Points of Consciousness – 2011

In September of 2011, Michael Rhoades released his 16th CD titled Points of Consciousness. The CD consists of 6 pieces, over sixty minutes of music, each of which was created using generative algorithms involving Csound, Cmask and the Score Based Sampling paradigm.

Tracks one and four on the CD, Streams of Light and Voices From Another Dimension, were based upon samples created by soundsmith extraordinaire Daniel Fisher. They were derived from his use of multiple MoogerFoogers in a series configuration. These analog synth modules and the samples they generated provide an evocative dichotomy between the analog and digital domains.

Tracks two and three were derived from samples Rhoades elicited from Absynth. Track two, Event Horizon, is the sound track to his first foray into moving visual art. Track three, Journey To Ixtlan, was inspired by the Carlos Castaneda’s book from the ’70s of the same name chronicling his spiritual journeys with the mystical entity Don Juan.

Track five on the CD is music that was inspired by, and was ultimately the sound track for, Sylvia Pengilly’s stunning visual work E-Space. Samples provided by Pengilly, derived from Metasynth, were used to draw a parallel between the abstract visual and the auditory domain. The music is perhaps the most rhythmically oriented of Rhoades’ work to date. At times it and the images dance together in tight parallel movements and at times they move almost completely independently… always they are related in some unspeakable manner. E-Space was premiered last spring at the SEAMUS 2011 National Conference held in Miami.

The samples for the last piece on the CD, Sentient Steel were recorded from impromptu improvisational performances on the beautiful, both to the eye and the ear, sound sculptures that came from the mind of Joseph Ramsey, an artist currently based in Muncie, Indiana. Sounds from four of these highly resonant metallic sculptures provide the basis for a 17 minute piece that takes the listener on a journey from the harshness of cold hard steel to the sublime textures of resonant sustained tones.