– School is done. The last classes of my Master’s degree, which is a weird thought. Now I just have to make & write a thesis.
Speaking of school, this is what I made:
It’s a realization of Euler’s Tonnetz, with some topographical dodgery: it is equal tempered, but not a torus, because making a cylinder is easier than making a torus. There’s a speaker in one end, so it can be played as a stand-alone controller, or as a midi controller: just press a note to play it.
I’ll do a full write-up about it soon, with gory details of how it works, how it didn’t work, and so on.
One more to go! I’m as surprised as you are:
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Download here. There’s a direct connection, for me, between old dance music and old science fiction – and this set has touches of both.
1: Man With No Name – From Within The Mind Of My 909 [Strut]
2: This Ain’t Chicago – Ride The Rhythm (Acid Not Placid) [Strut]
3: Raudive – Traffic [Running Back]
4: Storm Queen – Let’s Make Mistakes (Club) [Environ]
5: Virgo – In A Vision [Rush Hour]
6: Virgo – Do You Know Who We Are? [Rush Hour]
7: Pachanga Boys – Time [Hippie Dance]
– I mentioned school, right?
– All I need to do is point you towards Aaron Diaz’s masterful Zelda cover: Clockwork Empire.
– I think this is actually week 50 or so, but so it goes. School has been schooling at me of late.
– I saw the McGill Digital Composition Studio concert last night, featuring a saxophone and glitch-noise free jazz apocalypse by my friend Teagan Schultz. Keep a weather eye out for him.
– There’s this thing called Bronze, which is a format for generative compositions. Relevant to my interests.
– This is the Super Mario Spacetime Organ. What more do I need to say?
Download here. Neo-soul meets old ‘trap’ meets older post-dubstep, with lots of flashing lights all ’round.
1: Jamie Lidell – What A Shame [Warp]
2: Hudson Mohawke – Thunder Bay [Warp]
3: Baauer – Buble Rap [LuckyMe]
4: Jamie Lidell – Why_ya_why [Warp]
5: Tessela – Hackney Parrot [Poly Kicks]
6: DJ Yolo Bear – Make You Touch My [LuckyMe]
7: Samoyed – Sloe Eyes [Vase]
8: Mount Kimbie – Sketch on Glass [Hotflush]
9: Jam City – How We Relate To The Body [Night Slugs]
Download here. Starts sinister, gets sparse.
1: Tim Hecker – Utropics [Kranky]
2: El Perro Del Mar – Hold Off the Dawn (Vessel Remix) []
3: Andy Stott – Sleepless [Love]
4: Andy Stott – Luxury Problems [Love]
5: Herbert – It’s Only (Dj Koze Remix) [Pampa]
6: Seams – The Glow [Full Time Hobby]
7: C79 – 16 Bit Lullaby []
8: Dntel – Soft Alarm [Sub Pop]
Download here. I thought I had made this pun and recorded a set like this years ago.
1: Alban Berg – Lyric Suite – I [Deustche Grammophon]
2: Anton von Webern – 6 Bagatelles [Deustche Grammophon]
3: Thor Kell – String Quartet No. 3 [Quatuor Bozzini]
4: Zoe Keating – Frozen Angels [Zoe Keating]
5: Julia Kent – Kingdom [Leaf]
6: Norah Lorway – Fiddle Music [Earthrid]
7: Julia Kent – Nina & Oscar [Leaf]
8: Richard Wagner – Lohengrin – I [Deustche Grammophon]
– Bleep are now selling Traktor remix parts. Someone is going to solve the how-can-we-sell-parts problem soon, and it will make them rich.
– It’s grad recital season at the University of Victoria…and I have to congratulate the current crop of composers for their black-magic works. Alanna Ho, Stefan Maier, Jamie Hook, Lynne Penhale, Sara Page, Bob Hansler, and Ivana Jokic are the future of music.
– On the subject of composing, my friend Alex Jang sent me a gorgeous, shimmering new piece of his, which he spoke of as a slowing-down of his usually hyperdense music. So I did the same thing to a Brian Ferneyghouh string quartet.
Download here. Secret bonus old progressive house track is secret!
1: Gold Panda – Burnt Out Car in a Forest [Ghostly]
2: Pantha Du Prince – Welt am Draht [Rough Trade]
3: Minotaur – Saundersfoot (Gold Panda Remix) [Melodic]
4: Hauschka – Radar (Michael Mayer Remix) [Fat Cat]
5: Pantha Du Prince – A Nomad’s Retreat [Rough Trade]
6: Powerplant – Blame (Luke Chable Remix) [Release]
– I saw the opening night of Les Gestes on Wednesday – my most serious congratulations go out to Ian, Joe, Marlon, and the rest of the IDMIL / CIRMMT tech crew for making things work and work smoothly. If you’ve not gone, go tomorrow – it is a spectacle worth experiencing.
– I also saw Irvine Arditti play on Thursday night. The gentleman can shred. I’ve never seen dynamic control like that, nor heard heavy pieces be thrown off like they were nothing. I would have liked a little more variation on the program, rather than all ultra-complex works…but that’s what the man does, and he does it very well.
