Disquiet Junto 0365 2018 Tracker
My Disquiet Junto audio journal includes one second from sixty videos produced during the year.
Disquiet Junto 0363 Gymnopédie Rats
The Junto this week asks for "Erik Satie’s 'Gymnopédie No. 1' in your chosen genre," which triggered some existential angst for me.
What genre am I?
Disquiet Junto 0362 Operational Surrealism
The Disquiet Junto this week develops a Surreal idea:
Make something as “beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting-table of a sewing-machine and an umbrella.”
The image of the sewing-machine and umbrella reveals their similar curves; and the dissecting-table to me suggests an editing suite.
Anyway, I started looking at the videos in my Disquiet Junto folder and noticed two that were similar length and tempo and key and, then a penny dropped, water themed.
Hairy tunnel
Some months ago Gavin was offering this big hairy kick drum and I had to have it
After a detour in Melbourne and some uncertainty about whether it would make the trip to Leeton, I've been recording with it.
The sound in this video came off my Rode Videomic, then passed through EQ and compression.
Disquiet Junto 0361 Zork Diaries
Step 1: Zork is the title of one of the earliest interactive text adventure games. The complete text of a spoiler-laden full run of the game is at the following URL, housed at Georgia Tech, or the Georgia Institute of Technology:
http://bitly.com/junto-zork
Step 2: If you’re not familiar with Zork and/or with interactive text adventures, consider reading up. Otherwise, just think of the script as exactly that: the bare-bones narrative of a story. Step 3: Compose a score (along with, if possible, sound effects) for the first page or so of Zork. It is suggested that you begin with the fifth line of provided text (“West of House”) and end about a page down, where it reads “The door reluctantly opens to reveal a rickety staircase descending into darkness.”
Zork is a similar age to an old MIDI soundcard I have, which was designed to accompany early computer games.
The piano sounds it produces led me to consider a soundtrack like that for a 'silent' movie for Zork.
My accompaniment starts with the title screen, which looked awesome back in the day, then follows up to the arrival in the attic.
Sounding Nature
Looks like I might be the only Australian, either way I'm stoked to be part of Sounding Nature.
The project covers 55 countries, with almost 500 sounds and 250 artists taking part -- you can explore it in full at www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature
Also, look for me jamming with cicadas in Costa Rica!
The project covers 55 countries, with almost 500 sounds and 250 artists taking part -- you can explore it in full at www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature
Also, look for me jamming with cicadas in Costa Rica!
Disquiet Junto 0360 Fishbowl Progressions
The Disquiet Junto this week asks for a piece of music in which:
the relative position and movement of sounds are as important to compositional development as are melody, harmony, and rhythm.
White Toast
Here's another remix of the recent 12-hour Junto.
Where I took direction from Junto number 166, Slow By Steps, for the previous remix, this one takes direction from Junto 332, Lucky Numbers.
I've selected files to include in the remix based on the Powerball results.
Disquiet Junto 0359 Broken Clock
The Junto this week involves remixing an earlier activity.
I'd been meaning to try remixing my recording for that activity and already had an idea to revisit an even earlier Junto for directions, see Slow By Steps here.
The guitar part in my recording seemed suited for slowing a short loop, and I went back to the original recordings to use two takes.
Drum kitted out
Had a minor epiphany this week when I realised that owning two drum kits means I can have one really big drum kit.
Now adjusting my fills for those extra toms and cymbals.
Now adjusting my fills for those extra toms and cymbals.
naviarhaiku252 – The wire fence is tall
The haiku shared by Naviar Records brought to mind memories of my uncle Neil.
He spent a month at Bathurst Jail for refusing to pay a fine for having rabbits on his property.
That institution had a fearsome reputation and Neil spoke of hearing unsettling things at night.
In my mind those things might've been the stories of beatings by prison guards that have heard elsewhere.
Disquiet Junto 0357 Clock Work
The Assignment: Base a piece of music on your previous 12 hours
As I read the Junto email, I’d just seen my kids onto the school bus after making them breakfast.
The previous 12 hours had been dominated by around eight and half hours of sleep.
