OT: electroacoustic composition: more thoughts...

[pixelmechanic]

I'm a big fan, but like other posters I don't think I'd drop Cascone, Ikeda, Alva Noto et al into the Electroacoustic pigeonhole... more likely the microsound sound one already offered because the sound is really very digital... check out the 7 second project for some inspired and maximally minimal works

http://microsound.org/

If you're into this stuff try Taylor Deupree's 12k label

http://www.12k.com/

A similar British based label is Touch (perhaps with a wider focus), who have a great podcast btw

http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/

For me the more improvised side to Electroacoustics is really interesting at the moment...

Try the mimaroglu website for some examples... particularly the Erstwhile and Cut labels pages.

http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/labe ... while.html

http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/labels/cut.html

Polwechsel have plenty of quite long samples of their work at their website

http://www.polwechsel.com/

For a more acousmatic (and dare I say academic) approach try empreintes DIGITALes

http://www.empreintesdigitales.com/doc.e/

http://www.electrocd.com/doc.e/audio.new.page1.html

Finally, if you've read this far you might like to hear some of my own microsoundy/electroacoustic improvisations...

http://www.pixelmechanics.com/sonic/

Cheers

Jules

PS I also still get a huge kick out of Stockhausen's Kontakte and Gesange Der Junglinge

[noisetonepause]

computer generated and without form.
Paws

But feel and form was created in your perception. And your will to make it into "something". Which makes it into a composition.
IMHO

// C

Yeah, exactly.

It leads to some interesting conclusions, really, about art...

[evernaut]

... the real problem about digital technology (which to me is that things will be lost as the storage media are just crap)

best

No audio storage media yet invented will last indefinitely, but IMO hard disks and archival dvds, despite their own shortcomings, have the edge over previous media like analogue tape or vinyl.

And, to be honest, I don't really see the glitch/microsound movements etc. as presenting a deconstructionist critique of digital technology ...I think that they celebrate its failings in the best possible way - by turning it into art & humanising it.

[evernaut]

I'm a big fan, but like other posters I don't think I'd drop Cascone, Ikeda, Alva Noto et al into the Electroacoustic pigeonhole... more likely the microsound sound one already offered because the sound is really very digital... check out the 7 second project for some inspired and maximally minimal works

http://microsound.org/

If you're into this stuff try Taylor Deupree's 12k label

http://www.12k.com/

A similar British based label is Touch (perhaps with a wider focus), who have a great podcast btw

http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/

For me the more improvised side to Electroacoustics is really interesting at the moment...

Try the mimaroglu website for some examples... particularly the Erstwhile and Cut labels pages.

http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/labe ... while.html

http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/labels/cut.html

Polwechsel have plenty of quite long samples of their work at their website

http://www.polwechsel.com/

For a more acousmatic (and dare I say academic) approach try empreintes DIGITALes

http://www.empreintesdigitales.com/doc.e/

http://www.electrocd.com/doc.e/audio.new.page1.html

Finally, if you've read this far you might like to hear some of my own microsoundy/electroacoustic improvisations...

http://www.pixelmechanics.com/sonic/

Cheers

Jules

PS I also still get a huge kick out of Stockhausen's Kontakte and Gesange Der Junglinge

Great links...some of which I'm already familiar with, some not..thanks a bunch!

I don't think we should get too hung up on genres...electroacoustic is really just an umbrella term for all these sub-genres and, as such, is a bit useless...but, like Indie or Jazz, people seem reluctant to not use it.

Looking forward to hearing your stuff too!

[rasputin]

Much in the same way you could randomly dab some paint on a canvas and call it modern art. But in neither case would the result be very interesting.

I disagree.

I was writing an essay a few weeks ago, which involved a lot of late nights. I couldn't focus with 'music' with structure, much less vocals, on but I didn't like the silence either, so I took this ace little Max patch, a four voice FM synth/sequencer, which has a random setting which basically randomises the tone and the sequence every bar, set it to 30 BPM and hit play... I listened to that for hours and hours for several days. It would move between klangs and blonks, to minimal DX7-piano-ish melodies, to weird percussive patterns and noise... It made a very nice backdrop, and I don't really know what to call it, but it was definitely musical in some sense, and often very interesting noises and tunes, too... even though it was completely random, computer generated and without form.

