Category: Music

Time & Texture

I really enjoyed composing this 2019 electronic music release. Time & Texture was an experiment in using repetitive beats, ambient sounds, and very subtle melodic structures. It’s not minimalist music in the classical sense, but it is experimentation in minimalism as an art form, as is much of what I compose as Anderhill.

A few of these songs were completed while traveling and spending time in Northern California near the Redwoods and the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps, I’ve caught a little bit of the awe of that natural beauty in the music. – dse

Aleatoric Music

About four years ago, I was growing discouraged about composing music. It felt like everything sounded the same. I wanted to make something different. I had an idea. What if I created music by rolling dice? I played around with the idea, but things started getting weird real fast. I didn’t follow through.

After some research, I discovered that rolling dice in musical composition goes back to the classical era. It’s called aleatoric music, alea = dice.

Recently, I’ve been rethinking attempting to create some aleatoric or chance music. There’s no single method or set of rules as to how this kind of music is created.

Some composers rolled the dice for every single musical change, while others only rolled the dice for some of the basic parameters and structure of the composition. You might imagine that composers who rolled the dice for everything wound up with some weird music. Personally, I prefer the idea of only applying chance to certain aspects of a composition.

In the near future, I’ll be working on some Anderhill pieces that include playing with the use of aleatoric composition. For me, it’s an experiment less in making music that is weird and unusual, and more a challenge to create unique music that has set parameters and limitations.

Sometimes, you just have to roll the dice. – dse

We All Must Rise

Released in January, 2019, We All Must Rise is Anderhill’s third EP.

On this recording, I continue to experiment in sampling everyday sounds. The first track, “Washing It All Away,” makes use of a washing machine, the second track, “Deep Cycles,” a dryer. The fourth track samples an old upright piano, creating a glitchy melodic loop. As with words and poetry, trying different combinations of sounds in musical composition is the joy of the creative process.

The EP has a hypnotic quality about it that makes it very meditative. Later, I also compose long-play versions of the first two tracks. – dse

Out of the Radio Static

Have you ever listened to the radio static? Not much there is there? Maybe that’s the point. It’s white noise. It’s free of information. With the endless amounts of information we’re fed these days, perhaps a small dose of radio static is like medicine.

In composing music as Anderhill, one thing I’ve practiced is using audio samples of everyday sounds. Washing machines, the hum of an air conditioner, and radio static have all found their way into the music. I established this practice of weaving white noise into the music by my second Anderhill release, Out of the Radio Static.

White noise and droning sounds have a meditative quality about them. Random bleeps, crackles, and glitches make for slightly quirky music. – dse

Temporary Art

It’s all temporary, really.

However, I’m referring to something I do with my own work. Sometimes, I create music or writing that I know I’ll just throw away later. Call it temporary art. This is especially true with the small amount of traditional songwriting I still do from time to time.

Here’s the deal with my songwriting. First, I have nowhere to perform currently, with COVID-19. Second, I don’t really have the studio setup to record high-quality vocals. It lowers my motivation. So, I’ve kind of put songwriting on a back burner.

Even when I do write a song, I tend to write mock lyrics, tongue-in-cheek, about something going on in the world, or in my life. I’ll often record the vocals with weird effects and noise because I don’t have the tools or time to record something of a finer quality.

It’s like rot-gut whiskey.

Why am I explaining all of this? Because I just recorded a new song a couple of days ago. And although it’s available for you to listen to, it’s temporary art. I’ll trash it at some point. It’s just a matter of time. Sure, I might save some of the files and resurrect something from the bones, but it’s not going to last in it’s current form.

Sometimes, I post these half-mastered pieces of trash on my second SoundCloud account. Currently, you can find the new song posted there. But like previous temporary art, it might not be there next year, or even next month.

Check out my alternate (Dan Steven Erickson) SoundCloud account for my current temporary art. After all, everything is temporary. – dse

The Light Shines Brighter

I’ve been in a lull producing music lately, but yesterday was productive. I composed a few starts and pieces of music, but nothing I’d consider ready to release. Then right before I fell asleep, I sampled a single finger snap. The result: The Light Shines Brighter.

It’s an upbeat piece, and I swear when I reached the midsection of the song, where things change a bit dramatically, the light in the room got a little brighter as if there was a sudden surge of electrical energy.

At this point, The Light Shines Brighter is just a single track, but there’s a possibility that it could be the start of an EP or an album. Time will tell. – dse