Other activities included coffee, muesli, lovemaking and having a bath.
I began writing lyrics to describe a dream but didn’t record them.
When I started writing the song for sleep, I picked the acoustic guitar.
At first I worried about noise, then realised background noise was important.
So I recorded all the guitar in the backyard to get sounds from throughout the 12 hours.
Disquiet Junto 0356 Ground Swell
The Junto this week asks for a recording of a place made with layers to create unease.
I'm not sure I understood the instruction but had an idea of a place where I've been frightened and used a recording of my clothesline to create unease.
My house is on the wrong side of the tracks and, while there are routes to get to town, the quickest journey requires negotiating the railway.
This usually isn't difficult but with small children, it can prove challenging.
The biggest fright was having a train round the corner while my son was trying to get his bike over the tracks.
When he was younger, I'd read a Thomas the Tank Engine story to him about a ghost train.
It was an image that combined with this project, although it might not be obvious.
I liked the idea of being stuck on the tracks in some sort of nightmare scenario.
Aaron Levy on the role of artists
The role of artist is to occupy precisely this position of exchange, unclarity, and discomfort; maneuvering along a ‘liminal axis,’ the artist accesses a landscape of potentiality.
Disquiet Junto 0355 Sonic Vivisection
The Disquiet Junto this week asks participants to "consider the concept of vivisection" by operating "with incisions on a live sound in real time."
At first I thought about live dub, as I've been remembering watching the Mad Professor perform at Vibes On A Summers Day in Bondi some years ago.
Then I remembered my drum-triggered effects rig and thought I'd loop some chords I've been playing on my ukulele.
There's a couple of small incisions, to edit out the click-track on the Jamman looping pedal and then to add a short vocal sample.
The title comes from a piece of graffiti I used to see in the Woden Plaza Bus Interchange last century.
Toasted
Back when I decided to stop uploading tracks to Soundcloud, I started filming toasted sandwiches as a way to share music on Youtube.
This is my latest jam.
Disquiet Junto 0351 Selected Insomniac Works Volume II
This week the Junto asks participants to work with a track from last week's Selected Insomniac Works.
I listened to a few responses before settling on Sevenism's 'midnight solo (falling leaf)'
I was hoping for one of those Aphex Twin-style deceptively simple piano pieces, so I could add my upright electric bass that I've been playing a lot lately.
I was probably in the mood for Mr Twin because Marc couldn't help but make the Junto this week a play on the title of his ambient albums.
naviarhaiku246 – a ladder
The haiku shared by Naviar Records this week reminded me of a drum journey.
When I lie down and listen to drumming, it often leads me to climb a tree to meet a spirit guide.
Disquiet Junto 0350 Selected Insomniac Works
The Junto this week asks for music to treat insomnia.
Fortunately I've done a lot of recent research into this phenomena and know that what I like is to hear something soothing.
The sounds come from a Kawai GMega run through a Line6 delay pedal and a Waldorf Streichfett.
Disquiet Junto 0349 Got Glitch?
The Junto this week asks "what 'glitch' means in music/sound."
Since my responses are shaped by what I can show in a video, this prompt led me to use my circuit bent instruments.
I have a few machines that have been bent by Diabolical Devices, including two Casio SK-1s and a Kawai drum machine.
The gear is being driven by MIDI and I've recycled a piece from earlier this year but looped it a few times while trying different bends.
I then added a few glitchy effects in Ableton Live, particularly Beatrepeat and Audio Damage's Automaton.
The result could use an edit but time ran out.
Disquiet Junto 0340 Porta Party
A couple of months ago I was invited to contribute a track to a compilation of music made with mobile equipment.
It was an idea that interested me but I thought I'd be more likely to record something if it were a Disquiet Junto project, so I shared it with Marc.
He thought it was a good idea but the project happened while I was camping at Modifyre.
So today I've recorded a belated Junto project.
Disquiet Junto 0348 Hot Mise en Abyme
The Junto this week asks for a musical equivalent to an art term describing "when a work of art includes a copy of itself, maybe more than one copy."
Before I'd had time to consider what it might be my partner suggested a mash-up.
