The Permafrost Squirms [disquiet0511]

Made as part of the Disquiet Junto Project 0511: Freeze Tag
To Record a new piece of music based on your consideration of freezing (and thawing). I clearly went with the thawing.
The two panned high synth parts recoded using norns ‘fall’ program. Detuning delay added in bitwig. Drone parts using one of the norns drone apps (can’t recall which one).

More on this 511th weekly Disquiet Junto project – Freeze Tag (The Assignment: Consider freezing (and thawing) as a metaphor for music production) – at: https://disquiet.com/0511/ 1

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

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0511-freeze-tag/

The Permafrost Squirms [disquiet0511]

Bach - Alle Menschen Müssen Sterben  BWV 643 2

performed by Maciej Skrzeczkowski on 21.06.22, Royal Conservatory of the Hague (NL)
mixed & mastered by Lilita Dunska

for blandine & maciej

Performed by Wavefield Ensemble:

Nicholas DeMaison, conductor
Roberta Michel, flutes
Madison Greenstone, bass clarinet
John Gattis, horn
Jen Baker, trombone & 3D-printed vocal tract tube
Dennis Sullivan, percussion
Erica Dicker, violin
Carrie Frey, viola
Iva Casián-Lakoš, cello
Tristan Kasten-Krause, bass

Recorded by David Adamcyk
Mastered by Murat Çolak http://www.muratcolakmusic.com/geryon-sound.html
Filmed by Michael Sinicropi
Edited by Stuart Breczinski
DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York, March 2023

Program Notes:

The term "disembodied voice," much like Alice's "grin without a cat," poses an inherent ontological problem. The voice, which is typically produced as a result of purely material processes, now exists detached from its physical source and becomes the sole manifestation of our human essence. Despite the present impossibility, however, our psyche seems to be able to close this gap rather easily.

Being our primary medium for language and expression, the voice can readily function as a portal between our corporeal existence and whatever we might choose to call the rest: a soul, a consciousness, or a persona. The voice can be a placeholder for all the latter, as made apparent in phrases such as “one’s inner voice,” “the artist’s voice,” or “making one’s voice heard.” It is for this reason that disembodied voices have commonly been used to represent human-like entities in many works of fiction, ranging anywhere between ghostly presences to super-intelligent AIs.

“This Person Does Not Exist” was titled after the website with the same name[1], through which Nvidia’s neural network StyleGAN can be used to generate human faces. While the original website reproduces artificiality through AI generated images, I wanted to approach the same uncanny possibility by creating the semblance of a disembodied voice. For this purpose, I designed and 3D printed a small instrument that models the human vocal tract with a trombone mouthpiece attachment. The trombonist, who remains concealed behind the suspended frame drum at the center of the stage, performs this instrument to produce human-like sounds ranging from soft moans to loud, distorted screams. With the use of both pre-recorded and live performances of this instrument, I wish to elicit the presence of a disembodied, artificial voice, and thus underline the reproducible nature of our own human essence.

[1] http://www.thispersondoesnotexist.com

Art: Yugo Kohrogi

This Person Does Not Exist (2023)

New work in progress for and with violist Carrie Frey

"blackhole" for digitally extended low viola w/Carrie Frey (work-in-progress)

Infamous Beirut DJ Ernesto Chahoud takes over the NTS signal for his monthly 'Beirut Daze' slot, recorded in Lebanon and showcasing music from his far-ranging collection.  
https://www.nts.live/shows/ernesto-chahoud/episodes/ernesto-chahoud-12th-august-2023

Beirut Daze w/ Ernesto Chahoud 120823

And then you find yourself here. Not where you thought you’d end up, maybe not even where you meant to go — but somewhere. The signs aren’t clear, the feeling isn’t grand, but it’s enough to make you pause. Maybe it’s not arrival, but recognition. A vague sense that something has shifted, or that you’ve been standing still for a while. You tell yourself: This must be somewhere. Not quite lost, not quite found. Just... here.

Rev Lon is a Melbourne-based multidisciplinary artist and the co-founder and curator of the Slow Burn mix and event series. Renowned for her deep, dubby mixes, she seamlessly blends genres like ambient, minimal, microhouse, and dub techno, crafting introspective sonic journeys that dissolve boundaries and invite a kind of still, inward motion. Her selections don’t demand attention — they unfold slowly, pulling you deeper with each subtle shift. For the 30th entry in the Discos Movimiento mixtape series, Rev Lon delivers a mix that feels less like a destination and more like a quiet, extended moment of clarity.

Rev Lon – This Must Be Somewhere / Mixtape Discos Movimiento #30

It’s peak Saturday night. Lasers, smoke, hazy dreams and perfectly tuned F1’s, even the trees are buzzing. The forest knows. Knows that a Japanese techno sensei is secretly entering Varden at 02:30 in the cover of darkness.

DOLTZ is a surprise, and not listed in the program. He comes in with an ambient, almost psychedelic sound. Then slowly layering of all the little sounds that circle around the main beat, letting tension build, balancing experimental and driving techno. There are no sudden drops, but periods of pulling back before reintroducing energy to the dance floor.

DOLTZ took us with him into what felt like a wormhole. The beat held us steady, but everything around it was spinning, stretching, and folding in on itself. The reactions from the Monument family were as different as they were similar. Some were jumping, some were shaking, others were dancing pirouettes, moving slowly, or standing still. At times, it was like being inside a centrifuge or a washing machine. Not dizzy, but surrounded, as if the sound pressed against the body. His set was a physical experience: immersive, disorienting, yet weirdly grounding at the same time. 

Friends, step into the rocketship and journey through the wormhole once again. Return to Doltz at Varden. The techno gods were smiling from ear to ear that night.

Follow
https://soundcloud.com/doltzdeep
https://www.instagram.com/doltzdeep/

Monument Festival 2025 : DOLTZ (live)

What Emerges from the Echo (live)

From the echo rises a quiet incantation,
A ritual asking permission from the land and the elements.
A call for presence and communion.
An opening between worlds.
A reminder of a reality that asks for compassion and awareness.
A lullaby and a cry from the Mother.

Composed and performed by Ilhem.
With the voices of Hesam & Ahang reading from Bani Adam, a 13th-century Persian poem on our shared humanity.
Honoring Fairouz’s Zahret al-Mada’en, the singing children of Gaza and of the Republic of Congo, and the spirit of La Llorona.

foto: aneta urbonaite

Ilhem live at Waking Life 2025

Selda Bağcan - Katip Arzuhalim Yaz Yare Böyle

Performed by Noam Bierstone in Montreal, Canada

Jalal Toufic asks: “Who would be the best sound designer for a film on Francis Bacon’s work, in whose paintings one often encounters an absence of the ear(s), through the absence a part of the head, etc.?” (Forthcoming, 107)

with many thanks to Noam.

Mountains Move Like Clouds (solo percussion and electronics, 2019)

Composer - Researcher.
https://zeyneptoraman.com/
https://www.instagram.com/tora_zeynep/

tora.zeynep@gmail.com

Mountains Move Like Clouds (solo percussion and electronics, 2019)

Zeynep Toraman

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