Inspired by the graphic: http://j.mp/axlelo

It's an intentionally 'quiet' mix. That's in response to the article it was attached to in The Atlantic: http://j.mp/apekdA - I believe today's homogenized pop played on FM radio stations is compressed to death and over-modulated so that even a good tune can be ruined, but since I don't compose pop songs it doesn't really matter to me so I do a 'quiet mix'.

The overall piece is 'inspired by' the illustration rather than an attempt to reproduce.

Everything in the collage was recorded outside: the field recording of the kids is from last summer, and the looped electronics are from a public performance I did in Iowa City in 2005 which was altered and mixed live. I took three sections from the original 2005 recording and kept one of them normal, while other two were pitched at one and two octaves lower than the original. There are some other loops in there, but these were the main inspiration.

The live electronic loops tend to repeat, but in each round of looping I believe I tried to alter it somewhat when it was live (back in 2005) - this, to me, is akin to seeing the notes run off the page and then picking everything back up on the left side of the page. And when I read these notes, I'm not exactly sure each time how they're supposed to go (it's been a while since I *had* to read music).