January 2023 – Underhill Lounge

Guy Birkin: SARS-CoV-2_LR757995_2b

“Data sonification of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome sequence (Hunter & Wei, 2020)…The genome data was converted to MIDI files using a program written in Mathematica. The MIDI files were split into separate tracks for each of the 4 amino acid bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine). These were edited in Reaper and played with Razor synth. Effects include SoftTube Saturation Knob, TDR VOS SlickEQ and Valhalla Super Massive.”

Seriously, this is maybe the single most nerdy album description I’ve ever read.

Definitely the only album I’ve ever seen which uses citations in the album description.

It’s not horrible to listen to, but it is a tad repetitious. I guess, what you would expect from reading out a gene sequence. And whether or not you enjoy Birkin’s chosen voicings for the “amino acid bases” is going to depend on your tolerance for fast “bleep bloops”.

I feel it is more of an interesting idea, than an interesting album.

An album that was more of an interesting project for Birkin to design and execute than for the audience to listen to.

“released September 4, 2020”

#SuperPang #SP15 #GuyBirkin

Norbert Möslang: piano_boccia

Norbert Möslang: piano_boccia

Of the various albums on Superpang, this was one which caught my eye very early on due to the name “Norbert Möslang”.

Norbert Möslang is a Swiss musician who I first ran across on an album called “Asbestos Shake”, which his band Voice Crack did in collaboration with noise jazz group Borbetomagus.

In Voice Crack, Norbert Möslang, (and his partner in the band Andy Guhl,) played what they called, “cracked everyday electronics,” an expression which caught my imagination at the time. I hoped they played toys, toasters, microwaves, or home made who knows what.

But the sounds that came out of my speakers when I played the album “Asbestos Shake” were so otherworldly that I had no idea what sounds were coming from “cracked everyday electronics” and what sounds were coming from the overdriven instruments of Borbetomagus.

Similarly, on this album, I have no real idea what the sources for the sounds contained herein.

Some sources seem synthesized, some seem vaguely acoustic.

Overall, the feel of the album is quasi-cinematic, taking full advantage of the sound stage. Each track builds a unique sonic world that you travel through and observe in your minds eye. Some are a bit menacing, clanking metal and church bell like sounds tolling at midnight. Some are peaceful and drone-ish, floating through space, perhaps above Kirby-esque giant robots or worlds. There are never really any melodies or traditional musical elements, but at the same time some pieces build considerable beauty out of their unconventional parts.

“Sourcematerial recorded 2013 at Zackstudio St.Gallen. Processed and mastered 2020 at Dampfküche by Norbert Möslang”

#SuperPang #SP14 #NorbertMoslang #NorbertMöslang #Music #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack

New Tendencies: Force Reset

New Tendencies: Force Reset

The first 4 songs of this album are named A, AA, AAA, and AAAA. The next 4 are named B, BB, BBB, and BBBB.

All 8 songs are exactly 3 minutes and 42 seconds long.

New Tendencies is the nom de guerre for Matt Nish-Lapidus, often “emenel” on various social medias.

Nish-Lapidus describes themselves as, “an artist and musician based in Toronto/Tkaronto. I work in and around computation, thinking about its histories, politics, culture, and computation-as-material. My main efforts right now are around computational poetics, expanded sculpture, and net art. I believe computers could be something different in the world, and try to embody that in my work and life…I make music mainly as New Tendencies, but sometimes under other names and used to play in a number of punk/post-punk bands in addition to my more experimental/electronic/computer music and sound art.”

The music is primarily rhythmic. For the pieces, in general, there are two similar but independent rhythmic motifs going on in the far right and left channels. There is a pulse in the middle. The various “A” and “B” iterations with the same number of letters seem to start with similar parameters, i.e. “A” is similar to “B” and “AA” is similar to “BB”. The AAA and BBB pieces have the most some panning pitch variation action along with the rhythmic pulsations. The sound sources, if they are other than algorithmic, sound a bit like typewriters or dragging a guitar pick across guitar strings.

Really, I can’t describe it any better than he does, “Decomposing rhythm skitters across time.”

In any case, somehow it does manage to sustain interest, despite the fact that each piece seems to be the musical equivalent of several wind up toys released simultaneously.

If I had to pick a favorite track, it would be “BBB”.

“DO NOT POWER DOWN
Recorded in Toronto by Matt Nish-Lapidus, June 2020″

#SuperPang #SP13 #ForceReset