Category: ambient music

On Tuesday, Oct. 25, the Electrophonics ensemble from the TIMARA department hosted their first concert at the Cat in the Cream. Electrophonics is an electronic ensemble that combines visual arts, experimental music, and live performance. 

The show consisted of eight stereo fixed audio pieces, which ranged from ambient noise to sample-based hyperpop to synthesized singer song-writer compositions. The works featured in this show were all prerecorded, and the artists went behind the sound booth to manage audio output as their music played at the Cat in the Cream. Two performers, double-degree first-year Oliver Harlan and double-degree third-year Orson Abram, concluded the ensemble performance with their individual audio visual experiences, in which their visual art merged with experimental sound design.

The TIMARA department, a unique staple of Oberlin, draws experimental musicians from all over the world to study under the experience and resources of an established electronic arts program. Students are able to learn and practice with different instruments and music-making technologies.

The artists who shared their work at Electrophonics worked with a wide range of electronic tools, from the synthesizers in TIMARA to softwares like Ableton, Logic, and Bitwig. 

Harlan created a sample-based audiovisual experience named “ephemerate” using recordings from NASA’s sample library. The raw audio files recorded by the Perseverance Mars Rover were accompanied by video art Harlan created.

“I used visuals because, if I am making something for a concert to show to people, I just want it to be the most engaging experience possible,” Harlan said. “The content was mostly recorded on my phone. I approach visuals in a way similar to how I sample, edit, and manipulate music, but with footage. I also used the DALL-E AI generator. I uploaded a photo I took and then created AI variations of that, then I took one of those images and made AI variations of that, and kept doing that over and over. It started as an image of a museum in [Los Angeles], and the final image was just a square.” 

Sometimes, there is a hierarchical relationship between music and visuals, with one providing support for the other This shifts in different contexts, from film to music video. Musicians may set scores for films, in which the video is highlighted, and some visual artists work in designing music videos, which revolve around the music. However, engaging with experimental sound and visuals might allow for even more collaboration between the mediums.

“By engaging with multiple mediums, you can create something that might not otherwise make sense,” Harlan said. “The audio or the visuals alone might not make sense, but together, as one piece, it does. I was a little worried that the video might take away from the audio, that people would focus more on the visuals. I have done a little bit of film scoring and it is fun, but for that, the music is not the main focus so people don’t really pay attention to it. It’s interesting to do it the other way around, with music as the focus. I think that making visuals to accompany music can enhance it.” 

The audience consisted not only of other electronic musicians and experimenters but also of other students who take interest in electronic experimental music.

“I have two friends who had pieces that were played at the show, so I went partially for them and partially because I love everything happening in the TIMARA department,” College first-year Danilo Vujacic said. “I’m really interested in the music that they perform and curious to explore the classes in the department soon. I like noise music, I find it fascinating, and being at a place like Oberlin, there are a lot of great opportunities and people to meet who are interested in that sort of stuff.”

To members of the audience, the multidisciplinary experimentation was effective in connecting with the soundscapes.

“There is definitely an interesting relationship between experimental noise music and its translation into film,” Vujacic said. “We saw that with some of the pieces at the concert. The visuals enhance the experience and elevate the atmosphere that music creates. I think that interplay is interesting and valuable. It adds another dimension to the music.”

Other audience members included visual artists, some of whom had not encountered electronic music before coming to Oberlin.

“I think it’s so cool to have art being made in a place where there are so many different people doing so many different things, because you naturally combine different ideas and mediums,” College first-year and visual artist Frances McFetridge said. “This performance was a good example of that — of technology and art and visuals and music coming together. It felt like a broadening of the artistic mind into other mediums that make it more interesting and nuanced.” 

Presentations like the Electrophonics concert allow TIMARA students, electronic musicians, and visual artists to connect with a diverse audience to connect through technology and multidisciplinary arts.

