Deep Listening with Suki Sou

“Tone Phase 1 For 2 Guitars & 4 Oscillators” is a dense and atmospheric instrumental track from the album “Floating Frequencies|Intuitive Synthesis” by Eleh. The repetitive and slowly evolving velvet structure of the track, created using two guitars and four oscillators, really draw me in and encourages deep listening and introspection. This album is a testament to Eleh’s innovative approach to sound and a great example of how minimalism can be used to create profound sonic experiences.

Joanna Brouk, a prominent US composer in the minimalist and new age scenes from the 1970s – 1990s. This track sounds like you are watching the shadows of trees moving by the wind. Its slowly evolving piano arpeggios, accompanied by gentle percussion and atmospheric soundscapes, creates a transcendent and timeless ambiance. Her minimalist composition techniques evoke a sense of tranquility and contemplation, making this track the perfect companion for those quiet and contemplative moments.

Doubling Riders was a collective of Italian minimalist composers who were active between 1972 – 1992. The group was known for their explorations of the space between notes, creating music that emphasized silence, repetition, and subtle variations in tone and timbre. “Chinese Rain” is a must.

“Cloudless Daybreak” is a track from Egli Kalman’s most recent album “Kingdom of Bells,” which was released by Ideal Recordings last year. The album features Egli playing the Synthi 100 at KSYME Contemporary Music Research Center in Athens. This track is a single take performance with no overdubs or editing, a sonic journey through imaginary landscapes.

“Deep Hockets” by Pauline Oliveros is an intricate and innovative piece that explores the possibilities of texture and rhythm in music. The composition uses a medieval musical technique called “hocket,” in which a single melody is divided between multiple voices. Oliveros takes this technique to a new level by layering multiple lines of music, resulting in a complex and constantly changing interlocking pattern. The deep, resonant tones of the accordion add to the percussive effect, creating a rich and immersive sonic environment. Super innovative!

Michael Gordon composed Timber as a percussion piece for six amplified wooden simantras, which are large, thick planks that are played with mallets. Gordon worked closely with the percussion ensemble Mantra Percussion to create the work, and the piece was developed through a process of improvisation, experimentation, and refinement. His interest in exploring the physical and sonic properties of the simantras, and he used a variety of playing techniques to create a range of sounds and textures, including rubbing, striking, and scraping the wood. The piece is characterised by its rhythmic complexity and its use of polyrhythms, with each player in the ensemble playing a different part that interlocks with the others to create a dense and constantly shifting texture of sound. The piece is typically performed in a surround-sound configuration, with the six performers positioned in a circle around the audience to create an immersive listening experience.

Tomoko Sauvage used a unique instrument of her own design called “waterbowls” or “waterphones”. This instrument consists of partially filled porcelain bowls that create a resonant chamber and produce rich and complex textures of tones and overtones when rubbed with wet fingers or a bow. The sound can be manipulated by varying the water level, rubbing speed and pressure, and microphone placement. The title “Clepsydra” refers to an ancient water-powered timekeeping device, reflecting her fascination with water as a medium for musical expression and exploration of its sonic properties.

This WAS the track that has invited me to make electronic music…Originally choreographed by David Woodberry for an outdoor dance concert in Union Square Park in NYC. Laurie herself said: “Picture coming to the East River’s edge, with the breath-taking sense of spaciousness, light and energy there compared to the dense crowded rectangular small spaces. Picture the feeling of having stayed up all night then looking out through the hazy dawn air at the river. Things are already busy. There are tug boats and freighters, and seagulls flying around looking for their breakfasts. The day feels full of potential.”

One of the key techniques used by Kali in creating “Spectacle of Ritual” was the use of just intonation, a tuning system that is based on ratios of small whole numbers. This tuning system allows for more complex and harmonically rich musical structures than traditional Western tuning systems, and it is a technique that she has used extensively in her work. The slowly unfolding harmonies and textures encourage a sense of acceptance of the unknown, or as a practice for patience, making it an ideal way to start your day and feel grounded amidst uncertainty.

This piece of music was originally commissioned for a live dance show. The gentle hums and swooshes from the giant monophonic ARP2500 create a layered textural tundra that you can just get lost in. It’s like taking a journey through the depths of your own consciousness, and coming out the other side feeling renewed and refreshed. Her commitment to long-form stasis is mysteriously essential in the most extreme manner. It tunes your attention to a place somewhere between committed focus and surrendered consciousness, and it’s within this state of mind that you can attempt objective observation of your surrounding. Extremely edifying for me.