June 30, 2008

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At Last -- So here it is, the final composition. To celebrate, I've created a collage of endings.

It's hard to believe that this year is over. It's been an incredible experience composing a complete piece every day.What began as an idea about composing for the internet became a lifestyle. Everything in my life became an idea for a new piece. I was creating everyday and people were listening everyday. It was fantastic.

Thank you for listening.

June 25, 2008

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Won't You Come Out To Play -- My uncle is visiting (again!). While enjoying our post-pizza cannoli, our conversation turned to the Beatles and my podcast. So, with a little help from my uncle, we took the last four notes of Dear Prudence, slowed them down, layered them on top of themselves, added a looping drone from Within You Without You, and finished it with children coming out to play, courtesy of dobroide at the Freesound Project.

June 20, 2008

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Dreams Are This -- Tonight JoLayne and I went to a birthday party at a very loud bar. One of the songs to blare out for the DJ's PA was the Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams. Since it's gotten itself stuck in my head I decided it was fair game for a little reworking. Enjoy.

June 10, 2008

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Staying -- It's been a while since I've made a sample-based piece. So I grabbed Bjork's Debut and made this little collage. Enjoy...

May 16, 2008

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Techno(logy) -- technology transforms, baby!


(I think the cinnamon gum I'm chewing is responsible...)

April 30, 2008

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Morneaus -- Yesterday I received an email from Alex Overington, a student at Oberlin Conservatory, letting me know that he had named a piece for me (sort of). He's adapted a piece by Busdriver called Less Yes's, Mo No's. Alex's version, for two pianos, two saxophones, percussion and electronics, is called Less Yes, Morneau!

For today's minute I made my own version of Busdriver's song.

April 14, 2008

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Older -- Tonight's piece is a little late, I was out celebrating a friend's birthday. It occurred to me on the ride home that I hadn't yet made a piece sampling from They Might Be Giants, which is strange considering how much their music has influenced my own ideas about music.

So I present a little collage of Older, their song about aging. Perfect for a birthday...

Happy Birthday, Amiti!

April 12, 2008

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Tonight -- Thinking about time and about the number 60 led me to this source audio...

April 7, 2008

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Part of It -- Well, this morning I woke up in the city that never sleeps, very excited to be in my new home (car horns and all). Today's piece is my first official post from the Big Apple. Enjoy.

April 5, 2008

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Rollin -- Greetings from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. We are in the middle of moving to NYC. I took a little break from driving the truck to make this minute. Enjoy.

April 1, 2008

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Happy April Fools!

March 31, 2008

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James Brown + Max/MSP + feedback delay = Brownian Noise


(not to be confused with this)

March 22, 2008

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60x60 Redux -- One of the original inspirations for this podcast was Robert Voisey's 60x60 project. Each year he puts out a call for one minute compositions, which he sorts through to build a playlist of sixty pieces. These are presented without interruption as a continuous one-hour block of music. I've participated twice in the past [bsym5.1 and Here, I'll Play It Again].

The deadline for this year's submissions in fast approaching, so I made this piece as a little tribute to 60x60. I used one second from each of the tracks on the 2003 60x60 CD, available for sale here.

March 18, 2008

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Play Me -- So I played a little game for today's piece. I made seven little samples. I placed them one at a time into my timeline. Every time I placed a piece I would listen and then could adjust it _or_ the previous piece, but not both. I was also allowed to copy and paste a group of several pieces, but one pasted these could not be moved. Essentially the idea was to plan ahead as best as I could since I was only allowing myself to make very small revisions.

Enjoy the results.

March 17, 2008

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Danny -- Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 11, 2008

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One Inch:9 -- My second post today completes my series of Nine Inch Nails remixes.


Time for bed.

March 4, 2008

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Autodial celebrates Primary Day in Ohio with a collage from recent messages on my answering machine.

March 2, 2008

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One Inch:8 -- this time it's from the song Vessel.

February 25, 2008

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One Inch:7 -- it continues with The Warning.

February 21, 2008

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One Inch:6 -- 6 of 9 in my ongoing series of Nine Inch Nails remixes. Today's piece uses the song God Given.

