TWO PATHS—

One returns
the other does not
and I still don’t know
which one leads home

TEXT is from my THE LITTLE CLAVIER, free ebook (633 pages) at http://picture-poems.com/tlc/the-little-clavier.pdf

Avian soloists, recorded from April through July around 1400m in dry-side Northeast OREGON montane mixed conifer forest (Doug-fir, Grand fir, Larch, Ponderosa pine create the acoustics), are: Hermit Thrush, Mountain Bluebird, American Robin, and Swainson’s Thrush.

What I sense as the spiritual/philosophical poverty of present western musical culture—whether the toxic commercial sounds normalized by predatory capitalism and social media, or the faux-African minimalist music of the percussion ensemble in the concert hall, or the last vestiges of post World War II European mindless, vainglorious complicatedness of the runaway  intellectualism of Schönberg, Stockhausen or Ferneyhough—is caused, at least in part, by our near total fragmentation from Nature. Not just nature as wilderness, but also nature as sound.

This is a little prose-poem meditation, on a new way of hearing, sensing, and perhaps composing many-voiced or polyphonic music.  We are not going to discover it in New York City, or Berlin, I think, but rather as we leave the isolation of our studios and enter the marvelous unknown of the pathless land. 

IMAGE: KRAG PEAK RIDGE, with Whitebark pines, at 2600m, South Wallowas, Eagle Cap Wilderness, OREGON.

TWO PATHS, a little 17-step poem in a polyphonic avian sounscape…

T3DS2

Paul  Etheredge's Album

Air (feat. Diogenes Plantagent) [original song]

The Art of Fudge [original instrumental]

Jackson Pollock [original instrumental]

2CD available directly from Imprec.com

American percussionist and composer Michael Ranta is a legendary figure who has worked with some of the most significant names of 20th century music but despite this and impressive body of work of his own, he has remained an obscure figure. Important Records and is pleased to present “Transits, Volume 1” the first in a series of releases by composer/percussionist Sarah Hennies documenting never before heard chamber works mostly composed in the 1970s while Ranta was living in Taiwan. 

Mastered by Tom Eaton at Sounds & Substance.

Based overseas since the late 60s, Ranta is known primarily as a percussionist who worked closely with Harry Partch, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann, Toru Takemitsu and Jean-Claude Éloy but is also an accomplished artist himself with a vast body of work spanning improvisation, electronic music, and composition. The works in the “Transits” series comprise a dozen works of scored compositions for solo and chamber ensembles almost all of which are completely unknown with no known performances or recordings since their original premieres. Volume 1 includes “Mharuva,” a 30-minute marathon tour-de-force for solo marimba, “Seven Pieces for Three Percussionists,” and the 40-minute “Continuum II,” a stunning display of virtuosity for two bass clarinets, percussion, and electronics.


“Transits, Volume 1” features performances by Sarah Hennies, NYC clarinetists Madison Greenstone and Katie Porter, and the Bard College Conservatory Percussion Ensemble.

Micael Ranta - Mharuva (excerpt) - From Transits Vol 1 - Available Nov 22, 2024


Bill wasn't really lactose intolerant
because to make that determination 
requires a certain self awareness 
that he simply didn't have.

No, Bill simply crammed anything in his face 
that time and tide put in front of him. 
He was very experienced in looking casual 
while breaking a slow but silent wind 
that was surely about to clear a room. 

Sooner or later misfortune finds us all.
winter was setting in
when his almost hourly fizzles 
started making noise. 

Bills exceptional sphincter
wasn't making the boring low frequency buzz
made by run of the mill assholes.
As a dog's bark sounds like "woof" 
Bills farts sounded like a gasp 
a wheeze, a broken foghorn
trying to say "Honda."

It wasn't a matter of his health 
that led to his sitting in an exam room 
being poked and prodded by a Doctor
half his size and half his age. 

No, it was more about vanity 
having your ass honk Honda, 
every time you cut wind, 
greatly affects your social standing 
and Bill wasn't having that. 

The tiny doctor
had Bill stretch his shoulders,
had him lift his arms,
then stand up and touch his toes. 
that was when the dam broke open, 
noxious fumes filled the room 
with a hiss of air escaping Bills rectum
starting a long and loud resonance
Hoooonda! 

After turning an exhaust fan the dainty doctor 
shook her head,
noticing Bill's bewildered expression.
SHe continued with an energy 
she didn't have sixty seconds ago. 

"Are things going okay at home?" she asked.
Bill answered in the affirmative
in a way that told more
than the single syllable might usually convey.
Things indeed were not okay. 

Bill was single, and middle aged
He worked a white collar
 middle management job.
He played tabletop
roleplay games on the weekend. 
Quite a few questions and answers
were exchanged before Bill opened up
about the loss of his cat named Footfoot.