Then I remembered the different interpretations of Offenbach's "Doll Song" 'Les oiseaux dans la charmille' from Les Contes d'Hoffman.
My quick edit combines versions by Natalie Dessay (twice), Diana Damrau and Rachele Gilmore.
Gilmore's performance is famous for being her debut at The Met and I love watching the response from the bloke over her right shoulder at the four and a half minute mark.
That performance is one I watch every now and then, enjoying a response that can include goosebumps and sometimes watery eyes.
The Burn
As preparations for Burning Seed begin, I recorded a lovely reflection my friend and fellow burner Alicia Boyd posted on Facebook recently.
This started as a response to the haiku shared by Naviar Records last week, but didn't sit with my music.
So I revisted an earlier piece, which had over a dozen takes layered together, picking out two similarly paced parts.
This year Alicia invited me to contribute music to her Threshold installation and I'm getting excited to experience the result.
This weekend the Threshold is getting it's first trial run at an event in Sydney.
naviarhaiku242 – The pine shadow falls on the tent wall
The haiku shared by Naviar this week led me to think about Burning Seed.
Tents and shrines both feature at the event.
My friend Alicia wrote a beaut poem about Seed recently and I tried putting it to the song but wasn't satisfied with the result.
The song uses many of the samples from my previous Naviar response.
Often I find that it's productive to rework earlier material and these samples are a mix of ukulele and tambourine from a Junto earlier this year, with playground samples I revisited for a recent Junto.
naviarhaiku241 – Nightfall
For Naviar's haiku this week I've added timelapse footage from Ulupna Island.
I had to look around my files for a video that showed a branch at sunrise, which I've inverted and reversed so that it might look like a big stick at nightfall.
Originally I'd planned to edit together the snippets of the videos that were sampled for the track but the drums wouldn't export from Ableton Live.
Disquiet Junto 0346 Drum Machinations
The Junto this week involves sampling the drum sounds provided by participants last week.
I've used the drums recorded by Mzero and then added an 808 to the sounds of my dishes from Junto 323.
My track came together quickly in Ableton Live after I began sequencing a groove with Mzero's hits.
The dishes are always waiting and came to hand when I went looking for a video to add.
Disquiet Junto 0345 Sample Time
The Junto this week ask we make our own drum machine sounds and then make something of them.
My sounds come from 2011-13, when I was recording playgrounds in and around Leeton for the centenary of the town.
It's been interesting to revisit those productions, hearing how my skills have developed but also remembering how interesting the sounds were from those unlikely musical instruments.
A few of the sounds have been repitched and I seem to have made an error somewhere, as I used the same sound from a swing seat a few times.
The video is a little glitchy in places but Ableton Live has handled the short edits better than expected.
Tiny Abode
Made a song from snippets of 2017!
The title is a play on the genre microhouse for the style of using short samples.
naviarhaiku237 – The distant mountains
The haiku this week reminded that I thought I could hear a dragonfly in this recording made at Ulupna Island.
It's the same recording that contributed a jumping fish to my "In Sea" Junto this week.
That fish might've been a Murray Cod, if only because that was the river.
Disquiet Junto 0342 In Sea
Record a piece of music in tribute to Terry Riley’s In C using only samples of water sounds.
These videos were collected at Valla Beach, Ebor Falls and on the Murray River at Ulupna Island.
The short loops were gated to produce rhythms, which also included resonators.
Disquiet Junto 0339 Rude Mechanicals
The Disquiet Junto this week asks participants to realise the genre Rude Mechanical.
I've revisited a video that Youtube took down earlier this year, presumably because it's too rude.
My most popular Disquiet video was a remixed smack three years ago, see Three Of A Kind.
naviarhaiku234 – when the cicadas cease
It wasn't the voice of the pine that spoke to me when I saw the haiku shared by Naviar Records this week, rather a piece of River Red Gum.
My friend Hape Kiddle of Bidgee Studio gave it to me to develop a work for the Fragments exhibition in Narrandera next month.
First thing I did was tap it and found a variety of tones.
Second thing I did was atached a contact microphone and record a couple of takes of taps.
