Dane Law - Blue Forty-Six

Blue Forty-Six is a suite of 12 recordings created through improvisation with a software instrument I have been developing through my research, and released under my "Dane Law" alias.

For the sound sources, I recorded every note on an acoustic guitar to create a multisample instrument, acting as a virtual model of the guitar. This then provided the materials to be improvised with using a semi-algorithmic performance software I have created which allows for layered and drifting finger-picking style patterns, creating a type of "computer folk" music.

The software utilises techniques including Euclidean rhythms and Markov chains to "offload" elements of the performance to code (Toussaint, 2005). This builds on the idea of "Intelligent Instrument" established by Laurie Spiegel in 1973 (1986). These are digital musical instruments that have algorithms embedded within their design, facilitating and assisting performance and improvisation. This approach to live computer music is also influenced by contemporary "live coding" practices, wherein performers use algorithms to create club and club-adjacent music on computers in real time (Collins and McLean, 2014).

Earlier versions of this performance system can be heard on Algorithmic Music for Synthesised Strings (Dane Law, 2020). I have discussed the nature of novel digital musical instruments in "Digital Musical Instruments as Probes: How computation changes the mode-of-being of musical instruments" in the Organised Sound Journal (Tahıroğlu et al, 2020).

The album is available on multiple streaming platforms and pieces have been played on BBC Radio 3, BBC 6 Music, Resonance FM, WFMU and other radio stations. It has also been reviewed in outlets including Boomkat and the Quietus, who noted "Dane Law’s suite is one of beauty and depth."

References

Collins, N. and McLean, A., 2014, June. Algorave: Live performance of algorithmic electronic dance music. In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (pp. 355-358).

Tahıroğlu, K., Magnusson, T., Parkinson, A., Garrelfs, I., & Tanaka, A. 2020. Digital Musical Instruments as Probes: How computation changes the mode-of-being of musical instruments. Organised Sound, 25(1), 64-74. doi:10.1017/S1355771819000475

Dane Law, 2020. Algorithmic Music for Synthesised Strings. Astral Plane Recordings.

Spiegel, L., 1986. Music Mouse™-An Intelligent Instrument. Internet: http://retiary. org/ls/programs. html.

Toussaint, G. 2005. "The Euclidean algorithm generates traditional musical rhythms." In Renaissance Banff: Mathematics, Music, Art, Culture, pp. 47-56.