A New Kind of POP Music
Judy Dunaway, also known as “The Mother of Balloon Music,” is an experimental composer, conceptual artist, social activist, and noise enthusiast. She has created over thirty works using latex balloons as her instrument of choice! Read On!
Home-Made Folk Instruments from Dennis Havlina
Dennis Havlina, an instrepreneur from Michigan, runs a website full of music resources and information about DIY musical instrument projects including construction details and instructions. Read On!
Making an Ice Didgeridoo on the Glaciers of Antarctica
To liven up the dull moments of living on the Antarctic ice, ANSMET scientists and engineers built a didgeridoo out of H2O and butter! Instead of the usual game of “counting the number of grains in a teaspoon of snow,” ANSMET (Antarctic Search for Meteorites) pursued the mission of building a didgeridoo. Read On!
Listen to a Sunrise
Richard Widerberg from Göteborg, Sweden has some very odd and interesting sound recordings on his website including a track entitled “Sunrisescape” which makes use of light sensors and two oscillators to record the gradual illumination of a rising sun. Read On!
Glass Music from the Glass Duo
The Glass Duo is composed of Polish musicians Anna and Arkadiusz Szafraniec. Apparently they have built the largest glass harp in the world which covers four and a half octaves! Read On!
Nick Cave’s Sound Suits
Nick Cave, an artist and educator working out of Chicago, is the creator of full body “soundsuits” which are made from layers of metal, plastic, fabric, hair, found objects, and other things that rub together to make noise. Many of Cave’s soundsuits are politically/socially inspired and have deeper meanings than just looking fantastic and making rustle sounds. Read On!
An Arsenal of Oddstruments
Ken Butler’s “hybrid instruments” - Axe, crossbow, and assault rifle violins? Shovel tablas, easel guitars, umbrella igils, and toothbrush violas? Oh my! Watch Ken put a mic in his mouth and play his entire face! Read On!
The Longest Concert Ever Has Reached Its 6th Note!
The slowest piece of music ever is currently being played in the church of St. Burchardi in Halberstadt, Germany. John Cage’s project is called ORGAN2/ASLSP (for ‘as slow as possible’). It began in 2000 and has just reached it’s sixth note! Read On!
Playing the US/Mexico Border With Instruments of Mass Percussion
An interesting sound project by Glenn Weyant: “The Anta Project is a series of recordings blended in a multi-track laptop environment to create a single sonic collage of the U.S./Mexico border near Nogales, Arizona.” Read On!
How to Play a Building
If you haven’t heard about this already, it’s a pretty cool idea. Basically, David Byrne attached a bunch of lopsided motors and solenoids to the structural steel in an old ferry station/slaughter house in New York City. The motors/solenoids, controlled by a recycled organ, vibrate/strike different elements of the building such as pipes, radiators, girders, columns, and beams! No amplification was used in the project; just the natural resonance of the building itself. Read On!
Q&A With Sculptor Bruce Gray
Bruce Gray has been a full time sculptor since 1989 when he, on a creative whim, moved to Los Angeles, CA and picked up his first blow torch. Beginning with the “figure it out as you go method,” Bruce has made a name for himself with his humorously giant and pink high-heeled-shoes sculptures, oversized swiss cheese blocks, and plinko-style sound racks. Read On!
iBand, the iPhone Musical Trio
iBand is a trio of techie musicians who play two iPhones and an iPod Touch (and occasionally a Nintendo DS). Read On!
Thailand’s Elephant Orchestra
Speaking of animal musicians, The Thai Elephant Orchestra is just that. Composed of up to sixteen elephants, this wild group of musicians perform human-guided musical improvisations on enormous xylophones, harmonicas, drums, gongs and other instruments. Read On!
The Wyld Men - Musical Vegetable Theater
The art of cooking and the art of music merge into a new realm of expression thanks to vegetable musicians like the Wyld Men and the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra! Vegetables are, no doubt, a great, edible gift from the earth. But to fully appreciate this gift, one must indulge in everything the vegetable has to offer. Read On!
The Bazaar Sounds of Snow
Jamie Drouin and Lance Olsen have recorded themselves thoughtfully interacting with a plot of snow. Their 2 CD set is entitled “Snow:Field.” CD 1 features the recordings and CD 2 features the “remixes.” The music (if you should call it that) is interesting enough. I’ve had track 07 on loop for about 45 minutes while doing this research and have found the subtle itchy-scratchy sounds to be a very alien but pleasant ambiance. Read On!
ArcAttack’s Musical Tesla Coils (Shocking!)
From Austin, Texas: An advanced composition of Tesla coils, robotic drums, and a computer controlled, self-resonating pipe organ makes ArcAttack and Resonance Studios one wildly electrifying group of sounds. Their main venue is the club/dance/spirit scene and I could definitely picture ArcAttack performing downtown with some high budget videography (as if the 10ft electricity-arcs weren’t captivating enough). ArcAttack has a sound distinct from anything I’ve ever heard before. Read On!
Tree-Listeners Hear Trees Drinking
Alex Metcalf’s “Tree Listening Installation“: Taken directly from Alex’s website: As you approach the installation you will see 9 sets of headphones suspended from the branches of a very large and impressive Sessile Oak tree, and a beautiful Chestnut Leaved Oak. Read On!
The Acoustics Of Vegetables: Vienna Vegetable Orchestra
Incredibly innovative with their sound and style, the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra plays nothing but vegetables and kitchen tools. Consisting of eleven musicians, one cook, and one sound engineer, the orchestra incorporates a spectrum musical styles including contemporary music, free jazz, noise, dub, experimental electronic, and house beets. Some of their instruments include onion peels, pepper trumpets, leek violins, pumpkin bongos, carrot flutes, and cucumberphones. Read On!
Smoking Didgeridoo Bursts Into Flames
This is an incredible video of Bruce Copley, world-renowned musician-healer-educator, playing the ancient fire stick technique. Read On!