Before statistical parrots like GPT and its peers swarmed on us, old (if not dead) cognitive scientists thought that for machines to generate something, rules were the key. Following a rule, and sets of rules together, meant exploring all the possibilities contained within those rules, and implied by them - exploring all the possible worlds coexisting simultaneously; something that only machines could do - as humans lack the time to do it. And yet music is inextricably entangled with time - without time, music would not exist. Therefore, a musician creating generative music has to set the rules, let the machine do the exploration, and visit some of the possible worlds explored by the machine - selecting the ones they find a resonance with as the output.
Matthew Ryals is a musician and educator from New York, whose music can be understood as the product of a collaboration between the human and the machine. Last year, he set out to visit the worlds explored by his modular synthesizer for 30 days. Results from the first worlds visited by Matthew have recently been published on dingn\dents and Behind Glass as Generative Etudes Vol 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2; SØVN Records is proud to publish the first selection from the second series of trips - named Generative Etudes Vol 2.0. In the next few months, Vol 2.1 - 2.2 will both be released on Matthew's own imprint, Behind Glass, and will feature alternate takes of the generative patches.
The music of Generative Etudes Vol 2.0 is made of percussive surprises and unexpectedly playful chopped-up synths. Matthew's rules, as interpreted by the machines, produce fast, unpredictable changes in timbre and rhythm at every corner. The resulting excitement is not unlike the one we experience when visiting a new place - or perhaps, when discovering a new possible world: with a brief glimpse of the infinite intricacy behind its rules that will remain unknown to us, we are pushed to reconsider the rules of our own real world.
Thank you to Francesco Ameglio, Andrea Bruera, Sonia Gavazza & Joyce N. Ho.
credits
released December 1, 2023
All etudes recorded live with no overdubs or post editing using a modular synthesizer January - September 2022. Written, performed, and produced by Matthew Ryals at home in Brooklyn, NY.
supported by 11 fans who also own “Generative Etudes Vol 2.0”
as a fan of generative art myself, fields is one of my fav artists of all time. have listened to everything he has output (including his 24hr seminal masterpiece fieldOS). his process and technique for making very meaningful random generative music makes each listen all the more intriguing and inspiring. offthesky
Brash experimental electronic compositions from this Tulsa-based musician heavy on serrated sheets of sound that hiss and scald. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 27, 2023