JTTP 2010

Jeu de temps / Times Play, CEC+ACMA

Results / Résultats

For JTTP 2010, the CEC collaborated with Australasian Computer Music Association (ACMA). Similar to the collaboration in 2003 with the UK’s Sonic Arts Network (SAN) and in 2009 with Germany’s national electroacoustic association (DEGEM), submissions from both Canada and Australasia were accepted. Prizes were awarded to both the Canadian and Australasian top-placing composers.

Gagnants / Winners | Participants | Prix / Awards | Jury | CD Cache 2010 | Soumissions / Submissions

Winners / Gagnants

Canadian

1. Charles Quevillon — Au Boute (21:42 / 2010)
2. Adam Basanta — a glass is not a glass (18:55 / 2009)
3. Émilie Payeur — Triptyque (11:09 / 2010)
4. Guillaume Campion — Quadriforis (10:00 / 2010)
5. Valérie Delaney — La cité de verre (8:05 / 2009)

Exceptionally for JTTP 2010 the jury also awards an Honourable Mention for a videomusic work:

• Pierre Paré-Blais — Spiralling (8:23 / 2010)

Australasian

1. Nic McConaghy — Single Origin (4:17 / 2010)
2. Jack Hooker — Field Murmur (5:44 / 2010)
3. Jeremy Coubrough — The Spectre of the “Delusion of the Fury” (6:15 / 2010)
4. Blake Johnston — Submerge (6:45 / 2010)
5. Mark Oliveiro — In Maluga (8:56 / 2009)

The top 5 placing composers as selected by the international jury receive CEC or ACMA memberships and over $6000 worth of prizes donated by our Project Partners: DVDs and CDs, books and journals. Additionally, the top 3 placing composers receive a total of $700 in cash prizes.

CD Cache 2010

Participants

This year a total of 69 composers submitted their work to the project. By clicking on the names below you can read programme notes and biographies for each work submitted, and listen to works submitted to the project.

Awards and Project Partners / Prix et partenaires

We are extremely grateful for the continuing support of our many Project Partners, who help ensure the success of the project and help us recognize the work of the upcoming generation of composers / sound artists. Several people and institutions from Canada and abroad donate cash, recordings, books and journals for prizes awarded to the top 5 placing composers. JTTP Media Partners broadcast and diffuse works in concert from the project.

If you wish to make a donation or become a Project Partner for the next edition of JTTP, please contact the JTTP Project Manager.

Jury

This year’s international jury was made up of 49 individuals having a variety of backgrounds and experiences: composers, performers, representatives from various international bodies, radio personalities, electroacoustic educators and past JTTP Top 5 winners.

Submissions / Soumissions

Aaron R. ACOSTA — Deep Field (3:37 / 2010)

"Deep Field" is an electro acoustic music piece that uses synthesis, samples and mixed with East Indian instruments to create my aural interpolation of the Hubble Telescope’s publication of the deepest galaxies ever imaged. These images inspired me; this piece uses sound represents the various galaxies, their motions and radiation.

Aaron Acosta is a graduate from the College of Santa Fe with a BA in Sound Design in Media in 2002. This is a Self Designed major that consists of studies in Theatre, Film, and Music. Sound helps us interpret the world in a unique way with frequency, amplitude and time: he chooses to explore these realms. He is involved with electro acoustic composition as well as more traditional composition and currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Two CDs called "frequency, amplitude and time" and "wave" are available from Aaron Acosta at www.cdbaby.com/all/benkei Subscriber: Electronic Music Foundation. Member USITT & CITT.

Laurent AGLAT — Pays sages (3:50 / 2007)

Pays sages was created for an art movie made by Annie-Claude Roberge. It is describing a world of water with its kindness and its roughness.

PhD music composition from Universite de Montréal avec Robert Normandeau and Isabelle Panneton in 2009. Master degree in composition with Jose Evangelista. Since 2000, freelance composer for cinema, tv, commercials, big and small ensembles and producer of rock music.

Kati AGÓCS — Elysium (12:14 / 2010)

Frederic ARBOUR — Vortexed (9:51 / 2008)

Born in 1975 in Montréal, Qc. Drummer at the age of 14 to 22, performed and toured in over 20 countries with various, Hardcore/Grindcore bands. From 23 till today, has formed 3 solo projects in the Ambient / Experimental / IDM genres; Instincts, Visions and Polaire, released 4 albums and various compilation tracks under these names and have also been involved, and the main composer for the Post Rock / Metal band Longing For Dawn, with 3 full lengths album now released. And since 2002 have been operating Cyclic Law records, specialized in Ambient soundscapes with over 30 releases from Canadian and international acts.

Jane AUBOURG — Finding Frangipanis (4:55 / 2008)

Finding Frangipanis was written as part of an album of works for electric violin and loop/delay. It is performed live, with no pre-recordings. It recently won the 2010 MusicOz Award for Best Instrumental Artist.

Jane Aubourg is a contemporary electric violinist and composer. She is a dynamic performer and her music is innovative and creatively fresh. Jane performs on an electric violin and uses various types of digital effects in her repertoire and compositions. She has also performed in various bands and ensembles playing in a wide range of genre styles including jazz, rock, pop and tango, using these as influences in her own work, which can be described as minimalist, world and soundtrack. Jane has been a regular guest at folk festivals and this year won the 2010 MusicOz Best Instrumental Artist Award with her song Finding Frangipanis. Jane studied classical violin at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music, completing her violin and theory exams. She is currently studying composition at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Jane released her debut album Ostinato in 2009, featuring her original compositions for electric violin and digital delay and loops. Her second album Looking For Blue, which will add art, film and costume to the mix, will be released in September 2010.

Glenn AUSTIN — In the light (3:31 / 2009)

Pulse.

Glenn Austin was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At a very young age he showed a keen interest in the art of percussion — first hitting pots and pans in his parents’ kitchen and then air drumming in the back seat of the family car. After high school, Glenn attended Dalhousie University, enrolling in the Classical Music Program. He also attended the Atlantic Jazz Festival Creative Music Workshops and studied with a wealth of international clinicians. There he received the Performance Galaxie Rising Star Award, in conjunction with the Atlantic Jazz Festival. Glenn also studied at the Drummers Collective in New York City, the Universität der Künste in Berlin, Germany and completed a BFA in Integrative Music Studies from Concordia University, Montréal. As a freelance musician he plays drums, a variety of percussion instruments and electronics. Currently he is working on developing electronic music for film, television and multi-media productions.

Guillaume BARRETTE — Pulsation Symbiotique (9:08 / 2009)

Pulsation symbiotique est la deuxième oeuvre basée sur l’idée de générer une pièce électroacoustique entièrement conçue à partir de sources sonores de nature instrumentale. Cette composition, située aux limites du monde instrumental et de l’électroacoustique, est un jeu continu entre la recherche de timbres sonores, de mélodies et de motifs rythmiques. C’est une fusion des genres; autant du point de vue de la composition que de l’instrumentation. Elle comprend des instruments tels le violon, la flûte, le saxophone, le piano, la trompette, le gangsa, l’ugal, le djembé… tous associés, fusionnés ou modifiés à l’aide des techniques de manipulation sonore.

Guillaume Barrette, originaire de la ville de Québec, commence sa formation musicale à l’école secondaire (concerts de groupes, orchestre d’harmonie, stage band). Il poursuit ensuite ses études au cégep de Sainte-Foy où il aborde les principes de la musique (guitare classique, guitare jazz et théorie) et des sciences de la nature dans un double DEC. Pour parfaire sa démarche de création, il décide d’associer ses champs d’intérêt que sont la musique, les sciences, la composition et l’informatique pour débuter un cursus en composition électroacoustique à l’Université de Montréal.

Born in Québec City, Guillaume Barrette started his musical studies in high school (group concerts, band, stage band). Later he was admitted to Cegep de Sainte-Foy where he learnt the principles of music and science in a double-DEC. During this time, he also studied classical guitar and jazz guitar. In order to perfect his creative approach, he decided to combine his interests — i.e. music, science, composition and computer science — and engaged in an electroacoustic composition programme at Université de Montréal.

Adam BASANTA — a glass is not a glass (18:56 / 2009)

"a glass is a glass is a glass" – adapted from Gertrude Stein
"Ceci n’est pas une verre" – adapted from René Magritte

The sound of a common wine glass encapsulates both its banal everyday use as well as the inherent musicality of everyday objects. This ordinary sound, excited by various means, is treated with a metaphoric sonic magnifying lens, highlighting its various characteristics: attack and resonance, harmonicity and inharmonicity, rhythm and texture.

The untreated sound functions as both departure and arrival points, allowing elastic musical elaborations between each concréte bookend. This interplay, between the recognizable quotidian sound and its more abstract modulations, acts as the main developmental motif in the piece, and is explored throughout eleven intertwined movements.

Adam Basanta is completing a BFA in music composition at SFU, studying electroacoustic composition with Barry Truax and Arne Eigenfeldt. He is particularly interested in semiotic and ecological approaches to electroacoustic composition, mixed music, binaural phonography, soundscape compositions and found sound environments. He has collaborated with choreographers Henry Daniel, Troika Ranch (NY/Berlin), and Kinesis Dance (Vancouver). His compositions have been performed at concerts, conferences and festivals throughout North America, Europe and Asia, and have been recipients of national and international awards.

Michael BERGER — Engine (5:00 / 2010)

"Engine" is a two-channel rhythmic exploration that seeks to obscure and draw out the perceptual boundaries that exist between its found materials.

Michael Berger is presently in the third year of the DMA in Composition program at Stanford University, with renewed funding from the SSHRC, and in 2010 received his Master of Musical Arts in Music, Science and Technology from Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). His primary focus recently has been on the perceptual aspects of performance and art in time.

Jarryd BIRD — Larvae (19:11 / 2010)

Larvae was written using the most simple of instruments, space; how! ever this space has been transformed through time based processing to produce the piece that you hear. The piece aims to reproduce sounds of moth larvae, and at times, moths themselves going through dramatic changes and an ultimately destructive conclusion.

