Scratch Pad: Scores, Sirens, Gordon

From the past week

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

At the end of each week, I usually collate a lightly edited collection of recent comments I’ve made on social media, which I think of as my public scratch pad. I tag on what books I may have finished reading. Knowing I’ll revisit my social media posts, I’ve found, serves as a positive and mellowing influence on my online activity. I mostly hang out on Mastodon (at post.lurk.org/@disquiet), and I’m also trying out a few others. And I generally take weekends off social media.

▰ Netflix (etc.) needs a ratings option along the lines of “I still like this genre but this show/movie is not good.”

▰ Just a reminder we’re in a golden age of soundtrack releases. Used to be only a small number became available, especially where TV was concerned, and now it’s an endless stream.

▰ The voice-to-text software transcribed “sycophancy” as “sick of fancy” and I’m OK with it

▰ Sunny day = increased emergency sirens en route to the beach. One just passed by. Next week, when temperatures break records on the way to 80º F, is gonna get loud.

▰ News of Claude being down is like the lamest Space Cowboys reboot

▰ I love that the lyrics to Kim Gordon’s “Play Me” are just the names of “mood-themed Spotify playlists” (“Rich popular girl,” “Villain mode,” “Jazz in the background), per my old friend Rob Sheffield, who interviewed her for Rolling Stone. The song sounds like a lost Ambitious Lovers / Cibo Matto collab produced by DJ Premier. The surveillance-chic video, by Barnaby Clay, is pretty great, too.

▰ Disquiet Junto, eight days a week:

Wednesday: prep next Junto project
Thursday: post Junto project
Friday: Junto pieces continue to arrive
Saturday: Junto pieces continue to arrive
Sunday: Junto pieces continue to arrive
Monday: Junto pieces continue to arrive
Tuesday: listen to finished Junto pieces
Wednesday: prep next Junto project

▰ Finished reading a graphic novel, Dark One, written by Brandon Sanderson, Jackson Lanzing, and Collin Kelly, art by Nathan C. Gooden.

Disquiet Junto Project 0741: Balance Beam

The Assignment: Write music for bell and drone

/ By Marc Weidenbaum
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Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto music community, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have five days to record and upload a track in response to the project instructions.

Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. (A SoundCloud account is helpful but not required.) There’s no pressure to do every project. The Junto is weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when your time and interest align.

Tracks are added to the SoundCloud playlist for the duration of the project. Additional (non-SoundCloud) tracks also generally appear in the llllllll.co discussion thread.

Disquiet Junto Project 0741: Balance Beam
The Assignment: Write music for bell and drone.

Step 1: There is a church near where I live that is next to a telephone pole that makes a loud buzz on the street. The church has bells that ring several times a day. This parallel, this contrast, seems quite interesting: bell and drone, sacred and mundane, acoustic and electric, intention and byproduct, ancient and modern. The bells are more than loud enough to erase the drone when they’re playing. But … what if they weren’t?

Step 2: Record a piece of music for bell and drone informed by the scenario described in Step 1.

Tasks Upon Completion:

Label: Include “disquiet0741” (no spaces/quotes) in the name of your track.

Upload: A person participating in the Disquiet Junto should post only one track per weekly project (SoundCloud account preferred but not required). If on occasion you feel inspired to post more than one track (whether to a single account or across multiple accounts), you should clarify which is the “main” rendition for consideration by fellow members and (if on SoundCloud) for inclusion in the SoundCloud playlist.

Share: Post your track and a description/explanation at https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0741-balance-beam/

Discuss: Listen to and comment on the other tracks.

Additional Details:

Length: The length is up to you. How long is the service?

Deadline: Monday, March 16, 2026, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.

About: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Newsletter: https://juntoletter.disquiet.com/

License: It’s preferred (but not required) to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., an attribution Creative Commons license).

Please Include When Posting Your Track:

More on the 741st weekly Disquiet Junto project, Balance Beam — The Assignment: Write music for bell and drone — at https://disquiet.com/0741/