Icarus’ album, Fake Fish Distribution (FFD), uses generative and parametric software techniques to create 1000 unique records. FFD comes in the form of a vast array of structured variations on the album’s musical content, feeding unique versions to each unique listener.

The album is available as a limited edition, via the normal medium of music distribution — the media file download — with each of the 1000 versions only being sold once and in sequential order. Upon purchase, you become the owner of that unique version.

FFD is encoded as 320 kbps mp3 files, contains no digital rights management software. and will play in any digital music player able to handle mp3 playback.

http://www.twitter.com/birdy_electric

Composing with Process: Perspectives on Generative and Systems Music #5.1: Duration (97′ 56”) by Mark Fell and Joe Gilmore. Narrated by Connie Treanor.

The fifth episode in the series continues to explore the idea of time in music practice, particularly in relation to duration. The show looks at how music is measured in terms of both micro and macroscopic intervals: through granular synthesis, where sound is constructed from microscopic sonic ‘grains’, to extended works whose duration is measured not in minutes and seconds, but years. Bringing together ideas and theories of the engineer Denis Gabor and composers Iannis Xenakis and Curtis Roads, this episode examines early tape and computer music works using granular and pulsar synthesis. The show closes with a focus on two recent treatments of time in music by the German artist Hanne Darboven and media producer Terre Thaemlitz.

Workshop: Neuro Reality Check (Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science, Berlin) Performance: GenComp Collective Berlin & Book Launch: Critical Neuroscience: A Handbook of the Social and Cultural Contexts of Neuroscience :: December 2, 2011, 10:00 pm :: N.K., Elsenstr. 52/2, Hinterhaus Etage 2, 12059 Berlin :: Open to the public (register for the workshop here).

GenComp Collective Berlin: Chaotic, cybernetic, and hybrid systems — Neurological and cybernetic research techniques have been adopted by many experimental music protagonists, such as Louis and Bebe Barron, Alvin Lucier, David Tudor and others. Continue reading

Composing with Process: Perspectives on Generative and Systems Music #4.1: Time (62′ 02”) :: Curated by Mark Fell and Joe Gilmore. Narrated by Connie Treanor.

The fourth episode in this series introduces the idea of time and its relationship to musical practices. The show opens with thoughts about time drawn from philosophy, science and musicology and shows how these are expressed in musical form, and looks at the origins of sonic action, musical behaviors and notational systems as a way of engaging with the temporal realm. With a specific reference to the emergence of sound recording technologies – both vinyl and tape – the show examines how new technologies have impacted musical vocabularies and changed the relationship between sound, time and music. It closes with a brief look at how computer based editing has extended this paradigm and opened the way for stochastic methods of sound generation. Continue reading

From The New Materiality by Nathaniel Stern, Furtherfield.org; a review of the exhibition The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft:

“Soundw(e)ave, (Christy Matson’s) piece on show, is a self-referential textile, where the actual sounds of computerized Jacquard looms were used to create woven compositions. Her noisy sound waves were turned into three patterned pieces of fabric, made by hand-operated, computer-assisted and fully automated (Jacquard) looms, respectively – each weave growing progressively denser with the more advanced technologies used in their production. The piece, says Matson, was a huge turning point in her practice; it pointed her towards a kind of digital craftsmanship, where she was better able to place value on the ideas, materials and skillfulness needed to be an artisan across contemporary digital, craft and art domains. Continue reading

Cellular automata in generative electronic music and sonic art: a historical and technical review :: Authors: Dave Burraston, Ernest Edmondsa ::

This paper will review electronic music and sonic art applications of Cellular automata (CA) in a historical and technical context. Algorithmic and computational processes have been of interest to artists for many years, creating an emerging culture of generative electronic art. Creating patterns and sequences is necessary for the creative artist working spatially and temporally within a chosen medium. CA are capable of a wide variety of emergent behaviours and represent an important generative tool for the artist.

The sonic artist and musician must be prepared to investigate the theoretical background of CA in order to successfully employ their vast behaviour space within compositional strategy. Continue reading

Army of Darkness. A Generative Sound Installation by Gullibloon :: December 16-18, 2010 :: Nivell Zero / Fundació Suñol, Rosselló, 240, Barcelona.

Army of Darkness is a generative sound installation, in which four custom-programmed minirobots act as instrumentalists, playing electric guitars and basses. The robots move freely in a room with a network of black lines laid out on the floor. They are programmed to follow the lines and to find their way back on course in case of going off track. On some special points of interest, guitars and basses are placed upside down so that the robots, prepared with a kind of plectrum, are able to play the instruments by driving underneath them. Sensors monitor these points and initiate a plucking algorithm. Each robot tries to play a guitar or bass for a certain amount of time and moves on afterwards. Continue reading

Algorithmic and Systems Music. An Introductory Seminar to Generative Systems as Applied to Art and Music in Particular :: December 17-19, 2010 :: Hangar, Passatge del Marquès de Santa Isabel, 40, Barcelona.

Over the past 30 years, and especially during the past decade, several environments and programming languages have been developed leading to a greater interest in that which is often called generative art, which – among other things – proposes an approach to the algorithm as a tool of creation. These generative practices often raise interesting questions about the nature of the creative act, blurring the essence of apparently clear concepts such as authorship, tool, work or process.

This seminar will provide a historical overview, from antiquity to the computer age, on the use of algorithms and rules to generate sound and musical pieces. Continue reading

Composing with Process: Perspectives on Generative and Systems Music 2.2: Marcus Schmickler and EVOL:

Generative music is a term used to describe music which has been composed using a set of rules or system. This series of six episodes explores — written and edited by Mark Fell and Joe Gilmore for Radio Web MACBA (RWM) — generative approaches (including algorithmic, systems-based, formalised and procedural) to composition and performance primarily in the context of experimental technologies and music practices of the latter part of the 20th Century and examines the use of determinacy and indeterminacy in music and how these relate to issues around control, automation and artistic intention. Each episode of the series is accompanied by an additional programme, entitled ‘Exclusives’, featuring exclusive or unpublished sound pieces by leading sound artists and composers working in the field.

This show presents two contrasting generative works by German composer Marcus Schmickler and Catalan collective EVOL.

Continue reading

Sneak preview of COMPOSING WITH PROCESS 2. 1, the second episode of the series on generative music :: by Mark Fell and Joe Gilmore :: Very soon available online. PDF: http://bit.ly/csDGIk

Summary
The second episode in the series looks at the use of formal systems in the composition and performance of musical works. It explains the diversity of approaches to musical systems using a range of technologies and processes. The episode asks how we might distinguish systems based procedures in music to other musical activities, and makes reference to technological development and implementation, structural complexity, and relationships to other musical traditions. We compare three tape-based approaches to composition that explore sound as a temporal and spatial phenomenon and refer to theoretical positions offered by notable artists working in this field. Continue reading