Jarryd Bird is a Western Australian electronic composer currently studying at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He’s received awards for his song writing and instrumental talents while learning his craft at Trinity College. He now spends most of his talents creating electronic music that tries to exemplify emotions present in all sounds. Using various software and recording techniques, Jarryd tries to compose pieces that express times of doom and melancholy, with no favouritism towards any specific instruments.

Chris BLACK — Marvel Q (9:07 / 2009)

The source material for Marvel Q consists of electromagnetic activity caused by the interplay between a computer hard drive and numerous hacked analogue circuitry. A variety of transducers sensitive to the microscopic intricacies of electromagnetic interference were attached to the exterior surface of a laptop in order to detect the interior sound world of a computer in the act of processing data. These source sounds were then applied to a digital software program for intermediate processing. In the context of this composition glitch artifacts (in the form of white noise and iterative clicks and pops) are cherished as valued sound events and sound objects. Conceptually Marvel Q delights in the notion of an ’expiring fidelity’. For the composer Marvel Q represents a commentary on the fragile nature of technological media and its inevitable passing into obsolescence.

Chris Black is a New Zealand based sound artist. Aside from composing radiophonic works, he is also actively involved in sound installation design and electronic performance theatre. The artist is currently undertaking postgraduate studies at the New Zealand School of Music majoring in Sonic Art/Composition.

Guillaume CAMPION — Quadriforis (10:00 / 2010)

Librement inspirée de deux essais de l’écrivain Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception et Heaven and Hell, Quadriforis se divise en quatre parties: Ouverture (0:00–2:23), Vertiges (2:23–4:20), Nuages (4:20–7:08) et Envol (7:08–10:00).

Freely inspired by two Aldous Huxley works, The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, Quadriforis is structured in four parts: Ouverture (0:00–2:23), Vertigo (2:23–4:20), Clouds (4:20–7:08) and Flight (7:08–10:00).

C’est entre mer et montagnes, dans sa Gaspésie natale, que Guillaume Campion s’initie à la pratique instrumentale et à la composition. Il se perfectionne ensuite dans l’interprétation de la guitare classique au Campus Notre-Dame-de-Foy (Québec). Son parcours collégial est ponctué par diverses participations et distinctions lors de concours de musique classique. Sentant le désir d’explorer autre chose, il choisit par la suite de s’en remettre à son imaginaire et à son intérêt pour les musiques nouvelles en entreprenant un baccalauréat en composition électroacoustique à l’Université de Montréal en septembre 2009.

It is between the ocean and mountains of his native Gaspésie that Guillaume Campion first began to perform and compose. He later continued his studies in classical guitar performance at Campus Notre-Dame-de-Foy (Québec). His collegial path is complemented by his participation in and awards received from various Classical Music competitions. Feeling the need to explore further, he decided to expand on his own creative energies and interest in New Music through a Bachelor’s in electroacoustic composition at the Université de Montréal in September 2009.

Shi Ying CHEN — Commingle (5:14 / 2010)

"Commingle" was composed in May 2010. As the name of the piece, "Commingle" used four different types of materials to compose. The piece is clearly divided into three parts and materials were gradually introduced into the piece. Drum cymbals, violin, coins and water are the materials I recorded for "Commingle". The piece introduced by cymbals and violin. Middle section is more focused on coins and water sound to create tension to the piece. "Commingle" ends with a combination of different materials. Materials has been fragmented and altered to fit into the arrangement easily. "Commingle" is a piece which different materials combined rather than transform from one material to another.

Maxime CORBEIL-PERRON — Atomes (11:40 / 2010)

Chimique. Électrique. Synthétique. Mécanique. Atomes.

Maxime étudie présentement la composition électroacoustique au CMM. Il fait aussi parti du groupe électronique Recepteurz ainsi que le duo post-rock Pélican Noir.

Guillaume CÔTÉ — La statique dans le ciel masque l’horizon (6:43 / 2010)

Cette pièce s’appuie sur l’idée que nous sommes une société de l’information, société chaotique dans laquelle nous ne pouvons tout saisir ce qui est à notre portée. Selon le philosophe français Michel Serre, cette société du chaos, analogue à un perpétuel bruit blanc, est stérilisée par un bombardement d’informations et la tâche insurmontable de lui trouver une pertinence. Celle-ci devient muette, et ce malgré une suractivité apparente.

This piece starts form the idea that we live in an information-based society, a chaotic society in which it is impossible to get everything within our reach. According to the french thinker Michel Serre, this society of chaos, akin to a perpetual white noise, is sterilized by a constant flow of information and the impossible task of finding relevance to it. It then becomes silent, mute, in spite of visible unrest and hyperactivity.

Guillaume Côté est un artiste sonore privilégiant un discours musical basé sur les contrastes, laissant pleine liberté à l’intéressante dualité que propose sons bruités et instruments acoustiques. Sa démarche artistique repose essentiellement sur la recherche du beau dans l’imperfection des choses. Il étudie présentement en composition électroacoustique à l’Université de Montréal.

Guillaume Côté is a young sound artist with a marked preference for a musical discourse based on contrasts, leaving full liberty to noisy sounds and acoustic instruments. His artistic process essentially rests in the search for beauty in things’ imperfections. He is presently a student of electroacoustic composition at l’Université de Montréal.

Jeremy COUBROUGH — The Spectre of the “Delusion of the Fury” (6:15 / 2010)

This piece was sort-of inspired by Harry Partch’s ’Delusion of the Fury’. I had been listening to the piece quite a lot before I started working on my composition. I found I couldn’t avoid it’s influence, especially once I started working with percussive sound sources. Hence the ’spectre’ of the title. This is also an reference to the use of spectral processing the piece.

Jeremy Coubrough is a student in Sonic Arts at the New Zealand School of Music.

Natalie CRINGLE — The Collapse of Empires (5:55 / 2010)

Throughout history man has built elaborate empires to control people, nature, and materials. Empires have ruled by raping and pillaging the lands of others. The word in itself, "empire," has a somewhat dark connotation to it. As empires grow, like any living entity, they follow the cycle of life. This piece tells the story of a great collapse and the aftermath of a land rebuilding itself. The sharp, jarring, harsh, and awkward sounds represent the overspill of power within the empire, that it no longer has control, and is decaying rapidly. Through all deaths there are births, a regeneration of the land. The warm sounding, thick, luscious, organic sounds symbolize the matter piecing itself together again. Perhaps one could draw an analogy between the struggles and the dualities within one’s mind and the struggles within the rise and fall of a seemingly omnipotent force. Both face a massive transformation: from dark to light, from death to birth, from terror to freedom. Through the collapse of any empire there is a birth of a new way of life.

Newcomer composer Natalie Cringle was born in 1985 in Vancouver. Music became her primary passion over the years, learning guitar, singing and piano. She is currently enrolled in Langara College’s Electronic Music Production Program and has started producing a variety of works of her own both acoustic and electronic. She has also scored short films for independent filmmakers in Vancouver. Through her schooling she developed a particular interest in the electroacoustic music scene, finding appeal in the expressions of imagery or ideas through the medium of sound. Drawing out emotion through sound design or recordings, and morphing these sounds into stories that are heard and told, has become a creative channel and an alluring world of escape for her. This progressive genre is inspiring for it’s evolving and inimitable style, leaving interpretations wide open for the listener. With dedication and perseverance, Natalie continues to produce works of all styles, contributing to her growing musical career.

Valérie DELANEY — La cité de verre (8:05 / 2009)

Inspiré du Cycle de Fondation par Isaac Asimov. Entourée de ses murs translucides, Je descends l’escalier qui mène en son cœur.

Inspired by the Foundation Cycle by Isaac Asimov Surrounded by its translucid walls, I’m going down the stairs leading towards it’s heart.

Valérie Delaney est née à Montréal en 1982. Elle détient un baccalauréat en composition électroacoustique de l’université de Montréal, où elle a étudié avec Jean Piché, Gilles Gobeil, Robert Normandeau et Martin Bédard. Elle a également un diplôme en conception sonore du Cégep de Drummondville et une formation en piano classique. Valérie a remporté le 3ème prix avec sa pièce La cité de verre, lors de la 30ème édition du Concours international Musique Bruitiste Luigi Russolo — Rossana Maggia, Annecy (France) / Varèse (Italie). Finaliste lors de la compétition internationale Musica Nova 2007 à Prague, sa pièce Different Shades of Blue fut récipiendaire d’un prix spécial dans la catégorie « composition par un jeune compositeur ». Cette pièce faisait partie du projet Jeu de temps / Times Play de la communauté électroacoustique canadienne et est incluse sur la compilation Cache 2007. Collaboratrice au journal Quartier Libre, sa critique du film Libanais Caramel a reçu le prix de la meilleure chronique culturelle de l’année 2008. Dans ses pièces électroacoustiques, Valérie privilégie les possibilités symboliques et poétiques du son. Des paysages sonores oniriques, organiques. Une incursion dans cet univers hors du temps, où s’entrelacent couleurs, mouvements et textures.

Valérie Delaney (Montréal, 1982) holds a Bachelor’s degree in electroacoustic composition from the Université de Montréal where she studied with Jean Piché, Gilles Gobeil, Robert Normandeau and Martin Bédard. She also obtained a college degree in sound design from the Cégep of Drummondville and has a background in classical piano. Valérie was awarded Third Prize for her electroacoustic piece La cité de verre (The Glass City) in the 30th edition of the International Bruitist Music Contest Luigi Russolo — Rossana Maggia, Annecy (France) / Varese (Italy). Finalist in the 2007 Musica Nova competition in Prague, Valérie received a special prize in the "Composition by a Young Composer" category for Different Shades of Blue. This work was part of the CEC’s Jeu de temps / Times Play project and was selected for inclusion on the CD Cache 2007. Contributor to the newspaper Quartier Libre as a film critic, her article of the Libanese film Caramel was awarded the "Best Cultural Article" prize of the year 2008. Valérie focuses on the symbolic and poetic possibilities of the sound. We are cast into these dream-like, organic soundscapes where colors, movements and textures merge together.

