TodaysCommuteSoundtrack – Underhill Lounge

Attraction Rejected: Zbigniew Karkowski & Julien Ottavi

Attraction Rejected by Zbigniew Karbowski.

Attraction Rejected by Zbigniew Karkowski & Julien Ottavi.

“This is not a recording you can listen to as background music, it won’t let you speak or think, but if you let it, you may experience, perhaps not immediately a full on change in perspective of your everyday life. 8 years after these recordings were made, they are still valid as powerful compositions, made to be experienced on good speakers and are best through a large PA system. This musical material is meant to change your perspective in the making of and listening to music.”
Zbigniew Karkowski

The first track is a brief excerpt of an interview with Karkowski regarding music making and composition/improvisation, which then modulates into a brief excerpt from his music.

The other two tracks are recordings of live concerts from 2012 in Basel and Laussane, Switzerland, respectively.

I am not quite sure what to say about these two brutal slabs of mind altering harsh noise and can only imagine what it might have been like to be in attendance for their performances.

I can’t say that I enjoy them, exactly, but I do find they encourage a certain meditative mind set which enables me to switch my mind off from thoughts of the world.

#SuperPang #SP22 #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack

Flocking 19: Shedding

Flocking 19 by Shedding (Bandcamp Link)

“I’ve recently been interested in building layers of intentional chaos and exploring perceptions of order and the natural human tendency to seek and find patterns within that sound. There is a deliberate contrast between the controlled chaos simulating the natural world and the synthetic sounds I’m working with.“

Two longer pieces and 4 shorter pieces.

Names of the pieces use words in combination with three primary words, Flock, Flap, and Chirp.

Sounds seem primarily programmatically generated or manipulated. While it says below that these were recorded during a “sampler performance”, the sounds themselves seldom sound as if they were drawn from the natural world, except in the most abstract sense.

With the quote from their website which opens this writeup, it is hard to know how many of the event streams are simply set in motion and how many of them might be manipulated during their progress.

In general, what order which is expressed in the pieces is more like the order of nature sounds than the order of music. I.e., in general, there is no apparent tempo in most pieces relating the divergent sounds to the other sounds. When tempo does develop in events, as in track 4, “FLOCK1_MILCHI”, the tempos of the different event streams converge, but don’t affect the tempo of other event streams.

As if, in an algorithmic forest, we are listening to the sounds of algorithmic wind ticking through algorithmic branches as algorithmic creatures frolicking in that artificial world, all to the tempo or progress along the events of their algorithmic day.

On the other hand, while synthetic, it is not particularly harsh or dissonant, and somehow a pleasant feeling of lightness or almost whimsy is present in most pieces.

As an exercise, I recommend you listen to “Chirps” by Steve Lacy and Evan Parker, before, during, or after listening to Flocking 19 by Shedding.

“Assembled from July 2019 sampler performances in Milwaukee (Jazz Gallery) and Chicago (Elastic Arts)”

Shedding is Connor Bell

#Shedding #ConnorBell #SuperPang #SP21 #NowPlaying

01A08 by Yves De Mey

01A08 by Yves De Mey, Bandcamp Link.

9 shortish instrumental tracks.

Track names involve various combinations of the letters, “H”, “J”, “P”, and S” and a modifier. “SHJP Slow”, for example or, “JPSH Color Dust”.

Music is various electronic percussion, often nearly painfully syncopated, with various organ-ish keyboard washes or accents floating over that percussive bed. The stereo sound field is very dynamically and enjoyably used for the various elements of the pieces.

The music itself, despite its syncopation, has a lighthearted feel, not one of menace.

If I were to put it in the vicinity of anything, it is a bit along the lines of British electronic music duo Autechre.

Yves De Mey, along with being an electronic music creator, is a sound designer, producer, and engineer based in Antwerp, Belgium. He has done work for soundtracks, video games, etc.

