Abductive mental modeling applying musical markedness to algorithmic music

My dissertation proposes a phenomenological method of listening to algorithmic music that accounts for the possible variations that are found in different instances or performances of the work. After an initial discussion of the wide range of music that falls under the umbrella of algorithmic composition, Robert Hatten’s approach to semiotic markedness in music is introduced and related to terms commonly employed in the analysis of algorithmic works. This translation of musical markedness into algorithmic composition is followed by an introduction to Philip Johnson-Laird’s concept of mental models. The author combines facets of these concepts to create a listening approach titled Abductive Mental Modeling in which listeners create mental models of the algorithm behind the composition, further refining and correcting these models as they listen to additional versions of the work. The introduction of this approach is followed by two case study chapters. The first case study chapter centers around algorithmic works that primarily feature a defined structure, and includes Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting in a Room, Steve Reich’s Piano Phase, and the Jared Bradley Tubbs’ Chemically Bound. The second chapter centers around works that feature a certain level of interactivity from outside sources, and includes Cornelius Cardew’s The Great Learning: Paragraph 7, Sam Pluta’s Matrix (for George Lewis), and Jared Bradley Tubbs’ Atomically Arranged. A concluding chapter examines possible future applications for Abductive Mental Modeling in fields such as sonification, AI generated music, video game music, and sound installations.

Horrorcore transmuted Horror vérité and Antiracist monsters in clipping.'s There existed an addiction to blood​

In the 1980s, a new and controversial subgenre emerged from hip hop emphasizing transgressive lyrical content and cinematic horror imagery. Labeled horrorcore, artists in this subgenre shocked their audiences with exaggerated violence and dark psychological themes, leading many to criticize it and make claims of the music’s violent influence on its listeners.1 However, just as filmmaker Jordan Peele takes the tropes of the horror genre and utilizes them to make a political statement, horrorcore is capable of showing the horrors in reality, as seen in experimental hip hop group clipping.’s recent album There Existed an Addiction to Blood. This album follows in the footsteps of its horrorcore predecessors both sonically and lyrically while also integrating issues that align with contemporary concerns and approaches of the Black Lives Matter movement. “Club Down” brings topics of urban decay and addiction to the forefront over a soundtrack of harsh noise and screams; “Nothing is Safe” combines Wes Craven movie soundtracks with trap music in an inversion of Craven’s Assault on Precinct 13; and “Blood of the Fang” reimagines Black Panther party members as immortal vampires returning to continue their fight for Black empowerment. In this album, clipping. transmutes the horrorcore genre, making use of its tropes as well as those of horror cinema to convey grim realities of systemic oppression and create monsters from racism and colonialism.

UNIFYING SONIFICATION COMPARING AND CODIFYING STANDARDS OF SONIFICATION BETWEEN ARTISTIC AND SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES

Since its conception in the late twentieth century, sonification has become an increasingly popular field for artists and scientists alike, providing audiences with unique perspectives into data. This shared use has not gone without debate; many examples of sonification used in artists’ works are believed to be unfaithful to the data used, a distorted form that functions to emphasize the emotional effect desired. Unifying the definition and standards of sonification would increase communication between the two communities, ideally leading to a higher quality and quantity of future collaborations. This paper uses a standard for sonification codified in The Sonification Handbook by Thomas Hermann, viewing recent examples of works claiming to use sonification through the lens of their ability (or inability) to meet these standards. Through examination, it is seen that collaborative efforts between members of the artistic and scientific communities are more likely to match standards of sonification set by Hermann as well as create works of art that have more detailed relationships to the data involved.
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