Salon cdr: October 2016

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Sam Wolk "Trop-plein" cdr

New stereo improvisations by Sam Wolk. Max/MSP, Acoustic objects and feedback, SP-404, Saxophone (Max Lesser), Voice (Charmaine Lee)

The trio of improvisations which follow are variations on a single idea. Running a Max/MSP patch and interacting with it is a method of transducing energy from one form to another. Electrical energy drawn from the grid is ultimately transformed into acoustic energy emerging from speakers along with the accompanying, over-flowing waste energy [entropic release]. The ephemeral, unstructured heat released in the process of generating structured acoustic energy [the composition] takes multiple forms: the discarded acoustic energy of computer keys pressed while manipulating the patch, the kinetic energy of hard drives whirring as data is read from disk into the patch, the thermal energy of CPUs radiating out and the acoustic energy of fans loudly attempting to reroute those heat flows. In this trio of variations the central theme is feedback. These ephemeral energy fluxes associated with keys, fans, disks, and CPUs are subjected to recycling [feedback] as the energy they produce is transduced by a contact microphone and the computer's internal microphone back into electrical audio flows which serve as the input to the Max patch itself. As such, manipulating the audio at the human-computer interface generates the very energy flows which are transduced into the audio to be manipulated in the first place... The computer processes its own unstructured flows of waste energy back into structured audio [the output of the patch]. The machine is not treated as an abstract, universal computational device whose digital nature renders its physical existence irrelevant. Instead, as it harvests its own unstructured heat and processes it into structured audio, its physical identity is embraced for what it is: a concrete, individual, material machine imbricated in a larger system of energy flows.

Recorded at the Harvard University Studio for Electro-acoustic Composition, 2016.

Special thanks to Jeff Witscher.

Play loud.

Meyers "On Perfromance" cdr

Sparsely over the course of the last decade I've been able to perform my music in Minneapolis with venues varying from art galleries, bars, and basements. In these different spaces I've had to adjust my music over the years to suit the atmosphere of each venue. With audiences composed of people with varying degrees of interest in my music—quieter sound and sparse arrangements did not work in a live setting. As a performer I've had audiences range from appreciative, to apathetic and aggressive—the very first show I played featured an audience member who threw a punch at the promoter in an attempt to end my performance. Over the years each space and audience in this city has affected my approach to performance.

"On Performance" is a composition for live performance presented in 3 parts that attempts to meld the audience with the performance. "On Performance" is a mix of synthesized music and unprocessed audience recordings for live performance. "In Performance" is a live performance processed from the previous compositions audience recordings. "On Performance (Variation)" is the first composition repeated with processed and arranged audience recordings. The intent of these compositions when performed live is to make the audience consider their participation in the performance, complicit or not.

—Justin Meyers

On Performance (9:27)
In Performance (9:05)
On Performance (Variation) (9:27)

All source material live and synthesized recorded Spring—Winter 2015. Thank you to all in attendance.

"Woo" by Jack Callahan

"In Performance" recorded live December 23rd, 2015 at Honey, Minneapolis, MN