Jost Muxfeldt, The Mexican Dog

Live electronic improvisation using simple FM and chance

Jost Muxfeldt, Der Mexikanische Hund

 

  • 1999 Festival für Experimentelle Musik, München.
  • 1999 Galerie NY / IRRAH-Verlag, Berlin.

 

The strange glissando sound that radios used to make at the edges of their frequency spectrum used to be called "The Mexican Dog", so I was told by Jan Henderickse. I have adopted the name for this piece.

 

Two frequency modulated oscillator pairs change their frequencies by various step resolutions. The results range from smooth glissandi to regularly subdivided frequency steps (which are not to be

 

mistaken with scales). This occurs independently in the carrier and modulator frequencies. Partly by chance, and partly by improvisatory intervention by a player, the sound events are altered over time, creating a wide spectrum of timberal events and seemingly melodic and rhythmic coincidences.