Kwik Picks 04
Some Recent Additions to Sonus.ca
Concordia University, Montréal
Kevin Austin | David Duchow | Sebastiane Hegarty | Annie Mahtani | Chris Meloche and Herb Bayley | Dante Tanzi
Kevin Austin
Four Arts (2006) — 9:00
Keyword(s): mixed
Traditional chinese instruments with MIDIstration / sampled instrument accompaniment integrated into a quasi-Chinese sounding piece. Accompanying video not available.
Masks, Mirrors and Shadows (2006) — 14:10
Keyword(s): mixed
Gu-zheng (chinese zither), violin and percussion, 6 channels of ea and video. In a ‘new music’ idiom with a chinese instrumental core.
SUN (1984) — 39:43
Keyword(s): modular (analog) synthesis
A 40-minute descending glissando; originally with 400 slides of sunsetting. Shows its age and technological limitations.
King Bob’s Fantasy Variations (1970) — 19:51
Keyword(s): mixed
An extended sectional work in a mid-twentieth century variation form.
David Duchow
March 23 06 #2 (2006) — 3:47
Keyword(s): MIDIstration
Quiet, meditative, using minimally processed gamelan, gong and guitar samples.
June 29 06 #1 (2006) — 5:12
Keyword(s): soundscape collage
Environmental samples collaged with soft percussion; extended new age.
March 20 06 #5 (2006) — 4:17
Keyword(s): collage (with loops)
Personalized environment in raw collage with percussion; loops prominent.
February 18 06 #5 (2006) — 5:11
Keyword(s): collage (with (loops)
Eastern stringed instruments, layered and looped, slow accretion, with a pronounced beat, layered and looped, close to being in C.
June 4 06 #2 (2006) — 5:09
Keyword(s): environmental collage (with (loops)
Open collage of environmental samples, soft bass and drum loops, etc.
June 2 06 #1 (2006) — 5:54
Keyword(s): instrumental collage (with loops)
Looped instrumentals; think tubular bells with cross-cultural sample library.
May 7 06 #2 (2006) — 6:12
Keyword(s): soundscape / environmental collage (with loops)
Defocused environmental / soundscape postcard collage.
March 21 06 #1 (2006) — 3:07
Keyword(s): soundscape / environmental collage (with loops)
Slightly abstracted environmental / soundscape / mild percussion collage, becomes more abstracted.
Sebastiane Hegarty
moor (2006) — 5:01
head (2006) — 3:21
wakes (2006) — 3:15
Keyword(s): environmental collage, exploration of the object, microsound
Raw collage of minimally processed sounds from a contact mic on steel fences.
WASp (2004) — 0:56
Keyword(s): environmental collage, exploration of the object, microsound
Raw collage of minimally processed sounds from a contact mic of a wasp gnawing on a fence. True microsonic exploration.
mo(nu)ment (2005) — 6:02
Keyword(s): field recording
Six minutes of the microphone documenting the sounds just beyond the window.
forgotten sonata no.10 (2005) — 3:16
Keyword(s): glitch, mixed
A grand piano is unprepared for John Cage being collaged by a defective CD
Bellevue (2000) — 12:52
Longwave (2000) — 17:49
Keyword(s): installation, (social) environmental collage; glitch
Loops and waves and rain and grandmama and words and … release; and glitch bits loops & clicks & bits & pieces.
Annie Mahtani
Surfacing (2003) —13:38
Keyword(s): semi-acousmatic / semi-narrative
A quietly articulate journey to other places submerged below the ambiences, away from outside reality. Mostly quiet, often distant, and engaging in a forceful way.
http://www.anniemahtani.co.uk
Chris Meloche & Herb Bayley
Windblown (2004) — 3:00
Keyword(s): live ea improvisation, microsound
A single idea gently moved about.
Chris Meloche http://www.chrismeloche.com
Herb Bayley http://www.outwardsound.ca
Dante Tanzi
Pro.Fumo (1988) — 4:55
Keyword(s): live electronics
Software addresses files and they are played back. Of some historical interest. Lots of reverb — lots.
http://lim.dico.unimi.it/membri/tanzi/dantecurr.html
Louvre (1989) — 10:56
Keyword(s): mixed, live electronics
After a rather slow start, this piece becomes quite an adventure in sonority and gesture. (Too bad about being awash in reverb, it spoils so much.) Using home grown LIM, Laboratorio di Informatica Musicale (Milan University) software, the sounds flow from live to sampled electronic to highly processed to unknown in broad and restricted gestures. Well worth the 11 minutes.
Deadlock (1995) — 8:38
Keyword(s): mixed electronic collage
So much (ugly) reverb … . An exploration of software that allows realtime synthesis and transformations. A layered collage of a small number of electronic (beep / boop), and vocal sonorities. Interesting if sometimes less than completely successful.
Occhi di diamante (1997) — 4:13
Keyword(s): algorithmic
With no notes to go by, it’s seat-of-my-pants guessing. Possibly a gentle algorithmic study on a quasi-windy flute sound, fm?? Quasi-beats, strong pitch elements.
Memonius: that dream of liquid melodies (2004) — 6:05
Keyword(s): gentle restricted collage
Spoiled by reverb applied much too freely. Largely linear, seldom more than 3 sounds, (well placed) at one time. Sounds like good material for an installation.
Eightactions (2003) — 3:20
Keyword(s): gentle restricted collage, possibly algorithmic, microsound
A loose, quite open collage of mostly short sounds, Sparse.
Prediction (2004) — 3:29
Keyword(s): gentle restricted collage, microsound
Sparse, linear, (non)narrative. Very sparse
Waterwells (2006) — 8:30
Keyword(s): linear collage
Most of the sounds seem to be acoustic in nature, lightly laid out in time. Well-formed.
Resaurea (2000) — 9:25
Keyword(s): linear collage, wide-ranging sources
A wide range of sound sources woven into a web of variable flux and density. Many well formed gestures … but so much unnecessary reverb! Again, a keen sensitivity to sounds.
He who won (2005) — 9:12
Keyword(s): semi-acousmatic / semi-narrative
A well-formed abstract narrative, sectional with controled short and medium ground gestures. Hidden vocalisms lend a sense of unity of vision.
Nefertix (2006) — 8:28
Keyword(s): semi-acousmatic / semi-narrative
Mostly in the upper reaches of the audio range, a gently formed and subtly executed work: think the thin chimes of a clock on my grandmother’s mantelpiece gone slightly berserk.
Kevin Austin
Montréal, 2006–III–10
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