February 13, 2008

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One Inch:5 - another in my series of Nine Inch Nails remixes. Can you guess how many I plan to make?

February 10, 2008

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One Inch:4 -- And so my series of Nine Inch Nails remixes continues...

prior installments: 1 2 3

February 8, 2008

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Fight is this week's danceaday.com collaboration, continuing Boris's series of dances for Black History Month. Today's piece samples from bassist/composer Charles Mingus's Haitian Fight Song. If you are unfamiliar with his work, I'd recommend that you start with these albums:

Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ Blues and Roots
Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ Mingus Ah Um

His autobiography, Beneath the Underdog is also well worth a look.

February 5, 2008

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Fat -- Happy Mardi Gras!

February 2, 2008

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nwa -- For the past couple of days I've been at the University of the Pacific for Robert Coburn's annual SoundImageSound concert. I had a great time meeting the faculty, talking to the students and presenting A/Break:1, a music with generative video piece of mine.

Today though, I had to fly home (Sacramento to Minneapolis and then Minneapolis to Columbus) on Northwest Airlines (nwa). I don't know why I bother with that airline, every time I do it ends up taking me much longer to get where I'm going and involves a lot more stress. Today was no different.

We were delayed leaving Sacramento for four and a half hours while some mechanical problem was fixed. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that they took the time to fix the problem, but in the meantime they could have figured out some other way to get us on our way. For our troubles, we each received $10 in food vouchers as we got onto the plane, yay!

On landing in Minneapolis I had to run across four terminals to catch the last flight to Columbus. My luggage did not move as fast and will be arriving tomorrow. (God forbid they wait another ten minutes to let the luggage catch up with the five of us who ran to make the connection.) Their stunning incompetence as a company and the appalling level of apathy concerning customer service have left me irritated and grumpy.

So... I offer this tribute to nwa using samples from a different, angrier N.W.A.

February 1, 2008

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SQ is this week's danceaday.com collaboration with Boris Willis. To honor Black History Month Boris is doing a series of dances at black history sites around Washington DC. Today's takes place at the Mount Vernon slave quarters. I've scored this dance with samples from a recording of Berta, Berta by Branford Marsalis.

January 30, 2008

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One Inch:3 continues my series of Nine Inch Nails remixes. Today's piece comes from the track Meet Your Master.

January 25, 2008

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One Inch:2 continues my series of Nine Inch Nails remixes. Today's song, Another Version of the Truth, also serves as this week's danceaday.com collaboration with Boris Willis.

January 20, 2008

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One Inch:1 is a remix of the Nine Inch Nails song The Great Destroyer. The band has released an authorized remix of their Year Zero album, which includes a bonus disc containing all of the individual studio tracks from the original album. Anyone who wants to can use these files to make their own NIN remixes. To honor this artistic generosity, I plan to make several one-minute remixes here. Enjoy.

January 19, 2008

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Britneconomy -- Today on NPR they talked about this article that details the mini-economy that surrounds Britney Spears. I decided that I should try to get in on the action, so send any your spare Britney-Bucks this way :-)

January 16, 2008

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Rockin' Piano -- my favorite moments from Johnny Rivers' recording of Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu were always the piano fills.

January 13, 2008

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Hard Chord - the opening chord from The Beatles A Hard Day's Night is one of those sounds recognizable in any context.

January 12, 2008

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Horsies -- Today's piece is a leftover listener suggestion. My sister pointed me to this site with singing horses, so I sampled and looped them.

Check out the original site: http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf

December 29, 2007

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60x365 -- Today is piece number 183. If you're good with numbers you've already realized that this means I am halfway through my year. To celebrate this milestone, I have created a station ID for this podcast project.

Thank you all for listening.

December 26, 2007

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Susan Loves Paul -- Today we celebrate my mother's birthday. Like so many people in my family, she is a fan of the Beatles. As a young girl, she had a crush on Paul McCartney and would write "Susan Loves Paul" on her record sleeves. For today's minute, I've made a little collage of some early Beatles tunes, focusing on love.

Happy Birthday Mom!

December 25, 2007

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Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2007

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Ole Red Nose wishes you a Merry Christmas Eve!

