Now more than ever

Twyford, Berkshire, December 27th 2015. Voice and Samplr for iOS. 

wishyou

I have no defence for this. None.

This is a minion from the film Despicable Me 2, being a siren. I was using it to annoy my partner and to tell him his post had arrived. Then I was on the bus and decided to make "art" with it. Best with headphones.

Paulstretch, Samplr, Borderlands, Beatmaker 2, and this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkWvmZQuyFI (this is the only sample used, for reference, which is testimony to the terrible things I did to it).

Profuse apologies.

reprehensible

Made in WebSID, interactive playback at: http://www.igorski.nl/experiment/websid?song=c472ed3b60037c4a8e1e6eaa8e393771

TIME FBCK FREQ

UPDATE: This is now available as part of a charity release for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants here: https://deerful.bandcamp.com/album/without-borders

This is my contribution to Squarepusher's MIDI Sans Frontières collaborative project, detailed here: http://www.squarepusher.net/.

I want to explain a little about this piece here. I spent the 19th to the 23rd of June this year at Stanford CCRMA, learning to begin to program music in SuperCollider. That's not a very long time, and the sum total of what I've learnt is used here; I could perhaps have done something more ambitious using another method, but I didn't want to, and here's why. The night of the referendum vote was the last full day of my classes at Stanford, and unlike my friends at home, and my partner who had dutifully acted as my proxy voter earlier in the day, I wasn't able to sleep through the counts; as my lecturers spoke I kept the BBC website open behind SuperCollider on my laptop, refreshing and refreshing until all the counts were done and I knew 52% of the population had voted to leave the EU. 

I've never stayed up to the end of a count before and never want to again. There is a powerlessness to it I couldn't have anticipated. As the only UK-based student in my class it was hard to make my American classmates and lecturers understand my distraction and upset at the referendum result, but their kindness even in the face of something comparatively unknown to them will stick with me for a long time. I worry about my friends who are people of colour in the wake of the reported rise in racist attacks; I worry about being unable to visit Germany, where my entire maternal family live without dual citizenship; I worry about a return to the depths of austerity; I worry about friends who are unemployed and my own employment prospects when I graduate; I worry about the NHS. There's a lot to worry about. It piles up like the phrases of this piece.

It's hard not to feel, now, like the country is more in ruins as a result of this referendum than any other vote in the course of my lifetime so far. As I write this we are essentially in governmental stasis with little we can do to change the situation except to exercise our democratic right when we can by voting, joining parties and unions and demonstrating if we are able, but in a smaller sense, to look out for one another, extend hands and say, I will stand with you and work with you and support you regardless of borders or government or where we are from or how we identify. In a very small way this is one attempt at doing the latter. 

Code (and vague instructions for live performance) available at http://pastebin.com/rhHAexVh. 

Special thanks to @christa_lee for making me aware of this project and for her own inspiring contribution to it, and to @brunoruviaro for his wonderful teaching.

MIDI Sans Frontières

by Spaceship feat. the North Circular Road

My contribution to Squarepusher's remix project. I'll let him explain: 

"THE REFERENDUM ON THE UK'S MEMBERSHIP OF THE EU HAS HAD APPALLING CONSEQUENCES. IT HAS AMPLIFIED MANY DIVISIONS IN SOCIETY AND IN PARTICULAR HAS HELPED TO RE-ESTABLISH XENOPHOBIA AS LEGITIMATE AND ACCEPTABLE. WITNESSING THIS AGAINST THE GLOBAL BACKDROP OF A RESURGENCE OF THE FAR-RIGHT, IT'S ESSENTIAL THAT THOSE WHO FIND THESE DEVELOPMENTS UNACCEPTABLE MAKE THEIR THOUGHTS KNOWN AND TAKE ACTION. 

THIS PIECE OF MUSIC WAS WRITTEN IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE REFERENDUM AND I PRESENT IT AS THE BASIS OF AN INTERNATIONALIST COLLABORATION WITH SOUND MAKERS IRRESPECTIVE OF WHAT KIND OF MUSIC THEY MAKE, WHERE THEY LIVE, THEIR BACKGROUND, THEIR AGE - ALL ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE. IT IS NOT OFFERED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL ACTION BUT AS A COMPLEMENT TO IT. I PUT IT FORWARD IN DEFIANCE OF THE BIGOTRY THREATENING THE FRAGILE CONNECTIONS THAT EXIST BETWEEN US ALL. I HOPE IT WILL BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO REAFFIRM SOME OF THOSE CONNECTIONS AMIDST A VERY DISTURBING SITUATION." 

MIDI SANS FRONTIÈRES

squarepusher + sevenism - midi sans frontieres (unity fade)

done an album of mixes here https://sevenism.bandcamp.com/album/midi-sans-fronti-res

this is a modified version of one them. i've listened to loads of the remixes - some great stuff out there - but somehow i havent listened to the original yet! (i like to start playing with samples before i listen to them)

DOWN˩OAⱭ

For hope...

A remix of squarepusher track.

From squarepusher's open offering for collaboration:
"The referendum on the UK's membership of the EU has had appalling consequences. It has amplified many divisions in society and in particular has helped to re-establish xenophobia as legitimate and acceptable. Witnessing this against the global backdrop of a resurgence of the far-right, it's essential that those who find these developments unacceptable make their thoughts known and take action.

This piece of music was written in the aftermath of the referendum and I present it as the basis of an internationalist collaboration with sound makers irrespective of what kind of music they make, where they live, their background, their age - all are invited to participate. It is not offered as a substitute for progressive political action but as a complement to it. I put it forward in defiance of the bigotry threatening the fragile connections that exist between us all. I hope it will be an opportunity to reaffirm some of those connections amidst a very disturbing situation.

I have provided a finished mixdown of the piece and audio stems of the constituent instrumental parts. Also available are scores and a MIDI file representing the note to note information. Take the parts and use them however you like. It could be subtly remixed or reworked beyond recognition. Change the instrumentation, the key, the order of notes, the notes themselves - it is absolutely open. The only stipulation is this: if you want your piece to be listed on this site then it must have the title "Midi Sans Frontières". You are welcome not to use that title for whatever you do but that means we can't host your piece
squarepusher"
http://www.squarepusher.net/#midi

MIDI Sans Frontieres

Recorded 6.1.16 in Wangford Church, Suffolk. Based on fragments from a French renaissance song.

Blackwater - Laura Cannell

The sounds of the sun rising on the longest day of the year. Recorded at Comox Lake, Vancouver Island, on National Aboriginal Day (21st June 2017).

SOLSTICE DAWN CHORUS AT COMOX LAKE

It's Too Heavy Parts 1 & 2

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windspace began exploring electronic music in 1982 using analog synthesizers and in recent years has gravitated to ambient music. windspace today mostly uses computers to produce his music, but occasionally some ancient hardware sees the light of day. He also releases more experimental and extreme music under the name of ho66it.  He records his music now in Colorado where he resides with his greatest supporter...his wonderful wife.

MIDI SANS FRONTIÈRES

Mark S. Williamson

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