RFI: Laurie Spiegel

http://rhizome.org/editorial/2008/oct/2/early-computer-art-from-1970s-bell-labs-laurie-spi/

^ cheeee this woman is amazing.

I almost revived this thread this morning, this woman is the true drone and all other drones are false

This interview is 15 years old but it's new (and interesting) to me and I don't see it on the thread:
http://cec.sonus.ca/econtact/10_2/SpiegelLa_KD.html

Need to order reissue, have been paralysed by indecision about vinyl vs CD since seeing it mentioned on this thread

definitely the CD for the bonus material alone, but even then: the last piece is a quiet rolling 28 minute drone with a lot of low end so it really doesn't even matter how good the new pressing will be, you're just not going to hear all of the piece on vinyl

So thankful for this thread!

definitely the CD for the bonus material alone

you get a download code for all the CD tracks (as lossless, if you wish) w/the vinyl though! that is the source of my dilemma. but I probably will go CD if only for cheaper international shipping. thanks for the info re the last track, looking forward to all the drones

was wondering this morning where these cds had got to. just got this email:

"Thanks so much for your preorder of our 2CD set of The Expanding Universe.
International orders for this format have been shipped as of today and you
should see it in about a week."

I missed this! Might have to break my CD buying moratorium (which come to think of, I just broke last month) for this.

Pre-ordered the vinyl which has been delayed, but a compensation the label sent a download code for the FLACSs of the extended release early, working my way through now, some amazing work.

Very. Got a promo copy a little while ago and it's just astonishing stuff.

Got my CD in the mail, listened to the first disc and liked it a lot. The first track was beautifully programmed, and "Drums" is an interesting early attempt at creating electronic drum polyrhythms. I'm not fond of vinyl rips, so I'd never heard the eponymous track itself before... It was slow as melasses, and I actually fell asleep on the sofa while listening to it (something which I shouldn't have done, according to the liner notes by Spiegel, as she says this isn't ambient music but something to listen to carefully), but what I caught was luminous and pretty. Can't wait to play disc 2!

Speaking of the liner notes, though, while it's great that there's plenty of background information written by Spiegel herself, the choice to print some of the text white on yellow background is poor, as it makes the text hard to read. Also, tracks 2 and 3 are listed in different order in the inner sleeve than in the back cover, so I'm not sure which one is which. Still, it's intriguing to read all the technical explanation on how the tracks were realized, even though I don't understand half of it.

i have a feeling most of us don't read italian, but spiegel will be part of this new book:

Come anticipate Johann Merrich's "Le Pioniere Della Musica Elettronica," about female electronic composers

feature in wired this month:

http://boomkat.com/books/570949-the-wire-issue-344-october-2012

IMO the second disc isn't as good as the first one, but there's some interesting stuff there too. "Clockworks" wouldn't feel out of place on a 1990s IDM album, and "The Orient Express" has a cool perpetual motion sound.

All in all, I feel the more melodic and/or mood-based pieces on the comp still sound great today, whereas the ones where Spiegel experiments with rhythm/pitch/etc aren't quite as impressive, since the technical limitations of the era mean the experimentation doesn't work as well as Spiegel (probably) would've wanted it to work. Even with those pieces, though, it's still cool to read about the concepts behind them in the liner notes.

Aw yeah I have my CDs! First CD I've ever bought to show a glimpse of Fortran source code in the liner notes. Sounding great so far.

I had a brief email exchange with her a few years back, wherein she mentioned that she has lots of unarchived recordings in her home. Someone needs to convince her to make it all publicly available. I vote Dan Selzer to be in charge of this.

i would throw in some bucks to kickstart that!

By the way, in that exchange she was the friendliest person. There is really nothing not to like about this composer. She even said that she hopes that someday the archive is made public.

i would throw in some bucks to kickstart that!

^^^^^^^

holy shit yes.

same here, i'd imagine there are quite a lot of synthesizer geeks who would also go in on that too

love the liner notes, especially the comparing of conscious interaction w/ programmed processes to conscious interaction w/ subconsciously generated processes (finger-picking patterns); there's some rich phenomenology in there. didn't realise the images that were posted upthread were actually programmed in a similar fashion to the music. that is so, so cool, i'd been thinking about this a bit after looking at databending & then, there they are. & she was a big john fahey fan! wld absolutely stump up for further releases.

Yeah, the sense of 'pop,' as in a popular, self-taught and exploratory mode, is crucial to why this collection is so enjoyable, I think. It really runs throughout the whole thing.

i'm not sure i've ever listened to anything as mathsy as this, so utilitarian. you can hear the control over each shift even if you can't track what all the variables are.

