Background
This tracks in this gallery were created in 2009, mainly from ingredients concocted during that year and the year prior. The name, which is also the first track, might be a merging of dissonance with consciousness. Or, as with most things, it might not.
These works were produced with a dizzying collection of very recent software synthesis tools, ranging from nearly all the Native Instruments synths to fascinating signal processing units from iZotope and others. Live recordings are also used, of both environmental material and vocalization. I won't try to catalog all the gear involved, because that dimension of my work has become so peripheral to the actual composition process as to be virtually irrelevant. The Commentary and Resources sections of this site will provide further details as to what I use and how I use it.
Several of these works are composed in structured forms, even including those approaching sonata form and traditional symphonic structures. The structure may not be readily apparent, however, because it is not confined to melody, harmony, and orchestration; instead, I've been exploring formal structure in patterns of timbre or spatiality. I leave the discovery of these structures to listeners more familiar with classical composition, but I will mention that those employed in Diploid Matrix and Fulminatorium may be the easiest to discern.
A few pieces from installations were included, along with a few from movie soundtracks. These introduce an element of inconsistency to the gallery, for which I feel a deep personal ennui, and I hope you will, too.
Disconscionance (8:17) — A lot happens when we pass from wakefulness, through the glass onion, to something else. There are about 60 specific sounds, most of which exist for only a few seconds, within a spectrum of gradual transition. Collect 'em all.
Swope (5:14) — Swope is a machine, gently burrowing beneath the town, heading for an aquifer known only by its vapors.
Fulminatorium (19:58) — Timbral motifs elaborated in vaguely sonata form. This piece is so thoroughly non-representational that there isn't much more to say.
Diploid Matrix (17:59) — Do come in. And while you're in, skim the surface tension between quietness and silence. It all emerges from silence, but so much happens in the first few laminations.
Telefodot (9:23) — Soundtrack for an early version of a short film. This track therefore contains structure specific to the film. Although the film is not available, the soundtrack survives as a timbral composition.
Stairs (21:10) — Audio component for an installation on the stairway leading to what once was the Emerald Gallery. The installation provided an ascending transition from the chaos of the city at ground level to a celestial realm where the Emerald Gallery was displaying a collection of images, iconography, and other objects associated with various cultural interpretations of the angelic. The installation used six separate sound systems for the journey up a long flight of stairs, so the tracks here represent each of these six levels from the street to the gallery. In the installation, of course, one heard two or three tracks simultaneously most of the time; the tracks themselves were designed to loop, and not to be heard individually. So please get six mp3 players and install six audio systems about 10 feet apart, and then walk back and forth while playing all tracks at once.
Stairs 1 - City (2:30) [compressed]
Stairs 2 - Dark (3:00) [compressed]
Stairs 3 - Warn (3:14) [compressed]
Stairs 4 - Air (3:55) [compressed]
Stairs 5 - Water (3:59) [compressed]
Stairs 6 - Sky (4:32) [compressed]
Thread A (2:04) — A long fiber of a track with structural variations, Thread is one of a series of unifying timbral "themes" for a work involving about 30 unique sonic elements strung randomly in a kind of endless bead chain. The larger work (which is not yet available online) can only be realized with a track player that can shuffle continuously without repeating.
Threnody Soundtrack (9:23) — Soundtrack to a short film called Threnody. This piece is out of context in the Disconscionance gallery, but currently there is no other place for it on this site. I recommend that you view the video first, hopefully in HD, and then if for some reason you want a copy of the soundtrack, here it is.
Cornpone (3:37) — Built from out-takes and manglings obtained during audio post-production of the short film The Retreat, Cornpone reveals a little of the extraordinarily visual component of what I call "referential sound" — sound that is recognized as the audio signature of some tangible object. Generally, referential sound tends to overshadow perception of pure timbre and spatiality, but after so many tracks of the latter, it may be refreshing (or humorous) to touch briefly on the former. Vocalizations by Neil Cunningham, with substantial computer interference. Junk foley mostly and most brilliantly by Brian Morrow. Singing (?) by Dan Coffey.
This track is binaural, so it should be experienced on headphones for the full spatial effects. It should also be experienced over and over, until the prefrontal lobes explode.
[compressed] (binaural)
Octagon Labonge (7:04) — Melodic and thematic elements blatantly permitted to be utterly obliterated by runaway colors and textures. Yes, in places, despite our best efforts, music creeps in, but we will not apologize.