Experimental musician Jordan Reyes has dipped his fingers into many genres. His early works display his devotion to the modular synth, but he’s increasingly branched out in unpredictable directions, like flood waters overflowing a creek. The Chicago-based musician (and occasional Reader contributor) delved into dark ambient on 2020’s Fairchild Soundtrack + Border Land (a score for a disturbing indie film combined with an unrelated but similar-sounding EP), while his 2020 full-length Sand Like Stardust is a masterpiece of western gothic. 

In addition to his own musical projects, Reyes runs the eclectic American Dreams label and performs as a member of long-running, brilliant Chicago avant-garde band Ono. In recent years, he’s also battled anxiety that’s left him with a crippling dread of death—just in time for a lethal global pandemic. Reyes’s struggles to regulate and direct the impulses and phantasms of his own mind led him to explore Zen, and that practice infuses his new release, Everything Is Always. Though he usually records solo, this album features a large ensemble, including cellist Lia Kohl, pedal-steel guitarist Sam Wagster, and vocalist Ambre Sala (who’s married to Reyes). “The Tide” introduces the album’s themes with a rhythmic, repetitive chant that recalls the mindful breathing that can calm a panic attack while also suggesting the torment of experiencing one. 

On the long-form spoken-word piece “Tralineation,” Ono cofounder and front man Travis takes center stage among mounting drones as he shares a campfire story of Black resistance to violent industrialization and capitalism set in a metaphoric landscape. “Kraken” is a massive, metallic incantation to primal fears of the unknown—and to how fear itself can lead to enlightenment. “Maybe I’m the Dust” is a quieter, more intimate song of acceptance. In the haunting world of Everything Is Always, fear must be confronted, and the record suggests that sometimes the best way out is through. 

For this concert at the International Museum of Surgical Science, Reyes will play with an ensemble billed as Jordan Reyes’s Ark of Teeth. It includes Travis, Sala, Will Ballantyne, Patrick Shiroishi, and Eli Winter, though Reyes says the lineup will shift for future performances. Their set will consist of material from Everything Is Always as well as some new songs, and Reyes tells me that they’ve created a theatrical production, complete with handmade art, that will enhance the atmosphere of the already dramatic setting.

Jordan Reyes’s Ark of Teeth Reyes leads an ensemble that includes Travis, Ambre Sala, Patrick Shiroishi, and Eli Winter. Fri 11/4, 7:30 PM, International Museum of Surgical Science, 1524 N. Lake Shore, $22, 18+

Motion pictures share a rich history with sound. Before audio could be recorded on location or even on a set, films relied heavily on the players’ actions in each short film or full-length feature. In fact, music would often permeate an otherwise silent film to fill the void that lacked ambient sound or dialogue. Tension, happiness and fear could easily be conveyed through music, like in classic Buster Keaton movies. Nevertheless, composers helped lay the groundwork for a powerful relationship between music and movies.

As audio became more and more prevalent in film, it was easier to obtain a tone as viewers could now hear the actors and actresses and the film’s score. But every so often, songs recorded by musicians could be heard that helped convey a deeper and more relatable tone and explore the personality of whomever the music focused on. For example, in The Crow, there was much emo and gothic rock music that surrounded the main character and helped inform the pain he consistently remained in. That said, with so many famous musicians out there, which one’s music has been heard in over 100 films?

RELATED: 10 Best Horror Soundtracks

Which Artist Has Had the Most Songs Used In Film?

It’s hard to dive into how many movies a musician has had their music played in individually. Thankfully, there’s an algorithm on the website Casumo that scours thousands of movies to see which artist has been heard the most in cinema. While many iconic singers and songwriters are out there, it’s surprisingly revealed that musician Bob Dylan took the cake with a total of 123 movie appearances through his music. His film appearances also add to his wider influences on popular culture.