Maxime ETHIER — 2010, avant l’Odyssée (11:08 / 2010)

2010, avant l’orage, pendant, puis apres. 2010, entre l’homme et la machine, entre l’industrie et la culture. 2010, entre l’impression et la certitude, 2010, avant que tout ne s’efface,

MAxime a grandi dans la musicale région de Lanaudière. Après un CEGEP en musique à Joliette, il poursuit en arrangement jazz au CEGEP St-laurent. Multi-instrumentiste, la composition prend une place d’autant plus importante lors de son séjour à l’université de Montréal ou il fait son BACC en composition mixte. À son actif, beaucoup de trames sonores pour le court métrage, la télévision, la danse et l’animation.

MAx was born in Lanaudière, where he did his first 2 years of CEGEP where he studied music. He moved in Montréal to complete his degree with a jazz arrangement technic in CEGEP St-Laurent. Multi-instrument player,composition takes place when he started a BACC at university of Montréal in mixt composition. He has done lots of composition for movies, television, danse and animated movies.

Jesse FEGELMAN — Four Functions (4:00 / 2010)

Four Functions is the first piece in a set of computer works as part of a survey of compositional computer music software. It uses four mathematical functions to inform four copies of the same base instrument what to play, as each instrument only requires a single number to determine all of its parameters (some fixed, some stochastic).

Jesse Fegelman is currently a PhD candidate at York University in Music. He is interested in investigating the interaction between instrumental and computer performers, and writing music where both types of performers can use their own skills to their fullest.

Tomas FUREY — Eliot (17:16 / 2010)

« Eliot » est une pièce en trois mouvement. Le premier mouvement - « Question? » a été basé sur un texte improvisé parlant d’un questionnement sur l’existence et les doutes que celle-ci peut provoquer. L’idée de départ du deuxième mouvement - « Essai », est le premier jet. Ce mouvement est divisé en quatre sous-sections, toutes ont un lien soit morphologique, soit extramusical. Le troisième mouvement - « Obsession » est divisé en quatre sous-sections. Le piano prend la place du discours. J’étais influencé par une étude pour piano de Bartòk (« image et réflexion », mikrokosmos 6). Je me suis donc inspiré des gestes musicaux proposés par la pièce. De là est venu l’idée de la répétition et de l’incrustation.

The first mouvement - "Question?" was based on a improvised text wich adresses the meaning of existence and the state of doubt provoqued by this questionning. The dynamic of a first draft inspired the second mouvement - "Essai". It is divided into four parts. They each are linked either conceptualy "extramusical" or by their morphology. The third mouvement - "obsession" is also divided into four parts. The piano takes the role of the narrative. I was influenced by a Bartòk etude for piano ("image et réflexion", mikrokosmos 6). In particular I worked on the gestures that I saw in this piece, wich proposed the notion of repetition and inlay.

Tomas Furey à étudié le piano classique au conservatoire municipal du XIVème arrondissement de Paris avec Mireille Philippe, puis au conservatoire national de la région de Paris avec Billy Heidi. Il étudie présentement au conservatoire de musique de Montréal (3e cycle) en composition électroacoustique avec Yves Daoust.

Tomas Furey studied classical piano at the conservatoire municipal du XIVème arrondissement de Paris with Mireille Philippe, then at the conservatoire national de la région de Paris with Billy Heidi. He is studying at the moment at the conservatoire de musique de Montréal (3e cycle) in composition electroaoucstic with Yves Daoust.

Brice GATINET — L’œil seul (6:15 / 2010)

«L’œil seul» est un hommage à la culture québécoise. Je volontairement utilisé la voix de Richard Desjardins lisant des poèmes de Marcel Saucier. J’ai ainsi mixé ces deux grandes personnalités québécoise avec des chansons indigène. J’ai aussi respecté l’histoire de ce pays dans la forme. J’ai entrepris des recherches afin de pouvoir compacter l’histoire depuis les premiers colons jusqu’à aujourd’hui. J’ai crée des masses sonores spécifique à chaque période afin de montrer la vitesse et l’accentuation de l’impact étrangère qui existe dans l’histoire du Quebec, notamment, bien sur, la culture anglo-saxonne.

Ses études l’ont amené à obtenir un deuxième cycle en musiques actuelles et en Jazz au Conservatoire de Musique de Chambéry et de Lyon. Durant ces années, il a, entre autres, étudié avec Pierre Drevet, Jean Andreo et effectué des master-class avec des artistes tels que Bojan Z ou encore Kurt Rosenwinkel. Il a aussi acquis de nombreuses expériences professionnelles en tant que compositeur, guitariste et pianiste. Arrivé à Montréal en 2007, il entreprend des études en composition instrumentale ce lui permet d’étoffer son champ de compétence et de s’immerger dans de nouveaux horizons musicaux. Actuellement en maîtrise en musique de creation à l’Université de Montréal, ses expériences diverses lui permettent de travailler dans divers domaines tels que le sound-design, la musique de création et la musique à l’image.

Thierry GAUTHIER — Portrait d’une femme (video — 8:49 / 2008)

Réalisation vidéo et musique : Thierry Gauthier

Portrait d’une femme est une composition vidéomusique abstraite faite à partir de gros plans et d’images macroscopiques d’une femme. La multiplication en images composites de cette même personne tend à démontrer la complexité de sa personnalité. La structure de l’œuvre se déploie en quatre sections «anatomiques» : La peau, les cheveux, le visage et la tête de cette femme.

Video production and music : Thierry Gauthier

Portrait of a woman is an abstract videomusic composed of close-ups and macroscopic images of a woman. The spawning heterogeneous images of the woman along with the sound/vision relationship reveal the complexity of her personality.

Thierry Gauthier est né en 1970 à Chicoutimi au Québec. Il compose de la musique, la produit et la diffuse depuis 1986 et c’est en 1989 qu’il s’établit à Montréal. Sa formation musicale fut longtemps autodidacte, mais il est aussi détenteur d’un diplôme (AEC) en conception sonore assistée par ordinateur (Musitechnic, 1998), d’un baccalauréat en composition électroacoustique (Université de Montréal, 2007) et il complète une maîtrise en composition électroacoustique et vidéomusique avec Jean Piché (Université de Montréal, 2008). Il est récipiendaire d’une mention aux Concours Internationaux de Bourges — Arts Electroniques (France 2009), d’une mention honorable (2e prix) au concours international de composition électroacoustique Musica Nova (République Tchèque, 2006), finaliste pour le 5e Concours International de Miniatures électroacoustiques (Espagne, 2008) et finaliste pour le concours Jeux de temps/Times Play — JTTP (Canada, 2005, 2007 et 2008). Le compositeur prolifique et éclectique se démarque par sa versatilité et ses techniques expérimentales employées. Sa démarche préconise l’imposition de contraintes et le développement de nouveaux processus. Thierry Gauthier sculpte le son, le triture de façon évolutive et explore le timbre et ses valeurs spectrales intrinsèques. Il fouille les microstructures sonores et fait jaillir de la matière sonore, des qualités inattendues. Il a reçu maintes commandes, il compose et produit de la musique pour films, vidéos, séries télévisées, documentaires, pièces de théâtre, multimédia, installations et performances multidisciplinaires. Artiste polyvalent, Thierry Gauthier réalise, enregistre, mixe et « masterise » en studio pour plusieurs projets et formations musicales. Musicien multi-instrumentiste, il a joué au sein d’une quinzaine de formations de toute factures et dans plus de 250 concerts à travers le monde : Canada, France, Belgique, Allemagne, Autriche, Suisse, République Tchèque et Slovaquie. Ses compositions (solo ou avec ensemble) se retrouvent sur plus d’une trentaine d’albums, distribués sur le marché local et international. Thierry Gauthier est un artiste multi disciplinaire. Outre sa grande passion pour la musique, il explora la peinture et maintenant, il redécouvre l’image et l’expression picturale. Il s’intéresse grandement à la vidéo et la photographie numérique.

Thierry Gauthier was born in 1970 in Chicoutimi, in the province of Québec. He has composed, produced and diffused music since 1986. He lives in Montréal since 1989. His musical training had been self-taught for a long time but he also has completed a diploma (A.E.C.) « computer assisted sound design » (Musitechnic, 1998), (BMus) « Electroacoustic music composition » (University of Montréal, 2007) and he is completing a (MMus) « Electroacoustic music and video composition » with Jean Piché (University of Montréal, 2008). He received a mention at Bourges International Competitions — Electronic Arts (France 2009), a honorary mention (2e prize) at the international electroacoustic music competition Musica Nova (Czech Republic, 2006), was finalist at the 5e Electroacoustics Miniatures International Contest (Spain, 2008) and was a finalist for the competition Jeux de temps/Times Play — JTTP (Canada, 2005, 2007 et 2008). The eclectic composer distinguishes himself by his versatility and by his experimental techniques and approach to composition. He frequently advocates the imposition of restrictions in his compositions and the development of new process. Thierry Gauthier is sculpting the sound, transforms the sound progressively and explores the tone and his spectral value. He scrutinizes the microstructure of musical sound and make unexpected qualities surge from within the sound material. He received numerous commissions for movies, art-videos, television series, theatre plays, documentaries, multimedia and multidisciplinary performances. Thierry Gauthier produced, recorded, mixed and mastered numerous projects, bands and musicians. He is a multi-instrumentalist and has performed within many bands of varying styles. He performed in more than 250 concerts across the world: Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. His compositions (solo or with an ensemble) can be found on more than thirty albums, distributed on the market. Thierry Gauthier is a multidisciplinary artist. Besides his tremendous passion for music, he has explored painting and now, he is rediscovering pictorial expression. He is also increasingly interested by digital video and photography.

Todd GRIFFITHS — yirdaki (7:07 / 2009)

The piece is composed using strictly cut, copy, and paste. No equalization, no effects, no reverse, no reverb, no delay, no compression, no limiting. All samples are Australian yirdakis (didgeridoos) recorded by the composer.

