I like how the "mistake" is more of a subtle irritant, mostly I get post-rock hard to count Tortoise vibes--in the best way. Really enjoy this!

Disquiet Junto Project 0715: Err Apparent

The Assignment: Make a mistake on purpose. Build something from it.

Step 1: Play something wrong and record it. The sequence could be a fumble at a keyboard, or a series of bum notes on a guitar, or a erroneous beat.

Step 2: Emphasize the flaws from Step 1 through repetition and variation, and in the process record a piece of music.

Deadline: Monday, September 15, 2025, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.

Details: disquiet.com/0715

Disquiet Junto Project 0715: Err Apparent

Recorded, edited, mixed & mastered on 11 Sep 2025 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa, USA.

Synth, samples, effects

Photography/Art - Jim Lemanowicz, 21 Oct 2020, Manhattan, NYC, USA

Music & art © 2020, 2025 Jim Lemanowicz

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This original version of “How Monotonous, Herr Pencil” was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0715: Err Apparent. The Assignment: Make a mistake on purpose. Build something from it.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

More on the 715th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Err Apparent — The Assignment: Make a mistake on purpose. Build something from it — at https://disquiet.com/0715/

Patreon & Soundcloud - blisterpop
YouTube - Jimmy Lem
TikTok - jimmlem
Bluesky - jimmylem.bsky.social

How Monotonous, Herr Pencil (disquiet0715)

Disquiet Junto's 715th prompt was simple: record yourself making a mistake on purpose, and emphasize the error through repetition. 

Long-time readers will know that I favor narrative in my pieces, so I created a little vignette: we listen in on a frustrated pianist in a parlor, as she tries to improvise on a piano with a bad E4. (The piece was improvised, but it was refined over a couple of takes.) 

Features synthetic piano, organic vocal, and ambient field recording.

More on the 715th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Err Apparent — The Assignment: Make a mistake on purpose. Build something from it — at https://disquiet.com/0715/.

Improv in A minor (on a piano with a sticky key) (disquiet0715)

My take on this was to use glitches or extraneous sounds that crop up in field recordings. These are usually edited out but here I extracted some from a couple of recordings and joined them to form a continuous sequence. After extending this sequence and adding a touch of reverb and delay I combined it with an evolving electronic drone.

More on the 715th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Err Apparent — The Assignment: Make a mistake on purpose. Build something from it — at https://disquiet.com/0715/.

Field Glitches (disquiet0715)

If there is one thing that I excel at, its a lack of technique. So this is a perfect Disquiet Junto assignment for me. I just received the wonderful Chromaplane from Koma Elektronik, and after watching videos of Passepartout Duo's performances, I tried my hand at playing sequences on the Chromaplane where the errors quickly started to replicate themselves. There are missed beats, missed notes and variations on a theme that don't quite work. But I soldiered on to the end. On top of that mix, I added some ambient meanderings, again with the Chromaplane which were sent through the "Cinema Everything" patch on the Zoia. Both tracks were sent directly to my recorder without any further editing, thereby keeping the errors intact!

disquiet0715

More on the 715th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Err Apparent — The Assignment: Make a mistake on purpose. Build something from it — at https://disquiet.com/0715/

Out of Tune with Maths(disquiet0715)

disquiet0715 - mistake

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.

disquiet0715 - mistake

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