For the Love of Scientific Minds and Indeterminacy (music)

Introducing: MY.COSMO feat. Paula, Benny Bomstærk and so much more!

I am drawn to the Sciences. I dig people who are well-informed about Astronomy, Computers and Physics. Math is the language of music. Everything in the universe follows a pattern…

Sometimes when I really get inspired when I talk with someone for hours. It is also a part when talking about ideas with someone gives me good vibrations and it makes me really want to write about wild things. These days I have been a little reclusive but I have emails from interesting people and music to keep me company. I am open to anything worth talking about even things that might be considered taboo. I don’t moralize. I don’t think I am morally upright or the correct representation of humanity but I am human more or less 😀 And now for nice tracks:

Sacha and Paula worked on this track which was featured here before. It is great to see it uploaded in youtube. Youtube is one medium that makes music easy to share.

“Neon Lights” by MY.COSMO feat. Paula
Original song by KRAFTWERK (© 1978 KLING KLANG)
Produced by MY.COSMO
© 2012 All rights reserved.
FOLLOW THEM:
http://mycosmo.bandcamp.com
http://www.youtube.com/paulasynthmusic
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paula/51151459468

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Arp Project:IRC music by b3nny( Benny Bomstærk)

Benny and his DAW.

If you stay for just a day in Benny’s apartment I am sure you would be spending most of your time listening to sounds that could have been from outer space. I had a treat today. We hooked up using skype and he let me listened to the Arp Project he is developing. His concept is to translate sounds of people in chat rooms into something that approaches indeterminate music. To explain clearly, think about wind chimes that make music when the wind blows through them. Well, his project is similar to that only this time the ‘wind’ is created by human activity in cyberspace. You hear beeps and pads with ambient lacing brought about by the programmed representations of each event: kicks, quits, someone going online and a lot more.

My workspace now sounds like it has been visited by other worldly beings because of the sound coming from skype transmitting the sound of his work station. It is a fascinating sound that teeters between relaxing and unsettling. The project is at its first stage but it has a big future. He is still doing tweaks and pondering on additional things he could do. This is the sound of nature in cyberspace-people communicating-the sound of humanity.

Benny’s favorite  composers:

Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987)

Rothko Chapel

One day I decided to listen to his favorite composers and picked a track. I started with Rothko Chapel. We started talking and it was surprise he was also listening to the same track. What a coincidence. Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music along with John Cage and other composers of the 20th century. The music is described as : rhythms that seem to be free and floating; pitch shadings that seem softly unfocused; a generally quiet and slowly evolving music; recurring asymmetric patterns.

John Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992)

4’33

I think the concept of John Cage about listening to other sounds is fascinating. This piece shows one that there are so many things one can hear when he really listens.

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Upon Recommendation by Thomas Halstay

Thomas is into Engineering, Mathematics and Physics. He introduced me to the idea of Fractals like the beauty of the triangle and carpet of  Wacław Sierpiński . I think the idea of achieving harmony through mathematical equations is such a fascinating idea that governs everything in the universe including the snow flakes. The two videos he sent me proved his point.

Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong

This video gave me goosebumps. People forget that the human voice is a fine instrument.

EkoLogic music video. About life on Earth…

EkoLogic music video. About life on Earth…

Music by: EkoLogic (Andreas ‘benKa’ Benkoczi).http://www.myspace.com/ekologic
Edited by: Illuvision (Gabor Szell).
http://www.myspace.com/visionfields

Most of the pictures are from Koyaanisqatsi (directed by Godfrey Reggio). The others are from Powaqqatsi (d.:Godfrey Reggio); Travel through galaxies from Contact (d.:Robert Zemeckis); Astro movies, time lapses:Stéphane Guisard; Nature time lapses:MockMoon; Pelican Nebula big zoom:Filipe Alves; Hubble Space Telescope Images; tornadoes from Space Rip Tv; volcanos from:John Seach; lightning from UltraSlo; One shot from Baraka (d.:Ron Fricke); Blus Storm Center.
In case I missed someone please write me.
A big thanks to all of Them! We really appreciate their work!-Andreas ‘benKa’ Benkoczi

Arp Music

Featuring: B3nny, Lee Tobin, Oxx and Dead Can Dance

New composition from B3nny and something about the upcoming “The Festival of Good Music.”