Todd Griffiths is a Concordia University fine arts student currently completing an undergrad in electroacoustic studies. Despite a fascination with acousmatic and ambient electronic composition, Todd spends much time recording avant-garde music and playing in an improvisational didgeridoo duo. While pondering a Masters degree in electronic music therapy and completing a minor in psychology, interest in sound/brain relationships are often the driving force behind imagination and expression during the compositional process. Being involved with the Montréal Sound Map project, the creation of CESSA (Concordia Electroacoustic Studies Students Association), the éuCuE concert series, and the Art Matters festival have all collaborated in broadening his viewpoint on sonic arts in Canada and inspired him to pursue endeavors in the field of sound.

Jack HOOKER — Field Murmur (5:44 / 2010)

Through the use of distinct soundscapes comprised of abstracted and somewhat ambiguous sonorities, Field Murmur is intended to give the impression of juxtaposing a natural soundscape with an industrial one, though without ever making a specific argument about it.

Jack Hooker is a New Zealand composer currently majoring in Sonic Arts at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington.

Véronique JACQUES — Skjátlast (7:04 / 2010)

Skjálast signifie errer.
L’atmosphère se compose de boîte à musique, de voix paisibles qui s’entremêlent avec les forces de la nature.
Les pages tournent, le vent souffle et le grincement nous berce.
Des idées qui avancent, qui s’entrechoquent ou encore, qui ne sont qu’illusion.
C’est quelque chose à quoi l’on ne réfléchi pas étant enfant, on se laisse porter, tout simplement.

Véronique Jacques (Montréal, 1986) Après une formation classique en violoncelle, ses études universitaires se sont dirigées vers la composition électroacoustique. L’exploration d’une ambiance et d’une découverte des matériaux sonores sont un univers de possibilités infinis qui sont pour elle sources d’inspirations. Dans le futur, son désir est de créer une musicalité empreinte de ses connaissances en musique classique et des technologies modernes.

Jay Bundy JOHNSON — Dusk (5:30 / 2010)

Soundscapes often reference place with the notion of time acting in direct relationship to duration. In the case of Dusk, the sonics suggest a specific moment in time (as a bird has its night call).

Jay Bundy Johnson is primarily a visual artist with works in collections in Canada and abroad.

Blake JOHNSTON — Submerge (6:45 / 2010)

The piece derives from an idea of evolution of minute sonic objects to large environments. The piece takes the listener through water bassed sonic objects from as small as a wine glass to an aquatic environment.

Blake Johnston is currently studying Sonic Arts and Instrumental/Vocal Composition at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.

Nicole KIM — Dream Away the Time (11:39 / 2009)

’Dream Away the Time’ is a composition inspired by a silent film ’A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (1909) and is written for Koto, a 13-stringed Japanese zither, inside the piano and computer. This piece is an attempt to cross many boundaries and doing away with some stereotypes, especially with regard to music (for) film and film (for) music. With the Koto, several traditional cliches were quoted and placed out of context in an attempt to make the instrument’s timbre as free as possible from its cultural stereotype. The piano is treated as a percussive instrument or rather an sound object as its strings are beaten with the both the soft and wooden part of mallets, while its melodic side is brought out when it is plucked with Koto nails and strummed in glissandi. The sound of the instruments is diffused into 4 channels using Max/MSP in the backdrop of a tape music track which is created using the sound samples of the Koto. ’A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (1909) Directed by Charles Kent, J. Stuart Blackton, USA (Courtesy of BFI Film Library)

Nicole Kim started her formal compositional studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2003. After completing her bachelor’s degree in 2007, she moved to Japan after receiving the Japanese government scholarship, in order to continue her studies in music with an emphasis on Asian traditional music at Tokyo University of the Arts where she just started her Ph.D program this year. Her compositions have been selected for the ICMC 2009, 60x60 2010 and other music festivals in the US.

Stéfan KOZMINCHUK — Metal (14:08 / 2008)

Cette pièce se veut un voyage à travers la genèse de la musique industrielle, où des sons singuliers finissent par se rencontrer pour finalement former ce que nous percevons comme étant du rock industriel.

This piece is supposed to be a voyage through the genesis of industrial music, where single sounds slowly come together to form what we now perceive as Industrial Rock.

Stefan Kozminchuk est originaire de Gatineau, Québec, où il a commencé son apprentissage de la trompette classique. Après s’être mérité deux certificats du Royal Conservatory of Music et un diplôme d’études collégiales en musique classique, il a terminé son baccalauréat en composition électroacoustique à l’Université de Montréal au cours duquel il a étudié auprès de Robert Normandeau, Jean Piché, Louis Dufort et Georges Forget.

Stefan Kozminchuk grew up in Gatineau, Québec, where he first learned to play the classical trumpet. After earning two certificates from the Royal Conservatory of Music and a classical music degree in college, he completed his bachelor’s in electroacoustic composition at the University of Montréal, where he studied with Robert Normandeau, Jean Piché, Louis Dufort and Georges Forget.

Frédéric LAFLAMME — Machine-poétique (video — 3:07 / 2009)

Une ode à la machine. La machine fascinante et terrifiante.

Stéphanie LAVIGNE — Aube (5:05 / 2010)

«Aube» est la peinture d’un paysage de nuit, alors que l’aube se lève. Les premiers éclats de lumière transforment soudainement le paysage auparavant nocturne, créant une multitude de nouvelles couleurs et de nouvelles ambiances. L’inspiration est minimaliste et impressionniste.

This composition is a nocturne landscape of one night slowly transforming as the daylight arise, creating new colors and ambiances. The inspiration has a touch of minimalism and impressionnalism.

Stéphanie fait ses débuts en compositions électroacoustiques avec Thierry Gauthier lors de sa troisième année au Baccalauréat en Musique de l’Université de Montréal. Bien qu’elle commença ses études en musique par l’interprétation au piano et puis à la flûte traversière classique au Cégep de Saint-Laurent, sa grande curiosité et son ouverture d’esprit la pousse à découvrir de nouveaux horizons.

Stephanie started learning the piano at the age of 11, and then the flute at the age of 13 in a self-taught way. Later, she entered Cégep Saint-Laurent in performance for flute. She is now completing her bachelor of music at the University of Montreal, and her interest for different fields of music led her to start studying electroacoustic composition during this last 2009–10 year.

Joel LAVOIE — Iterare (Les chemins d’une pensée) (7:20 / 2009)

Si seulement j’avais su que ma voix n’était qu’une onde… Le seul regret que j’ai c’est de n’avoir pus saisir l’essence de ses pensées… De ces sons découle des maux, les itérations du dernier espoir… Ensemble, peut-être entendrons-nous le millième mot de l’image…

Né à montréal en 1987. Passionné de musique et de technologie, il développe rapidement un intérêt pour les musiques expérimentales et nouvelles. Diplomé du cégep de Drummondville en 2005 dans le programme de Sonorisation et enregistrement. Il décide de poursuivre ses études dans le domaines de la composition électroacoustique à l’Université de Montréal, études qui se déroulent encore en ce moment avec les compositeur de renoms Jean Piché et Robert Normandeau. Il a réalisé divers projets tant au niveau de l’enregistrement en studio ou de la composition et cela dans plusieurs domaines (théatre, cours-métrages, danse et mixages d’albums variés).

Sébastien LAVOIE — In My Camaro (8:30 / 2010)

Oubliant délibérément toute référence à des causes instrumentales ou à des significations musicales préexistantes, nous cherchons alors à nous consacrer entièrement et exclusivement à l’écoute, à surprendre ainsi les cheminements instinctifs qui mènent du pur «sonore» au pur «musical». Telle est la suggestion de l’acousmatique: nier l’instrument et le conditionnement culturel, mettre face à nous le sonore et son «possible» musical. (Pierre Schaeffer)

Écouter la musique dans le son. Voilà mon approche compositionnel pour cette pièce acousmatique. En tant que mélomane, mon objectif est aussi de prendre habitude de faire une corrélation très personnelle avec mes sons enregistrés et les sensations musicales ressentis. L’usage de passages calmes fut mis en opposition avec des moments actifs, de varier entre temps plus «lourds» et des temps plus «légers». Il s’agit d’extirper la mélodie, l’harmonie et d’y révéler cette matière contenues dans ses sons et matériaux bruts. Ainsi, écoutons le moteur de la Camaro faire de la musique.

To hear the music within the sound. That was my compositional approach for this acousmatic piece. As a music aficionado, my objective is to try to make correlation between my recordings (sound objects) and the musical sense it provides me. The use of relaxing sections was put in contrast to more active climaxes. My goal was to extricate the melody, the harmony and to reveal these elements contained within my sound objects. Thus, let us hear the engine of the Camaro make music.

Sébastien Lavoie découvre les œuvres de Jean-Claude Risset et Francis Dhomont durant ces études au CéGEP Vanier. Cela généra les assises de son intérêt pour éventuellement étudier la composition électroacoustique, ce qu’il fait présentement sous la tutelle de Robert Normandeau et Georges Forget. Sébastien se considère comme faisant partie de cette nouvelle génération d’étudiants en musique qui utilisent le « Laptop » comme instrument musical. Et cet outil de composition lui permet de se développer autant sur scène que dans un studio. Explorateur sonore, il parcourt les différentes avenues bruyantes et musicales afin de saisir et de composer les chemins menant vers des sons nouveaux.

During his Classical Singing studies at Vanier College, Sebastien Lavoie discovers the work of Jean-Claude Risset and Francis Dhomont at the notable concert series « Rien à Voir ». That was the foundation that led him to study electroacoustic composition, which he is currently doing at Université de Montréal, under the guidance of Robert Normandeau. Sound explorator, Sebastien travels through the diverse avenues of noise and music in order to capture and compose the novel sounds.

Gabriel LEDOUX — Le bruit, c’est comment je me sens (5:50 / 2010)

Le bruit, c’est comment je me sens.

Gabriel Ledoux (*1988) débute ses études universitaires en interprétation classique dans la classe d’Alvaro Pierri. Ensuite, il débutes un baccalauréat en composition électroacoustique à l’Université de Montréal dans la classe de Martin Bédard et Georges Forget, mais décide de continuer ses études en composition instrumentale au conservatoire de Montréal dans la classe de Serge Provost.

