More on this 428th weekly Disquiet Junto project — The Assignment: What echoes of past concerts are retained within this pole? — at:

https://disquiet.com/0428/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0428-urban-moss/

There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Disquiet Junto Project 0428: Urban Moss

A little piece with sounds from Yamaha YC45D, Eminent 310U and ELKA 707. Second part is a simple variation of Stomu Yamashta´s Solitude.
Effects used: Boss RE20 Space Echo and TC Electronic Nova reverb

YC310ELKA

view_finder_disquiet0700

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)

More on the 703rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, That’s How You Got Killed Before — The Assignment: Revisit something that you just couldn’t get to work last time — at https://disquiet.com/0703/

disquiet0703 - Environmentally-Sustainable Victorian Home

This week's Disquiet Junto prompt challenged us to revisit something musical—a piece of software, an idea, a technique—that we couldn't get to work in the past, and to dedicate time to improving it, capturing the result in music.

I decided to go with my Sequential Prophet-6 analog synth. I had inherited it from an ex who moved out of the country, and for complicated reasons just never really connected with it as an instrument. Intellectually, I knew that it was a fantastic synth, but I didn't know how to make it mine, if that makes sense. I couldn't speak through it. What's worse, the last time I had fired it up, it exhibited a rare but not unknown bug where every sixth note would be extremely loud, rendering it unplayable.

But today I decided to try again, to give it a second chance. I set aside time to just play around with it, experimenting with patches and tweaking parameters. I realized that the volume bug wasn't happening, the synth was being cooperative. Eventually I landed on a set of ideas that I think work well together. Most importantly, I feel like I can hear my voice in this piece, through an instrument that I couldn't do that with before. I'm even playing the lead synth like I do an ebow guitar. 

What a great prompt and a great experience.

--

More on the 703rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, That’s How You Got Killed Before — The Assignment: Revisit something that you just couldn’t get to work last time — at https://disquiet.com/0703/

I Don't Trust This Prophet (disquiet0703)

too long between waters - disquiet0703

sound art for disquiet0703

More on the 703rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, That’s How You Got Killed Before — The Assignment: Revisit something that you just couldn’t get to work last time — at https://disquiet.com/0703/

hexcloud (disquiet0703)

WeAreWithYou

The sound on this release has been examined and produced throughout March and April 2019 in Frankfurt am Main during a music-residency initiated and hosted by "Künstlerhaus Mousonturm" and MMODEMM.

Written and Produced by Asuna Arashi

Asuna - Cloud River Seen From The Window

This is a very early example of sound from a "SID-chip" synthesizer I'm developing based on the sound chip used in the Commodore-64 home computer from the 1980's.
The final synth will utilize 8 SID chips, effectively being as capable as 8 Commodore-64s all playing together.  However in this track I'm only using 2 SID chips playing together.

The SID chips are being driven directly by an Arduino Mega at the hardware level. The Arduino is receiving it's note information as MIDI data from a PC running Presonus Studio One which is the DAW that's actually playing the song.

About half-way through the song you'll notice other instruments come in - these are being played by the same PC running Studio One and are just other tracks in the song played using various VSTs.  They're just to illustrate how the SID synth fits into a mix.

GetLucky_SID01(2)

This piece is a combination of field recordings and experimentation with semi-automated arpeggios and chords. Different instruments (hand drum, music box, and Cello) are playing the same set of notes but layered (like urban moss)on top of each other. They are treated with tape loop effects and noise, with a Solina added on top for ambiance.

In the background, some treated Fado singing from a concert at a small bar in Luxembourg and some street noise.

All this may be also a response to the ongoing chaos in the world… Lets all hope, it will be over soon - and we can go back to enjoying the coming spring.

Best wishes to everyone!


