New prog release, triple album, ecological theme, very long list of guest musicians includes Steve Hackett, Ryo Okumoto, and Ben Craven. Truack's lyrics at times tend to be quite literal and preachy (not that the cause is not good), but on first listen through I am enjoying the music.
The title of this one always makes me smile. (I was also a fan of this book.) It was Bernier's first solo album. Still sounds good. Free at the archive.
Cahn Ingold Prelog (Simon Proffitt) used AI to reinterpret the first 30 releases in the Waxing Crescent discography, purely using the album titles as prompts. At times, spectrograms were converted into audio, some tracks are raw, some are pure MIDI (based entirely on the AI output) and some are a mixture of both. There are no extraneous notes/rhythms, just what I was 'supplied with', albeit polished up a bit. In some cases the raw audio was good enough to stand alone. In some cases though the raw audio is boring, or annoying, so the next step involved converting it into MIDI info and then wiring the MIDI up to some virtual instruments.
Crescence process:
“Text-to-image diffusion models are trained to understand key visual concepts with billions of tagged images. It's a similar (but much more rapid) process to how we learn visual concepts. We know what cats are, because we've seen lots of different cats and understand their common features. And if we want to draw a cat, we use our generic knowledge to create a recognisable picture of a cat, but one that is (very likely to be) slightly different from any other cat picture that we've ever seen.
If the diffusion model is trained specifically on spectrograms, however, rather than pictures of cats, fruit, people etc, then the machine comes to learn that certain keywords have certain spectrographic similarities. It knows what a generic smooth jazz piece 'looks like' in the same way that it knows what a generic dog looks like. You can then prompt the machine to produce new spectrograms in any style you can think of. It has absolutely no concept of sound, only what sound 'looks like'. The interesting part, for me, is that it's unlikely that 'MondoProtozoa', for instance, is a concept that exists in the training data, so it uses its best guess as to what it is I'm asking for based on things that it does know. Some of these best guesses are pretty wild. It hasn't heard any of the music on any these releases, so any similarities are either coincidence or due to accurate titling on behalf of the original artist.
You then have to convert the spectrograms into audio, which I have a script for. In some cases the raw audio is good enough to stand alone - MondoProtozoa is pretty much just the raw output with a bit of reverb on. In some cases though the raw audio is boring, or annoying, so the next step involves converting it into MIDI info and then wiring the MIDI up to some virtual instruments. So some of these tracks are raw, some are pure MIDI (based entirely on the AI output) and some are a mixture of both. I haven't added anything else, so there are no extraneous notes / rhythms, just what I was 'supplied with', albeit polished up a bit.” - Simon Proffitt
Black Truffle is pleased to announce Tender Membranes, the label’s first release from Swedish-Finnish sound artist and electro-acoustic composer Marja Ahti. Active for a decade in the Finnish underground music scene, in recent years Ahti has developed a distinctive approach to patiently unfolding electro-acoustic constructions, documented on a string of solo releases and collaborative projects with Judith Hamann and her husband Niko-Matti Ahti. Working with concrete and instrumental sounds, field recordings, and electronics, Ahti favours neither disjunctive collage nor monolithic consistency; rather, her work is composed of organically unfolding sequences of details and textures, which, as she says, ‘can stretch out or cut fast as long as they have a sense of inner stillness’, a sense that she connects to moments of heightened attention in everyday life.
There was a brief time round about the Nova Express/Painted Bird stuff when I momentarily sustained the illusion that I was kind of keeping up with at least the bits of Zorn that I liked best. I've missed a lot of stuff since. Seems like I am going to have to spend some good time with the Frisell/Lage/Riley stuff. I already think I might want to get this one on CD.
And their outstanding second album from 1995, "Bends".
AMG says "what makes The Bends so remarkable is that it marries such ambitious, and often challenging, instrumental soundscapes to songs that are at their cores hauntingly melodic and accessible. It makes the record compelling upon first listen, but it reveals new details with each listen, and soon it becomes apparent that with The Bends, Radiohead have reinvented anthemic rock"
More =for the John Zorn party: I have been listening through his various Filmworks releases. This one is a favorite.
I'll second that! Currently trying to decide if this is a good time to start buying FLAC files from Boomkat seeing as I'm not going to go back to streaming just because of the massive Tzadik album dump.
Thanks to @confused for reminding us of Harry Nilsson and his great music
Funnily enough, bearing in mind the title of this discussion stream, Harry did a not particularly memorable album in 1968 called “Skidoo”! The music and lyrics were done for an equally unmemorable film of the same name (rated 4.7 by IMBd) with a main claim to fame for being Groucho Marx’s last film.
AMG says "The first recording by the Pat Metheny Group features the innovative guitarist along with keyboardist Lyle Mays, bassist Mark Egan, and drummer Dan Gottlieb. The music is quite distinctive, floating rather than swinging, electric but not rockish, and full of folkish melodies.....this music grows in interest with each listen"
Comments
Hamilton De Holanda
Brasilianos Brasilianos 2
Brasilianos 3 Live!