Arpeggio:The notes of a chord played in rapid succession, either ascending or descending. Origin: Italian, from arpeggiare ‘play the harp’, from arpa ‘harp’ Taken from Oxford Dictionaries Online.

B3nny(Benny Bomstærk) listened to a lot of Jean Michel Jarre and Kraftwerk while growing up. With an adequate  dose of Liszt, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Morton Feldman and John Cage, what do you get? A kind of sophisticated style interspersed with his own self taught techniques which are hard to pigeonhole. Up the north in the Scandinavian nations where musicians tend to mix the interesting musical landscapes with the burgeoning new wave of electronic musicians, his sound sticks out like an array of northern lights is spastic movements.

“Regular irregularities” is the title of his new composition. His other works will be  showcased in the upcoming music event called “The Festival of Good Music”. It will be held in the campus of the Southern Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts  in Esbjerg Denmark. His group’s performance is under the subheading of Nordborg. The time will be 5:45 in the afternoon.  Description: Electronic music, visuals, sound bites in the tension between crisp synth basses and magnificent events. Venue: The cafe and the concert hall of the conservatory. This concept was kind of blurry to me so I asked him to explain.

Here is a little Q & A :

B3nny: I guess you could call it electronic improvisation. So we have a rough idea of what we’re going to do, but to call it a composition would probably be a stretch. It’s more like a scaffold.
Sphere Music: Hmmmm.  So things happen  as you go along.. is that it?
B3nny: Well that, and we have some certain “modes”  for lack of a better term; mood.
Sphere Music: Ok
B3nny: Like differing levels of tension, different expressions.
Sphere Music: Is it like bringing a canvas with a rough sketch and then applying the colors later?
B3nny: Right. And we paint the rough pic live.
Sphere Music: I see … and that live thing  becomes a group composition?
B3nny: I guess you could say that.  It becomes the composition when it’s played.
Sphere Music: I see.  So it is spontaneous.
B3nny: To a degree.  We have prepared some stuff obviously. So the preparation isn’t spontaneous.

Don’t miss it if you happen to be nearby. Here is the link site to the music event. The site has an English version. Please refer to the upper right portion  that shows the British flag.

Date : 27thSeptember at.16:00
Organizer: SMKS
Location: Café ØrstedChurch Street 61 Esbjerg
Admission: Free admission

These days he is making more Arp music-he is doing a sequence programming with an arpeggiator. He calls it a generative sequencer, the thing he built. He has wild ideas like making music out of chat dialogues. Totally wild stuff in which he will expound in days to come. What he does gets totally self-indulging. He commented today that he was supposed to get groceries (he likes to bake bread as a hobby by the way)  but didn’t realize the time until it’s almost four in the afternoon.  His flat is a few blocks away from where he studies. Below are examples of his work in progress. The one on soundcloud is  his recent composition. This is further supported by the two youtube videos below.

http://soundcloud.com/b3nny/b3nny-almindelige/s-cjcVD

This video is taken from their first practice.

Improvised electronic music with most notes and beats triggered by max/live

There will be more from this musician so stay tuned!

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Lee Tobin: Polyrhythms

If you can’t get enough or electronic music or chiptune related music then you better check out the notelable Ubiktune. This is where I discovered the music of Lee Tobin who is now part of the Undjentlemanly blog collective. Lee is pushing for the new mobile app he created called Polyrhythms. Here is the what he wrote the unDjentlemanly website:

What are they and why should you care? According to the New Harvard Dictionary of Music:

“Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms, that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter.”

A verbose way of saying two or more pulses that start and finish together. I prefer their explanation. Rather than try to explain it, the wiki link for polyrhythms and a nice intro tutorial.

Not only do they sound great as rhythmic patterns in their own right, they are found everywhere in music, from Chopin to Meshuggah, ABBA to Planet X. Polyrhythms can be a pain, as the concept is quite simple but performing them isn’t. It’s the old, pat-your-head-with-your-left-hand-and-rub-your-belly-with-your-right-hand-at-the-same-time thing.

And here comes the plug…

A free Android app on Google Play that helps you learn and understand polyrhythms.

The polyrhythm is visualised using the beat circle shown at the centre of the screen. This circle contains two types of beats. The beats are represented by coloured shapes placed along the circle’s circumference, and are colour coded green or blue. When the green beat is heard you tap the screen on the word “Green”, and likewise when the blue beat is heard, tap the word “Blue”. When you are happy you understand the polyrhythm you just stop tapping and the application will tell you how well you did.

