Tom Mudd (UK) enjoys making music with computers. Recent work revolves around physical models: digital synthesis processes based on physical simulations of acoustic objects and instruments. Brass Cultures (Fancyyyyy0 uses massed brass synthesis: digital models of physically improbable brass instruments being played by algorithms. Guitar Cultures is due to be released in 2022. Previous work released on the Entr’acte label explored similar territory with his own synthesis processes. He currently lectures in sound and music at Edinburgh College of Art.
“In Tom Mudd’s work, the conceptual and technological processes are paramount. For this particular release, both are embedded in the Gutter Synthesis algorithm and software which was created for and used in all six tracks. An inevitable consequence of this way of working is that masses of material can be created, which then requires both selection and editing. Once these decisions have taken place a strange, apparently contradictory, perceptual shift takes place towards the material.
The listener is confronted with complex, intense and emotionally charged musical events. This was not Tom Mudd’s intention as he’s not overtly concerned with personal expression. A deep interest in algorithmic computer processes is his guiding principal. Yet from this apparently cold approach to making music comes vivid, dramatic, sound art, packed with rich emotional layers that never operate at the level of the trite and illustrative. There is also a strong formal and structural quality to his pieces that allows, in the best possible sense, the listener to ‘immerse’ themselves in this challenging sound world.”
John Wall on ‘Gutter Synthesis’ (2017)