Spednar

".XOR / TXX pushes physical boundaries into the unknown, where the limits of synthesis no longer feel constricted to demonstrations or models." - C T05 continues the series of @tarantella_23 audioglyphic transmissions. The split release features two live performances by @ecz_____em (from his Tarantella XX performance) and myself (from @errorgrid 's .XOR generative music showcase). Artwork by @sebastiancamens (slide 2/3) is available for purchase in the form of two limited run 8x10 prints.

My latest album 'static linking' is out tomorrow! This one has been in the works for a while and every aspect turned out great. Major thanks to @3op3op3op @ecz_____em @nilhartman for perfecting the vision. Art by @instazedz captured by @oscillik Drum feature on coherent noise by @jaysongerycz Link in bio

New music out now on this beautiful marbled slab. @greg.vaneck & I put together a split of mangled atmospheric industrial rippers. Best played loud. Big thanks to @daveeightc for doing the hard work and pushing the vision. Cover art by @machinelistener & design by @sebastiancamens - link in bio

Big @virtua_gal × @beautiful.unity.gymnasium takeover of @holoceneportland - including @gan.tttt @mnigro @aesthetic.stalemate @unitygarnish + @guynoid & @collect_call_ 6/24 - extreme A/V takeover - FULL VENUE ACTIVATION. We'll be doing a family trust (w @thesetofarsonist ) A/V set for the occasion.

(06.21.26) B.U.G. takes over @wyrdhut CAST: @spednar @b3n2y_ @stevieschmidt @ringtone.tools June 21st 8PM 4704 SE 65th AVE Flyer by @beautiful.unity.gymnasium 🛜💿🌎🧩🌀❇️

🚨OUT NOW🚨 Artist: Spednar Track: temporal recalibration Album: State Transition Probability EP What’re you listening to these days? What informs your music? Fun question - Danielle has gotten me much more into classical music and specifically quartet performances. We have a growing collection of mixed early classical/electronic compositions that I think are fascinating and largely absent in the current era. I’ve been listening to more folk music while driving around Oregon for hikes. As you would expect, I still primarily purchase/listen/dj electronic music. Some modern artists’ work I’ve really loved in recently: Nathan Ho, Katarina Gyrvul, Stefan Maier, Rashad Becker, E Wata, Gyrofield - list could go on for a while. I have to give a shoutout to one of our best pals out here Ryan/Xanopticon - who was formative in my perspective of what music could be in my teens and a general Pittsburgh legend - for encouraging my own growth as a listener and producer. Tri-Labs has also been holding it down in Pittsburgh on the frontlines of engaging scientific audio. Available for purchase at the link in our bio. 🎶 @spednar 📸 @ryanmichaelwhite

🚨OUT NOW🚨 Artist: Spednar Track: metaxy Album: State Transition Probability EP What was your approach to this EP? Obviously your process is technical, but is your artistic approach more organic? This release feels a bit like an ambient demo reel to me. After my latest release (.XOR/TXX Split on Tarantella) being a showcase of (overly?) technical timbres and disjunct rhythms from use of max/msp, this feels like a more relaxed approach. There is a heavy use of arpeggiation allowing some space/direction to the synthesis - hopefully this translates to the listener. Most of these tracks were not composed with a start or end, and hopefully feel like a gentle suspension into a headspace of your creation. I think this release works best on headphones (especially for the binaural track). I think the mixture of philosophical and technical track names conveys the mixed approach I’ve been taking recently. I have some perspectives about the goals of composed/recorded music and hope to get closer to accomplishing them with my own output. Available for purchase at the link in our bio. 🎶 @spednar 📸 @ryanmichaelwhite