(Only one more shopping day...)

December 23, 2007

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Elvis Claus
Elvis as Santa
sweat-stained red velvet jumpsuit
"Ah-Happy Christmas"


--
Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

December 19, 2007

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Night Before uses the instrumental interludes from an old recording of a musical version of The Night Before Christmas. If you think it sounds familiar, you're right. I used samples from this same recording to open Electric Christmas In the Window, last year's audio Christmas card.

December 13, 2007

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Is That You -- Day Three of my holiday series asks this simple question:

What if Santa Claus lived in Kansas?

December 11, 2007

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First Day is the first in a series of twelve pieces launching a podcast assault on the holidays. It's not that I dislike Christmas, I just can't stand the Christmas season. The constant barrage of Lexus commercials encouraging me to give the best gift possible (therefore winning...what?), the omnipresence of Santa (buying groceries, chowing down on Honeybaked ham, abandoning his trusty elves to shop at the Verizon store), and the never-ending musical cheer oozing from every orifice of virtually every public space drive me to distraction.

So... I begin this 12 Days celebration with my own version of a song that is the epitome of Christmas Camp: Sleigh Ride as performed by The Ventures.

December 10, 2007

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Here They Are is another exploration of the old cigarette commercial I found a while ago. I'm not really sure what draws me to it. I suspect its the timbre and cadence of the announcer...

December 8, 2007

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Contact -- On Wednesday, composer Karlheinz Stockhausen died at the age of 79. Love him or hate him, his music has had a wide and lasting impact. For today, I have made a one-minute version of his piece Kontakte. The original is well worth a trip to the library to hear. Also, you should check out Stockhausen's Hymnen if you can find it.

November 29, 2007

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Gray Guitar is a suggestion from my brother Dan. He suggested that I revisit the concept behind the infamous Grey Album, replacing samples from Jay-Z's Black Album with samples from Metallica's Black Album. Enjoy.

November 27, 2007

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Lebowski's Rent is a suggestion from friend and composer, Jeremy Ribando. For those of you keeping score, I featured my own reworking of Jeremy's music on August 23, 2007. Here is his suggestion:

Here is a suggestion for November considering your love of the Broadway Musical - not. The Big Lebowski vs. the musical Rent. It's like two great tastes that will taste horrible together.

Horrible indeed....

November 26, 2007

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OK is a suggestion from Matthew Saunders, Director of Bands at Oklahoma Panhandle State University (go Aggies!) and a former colleague of mineÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡we studied at The Ohio State University together. He wrote:

My suggestion for a piece is... here in Oklahoma, we just celebrated the state's Centennial (Admitted to the Union November 16, 1907). Can you do a piece in recognition of the 46th state? Can you do it without using the obvious musical source?

I took the state waltz (Oklahoma Waltz) and a song about Oklahoma from a different Broadway musical, threw them in the blender, and whipped up a frothy little number. Enjoy.

November 25, 2007

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*N C is today's listener suggested piece, courtesy of my father, Paul. He said:

It's not for a composition, but for a performance. Terry Riley's In C is someone keeping time by playing the two highest C's on a piano, and any number of other musicians moving thru the score coming in, leaving, repeating their current snippet, etc.

My idea is sample something other than a piano playing a couple of very high C's (or two things or a bunch of things), and loop it into a 60-second background track. Then, you perform your interpretation of the score using whatever instrument you can play or simulate.

You probably can't get through all 53 of the snippets once in 60 seconds. So you might have to take liberties in skipping a few in order to repeat others.

While thinking about this idea, I had one of those strange brain moments I occasionally have. I realized the similarity in sound of the words "In C" and the name of the erstwhile boy-band *N Sync. So I sampled their voices and transformed them into a one-minute rendition of the Terry Riley piece. (To do this, I only worked my way through the first five segments of the piece. One for each member of the band...)

November 24, 2007

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PB&J is a mashup of the sound from a viral video titled Peanut Butter Jelly Time. My sister, Anna, suggested I use this. I mashed it with a John Medeski organ solo from DJ Logic's second album, Anomaly. Enjoy.