Jason LONG — Glass-Back (5:07 / 2006)

’Glassback’ is a piece inspired by all things Squash. Squash courts, with their phenominal reverberant qualities provided the raw sound material which was then transformed into an intense work reflecting the passion the composer has for the sport and to portray the roller-coaster ride of fierce competitive play.

Jason Long is a young composer from Christchurch, New Zealand. Graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Canterbury in 2008 including a year at the Utrecht Higher School of the arts in the Netherlands, Jason is now embarking on Post-graduate studies in composition and electroacoustic music.

Marguerite LUU — Zombii (5:23 / 2010)

Zombii, un petit conure à joues vertes, décide de faire un petit voyage dans le monde sauvage. Il rencontre d’autres oiseaux et d’autres bêtes dans la nature. Puis, il survole quelques terres pour finalement se réveiller, dans sa grande cage, chez son maître. Eh oui, il a rêvé!

Marguerite Luu s’intéresse à l’art sous toutes ses formes, que ce soit la peinture, la danse, le théâtre, etc. Elle se passionne surtout pour la musique depuis qu’elle est toute petite. Son premier instrument, dans laquelle elle mit beaucoup de temps à se pratiquer, est la flûte traversière, lors de ses études secondaires. Elle obtient son DEC en musique, au Cégep de St-Laurent, et s’oriente en électroacoustique pour l’université, où elle commence la composition. À part la musique, Marguerite Luu s’intéresse aussi à la photographie.

Theo MATHIEN — Notes on Burnt Cape (12:10 / 2010)

Comprised entirely of sounds captured at the North-Western tip of Newfoundland, the majority of which were recorded at the Burnt Cape ecological reserve and the Cape Norman light house, "Notes on Burnt Cape" was inspired by past-Poet Laureate of Canada, John Steffler’s poem of the same name. The extreme contrasts in natural scale that sweep across this desolate terrain are both impressive and humbling, and entirely unavoidable. They conjure a powerful visceral connection to the land — one in which the point of origin lies just out of grasp, yet feels as though it has, for the entirety of our existence, been an essential component of the human psyche. The exploitation of these differences is present in both the poem and the composition. Yet, while the poem distorts visual perspective, the piece distorts aural perspective, both magnifying and distancing the textural, timbral and harmonic qualities of the recordings to create a work that extracts and heightens the primary aural elements that confront those who venture onto the stark landscape. Much as they dominate one’s sensory experience of the environment, the wind and waves play an omnipresent role in the work, their natural dynamic structures dictating those of both foreground and background gestures alike. Distortion amplifies the power of these elements as they rage across and onto the rough-hewn landscape. Along with the poem’s imagery and my own experiences gained from traveling to the region, I made use of descriptions given to me by the poet via email correspondence as a tool to foster compositional ideas. They read:

"The sounds are mostly those of the sea and wind with the cries of birds woven into the mix. At Cape Norman there is an outstanding foghorn. Noisy brooks cross the old road bed in the Watts Point ecological reserve."

"Everywhere there is the sound of your footsteps, of course -- always changing with the terrain. Shards of limestone often ring and clang underfoot like bells and bits of iron."

"The sea itself makes a remarkable range of sounds depending on what the waves are striking. Sometimes they thump and boom inside hollowed rock walls and caves. On gravel beaches, the backwash of waves produces an amazing rattle of small rounded stones."

The poem follows (Notes on Burnt Cape by John Steffler):

frost causes rock to boil — wedging ice into cracks, it
splits stones, then slips its water blades deeper in,
levers them, spades the gravel up in rolling domes

on the scraped-bare cape each strewn boulder has a wind
shadow (pointing south-east) — a tapered green plant-woven
satchel stuffed with silt

trees, split like puzzle pieces, grow their branches
down among stones as though into air

you must lie down to distinguish the crowns of the willows
and birch

sky and sea vault away beyond reckoning — your car,
the road you followed, your house, you have to work
to recall

sometimes caught in the wind’s cold pelt,
pure sounds — waves’ leisurely slosh or thump, gulls’
high slow staccato — brush past the ear
like ocean’s barbed seeds.

Theo began composing while completing his bachelor’s degree at Queen’s University. As an undergraduate, he studied both instrumental and electroacoustic composition with Drs. Alfred Fisher, John Burge and Kristi Allik amongst others. In 2005, Theo returned to school to complete a master’s degree in composition, studying with Drs. Paul Steenhuisen and Howard Bashaw at the University of Alberta. Upon completing his degree, he took part in the National Arts Centre’s Young Composers Programme in Ottawa, under the direction of Gary Kulesha. Theo is now pursuing his doctorate in composition with Dr. Robert Normandeau at the Université de Montréal. He is also working on a yearlong project grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to complete a series of electroacoustic works.

Darren MCCLURE — Teasing Kármán’s Edge (6:00 / 2010)

Acousmatic piece created through an array of original recordings.

Undergraduate student at McMaster University in the Communication Studies and Multimedia programme.

Nic MCCONAGHY — Single Origin (4:17 / 2010)

Single Origin is an acousmatic miniature created entirely from the sounds of coffee beans. As a coffee enthusiast, I am often fascinated by the process of transformation that the humble coffee bean must undergo before it is enjoyed the world over as a delicious beverage. Through a variety of transformation techniques this miniature seeks to explore the very essence of the coffee bean in its different forms. From granular and liquid, water-type textures through to lively gestural material inspired by the energy that caffeine provides.

As a composer I have enjoyed subjecting the beans to an entirely different form of decoction.

Nicholas McConaghy is an emerging Sydney-based composer and sound artist. He started his creative career working within more conventional compositional frameworks, but now works almost exclusively within the electroacoustic domain. He has studied composition at the Australian Institute of Music BMus (Hons. Div.1) and has undertaken a residency with Mamori Art Lab in the Brazilian Amazon in 2009. Nicholas has received awards for his compositions, including both Categories of the 2007 Sound Devices Composition Contest. He has also had success as a composer for film.

Peter MCKINNON — Pianosophagus (8:57 / 2009)

The initial image/idea I had for this piece was the idea of the piano having a throat, much like any living entity. The idea is to convey entering into the voice making mechanism of the piano, and to provide a contrast to the perfect way the piano is usually thought of.

The definition of esophagus – the word used to base the title of the composition on, is; ’the part of the alimentary canal that connects the throat to the stomach; the gullet. In humans and other vertebrates it is a muscular tube lined with mucous membrane’.

In this piece I explored the relationship between the performer and instrument, the simple lines of the piano part contrasting with the complex and somewhat aggravated portrayal of the pianoesophagus. Woven into the piece is also my experience with learning to play the piano early on and becoming frustrated not being able to play how I wanted.

Currently a student at The University of Waikato in New Zealand, Peter McKinnon has recently completed his Bachelor of Music with First Class Honors (2009). He has been accepted to continue studying composition at Waikato in 2010, doing a Masters of Music in acoustic and electroacoustic composition. Having learnt the piano since an early age, music has played a big part in his life and continues to do so. In 2009 he received a merit prize in the electroacoustic/multimedia composition section in the Lilburn Trust Composition Awards Competition for his piece Journey to Where? held at the University of Waikato. This year has already seen another of his electroacoustic works Pianosophagus accepted into the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival in March 2010.

Christopher MCLEAN — Sortie Céleste (10:40 / 2009)

Où le noble travailleur se donne une journée de congé. le temps d’un petit tour aux astres.

Where the noble worker takes a day off, a leap into the unusual, and heads off for outer space.

Christopher Mclean a grandi à Montréal où il a appris le piano, la guitare et la trompette. Il jouait ses premières compositions — à tendance blues — à la guitare avant de se pencher plus sérieusement au piano. Suite à une formation autant en musique classique qu¹en jazz, il a développé un intérêt particulier pour l’improvisation. Christopher Mclean a été initié à l¹électroacoustique au cours de ses études en composition avec Michel Tétrault au Cégep de St. Laurent. Il poursuit présentement sa formation en composition au BACC à l’Université de Montréal.

Christopher Mclean grew up in Montréal where he learned the piano, guitar and trumpet. His first compositions were bluesy and played on the guitar. He then started focussing on the piano, developing a particular interest for improvisation. Christopher Mclean was initiated to electroacoustic music during his studies in composition with Michel Tétrault at Cégep St. Laurent. He is currently continuing his composition studies at Université de Montréal since 2008.

Crystal MULLER — Electric Sheep: Binary Clock (3:50 / 2010)

This work combines natural and synthetic sound sources. The goal is to create a balanced soundscape in which "natural" and "synthetic" sounds are not considered by their binary division. Processes of selection, modification, processing and contextualization break down the binary.

Crystal Muller was born in Red Deer, Alberta, in 1984. She began studying flute at 13 and attended Red Deer College and The University of Alberta, where she first studied composition and completed a Bachelor of Music in 2010.

Navid NAVAB — Alchemy of Food (4:05 / 2007)

"The ignorance of shit", an intensive human quality considered the ultimate definition of kitsch by Milan Kundera, prohibits the polite man from embracing shit as an essential part of life. "Alchemy of Food" brings into the foreground our emotionally complex relation to food, shit, and the eco-life and explores the mutation of food and circulation of cosmic energy with relation to the body, and our existential territories. Physical and psychological thresholds, where embodied matter is disembodied and vice-versa, form intensive sensual gates which assure our survival as living entities. "Freud demonstrated that simple objects like milk and shit supported very complex existential Universes: orality, anality, weaving together ways of seeing, symptoms, fantasms. The Blocks of sensation of machinic orality detach a deterritorialised flesh from the body… Everything has to continually begin again from zero, at the point of chaosmic emergence." (Guattari, Chaosmosis)

As a composition, Alchemy of Food investigates the permutation and transformation of symbolically charged sound. The focus, however, is not solely the symbolic qualities, but rather the morphological characteristics of the sound objects within the timber space and their evolution through out the micro, messo and macro temporal zones.