There’s also a paid version ;)- Lee Tobin

Here is one video where Lee plays the guitar with Irish Jazz band Fuzzy Logic Ensemble.

Fuzzy Logic Ensemble is probably the most ambitious jazz group currently based in Ireland. With 10 of the finest young Jazz and Classical artists from Ireland and England coming together to perform the music of composer Dylan Rynhart. Since it was formed in 2002, this hard working group that has developed a style of their own, setting them apart from most Jazz bands with the flexibility and sonority of their unique instrumentation, and the orchestral harmony and rhythmic Balkan influence obvious in their music.

Sue Brady voice
Bill Blackmore trumpet
Cathal Roche soprano sax
Nick Roth alto sax
Brian Wynne tenor sax
Kate Ellis cello
Derek Whyte bass
Dylan Rynhart hammond organ
Lee Tobin guitar
Phil MacMullan drums

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Oxx : You got to listen to this band!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/oxxdk

Alexander Bossen – Guitar

Lasse Enøe – Baritone Saxophone

Martin Aagaard – Drums

Oxx is an Experimental Thrash/Metal/Mathcored Power Trio based in Aerhouse  which is the second largest city in Denmark(Copenhagen being the first). What I find exceptional about the band personally is the use of a baritone saxophone which sometimes acts as a bass. You couldn’t really tell it at first unless you listen again and if someone who knows the band tells you about it. B3nny whom I wrote about up

Oxx At Musikhuset Aarhus.

there is a friend of the saxophonist. He’s the one who sent me a link to the band’s bandcamp site.  Things like this changes your perception about music. I jokingly told him that instruments do get typecast issues the way actors do. I mean there are instruments that are expected to play just certain kinds of music. Saxophone is associated with Jazz while bagpipes with Celtic music. These days the line has been skewed and you get more and more musicians doing unconventional things. Oxx is one of these new wave of Danish bands creating fresh approach to music. Have a listen and spread the word around.

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Dead Can Dance-Opium

Here is a video taken from their American tour:

Return of the She-King is actually the second to the last song of their new album Anastasis. If I am not mistaken this song is in reference to the life of Grace O’Malley the Irish pirate Queen. Ok I just checked and yes it is true. Here is a link to the Brendan Perry forum where it is discussed: http://forum.brendan-perry.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=1048&page=1

I am one of those who signed up for a Dead Can Dance newsletter so I also get freebies once in a while. This time I got a radio edit of their new single Opium plus an accompanying video. I recognize this as taken from the venue of their previous concert.

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Longing for Orpheus, b3nny and Tugdual Pop Music

Somnia Cover

http://www.orphicmusic.com/

http://www.orphicmusic.com/LfO/Thome.php

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Longing-for-Orpheus/60222961610

For those who like listening to Sleepthief, Conjure One, Delerium, Blue Stone etc.)

Like its mythological name Longing for Orphues is a grand vision by Texas based musician Derek Smootz. This is his alter ego-the other one is a traditional Irish musician. The transporting melodies and use of  studio genius to manipulate sounds are what makes the  album  Somnia an exciting release. The word itself means “dreams’ in Latin.

According to composer Derek Smootz: These are songs of dreams, of the night sky, of hopes and fears, of love lost and love found. These are songs about the beauty in a sometimes not-so-beautiful world. 

Fire opens the album with its fiery instrumental and vocal beauty. The voice of Rebecca Smootz is further enhanced by harmonization. When she hits the high notes, she reminds me of Scottish singer Liz Fraser. The piano lines breathe all throughout. There are stops or pauses which makes this song spacey and relaxing.

Airy synth lines introduce Shine. I love use of reverb and echo. These effects are used tastefully. Like images paintings in watercolor the sounds melt and merge creating a diaphanous layers of atmosphere and imagination. Lisa Alexander lends her beautiful voice to this song.

Theremin-like sounds embellish The Walk. It has a marching tempo. “ I will hold you close until the stars and planets all turn to dust..and at the end of time there will just be us”. tThe catchy chorus rolls over and over again. This is definitely art pop at its best. Once again Rebecca Smootz perform the vocals here.

