Für Gregor_disquiet0502 by nikikana published on 2021-08-15T23:06:05Z In response to Disquiet Junto Project 0502: Global Swarming The Assignment: Create a swarm of imaginary insects. //// Conceptual Process: The title comes from the protagonist of Franz Kafka's Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) - Gregor Samsa, who awoke one morning to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin" "insect" "cockroach"... a variety of English translations for the original "Ungeheueres Ungeziefer" which is difficult to translate (and the translation of which has been heavily discussed, here's a nice overview if you're not already familiar: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/on-translating-kafkas-the-metamorphosis). I have a lot of empathy for Gregor which extends to empathy for insects in general whereby I try to resist the instinct to be disturbed by them - so I initially set off on this trying to make a "swarm" from the Juntonian insect bank that was not disturbing or frightening, and was instead either empathetic or like a cool bug party that I'd like to join. After about 5 minutes of editing, the bug party became a cacophony and then whittled down into something slightly more disturbing, or at least intense in a way that is uncomfortable at several points. I couldn't escape the notion of an encounter with a swarm of insects, however unique and beautifully imaginary they are, being disturbing, unnerving, uncomfortable. So I went with it, trying to make something where the listener (and protagonist in the story of this swarm) might be disturbed a few times as the swarm gets closer and swells around them, but is ultimately left in a state of some relief, and curiosity once the swarm decides to move on. Because doesn't the swarm sound a bit like mechanical insects, potentially like a swarm of man-made insect-drones that could be surveilling millions of dimensions of your physical and mental existence? What do they want? What are they looking for? But at least they didn't investigate for long and decide to keep moving - but what data did they capture, or might they have captured something more, or other, than data...? Technical Process: Selected the insects listed below. Made 4 different test tracks with several loops of each insect, and various effects on each layer of each insect. Played with the balance so it sounds a bit like they are coming from one side, enveloping you in a few swells, then move along to the other side and off into the distance. Then layered the 4 tests tracks on top of each other. This track features several varieties of the following insects from the schwärmeliche Junto-Menagerie, and includes no other sounds: - Clint B - bromdihydorchlorphenylbenzodiazepine fuzz locust - ausgesuchtestenohren - swarm behaviour - bbob drake - organCrickets_forMusikfestivalSchwärme 0494 //// More on this 502nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Global Swarming (The Assignment: Create a swarm of imaginary insects) — at: https://disquiet.com/0502/ Thanks to Tobias Reber and Musikfestival Bern for collaboration on this project. More on the festival at: https://www.musikfestivalbern.ch/ https://www.instagram.com/musikfestival_bern https://www.facebook.com/musikfestivalbern More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/ Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/ Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0502-global-swarming/ There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to marc@disquiet.com for Slack inclusion. The image associated with this project is by David Hoffman, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes: https://flic.kr/p/aePCyj https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ Genre Ambient Comment by Fake Genius creepy-cool 2021-08-16T07:26:46Z