Navid is a Montréal based media-alchemist, composer, interaction and sound designer. Navid studied music performance and composition for many years and then Electroacoustics and Computational Arts at Concordia University as well as Music Technology at McGill University. Currently he is active as a sound designer and researcher at Topological Media Lab, Matralab, and IRCAM. Navid creates real-time clouds and crystals of sound, engaging responsive sound design with improvisation, and theories of embodied cognition within various environments.Often in his practice, gestures, rhythms and vibrations from everyday life are mapped dynamically to sound generation parameters, resulting in augmented acoustical-poetry. Most of Navid’s investigations range from fixed compositions, to responsive architecture, interface design, theatre, and improv based performances. Navid is listening…

James O’CALLAGHAN — Arbeits/Kraft (Labour/Force) (9:04 / 2009)

The title literally translates to ’Labour Force’, semantically split apart with a slash, fragmenting the Marxist phrase, which conceives of labour as a commodity. In more colloquial terms, the labour force refers to the body of workers. As the phrase is deconstructed, ’force’ takes on a new meaning in English, while in the original German, ’arbeits’ becomes alienated from ’kraft’. This piece explores different metallic objects as its chief sound objects, but with special concern for not only their sonic properties, but also for their social context and particular class associations. They are themselves fragmented and juxtaposed into metaphoric and imaginative syntaxes, illustrating the workers’ struggle and alienation in production. As technology accelerates into the mechanical, the historical progression of labour evolves through further fragmentation.

James O’Callaghan is a senior undergraduate student at Simon Fraser University studying electroacoustic composition with Barry Truax and acoustic composition with David MacIntyre. He is an emerging composer, sound designer and multi-disciplinary artist. His music, equally concentrated within acoustic and electroacoustic idioms, explores ideas of dialecticism, semantics, social justice, technology, and alienation. Using techniques inspired by Brechtian theatre, Comics and Soviet Montage, he has developed a musical language characterized by juxtaposition and contrast. He has received several commissions as a composer, sound designer and performer for dance, film and theatre works, his electroacoustic music has been performed across North America, and his research has been accepted for publication in international music conferences.

Mark OLIVEIRO — In Maluga (8:56 / 2009)

In Australian art and literature, a prevalent binary opposition emerges from works classic and contemporary, a dichotomy that permeates reality as much as fiction. In Maluga, a spatial fixed media work for five channels, explores notions of bush VS city. Often poets, artists and musicians explore the pervasive nature of the city as it etches away the beauty of an ancient omnipotent bushscape. Sometimes the soft and docile manmade city-limits are tested by the harsh reality of an unforgiving desolate wilderness. Maluga (the subject) is a resurrected traditional mangrove, a reborn spit of bush in the middle of Sydney’s suburbia, a fantasy of a lost living forest in historical Australia. Surrounded by the urbanized cacophony driven by business and industry, In Maluga presents a juxtaposition between a living serene bushland and a bustling city. The bird calls of Australian natives and the clang of a mechanized modern piano are two central samples that represent the bush VS city idiom. The audience is transported to and from a ’happy place’, a gentle collage of nature’s orchestra and the ’foreign’ harsh crack of industrial noise. Synthesized and manipulated sounds represent both calamity and tranquility as the listener is thrown between these opposing settings, common in a contemporary human habitat. This work is set in five channels, mixed in protocols with sounds manipulated using RTCmix.

Born in Sydney, Australia in 1983, Mark started composing at an early age with recognition of his work in performances by Australian national orchestras including Newtown Youth Orchestra, Darwin Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria. Works also performed by the Sydney Eclectic Composer Society, Sydney University Musical Society, the Greenway Quartet, Nexas Sax and Chronology Arts. In 2006 Mark participated in the 3rd international workshop for Young Composers, Latvia. Ensemble Altera Veritas performed Daina on the in Dundaga and Riga. Later in 2006 Mark participated in the 45th International Festival Of Stresa, Italy. Bushfire Sun was performed by the Norwegian ensemble BIT 20 at the Villa Ponti. Mark holds a BMUS from the University of Sydney and a MMUS from Indiana University. Mark served as composer-in-residence at the Wells-Metz theatre in the 2007–08, 2008–09 and 2010–11 seasons. He recently received the IU Dean’s Prize for Electronic Music in 2008 and 2010.

Aaron OPPENHEIM — BE(TPr->v1) (10:10 / 2010)

Long drones were created by recording various instruments (including guitar, ukelele, musical saw, accordion, melodica, trombone and voice) using a max/msp patch which only recorded when the sound exactly matched a chosen pitch. Whenever an instrument would waver even slightly off-pitch, the patch would cease recording. This resulted in clicky, glitchy drones. These drones were then mixed together into this piece. No other processing has taken place.

Aaron Oppenheim is a composer who recently completed a BFA in Music studies at the Simon Fraser University School for Contemporary Arts. He also studied electroacoustic composition at Concordia University in Montréal, and before that completed a BFA in Film Studies at Concordia. While most of his work has been in electroacoustic composition, during the past few years he has also been exploring acoustic composition, live electronic music performance, and generative sound installations, and audiovisual work. His pieces have been performed at Concordia University’s EuCuE concerts, SFU’s Student Composers concerts, and Vancouver’s Sonic Boom concert series.

Jon PANTHER — Scherzophobia (7:16 / 2010)

Pierre PARÉ-BLAIS — Spiralling (video — 8:23 / 2010)

Le coquillage spiral existe depuis plusieurs millions d’années. Il y a environ cinquante milles ans, nous avons soudainement développé le désir de sculpter la spirale. L’homme commence à créer des ornements au même moment où il commence à enterrer ses morts. L’expérience humaine est en constante relation avec les lois de la nature, elle les interprète, les confronte. À travers cette relation, l’homme a développé des mythologies pour répondre à ses questions, mais peu importe les histoires tissées, partout, nos ancêtres ont commencé en sculptant une spirale.

La première officielle de l’œuvre eu lieu lors de l’évènement 2 Visages de l’Electroacoustique organisé par Musique et Recherche, le 20 mai 2010 à Bruxelles.

Spiral seashells have been on the planet for millions of years. Around fifty thousand years ago, humans suddenly developed the inclination to carve spirals. Human existence is in constant encounter with the laws of nature, interpreting and engaging them. Through this process people develop mythologies that seek to answer the questions of humanity, but whatever story they wove, all across the globe, they started by carved the spiral.

Spiralling was premiered in Brussels on May 20th 2010 at Musique et Recherche.

Pierre Paré-Blais (Montréal, 1984) est d’abord et avant tout un metteur en scène de théâtre et de cirque, avec une formation complémentaire en vidéographie et en composition électroacoustique. Il commence son parcours en théâtre. Par la suite il se rend à Bali pour étudier la danse. Il mènera aussi des études en littérature comparée et études anglaises. Curieux des nouvelles technologies, il entame des études en composition électroacoustique, durant lesquelles il se concentre sur la vidéomusique. Pierre travaille présentement sur divers projets. Notons la pièce IssacRedux et la mise sur pied d’un groupe de recherche cirque et musique concrète.

Émilie PAYEUR — Triptyque (11:09 / 2010)

Triptyque: «Oeuvre peinte ou sculptée en trois panneaux,dont les deux volets extérieurs peuvent se refermer sur celui du milieu».

Triptyque est un essai architectural sur la forme musicale A B A adaptée à la musique électroacoustique. La texture sonore y joue un rôle prépondérent, autant que le serait la texture des matières composant une toile abstraite.

Le premier mouvement de Triptyque a été réalisé à Montréal et les deux autres ont été façonnés à la University of North Texas dans le cadre d’une résidence remportée aux 36e Concours Internationaux de Musique Électroacoustique de Bourges édition 2009.

Triptych : "A picture or carving in three compartments side by side, the lateral ones being usually hinged so as to fold over the central one."

Triptyque is an attempt at exploring architecture and structure within my music. It has a classical A B A’ structure. Like in an abstract painting, textures are particularly important.

The first movement of Triptyque was composed in Montreal and the two subsequent ones were done at the University of North Texas during a composition residency won at the 36th Concours Internationaux de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges, 2009 edition.

La compositrice de musique électroacoustique et artiste visuel émilie Payeur présente des œuvres puisant son inspiration dans le courant psychédélique des années 60, le surréalisme, l’abstraction ainsi que le cinéma expérimental. À travers sa démarche créative, elle se perçoit comme étant le penchant sonore de l’artiste visuel, peignant des toiles sonores et tournant des films de bruits. Elle entamera sa maîtrise en composition électroacoustique en automne 2010 à l’Université de Montréal sous la supervision de Robert Normandeau. Ses œuvres ont notamment été jouées au WEARL 2009 à Fullerton en Californie, au Festival Futura 2009 en France ainsi qu’au Festival Longueur d’Ondes 2009 à Brest et au Texas et au Kentucky en 2010. Elle a également remporté un prix dans la catégorie Résidence au concours de Bourges 2009, le 3e prix « Hugh Le Caine » lors du concours des jeunes compositeurs de la SOCAN 2009 et un prix dans le cadre du University of Louisville Young Composer Competition for New Electro-Acoustic Music 2010.

Electroacoustic composer and visual artist, Émilie Payeur presents musical art forms that are clearly influenced by the psychedelic era of the 60s, surrealism, abstract art and experimental film. The way she approaches her work, Emilie perceives herself as a sound painter and wants to transpose and adapt visual art and experimental cinema techniques to electroacoustic music. In Fall 2010, she will begin a Master’s Degree at the Université de Montréal under the guidance of Robert Normandeau. Her works have been played in the Women’s Electroacoustic Listening Room (California USA, 2009), Festival Futura (France 2009), Festival Longueur d’Ondes (Brest, 2009) and in Texas and in Kentucky in 2010. She won third place in the SOCAN Foundation for Young Composers Contest (Montréal, 2009), a residency at the University of North Texas (Denton TX, 2009) as a prize obtained during the 36th International Contest of Bourges, 2009 and a prize at The University of Louisville Young Composer Competition for New Electro-acoustic Music (Louisville KY, 2010).