Today it is their first and probably their best, the first s/t album from 1968.
Trio O Baile Do Almeidinha
Harmonize Jacob Bossa
Little Things Rykestraße 68
Blood From A Stone Featherbrain
Trust Birthmark
Arp / Schwitters / Hausmann - Dada > Antidada > Merz
Harold Budd
The Pavilion Of Dreams The Serpent (In Quicksilver)
Harold Budd / Brian Eno With Daniel Lanois Abandoned Cities
- The Pearl
Harold Budd, Bill Nelson & Fila Brazillia Avalon Sutra
- Three White Roses & A Budd
Cahn Ingold Prelog (Simon Proffitt) used AI to reinterpret the first 30 releases in the Waxing Crescent discography, purely using the album titles as prompts. At times, spectrograms were converted into audio, some tracks are raw, some are pure MIDI (based entirely on the AI output) and some are a mixture of both. There are no extraneous notes/rhythms, just what I was 'supplied with', albeit polished up a bit. In some cases the raw audio was good enough to stand alone. In some cases though the raw audio is boring, or annoying, so the next step involved converting it into MIDI info and then wiring the MIDI up to some virtual instruments.
Crescence process:
“Text-to-image diffusion models are trained to understand key visual concepts with billions of tagged images. It's a similar (but much more rapid) process to how we learn visual concepts. We know what cats are, because we've seen lots of different cats and understand their common features. And if we want to draw a cat, we use our generic knowledge to create a recognisable picture of a cat, but one that is (very likely to be) slightly different from any other cat picture that we've ever seen.
If the diffusion model is trained specifically on spectrograms, however, rather than pictures of cats, fruit, people etc, then the machine comes to learn that certain keywords have certain spectrographic similarities. It knows what a generic smooth jazz piece 'looks like' in the same way that it knows what a generic dog looks like. You can then prompt the machine to produce new spectrograms in any style you can think of. It has absolutely no concept of sound, only what sound 'looks like'. The interesting part, for me, is that it's unlikely that 'MondoProtozoa', for instance, is a concept that exists in the training data, so it uses its best guess as to what it is I'm asking for based on things that it does know. Some of these best guesses are pretty wild. It hasn't heard any of the music on any these releases, so any similarities are either coincidence or due to accurate titling on behalf of the original artist.
You then have to convert the spectrograms into audio, which I have a script for. In some cases the raw audio is good enough to stand alone - MondoProtozoa is pretty much just the raw output with a bit of reverb on. In some cases though the raw audio is boring, or annoying, so the next step involves converting it into MIDI info and then wiring the MIDI up to some virtual instruments. So some of these tracks are raw, some are pure MIDI (based entirely on the AI output) and some are a mixture of both. I haven't added anything else, so there are no extraneous notes / rhythms, just what I was 'supplied with', albeit polished up a bit.” - Simon Proffitt
Tender Membranes
by Marja Ahti
Matthew Hasall An Ever Changing View
Sorry for not posting for a while but travel and family issues came first. Lots of music has been sourced and will be put up.
...but then again, people are strange...
Homenaje A Remedios Varo
There was a brief time round about the Nova Express/Painted Bird stuff when I momentarily sustained the illusion that I was kind of keeping up with at least the bits of Zorn that I liked best. I've missed a lot of stuff since. Seems like I am going to have to spend some good time with the Frisell/Lage/Riley stuff. I already think I might want to get this one on CD.
hearing his collection once more. A most enjoyable and interesting listen!!
Harry Bertoia
Complete Sonambient Collection
also available at - https://www.ubu.com/sound/bertoia.html
Harry Bertoia / Oreste Bertoia - Clear Sounds / Perfetta
An all time favourite of mine from the early 70s
AMG says "what makes The Bends so remarkable is that it marries such ambitious, and often challenging, instrumental soundscapes to songs that are at their cores hauntingly melodic and accessible. It makes the record compelling upon first listen, but it reveals new details with each listen, and soon it becomes apparent that with The Bends, Radiohead have reinvented anthemic rock"
https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-bends-
I'll second that! Currently trying to decide if this is a good time to start buying FLAC files from Boomkat seeing as I'm not going to go back to streaming just because of the massive Tzadik album dump.
They remind me of Explosions In The Sky
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2242
Lost Tribe are having a $1 sale on all their pre 2023 albums till Oct 8, some great music to be heard.
Blaise Siwula, Harvey Valdes & Gian Luigi Diana - Tesla Coils
https://www.freejazzblog.org/2014/10/blaise-siwula-harvey-valdes-gian-luigi.html
PointCounterPoint
Solitude Intones Its Echo
Novare: J.S. Bach Lute Works on Electric Guitar
AMG says "The first recording by the Pat Metheny Group features the innovative guitarist along with keyboardist Lyle Mays, bassist Mark Egan, and drummer Dan Gottlieb. The music is quite distinctive, floating rather than swinging, electric but not rockish, and full of folkish melodies.....this music grows in interest with each listen"