Microtones for transformation

A WIP drop of my unreleased tracks from the past few years. Don't expect polish, but do expect some head bopping :)

nexTONE_13

MANIFEST

holy moly

This polychromatic composition is an exploration and demonstration of the musical use of interactive harmonics. It is an example of the gestalt principle in the sense that the whole (output harmonics) is greater than the sum of the parts (input notes and harmonics). Aural resolution: 106 pitches per octave.

Heterodyne - an existing concept that is a closest description (not explanation) of this musical phenomena of 'extra' harmonics created in the interaction of two or more notes.

Horizon - in the sense of always evolving boundaries of awareness, exploration and understanding.

Music theory describes harmonics 'vertically', in relation to a fundamental pitch. This composition demonstrates that 'horizontal' cross-interaction occurs, creating new harmonics and unique musical textures.

Note in the middle of the composition, I am playing only 2 notes, one static and the other moving melodically. The thing to notice is that a (higher pitched) harmonic is following the melody line NOT in the same direction (high/low), as traditional harmonics do (because they are a subcomponent of the pitch), but in the OPPOSITE direction.

Next, notice a second (lower pitched) interactive harmonic, which moves in the same direction as the melody (just as traditional 'primary' harmonics do). Try also, to hear additional subtle harmonics and a further harmonic blending as the melody becomes polyphonic.

An intriguing question would be whether these interactive harmonics are measurable with an audio spectrum analyzer. More deeply, are these interactive harmonics created in a quantifiable dimension or are they a purely perceptual phenomenon; Qualia; technologically immeasurable?

Video performance available on YouTube. Polychromatic score and audio files are available for download on my website.

more information: dolorescatherino.com

- Contextual information on known phenomena:

HETERODYNE FREQUENCIES (electronics, communications engineering) and COMBINATION TONES (acoustics, psychophysics) are comprised of sum and difference tones.

SUM TONES (f1+ f2) can create a frequency octave(s) above/greater than the lower frequency (f1):
220 Hz (A3) + 293.66 Hz (D3) = 513.66 Hz (C4)

DIFFERENCE TONES (f2- f1) can create a frequency octave(s) below/less than the lower frequency (f1):
293.66 Hz (D3) - 220 Hz (A3) = 73.66 Hz (D1)

INTERACTIVE HARMONICS (music), as demonstrated here, can create other frequency intervals which are neither sum nor difference tones.

'Heterodyne Horizon'

An expression of the timeless and constantly evolving ‘voice’ (consciousness) of humanity and all sentient beings. An enduring ‘voice’ (expression) of striving, growth and hope, as we live through, and are forever changed by, recurring experiences of harmony and discord, creation and destruction, integration and separation. 

From within a chaotically changing world, emerges an expanding awareness of dissonance, consonance and resonance as fundamental aspects of this experience. Music is an optimal language to express ideas in this realm of experience.

Art has a unique strength to illuminate opaque realms of experience and intuition. Each symbolic language (discursive, mathematical, artistic; literal, abstract) reveals different and seemingly incommensurable perspectives or dimensions of this common, yet uniquely individual experience. Each system of expression and understanding reflects a partial awareness. And our experience may be in some way a reflection of our consciousness and awareness.

Vox Aeterna is an eternal 'voice' existing beyond our limited conceptions of time and space, yet also existing within an experience of increasing transience and instability.

'Vox Aeterna'

Connection Successful

Horixens

Come on a Journey

N⩞SCENT - coming into being. The birth of extraordinary potentiality and hope within difficult times. 

Crisis seems to be the catalyst to profound change and progress. A crisis-evolution cycle repeats throughout human experience. In difficult times, greatness emerges - compassion in the midst of hostility; awareness in the midst of deception; striving in the midst of apathy; hope in the midst of despair.

As the rate of change accelerates, some take advantage of the fear caused by this instability. And yet these same actions also create the conditions for the development of inner strength, purpose and greater meaning in response.

Audio track available at: https://dolorescatherino.bandcamp.com/track/n-scent

N⩞SCENT

Inflexion - a movement toward profound transformation. In a postmodern world, where emerging narratives replace the stability of a prior cultural meta-narrative, more voices are striving to be heard. An initial sense of dissonance and chaos slowly moves toward stability -- within a more complex form of harmony.