Ryan PEPLINSKI — Lost Ghost (6:45 / 2009-10)

Musician, Composer, Teacher, Recording Artist, Recording Engineer, and Student.

Emi POGONI — Untitled (7:04 / 2010)

This piece uses turntable, cassette player and discman material.

2nd year Sonic Arts student at New Zealand School of Music in Wellington.

Charles QUEVILLON — Au Boute (21:42 / 2010)

1. La Montagne / 2. Au bout de la terre / 3. L’orage

Les comportements des différents éléments (Eau, Feu, Air, Terre) que l’on sent, touche, voit et surtout que l’on entend m’ont inspiré cette musique. C’est à travers la réminiscence d’un voyage solitaire à vélo, jusqu’«au boute» de la 138 Est qui longe la rive nord du fleuve St-Laurent, que j’ai concrétisé cette idée. La première étape est celle d’une confrontation. L’ascension d’une montagne sous un soleil ardent et l’effort constant qu’elle exige. La deuxième partie est celle de la contemplation d’un paysage nocturne. Le fleuve, le feu de camp et le ciel constellé nous entraînent alors vers une autre lutte qui est, cette fois-ci, contre un violent orage.

1. The Mountain / 2. To the End of the Earth / 3. The Storm.

The behaviour of the different elements (Water, Fire, Air, Earth) that we can feel, touch, see and particularly that we can hear, were the inspiration for this work. Through the reminiscence of a solo voyage by bike right to the end ("jusqu’au boute") of the 138 East, which runs parallel to the north side of the St. Lawrence River, I realised the idea. The first stage is one of confrontation: ascending a mountain beneath an unforgiving sun and the constant effort it demands. The second part is a contemplation on a nocturnal landscape. The river, campfire and starry sky lead us into another confrontation, this time, with a violent storm.

Charles Quevillon a terminé des études en guitare classique et en composition au Cégep de St-Laurent en 2008 et se consacre depuis à la composition électroacoustique et instrumentale sous la tutelle de Yves Daoust et Serge Provost au Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. Il s’intéresse également à l’exploration sonore de la guitare à travers différents médiums comme l’improvisation et la performance.

Charles Quevillon completed his studies in classical guitar and composition at Cégep de St-Laurent in 2008. Since then, he has concentrated on electroacoustic and instrumental composition under the guidance of Yves Daoust and Serge Provost at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. He is also interested in the sonic exploration of the guitar through different mediums, such as improvisation and performance.

Monica ROUVELLAS — Memoirs of a Little Lady (6:23 / 2009)

’Memoirs of a Little Lady’ explores the concept of recording prerecorded and processed sounds in various spaces with different reverberation attributes.

The sounds were recorded in three of the main concert halls, stairwells and studios of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

The main vocal material was sampled from Baz Luhrmann’s ’Romeo and Juliet’ (1996), as it was one of the composer’s favourite plays when she was growing up.

The piece has been composed for stereo playback and has the option for live multichannel diffusion

Monica Rouvellas is a composer, violinist, music producer / audio engineer based in Sydney, Australia. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Music (Composition) with honours, from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, where she’s paving a path for her future career as a professional composer, performer and music producer. She has studied with Professor Eric Gross, Michael Smetanin, Ivan Zavada, Matthew Hindson and many other composers from SCM. Recent compositions include Memoirs of a Little Lady (2009) and Angel (2009). Monica’s compositions fuse together various styles and influences including afro-cuban music, latin jazz and electroacoustic. Her musical philosophy is that "both the composer and musician should freely express themselves through music, even becoming the music, as music is the best way to communicate your inner most feelings. It is only when the performer becomes the music, does the emotions of the composer convey themselves to an audience."

Farshid SAMANDARI — Bird of Time (8:48 / 2010)

Bird of Time is based on two quatrains of Omar Khayyám and corresponding translations of Edward Fitzgerald-though only one appears in original Farsi. Music is derived from eight relatively short samples. Each sample was recorded as a whole, independent of its potential role in this project. Moreover five distinct envelopes have shaped micro and macro scale relations and have dominated various filtering and processing units.

Come fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing.

Yesterday This Day’s Madness did prepare;
To-morrow’s Silence, Triumph, or Despair:
Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why:
Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where

Farshid Samandari was born in Iran in 1971. His music reflects his interest in contemporary classical vocabulary, spectral analysis, and extended techniques. In addition his profound faith in Unity in diversity, stirred him toward utilizing different elements from a variety of non-western music and integrating different cultural music and vocabulary in his compositions. This vision has directed him to collaborate with a variety of choirs and ensembles all over the world, including Tehran National Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symhony Orchestra, UBC String Orchestra, Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, Red Shift Vertical Orchestra, Laudate Singers, Turning Point Ensemble, Musica Nova, Nu:bc Ensemble, Red Chamber, Orchid, Parto, UBC Guitar Quartet, Vancouver Peace Choir, and Erato ensemble, as well as soloists such as Ariel Barnes, Jeremy Berkman, Corey Hamm, Mark McGregor, Sahba Motallebi, Julie Nessrallah, Beth Orson, Bo Peng, Michael Strutt, and Eric Wilson.

Leonardo SECCO — Visiones del Sur (Visions from the South) (7:33 / 2008)

Sounds that were collected during a trip charged with intense emotional experience, emerging from friendship, gatherings, loneliness and music. Lately, these impressions have also remained in us, becoming part of what we are. We now think them from the north, they’ve become these "visions from the south".

Né en Uruguay où il étudie composition, violon et guitare, Leonardo Secco s’installe en 2005 à Montréal et termine en 2007 un Bac en composition mixte à la faculté de musique de l’Université de Montréal. Actuellement, il y poursuit une maîtrise en composition électroacoustique sous la direction de Robert Normandeau, en plus d’être chargé de cours à l’atelier de composition électroacoustique dans le programme de mineur en musiques numériques. En 2008 il a été gagnant du Fonds des Bourses de l’Université de Montréal.

Leonardo Secco (Montevideo-Uruguay, 1966), starts to explore pop and folk music at the age of 15; studies in violin and classic guitar will follow and later, of composition and sound synthesis at the Escuela Universitaria de Música in Montevideo-Uruguay. In 2005 he decides to settle in Québec to study electro-acoustic music, obtaining a degree in 2007 at the Université de Montréal (UdeM). In 2008 and 2009 he wins two study grants from the Université de Montréal. He’s presently finishing a Master’s degree in electro-acoustic composition at the UdeM supervised by Robert Normandeau, exploring the use of algorithms to create new sounds. He teaches electro-acoustic composition at the UdeM within the Musiques Numériques Program. Leonardo Secco has been finalist at the Concurso de Composition Destellos 2009 (Argentina) and has been selected for the Festival Internacional de Música Electroacústica Ai-maako 2009 (Chili).

Aaron SIMPSON — Chernobyl (16:26 / 2010)

Every step you take, those tunnels behind you are getting longer. If you can read this, you’ve already gone too far. TURN BACK NOW! They told me the same things they told you. It isn’t worth it! EOF

I’ve had a classical music performance upbringing basically my entire conscious life and am quite new to doing electronic works, or composing at all. In my spare time right now I’m teaching myself the tools of the trade by remixing video game soundtracks.

Rupert SNOOK — Orbit (5:15 / 2010)

Imagine, if you will, a cavernous wooden gymnasium that is free from the effects of Earth’s gravity. Now let loose a dozen or so basketballs in there, and watch them interact.

Rupert is a classically trained performer, composer and teacher from Wellington, New Zealand. He began studying electroacoustic composition and Indonesian Gamelan at the New Zealand School of Music in 2009. He is inspired by the idea of creating new sounds in an accessible package that everyone can enjoy.

Vanessa SORCE-LÉVESQUE — L’Allègre Léo (7:57 / 2010)

Composé à partir d’un poème d’Édouard Lachapelle, «L’Allègre Léo».

L’Allègre Léo a mis au lait
L’ange intègre au lit laid.

Mais un aigre nègre
change le mélange
Lait et eau
et met l’angelet
Haut

Dans d’aigres langes laids
Maigrelet l’ange
Aigre lôt

Un nègre maigre
mange un ange
Allegro les grelots !

Composed on the basis of a poem by Édouard Lachapelle, "L’Allègre Léo".

L’Allègre Léo a mis au lait
L’ange intègre au lit laid.

Mais un aigre nègre
change le mélange
Lait et eau
et met l’angelet
Haut

Dans d’aigres langes laids
Maigrelet l’ange
Aigre lôt

Un nègre maigre
mange un ange
Allegro les grelots !

Espiègle vénitienne qui aime bien les mots. A aussi étudié deux ans avec Michel Tétreault et deux autres avec Yves Daoust.

Roguish Venitian who likes words. Has also studied two years with Michel Tétreault and two more with Yves Daoust.

Thomas SPEAKMAN — Nacha So Nacha Anno (7:02 / 2010)

This piece can be distinguished by three movements. At the beginning, the intention was to create a living being. Its heart is pulsing, its fluids rushing, its voice producing the statement "No Future, No Past, Just Me & My Gasp", and its hands typing these words out. I intended to evoke feelings of warmth and harmony within this being, which is to say that all life is the most perfect harmony, and sublime ecstasy. The statement that repeats is the apex of the lifeforms conscious realizations. It is enlightenment, or awareness of of the eternal phenomena of the! universe. The being is at peace with all happenings, and is ready experience death. After the voice and heart stop, this natural process begins. Final breaths are drawn and released. The surrounding environment begins decomposing the physicality of the being. Animals feed off it, the earth envelopes it and the final flickering of existence begins fading out. Silence for 30 seconds. This silence is the most important moment in the piece. I believe that death is absolute nothingness. It is not black, not white, not heaven, not hell, not floating around as a ghost, not anything. This is impossible to symbolize, but silence is the closest thing. It is out this nothingness that makes existence and life possible. If birth is waking out of never going to sleep, then death is going to sleep and not waking. Out of the silence comes new life, changed, yet fundamentally the same. The senses are weak at first, but as the sun burns through the glazed eyes and sounds penetrate the eardrum, a new form comes into being. First laughter, then the sound of bees! and birds. Now this new form is growing its voice, which becomes clearer and stronger throughout time. This piece is essentially my own perspective of the cyclical nature of being.

