Dear Members of the Disquiet Junto,

Next Thursday is the first day of 2026, which means that this week’s project is the last one of 2025. If you’ve been involved in the Junto — or followed it — for some time, you likely know what this week’s and next week’s projects are going to entail, since we do the “diary project” at the end of every year, and the “ice project” at the start of every year.

We just finished up the 729th consecutive weekly Disquiet Junto project, and it went great. I had a sense that, as this year came to a close, a “shared sample” project would be a particularly welcome opportunity for people, the idea of everyone involved, wherever in the world, using the same source audio to make something new, something personal. To listen back (at llllllll.co and soundcloud.com) to the work of the four dozen or so musicians who participated is a downright kaleidoscopic experience, hearing that 100-year-old recording broken up and reconfigured to so many different creative ends. We do shared sample projects on occasion in the Junto, and I have a feeling that this year’s may be the start of another annual community tradition.

If you’re reading this, I can’t thank you enough for your contribution to the Junto, whether you’re just following along, or participating on occasion, or inviting others to join in, or spreading the word. The Disquiet Junto turns 14 years old next Thursday, January 1, 2026, and I can’t wait to hear what we all do together in the coming year. The 750th consecutive Disquiet Junto project is just 20 weeks away, and the 15th anniversary of the Junto is a year away. That 15th anniversary will coincide, perchance, with the 300th anniversary of the founding, by Benjamin Franklin, of the original Junto way back in 1727. So, lots of creative resources and inspiration await.

And that covers it. Thanks, as always, for your generosity with your time, creativity, and curiosity. I know the holidays can be hard for some folks, and if the Junto community can take the edge off, that’s great. Whatever your engagement in the Junto, please never feel any pressure to participate, to post, or to comment. The whole point of it being weekly is that it's there, dependably, when you have both the time and the interest.

Best from San Francisco,

Marc Weidenbaum
marc@disquiet.com

. . .

Disquiet Junto Project 0730: Calendar Advent
The Assignment: Create a sonic diary of the past year with a dozen (or more) super-brief segments.

As has become the tradition at the end of each calendar year, this week’s Junto project is a sound journal: a selective audio history of your past 12 months.

Step 1: You will select a different audio element to represent each of the past 12 months of 2025 — or you might opt for even more elements, choosing a segment for each week, or each day, for example. These audio elements will most likely be of music that you have yourself composed and recorded, but they might also consist of phone messages, field recordings, or other source material. These items should be somehow personal in nature, suitable to the autobiographical intention of the project; they should be of your own making, your own devising, and not drawn from third-party sources.

Step 2: You will then select one segment from each of these (most likely) dozen audio elements. If you’re doing a dozen items, one for each month, then five-second segments are recommended, for a total of one minute. Ultimately, though, the length of the segments and of the overall finished track are up to you.

Step 3: Then you will stitch these segments together, equally weighted, in chronological order to form one single track. There should be no overlap or gap between segments; they should simply proceed from one to the next.

Step 4: In the notes field accompanying the track, identify each of the audio segments.

Tasks Upon Completion:

Label: Include “disquiet0730” (no spaces/quotes) in the name of your track.

Upload: A person participating in the Disquiet Junto should post only one track per weekly project (SoundCloud account preferred but not required). If on occasion you feel inspired to post more than one track (whether to a single account or across multiple accounts), you should clarify which is the “main” rendition for consideration by fellow members and (if on SoundCloud) for inclusion in the SoundCloud playlist.

Share: Post your track and a description/explanation at https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0730-calendar-advent/

Discuss: Listen to and comment on the other tracks.

Additional Details:

Length: The length is up to you. How long did your year feel?

Deadline: Monday, December 29, 2025, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.

About: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Newsletter: https://juntoletter.disquiet.com/

License: It’s preferred (but not required) to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., an attribution Creative Commons license).

Please Include When Posting Your Track:

More on the 730th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Calendar Advent — The Assignment: Create a sonic diary of the past year with a dozen (or more) super-brief segments — at https://disquiet.com/0730/.