Bill didn't have people over much
so not a lot of people knew about Footfoot. 
Footfoot was a rescue Bill adopted 
when He bought his house. 
Footfoot was an old cat. 

Bill didn't tell anyone
about the loss of Footfoot 
for the same reason he never apologized
or sought to stop breaking wind in crowded rooms.

Bill went on a bit about his grieving process.
As he talked about the process
of burying a small furry animal,
his doctor's brow slowly unfurrowed.
Bills voice lowered as he went on 
talking half to the doctor and half to himself.

Bill wondered whether to get another cat, 
or to throw out the litter box, the toys,
and the blanket Footfoot used for a bed.
Just as Bill finished his thought 
he leaned to his left,
and released the pressure
building up in his colon.
HONDA!

Bill peered off in the distance
as if nothing had happened.
After recovering herself, 
waving her hand before her face. 
"Good Grief!" she sighed.

The tiny doctor's face lit up now
sure of her new diagnosis. 
She reached for her laptop 
and pecked in a prescription,
explaining to Bill 
how to take it and when. 

"It's that sense of loss" she said
It's a mild depression 
that comes with life's unexpected changes. 
A death in the family, 
losing a pet. 
It's nothing unusual."

"our physiology changes
when we lose someone, 
We're accustomed to their presence 
and don't really know what to do without them."

Bill looked intrigued,
not quite understanding 
what one circumstance 
had to do with the other. 

Bills Doctor put her hand on his shoulder 
then looked them right in the eye. 
She spoke slowly and deliberately. 

"Absence" she said
"Absence," She repeated for emphasis. 
"Absence....makes the farts go Honda!" 

The Cock Will Save You 10 21 24

Symphony No. 1, I. Piratestep [original instrumental]

Yodelcore [original instrumental]

Symphony No. 1, IV. Canto-wop [original instrumental]

simpleharmonicmotion.org
Radio Music—This recording of John Cage's Radio Music is a mix of four performances. Random processes were used to determine when each of the four was “on” (audible). Each radio is positioned at a different place in the stereo field. Radio performances were taken from local afternoon broadcasts of New York area AM radio stations in July 2022.  John Bickerton created this realization for the album Atlas Eclipticalis, released in 2024 on Simple Harmonic Motion Records.

Radio Music (John Cage)

new species

image: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/448658

deong



Disquiet Junto Project 0702: Chain of Applications

Dato che la musica rappresenta più spesso uno stato psichico/psichiatrico che un'interesse o passione, il viaggio esecutivo/formativo di gran parte dei musicisti (o aspiranti tali) si dipana attraverso varie fasi di interesse/sviluppo/ per vari oggetti/situazioni sonore, rendendole, periodicamente e ciclicamente, trappole categoriali imperanti.
E queste categorie musicali cambiano spesso per tempo e modelli, sempre alla ricerca di quel qualcosa dimenticato, tralasciato, negletto per mancanza di preciso interesse o superficialità.
Se per Schaffer c'è stato prima Parigi (1948) e poi Colonia (1950), comunque  le mie personali (come di molto altri) scelte/ossessioni si sono immediatamente rivolte alla Germania (in senso molto lato ed altricolato).
Dallo SMET degli anni 80 fino a questi ultimi tempi, il mio interesse per la musica elettronica (accademica e non) è risultato pressochè univoco, pur con diverse metodologie ed aree di applicazione. Però con un sostanziale cambiamento: l'abbandono graduale del sintetizzatore per un ritorno agli strumenti acustici classici e all'uso del campione/sound object (per dirla alla francese).
Quindi privilegiando una tecnica che si basa essenzialmente sul trattamento del suono ( in senso molto lato), non tanto sulla creazione dello stesso.
Il campione, puro o trattato, alla fine rimanda, almeno per la parte istituzionale/accademica idealmente a Parigi e al GRM e ai loro monumenti verbali. 
Tralasciando però la parte autocelebrativa e autoreferenziale della scuola francese, si aprono contemporaneamente nuovi canali di applicazione/ossessione: aprire all'infinito il campo semantico del suono e della composizione . 
Quindi accostare suoni e relativi ambienti chiusi/codificati, a volte anche con ironia o provocazioni barocche. E aprire contemporaneamente lo spazio sonoro, con le tecniche multicanali (Atmos, Ambisonics et...).

Riguardo al software: parlando di campioni e sound objects, ormai lo strumento per eccellenza è diventato il campionatore, possibilmente multitimbrico (4-8)/multicanale, in modo da costruire immediatamente un ambiente musicale ben definito. Questo campionatore deve avere anche la possibilità di scelta della velocità, del tempo e della quantità di suono da trattare.
Se anche multicanale (out), posso ulteriormente trattare i singoli suoni prodotti.
Quasi sempre il campionatore è abbinitato ad un looper (mini, micro, da 6-10 secondi in avanti). Quindi tape music, però senza forbici e colla. Anche qua per l'abuso della frase musicale.