As SUPERPANG is a label known for releasing abstract electronic music and noise, Yves De Mey’s “01A08” is a fairly accessible, light hearted, and enjoyable album, I found myself gravitating towards putting it on often during my trips back home from band practice in Oakland over the last few months and weeks Or when my mind is tired and needs a bit of non-demanding syncopated relaxation.

“All tracks produced by Yves De Mey in Antwerp, August and September 2020”

#YvesDeMey #SUPERPANG #SP20 #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack #NowPlaying

Francisco López: Untitled #366

Francisco López: Untitled #366

I have to admit I do not get this SUPERPANG release.

It sounds like a sample of a type writer or a closed high-hat cymbal which has been sped up or slowed down and then repeated a number of times at that speed. Then these series of samples are sequenced against other similar sequences which have been altered to different speeds.

The blocks of samples are sequenced relatively sparingly across the audio field and the apparent volume levels are left fairly low overall.

When I first put it on, I wasn’t sure if it was on at all, or if my car was making a new and surprising, but not particularly concerning, ticking sound.

Interesting techniques, but to me, the overall effect is of walking into a room full of very competent and very busy typists.

“Created at ‘mobile messor’ (Johannesburg, Oslo, New York) and Dune Studio (Loosduinen), 2017-2018. © Francisco López 2018”

#FranciscoLopez #SUPERPANG #SP19 #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack

Bjarni Gunnarsson: Volume & Void

Bjarni Gunnarsson: Volume & Void.

“Composed through experimental scheduling algorithms that explore the duality of immediate, direct events with gradual and evolving processes.”

While not quite as academic an exercise as, “Data sonification of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence,” that does sound a bit dry. Fortunately, the sounds generated by the exercise are not so dry as the theory.

One thing I like about Volume & Void is that the progression of the pieces, while not musical in the traditional sense most of the time, do have a natural feel. Like sitting on your porch listening to a thunder storm. There is no “Theme and Variation” or “Call and Response”, but certain sounds have repetitive characteristics that evolve or change as the pieces progress.

Some parts of pieces might sound like a close mic on an insect chewing a leaf. Others a the sound effect from a b-movie of a hovering UFO. Others a needle scraping across a vinyl album. Or even tap dancing shoes. But certainly none of the more typical sound sample or rhythmic hallmarks associated with more commercial electronic music. Some nice speaker stretching low end booms, though.

There is a lot of variety in sounds and an active use of the sound/mixing/space/mind stage to blend or transform the various sounds dramatically. Quiet to Loud, Loud to Quiet.

The album is always progressing and always interesting, and, like a thunderstorm, you never quite know what will happen next.

It is also a very different experience to listen to loudly in the car and on headphones, in ways I can’t quite quantify.

As the name of the album implies, a lot of the album’s “musicality” and “listenability” comes from the tension between the “volume” levels of the sounds used in contrast to each other and the tension between the sounds and the “void” between the sounds.

“Stash System and sounds created during the summer of 2020 in Scheveningen, The Hague.”

#SuperPang #SP15 #BjarniGunnarsson #VolumeAndVoid #NowPlaying #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack

μ: 3.14…

μ by 3.14… (Bandcamp Link)

Another recording I have gotten stuck on for a while, however, given the name of the artist, I set a deadline of March 14th to write it up.

Sound Sources: There are things that sound like pressurized gas escaping from a pipes or orifices flowing across a close mic. There are also things that sound slightly like toy organ drones. There are purely electronic squiggles.

Any of these are often manipulated or hacked with processing/editing or panned across the sound field.

There really isn’t much here that approaches the traditional melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic content associated with Western Musical traditions, even Electronic Dance Music or Drone. Rather, these compositions are closer to the spirit of Musique concrète, despite the fact that the sound sources seem to be produced rather than recorded.

Or closer to the way sounds sounds are repetitive without being melodic in nature or manufacturing/technology.

There is variety of volume and types sounds/processing used across the different pieces.

Though, I wouldn’t say there are aspects of drama or tension.

