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Above, a picture of the score for composer Yoshi Wada’s November, 8th 1987 performance of The Appointed Cloud, newly reissued by Omega Point and the ever-eclectic EM Records. In this performance, eighty of Wada’s homemade pipe horns and organs were controlled via a single computer, and paired with a small ensemble playing instruments and prepared metal objects. In addition to directing the was flow of air powering the pipes, the program also had control over the mallet which struck the hanging steam pipe gong.

The Appointed Cloud was not only a performance, but also exhibited as an interactive installation which began anew every hour. Visitors could create variations on the theme via an external keypad, which was fed into the computer orchestrating the pipes.

A special artist’s edition of the release comes in a roughly legal-sized folio containing a reproduction of the colorful score pictured above. This is the second Wada reissue/release by EM, and let’s hope that it isn’t the last. Perhaps Audibility will be next.

Sarah Oppenheimer’s 610-3356 (via Life Without Buildings) eradicates the boundaries between the viewer and the museum, and viewer and the floor below. Remnants of Rauschenberg. The Vanishing Design erodes the style from a webpage while you watch.

China’s moment of mourning captured in analytics. The ghost town of Yubari, a former Japanese coal city.

Explorations in tracing time: Analogy, a typographic clock. A polaroid calendar.

Visual: Bruno Munari’s Original Xeropgraphies. The gallery of disciples. The book covers of Henry Sene Yee. The photography of Sarah Cass. A gallery of book trade labels. The seductive art of Robert McGinnis.

Piet is a fascinating visual programming language paying tribute to Mondrian. The language operates on the change in color from one block to the next. The shift and hue change dictates the instruction. An IDE is available online.

Ampersand, a blog. Kevin Drumm’s Imperial Distortion, a double compact disc. Make your own film, a photoset. Cubescape, an isometric pixel editor.

An interview with Honey Owens, who performs under the name Valet. Her newest album Naked Acid smears vocals upon whispers upon a subtle pounding. She speaks of the electric current running through her body that sabotages computers, and truth or not, the sounds are bewitching. Serious orange feathered sunset music here folks.

Finally, via the new nonist annex, Semantic Field Relationships. You really won’t find a more perplexing diagram today.

Above: a video for Lau Nau’s “Painovoimaa” from her new album Nukkuu, which translates to “Sleeps”. Several years back I caught a Finnish folk caravan consisting of Lau Nau, Islaja, Kuupuu, Pekko Käppi, and Tomutonttu among others leisurely performing in an open amphitheater at a Rhode Island state park. The drones and strings resonated while audience members and musicians mingled inside and out, walking through the trees and down by the shore. That afternoon long event made such an impression, that I have avoided seeing any of the acts since, worried that a performance in a stifling, darkened club or warehouse would tarnish the open air experience. The video visuals are apropos: Lau Nau weaves her melodies as a yarn trail through a forest, allowing dirt and leaves to cling to the threads of traditional folk hymns. Layers of voice and strings, warmed with hiss build up, but are carefully held in check. All the while, we are able to follow her wayward path as though if in a child’s subtly ominous fairy tale.

More Finnish sound: Paavoharju’s new Laulu Laakson Kukista album and Laulu laakson kukasta downloadable EP take the template of Lau Nau and Islaja, but wrap them in even more gauze to create abstract dreamlike snippets that also fade into smeared electronics and player piano ghost balladry. Hypnotic Scandinavia.

A transcript of The Wire interview with Terry Riley. A gallery of classical music album covers. Japanese anatomical charts via Morbid Anatomy. Organs of the color variety. Aspen: A long defunct pre-internet multimedia magazine in a box featuring, among others, Terry Riley.

American Abstract fiction instead: Harry Stephen Keeler, the Ed Wood of mystery novelists. Meet some of his characters: Criorcan Mulqueeny, Redwayne TerVyne, Screamo the Clown, Scientifico Greenlimb, Wolf Gladish, and State Attorney Foxhart Cubycheck.