The result here is two takes layered together with some processing like delay.
Disquiet Junto 0338 Imaginary Quartet
The Junto this week asks for four live performances to be realised as a quartet.
I took short loops and created more of a remix.
Disquiet Junto Project 0337: Through-Composted
The Junto this week asks for a piece of music that is through-composed, but built entirely from samples.
I've settled on playing my Korg Wavedrum Mini while cycling through the sounds.
naviarhaiku231 – men, women
The haiku last week reminded me of a dance track I hadn't finished.
It was a track in need of a video though.
There was a sandwich filmed and waiting to be edited.
That took a bit longer than planned.
Disquiet Junto 0336 Open Mic
The Junto this week asks to hear a track in progress
Here's a start on my next toasted sandwich video.
Naviarhaiku230 – To the end of the field
The haiku shared by Naviar Records this week reminded me of an autumnal sunset I'd filmed, which can be seen in the video above.
The music is a variation on this chord progression recently recorded.
Disquiet Junto 0335 Alone Time
The Disquiet Junto this week asks for music for being held on the telephone.
Sometime this afternoon while pondering how it might sound I remembered a sketch started for the recent Junto responding to lottery numbers.
I’d listened to it looped for a long time without getting an idea how to resolve it.
It seemed perfect for waiting on the phone.
Originally there was a bass part but I thought that wouldn’t translate to the narrow bandwidth of telecommunications.
It features an organ I’ve used a lot in recent months, as well as percussion and drums.
Disquiet Junto 0334 Mass Branca
The Junto this week remembers Glenn Branca with a multi-layered piece of music using a single sound source.
After revisiting the 'layered sameness' Junto last week, I found inspiration in a chord progression that I thought would suit that approach.
Naviarhaiku228 – A snail
The haiku shared by Naviar Records this week prompted me to think about something glistening and led me to revisit a multilayered approach I learned from the 'Layered Sameness' Disquiet Junto.
Disquiet Junto 0333 Half Evil
The Junto this week asks for a piece of music that could be described as half evil.
I had a funky 12-bar blues riff that I thought would sound a bit evil with a drop D-tuned guitar part.
The result sounds a little like Queens of the Stone Age to me, which might be considered half evil.
Maybe.
Naviarhaiku227 – Morning coolness
It's not the most obvious association but this haiku shared by Naviar Records this week reminded me of a song I wrote about a decade ago but never recorded.
Something in the image of a spider web blowing in the breeze reminded me of the lyrics I'd written about a weed known as Hairy Panic, presumably because when it gets in your trousers it feels like an army of spiders climbing your leg.
In an effort to avoid forgetting the lyrics, I published them on my ShowcaseJase blog a couple of years ago.
I relished the opportunity to record each part in a single take. This meant recording up to half a dozen times and you can hear some of those other takes accompanying those shown in the videos, with both the vocal and guitar part supported with two takes each panned to widen the track.
G'day!
Please subscribe to the Bassling Youtube channel, if nothing else it will help stop my kids from laughing at me.
Disquiet Junto 0332 Lucky Numbers
The Junto this week asks how a string of numbers might inform a short musical composition and directs participants to research recent lottery results.
For a while I tried to find something musical in the Lotto numbers, experimenting with numbers of bars and equations to reveal time signatures or BPMs.
Then I decided to search for the numbers in my back-up files and selected the first video from the results for each.
This material was then remixed.
Many of the source files came from previous Junto projects, one is a television commercial that I didn't have any role in but ended up in my files because I contributed other videos to Bidgee Binge programs.
I wanted to get a different file but it was the only result and in the end provided a fat kick.
One highlight was hearing my partner ask "Is that Cliff Martinez?" while I was working on it.
Disquiet Junto 0331 Born Under a Bad Sine
The Disquiet Junto this week asks "What does it sound like when a robot has the blues?"
If I were programming a robot to deal with the blues, I'd instruct it to dance.
You're only ever a few minutes from happiness if you have a song you like to dance to.
I've recorded a few riffs on my MIDI guitar and then sought a few robot-like presets.
Video comes courtesy of NASA.
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