Or, if there is tension, it is more a curiousity about what will happen next than any sort of tension/release. And, then surprise about what does suddenly happen in the course of any given piece.

On the bandcamp page, it says “Japan”, which might indicate the artist lives in Japan or is Japanese. All of the artist’s albums are named with letters from the Greek alphabet, this one is “μ” or lowercase “mu”, the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet. All the albums on their bandcamp page were released between Spring of 2020 and Fall of 2022.

The song titles are fairly cryptic, ranging from long series of numbers to characters to random letters to single words.

I’ve been listening to it, off and on, in the car for a month or so and even though it isn’t that long, in total, it is never boring.

“All objects by 3.14. Mastered by Roc Jiménez de Cisneros”

#3Point14 #SuperPang #Mu #SP17

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

giovanni di domenico: Gelotophilia / Katagelasticism

giovanni di domenico: Gelotophilia / Katagelasticism

Gelotophilia is joy in being laughed at. Katagelasticism is joy at laughing at others, often at their own expense. (I had to look them up.)

Gelotophilia is piano with electronics, with the piano dominating and the electronics fading in and out in the background. Katagelasticism is electronics with piano, with the electronics more to the fore.

The piano playing is vaguely “classical” in style, rolling sheets of consonant chords. The electronics are more drone-ey. I can’t tell from listening if the electronics in either piece are processing the piano or independent, though the two seem to share some tonal centers. Overall an entirely pleasant recording to listen to, engaging yet not demanding.

“Recorded in Elektronmusikstudion EMS, Stockholm and Studio W, Brussels, 2015/2020”

#SuperPang #SP08 #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack

EVOL: Goofy Tape

I do love a project. Anyway, I drive to Oakland every Monday for band practice. On the way home, I usually listen to something. But, anything too long gets cut off. I decided, the SuperPang catalog is a good choice, as most releases around 20-30 minutes long and all, (so far,) seem to be at least pretty interesting.

Goofy Tape by EVOL.

It really is pretty goofy, vintage video game like sounds over stompy quasi-dance beats. I swear some of the sounds come from frogger. Changes frequently enough to stay interesting. Perfectly appropriate for late night driving among the Uber drivers and tech bros Tokyo Drifting from one exit to the next.

“A pair of long wabbit acid techno pearls from the infamous trans-European duo: Roc Jiménez de Cisneros and Stephen Sharp aka EVOL.”

#SuperPang #SP03 #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack

Phalanx Ambassadors

Phalanx Ambassadors by Matt Mitchell; Bandcamp Link: Phalanx Ambassadors

I’ve been listening to Phalanx Ambassadors for the better part of 2 weeks and I still feel like I am still uncovering aspects of it with each listen.

Here are my notes:

“Pointillism, Zappa, A-harmonic, Harmelodics”

The ensemble is composed of keyboards, vibraphone, guitar, bass, and drums.

I say Pointillism as the melodic motif (such that there are any) are often divided between instruments, giving a feeling of spray.

It is super rhythmically dense, these players deserve goddamn medals, especially the drummer and bassist, for dividing and subdividing as they do here. Which reminds me a bit of some of Zappa’s work.

A-harmonic, as it feels like the pieces are more multiple melodies snaking through thickets of rhythm than a single melody with related harmonies.

Harmelodics, as Mitchell’s method seems a bit along the lines of some of Ornette Coleman’s ideas.

Which makes it sound a bit difficult.

And it is a lot to take in.

On the other hand, the tunes are not particularly dissonant, in fact the opposite, often quite tonally pleasant.

After a couple days, I started to think about who might enjoy this album most easily.

My conclusion, such as it is, is that probably a person familiar with modern classical music is going to be more likely to easily enjoy this album than a person who is stuck in the classic jazz rut. And maybe even a prog rock fan might be more easily entertained by some of these pieces, than a “Capital J” Jazz fan.

Try and prove me wrong.

#MattMitchell #PhalanxAmbassadors #MilesOkazaki #PatriciaBrennan #KimCass #KateGentile #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack