30xN — LRJ1 by @c + Visiophone

30×N — LRJ1 is the second in a series of releases originating from 30×N, an audiovisual performance by @c + Visiophone based on a modular system with which the performers interact in an exercise of generative composition with sound, lights, and visuals. In 30×N computers are not only tools for visual and sonic production but become agents and creative partners, with each performance emerging from a meeting of performers and machines.

https://youtu.be/JXds8tnEQLU

Each release in this ongoing series includes fixed-media audio and audiovisual compositions that are created from the materials of one of the performance’s sections, exploring and further expanding the original materials and bringing them into new contexts. Furthermore, the same sonic materials are also delivered to other composers that contribute guest remixes.

The remixes in this release are Wind Measure, by Joana de Sá, and Sonnet by Jos Smolders.

Joana de Sá is a Portuguese sound artist that often collaborates with sound and visual artists. Her work combines field recordings, voice, and traditional instruments in structures that are often narrative and often resort to poetry and collage. Joana de Sá has always enjoyed following prompts while making music. About Wind Measure, Joana de Sá says:

I always like to follow prompts while making music. For this remix in particular I tried not to change or alter the initial sounds; I used them as they were given to me. The composition follows the words I wrote. I think it works almost as a loose dialogue, as the speeches suggest a contrasting pattern.

Jos Smolders is a dutch composer and sound artist. He started working with Philips reel to reel recorder when he was 15 years old and, during the early 1980s, when he was studying at the university he got exposed to Schaeffer/Henry’s Symphonie and began a research process that led him to make his first collages and recordings. From there things evolved. He has recorded countless albums and collaborations while also working as a mastering engineer in the field of electronic music. About Sonnet, Jos Smolders says:

Constructing this work felt like etching a text into a copper plate. I was lead by the lack of depth, and the immediacy of the material which at the same moment is purely abstract. It’s a funny experience to try and create a thing of beauty with such unforgiving tools. So, the title came almost at the end, when I listened for the first time the final order of the different parts. The parts felt like verses or stanzas. This again inspired me to add small gaps between the parts and also to add a ‘coda’ that has quite a different character. Here, depth is the very essence of the sound but you still notice it as a part of the whole. It’s a sort of release into the open. 

Crónica is an artist-run, non-profit label dedicated to sound art and electronic, computational, and experimental music.

cronicaelectronica.org