Fan Art is now available on major platforms. For a comprehensive list of distributors, visit https://noremixes.com/nore048/
At a solo concert last night, I promoted Fan Art for the first time. As you can see in the picture, it felt awesome.
I will write more about each track in the following weeks. Go listen to the album!
No Remixes will release my new album on January 20th. I named the album Fan Art because each track is a tribute to things I fanatically admire – Bach’s Prelude in C minor, Debussy’s Clair de Lune, traditional Korean rhythms, no-input mixing, palindrome, ii-V-I progressions, and synthesizers. The way I expressed my fandom could be excessive, too personal, niche, and inappropriate, but those are what make fan art great!
After the album release, I will write a blog for each piece in CMPE style. Revisit my social media to learn algorithmic composition and sound design!
I am sharing eleven old pieces in reverse chronological order. I don’t consider them as my best of’s, but they are more like excuses to “what happened?” and “why did I do that?” Excuses are rarely correct answers to the questions, but they are somewhat related and much more entertaining. I invite you to listen to my incoherent explanation of why I play drum machine solo instead of recording soothing summer rain sound.
Link to album
https://1473.bandcamp.com/album/works-2019-2009
From the label director, Chien-An Yuan:
Curated by Joo Won @joowonmusic himself, “Works 2019-2009” is an outstanding showcase of his development as a sound artist, in reverse. Joo Won’s music sits precisely at the intersection of sound, technology, and innovation – communicated both in his compositional processes and choice of hardware. There is no passive engagement with his music – by choice or chance, Joo Won’s music demands active listening – there are so many disparate elements to focus on, so many new sounds, that it’s always a thrill to listen to one of his pieces.
Having “Works 2019-2009” as the 20th 1473 release is perfect, really – by providing an overview of an artist’s journey, it serves as the perfect way to mark this milestone for the label. Starting with release 21, the look and mission of 1473 will shift and open up even more – I’m incredibly excited and I hope you are too!
Quite importantly, and as addressed in previous posts, today is Bandcamp Friday when Bandcamp ensures that 100% of income is passed directly to artists and labels by waiving their transaction fees. Joo Won and I are happily passing this income towards raising funds for Spread Art in Detroit, a vital independent art space, run by the formidable Shiva @shivoid
Please help support Spread Art’s mission by purchasing Joo Won’s album today. I promise you’ll be excited by all of the new sounds you hear.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CK6LVKblNHp/
There are many ways to describe relationships through sound.
1473 Recordings recently released a remix album of my compositions. Except for the founder of the label, I did not know the remix artists before the project, and I have not met them in person yet. The relationship between the three artists and I are through sound only. I provided six pieces that represent a few ways of relating a sound to another, and the remix artists put them into different contexts. The results are delightful to me because every combination and choices made in compositions are reflections of the composer. I am honored that Akosuen, Jienan Yuan, Jon Monteverde, and Cinchel spent time and energy to organize sounds to express who they are in this project.
Below are how I listened to each track. I think about the relationship between the sounds when listening. I also think about the connection between music and myself. Focused listening leads me to find unique properties and ideas expressed with sound in each track.
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The album opens with Akosuen‘s Elegy. It is a conversation and non-conversation between two entities. The opposing sounds seem to exist independently at first, but they notice each other as the piece progresses. When the two stop and acknowledge the other, they create beautiful silences. Had the sounds choreographed in another way, the silence would not work so effectively and emotionally.
The first track’s last silence gracefully leads to Jienan Yuan‘s Armor 2. The track lets me ponder in the relationship between the sound and its resonant space. The source sounds (clarinet, clicks, and few that I can’t identify) act as personal guides to various sonically-rich environments. Changes from one place to another are surprising, especially in relation to different transitions I heard in the previous track.
As Armor 2 ends with trilling high pitch, Iris by Jon Monteverde invites me to further think about what trill, tremolo, and vibrato mean in music. Those words describe more than repetitive changes in sound. When I listen carefully to the tremolos of a skilled performer, I hear subtle but meaningful variations in each iteration. Iris has a similar effect. I hear surrounding sound repeat with changes as I sync to the melodica phrase. I find myself focusing on details. The track goes exceptionally well with the movements of clouds I see in the window right now.
The album ends with Underwater Cicadas by Cinchel. The track makes me look deeper into the relationship between sound and memories. I have a few sounds that trigger memories of a specific time and place. Fortunately, they are vague and malleable. In listening to Cinchel’s track, many memories related to water, cicada, and bird sounds merge into a new present. I can smell and feel the temperature of the place.
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“There was a cold, musty smell coming through the open doorway: it smelled like something very old and very slow.” – from Coraline, Neil Gaiman
The above passage is an example of a state only possible in text. Similarly, there are feeling, thoughts, or a state only expressible in sound. That indescriptive property is what I value most in music. I believe that each track in Remixes By shares the said property. For that, I am most grateful.
I did a fun interview with Kill Screen magazine. Read about my recent projects and aesthetics.