It was fun to make this. I used the image generator in the Gemini mobile app. This prompt was “ambient music in a spacey dreamy bookstore on an alien planet.” The AI was incapable of doing text without hallucinations so I opened the image in Canva and added it manually.
Here are some of the AI tries that didn’t make it:
Such a fun gig.
The smokiest room I’ve ever played in. Pitch black except for a clip-on light for my pedalboard.
The crowd was listening so closely that at one point I played a clam and somebody ran out of the room in panic.
We were at Mayor’s Park in Cold Spring NY, next to the train tracks along the Hudson River.
Dedicated site for the project with Ben: smallworldelectronics.com
I’ll be playing 8:30-10:00 at lightandsound.design, 249 Huron St, Brooklyn NY.
https://www.eventcreate.com/e/exwiishlucas
A real actual actively maintained blog for a real actual band, on BLOGSPOT no less:
A 60 second Youtube of Fishkill Creek in Beacon NY by the Beacon Hat Factory (I made this):
A benign ambient drone using the three It girls of 2024: Microcosm, Cosmos, and Lyra-8 (I added it to my OPM playlist ):
A dark ambient drone (“FALSE FATE – Ambient drone with SOMA Rumble of Ancient Times, Lyra 8 and Hologram Microcosm”):
I did a major reset of the piece from August 11, my version of Josefin’s Waltz by Vasen, which I’m calling “I am at least trying to forgive.” It is better but still not good. The final product is more chaotic than I intended, and I don’t think I can fix that without redoing the base layer.
There is some good music among the bad. I learned how to do re-amping. In some ways the new voices are have a lot of flavor and feeling.
Also, I improved the video a lot. I was able to keep the feeling of calm but make the cuts more energetic. I got a little better at making videos while I was doing this one.
Even though the video is a lot better I think the music doesn’t gel well enough to find a place in people’s hearts.
I’m enjoying the new Dream Logic album by Lee Evans/Hippies Wearing Muzzles, which he described as:
I’m very excited to share my new album, Dream Logic, with you all. It’s a weird one centered around multiple experiments over the last year or so and it gets into some sonic territory my previous releases haven’t.
Sept 5 at Present Sounds moved to October 3.
Sept 20* I’ll play BAU Gallery in Beacon NY with Ben Sergentanis. To add it to your calendar, use the Eventbrite listing.
These listings posted by the gallery might be interesting:
October 3* I’ll be at Present Sounds, 249 Huron St, Brooklyn NY. This is in Greenpoint, which is a strange attractor for my life lately. Set time is 8:30-10:00.
To help you understand the setting, here’s how they described it:
If you haven’t attended one of these before please be aware that this is a deep listening event more akin to group meditation then to a typical show or party. We have space reserved for socializing (the roof) but when in the upstairs listening space we ask that all speak minimally and when necessary in a whisper (think movie theater) out of respect for others. Please let your guests know too.
To save a reminder in your calendar, use this event link.
The October 17* gig at Bad Old Days / Ridgewood Sound Lab on 1684 Woodvine St in Queens is moving to a new date, but I don’t know the new date yet.
October 19* from 7-9 I’ll be in the garden at Unnameable Books, 615 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238.
*Note to readers in the future: the year is 2024
A highlight video of Ida Manserian’s choreography using my music – with a clean version of the recording – is up on YT.
Related earlier posts:
My mom was messed up for life by her mother’s wild rages. As an adult you learn to forgive people for being bad at adulting. Not everybody is made to be a good parent, so I should do my best to cut grandma Anne Ruth a break.
Playing through this I got an image of a funeral outside on a fall day. It’s not sunny but it’s not gothically dark either. The mourners aren’t crying but they aren’t angry either. A life is complete. People are gathered to show respect to a member of the community.
That’s when my grandma came into my head. It would have been the kind of funeral that made sense for her, if there had been one.
The tune here is Josefin’s Waltz, from a Swedish folk band named Väsen. I learned this from a banjo player at a session at an Irish bar in Peekskill NY.
Musically what I was after was getting a lot of feeling with as little machinery as possible. In the end all I had to use was tempo, timing, and dynamics. A thing about mandolin is how good a plain unprettied note can sound. Just plucking the dang thing like you’re asking nicely makes a pretty decent noise. The instrument is miked up close in mono, with the physical instrument output augmented by a pickup going through a Caroline Météore reverb coming out of a loud PA on the far side of the room. But mainly what you hear is wood and wire.
You’re welcome to use this for films / choreography / whatever. Just email lucas @ gonze.com
