Experimental Music (1984-1989)

I recorded these pieces in the 1980s and recently recovered them from twenty-year-old cassette tapes. The first excerpt is from a work that was recorded at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. The other songs were recorded at Carleton University in Ottawa.

The video clips are processed (using AfterEffects) screen captures (using CamStudio) of music visualizations (using the iTunes and Dr. Glitter visualizers).

Track 1. Blade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTSPsu9vkYc
'Blade' features drums, synthesizer (Yahama DX-7), alto saxophone, voices, a bicycle pump, coins, pieces of wood, glasses of water and probably a few things I have forgotten about. This was recorded at Fanshawe College with my classmates in the Music Industry Arts programme. We had some free time and I an idea kicking around in my head, so we just went into one of the studios (the smaller one) and recorded it one afternoon. (I left the MIA programme shortly after the recording to work, save up some money and then go on to study at university).




Track 2. Young Sycamore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7RPmwxyhBA
Young Sycamore' has live vocal and percussion parts that weren't recorded. It was only performed once. The lyrics were adapted from a poem by Wlliam Carlos Williams (http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/35368-William-Carlos-Williams-Young-Sycamore). The piece was written/played using the software 'PC Composer' and a midi controller. It was recorded at the Computer Music room at Carleton University.


Track 3. Untitled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdO-5iTFCMs
'Untitled' features an EMS Synthi 100, a synthesizer from the early 70s. The device takes up half of small room and is interesting to use because you have to physically connect all the different sound items like sine waves, noise and filters. According to Wikipedia, only about 30 of these synthesizers were produced and their original selling price was 25,000 USD (the equivalent of over $100,000 USD today). If I had known it was so rare and expensive, maybe I would have appreciated it more back then.

I found using it frustrating at first because it was very difficult get the exact sound you were aiming for. And once you got the sound, it was almost impossible to replicate it (even if you wrote down every setting). I got in the habit of just having one of the tape machines recording at all times.

The actual composition is by one of my classmates, Heather Baird. I made the sounds and she decided how to assemble them.

The piece was recorded in Carleton U's audio lab (Michael Bussière was in charge of the computer room and audio recording lab at that time). The arpeggios and background sustained notes are from a Korg Poly61 synthesizer.

Track 4. String Quartet No. 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmqufxQaSDQ
For 'Sting Quartet No. 2', all the notes were typed into a computer (using the PC Composer programme) and then played back through a midi controller before being recorded on a reel-to-reel tape deck. Some of the sections were composed traditionally (e.g., following the normal customs of melody and harmony) and some parts were written using a repeating 12-tone system. The composition was written for a string quartet, but when doing the computer version I added some 'impossible' parts.




Track 5. Mammals I Have Known and Loved: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM6wch6cFmc
'Mammals I Have Known and Loved' features the EMS Synthi 100, a tam tam (a kind of gong, but this time played with a violin bow), alto saxophone, empty pop bottles, voices, loops made of sound effects and laughter. The voices mainly came from outtakes of interviews I had been recording while doing some work at the campus radio station (CKCU).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• music
• electronic music
• experimental music
• computer music
• electronica
• ems synthi 100
• PC composer
• itunes visualizer
• music visualizer
• dr. glitter
• Carleton
• university
• ottawa
• fanshawe college
• london
• music industry arts
• MIA
• dx-7
• computers
• noise
• ambient
• chill
• sound
• longzijun
• synthesizer
• synth

[ImThePangolin]

Can you tell me whats the name of the first visualizer?

[zijun01]

@ImThePangolin oh . .the first one is the iTunes visualizer, but I messed around with the image a bit in AfterEffects, so the swimming things are more 3D in appearance.

[PanspermiaProject]

Cooool stuff dood!

[zijun01]

@PanspermiaProject thanks, but I don't do such weird stuff these days . . . my music these days is more like the songs you've uploaded (but more keyboard/loop oriented)

[ultrage4]

This is amazing! I love it! Do me a favor and find more, I'm starving D:

[zijun01]

@ultrage4 I'm afraid that's all there is. These days there's a video, photographic or audio record of almost everything. In the 80, however, we didn't document things so well.

[mmgwlgx56569]

drugs....YEAH!!!!

[scatterheart89]

I love it!!!

[SawyerOz]

Experimental from Ukraine Experimental electronic music from Ukraine L

[ImThePangolin]

@zijun01 cool, thanks!

[DronePortalWave]

trippy stuff mate

[777v666]

Yeah man this is genuinely really good... really top standard stuff...

[MagicalSunrise1984]

cool stuff