Unseen Worlds

1990/2019

Music/Sound

2 LPs

The Listening Room Female Pioneer

Description

This double LP reissue of Laurie Spiegel’s Unseen Worlds returns a long-obscured work to circulation, pairing its music with a cover image of a fractal that reflects the album’s generative logic. Created using Music Mouse, software that Spiegel designed herself, the recordings come out of real-time interaction rather than renditions of fixed compositions. Developed in the mid-1980s for early personal computers, Music Mouse encoded harmonic and stylistic rules, allowing Spiegel to improvise fluidly. The resulting soundscapes unfold as layered, continuously shifting patterns where melody, harmony, and texture arise from the movement of the artist’s hand across the interface. Originally released on the short-lived Scarlet Records and soon disappearing, Unseen Worlds exemplifies Spiegel’s transformation of computation into an expressive musical instrument, anticipating later forms of interactive and generative digital art.

Harmonices Mundi by Laurie Spiegel, 1977/2003

Harmonices Mundi Laurie Spiegel1977/2003 Sound

The Expanding Universe (2018 reissue) by Laurie Spiegel, 2018

The Expanding Universe (2018 reissue) Laurie Spiegel2018 Sound

Donnie And Laurie / Patchwork by Laurie Spiegel, 2018

Donnie And Laurie / Patchwork Laurie Spiegel2018 Sound

Synthesized Speech by Bell Telephone Laboratories (Bell Labs), 1961

Synthesized Speech Bell Telephone Laboratories (Bell Labs)1961 Sound

Synthesized Voices by Charles Dodge, 1975

Synthesized Voices Charles Dodge1975 Sound

Cascando: Realization of Samuel Beckett's radio play by Charles Dodge, 1973

Cascando: Realization of Samuel Beckett's radio play Charles Dodge1973 Sound

Visions: Music for Orchestra, 2 Pianos, and Computer Generated Tape by David Cope, 1978

Visions: Music for Orchestra, 2 Pianos, and Computer Generated Tape David Cope1978 Sound

Computer Music Various Artists1978 Sound