November 23, 2007

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Xma$$ale celebrates good ol' American capitalism with a trip to the mall on Black Friday. The idea for this piece comes from a suggestion by composer Alex Shapiro. She suggested I make an update of the passage in Charles Ives' "Three Places in New England" that layers different marching tunes on top of each other to simulate standing on a street corner as a parade passes. My version replaces the marching bands with canned Christmas music that you might hear at the mall during holiday shopping season.

I sent this along to Boris for this week's danceaday.com collaboration, and he took to the malls.

Check out Alex's blog - Notes From the Kelp.

November 22, 2007

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Shoveling the Turkey -- To celebrate Thanksgiving, my wife JoLayne suggested I make a collage using audio from her favorite turkey-themed movie, Home for the Holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 17, 2007

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Saints Hallelujah (Redux) is a listener suggestion from my father, Paul Morneau. This is essentially a cover version of a piece created by Luther Henderson for The Canadian Brass. Henderson's version is an arrangement that marries When the Saints Go Marching In with Handel's Hallelujah Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ an early mashup. It features an impressive trombone solo and serves as a signature piece in The Canadian Brass repertoire.

My first exposure to this piece came in high school when a friend lent me a video of the group performing. I can still remember sitting in the living room with my dad, completely blown away by the piece. Obviously it had a long-lasting effect on my own work.

This version of the piece uses a recording of When the Saints Go Marching In by The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and a recording of the Hallelujah Chorus. Enjoy

November 16, 2007

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Relativity is this week's danceaday.com collaboration with Boris Willis. The video he sent for this week shows him dancing on and around a statue of Albert Einstein in Washington DC. I did a quick search of "Einstein and music" that yielded this document.

One of Einstein's favorite composers was JS Bach. One of my favorite composers is also JS Bach. I particularly like Glenn Gould's interpretations of Bach's music. Today's piece samples Goulds recording of Bach's Two-Part Invention #2 in c minor. Enjoy.

November 15, 2007

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Carmen -- Today's listener suggestion comes from my friend Anna Mack. She appears regularly with the Grand Rapids Opera Chorus and thought that I could use a little more opera in my life. To that end she asked that I make a collage using selections from Carmen.

Astute listeners will recall that I am not a fan of opera. While listening to a recording of Carmen to prepare for this piece I recalled another recording of the same material. It comes from a source I've been looking for an excuse to use for a while.

Enjoy Homer and Bart's trip to the opera.

November 14, 2007

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War Prayer III concludes my series on Mark Twain's War Prayer. Today we hear a collage identical in form to yesterday's piece. However, here the words and sounds have been twisted to reveal a dark truth lurking in the pastor's prayer. This is not a literal setting of Twain's words, only my own artistic reaction to them.

Now that the series is finished, I would to mention that Twain refused to publish this piece in his lifetime, saying, "I have told the whole truth in that, and only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead."

If you haven't taken time yet to read Twain's War Prayer, I recommend that you do. My uncle, who suggested this series, recommends the print version illustrated by John Groth. After a quick trip to the library, I wholeheartedly concur.

November 13, 2007

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War Prayer II continues a series of pieces on Mark Twain's War Prayer I began yesterday.

The first installment set the tone of the town Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ patriotic, proud Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ and provided an introduction to the church service with an Old Testament reading and some organ music. Today we hear a musical collage inspired by the pastor's prayer. He asks God to protect our troops in battle and to deliver victory to us.

Tune in tomorrow to hear the conclusion of this series with the prayer of the old man.

November 8, 2007

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Electric Louis -- Last night I was having dinner with a friend. At one point, Louis Armstrong's version of Mack the Knife came on over the restaurant's music system. As she sat grooving to it in her chair, she asked why this kind of music wasn't used in electronic dance forms. It sounded like a listener suggestion to me, so here is Armstrong's version of W.C. Handy's Atlanta Blues treated with an electronic beat and bass.

November 7, 2007

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Two Notes is today's listener suggestion. It comes from Boris Willis of Dance-A-Day. He asked me to use:

the beginning of In Da Club by 50 Cent, which has a staccato two note thingy, and Hot in Herre by Nelly, which has the same thingy, mashed.

