In Vice, NYC critic and curator Robert Nickas writes a mean review of an art exhibit by his former Index magazine colleague, Peter Halley (hat tip bill).
Halley was the publisher and Nickas was the editor of the Interview-wannabe magazine in the '90s; it stopped publishing over ten years ago.
One senses a late ax being ground.
Halley's paintings and installation strategies have been consistent for the last 25 years; one can't really accuse him of a bad faith attempt to repackage himself. (Whether the work has shown any growth or development is a different question.) The review is all about branding, comparing Halley to an overweight Elvis attempting to stage comebacks. There is no need for this!
"Snap Diary"
"Snap Diary" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]
Composed w/ Tracktion's Waveform DAW, running on Ubuntu Studio
Sound sources:
Beats "from the internet"
Collective (software synth/sampler)
Calf Monosynth (triggered and recorded using Ardour and imported into Waveform)
a-fluidsynth playing E-Mu Orbit samples (triggered and recorded using Ardour and imported into Waveform)
"Digging in the crates"
work in process
Screenshot of work space -- Tracktion Software's Waveform DAW running on Ubuntu Studio:
Tracktion's core concept is the single interface -- midi editing and mixing can all theoretically be done in one window. By popular demand they've recently added separate, optional windows for those functions. An advantage of Waveform (as opposed to Cubase or Ableton) is its ease of rendering audio. MIDI piano roll sequences triggering samplers or softsynths can be converted "in place" to audio clips (as they're called). The rendered clips, with waveforms drawn graphically, appear in the same track position or on an adjacent track. In Ableton, one has to create a recording channel to capture the MIDI track output as audio; in Waveform, tracks are agnostic as to whether they are employed for audio or midi -- it's all based on the clip. Sampling from turntables or other sources is also very fast and easy. That this all works on Linux is impressive. The disadvantage for Linux users is still third party (non-Tracktion) plugins -- many of these crash or freeze. At the moment I've enough options just with Tracktion plugins, sampled sounds that can be dragged into the timeline directly from the browser, and hardware synths controlled and recorded by the DAW, that the lack of this plugin functionality isn't chafing (too much).
bank call
Citizen of India: Thanks for calling FleecemBank, how can I help you?
US Pigeon: I'm calling to authorize this replacement credit card you mailed me.
CoI: I can help you with that.
[Exchange of personal identifiers]
CoI: How else can I assist you today?
USP: That's it.
CoI: OK. In the future, you can authorize your card by going online at fleecembank.com or texting us at [number] to receive a download link.
USP: Yeah, I know. I don't want to do this kind of stuff online.
CoI: Yes, many customers prefer to speak to a live representative...
USP: It's not that, it's that online transactions are rife with fraud, "hacking," and identity theft. I'm reading about it in the news every day.
CoI: I'll pass that information along, is there anything else I can help you with?
USP: That'll do it.
CoI: Have a nice day.
[Call recorded for quality assurance or training purposes.]
"Trance Terrarium"
"Trance Terrarium" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]
Song made with Tracktion's Waveform digital audio workstation, running on Ubuntu Studio.
Sound sources include:
Tracktion's Collective synth/sampler (running on Windows 7);
Helm softsynth, running on Linux
Tracktion's FM Synth plugin on Linux PC ("organ" patch arranged in an augmented 7th chord)
Various E-Mu samples triggered in Waveform sample players
Beats are scratch samples played in Reaktor Krypt, further sliced in Octatrack and mixed with other percussion.
Update: Made the bridge/ending a hair less simplistic; re-uploaded.
Update 2: Increased the tempo of the bridge/ending and extended the finale with new melodies added; re-uploaded.
Update 3: Opening verse melody slightly de-simplified; re-uploaded.
Update 4 (Oct 14): Opening verse melody de-simplified more; re-uploaded.