Deathbomb Arc

Peretsky - Pianovoz Electroacústica (Digital EP)

DIGITAL FORMATS
This collection of electroacoustic vocal and piano improvisations was
recorded in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico in the midst of the hottest month in
recorded Puerto Rican history (it has since been replaced by a more
recent date). While it is certainly not traditional piano and vocal
improvisational performance by the strictest definition, in many ways
this series of recordings acts as a return to fundamentals in
spontaneous sonic exploration with very minimal processing in
post-production. With piano and voice being the first instruments
learned by the artist as a child, much of these improvisations act as
a vehicle of a positive form of musical regression. The challenge at
hand is to create a sound as full and textural as that of a fully
electronic production across tens of channels, but only through three:
piano, voice, and granular synthesis.

This is a series of improvisations surrounding the topic of 21st
century austerity, focusing specifically on the liberatory nature of
certain technological innovations that most in the Global North now
take for granted. How can you create art when you're worried about
whether the food in your fridge will remain fresh past the evening
when the power has been out all day? How can you remain in constant
contact with your family and friends when all communications providers
are at capacity in the midst of a Hurricane or other natural
disasters? As there is no telling how long the power grid is going to
remain functional in the oldest colony on the planet, it’s crucial
that digital art and performance be produced here and now with the
tools available, right up to the very point when they no longer are.
Pianovoz Electroacústica places this nowness front and center, it can
speak for itself as creative music, but illustrates the need to
continue working even as the safety nets surrounding you begin to
crumble all the more. More importantly, this series of improvisations
acts as a warning: the Global North will only be able to ignore these
realities up until the point at which they arrive at their doorstep.
The time to make preparations is at hand for every human on this
planet, and that includes protecting the means of creating art.

Peretsky is the sonic arts moniker of composer, performer, educator,
and writer Max Alper. He writes prose and shitposts on the topics of
the democratization of music technology and the many faults of the
contemporary music industry under his own name and under the online
pseudonym @la_meme_young. He teaches composition and sonic arts both
privately and as faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn
College and the New York Film Academy. He lives in South Brooklyn, New
York.