Music without the musician, whereby AI takes my soul
Can AI make art? Should AI make art? I'm pretty sure the answer to both questions is actually no, but goddamn if that won't stop me from trying. On this site, I document my experiments with using technologies such as Suno and Facebook's MusicGen, as well as whatever whacky AI-powered tools and shortcuts and human augmentations I can get my hands on.
I'm not really claiming authorship here. I don't intend for my visitors to be in awe of my prompting skills, or how deftly I can push a button. But I find these technologies intriguing, and I want to learn and share in public.
·3:34·ambientfield-recording
Low Pressure System
Started this as a sketch on a delayed flight. The pad is a Juno-60 sample stretched 4× through paulstretch, then sidechained to my own breathing recorded on the iPhone mic. There's a couple seconds of actual cabin announcement audible around 1:42 if you listen for it.
0:00
3:34
·3:07·lo-figuitar
Rain on the Server Room
First track in a while with actual chords. I rehearsed it eight times and then recorded one take on a phone propped against a coffee mug — the version on previous takes was technically cleaner but somehow worse. Mix is rough. I think I like that.
the fans hum like a chapel choir / and nobody is listening but the AC and me
0:00
3:07
·4:16·instrumentalsynth
Null Island
0°N 0°E. There's a weather buoy at that exact coordinate and I keep thinking about it. Built around a single arpeggio that I let drift out of tune over the course of four minutes. The drone underneath is the buoy's actual radio signal, slowed down and EQ'd until it sounded like a string section.
0:00
4:16
·2:22·beatexperimental
Two Fingers on the Trackpad
Made entirely from sounds I recorded on a single afternoon at a coworking space — keyboard clacks, an espresso machine, somebody's mechanical pencil, the air conditioner's death rattle. No synths. No samples. Just office.
0:00
2:22
·3:18·popvocals
404 Found
I wrote this hoping it would be the kind of song that's stuck in your head for a week. I have no idea if I succeeded — I've been listening to it on loop for two weeks so I can't tell anymore. The bridge is a tape loop of my voice asking "is this thing on?" reversed and pitched up a fifth.
looked everywhere for the thing I lost / turns out the thing I lost was the looking