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Who is radio for? Usually, I imagine it's for some beer company, maybe, a football team-- behind them, some hazy corporate conglomerate. I think radio should be for YOU. My recent radio websites have an innovative approach, in that they allow you to decide when to change tracks, and they let you remix while you listen, if you so choose. My newest station-- "Endless Dub Radio"-- contains these functionalities. I have always enjoyed listening to dub music, and EDR creates a continual stream of original, generative dub. Any of a set of beat and bass tracks are chosen at random, and sets of sounds from different sessions are looped on top of the beats. When you listen to EDR, no two moments are identical. It's lots of fun. If you get tired of a particular sound, you can use the embedded player to dub it out. Or, simply wait until the current beat track fades out, and a new set of sounds will load. Sound too cool to be true? Don't take my word-- stop on by: http://www.thomasparksolutions4.com/ And, if you like it, tell a friend! Thanks. 
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I will ask you, "What should radio be?" We know that radio can be used to share music, to broadcast sounds and speech. We generally use it either to share recordings or live performances. I have always dreamt of creating a radio station that, itself, made music. A station where, no matter when you tuned in, things would always sound unique. Where no moment would appear twice.  And folks, the time for this new kind of radio is now-- with "Generative Soundscape Radio", fresh combinations of sounds are loaded at variable intervals, and there are enough sounds such that you are quite likely not going to hear the same combination twice-- nor the same iteration.
A step further-- you can change the radio broadcast yourselves. The player controls are interactive, so you can bring sounds up or down, in or out. And, you can load in a a new set of random sounds whenever you like. So, this is Generative Radio-- it's live, it is always changing, and you can change it, as well. And, unlike apps by the big boys, it is totally free-- even, public domain. Are you curious as to how this is? Why not give it a try: http://www.thomasparksolutions.com/  Not long ago, I discussed radio as a means to portray modern experience. Modernity is known for its abrupt changes in atmosphere and tone-- one minute, you might find yourself completely relaxed, enjoying life, and the next, you might be in a panic. Our rate of communication is one cause for the nature of things, and our rate of transportation another. There are other causes.
An idea I had was that, by creating a radio stream that changes quite a bit with every track, I would more accurately portray our lives, than if tracks in the stream blended in with one another. With radio, we can easily play with medium and message. My Audio Explorer, when I brought this up with you all, was missing an important piece of code-- a small JavaScript prompt, which I learned this weekend from a free course at my library. This code snippet allows listeners to tune in to the Explorer, and to simply let it play. New tracks are loaded from the various playlists randomly, at the end of each piece. Thanks to this simple yet important innovation, the “Thomas Park Audio Explorer” now resembles much more closely the kind of “radio as art” notion I had-- but, don’t just accept what I am saying-- tune in yourself!: http://www.thomasparksolutions3.com/  Rafael González sent Thomas Park some very nice self-portrait paintings. Thomas processed them, combining them with pictures of round objects, and making them into a slideshow. The slideshow features original live music by Thomas, created by mixing sliced drumbeats in real time. The project is called-- "Selves In Circles". We hope that you enjoy it. |
Thomas Parkis a prolific electronic artist, Archives
March 2019
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ELECTRONIC COTTAGE is an international magazine where independent artists, musicians, writers and freethinkers share in-depth articles, essays, interviews, tech and gear reviews and tutorials,
and much more.
EC draws inspiration from the Cassette Culture Revolution of the 1980s, 90s and beyond; Mail Art, Small Press and Zines, Dada, Fluxus, Punk Rock, Hacking, Circuit Bending, Anarchy, and Noise.
EC values inclusion, democracy, experimentation, independence and freedom of thought and expression, open-minded exchange, and Community.
From this moment forward the Electronic Cottage website will primarily be an online magazine for the publication of lengthy and in-depth articles, essays, and interviews.
For those of you who use Facebook I have created an Electronic Cottage Group, which will be a casual social gathering place of the EC Community, where EC people can meet, share artwork and news of current projects and releases.
The EC website will continue as before, and I encourage those of you who do not use Facebook to use the FORUM page here at the EC website to post miscellaneous thoughts and personal updates.
The website and this EC Facebook Group are two separate but connected entities of the greater EC Community.
and much more.
EC draws inspiration from the Cassette Culture Revolution of the 1980s, 90s and beyond; Mail Art, Small Press and Zines, Dada, Fluxus, Punk Rock, Hacking, Circuit Bending, Anarchy, and Noise.
EC values inclusion, democracy, experimentation, independence and freedom of thought and expression, open-minded exchange, and Community.
From this moment forward the Electronic Cottage website will primarily be an online magazine for the publication of lengthy and in-depth articles, essays, and interviews.
For those of you who use Facebook I have created an Electronic Cottage Group, which will be a casual social gathering place of the EC Community, where EC people can meet, share artwork and news of current projects and releases.
The EC website will continue as before, and I encourage those of you who do not use Facebook to use the FORUM page here at the EC website to post miscellaneous thoughts and personal updates.
The website and this EC Facebook Group are two separate but connected entities of the greater EC Community.