Day 28: April 14 - Alone With Your Laptop
No! Not that, you pervs. Music made by or for a single person and a laptop.
Gus Dapperton - I’m Just Snacking
Starting us off is a song about that sort of low-level frustration and distance that exists when you’re waiting to go out to eat, but your partner is lagging behind, but also just like snacking like really? Now? Dapperton uses this as a launching point to analyze this image-conscious and materialistic couple at this odd but poignant and banal moment. Catchy, new-wavy, and mood.
Benjamin Broening - Nocturne/Doubles
Spacious, gorgeous, and radiant like light or a tamer Messiaen, American composer Benjamin Broening lets the computer interpret the piano, splintering the muted low notes or impactful chords off into glitchy, ethereal sonic landscapes. Broenings timbres are on point, so that the electronics here sound like an entirely electronic reflection of the piano; they can exist comfortably relating but being separate without pulling the listener out. That requires fine and tasteful sound design. This is a little treasure which builds into a softly, gloriously aching climax. Played here by Eighth Blackbird pianist, Lisa Kaplan.
mxmtoon - feelings are fatal
Dreamy and sentimental, like a summer afternoon spent agonizing over your crush as a teen (she was 17ish when she recorded this), mxmtoon epitomizes what I imagine bedroom pop to be. Made with just a ukelele, a mic, and Garageband. Mellow and saccharine.
Eli Fieldsteel - Fractus IV: Bonesaw
American composer Eli Fieldsteel is dedicated to the soloist with electronics genre. His series, Fractus, puts soloists in environments he designed. Fractus IV, for trombone and electronics, uses randomized processes which are instigated by the trombone to create bouncy and avant-garde abstractions of dubstep and jazz. Technically, the implementation of the electronics are impressive, but the sound world carries the piece: little glitchy boops provide a local rhythmic drive, while the trombone reflects between chordal impacts that sounds like digitally shattered glass. Performed here by Steve Parker.
NNAMDI - ART SCHOOL CRUSH
Math-rocker NNAMDI shows his mathleticism here in this surreal bopper about, yet another, crush (I’m beginning to think that bedroom musicians are not social butterflies…). This tune is just so rich with invention and execution. The guitarwork is stunning and the vibe is strong, creating a really delightful mix that always gives without draining you. A cute and wholesome tour-de-force.
Dai Fujikura - Prism Spectra
I’ve used the ‘digital effects are like light shattering’ metaphor a lot in this post, but composer Dai Fujikura dives headfirst in this work for solo viola and electronics. Fujikura’s works are built on these spacious, but complex harmonic clouds that he activates with a keen sense of texture. Here, he creates that rich harmonic palette by taking the sound of the viola and breaking it into little sonic atoms, which he then disintegrates into fog and recombines. It’s a magnificent and impressive work, played here by Miranda Cuckson, with David Adamcyk.
Owl City - Fireflies
I mean, how could I talk about bedroom producers without bringing up the OG. Owl City, the stage name for Adam Young, famously made this song in his parent’s bedroom, then released it on mySpace (do you even remember that far back???). It’s a very sweet and wholesome song, if so sugary that it turns my stomach.
Adam Vidiksis, Keith Kirchoff, + BEEP - Local Equilibrium Dynamics
Ok, so this is not for one person or for laptops, but instead for a dozen people with iPads (and a pianist), but I had to include this because I helped write this when I was in BEEP at Temple!! I wasn’t part of this recording session, but I premiered it. This is a structured improv in which the laptop ensemble, BEEP, and the pianist interpret a graphic score which includes directions about moving throughout the hall and junk. It was so fun to perform and so fun to listen to! Pianist Keith Kirchoff’s addition provides it with a focal point which centers the work. Played here by BEEP, Adam Vidiksis, and Keith Kirchoff. 10/10 would beep again.