While pondering these two note thingies, I recalled an old piece from the Animaniacs television show: Wakko's Two-Note Song. It seemed to be a natural addition.

I would also like to give a shout out to my uncle Rene "Brud" Morneau, who turns sixty today. Go Rene, it's your birthday.

November 6, 2007

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Miss Him continues to explore yesterday's theme: the mysterious clues surrounding the supposed death of Beatle Paul McCartney. Today's piece uses excerpts from two tracks on the legendary White Album, I'm So Tired and Revolution 9.

In Revolution 9, there are several clues. The number nine may refer to McCartney, the only band member with a nine-letter name. A voice can be heard saying "thrust between his shoulder blades." Another voice can be heard saying "so the wife called, and we better go see a surgeon". When played backward, the voice saying "number nine" seems to say "turn me on, dead man." Plus there's the noisy sound of an apparent car crash, complete with a voice yelling "let me out".

At the end of I'm So Tired there is a mumbling voice. When reversed it seems to say "Paul is dead. Miss him, miss him, miss him." Decide for yourself.

Like yesterday, this piece comes from a suggestion by my uncle Edward "Skip" Morneau.

November 5, 2007

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Wednesday Morning is today's listener suggestion. It comes from my uncle, Edward "Skip" Morneau. He suggested that I make a collage of references to the urban legend alledging the death of Paul McCartney. According to the legend, McCartney died in a car accident and The Beatles covered it up, replacing him with a look-alike named Billy Shears. Of course all of the evidence for this cover-up can be found hidden in their album art and lyrics...

This collage collects some of the lyrical references to the alleged death that appear on their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. (The fatal car accident was beleived to have happened at 5 am on a Wednesday morning...)

Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡

She's Leaving Home
Wednesday morning at five o'clock
As the day begins

Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡
Good Morning Good Morning
Good morning good morning
good morning good morning
good morning, a

Nothing to do to save his life
call his wife in....

People running 'round it's five o'clock
Everywhere in town it's getting dark
Everyone you see is full of life
It's time for tea and meet the wife

Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡

Within Without You
We were talking - about the space between us all
And the people - who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse of truth - then it's far too late - when they pass away

November 2, 2007

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Shadowrock is this week's danceaday.com collaboration with Boris Willis. For the sound I used parts of the intro to Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. These ideas were originally developed for yesterday's piece, but ultimately didn't work there. I've also added some rock sounds I found at The Freesound Project. They are SPLASH by petenice and selections from the sample-pack Falling Rocks by Melak.

November 1, 2007

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Fenway Memories -- I'm kicking off Listener Appreciation Month here at 60x365 with a piece suggested by Susan Morneau (my mother). She grew up north of Boston and is a huge fan of the Red Sox. Since they just won the World Series (again!) she suggested some music that is regularly played at Fenway Park:

Since they just won the World Series, and it is SUCH a big deal to us Boston fans, maybe you could do something with this. The song played at Fenway during every single game, in the 8th inning, is Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. There is even a "Fenway Version" in which game sounds and fans singing the song (and fans do sing it every single time) are interspersed throughout the song. Another Red Sox song is "Dirty Water" by the Standells. This song is played immediately following a home victory. In fact, when U2 played in Boston in 2005, they put a little of that song into Vertigo.

Today's piece uses these two songs, along with some memorable audio from their 2004 World Series Victory. Enjoy.

October 31, 2007

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60" Mourn compresses selections from Mozart's Requiem into a one-minute meditation on death. Fitting for Halloween, no?

Happy Halloween.

October 29, 2007

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Words and La la la -- One persistent challenge of doing this daily podcast is a shortage of ideas. Every new day brings with it the need for another new piece, and many times the only idea I have is so-so at best. Today is one of those days.

I've recently reread parts of Paul Morleys' Words and Music, which tells a history of pop music by looking for the connection between Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Head and Alvin Lucier's I am Sitting in a Room. I wondered if putting the sounds of their voices together would help illuminate that connection, it doesn't. But I've already made it, so here it is.

Do have an idea for a piece I should do? Let me hear it. I'm looking for listener suggestions for November. Read more about it.

