A nesting time capsule that cycles

Folded time and layered space

Sound, mechanical rooms, time travel

Refraction, Reflection, and Diffusion

Rotation, Turning, and Flux

A spatiotemporal synthesis of Coppice’s auditory and musical experiments (2009-2022) with custom, prepared, and modified musical instruments and devices.

This 3CD set abridges Coppice’s first three studies, artificially inserts them into the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, WI, and binaurally captures their diffusion across Elastic’s CLEAT (Chicago Laboratory for Electroacoustic Theatre), a 16-channel 96-speaker sound system.

CD1: Abridgements

1. Circumpass (2009-2014)
2. Compass (2014-2018)
3. Hourglass (2009-2022)
4. At the Poles (2014-2016)

Composed by montaging audio quotations from Coppice’s first two studies, «Circumpass» representing Bellows & Electronics (2009-2014), and «Compass» representing Physical Modeling & Modular Syntheses (2014-2018). Representing Phonography & Fiction (2018-2022), «Hourglass» abridges Coppice’s overarching sonic palette across all three studies (2009-2022). «At the Poles» is a conjunction of two unaltered solo performances, one for an Estey pump organ (cir. 1935, prepared in 2013) by Noé Cuéllar (recorded in January 2014), and one for modular synthesis by Joseph Kramer (recorded in May 2016), each of which has been separated from «Soft Crown» from “Vantage/Cordoned” (caduc., CA, 2014), and «Here» from “Green Flame” (caduc., CA, 2018).

CD2: Observatory Sound

1. Rotations in Refractor (Simulated Diffusion in the Likeness of the Yerkes Observatory)
2. Turning in Reflectors (Simulated Diffusion in Objects against the Yerkes Observatory)

Composed in 2021 using virtual acoustics of the Yerkes Observatory, through which are simulated the diffusions of «Circumpass» and «Compass». Spatial models and field recordings recorded on May 16 and 24, 2018 at the Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, WI.

CD3: Sonic Observation

1. Clocks in Flux (Elastic Capture-Source Diffusion post-CLEAT)

Composed in 2022, combining a binaural recording of Coppice’s performed diffusion of «Hourglass» and «At the Poles» using CLEAT (Chicago Laboratory for Electroacoustic Theatre), a 16-channel 96-speaker sound system, and 2.1 PA system, with additional headlock audio not heard during the performance. Recorded live on July 8, 2022 at 8:43 PM, at Elastic Arts, Chicago, IL.

Voices: Mark Booth, David Toop, NNN Cook, Jenny Vallier. The production of «Sonic Observation» was supported by an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Thank you to Doyal “Al” Harper, Ed Struble, Jesse Wirth, Kathryn Schaffer, Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, The Chicago 00 Project, The Princess Grace Foundation, Seismograf, Jenny Kendler, Brian Kirkbride, the departments of Art and Technology Studies and Sound at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Nathan Keay, Mark Booth, Jenny Vallier, Stephan Moore, and Sébastien Gautheron.

Additional Notes on Abridgments

From the perspective of its third study in Phonography & Fiction, which is characterized by processes of documentary and documentation, Coppice abridges its first two studies by re-composing short pieces out of audio quotations from each. The sonic palette specific to each study is conveyed in just under 7 minutes: Circumpass (2013) representing Bellows & Electronics, and Compass (2018) representing Physical Modeling & Modular Syntheses.

Representing Phonography & Fiction, Hourglass (2022) abridges Coppice’s overarching sonic palette across all three studies, 13 years of work conveyed in the duration of one hour, using the same montage techniques that make up Circumpass and Compass.

