Xi by Michael Flora
"...one of the most radical voices of formal abstraction in contemporary American computer music." - computer musician, Robert Francis
Michael Flora is a Minneapolis-based artist interested in exploring sound via research and artistic practice. Through performance, installation, and recording he creates pieces that examine sonic morphology, spatialization, and human perception.
In 2016, he was commissioned by the Cedar Cultural Center to create "Nothing" a new performance piece for sound and movement in collaboration with Butoh artist Gadu.
His multi-channel installations have been described disparately as: "elegant","beautiful", "awful", and "nasty." In 2015 his sound and light installation "Chord Study" was exhibited at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics(CCRMA).
Since founding the micro-label Nada in 2011, he has released music by Austrian computer music virtuoso Tim Blechmann, Basque sound artist Miguel A. García, and Bay Area multi-disciplinary artist Collin McKelvey. Additionally, Nada has served as a platform for the curation of various concerts, multimedia events and podcasts.
Flora's latest work, "Xi", contains nine compositions exploring techniques to tame microscopic details in sound generation to achieve a uniquely textured whole. Influenced equally by the brutal digital synthesis methods of Florian Hecker and the masterful electroacoustic work of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM). Xi 's pointillistic convolutions deploy a disorienting array of sharp glisson synthesis, granular disfigurement, droning FM tones, and arabesque pulsar synthesis.
Tracklist
| 1. | A Confused Mass | 3:55 |
| 2. | Cusp Henon Workout | 2:47 |
| 3. | Is It Good? | 2:39 |
| 4. | LoSo | 7:06 |
| 5. | Pulsar bit | 1:16 |
| 6. | Pulsar gyn | 3:14 |
| 7. | Talking/Not Talking | 5:46 |
| 8. | Xi | 4:41 |
| 9. | Zee | 3:40 |
Credits
Mastered by Jacques Beloeil