Please to read:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/09/an-electronic-music-classic-reborn.html?printable=true¤tPage=all

I think Unseen Worlds is more suited to the task, as I represent a currently terribly slow and inefficient record label.

reissue of the year

additional packaging is incredible, the bell labs punch cards with her ballpen sketches on them & the fortran code & the sitar leaning up against her electrocomp

when all I had was an old scratchy vinyl copy of this, I preferred the range & sonic variety on her other records, especially Unseen Worlds, but now that this has been cleanly remastered, I've been listening to it constantly -- it is so simple and elegant -- and the bonus material helps with the immersion, now with two discs it lasts long enough that you don't ever quite burn out, it's always changing just enough to stay ahead of you, like a continuous stream

annoyingly, my copy ordered from them isn't here yet and it's now available via the usual sources.

...ditto...

They sent me an email yesterday with a link to download everything, apologizing for delays on the vinyl.

actually, leaving work i noticed it was on the desk of reception downstairs (different company but they get all the mail for the building). but it was late and the receptionist had left.

Obsolete Systems, btw, still looks available here:

http://www.cdemusic.org/Laurie-Spiegelbr-iObsolete-Systems-i-p697.html

for the princely sum of $8.

another couple here: http://www.cdemusic.org/search=Spiegel/

I'm talking with her today for a follow-up interview, if anyone has any q's.

I already did a long interview with her in NYC, which I just transcribed (10,000 words!) But now there will be more.

I'd love to know more about the pictures she's made

Such a great album (expanding universe). I was walking through the fish packing district today with this on my headphones, low sun in my eyes and everything felt perfect. I was completely transported.

Yep, I think I saw this described as a brain burner, and it is. It works as a soundtrack to the city, bringing out the patterns and geometry of the environment and it works as a rural soundtrack, because it is weirdly organic in places, but in spite of that there's a sensory dissonance. Christ, listen to me. Basically: yep, great album, great outdoor album.

I finally picked Expanding Universe and Obsolete systems up a couple weeks ago, thanks thread!

Spectacular! Where to begin, even. So many amazing beloved hallmarks of 60s-80s culture woven into this framework for context. Introducing bell labs by referencing The President's Analyst, Michael Czajkowski showing Laurie her first Buchla, shapenote singing, choicest philosophical quotes from her online text archive, great ending, standing applause

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/9002-laurie-spiegel/

its an amazing piece.

Quite so, a stellar celebration.

along with a host of important female composers like Alice Shields, Daria Semegen, Pril Smiley, Maggi Payne, Ruth Anderson, Priscilla McLean, and more.

RFI please

>RFI please

Come anticipate Johann Merrich's "Le Pioniere Della Musica Elettronica," about female electronic composers

ah, thank you. that was a great article, then about halfway through I was like oh, Reynolds, duh.

So much bullshit on downtown vs uptown "establishment"! That's rich coming from Spiegel, who was well-funded by Bell to make the music she wanted. Had to laugh at Reynolds using her paper on retro -- which from the quote seems like a thin bit of theory/cultural commentary -- to then promote his book. Pathetic.

Really liked her bits on her research into pre-civil war ("shapenote" music). Lots to enjoy as a whole but leaves a bad taste.

sourpuss!

i thought it was put together well. told a compelling story about work. educated me. voila, hype your book all you want.

Its certainly compelling. Varese thought about making machine music until depression set in, he had nothing to work with until v late in his own life. People might say it would've been marvellous if he was starting out now or when Laurel did but that article makes it clear the problems he would have had.

A few made it work. Others -- most notably Helmut Lachenmann -- took the experience of makng electronics, hated it, but used it to enrich the palette of instrumental music.

Just don't need yet another piece thrashing post-Webern music to justify this. Beause I like Laurie's music I read it as nervousness about its own merits, like it must be validated by a struggle agaist an establishment. The struggle was elsewhere, but they perservered, took it out there and carved ther own space.

I think there is a piece to be written about how this stuff would perhaps compare with what was coming out of IRCAM.

Fuck: whatever ITunes cards I get for Xmas will be blown on this woman's music

there is some sort of collaboration in the works with caribou / daphni apparently.

ugh

Quick drop in to say that I’m in an FM kinda mood and just listened to Unseen Worlds ... love this.

i just picked up a copy of Unseen Worlds a couple weeks ago! still digesting it - very different than Expanding Universe, which makes sense because it used a totally different setup/programming interface

multichannel work in nyc in march https://issueprojectroom.org/event/laurie-spiegel-harmonic-algorithm-collaboration-seth-cluett-caterina-barbieri