October 25, 2007

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Zap is another in what has become a mini-series of famous and familiar voices. Today's piece use audio of Frank Zappa talking about problems in the music industry, tastefully set against his own Nasal Retentive Calliope Music. Enjoy.

October 24, 2007

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Gro$$ -- Today is Take Back Your Time Day, an initiative organized by The Simplicity Forum. Their position is that Americans work too many hours without being given adequate time off:

The crushing demands of a workplace out of control have long been a private anguish of quiet desperation. But that's not true anymore. During the 2004 presidential election, pollsters suggested that surveys and focus groups found that "lack of free time" was one of the most significant concerns of so-called "swing voters", many of whom are mothers with young children. This is no surprise to us. The U.S. has the longest working hours in the industrial world. The average European puts in nine fewer weeks on the job each year than Americans do. While the Chinese have a mandated three weeks of paid leave, Australians four, and Europeans 4 to 5 weeks, the U.S. has no minimum paid leave law.

American public policies protecting our family and personal time fall far short of those in other countries. A recent study released by the Harvard School of Public Health, covering 168 of the world's nations (www.globalworkingfamilies.org), concluded that "the United States lags dramatically behind all high-income countries, as well as many middle- and low-income countries when it comes to public policies designed to guarantee adequate working conditions for families." The study found that:

163 of 168 countries guarantee paid leave for mothers in connection with childbirth. 45 countries offer such leave to fathers. The U.S. does neither.

139 countries guarantee paid sick leave. The U.S. does not.

96 countries guarantee paid annual (vacation) leave. The U.S. does not.

84 countries have laws that fix a maximum limit on the workweek. The U.S. does not.

37 countries guarantee parents paid time off when children are sick. The U.S. does not.

America can do better. We believe there is no compelling reason for the world's richest country to lag so far behind in so many areas when it comes to work/life balance. It is time for the United States to join all other industrial nations in guaranteeing that our nation's tremendous productivity be used to allow Americans freedom from overwork, stress and burnout. Such stress relief will make Americans happier and healthier, and reduce the pressures on our health care system, lowering costs for all. It will also make us more productive. Studies show that job performance goes up after breaks and vacations. A healthier workplace will save money for American business, too, which loses $300 billion a year in job stress-related costs.

We are not against work; meaningful work is essential to the good life. But we need to work more wisely to taste that life, as part of the pursuit of happiness that is our inalienable right as human beings. We want to work to live, not live to work. We need time to care.

October 24 is nine weeks from the end of the year. According to John de Graaf, National Coordinator of Take Back Your Time Day, Americans work nine weeks more per year than anyone else.

October 22, 2007

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Dedication uses a recording of Casey Kasem's voice to tell a new story. The original clip is actually an out-take in which Kasem blows up at his producer. It's a famous recording in certain circles. You can listen to the original recording here (be warned, his language is foul and not appropriate for all audiences and environments):

http://www.empty-handed.com/archive/2004_01_11.html

The band Negativland used this out-take in their song U2 (Special Radio Mix). You can find a recording of this banned track here (definitely worth a listen):

http://ia300128.us.archive.org/2/items/illegal-art/

October 21, 2007

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Boys & Girls After hearing an interview with RX Music on Some Assembly Required I was inspired to make another piece using samples from The George W Bush Public Domain Audio Archive. As it turns out, Jay C Batzner had the same idea for his Unsafe Bull podcast....

October 12, 2007

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Monster Mashup -- more fun with Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers.

Don't forget to stop by danceaday.com to watch this week's collaboration with Boris Willis. I posted the music earlier this week as a birthday greeting for Boris.

October 10, 2007

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Building a Basket Case -- I wanted to make one more piece in response to the Jammie Thomas case (she's the woman who was recently fined $220,000 for illegal file sharing). I'm bothered by the extreme position of the RIAA. More than that, it bothers me that they justify their actions by claiming to be looking out for the musicians, who often profit least from their own work.

Anyway, I looked at Jammie's playlist and compared it to the music I had sitting around the house. Today's piece combines Green Day's Basket Case with Sarah McLachlan's Building a Mystery, both songs from her list.

