Harmonium, Piano, and Distorted Theremin

Lately I’ve been recording harmonium directly onto my iPad using an attachable condenser mic.  Improvised harmonium is used as the foundation.  I then load the track into my DAW and proceed to improvise even more using bit-crushed theremin samples soaked in reverb.  First I run Thumbjam into Samplr and improvise using theremin and piano sounds.  Then I run my loaded Samplr into Turnado and play with effects (expressively) while recording into my DAW.

My new workflow is the result of wanting to be more expressive.  I want to record my automatic impulses.  My goal is to create a body of work which resembles action painting.  The harmonium responds extremely well to my movements.  I feel as if it is truly an extension of myself.  I have so much control over the sounds it emits.  Creating a crescendo with a harmonium is extremely simple while improvising.  I can simply apply more force when pumping.  When playing harmonium, I feel as if I am sonifying my energy.

I coined the term sonic expressionism in reaction towards laptop composition and mainstream controllerism.  Sonic expressionism is the idea that every aspect of composition should be improvised.  This includes textures as well as melodies.  For the electronic parts of my compositions, I use an iPad, because it allows for gestural expressionism.  The way my hands move is innately unique and I want to capture that in my music.  True expressionism is all about spontaneity.  We should use art to reveal the unfiltered aspects of our minds.

Barebones

The sound of wrists on the verge of carpal tunnel syndrome

There are tunnels for wishes.  They say.

I held my breath with her on my mind

I held my breath with music on my mind

The transposition of pain into chords

enveloping an attitude I was stuck with

Restructuring its basis as I succumb

to automata.  to improvisation.  to freedom.

I am reminded by new people in my life

of the virtuosity in patient lava

These people.  I would have never have met them

otherwise.  What if Instead.  I had reverted

back into homohablis

back into the electrical impulses

of my emotionally defeated alterego

New Sculpture!

     This piece is titled “Music For 5 Notes And Found Sounds”  It’s a 3D collage.  It is made up of found objects embedded in resin.  The objects are components left over from old projects gone haywire and other miscellaneous found items.  I consider this piece to be a 3D collage because the process was completely additive.  Found objects were placed in various molds along with resin.  Then the various resin shapes were glued together.By embedding found objects in resin, a sense of unity is achieved.   I was inspired by Dada assemblage works consisting of found objects as well as microsound techniques used by ambient musicians.
     The work is a visual representation of my music.  As a composer I spend most my time finding and collecting interesting sounds.  I find them, record them, modify them, and arrange them in time.  In this piece, resin represents time, and the found objects represent musical elements.  There are components from my old quad oscillator, pieces of clay, needles, and colored beads.  The oscillator components represent electronic sounds I use in my music.  The pieces of clay represent organic sounds such as field recordings.  The colored beads represent notes.  Primary colors are used to represent whole notes.
     The work tells a different story when observed at a distance.  From a distance the work appears as two forms connected by wires.  This is not a representation of my music, but instead a representation of my philosophical views.  I believe that art happens between input and output.  In my own work I give greater value to processes involved in the work rather than the actual work itself.  Perhaps we are all just mediums through which art creates itself.  Humanity is a process.  Sound is a process.  The world is full of interesting processes.  I believe that a processes tell greater stories than materials or outcomes.
Featured image

Hidden Poetry

Lately I’ve been writing poems on panels and then collaging over them.  It’s easier for me to send my poems out into the world this way.  I”m sending my children out into cold storms of judgment with a heavy jackets on.  I know these poems are warm and safe.  No one will be able to read them, but they aren’t meant to be read.  They’re merely pieces of myself dressed in found textures.  Legibility is not important.  The transference is the only importance.  The solidification is important.  They’re released from my dwelling and instead of dissipating in erosive fumes of misinterpretation, they’re locked between wood and paper.

Procedural Concert #1

I’m thinking about using kickstarter to create procedural concert.  I want to hire about 10 cellists and have them improvise using a given scale.  Each cellist will have their own giant box (shaped like intonarumori) to perform inside of.  I want them hidden from view.  The idea is to create more of an installation than a concert.  Patrons will be encouraged to explore the space rather than sit in one spot.  I will change the lighting of the room and  each color will trigger a different scale.  For example, when the room turns red, cellists switch from hirajoshi to D minor.  These are the only instructions given.  The music will be chaotic but never dissonant.  The idea is to create a work of music that is generative, spatial, acousmatic, aleatory, and synesthetic.  LA is in dire need of an avant-garde movement.  Why should Berlin and NYC have all the fun?  Kickstarter incentives = thanks + name on pamphlet, recording of installation of cd, recording on tape, recording on vinyl, one of the Intonarumori (sculptural box), own personal installation, and lastly signed instructions+ all of the above.  Ideas? Suggestions?  Know any cellists?