More on this 428th weekly Disquiet Junto project — The Assignment: What echoes of past concerts are retained within this pole? — at:

https://disquiet.com/0428/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

disquiet0428 - midivale

This piece contains the following English & Scottish Ballads:

1. Riddles Wisely Expounded
2. The Elfin Knight
3. Willie's Lady
4. The Fair Flower of Northumberland
5. The Twa Sisters
6. Lord Randal
7. The Cruel Mother
8. The Three Ravens

=================================

For context, when posting the track online, please be sure to include this following information:

More on this 428th weekly Disquiet Junto project — The Assignment: What echoes of past concerts are retained within this pole? — at:

https://disquiet.com/0428/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0428-urban-moss/

There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Urban Moss - disquiet0428

Upright piano, synthesizers.
Recorded @ Paris and Buenos Aires over the years...
Created for:
**Disquiet Junto Project 0428: Urban Moss**
*Step 1: Consider how many concert posters have spent time on an old telephone pole before being torn down or succumbing to the elements. Think about the wear on the wood, the rust on the vestigial staples, as time has passed.
*Step 2: Record a short piece of music that pays tribute to the accumulated echoes of past concerts promoted here over the years.*
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After both my parents died a couple of years ago I had to let go many things, most notably the family house and the bedroom where I lived my first 22 years. It was a thrill to go back to that room to say farewell, the walls were covered with posters, stickers, etc. There were a lot of concert posters glued to the wall that my parents just kept there, along with many concert ticket that I glued over. I wish I could have keep that wall! Filled with memories, there was even a Miles Davis street poster (huge) for a concert in the early 90s that never happened (Miles got ill, cancelled and died)

Then I had to let go my old piano, a century old German beast, with crackles, noises , real ivory and ebony keys and “that sound”...

I recorded a lot on it when I was living there but even in the recent years , when visiting my parents, (although I have a modern piano in my studio) I liked to bring a stereo microphone and do some recording that, when listened 10 thousand kilometres away, instantly bring me back to that piano, that room, and the past.

In this track I worked on a solo piano track I found on an old DAT, recorded at my parents’ house 15 years ago, added some hi pitched notes for the same session/DAT, then I created a pulsating synth arpeggiator and a deep bass, with a lot of subliminal blemishes like noises and interference in the background.

Cheers

DD

memories embedded in wood (disquiet0428)

Recorded for the Disquiet Junto Project 0428: Urban Moss
The Assignment: What echoes of past concerts are retained within this pole?

Process: Noddling around on the guitar trying to channel the guitarists  concerts past. Editing, then reverb, delay, and some granular effects.

The Rolling Stones Are Gathering Moss (disquiet0428)

"Disquiet Junto Project 0428: Urban Moss - The Assignment: What echoes of past concerts are retained within this pole?"

I decided to get the old volca sampler out for this one. Been too long. So the intro is 30 secs of 10 different live tracks all playing at the same time, gradually swamped in reverb (Oril river (it's free!)) and then I took little, fairly obscure snippets from those tracks, loaded them into the sampler, and played around. At first I was fiddling around with a sequencer I'd made (in pure data) but it wasn't quite working out. In the end I just sat in the sun on the front step and used all 10 of the volca's memory slots to make a simple composition using its own sequencer. Then I performed it a couple of times until I got a take I was ok with, added the same reverb (though it dips out in the middle) et voila. I wanted to make something kind of melancholy, originally, what with the idea of all those past events layered and increasingly distant/forgotten - but it came out kind of upbeat... that's fine I suppose, just not what I expected, but time has its benefits too, I guess ;-) Hope you enjoy listening.

Urban-Moss_disquiet0428

My 33 1/3 series book about the Aphex Twin album <i>Selected Ambient Works Volume II</i> was published in 2014. The book was one of the top 5 bestselling titles for the calendar year, and in 2015 was ranked by Pitchfork as one of the "33 best" of the 100-plus books in the 33 1/3 series. It has subsequently been translated into Japanese (2019) and Spanish (2018)

Since 2012 I have moderated the Disquiet Junto group, which began on SoundCloud. More at disquiet.com/junto. 

I've written for Nature, Pitchfork, The Wire, Down Beat, Boing Boing, NewMusicBox, Red Bull Music Academy, Art Practical, the website of The Atlantic, and many other publications. 

I've exhibited sound art at galleries in Los Angeles (Crewest), Manhattan (apex art), and Dubai (DUTAC), and I had a audio-visual installation at the San Jose Museum of Art as part of its 45th anniversary.

And since 1996 I've run the website Disquiet.com about the intersection of sound, art, and technology.

Urban-Moss_disquiet0428

unclewaybaaack

Related tracks