Revenge of the 3D Pumpkin

Halloween again, and what better way to set the mood than with a new soundscape album from Mark Greenfield, aka Darwin Chamber? (See our interview, “Darwin Chamber and the 3D Halloween.”)

Greenfield, now recording as Nature Sound Observatory, recently released Halloween via the iTunes Store and sent me a link. As you'd expect from his previous work, it's much more immersive and intelligent than the standard serving of ghost moans, melodramatic laughter, and bogus werewolf howls. Greenfield's digital composition techniques like 3D panning, granular synthesis, reverse playback, and rhythmic gating create an unsettling mood by twisting sounds just beyond our ability to identify them.

While downloading the album, I remembered a prescient conversation I'd had with my publisher back in 2000, when I was Technology Editor at a music magazine staffed with DJs and ravers. As a downloadable music enthusiast, the publisher thought it was funny how the office turned into a feeding frenzy every afternoon when the mail cart arrived bearing promotional CDs and records. (One editor cheerfully described himself as a promosexual.) With our high-speed connection, the publisher noted, the staff could have been checking out fresh music all day long, but somehow preferred to have it served on a wheeled platter.

I also remember trying to explain to the editor-in-chief how we could fit ten times as much music on our monthly enhanced CD by replacing some of the CD tracks with MP3s, but I don't think he ever grasped the concept.

So if you're looking for a fresh Halloween soundtrack this year, drop that disc, click over to iTunes, and check out Nature Sound Observatory's Halloween.