Electronic Music

[Mandryka]

I know Francisco and his work although I can't say that I've explored his releases very extensively, partly because field recordings don't excite me much. He and I both contributed new compositions to a concert programme by the Dutch ensemble Modelo62 a few years ago so I had a chance to hear his piece a few times and found it very engaging (it was played in total darkness as is his general practice). I don't know whether there are plans to make a recording available.

He sounds like quite a character.

https://www.modelo62.com/video/untitled-335-francisco-lopez/

http://www.franciscolopez.net/pdf/Lopez-TheBigBlur.pdf

[Bryn]

[Serial_Apologist]

Listening to this right now - thanks Bryn, sounds great: not often we get something bang up to date on here!

[Joseph K]

[Quarky]

Interesting - I think there was some discussion of this by RB a little while ago on this thread or another similar.

Would it be classified as Sound Art? It has to be seen to be believed!! :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp1mtWT6NOg

[Richard Barrett]

Interesting - I think there was some discussion of this by RB a little while ago on this thread or another similar.

Yes, I said it was one of my top pieces of the 21st century so far.

[Joseph K]

Yes, here: http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...624#post825624

I found little to get excited about initially, but it's growing on me. At first it seems sort of clinical and mechanical, though with some interesting sampled (?) instrument sounds. But it has that meditativeness about it (some of the sounds are reminiscent of breathing) and there are sounds that seem to straddle the line between pitch and unpitched - though this feature seems quite frequent with other music of this kind and for me is an aspect I find interesting. Some sounds towards the end of the first part were actually quite sensuous. I'm onto the second part now...

[Dave2002]

This popped up today - https://artsandculture.google.com/st...iMWfSD4A?hl=en

https://youtu.be/pJl8OVpgORA

and there is a page where you can maybe try out some synths - though I didn't find it that exciting.

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/7AUBadCIL5Tnow?hl=en

It occurred to me that so many synths for EDM and similar make use of a 16 beat grid. That must surely constrain options somewhat. OK if one wants to have multiples of 2 - 4 etc., but other numbers are possible.
12 has many advantages, and 15 is not bad - so why do the basics always have to use a 16 beat grid? I'm not suggesting that it isn't possible to make some interesting material that way, but so much of this stuff is limited by that kind of straight jacket. Maybe I'm wrong ....

Things don't even have to be regular, but if they are, then there are other choices than 16.

[Richard Barrett]

with some interesting sampled (?) instrument sounds

The point is that nothing is sampled - all the sounds come either from acoustic instruments or from various found objects and devices which are actuated physically by a computer program... indeed it isn't electronic music at all really!

[Joseph K]

The point is that nothing is sampled - all the sounds come either from acoustic instruments or from various found objects and devices which are actuated physically by a computer program... indeed it isn't electronic music at all really!

Ah ok - I did wonder, not knowing anything about the piece. I found this:

Short character pieces arise where the sounds of acoustic instruments are combined with those of electro-mechanic machines and are fathomed in detail. Special instrumental techniques and manipulations of the instruments are explored and mixed with sounds of electro-mechanic constructions that were developed from everyday objects and are controlled by means of a computer program. The formal conception here follows algorithmic structures.

https://www.evs-musikstiftung.ch/en/prize/prizes/grants-aid/concertsprojects/systema-naturae-composition-cycle-mauro-lanza-and-andrea

Looks like there's a crowdfunding campaign for the complete recording:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/systema-naturae-complete-cd-recording#/

[Richard Barrett]

Looks like there's a crowdfunding campaign for the complete recording

As you see, that's closed - I contributed to it, and I have the CD!

[Joseph K]

As you see, that's closed - I contributed to it, and I have the CD!

So it has!

Sorry, I failed to notice that since there's an incomplete bar and '64% of £3,473' beneath it, making it look like it's an ongoing thing.

[Mandryka]

Ah ok - I did wonder, not knowing anything about the piece. I found this:

https://www.evs-musikstiftung.ch/en/prize/prizes/grants-aid/concertsprojects/systema-naturae-composition-cycle-mauro-lanza-and-andrea

Looks like there's a crowdfunding campaign for the complete recording:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/s...cd-recording#/

Any thoughts about what “the formal conception here follows algorithmic structures” means? I mean, I know what it means, I just don’t have a grasp of the structures from listening.

Mauro Lanza has a nice cello piece which Séverine Ballon recorded, La Bataille de Caresme et de Charnage - whoever Caresme and Charnage were!

[Joseph K]

Any thoughts about what “the formal conception here follows algorithmic structures” means? I mean, I know what it means, I just don’t have a grasp of the structures from listening.

I think I can grasp the structures from listening, the kind of processual repetition that takes place, though I couldn't articulate this in a specific way - there are all sorts of ways that algorithms can and could be applied to music.

Algorithms aside, the music seems to be quite ritualistic.

[Richard Barrett]

the music seems to be quite ritualistic.

Quarky's link shows what a performance looks like. I'm not sure I would describe it as ritualistic; it strikes me as more like a demonstration of various ambiguous and sometimes grotesque relationships between animate and inanimate entities, with its roots in Kagel's "instrumental theatre" of the late 1960s. I think the way the compositional algorithms work is made especially clear in the passage where the song "Daisy, Daisy" gradually emerges in recognisable form at one point. (I can't remember exactly when that happens though!)