Nocturne 37: Kim Cascone – 'the knotted constellation (fourteen rotted coordinates)'

'When noise is present, we feel at ease; when it stops, we feel unease.' - Kim Cascone


'the knotted constellation' is a cinematic sound piece, composed for Monotype Records in Warsaw, that makes use of sonic-gauzes through which to hear. As a result, listening through gauzes creates a psycho-acoustical blurring or obscuring superimposition effect.
The idea behind gauzes: In order to survive in public spaces we have learned to 'listen-through' the sonic gauzes for any important sounds that lie behind it. An obvious example would be the constant roar of urban traffic that we listen through for important cues: a friend calling out our name from across the street, a siren in the near distance alerting us to a speeding ambulance, a street musician we enjoy on afternoon coffee breaks or a bus speeding by as we step off a curb.
In traditional communication theory this 'gauze' is the noise in the channel modulating or obscuring a message being sent. We constantly exercise our skill of 'listening through' in order to decode and react to the world around us.
In the past five years my work has been more field recording based. I've attempted to capture this phenomenon in the field as much as possible and when not possible I've sought to create or find new gauzes behind which I mix other material.

Kim Cascone has a long history involving electronic music: he received his formal training in electronic music at the Berklee College of Music in the early 1970's, and in 1976 continued his studies with Dana McCurdy at the New School in New York City. In the 1980's, after moving to San Francisco and gaining experience as an audio technician, Cascone worked with David Lynch as Assistant Music Editor on both Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart. Cascone left the film industry in 1991 to concentrate on Silent Records, a label that he founded in 1986, transforming it into the U.S.'s premier electronic music label. At the height of Silent's success, he sold the company in early 1996 to pursue a career as a sound designer and went to work for Thomas Dolby's company Headspace. After a two year stint at Headspace he worked for Staccato Systems as the Director of Content where he oversaw sound design using algorithmic synthesis for video games. Since 2001 Kim has been touring Europe performing, conducting workshops and lecturing on post-digital aesthetics in sound art.
Kim has released more than 30 albums of electronic music since 1984 and has recorded/performed with Merzbow, Keith Rowe, Tony Conrad, Scanner, John Tilbury, and Pauline Oliveros among others.
Cascone is the founder of the microsound list which focuses on issues concerning post-digital music and laptop performance (http://www.microsound.org) and his writing has been published in Computer Music Journal (MIT Press), Artbyte, Contemporary Music Review, Soundcultures, Parachute Journal, Junk Jet and Geometer.
In 2008 Kim attained Italian citizenship and is currently a citizen of both the USA and Italy. He lives on the coast of California, just south of San Francisco, with his wife Kathleen and son Cage.

Links:
* Discography:
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Kim+Cascone

* Last.fm:
http://www.last.fm/music/Kim+Cascone

* Essay in Junk Jet
http://www.junkjet.net/readjj/read_kimcascone.html

* interview with Kim Cascone in Ctheory
http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=322

* interview with Kim Cascone at the Cycling74 website:
http://cycling74.com/2005/09/13/an-interview-with-kim-cascone/