...

Paws

It's probably just a measure of my own biases, but the one piece on CD I always go back to for music to listen to when I don't want to hear any music is Eno's Thursday Afternoon. Neroli, for some reason, just doesn't do it for me.

Recently I've discovered William Basinski's recordings of deteriorating cassette tapes http://www.hauntedink.com/25/basinski-d ... ation.htmlthat are intriguing and may be able to fulfill the same function for me...

Ideally, there will be something like the Buddha Machine that you could load a patch like the one Paws describes into and set it on your table as you work, and it would play for a week solid on one battery.

r.

[evernaut]

... you might like to hear some of my own microsoundy/electroacoustic improvisations...

http://www.pixelmechanics.com/sonic/

Cheers

Jules

PS I also still get a huge kick out of Stockhausen's Kontakte and Gesange Der Junglinge

Pixelmechanic - your music is outstanding!

I particularly love 'feedback.send' ( dunno if this is the title but it's in the Unlocked 2007 link and this is what it shows in itunes as the title)...I'm assuming that was pretty much a live recording with the musicians?...the way it hands over to the electronic sounds at 4.20 ish is truly wonderful.

Thanks.

[smutek]

If you're into this stuff try Taylor Deupree's 12k label

http://www.12k.com/

Yes, two of the first artists I thought of after reading this thread and the wiki were Taylor Dupree and Richard Chartier. I had always thought of this as minimalism taken to the extreme, "micro-minimal" compositions if you will.

I've always really liked and been fascinated by stuff like this, though I've never really been able to explain why. People will say "it's not even music" - and in a sense they are right. Right now I am listening to the track "Filer" by Richard Chartier. There is no rythmic structure, no type of melody, just little cracks and pops, droning sines, a pulsating bass sound, all just swirlling around in space.

It seems so academic, and I've never really understood it to be honest, just figured I have no formal education in music so thus it was over my head. Still feel its over my head, but I know there is purpose there, substance, content, even if I can't define it or put my finger on it.

And I think that is what fascinates me and draws me to it.

It's like sound for the sake of sound.

[dm]

electroacoustic is such a catch-all expression. tomas kober was complaining about the term in the wire this month, in particular its use regarding improv.
12k etc represents a side of this, more along the microsound/ambient current. stuff like this is abstract, listening music as opposed to more obvious, functional music like dance etc. 12k gigs usually happen in art galleries as opposed to clubs as volume isnt a prerequisite and its more a place for the audience to close their eyes and drift.
francisco lopez takes this one step further as he hands out blindfolds to the audience so they can block out visual stimulation and totally focus on the sound. so its very much sound design and collage and to me is the 21st century expression of musiique concrete.
oh, and when taylor duepree performs live he uses ableton live. seesion view is probably a godsend for this kind of music!

[ciw]

Not time to read the debate right now, but hope you're enjoying the masters evernaut! I used to work for electronics/music tech the other side of the lake from you and was occasionally subjected to electroacoustic stuff from you guys... nice to see another York-ite on the forum!

[cressy]

I've not had a chance to listen to any of the links... from from the description this sounds like what I know as 'Noise' (capital N, ) Similar to stuff like Tim Hecker and Wolf Eyes yeah?

Its certainly interesting stuff, and puts you in a weird headspace - It's very much about mood and perception and uh... stuff.

Now I do like this stuff, but it does amuse me that it's pretty much impossible to critique, I've never seen a review of a Noise album get a bad score in publications that dig the scene (like Pitchforkmedia.com). It can also be pretty pretentious.

Of course, I might be tarring(sp?) this EAM witht he wrong brush, if it's actually nothing like Noise...

[Michael-SW]

Of course, I might be tarring(sp?) this EAM witht he wrong brush, if it's actually nothing like Noise...

EAM is quite a wide umbrella. Noise music certainly fits under it, but so do a lot of other stuff. "Organized sound" is a description I've heard.