These compositions explore gated-feedback networks where several musical sources ‘resolve’ to near-infinite variation and polyrhythmic/tonal complexity.
created by Paul Ruston in 2014.
"Theory is a Recipe for Style" (J. Tenney)
These compositions explore gated-feedback networks where several musical sources ‘resolve’ to near-infinite variation and polyrhythmic/tonal complexity.
created by Paul Ruston in 2014.
“Theory is a recipe for style” (James Tenney)
UrMusic Creative Research follows a philosophy of music that considers style a compounding of evolutionary, environmental, and cultural patterns of observation, evaluation, and imitation that obscure the dynamic, emergent properties of interactive gesture (body), acoustical space (environment), and neural entrainment (ear/mind).
Paul Ruston (director), September 2016
I’m an experimental composer and theorist. I’m interested in the phenomenon of music to the degree that culture (biology vs environment) can be removed from the musical experience, which it cannot. I don’t believe in style, but I engage in it every time I create and think about music.
I experiment, explore, improvise, compose, perform, teach, and theorize.
My music is variously bizarre, noisy, complex; ironic, sweet, clichéd. I’m most attached to the ones simple at heart.
I consider myself an expert in the following fields of musical study:
King Apparatus (ska, 1990-95); The Artichokes (rock, 95-97); Film/TV Composer (94-2003); Combo Royale (swing, current); Experimental Composer (current); Slaughterhouse 5 (free-improv); Frankie Foo (ska, current); Noiselandia (avant pop, current)
Each of these individuals have had a profound effect on how I think about and make music.
Chet Atkins, Jeff Beck, Boyoyo Boys, Glenn Branca, Roy Buchanan, Ali Akbar Khan, Cheap Trick, Ornette Coleman, Claude Debussy, Frank Denyer, Devo, Duke Ellington, The Faces, Robert Fripp, Mick Gooderick, Grant Green, Jimi Hendrix, Alvin Lucier, Harry Partch, The Police, Steve Reich, Marc Ribot, Terry Riley, Sam Rivers, Carl Ruggles, Erik Satie, Giacinto Scelsi, Elliott Sharpe, Igor Stravinsky, James Tenney, XTC, Frank Zappa.
Here I show the spectral make-up of ‘harmonic’ sounds (sometimes called ‘musical’ sounds, a term I dislike). Using a sample of a male choir singing a single long tone, the spectral components of the sound are revealed through a demonstration of the 3 basic parameters of E.Q. (equalisation), a studio tool that is used to shape timbre, or ‘tone colour’), which include ‘centre frequency’, ‘gain’, and ‘Q’ (quality factor). This is used to introduce the harmonic series, which will be an important reference point for many of the following videos.
This demonstrates the emergent, tonal nature of rhythmic entrainment. Melodic, harmonic, timbral shifts, voice-like effects, are all emergent from very simple gestures and motifs. Often the guitar plays only two notes or chords but results in polyphonic, polyrhythmic contrapuntal structures.
…we remember the late Cy Twombly for his luscious, passionate scribbles… “I didn’t have to bother with myself ever,” he once said, “except as a vehicle to look for subject matter.” (artsy.net)
'I work in waves' (The Guardian)
In a rare interview, the renowned US artist Cy Twombly talks to Tate director Nicholas Serota about his astonishing work.
Thousands of everyday sounds, organized using machine learning.
By Manny Tan & Kyle McDonald
Infinite Drum Machine
Sounds are complex and vary widely. This experiment uses machine learning to organize thousands of everyday sounds. The computer wasn’t given any descriptions or tags – only the audio. Using a technique called t-SNE, the computer placed similar sounds closer together. You can use the map to explore neighborhoods of similar sounds and even make beats using the drum sequencer.
Built by Kyle McDonald, Manny Tan, Yotam Mann, and friends at Google Creative Lab. Thanks to the London Philharmonia for contributing some sounds to this project.