October 9, 2007

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Birthday Boris -- Boris Willis of danceaday.com celebrates his birthday today. What music is appropriate for guy named Boris who is celebrating his birthday in October? Hmmm... this thing almost wrote itself. Tune in Friday to watch Boris dance to this abomination.

Happy Birthday Boris!


(Thanks to the Illegal Art collective for including a recording of Happy Birthday to You on their Copyright Infringement Advisory compilation.)

October 8, 2007

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100th -- Today is my 100th minute. To celebrate I took equal parts of the first 99 songs (600 milliseconds each) and arranged them in chronological order. Those of you keeping score will notice that this brings the total length to 59.4 seconds. Since this project is 60x365 and not 59.4x365 I took those 99 slices and compressed them into an additional single 600 millisecond burst. This was added the the end, making for a 60 second recap of my first 100 minutes. Enjoy.


(By the way, the idea of using parts from each previous post came from my wife, JoLayne. This gives me a chance to remind everybody that November will be "Listener Appreciation Month". For that entire month I will be making pieces based on listener suggestions. If have an idea that you'd like me to try, send it along...)

October 7, 2007

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Do It is another illegal Disney collage. Enjoy.

October 6, 2007

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Awkward Romance -- The news has been filled with the case of Jammie ThomasÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡the woman fined $220,000 for illegal file sharing. I have mixed feelings about this case; I don't condone piracy, but I also feel that current copyright law (and its enforcement) is too broad and restrictive.

So I chose to respond with a little willful copyright violation of my own in the form of this Disney collage. Enjoy.

(My concerns with copyright are not unique. Check out these essays to learn more: Protecting Mickey Mouse at Art's Expense, Plunderphonics, Changing Copyright, Fair Use, and the book Free Culture.)

October 1, 2007

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Twitch Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ I chose to begin this month by going to the Freesound Project, grabbing the Random Sound of the Day, and using only that to build a new composition. It was a drum loop called IllumHats 2.wav by John Scott. My slicing edits create a jittery little piece. Enjoy.

September 30, 2007

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Scrambled reprocesses Norman Cook's Wonderful Night using MaxMSP. Enjoy.

September 29, 2007

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Bulldan - Today is my brother Dan's birthday. As kids we didn't get along very well, something that's changed with age. One thing we did agree onÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡we both think the piano groove in Hey Bulldog rocks. (Apparently Propellerheads think so too...)

Happy birthday Dan!

September 28, 2007

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Big DeLaToh is this week's danceaday.com collaboration with Boris Willis. I used an acapella track of The Beastie Boys' Triple Trouble. After slicing and shuffling the syllables, the phrase "big delatoh" emerged and I knew that I was on to something....

September 27, 2007

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RoundRound - I've been listening to The Who Boy's mash-up album Tales of Townsend & Wilson a lot lately. It inspired me to find this old Beach Boys track for today's minute.

September 23, 2007

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More Cowbell - another collage of Spike Jones. The tracks I used for yesterday and today's pieces are: Morpheus, The Sheik of Araby, Barney Google, Black Bottom, Cocktails for Two, and Jones Polka. Enjoy.

September 22, 2007

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Spiked
One musician who had a tremendous influence on my early work is Spike Jones (not to be confused with the director, Spike Jonze). If you don't know it, his music is a zany cacophony of cowbells, gunshots, hot jazz, vocal effects and more. Its humorous energy is what attracts me to this music, and is something I try to emulate in my own music from time to time.

Today's piece revisit's a typical Spike Jones gag in a straightforward collage. Stay tuned for tomorrow's piece, which will further develop Spike's samples.

September 15, 2007

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SAR - In August, Sing (from my composition Lifedance) was presented on my favorite podcast: Some Assembly Required. Jon Nelson hosts this Minneapolis based show that deals exclusively with audio collage. In my excitement I conceived of today's post, using Jon's voice.

To hear the show I'm on, follow this link:
http://www.some-assembly-required.net/blog/2007/08/episode-183-some-assembly-required.html

September 13, 2007

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Banwasjum
The King meets 60x365. Enjoy.

September 10, 2007

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Armed is a one-minute tour of Elvis Costello's 1979 album Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ Armed Forces.