The Sea has evokes that feeling of suspense. Michelle Haché has a voice with lyric soprano quality. The electronic keys pulse all over this track that calling to mind sea bubbles bursting at the surface of tides. This track has an underwater feel. Makes me think that being enchanted by mermaids probably feels this way.

Then transport us to alien realm. I envision a huge flying saucer landing with colorful lights creating an aurora borealis effect. Derek Smootz is a synth master. He knows the kind of sonic combination that draws a feeling of the moment. The voice of Heather McCrocklin is washed in delay and echo creating an otherworldly listening experience. This is something in electronic music that no acoustic music could ever reproduce. There is that droning sound around 3:00 of this track. I think I saw whales and space ships while listening to that amazing  drone sound.

A Room Full of Stars is the best example of Space Music. Meredith Ruduski is singing in the style reminiscent of Sally Oldfield. This track is best listened to using huge speakers inside a wide room. Everything about Somnia is visual and this one makes me think of floating. It reminds me of a contained cloud by a Dutch artist. http://abcnews.go.com/International/slideshow/artist-creates-clouds-art-15903014

The voice of Rebecca Smootz is back in Sand. It is a song about longing. Spiritual longing that is. “Endlessly I seek horizons”. I find myself relating to this song more and more as I listen to it several times. Derek doesn’t use the same synth effect in each track. He always brings something different in every track.

The introduction to Ghost has that of an old vinyl record with scratches. This song is about letting go. Karlyn McCutchan has a voice filled with empathy and angelic warmth. Only those who have undergone loss will understand what it means to be a ‘ghost”. But songs about loss and letting go are powerful because they are about polarity and change. “ I am so tired of haunting these walls and we have nothing left to say”. These words echo something deep and personal to me. And then “Let me go, let me fade away like a shadow into night” becomes total release.

At the Ending as the explanation in the liner notes: A glance behind. I realized even before reading that brief explanation in italics above that Somnia is actually about our life cycle. These are things we go through until we become who we are. Derek Smootz sings in this track. The only male voice in the company of female voices. How brave of him to sing about looking back with complete understanding. Very few of us can look at our past without anger or pain. “ As the last sunset and twilight dance , we will be the last falling leaves.” Fragile scenes caught within a song.

Broken Down is about mending. Once again we are warmed by the beautiful vocals of Meredith Ruduski amidst the swirling synths, electronic beeps and beats. “ I am bound to the earth and I watch you fly”. We are broken down when someone leaves us and while we have stages of grieving this song does it beautifully. Songwriting is indeed a beautiful and artistic way of expressing emotions. It might not be a process that can heal us but something good comes out of that art-so that others can bask under the light of its beauty.

Ivory Towers closes this album. You only realize the power of thine own self once you have been through the rough times. This is a song of experience and redemption. Nothing  in life remains permanent. The only thing that’s permanent is your own self. The lovely vocals of Rebecca Smootz is like an expert hands of a healer. She reaches out into that part of our soul that is still pure and trusting despite the loss and pain we experienced falling out of love.

Somnia is an album that satisfies all aspects of emotions and moments that we go through in life. You can see that this is a perfect soundtrack for those moments: moments of discovery, ecstasy, loss and healing. Like a good karma, Derek Smootz showed me the beauty of life’s wisdom told in the form of an album. And that album is Somnia.

More info here: http://www.orphicmusic.com/LfO/Treleases.php

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b3nny a.k.a. Benny Bomstærk

Electronic artist b3nny

Known by the monicker b3nny in the Danish electro scene, Benny Bomstærk started learning the drums at the age of 7. He has involved himself in music for the past 20 years. It is only now that he is taking a course in the music conservatory and applying his self-taught technique along with Music Theory. His style isn’t what you would normally call ‘catchy’ or poppy but there is something within the atonal melodies and complicated beats that will drive your psyche to respond. Such primal reaction to his music is brought about by his own personality. He values subtlety and as a result, he is a type of musician who says a lot in between scales and beats.

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Tugdual Pop Music

Tugdual Pop Music cover photo

Wow 20,280 likes in facebook. Those who follow the German music scene probably already knows this music project. Check more info by following this link: https://www.facebook.com/TugdualPopMusic

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Flashback:Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill – Official Music Video

Feeling a little nostalgic today so here is Kate Bush for you.