Today’s Live Code: “SCARP::Head”

Definition of a Scarp: A line of cliffs produced erosion or by the action of faults.

One of the things I’ve been learning to do during the pandemic of 2020 (and now of 2021) is learn live music coding in ChucK. The ChucK language allows me to use my knowledge and passion of electronic music / synthesis theory and apply it directly in the context of computer science. Besides getting me a lot closer to using the computer as a fully realized musical instrument, I absolutely love the alien and esoteric visuals the code provides. In a way, I can directly “talk” to my tools to make the music I want to hear. 

A closer connection between mind, eyes, and ears. Faults and glitches in all.

SCARP::Head is an experiment in computation, technology, music, and language. I hope you enjoy.

SCARP::HEAD

Hope to Imagine Again is about self-management, sacrifice, and the consequence of maturity. Inspiration for this track stems from coming home late one night and realizing how much of myself I have lost just by being busy and active all the time. Realizing now I don’t have time to imagine anymore, like I used to as a kid, makes me feel more confined and restricted in the freedom of “adulthood”. As a musical concept, Hope to Imagine Again takes inspiration from a huge barrier that has followed me throughout my life, Jazz. Hope to Imagine Again is both a reflection on my naturally childish mind and a reminder that one day, I can and will be able to return to it.

7. Hope to Imagine Again

Motivation is my reflection on the eternal question in art and music, “Why am I doing this?”. One of the hardest parts about writing this album was realizing, that by the nature of making it, I wasn’t doing anything I wouldn’t be doing anyway. It FELT like a waste of time, a hopeless scream into the void even though I couldn’t be self-actualized without doing it! How can I justify my contribution to society when I myself question the nature of that contribution? I care about a multitude of topics. Why music? Part of me feels that because of the uncomfortable nature of “why?”, there are no good people in music. In a broken world, one cannot do nothing and justify it without delusion, to do so is to lie to yourself. The hardest part about this song is the fact I still don’t have the answer to “why?” after writing it. Through this, I learned the torture of art and music comes not from being unable, but rather being able and still remaining worthless to yourself.

8. Motivation

Less and Less Time is inspired by composer Terry Riley’s visit to Chico. While rehearsing and preforming Riley’s most famous composition In C, I noticed that the C-note pulse in the song is entirely reminiscent of a house track’s kick drum. How can such a sophisticated work involving multiple moving parts and intriguing harmonic and melodic relationships essentially use the same characteristics of repetition and pulse present in modern dance music? What is it about repetition is so vital and appealing in music? What does time mean to an electronic musician, who can play any sound at any time at will?
As I grow older, my own familiarity to time increases; making it seem like I have less of it. Things go faster. Relationships fade. My brain absorbs less and accepts more. To quote rapper MF Doom, “Living off borrowed time the clock ticks faster”. The more and more one lives life, the less and less it seems like one has lived.

9. Less And Less Time

Succumbing to the Reactive and Petty Impulses of an Inherently Broken Society that Values Nothing but Pre-Conceived Notions of Conformist and Distracting Trash’s concept is extremely blunt. Generally, in music, the lowest common denominator wins in popularity regardless of how true, beautiful, or creditable that music actually is. I myself succumb to this problem on a regular basis when listening to more sophisticated and subtle forms of music (such as Jazz). The proper thing to do solve this contradiction of accessibility and knowledge would be to recognize and appreciate differences in the arts (I.E value diversity based on merit), except the same person who knows only the lowest common denominator doesn’t understand this because that’s NOT the lowest common denominator to think. The frustration of nearly every artist/creator stems from this well-documented conflict, making it seem the inherit nature of creating art stems from frustration and anger.

10. Succumbing to the Reactive and Petty Impulses of an Inherently Broken Society...

Man Of Constant Sorrow, ironically, is the only composition on the album inspired by a positive experience. I got the idea for an all-electronic bluegrass interpretation of the classic song after working with MacRae in the studio on a jazz recording. We were both wrapping cables when all the sudden, out of idleness, MacRae starts singing “IIIIIIII AM THE MANNNN OF CONSTANT SORROW” with an unexpected country styling. Excited and inspired, the song’s lyrics fit perfectly with the theme and style of the album. By taking an old country folk song and putting it into an electronic context, I hope to conjure some of the grit, passion, and roaming grievances the original presents.

11. Man Of Constant Sorrow (feat. MacRae Dudman)

My entire life I’ve felt like a reject. Sometimes this feeling is justified. Sometimes this feeling is only perceived. Most recently, this feeling has manifested itself in my life with genuine consequence. The final work on Outsider exclusively uses audio previously heard on the album and mangles it into a freeform sonic texture by means of advanced processing, sampling and meticulous editing techniques. By doing this, I believe my songs are taking on a voice of their own, free from my control. No matter how obscure, small, or irrelevant; this album has brought me so much closer to this illusive magic thing called music just by means of its own creation. Now that I have confirmed my status as an Outsider, Letting Things Go that have nothing to do with me being accepted for who I am will be my next challenge.

I hope you have enjoyed hearing a side of me even I barely understand.

12. Letting Things Go

Almost four years ago, my close friend Rohith Gopal passed away in a surprise car accident. That was a point in my life where I didn’t have the voice or skills to express what happened musically. I felt helpless. One of the prime motivators I had to study composition in college was to gain the musical ability to never feel that helpless again. This work samples both the acoustics of Rohith’s room (using impulse responses) and the pitches of Rohtih’s piano (using audio recordings and a sampler). I then reconstructed the piano and room acoustics digitally, composing by means of manipulating these elements. In a way, this work is a method to play piano with Rohith’s memory, a friend and a ghost reunited through digital illusion.

4. The Jazz Pianist Next Door

Experimental IDM/glitch producer. Post-EDM. Composer. Sound Designer. Audio Guy. AV tech. Dark Stuff. Weirdo.

Education: Chico State

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