Category: Final Project

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Desktop of a Disillusioned

My desktop narrative is meant to tell the every-day internet life of a conspiracy theorist internet addict in a bit of a comedic fashion, with an emphasis on the sound-track so to speak.

I made all of my sounds first and as I modified it I created a story around them, at first I thought of a man extremely high on drugs struggling to use a computer due to the warped nature of the sounds, notably the incoming call sound that goes across the piece, but that wasn’t an extremely interesting story to say the least, so influenced by this I thought of this man who is distracted and all over the place in this cluttered space of the desktop not because he is high but rather because he is doing something we all have done from time to time on the internet, delve into the internet, grasp straws with conspiracy theories and argue with people online. In a sense the actions reflective of internet addiction that he takes can be considered drug-like in their own right akin to the original thought.

As I was editing the idea developed into something a bit more complex, tackling the issue of the excess of information, which ironically makes it is even harder to find the truth these days, and so people are beginning to subscribe to their own personal truths, as the desktop user in my video does watching Alex Jones and lurking websites that solidify his beliefs, rather than peering into those that reflect the other side, ignoring rebuttal to the lack of evidence in what he considers fact.

It mostly consists of desktop sounds, notifications, and a piece of a song extremely warped in different fashions, this allowed me to focus more on just the user and the sounds but it also emphasizes the fact that this is an isolated or delusional person behind the screen separated from truth and reality.

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Golan Levin: a telesymphony

Telesymphony by Golan Levin, Gregory Shakar, & Scott Gibbons, is a very cool piece due to both the nature of the sounds and the way in which they were orchestrated.

In the piece each audience members phones are treated as its own instrument, set off by the creators, of course the idea behind the composition is fascinating too, focusing on the sounds we carry in our pocket with us every day, reminiscent of other sound artists we’ve discussed focusing on the sounds of everyday life.

While the specific sounds in it emitted from the phones are ancient in technological lifespans, now over 15 years old, the idea behind them is the same they still reflect the sounds that define a part of everyday life.

The important thing about this concert is to try to indicate that everyone is already carrying enough musical equipment in their pocket to participate in an orchestral ensemble

I think these days sampling desktop & mobile sounds is a lot more common, especially with the emergence of internet popular like  Vaporwave and the PC music record label about 5 years ago, however it’s fascinating to see these sounds be highlighted in a performance piece, albeit slightly less musical, over a decade before these forms of music began taking off, especially in the form of an ensemble, really emphasizing the fact that these sounds are relevant in our everyday life and makes the attendee not just feel like they’re a small part of the experience but actually be the experience. The chiptune nature of the older mobile sounds is sonically also appealing in a different way than the bubbly modern notification sounds.

The idea Golan Levin mentions of exploring “the musical possibilities of something that people don’t ordinarily think about” is something that will heavily influence my work for the end of the semester.