Because of this, there have been exhaustive lists of movies and moments where Dylan’s work has shined, and it’s almost always in some culturally definitive films. For example, for fans of comic book movies, “The Times They Are A-Changin” echoed throughout the opening credits of Watchmen as the world’s history was shown. His song “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” was also demonstrated in Easy Rider, a film showcasing a newly introduced side of Americana. However, one of the most clever uses of Dylan’s music was in the movie based on him, I’m Not There, where much of his works were heard.

RELATED: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Director Says Soundtrack Was Curated by Yondu

Who Are Some Other Notable Mentions?

While Bob Dylan has taken the cake in terms of his music appearing the most in films, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t others catching up. Right behind him at number two is Elvis Presley, who had 119 appearances as well as his own film based on his life. That said, the top five carry their own significance, with sci-fi icon David Bowie at 113, The Rolling Stones at 96 and Bruce Springsteen at 90.

While this list could likely change over time, its significance could never change. Without music, movies could still exist, but it would be much harder to convey the necessary emotions to draw viewers into the moment. But between scores and the many artists that have lent their music to films, it’s changed the landscape of cinema and showed that while Bob Dylan is the most used now, that could change at any time and continue to enhance the medium.

The Ministry of Sound band will now play at a later TBC date in the capital…

Earlier in the month, we received the announcement that Amplified Music Festival will be coming to Abu Dhabi over the weekend commencing November 11.

Taking place at Yas Links Abu Dhabi, headliners for the event included OneRepublic, Ministry of Sound, and Cigarettes After S** (if you know, you know), but in an update announced today — we now know that the Ministry of Sound gig will be deferred to a still TCB later date.

There has also been a shift to the CAS performance that will now take place on Saturday, November 12. There are still a few tickets for the festival left, available to purchase on the livenation.me website. Single day access tickets are priced from Dhs149, Golden Circle from Dhs249.

The line up now looks like this:

OneRepublic: November 11

Built on a platform of poetic lyrics, musical craftmanship, catchy hooks, mastery over instruments, faultless vocals and a back catalog of unequivically anthemic sing-a-long-bangers — stadium rock outfit, OneRepublic make the perfect candidate to headline a music festival. We can’t wait to hear their gargantuan hits Apologize, If I Lose Myself, Counting Stars, and I Ain’t Worried pumping out of the ‘wall of sound’ style speakers.

Cigarettes After S**: November 12

Fresh from their instant sell-out, two-night stint at Dubai’s Hard Rock Cafe, bubblegum-emo, indie pop-rock three-piecce Cigarettes After S** will be bringing down the curtains on Abu Dhabi’s first Amplified Music Festival — in the most ambient soulful way. Their debut single Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby, was picked up by cult series The Handmaid’s Tale, and their top listened-to track Apocalypse, has (at time of writing) enjoyed almost half a billion streams.

Yas Links Abu Dhabi, November 11 and 12, tickets from Dhs149. livenation.me 

Images: Instagram/Provided

> Sign up for FREE to get exclusive updates that you are interested in

Windwalker Dorn with her Outstanding Legacy Award and her CD “We Are One.” Courtesy photo

Windwalker Dorn of Luis Lopez, a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter in the Native American tradition, was honored at the Akademia Music Awards event in Los Angeles in June, where she received the Outstanding Legacy Award.

The Akademia Music Awards is dedicated to recognizing top musical talent from all across the globe.

The award is connected to her CD “We Are One,” an ambient instrumental album for meditation for the environment with harp, handheld dulcimer, drum and flute.

She also won for Song of the Year. “It was in the category of Authentic Native American Music for the song White Sky,” she said. “I was very humbled.”

Dorn has four albums to her credit, including a Grammy nomination in 2016 in the category of Best Regional Roots Music Album as Windwalker Dorn & the MCW.

MCW is short for Multi-Cultural Women.

“It’s been received very well because being traditional, we have history and it’s worked. It’s always worked. We are matriarchs, so matrilineal,” she said. “The women are the ones who make the last decisions in our nation because we are the life-givers. And as life-givers, we are keepers of the music, the traditions, the teachings.”

Dorn’s first four albums were traditional.

