Owl Sketch
June 2nd, 2010Field (sketch)
May 27th, 2010May Groove (sketch)
May 26th, 2010Despite The Downturn: An Answer Album
May 4th, 2010Upend (Based On Traum) is included in Marc Weidenbaum’s post “Despite The Downturn: An Answer Album” at Disquiet.com
All tracks for the album are housed at Archive.org if you wish to grab them all.
May 5th note: Despite The Downturn has made Boing Boing!
May 6th note: A mention at ArtsJournal.com! As well as a followup by Marc Weidenbaum at Disquiet.com on initial responses.
Upend (Based On Traum)
April 30th, 2010Upend (Based On Traum) by markrushton
Inspired by the graphic: http://j.mp/axlelo
It’s an intentionally ‘quiet’ mix. That’s in response to the article it was attached to in The Atlantic: http://j.mp/apekdA – I believe today’s homogenized pop played on FM radio stations is compressed to death and over-modulated so that even a good tune can be ruined, but since I don’t compose pop songs it doesn’t really matter to me so I do a ‘quiet mix’.
The overall piece is ‘inspired by’ the illustration rather than an attempt to reproduce.
Everything in the collage was recorded outside: the field recording of the kids is from last summer, and the looped electronics are from a public performance I did in Iowa City in 2005 which was altered and mixed live. I took three sections from the original 2005 recording and kept one of them normal, while other two were pitched at one and two octaves lower than the original. There are some other loops in there, but these were the main inspiration.
The live electronic loops tend to repeat, but in each round of looping I believe I tried to alter it somewhat when it was live (back in 2005) – this, to me, is akin to seeing the notes run off the page and then picking everything back up on the left side of the page. And when I read these notes, I’m not exactly sure each time how they’re supposed to go (it’s been a while since I *had* to read music).
Return Of The Matyk
April 19th, 2010Jon Harnish and I returned to the Matyk Building in the New Bohemia neighborhood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and recorded (along with Tommy D) for the first time since before the flood of 2008 on Sunday, April 18th, 2010. Building owner Michael Richards has done extensive work to bring this space back. A new oak floor was put down and finished in recent weeks. New windows are in the front and back, and electricity is now available. No lights yet, but that’s coming eventually.
I recorded the session using my Zoom H2 mounted in the center of our speaker configuration, while Tommy D recorded everything using his Pro Tools setup.
It’ll be a little while before I can go through the recordings and make edits.
Tommy D and Jon Harnish setting up.
Mark Rushton at the Matyk Building. April 18, 2010.
Bound Off #51
April 15th, 2010I read the story “Montreal In Seven Pieces” by Laura Roberts in Bound Off Podcast #51 for April 15, 2010. Also, I provided the music and mixed the recording.
This Other Road at Soundcloud
April 14th, 2010This Other Road by markrushton
Made in 2003-2004. Low key and mellow headphone music. Another track of mine that got ‘orphaned’ and I couldn’t find a place for on any album. Acoustic and electric guitar loops coupled with whooshes, pulsing synths, and stop-start rhythms.
Translucent at Soundcloud
April 13th, 2010Made in 2004. Arranged electronic sound collage, mostly from loops sourced near or inside Water Tower Place, New Bohemia, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I thought I’d eventually put it on an album, but the material never really fit in with anything else I was doing. I still enjoy this slab of sound a lot.
