Dirty Dialogues is an encounter between Dirty Electronics Ensemble, Jon.Ogara and Anna Xambó in a free music improvisation session after a long pandemic lockdown. Thirteen musicians on stage combining analogue and digital instruments, acoustic and electronic materials, live coding and DIY sound-making techniques. An intense polymorphic journey of sonic exploration and chaos, which is especially recommended for noise music lovers.

This album was recorded on May 17, 2021 at PACE (De Montfort University) with no audience due to COVID-19 restrictions. The event was organised by MTI2, De Montfort University in collaboration with l’ull cec. It was funded by EPSRC HDI Network Plus Grant – Art, Music and Culture Theme.

Audio mixing & recording: Petros Galanakis, Harry Pentony
Audio mastering: Anna Xambó, Petros Galanakis, Harry Pentony
Photography: Susanne Grunewald, Sam Roig (l’ull cec), Harry Pentony, Anna Xambó
Album art and design by Angela Guyton
(CC BY-NC 4.0) 2021 Dirty Electronics Ensemble, Jonathan Moss, and Anna Xambó

Any proceeds from this album will be donated to Freesound: freesound.org

Full album available for free download here: www.panyrosasdiscos.org/pyr313-dirty-electronics-ensemble-jon-ogara-and-anna-xambo-dirty-dialogues/

Performer notes:

Dirty Electronics Ensemble – Current Matrix + Radical Chip, Motors, and Found Objects

Radical Chip ‘modules’ (MIRLCa version) – made from nail terminals, wire-wrapping and wood bases – are laid out on the floor in a cluster. Performers generate variable current with motors and batteries and control the flow of the current through patching and connecting/disconnecting raw electronic components to the modules. Found objects are also sounded by vibrating speakers and motors.

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Jon.Ogara – Trombone, Flute, Kinect sensor, PC (MaxMSP – with dp.Kinect2, MIRLCa, VCV rack), IPAD running AUM

The MIRLCa was running an instance of the performer, where it tried to find freesounds which it was taught to be things that the performer liked. It was used in conjunction with recorded samples of phonemes from the performer and two friends. The phonemes were triggered via a random MIDI sequence. Flute and trombone improvisations were used, as well as the performer’s left and right hand movements captured by the Kinect sensor and triggering a VCV rack creation. Jon’s motivation was to create an instance of a lost conversation, to improvise to what was happening in the room and to consider the AI system as an alternative intelligence. The capturing and representation of movements were aimed at representing non-verbal communication as sound.

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Anna Xambó – Laptop (MIRLCa)

MIRLCa is a SuperCollider extension developed by Anna Xambó as part of the EPSRC HDI Network Plus Grant project “MIRLCAuto: A Virtual Agent for Music Information Retrieval in Live Coding”. The system is a follow-up of the also self-built SuperCollider extension MIRLC. MIRLCa combines machine learning algorithms with music information retrieval (MIR) techniques to retrieve crowdsourced sounds from the online database Freesound.org, which results in a sound-based music style.
mirlca.dmu.ac.uk

This work uses the following sounds from Freesound.org:

come back alive whisper.mp3 by LadyImperatrix (lic. CC0 1.0)
3. Suspiros Whispers.wav by cabusta9 (lic. CC0 1.0)
Asian Restaurant.wav by gusgus26 (lic. CC0 1.0)
ambient pub by 16H_Panska_Stejskal_David (lic. CC0 1.0)
Crowded Restaraunt.mp3 by Airborne80 (lic. CC BY 3.0)
Turn On by Czarcazas (lic. CC BY 3.0)
Distant Explosion by Mr_KeybOred (lic. CC0 1.0)
missile-explosion.ogg by jorgerosa (lic. CC0 1.0)
Office_printer_printing.aif by vrodge (lic. CC0 1.0)
Printer Printing Office Sounds by deleted_user_7146007 (lic. CC0 1.0)
Coins/poker-chips spinning.wav by JanevdMerwe1995 (lic. CC0 1.0)
Chopping Kindling.wav by PapercutterJohn (lic. CC0 1.0)
DIRTY FUZZ.wav by edwardszakal (lic. CC BY 3.0)
Roland SH-2 – Filter Vel Bass – F3 (54F#2-7MSI.wav) by modularsamples (lic. CC0 1.0)
Radio Static by GowlerMusic (lic. CC BY 3.0)
Microchip_Packaging.wav by Mortifreshman (lic. CC0 1.0)
sink_241210.mp3 by miastodzwiekow (lic. CC BY 3.0)
Radio, Noise, Long-Wave, 01-01 LOOP.wav by InspectorJ (lic. CC BY 3.0)
50hZ heavy buzz.wav by adamamazing (lic. CC0 1.0)
Rubber Hammer by 13FPanská_Tolar_David (lic. CC0 1.0)
03-Pasos.wav by ZeritFreeman (lic. CC0 1.0)
CrecimientoPlanta.wav by Natymon (lic. CC0 1.0)
The Shape of Noise like Starlings.wav by Daimon-zero (lic. CC BY 3.0)
computer-hum.mp3 by snakercz (lic. CC BY 3.0)
Glass Smash, Bottle, B.wav by InspectorJ (lic. CC BY 3.0)
Sellotape being pulled by Zamazan (lic. CC BY-NC 3.0)
Balloon-Strain-03.wav by Gniffelbaf (lic. CC0 1.0)
hip hop loop_100bpm_wet.wav by jordanthebamf (lic. Sampling Plus 1.0)
Small Brush Sweep.wav by TaXMaNFoReVeR (lic. CC BY-NC 3.0)
ouverture pince Gerber.wav by transeman (lic. CC0 1.0)
Sweeping with a brush.wav by 15GPanskaMottel_Patrik (lic. CC0 1.0)
cerrando puerta de carro / closing car door by jusebago (lic. CC0 1.0)