Assorted [2021] — Liner Notes
Liner notes for Assorted, published 2021.
To clear cognitive space for another project, I decided to collect some pieces, with an emphasis on accessible styles (more or less . . . boundaries are there to be stretched). Likening it to the eclectic and unplanned groupings that you find on shelves at a thrift store, I called it Assorted.
Most of my pieces start with me fooling around with some quasi-sound or process that piques my interest. I try to find some aspect of it that can be developed musically, or be surrounded with other elements that make it musical. Once the general shape becomes clear I refine the piece until everything seems to belong. I consider this to be experimental music, and these are some of what I consider were successful results.
Track notes
01 — Skataduk 2:11
Dedicated to the memory of Jay S and Randy B — may your friendship transcend mere lifetimes . . .
02 — Brainfreeze 1:51
Featuring the voice of Richard Shaver, of Shaver Mystery fame. He’s explaining that the degenerate savages who live under the earth might use their machines to interrupt this phone call.
03 — Z-Rays 2:12
Featuring the voice of Raymond Massey from a old public service announcement about medical quackery. Oddly enough, the same dialogue is used for a pre-showing interstitial at a nearby movie theater.
04 — Lixsome (Crystal Ball) 2:21
An attempt to combine drum ’n’ bass-style hyperactivity with more global spectral effects.
05 — Kidsplay 4:38
My response to the pleasant (and unpleasant) sounds around me is to try to capture them and transmogrify them into music.
06 — Molten (Fatima #1) 1:22
Featuring the text of the first of the Fatima revelations, apparently a vision of hell.
07 — Typanosome 2:41
Ultra-minimal groove. Includes a field recording of birds from the backyard.
08 — Neverlent (Night Commute) 4:43
The spectral sounds that sound like someone bowing a sheet of steel are derived from a prominent politician of the ’90s speaking about “heroin chic”. The bass track is an improvised first take.
09 — At the heart altar 3:07
Lyrics generated by A.I., set to a kind of Argentinian tango-rock. In a way it attempts to create an accompaniment from the smallest scrapings of notes possible.
10 — Primed (7pm Central) 2:56
Some observations on television and its intended effects.
11 — Codebreaker 1:57
Puzzle-solving music. The lead synth line was recorded at a Starbucks.
Total time 29:58