: if anyone asks “what’s the point of the Junto challenges?” — this is it.
Sure, I could have called Bobby back and spent the same 8 hours creating something much more polished and coherent from scratch. But we never would have ended up with something like this. And without this challenge, I never would’ve bothered digging into a broken, abandoned track like this.


Performed by Daniel DIaz (June 2025) and Bobby Rangell (March 2024)
Photo by DD, Carilo, Argentina. 2025

That’s How You Got Killed Before (disquiet0703)

An electronic sequence created using BeepBox and Audacity.

More on the 704th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Right on Cumulus — The Assignment: Compose 8-bit music inspired by a Cory Arcangel / Super Mario video — at https://disquiet.com/0704/

Chippy Combo (disquiet0704)

thinking of us
the sound of wind
among the pines

Andrea Cecon is a hearing aids technician, a traveler, and a haijin published all over the world. His first ebook won 3rd place in the Sharp Writ Book Awards contest in 2011 (category: poetry). Residing in Cividale, Italy, with his wife, Russian haijin Valeria Simonova-Cecon. He finds his inspiration in memories, travels, and everyday life…

Haiku by Andrea Cecon

Picture by Ali Kazal
 

Submission deadline: 9th July 2025
 
To find out more and participate, visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge/

Thinking Of Us (NaviarHaiku600)

A piano improvisation on the opening two lines of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood

More on the 705th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Book Start — The Assignment: Let the beginning of a book help you begin a new piece of music — at https://disquiet.com/0705/. This week’s project was proposed by Neil Stringfellow.



To Begin At The Beginning (Disquiet0705)

The first sentence of Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig is, "I can see by my watch, without taking my hand from the left grip of the cycle, that it is eight-thirty in the morning."

More on the 705th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Book Start — The Assignment: Let the beginning of a book help you begin a new piece of music — at https://disquiet.com/0705/. This week’s project was proposed by Neil Stringfellow.

more halF unusuaL

halF icanseebymywatcH [disquiet0705]

This was my contribution for Disquiet Junto Project 0705: Book Start. The Assignment: Let the beginning of a book help you begin a new piece of music.

Here’s a copy of my post on the Disquiet Junto 07045 discussion thread on Lines:

“The girl and the elderly man descended the steep stairs to the channel's narrow beach and walked along by the water's edge. Several small fishing boats were moving out to sea, passing a freighter entering the bay, booms raised, a…” 

So starts the first story in a collection of fascinating and contemplative short stories in “The Infinite Passion of Expectation” by Gina Berriault. I randomly picked the book, which had been sitting on our bookshelf for years, having read it decades ago. The stories, which take place in or around San Francisco, remind me of a unique, and sometimes surreal time in my life when I lived and worked there. 

This was created in Ableton Live and was inspired by the opening lines of the story, the book itself, and my reflection of a time many years ago. Thank you, I really enjoyed this prompt, and the creative journey it sent me on. 

More on the 705th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Book Start — The Assignment: Let the beginning of a book help you begin a new piece of music — at https://disquiet.com/0705/. This week’s project was proposed by Neil Stringfellow.

The Infinite Passion of Expectation [disquiet0705]

for the haiku challenge n. 600 https://www.naviarrecords.com/naviarhaiku600-thinking-of-us/

wind in the pines (naviarhaiku600)

Disquiet Junto Project 0705: Book Start
The Assignment: Let the beginning of a book help you begin a new piece of music. 

The chosen text is a poem by Giuseppe Ungaretti (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Ungaretti),
written in July 1918 in the trenches during the First World War.

Si sta come 
d'autunno 
sugli alberi 
le foglie 

https://www.sololibri.net/Soldati-poesia-Ungaretti-si-sta-come-d-autunno-sugli-alberi.html


I obtained a sequence of 7 notes (AFDGBCE – 9 5 1 7 e 0 4), which I distributed across various sequencers and instruments. In particular, I used several old patches from SampleTank 2/3.

Soldati [disquiet0705]

6:00 minutes of ambient music to celebrate the 600th episode of Naviar Records' haiku music challenge.  

https://www.naviarrecords.com/naviarhaiku600-thinking-of-us/

thinking of us
the sound of wind
among the pines

Andrea Cecon is a hearing aids technician, a traveler, and a haijin published all over the world. His first ebook won 3rd place in the Sharp Writ Book Awards contest in 2011 (category: poetry). Residing in Cividale, Italy, with his wife, Russian haijin Valeria Simonova-Cecon. He finds his inspiration in memories, travels, and everyday life…

Haiku by Andrea Cecon

Picture by Ali Kazal


6:00 [ naviarhaiku600 ]



Composition pour le Naviar Haïku Music challenge 600.
Sur un haïku de Andrea Cecon :

thinking of us
the sound of wind
among the pines


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


Thinking of us

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

The Invisible Hand (Live at CCA)

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