Thomas Speakman is an independent musician, composer, and producer. He began his journey in music at age 12, learning to play guitar. He began studying music production at Langara College in September 2009. At Langara, Thomas’ pieces evolved from basic ideas into fully realized pieces, drawing inspiration from stimulating instructors and rekindled passion. Thomas has been playing guitar with Vancouver band Search Parties for the last two years. Known for guerrilla performances and eclectic, ambient music, Search Parties has been recognized as a serious force and presence in Vancouver. Thomas has been producing and performing on Search Parties’ first LP for the last 5 months, a! nd will be his first sculpted body of work. Eager to make his life long love a living, Thomas created Vast Sound Enterprise as an entity to offer musical and sound production expertise and services. Thomas is excited to explore and experiment with all forms of music and sound, and lead imaginations to exciting places.

Julian STEIN — Imposed (2:58 / 2010)

As the most controllable human instrument, Imposed is an exploration of the voice that aims to push controllability even further by surpassing physical limitation. The piece was composed for 8-channel playback, giving equal attention to all space within the stereo field.

Julian Stein is a third-year undergraduate student in Concordia University’s program of Electroacoustic Studies, and is a founding member of both the Concordia Electroacoustic Studies Student Association (CESSA) and the Montréal Sound Map. His interests reside primarily in the classification of sound and composition structure in electroacoustic music.

Maxwell STEIN — Transport (5:38 / 2009)

Transport was composed for eight-channels. The sound sources consist of binaural field recordings taken at different centers of transit encountered during a trip to Europe in November of 2009. It is composed of four sections, each consisting of sounds from different environments recorded during the trip. Section I - Paris, France (Gare Aéroport Charles De Gaulle 2) Section II - Saarbrücken, Germany (Saarbrücken Hbf) Section III - Berlin, Germany (train under a bridge and metro station) Section IV - Aboard train from Erlangen to Berlin

Maxwell Stein studies electroacoustic composition at Concordia University in Montréal. He is most interested in investigating urban soundscapes through electroacoustic compositions using minimally processed field recordings and live performances in public spaces. At Concordia, Stein is a founding member of the Concordia Electroacoustic Studies Student Association where he helps to organize workshops, concerts, and other sound related projects. Springing from interests in phonography and acoustic ecology, he recently created an ongoing project called the Montréal Sound Map. The Montréal Sound Map is an interactive Google-maps based repository of sound recordings uploaded by inhabitants and visitors from various locations around the city.

Al THUMM — Fountains… Which Took Everything of Care (8:57 / 2009)

After constructing this piece, the subconscious influence of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue became apparent as a major source of inspiration, as a codifying alphabet of jazz, blues and classical eclecticism that spells out the language of urban life. The idea of creating a complex aleatoric structure was only barely retained in the final version, but the epileptic eclectic raw charm of the complex sample structures, combined with the small-scale home-recorded (by percussionist Gina Chadderton and myself) rhythmic production inspired by The Books, seemed to embody the idea in its essence.

A whole rhythmic structure was created first, without any pitched instruments. A separate file was then created with all the musical samples, then the two were combined, though much of the original rhythmic structure had to be edited and adapted to the dynamic structure of the pitched instrument sampling. The use of voice samples were experimented with throughout the development of the piece – again taking inspiration from The Books – but the final piece seemed well able to tell its story without them.

The vision for this piece was of a vast forest encroaching on a ragged city, at the heart of which was a temple that was decaying itself into its next incarnation. These images, the forest, the city, and the temple, seemed to blend and wind together into a vertical story – like heiroglyphs on a scroll – rather than remain a panoramic vista. It was as if they were being blissfully decimated up beyond a polluted sky.

"A small orange leaf carved from wood, floating in an American coffee - fashioned into feathers of wings giving flight to a fractal autumn-forest painted ancient tortoise…
… resonated on waves of beatbox echoing down a cobblestone street in Norway riding a shaggy hoofed mammal… a city as an organic machine moulding itself into a grand temple."

This was the proposed tone of the piece – and indeed as it stands, in all its ridiculousness, earthiness, nonsense, poetry and mysticism.

Al has been concocting radiant sample collages and beats since 2000, both on solo projects and as part of the Adelaide band Bird Lantern. During this time he has developed a unique organic sound of twisting and rolling textures of rhythm, contrasted by deep, rich open spaces. As a visual artist and designer, Al has experimented with mediums that parallel his music — from winding geometric designs using only depth to play with light and shadow, to colourful sprawling collaged landscapes. He is currently experimenting with fusing music and visual arts to create games and interactive art works in which the music can be manipulated by the player — a synthesis of game, artwork, and instrument. With his first solo album, Earthbound (2008), he presented a series of panoramas, each of which told their own story through a subtle contrasting of natural and otherworldly environments. Using everything from classical, jazz, Indian, funk, hip-hop, blues, electronica and beyond, he creates a unique cinematic aesthetic that is rooted in the do-it-yourself culture of hip-hop sampling, whilst bearing the fruits of a musical depth that is mysteriously introspective and moving in its intricacies. The Forest in the Clock (2009), is a varied rhythmic and ambient work. It contains more natural colour schemes than Earthbound, and is a much more richly concentrated vision of the poetic synaesthetic experience. His second solo project, the double album City Life and the Searing Light of Dissonance (2010), stepped up the vast quantity of samples used in Earthbound and created a colourful and chaotic caricature of the excesses of city life — a whirling vortex of sublime and dirty rhythms, and traffic jam harmonic architecture, grounded real rocksteady in classic funk, hip-hop and blues grooves. He is currently working with Bird Lantern on their second album Bazaar, due for release 2010, and completing his third solo album Marine Biology in which he is refining the essence of the Earthbound and City Life experiments for a more open and harmonious suspended insight into colour, geometry and flowing architectural soul!

Justin TRUBIANO — A Rainy Tuesday Afternoon (8:47 / 2010)

This piece is based around a rainy tuesday morning. Which a series of comedic unfortunate events took place.

I am an electroacoustics major at Concordia University.

Tim TSORAKLIDIS — The Beginning (3:53 / 2010)

Music was Composed and produced in Logic Pro. Genre is Modern Art Music or could be called Film music. Mood of piece is triumphant.

I was born In Adelaide Australia in 1991. I had a passion for music from childhood. I began studying music before reaching high school and I am now studying a Batchelor of Music Education at the University of Adelaide, majoring in Music technology and Music Theory. My dream is to Compose Music for films. I composed the piece "The Beginning" while studying at university in my second year.

George Matthew VARNER-HARTLEY — Lot (10:09 / 2010)

Lot is an electroacousitc realization of a story from Genesis in which God sends angels to the town of Sodom. Their visit doesn’t go so well and God destroys the city. The piece is built around ambient synthesizers and effected vocal samples.

George Matthew Dylan Varner-Hartley (b. 1988) is a Canadian student who loves composing and performing music in all manner of styles, from classical inspired compositions, Jazz tunes, music for rock bands, and even Hip Hop tracks. His recent interest in the ever evolving world of electronic sound recording and production inevitably led to electronic composition.

Stefanie WALSH — Mind (6:22 / 2010)

Stefanie Walsh is a 21 year old student who has just completed her 3rd year at McMaster University. She is pursuing an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia.

Sonia WILKIE — Cathexis (1:58 / 2008)

Cathexis is a Musique Concrete work that explores various timbres and textures, ranging from smooth harmonious tones to the juxtaposed sharp grains that is underscored with a rhythmic pulse exploring the 7/ 8 pulse. The sounds were sourced from the Sonia’s local metropolitan environment, then further manipulated to disguise the nuances that enable aural recognition and enhance textural characteristics.

Sonia recently completed a Master of Arts research degree at the MARCS Auditory Laboratories at the University of Western Sydney exploring cross-modal perception and combining the scientific approach of Psychology with electronic music. Her previous research examined the auditory manipulation of visual perception with the Sound-induced Illusory Flash, and other psychoacoustic studies such as Shepard Tones, Risset Patterns, and Summation and Difference tones.

Jason WRIGHT — Remnants (12:24 / 2009)

In this piece I have tried to invoke the feeling of ruin. The desolation one feels when they walk through an old structure that has been deserted and lies without repair. The loss one feels when viewing the remains of a house fire. The pain at glancing at the remnants of a deteriorating old building coupled with the confusion one has at viewing the beauty of the decay.

Jason Wright Currently studying Composition in Sonic Arts in his fourth year at the New Zealand School of Music (Wellington), Jason has begun a series of works that fuses Acousmatic music practices with conventional instruments. His goal is to try and retain emotional involvement for the listener by having something recognisable, while also creating new sounds and unexpected tangents for the listener to follow. This music tries to create an oppurtunity for the listener to follow any abstractions made from a conventional sound to something more cryptic. In this way the listener gains more of an understanding of the music itself. Apart from his fixed media work, Jason has been involved in installations presented at both Victoria University Campus and the Museum of Wellington.

Project Team / Équipe de projet

Project Managers — jef chippewa & Yves Gigon
Web Site — Yves Gigon
Translation — jef chippewa
Project Consultation — PeP (Productions electro Productions)

Support

Jeu de temps / Times Play (JTTP) est rendu possible grâce à une association stimulant la recherche et la créativité canadienne en électroacoustique établie avec l’université Concordia en 1986. La CEC reconnaît également le support du Conseil des Arts du Canada. Merci aussi à la Fondation SOCAN et aux membres de la CEC, qui ont aimablement fourni de l’aide financière au projet, et à PeP pour son aide constante à la production.

Jeu de temps / Times Play (JTTP) is made possible thanks to a partnership fostering research and creativity in Canadian electroacoustics established with Concordia University in 1986. The CEC also gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Thanks are also due to SOCAN Foundation and CEC Members, who have graciously provided further financial support to the project, and to the PeP team for continued production assistance.