While Circumpass is composed of audio samples from the study in Bellows & Electronics, Compass samples not only audio, but the software instruments used in the Physical Modeling & Modular Syntheses study. In order of appearance (with overlaps), Circumpass features quotations from:

• Prune (2011)
• Vinculum (Courses) (2011)
• Discharge Form (2012-2015)
• Bramble (2012-2015)
• An Instance of Agate/Bluing (2012)
• Vinculum T-CP 01.01 007:07 (2009-2013)
• Vinculum PC-1 04.02 000:22 (2009-2012)
• While Like Teem or Bloom Comes (Tipping) (2012-2015)
• Pivot (2011-2014)
• IX. Low F Phase & Chorus (2011-2014)

Instrumentation includes Modified Boombox, Free Reed Boxes, Prepared Pump Organ (Kinder), Prepared Shruti Box (Orange), Apiary, Sphygmomanometer, Accordions, Acoustic Filters, Electronics, and Tape Processes.

In order of appearance (with overlaps), Compass features software instruments (*) and quotations from:

• Surveillance (2016-2018)
• Flut (Tighter) (2014-2016)
• Burning Message/Message Burning (2015-2017)
• Wet Hologram (2016-2018)*
• Afterthought (2016-2018)*
• Fake Memories Object (2018)*
• Country Road (2016-2018)*
• Ashdown (2016-2018)*
• Coverage (2018)*

Instrumentation includes Physical Modeling Synthesis, Modular Synthesis, Wurlitzer 200A Electric Piano (and emulator), Fender Rhodes amp (and emulator), Copper Plate, Tape Case, Transmitters, Inductive Mixing Table I, Coils, Fans, Motors, and Magnetically-Permeable Sheet, and Convolution Effects.

Following the metaphorical scheme of observatory sound, Hourglass represents the sonic observation of Coppice’s first three studies in a series of conjunctions (juxtaposed samples), as would be the observation of celestial motions and events, with transits (single-occurrence samples), orbiting objects (samples spaced out in time), evoking an overall sense of high speed traversal of space, space, and sound. In order of appearance (with many overlaps), Hourglass features audio quotations from many works including previously discarded or unreleased audio:

• Format: 3CD set
• Label: Ferns Recordings (ferns_stem_15)
• Artwork: Coppice
• Duration: 170 minutes
• Date: January 2023

Founded in 1892 and known as the birthplace of modern astrophysics, the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin ceased operations in 2018. That year, its mechanical technologies were captured by Coppice (Noé Cuéllar and Joseph Kramer) to draw parallels between its acoustic signatures and functions, and those of Coppice’s glossary of study since 2009.

Musing on the lack of delimiting frames (Chion, 2016) and vanishing point (Carpenter and McLuhan, 1972) in the auditory, Coppice manufactures a frame out of Yerkes’ architectures and acoustics. Within that frame, Coppice’s creative processes are anecdoted, while pointing to coordinates where conjunctions of its music may be found. Highlighting the intermediary influence of recording and reproduction technologies on perception and perspective – both in limiting and enhancing ways – open-ended questions of actuality and fiction are posed.

In this self-reflexive documentary experiment of music and phonography, obsolescence and preservation are creative resources that span from instruments and devices to shapeshifting spaces. Addressed directly, the listener observes sonic identities in flux, and finds footing through retrospection, projection, and imagination. 

Coppice’s sonic artifacts in alignment with Yerkes’ telescopes intersect multiple domains of time, space, and scale. How is experimental music conceived over time and what is seen through it?

Listen to the peer-reviewed audio paper on Seismograf.

Read the script on Issuu.

• Format: Script and audio paper
• Label: Seismograf
• Artwork: Coppice
• Duration: 20 minutes (60 minutes, extended version)
• Including: Mark Booth and Jenny Vallier (narrators)
• Date: April 2021

Chrome/Boundaries reports the long distance realities of documentation. Its images assimilate sight and hearing and the mechanics of audiovisual/information frames – relations at times incongruous. Things we see but do not hear, things we hear but do not see-through.

Executed, composed, and presented during Syros Sound Meetings’ Sounding Paths Residency (Ano Syros), and in Athens, July 2018.

Read: Imaginary Correspondence (2018) and TinyMixTapes Interview (2018)

• Format: Video
• Duration: 27 minutes
• Including: Participations and contributions from Mitchell Akiyama, Renato Grieco, MP Hopkins, Eva Matsigkou, Savvas Metaxas, Phill Niblock, and David Toop. 
• Date: December 2018