”The limits of my language are the limits of my world."  - Wittgenstein

When the language of cultural discourse becomes rigidly divisive, and words lose any stable meaning, music can transcend limitations of communication and become a unifying force, rooted in common awareness, experience and emotion. 

Each language presents unique strengths and limitations to the awareness and understanding of our world and ‘reality’. Music can express this tension without divisiveness and demonstrate the potential, and hope, for bringing together diverse voices within new complexities of harmony. A movement beyond ‘either-or’ understanding, toward ‘both-and’ awareness; and in the process, a discovery of wider balance and integration between them.

'Inflexion'

Stitches10

Expanse: Exploring the unknown limits of musical sound. Whenever a symbolic language is expanded (in music, math, science, English, etc.), new ideas and possibilities can be structured in thought and expressed to others. This renewal leads to new questions, new discoveries, and eventually toward wider perspectives.

'Expanse'

hello i wrote this thinking of furry visual novels i had played, this would be the soundtrack for one

Melody for Unmade Gay Furry Visual Novel

Droplets In My Heart - Ear Candy

Unreleased music, an assortment of which I've been saving for an album. I did all the mastering work myself so it may be slightly rough.

Originally released to raise funds for Black Visions Collective, thank you to everyone who contributed.

album art by twitter.com/derFisch

DIGITAL NEW: ADVANCE

GO HARD

Bubble

Some Things Must

BGM music commission for cottonwings

Check out their stream here: twitch.tv/cottonwings

welcome_to_sheepleOS.ogg (BGM)

xenharmonic bass music

Sevish (aka Sean Archibald) is an electronic musician from London, UK. His music is fast and atmospheric. The style mainly gravitates around drum & bass and other electronic dance music varieties, although even ambient and chilled works have been released under this moniker. Sevish sidesteps pop structures and familiar "EDM" tropes, instead trying to capture the essence of something flowing and meandering. It's the perfect music for blocking mind-altering radiation.

Since his album Golden Hour, Sevish's technique has included a dark art known as microtonality/xenharmonics. For short, we can call this xen. Simply put, the xen aesthetic tries to achieve new musical ideas by making things more or less in-tune than normal music. For something that is so easy to describe, you would think that every musician was doing it. Sadly, the technicalities of (ab)using musical tunings to create xen music are too much for most musicians to muster at this point in time. Perhaps 3D printing will change that in the future, allowing new instruments with crazy tunings to be developed quickly and cheaply. Until then, it's the domain of a few tinkerers and madmen scattered across the globe. One of those being Sevish, who blends xen with his own brand of experimental dance music.

The xen movement is still small but growing rapidly. It has a lively facebook group, its own wiki (deeply incomprehensible to all but the initiated), and about as many dedicated record labels as you could count on one hand.

In 2010, Sevish launched his own netlabel to get together the scattered artists composing xen music. Called split-notes, this label is known for its focus on xen-with-a-beat, and most of its releases are free to download with Creative Commons licensing. While the output of the label has slowed down due to other commitments, it's still alive with new releases showing up from time to time.

Sevish's music has been put out by the Dutch label Dubbhism Deluxe. In 2011, Sevish, Tony Dubshot and Jacky Ligon released an album called Subversio to online music shops and popular streaming services. This project lies somewhere between being a band album and being a compilation, as each of the 3 artists provided 3 solo tracks each. So it's more of a musical triptych than either of those things. Certainly a form of collaborative album that can (and will) be explored further. Each of the musicians on Subversio combine xen with beats and bass, but their individual styles contrast and compliment. Tony Dubshot excels at trippy electro dub with lots of analog processing. Jacky Ligon's style is often described as oceanic or panoramic, with fluid and rotating beats and deeply moving atmospheres and melodies. And Sevish's style... well, you already know by now.

In 2014 Sevish, Tony Dubshot and Jacky Ligon followed with 23, something of a mini-album in the same stylistic ballpark as 2011's Subversio. Numerology, conspiracy and ancient knowledge is something that the trio is attracted to, and 23 is inspired from that.

Come on a Journey

Sevish

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Expansion of the Aural Cognizance

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