Se voglio usare la tecnica multicanale per la riproduzione sonora, consiglio la  IEM Plug-in Suite (Graz) e SPARTA Spatial Audio Real-Time Applications (Aalto)

Come direbbe David Sylvian "The ghosts of my life blow wilder than before".

In ogni caso, sempre e comunque, alla musica viene risparmiata "l'onta" del significato (G. Manganelli, '80).

Paris Köln (disquiet0702)

Tempos Fudged It (The Dark Side)

Ponds is an audio composition designed for an octophonic multichannel setup, exploring electroacoustic processes of sound creation and transformation.

Listening with headphones is recommended.

ponds

Karlheinz Stockhausen, PIETA, duo for soprano and flugelhorn, with electronic music
from the opera TUESDAY from LIGHT, DIENSTAG aus LICHT
Pia Davila, Soprano
Marco Blaauw, quarter tone flugelhorn
recorded by Sebastian Schottke, at ZKM Karlsruhe, 28 January 2021
produced by Ensemble Musikfabrik


Karlheinz Stockhausen PIETÀ, soprano, flugelhorn and electronic music

Here, the total length of the original improvisation provides the framework for the pieces length. No additional introduction or coda is added. The only alterations come in form of stacked sound leading to varying levels of disharmony and added/removed effects. Two improvisations have been recorded, each according to either understanding of the first rider as either a conquering manifestation of christ or a false messiah/the antichrist, and the piece jumps between the two modes, to exemplify this ambiguity. The improvisations coda also features samples of Bruno S, an „outsider artist“ busker from Berlin, immortalised by Werner Herzogs films, who grew up in poverty and precarity and his rendition of „Mamatschi“, an old Schlager with a symbolic theme expressing the wish for a horse, and regret over the way that wish is fullfilled. („Solche Pferde wollt’ ich nicht!“)

Dies Irae Anhelae - Dies Irae Apnoiae First Rider: War

Bambino: One shop destroyed. Three heads split like overripe melons. One man wounded and one castrated. All in two hours. Just two hours I left you alone. Two hours.
Trinity: Well, you asked me to give you a hand.

Composer. Writer. Photographer. Former conductor & founder of the ASKO ensemble.

On a bike/ski/hike trek of the Pacific Northwest studying native plants & climate breakdown 🌲 from sagebrush sea to whitebark pine. Composing off-grid the whole way.

#Sun2Sound 🌕 on Bluesky

THINKING LIKE A STONEPINE, a soundpoem manifesto https://vimeo.com/844665859

“LOVE & WATER, three thought poems w/ coda, PHAROS for small orchestra, “Nightwind”” https://vimeo.com/847079690 

CURRENTLY on mt bike/ski/climbing trek through Pacific Northwest, working on a photobook about WHITEBARK PINE COLLAPSE and CLIMATE CRISIS. BASES in the WALLOWAS | AMSTERDAM | ALPS. 

WEEKLY photo/poetry updates at www.picture-poems.com & THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE new music, poetry & dance performance project at www.cs-music.com

ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT for progressive, tech-savy, instrumental virtuosi interested in dialogue & collaborative undertakings.

CONTACT cliff@picture-opoems.com
Or on SKYPE or FACETIME @cliffcrego

MUSIC? The one thing humans do,
that makes the rest of nature jealous.

Techno, Ambient, Synthwave. Inspired by early 90s (Acid, (Hard, Progressive) Trance, Electro, Hardcore), Ambient / Space / Chillout, crossed over and combined with bizarre new elements.
The main ingredients are electronic, futuristic, bizarre, synthetic sounding elements. Mostly combined with some more or less hard techno beats in the range of 140 - 150 bpm.
Equipment: Moog Subsequent 37, Sequential Prophet Rev 2, IK-Media UNO Synth Pro, Roland / Studio electronics SE-02, Behringer 2600, Waldorf Microwave 2 XT, Native Instruments Reaktor, Reaper, a self programmed pattern sequencer, a self made drum machine in Reaktor, Eband Anda 88, Behriger Euphoria UMC1820

Contact:
alexander.eslava@web.de

Guitarist with eclectic tastes. Ambient to Blues. Country to Rock. All are pieces featuring my guitar improvisations and are not offered or available in any commercial context whatsoever.

Solo artist.  Song and dance man.  Folk.  Blues.  Contact:  desertersongs@yahoo.com Film critic at https://paulydeathwish.com/

New tracks tagged #stockhausen