🚨OUT NOW🚨 Artist: Spednar Track: metapragmatics Album: State Transition Probability EP Walk us through your process for creating these tracks. What software are you using? What’s your process like? Is that similar to what you were doing in 2016? The opening begins with samples used in my project 10+ years ago (some bug-screen samples and breathing) which felt appropriate to re-approach/contextualize. In 2016, I was very focused on usage of tidalcycles (tidalmidi, dirt/superdirt) with some final edits in a daw (shit jungle ii is an ableton track) for the amorphaux release. At the time I was very adamant about only utilizing linux/foss software for live performance. Now I own a macbook and have embraced paid software (like a traitor). It’s cool to pay your peers for their continued work in DSP! Now when performing, there are much heavier considerations for mixing, processing, time-clocking, and performance redundancy - this has made my sets a lot more polished at the expense of tactility and experimentation. This release utilizes some sounds from an ambika (6 x SMR-4 + custom edits to YAM firmware)/argon8m on the hardware side and a lot of digital synthesis (either via max, zebra, tela (fors), or default ableton instruments). I’ve largely moved away from usage of samples and have been having a lot of fun forcing myself to synthesize all drums in recent years. Technical info of note - `viterbi path` is max-sequenced use of the argon8m, acoustic shadow is utilizing fiedler’s atmos composer for 3d-spatial object positioning and rendered down to a binaural output. Available for purchase at the link in our bio. 🎶 @spednar 📸 @ryanmichaelwhite

🚨OUT NOW🚨 Artist: Spednar Track: superposition encoding Album: State Transition Probability EP How has life change for you since 2016? I am 10 years older. Time is a powerful force that I am fascinated by. It sharpens focus, opinion, and certainly seems to be moving faster as we progress along it. I relocated to Portland, Oregon in 2021 after Danielle completed her PhD and was offered a job here and I continued my role remotely. I’ve since upgraded to working as a system’s architect for my company and am pleased with how my career has progressed. Danielle and I had been living together and in a serious relationship in Pittsburgh for multiple years prior so it felt like a natural progression. Not surprisingly we are now married and own a home out here. I’d lived in the Pittsburgh region for my entire life (aside from college years in NC where Cosmic Sound was created), so was excited at the prospect of living in a new place, and learning about a new region. It’s a great mental exercise to learn/relearn your own association to an area. Being in close proximity to a heavy-EE minded area has encouraged me to develop an electronics lab and pursue a better understanding of audio synthesis/DSP and the history of both. Portland has an incredibly dense collection of inspiring synth wizards (across audio and visual domains) - showcased through the likes of portland synth library, heterodox records (and related events), and sound system crews like 3rdkltr. Not surprisingly a lot of folks here are creating highly technical music made from these approaches. The ‘state transition’ also still includes rivers and bridges, but the beaches and mountains are a nice addition. — Available for purchase at the link in our bio. 🎶 @spednar 📸 @ryanmichaelwhite

We are excited to announce the heterodox debut release from PDX artist and promoter @blaix.syx , ‘Erica’e Acid’! We will be celebrating the release at this month’s @modbang_official with a stacked lineup of awesome performers, including @wetmango909 @enzocaselnova Family Trust (@spednar and @thesetofarsonist ) and Blaix with @cycloptoad on visuals. #pdxelectronicmusic #liveelectronicmusic

April’s release comes from none other than Spednar. Seven tracks that span the aesthetic spectrum from ambient to noise/extreme. Both complimentary and a welcome follow up to his 2016 La Squadra release. Available at the link in our bio tomorrow morning. LS2026 is a showcase label from Pittsburgh, PA that appears once every ten years. Each month of the year features a release from a different local artist. 🎶 @spednar 📸 @ryanmichaelwhite

Over the past 2 years we've ( @thesetofarsonist ) been directing most of our effort into the 'family trust' project. @thought_society_ @n.a_sound have been largely responsible for leveling up our approach to bass music production and reshaping our brains for what is possible on bass bins. We're stoked to be able to play the new music we've been working on this weekend in N. Cal with this wild lineup of voice coil controllers. EMB 26 - 4/17-4/19 MUSIC AND DANCE ARE LANGUAGES OF FREEDOM