PRIME MATING MATERIAL

Listen: Prime Mating Material.MP3

007/365

Andy

That I am. What more can I say that wouldn’t be blatant self promotion. Besides, you’re already looking at least 1000 words here.

Austin

I dare not waste any extra words on this one. If the last entry ("Start") was a sort of winking musical joke, this one is a sledgehammer. Andy sent me that picture of himself, with that exact title, and this piece came to mind rather instantly. On the nose? Certainly. Tasteless? Presumably.... fun though!

LET'S START SOMETHING

Listen: Let's Start Something.MP3

006/365

Andy I was feeling a little pyromaniacal. A little bit of dual meaning here, if it isn’t blaringly obvious. It could be the flame of inspiration, or a darker, more sinister desire for destruction. Combine that with the music and take from it what you will.

Austin

This began with Andy's photo, which I rather liked. However, for the longest time no specific musical ideas came to mind. I was stuck .... 6 days in and already at a loss of ideas. His original title had been "Let's Start Something," and I think it was inspired by the beginning of our project in general. So the idea of 'starting' in a more general sense and less a flammable sense started to percolate and I wound up with what is, essentially, a little musical joke. Basically, it's an intro, with no actual piece. It's the start of a piece, sort of a jazz band-type thing you might expect to hear kick off "Sing Sing Sing." Yet nothing ever comes...... (I'm here all night ...)

BIRTH

Listen: Birth.MP3

005/365

Andy

Another iPhone shot. This one of my niece being lifted into the air. In using birth as a topic it really seems only fair to see the recently born and I can’t think of much better subjects than my nieces and nephews. Uncle is really one of the best titles a guy could ask for, but I digress.

Austin

Again we began with a photo of Andy's, and it seemed fun to revisit the compositional palette of a film I scored last year called GRACE. For that film I recorded a friend's newborn baby for about a month, gathering up a rather exhaustive library of cries, laughs, coos, coughs, and endless other alien-sounding baby noises. They became, after a fairly considerable amount of finessing and programming, the main 'instrument' of my score. So, staring into the eyes of yet another baby, I thought it would be fun to reopen those old sessions and create something new entirely from those recordings. It's a simple two-part piece, starting with pure baby recordings and moving toward a hazy, distorted cloud.

AFTERBIRTH

Listen: Afterbirth.MP3

004/365

Austin

Andy shot this photo first, a clear sign of 'The Simpson's' long-term cultural impact. I've been a loyal fan of the show its entire 20-year run, and so this image was instantly very charming to me (Andy pointed out to me that there are kids in college now who've been alive less time than 'The Simpsons' have been on the air ....). I thought my own little homage to Elfman's timeless 'Simpsons' theme seemed best (scored for solo flute and performed wonderfully here by Amy Tatum). This is not a true variation on his theme, but more a quasi-improvisational fantasia on 3-notes. They just happen to be same first 3 notes of 'The Simpsons.'

Andy

I was walking down Wewatta St in Denver after a Nuggets game when I saw this clever Simpsons-inspired tag. I had to have a photo of it so the iPhone came out.

BIRTH OF A MOVEMENT

Listen: Birth of a Movement.MP3

003/365

Andy

Aptly tagged on the old Gates Rubber building in Denver. I don’t think this will convince them to stop using oil, but I still love socially conscious tagging. I titled this with the idea of using art to impact social or political change. Not something I’m doing right now, but it’s what it made me think of.

Austin

Again, this began with Andy's photo. Something about the nature of its tilt and sort of "off" angle made me feel something visceral, almost violent should be written. So I did sort of a musical rendition of a protest rally. Large drums marshal a crowd of protesters and rioters. Over time, the drums fade, then stop, and the sounds of the crowd gradually fade and distort, drifting away. The crowd gets quieter and quieter until finally disappearing, but in such a way to suggest (hopefully) that at least the message won't die. It will live past the individual rallies.

BIRTH OF PRODUCTIVITY

Listen: Birth of Productivity.MP3

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Andy

It really is 2010 and I am ambitious. I want to be nothing short of productive, prolific even. Coffee should help. Here’s a Domo coffee cup. I’d be lying if I didn’t get a bit of Domo inspiration from Dustin Diaz, whose macro shots I really enjoy.

Austin

This began with Andy's wonderful monster coffee cup shot, and I think helps kick us off very well after yesterday's much more 'thoughtful' and/or 'cerebral' entry. Basically (as with the photo), I'm having a bit of fun. I suppose you could say this piece is a little musical snapshot of a caffeine trip (at least, someone else's ... sadly caffeine long-ago ceased to have that effect on me). This was rendered entirely in my studio using nothing but my own voice (for which I offer apologies).

BIRTH OF ALLOGAMY

Listen: Birth of Allogamy.MP3

001/365

Austin

Here begins what will probably be one of my single most prominent activities for all 2010; an extensive series of photos and music we're calling "Allogamy." There isn't really one particular goal or reason for this project. It is, essentially, a very large experiment. As a composer it is my daily task to try to uncover new ideas, new sounds, new means. The sheer volume of writing required for this project (365 total pieces, with an arbitrarily-predetermined average length of 60 seconds) will mean that I either learn A LOT and grow A LOT, or will otherwise crumble and be ruined as an artist. I can't help but feel a tiny bit like Major Kong riding the bomb out of the sky ....

Basically, each day for the entire 2010 calendar year we will post one photograph by Andrew Berglund, and one piece of music by me. In some cases, he went and took a photo and I studied it, and wrote a piece of music somehow inspired by it. In other cases, I went and wrote a piece of music, and he then reacted with a photo. Still others involve us mutually discussing an idea, and separately going off to capture in it and combining the results.

This first piece is sort of a mirror. It began with Andy's photo of his camera. Appropriate enough ... start with the origin of the next year's work! I decided to write a piece which was essentially about music itself. What resulted is basically a very short trip through the first 12 pitches of the overtone series, the foundation of sound itself.

Andy

Happy New Year and welcome to our 365 Project! I’ve followed/adored/envied several photographers’ 365s in 2009 and decided I wanted to take on my own. I explained the idea to Austin and he saw an opportunity to collaborate creatively, something we have not really done probably since middle school. We were both immediately extremely enthusiastic about the prospect and got to work.

I have a few goals for the year. Like just about anyone who embarks on this journey the big one is artistic growth. Photography is a passion of mine that I all too often leave on the backburner. This is an attempt to remedy that. This being a collaboration, I am also extremely glad to get the opportunity to share an artistic vision. Photography to this point has been very much so a solo sport for me. Getting the chance to make it a more social team exercise is going to be an incredible opportunity.

A brief explanation of the project. I’m taking photos, Austin is writing music. Sometimes in that order, sometimes the other way around, sometimes at the same time. Together they are magic. Because we’re working together this is an atypical photographic 365 in that I’ve started ahead of time (still taking on average a photo a day) but in order to have both together we had to stockpile just a tad. Don’t hate on the method. Also when I get my act together we should be transferring from blogger to Word Press for JavaScript compatibility reasons. Things will get prettier then. Stay tuned. Also look up allogamy, it's one of them sciency words. If you know the word, you'll understand why we chose it.

And finally, the photo. It’s a camera. "Soft focus", glamour shot goodness. Seemed appropriate.