About the Disquiet Junto
Since a few years I have been participating (as consistently as I can) in the Disquiet Junto. Every week a prompt lands in my inbox that inspires me and everyone else that is subscribed, to create a piece of music. It can vary a lot, which is fantastic.
Here is a short article about it.
Lines community remix project
During the pandemic lockdowns, it was a pleasure and a relief to be able to work together remotely with others. One such project was an iteration of the LCRP, which led to many people creating loads of samples for everyone to use to create a track. All tracks were then mastered by one of the members, cover-art was designed bu some others and then the resulting album was posted on Bandcamp.
Truly amazing. My track is number 21: Lake House.
Do those aliens attack or not?
It all started with a concert by Nightmares on Wax, when I was reminded of this trippy sound that was part of the soundtrack of my life as a student in the 90s. Washes of delay and reverb, combined with synthesizer pads to get a floating, modulating soundscape. Add some slow syncopated beats and a recording of one of the most memorable voices ever.
Bunkers need love too
Visited Berlin end of 2018, for the first time in a long while. This city keeps changing. A tour at the Boros Bunker was highly inspirational and a quickly produced track emerged, attempting to capture some of that frontier trance.
What is the feeling you get when two magnets repel each other?
When an interviewer asks Richard Feynmann this question, he does not have a clue yet what is in-store for him: an extensive explanation of how asking questions can unearth the deepest mechanisms and how thinking about questions can help understand the principles that drive them. Ethereal soundscape with a punctuating question-like melody gets a beat-heavy answer.
Primary colors and Boogie-Woogie
Looking at modern abstract paintings in the museum gave me an idea. Could I process the image of a painting digitally and get some sound as a result. Below my first attempt at doing this with a Mondrian. The pops and crackles define the “music of the art piece” and the voices are some semi-random critics talking about it.
Dreaming of Wires and Melting Space Suits
Finally having a modular synthesizer box, made me play for hours. Of course I recorded the experiments and took bits and pieces and merged them with a few simple beats and samples from old, goofy science-fiction films.
Nostalgic for 80s MTV and neon colors
Taking the oh-so typical synth sounds of the Solina, Oberheim and DX7, I put together a straightforward track. It brings back a few childhood memories of playing pretty hard games on old 8-bit computers (ZX Spectrum) and watching MTV in a time when they showed weird animation series (like “The Maxx”). And yes, neon was a thing.
Traveling sets the mood
Sitting in a plane or a train in a foreign country, you look outside through the window. The world passes by. You are alone with your thoughts. A certain mood sets in. There is a soundtrack that plays, only in your own head.
Lasers in Paris
Summer is when all the festivals are drawing together whole groups of musicians to play in one place. I love that you can snack on music by just walking around to a different stage, whenever you feel like it. Rock-en-seine turned out wonderfully: Aphex Twin, Polo and Pan, Jungle, Weval; and… Major Lazer. So many great acts, so much inspiration. Made a short track to re-capture the frenzy.
Paris, again
Got an idea to make a syncopated bass track, one where the sound of the bass itself is layered, slightly rough with noise but still very bouncy and pronounced. Listening back to it gave me the impression of a Paris underground club, so I added vocoder and sucking drum tracks.
Into the deepest depths of the mirror universe
Classic Moog and Roland synth sounds combine to call out to adventurers. Come explore the dark dimensions beyond the lens that floats in the water.