Seems like a cry for help. In any case, have a good weekend.
Ring f Assista
Obscure humor
Disquiet Junto Project 0738: Speak Not
The Assignment: Saying something without saying it.
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 0738: Speak Not
The Assignment: Saying something without saying it.
Step 1: Think of something you want to say — an expression of affection, a statement of dissent, a story, a bit of personal history, a joke, a complaint.
Step 2: Say what you want to say by recording a piece of music that employs only instrumental/non-verbal sounds. Use no words, not even transformed speech.
Background: Among the foundational concepts of the Disquiet Junto is an exploration of the commonplace idea that music is a universal language. The working theory is that while that statement holds some truth, music is a language perhaps most clearly spoken between musicians. Underlying all Junto projects is the idea that we are exploring a given project’s concepts by using music, rather than discussing the project’s concepts with words. (Of course, we do some of the latter in discussion threads, but that comes after the music, not before it.) This week’s project simply takes that overarching approach literally, so to speak.
Tasks Upon Completion:
Label: Include “disquiet0738” (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-0738-speak-not/
Discuss: Listen to and comment on the other tracks.
Additional Details:
Length: The length is up to you. How much do you have to say?
Deadline: Monday, February 23, 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 738th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Speak Not — The Assignment: Saying something without saying it — at https://disquiet.com/0738/
The Upside Down
No matter how many years in, you still find yourself bending over the console to recollect which stereo system cables connect to which devices, and doing so generally involves an upside-down photograph, more likely two, as the first will be out of focus.
In the Ether
Modern sigils
Today in everyday cyberpunk reality: exposed ethernet cable connectors suggesting themselves as symbols of civilian surveillance pushback — both for the disabled device, and for the implied privacy of wired communication. In my imagination, the shape somehow begins to map to the “house” sigil of the band Negativland, and to the twin snake heads of Christopher Gadsden’s “Don’t Tread on Me” and Benjamin Franklin’s “Join, or Die.” And no, not condoning vandalism. Just pondering the potent emblems incorporated in otherwise mundane electronics.
Souled American 2026
After a 30-year break
Souled American wasn’t the first band I interviewed, as I did a lot of that in college. And they weren’t the first musicians I interviewed professionally. Those were rap metal group 24/7 Spyz and cellist Hank Roberts. But Souled American was, in 1989, my third professional interview gig. I fell instantly for their debut, and to this day I will occasionally just erupt into “Soldier’s Joy” based on their cover. More often, the deep swampy bass riffs of band co-founder Joe Adducci will run through my head. Now, 30 years after their last album, 1996’s Notes Campfire, they are returning with a new one, titled Sanctions — and come mid-May they’re playing just a few blocks from where I live (at the 4 Star Theater). It looks like “they” is Adducci and Chris Grigoroff. Not present, unfortunately: the great Scott Tuma, whose music has largely drifted away from “songs” (notably, for a spell, as part of Boxhead Ensemble), much as my own listening preferences have. I can’t wait for this concert.