“The traditional songs were from the three tribes in my ancestry,” she said. “Some are in language. Vocables, which are Yah and Wah. That way, we could share our songs without having to teach our languages.

Two years ago, during a particularly dry spell, Dorn led a group from Socorro in performing a rain dance at the farm of Corky Herkenhoff.

“It was to transform the dryness and the drought into rain,” Dorn said. “When I did that dance, with all honor and respect, we offered cornmeal first right at the beginning of the ceremony as an offering and everyone had some seeds.

“In New England, we didn’t have rain dances. What we did was water prayers, and then we gifted cornmeal,” she said. “I am originally from New England. My mother’s tribe is Mi’kmaq from Maine. My dad was Cherokee and Lenape, out of Pennsylvania. I was born into the Fox Clan. My dad was in the Bird Clan.”

She said she learned many traditional ways at an early age.

“I’ve been taught since the age of 4,” Dorn said. “My grandmother taught me basically everything.  She would say I wear my moccasins in two canoes. One in the outside world, and teach it, and one in the traditional world to keep that tradition going.”

“The traditional songs are passed down from my father, some were passed down mostly from the Cherokee elders and the Mi’kmaq elders,” she said. “My first music was all the traditional Native American music with the drumming from the Cherokee and Lenape and the Mi’kmaq that I’ve learned through the years. I was the carrier of those songs and also taught those songs. And prayers for different dances.

“The traditional women’s dance for anything has to do with mother earth and father sky,” Dorn said. “When they dance, their foot never really leaves the mother. Also very soft. Ball of the foot first and then put the heel down. And the reason they do that is to be soft on mother earth.”

Other CDs by Windwalker Dorn &The MCW include Generations and Seeds of the Earth.

In addition to her music, Dorn leads workshops across the country.

“In addition, I am an herbalist and aromatherapist,” Dorn said. “I grow my own herbs and teas. It goes back to my great-great-grandmother. Back then, it wasn’t cool to be an Indian, and it certainly wasn’t cool to be a medicine woman.”

I love music. In fact, it’s a rare occasion that I’m not listening to something as I work, exercise, and just generally always have some form of music playing. The thing is, phones never really have the best sound. It doesn’t matter how much a company brags about its onboard sound processors and speakers, phones all sound like phones. 

Sure, there are variations on that theme and some devices do sound better than others. But these are small devices with small speakers and cannot match the fidelity of a dedicated stereo. 

This is especially true when your favorite listening method is vinyl and you consider yourself an audiophile.

Of course, Android 13 does have a little trick up its sleeve to give the audio a bit of a boost. That trick is called Adaptive Sound.

Also: The best headphones you can buy right now

Adaptive sound uses the mics and sensors on your device to learn the type of environment you’re in, so it can then adjust the sound accordingly. The adjustments are made via automatic EQ and do make a considerable difference in the sound you hear.

At this point, you’re probably thinking, “Hold up. My phone will use its mics to listen in on the ambient sound of a room. Isn’t that a privacy issue?” Given the state of the world and how everything seems to be vying to gather as much information about you as possible, that’s an understandable concern. However, Google has made it clear that all Adaptive Sound processing is done locally, so there’s no need to worry that Google is listening in on you. Android, on the other hand, is listening but doing so to help improve your experience.

One thing to keep in mind is that the changes made by Adaptive Sound may be less noticeable at higher decibel levels. This is all about equalization and how subtle changes can make a big difference in the sound you hear.

With that said, how do you enable Adaptive Sound? It’s quite easy. Let me show you.

How to dramatically improve the sound from your Pixel 7 for even better musical enjoyment

Also: The best music streaming services

Also: The best Pixel phones

Now, all you have to do is experience music from your Android device in a way that will automatically adapt to your environment to dramatically improve the sound you hear. Give this feature a try. 

Start playing some music and move from environment to environment to see how the change affects the sound you hear. If music is as important to you as it is to me, you’ll be happy you enabled the feature.