pianola by small changes
No keyboard was touched in the making of this piano album. The piano sounds come from multisamples loaded onto Expert Sleepers’ Disting EX. And the notes were produced by patching together various modules (sequencers, switches, sample-and-holds, etc.) to generate patterns that evolve over time. Once the process was initiated, there was no human intervention. The model for this generative music is not so much Brian Eno as the 1960s/70s minimalists who came before him – especially lesser-known ones such as Ann Southam and Hans Otte, and minimalist-adjacent composers like Morton Feldman. I draw on some of their ideas about repetition, silence, small changes, and interference patterns, and adapt them to the modular synthesizer.
The following videos provide a breakdown of the patch behind each of these tracks:
patterns + kaleidoscope: https://youtu.be/pWCDPhauOns
sonic sculptures: https://youtu.be/n_1bsn4sqJE
sample and let go: https://youtu.be/WNPPGvrPzs8
rivulet + pulling thread: https://youtu.be/DuWkXAAKcC0
interlocking hands: https://youtu.be/EtOgzjdDY0E
photonastic I + II: https://youtu.be/Dio9uOdUZ0U
Track 4 (rivulet) was inspired by pieces in the first set of Ann Southam's "Rivers" (1981); Track 6 (pulling thread) by the second set.
Track 1 (patterns) is a reworking of part 2 of Hans Otte's "Book of Sounds" (1979-82); track 7 (kaleidoscope) of part 7.
Tracklist
Credits
Artwork: Tom Sulentic
Mastering: John McCaig (panicStudios)
