welcome to this update covering the months May and June! I've been busy creating, reading, writing, and listening - so I hope there's something in here for everyone.
New Service Offering
Though let me inject a plug first. I've been toying with the idea of creating a service around audio branding and sound identity for podcasters and small businesses, and today I launched it:
(if you're into sound stuff in general, you might also want to check out the making of videos: https://soundlogo.co/makingof/)
Enough of that, though, let's get to the exciting and inspirational parts.
An Event I Enjoyed
As I teased the last time, I performed at Moozak Multichannel Series v4, and boy did I enjoy it. There are some photos on Instagram, but the video live recording isn't ready yet. I'll follow up with this once it's online.
I performed a 10 minutes rendering of my piece "Arecibo". Most listeners approached me with "why so short?" afterwards - which is really one of the greatest compliments for any composer/performer. Thank you all!
Other performers of this evening at an abandoned maternity hospital in Vienna were Noid, David Pridal, Zeynep Sarikartal, Marie Vermont and the Concept Horse. It was really a delightful evening that I shared with a lot of inspiring and empathic people - I hope many more will follow.
Here's a picture of me performing:
Music I Enjoyed Listening To
I couldn’t help but impulse buy the first record of a duo formed by two of my greatest influences and mentors, Martina Claussen and Katharina Klement. Together they forged a classic electroacoustic (albeit not totally acousmatic) album called „Alchemical Allures“ which does not disappoint:
Here’s a compilation of my rough immediate thoughts on the four tracks:
Helium - a cineastic ambience of guttural murmurs, floating whispers and stuttering cicadas. The almost 10 minutes of the piece pass by unnoticed. Silver - low, modulating metallic impacts and scraping surfaces. I quite loved the spatial composition, how sounds are interwoven in the spectral, lateral and depth dimensions. Sodium - the most aggressive of the chemical elements referenced on this record here gets a special treatment. Voice fragments from left and right seem to drive a succession of noises getting more and more agitated as the track progresses. This crescendo concludes in a nod towards folklore zither sounds. All in all a very capturing listening experience. Neon - in a way, this final track sums up all the elements from the preceding ones. A very conclusive musical coda of the whole record.
A Book I Enjoyed Reading
"Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara. The autobiographic record of a New York entrepreneur transforming a middle class brasserie into the "worlds best restaurant". This book touched me on many levels, and I'll just enumerate them below.
First, it's no secret that I love good food, and the experience of dining. Reading through this book had my mouth watering, not only in the literal sense. The vivid descriptions of places in New York also speak to my traveler soul and have me wanting to revisit that place so badly.
Then, Guidara, by all means, seems to be a true optimist, somebody who's seen a lot of ups and downs but still sees the glass half full. This alone is a very inspiring trait these days, and I applaud him for it.
Third, his approach to reaching the goal of becoming excellent is quite inspiring in itself. He goes into great detail explicating what he means by being "unreasonably hospitable", and indeed I think every business owner (at least in the service sector) could use a bit of his method to surprise and delight his/her customers with exceptional gestures. It's somewhat innate to me - I want everyone to be happy - but he makes it clear that putting your money where your mouth is not only makes yourself more satisfied with the customer service you're providing, but is also reflected in business figures.
Now, my experience reading this book was not without mixed feelings. When he says he's Googling every guest in advance to see what he can surprise her with, or eavesdropping on conversations - to me that feels a bit like trespassing, on the verge of stalking. Maybe I'm too cautious a person, but if a waiter greeted me with intimate details of my life I'd probably have at least a partly horrified experience. True, many businesses do background checks of their customers, but in a restaurant where I want to meet with friends in the first place, this feels a bit over the top. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this!