September 8, 2007

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Eulogy for Luciano Pavarotti. I'm not a fan of opera, but his presence in our culture is too big to ignore his death.

September 4, 2007

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Black:Encore is the third installment in my mini-series of pieces sampling the acapella version of Jay-Z's Black Album. Today's piece comes from the track Encore.

September 2, 2007

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Black:Problems is the second in my mini-series of pieces sampling the acapella version of Jay-Z's Black Album. Today's piece comes from the track 99 Problems.

September 1, 2007

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Black:Thug
18 months ago, inspired by Dangermouse's Grey Album, I purchased the acapella version of Jay-Z's Black Album in order to try my hand at my own mash-up album. I never have found the time....

So, to kick of September here at 60x365, I'm creating a mini-series of three pieces from tracks on the acapella album. Today's offering samples from Justify My Thug. Enjoy.

August 31, 2007

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Pants Dance is today's danceaday.com collaboration with Boris Willis. A coworker introduced me to the band Clutch. When I heard The Mob Goes Wild I knew that needed to use the song's intro to make something fun for Boris.

August 20, 2007

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Rush is assembled from clips of a famous radio personality searching for just the right words to stick it to "lefties". The source files and more can be found at The Rush Limbaugh Excellence in Babbling Audio Theatre. Enjoy.

August 19, 2007

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Paulrus -- My father, Paul, likes to tell people that his theme song should be the Beatles' I am the Walrus.

(you know:
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I'm crying.

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday.
MAN, you been a naughty boy, and let your face grow long.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,
coo coo c'choo
)

I never believed him until I heard John Lennon confirm it in Glass Onion.


Happy birthday Dad!

August 17, 2007

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bff is this week's danceaday.com collaboration with Boris Willis. It was a creative challenge from me to himÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡see what you can do with the sounds of these bff's Britney and Paris.


I don't know why I do these things....I just can't help myself.

August 16, 2007

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btdt - some days it's difficult to make a new piece for this project; I knew it would be when I started. Sitting down to work, I often feel that It's All Been Done Before. Then I remember that it's not the idea, but the execution of an idea that's important, so I take an existing piece and add a drum track to it....

August 13, 2007

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Hit Me
Last night Lillian, a friend, had dinner with us. At one point she mentioned this song, singing a few bars for our amusement. Today's track is for her. Enjoy.


--
sample attributions
whip,slap,belt,punch.wav by scarbelly25
drunks fighting.aif by tigersound
Hit Me Baby, One More Time as performed by Britney Spears and by Trombo Combo

August 9, 2007

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Replundered samples John Oswald's seminal Plunderphonics album.

Oswald's music is built from the music of others. To create this tribute, I wanted to sample his work, which is just samples of other peoples' work. The challenge was to use large enough chunks of Oswald's music to retain his voice, without making them so large that my voice is lost.

July 29, 2007

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Pepper Mash mixes samples from all thirteen Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band songs into a dense, spicy paste.

July 23, 2007

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Peanut Break
Many people have created many tracks using the amen break. I made two this month: Toss Me a Carrot and Invention 4.

Today's piece apllies some common amen-break techniques to a drum loop from another genre--swing. The drum loop is sampled from Royal Crown Revue's version of Salt Peanuts. The bass line is a manipulated Apple Loop.

July 18, 2007

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Hot

I apologize, there's really no excuse for this.

July 16, 2007

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Brass begins this week with an algorithmic fanfare. Using MaxMSP I created a program that automatically and randomly samples and layers bits of a recording (in this case, the opening fanfare from Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress) to create a new piece. After some fine tuning, I ended up with today's minute.

July 12, 2007

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msym2.1 is another experiment with compressing an entire movement of a symphony into a single minute. This time I used the first movement of Mahler's Symphony no.2 "Resurrection". Rather than deleting chunks of the music until only 60" remain, I cut the music into equal segments and piled all of them together so that the result is a dense swirl of Mahler.

July 9, 2007

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Toss Me a Carrot was created from two samples: the amen break and Brian Wilson's Vega-Tables. It's an exercise in absurd contrasts.