Luminous “Diamond Ben” Kudler – My Summer Vacation CD + Photo Book

different sources and usually realized with the SuperCollider’s suite

for sound generation, with the exception of “Keep It Locked”, recorded

with software from the MIMIC platform. Those interested in learning

more, or, exploring their own methods of sound creation using methods

contained on this CD (as I did with the recordings of many others in

order to create this work); Maryanne Amacher’s technique of producing

DPOAEs (distorted product otoacoustic emissions), Trevor Wishart’s

conception of the “waveset” and “waveset transformation” that were

further explained by Curtis Roads along with Road’s “pulsar synthesis”

are featured on several tracks. Machine learning processes developed

at Google that manifested in their Magenta software were also used.

The MIMIC team’s work in synthesis with machine learning, with special

help from Mick Grierson, made this music possible. Concepts conceived

around generative music composition from Roger T. Dean, Jonathan

McCormack, and George Lewis were built upon to create several of the

tracks.”The luminous one, “Diamond Ben” Kudler, presents a pairing of

challenging computer music on compact disc and a book of sentimentally

charged photography for Psychic Liberation’s first print publication:

“My Summer Vacation”. The book is a collection of photos taken during

the artist’s eventful summer and lingers into early fall of 2021.

Kudler pairs each photograph on the release with an audio recording,

offering a contextual lead for the listener-cum-viewer. Kudler uses

this equality of formats to provide a mildly different image and sound

consumption experience from those constantly emanating from digital

devices. The photos are accessible, pedestrian, usually only alluding

to the difficulty of that particular summer by its’ pairing with the

sound design on the CD.

Kudler’s work as a performer and a computer music historian (see

“Computer Music For Dorks” via the Anomia Soundcloud), has developed

over a decade and is uniquely interpersonal and idiosyncratic, always

generous and open. “My Summer Vacation” acts as another wildly

personal chapter to Kudler’s growing sonic and visual vocabulary.