Kim Cascone: "1sec4jeremy.aif" (173KB)
Review: The file extenstion name might suggest that Cascone's bit is a personal commission (or a bribe), but that is not the truth. I can objective enough to say that the title only has my name in it because he emailed the bit directly to me. He can re-title the bit if he wishes. In the meantime, I can still objectively say (without any Payola action), that I quite enjoyed this bit. I swear the bit was on the long-side and so I obsessively ran it through the Winamp player to find that it only sounded long in duration. It did not even clock in at a second. Therefore, as of November 03 - 2004, Kim has submitted the shortest bit yet and I dare new submitters to create a smaller bit. The KB rate is very high proportionally speaking because Cascone has the means to produce bits at very high resolution - perhaps, this can also be attributed to his noted skill as a producer.
Back to the bit, it has the same coily charm as Doug Jarvis' "Salmy Anchor" ClassicBit. Unlike most bitmeisters, Cascone manages to level the treble so one focuses more on the structure of the bit itself rather than the way it was produced. The bit does have an animistic presence and snake-like charm. It reminds me a bit of the zap-bit produced for the Bruce Lee C-64 Game (Gold/Datasoft ca. 1984 - Play Mark Rosten's emulation at http://www.planetflibble.com/blitz/ ). In a retro-sense then, Cascone's bit is a Nu-Classic composed out of three pitch-stiched parts. That reminds me, someone should post a ClassicBit version of King Crimson's "Three of a Perfect Pair". I want to see that Classic Bit well under one second. (Jeremy)

John Celona: "ego.aif" (173KB)
Review: John Celona's Nu Bit is a 1 second excerpt from his 2001 opus, "The Strange Case of DJ Cosmic". His bit was created using computer processed voice and digital sound synthesis. As a Music Composition Professor, John Celona has had much experience throughout the 70's and 80s's and 90's developing a mastery over timbral orchestration and structural perfection and even in this excerpted bit, this mastery is more than simply suggested - it is manifest.
There is a very connected relationship between the attack portion, the following vocal bridge and the trailing thin-helicopter tail. If one was to loop this bit, one can hear the voice saying many words (like finding faces in the clouds). "Ego" is very much a trinitoid with its three part arrangement. Perhaps it is my overactive imagination but it sounds like even within the 1 second framework, there is definite time-space motion and anthropomorphic transformation taking place. When I mean "transformation", I mean the kind of process that Autobots and Decepticons go through. This is definitely the way I would like to see some more submitted bits take shape in the future. Events morph in linear time-space even when time is limited. Just as in our current consensual hallucination, the "Ego" is simultaneously an excerpted identity, entity, action and linear acceleration. (Jeremy)
Not much to add to Jeremy's very nuanced analysis of this piece. I'd just like to note the skill used in balancing the "narrative" ego-voice-assemblage with the sound that, as a result of the former attaining a narrative function, appears as a "background". The background's relative smoothness creates a sense of engulfing wave, reducing the voice to an anomaly, the illusion Jeremy referred to. (Janne)

Michael Cervieri: "Ooch.wav" (56KB)
Review: In case you were wondering, Cervieri's ClassicBit series is paying homage to a certain Hanna Barbara cartoon - can you guess which one? In all 3, one can think of Carl Stalling and his tendency not to stall at all and to get to the point (in this case, bit) in order to amuse those with the highest rates of Attention Deficit Disorder. For this first toon, the "Ooch" sounds full of intent and seems to be on the offensive rather than defensive (ie. getting hurt). Perhaps this "Ooch" is a pre-emptive strike? Out of its original context, the harm can be undone. (Jeremy)

Michael Cervieri: "Ouch.wav" (54KB)
Review: Nope, the next bit is not an "Ooof!" This one definitely would definitely be the sound of pain if it was not for the lack of emotive expression with the mono-syllabic delivery....ouch! As far as a ClassicBit goes, this is probably the shortest bit created so far. There is a click at the end of the "ouch" which runs the risk of turning the sound of pain into a phrase of pain. Fortunately, this bit is short enough that only those who choose to cheat and loop this bit, will hear the clicky beat. (Jeremy)

Michael Cervieri: "Ooch2.wav" (81KB)
Review: This ultra-epic Codalette in Cervieri's ClassicBit-trilogy is by far the most constipated grunt of the bunch. As I was allowed access to the original sample material, I noticed that there are 2 takes, so the voice actor actually performed those 3 grunts twice. I am glad the most forced one was selected as a percussive bit. There bit had the virtual wind knocked out of it. (Jeremy)

Jeremy Turner & Janne Vanhanen 2004