Action Music

I believe that a sort of cognitive dissonance occurs when we witness a musician gently tap a button in order to produce a crunchy burst of distortion.  Perhaps the sound is percieved as less brutal when paired with such a gentle gesture.  I believe that the gestures used while performing are vital to sonic perceptions.  These gestures can psychologically amplify sounds or subjectively dramatize them.  Imagine how much more intense live music would be if the performer incorporated action.  By “action” I simply mean gestures.  Instead of pressing buttons or turning knobs we could easily produce those same sounds using interesting gestures.  Instead of pushing a button I want to run face first into a midi controller wall.  I want to pull giant levers and kick things.  I don’t believe that all “action” should be reserved for acoustic instruments and even though the laptop can be considered an instrument, the interaction isn’t aesthetically pleasing.  I think the laptop should just be used as a brain, and we should focus on building interesting controllers.  I’m sick of seeing the same knobs and buttons.  I want to see levers and wheels.  I want to see a giant button that requires an extreme amount of force in order to push and must be struck with a giant mallet.  Controllerism should be more about interaction.  It’s a performance tool.  I don’t care about LED’s and arcade buttons.  What’s the point of building your own midi controller if you’re simply just replicating the filth that already exists.  We need to view midi controllers as extensions of ourselves.  They’re our new arms and legs.  People like seeing guitarists on stage, because of the amount of action involved in playing the instrument.  You can shake it.  You can bend the strings.  You can tap on it.  You can strangle the whammy bar.  We should build midi controllers in this same respect.  Below is a video of what I believe to be a quintessential example of action music.

The Performer Is Pointless

Neural activity occurs regardless of what the sound is. Seeking to communicate anything through noise/music/art is cognitively regressive. It would impose an agreement of which many minds arrive at simply due to conditioning. I do not deny my own conditioning. Perhaps I am more easily entertained now. Through years of observing nature, I developed a love for indeterminacy and noise is innately indeterminate. The less control you have over your gear, the more likely it is that I’ll go to your show. I don’t care about you. You are simply a medium summoning the minions of Chance. I’m interested in those minions. Without even realizing it you are sonifying phenomena. That’s why you need to go. The performer constantly diminishes the power of sonic phenomena by getting involved. You start with phenomena and then you end up with a mating ritual. The performer is a fucking bird. Whether the hidden agendas are apparent or not, they are there. The shacks on the ankles of all artists. Only algorithms and generative techniques will liberate us from trying to fuck all the time. More noise. Less people.

Post-Drone: An era of experimental maximalism

Drone is often associated with minimalism, but it is slowly detaching itself from that term. In fact the newer drone out there can be thought of as very maximalist. I often use the term post-drone to define a type of drone music that is both complex and abstract. The complexity is not obvious though. It is unmasked by listening attentively.

The new genre revealed itself to me after listening to Tim Hecker’s Harmony in Ultraviolet for the first time. It was the first time I heard something really abstract and complex but still familiar somehow. I got a drone vibe from it, but it was more intricate than any other drone I’ve heard before. Post-drone just seemed like the best way to simplify the greater whole of Hecker’s wrath. Post-drone is simply drone with a lot going on.

Here are some examples of post-drone:

Jacaszek
Fennesz
Tim Hecker

Life Art Experiments

Indeterminate Day Procedure #1

Step 1

Write down a list of activities. The list should be as long as possible. In order to benefit from the experiment in terms of productivity, the list may contain errands or work that needs handling. Make sure to number the list.

Step 2

Use a number generator to obtain 12 numbers. Activities corresponding to given numbers must be attended to from the minute of waking. Each activity must last an hour. Daily rituals cut into the activities so they must be carried out as quickly as possible. Eat fast shit fast shower fast.

Theory

The procedure will ensure that the day is not wasted. Even though the activities are obtained by chance, they’re still important because they’re derived from a well thought-out list. The procedure guarantees twelve hours of productivity.

Another goal is to eliminate eliminate ritualistic behavior. The element of chance ensures that different activities are attending to during different hours of the day. Perhaps I’d never otherwise paint at 8am or go running at night. The time of the day is an essential part of an experience. I might find greater joy in painting immediately after waking. A joy I might have left unattended without a helping procedural hand.

I plan on repeating this procedure until I get tied down by a 9 to 5. Aside from productivity, I also expect to feel more fulfillment from each day and an increase in cognition. I believe that tasks should be performed during to different times of the day in order to retain interest in the task. I believe the brain is dulled through daily rituals. Perhaps variation is the key to self-improvement. Please try this and share your experience with me.