Lecture 11: Halloween – Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Nation of Germany
We have a big show coming up here in our hometown. Our long time friends One Fine Day will have a record release party for their album and we´ll be playing with them. That should be a great event.
And talking about great events, judging by the amounts of dressed up kids and pumpkins in shop windows and the endless reruns of Simpson´s Halloween episodes on TV it seemingly is Halloween today. Halloween? What the f...? Here is the thing: For the past 14.000 years or so Halloween surely has been a great and righteous American tradition. But over here there has never been such a thing. Up until four years ago Halloween just had been a great song by the Misfits but in no way a German tradition. OK, we do have a day here too with kids going from door to door begging strangers for food but that´s Martin´s Day! And it is celebrated on the 11th of November! And the kids not only say one stupid line but actually have to sing songs to get stuff – sort of like Christmas Caroling in November – and what they get are usually apples and nuts and not tons of candy!
It is funny how one TV channel and a bunch of retailers can implement a new tradition within a couple of years. And it is funny how easily we adopted this new tradition. Guess we were in a desperate need for something orange. But why not adopt Arbor Day? We do have lots of trees over here unlike pumpkins which are actually a quite rare fruit in Germany – carved or not.
Soooo, here is my thought. Why don´t you Amercians adopt a new foreign tradition? Just to see what I mean. Hey, everyone needs a new holiday once in a while. I mean, there are the obvious ones like “Cinco de Mayo“ or “Canada Day” or whatever. But what about some more obscure ones from over here? Here are just two as a suggestion:
Weltspartag (World or International Saving Day, 31st of October): Banks over here hand out little presents to everyone putting money in his or her savings account on that day. And you even get a bigger present if you open a savings account that day!
pros: same day as Halloween, people don´t have to learn a new date
cons: same day as Halloween, people might try trick or treating in a bank and get arrested
Nikolaus (Saint Nicholas Day, 6th of December): Children put out a shoe at night and find their boot filled with candy the next morning!
pros: great for the kids, great for the candy industry, great for dentists
cons: people have to learn a new date, shoes might get stolen at night by some funny guy, who wants to eat candy out of a shoe???
So don´t hesitate – Halloween once was a weird concept to us too!
thorsten, olli and steffen
P.S. Guess Germany is not the only haunted country today:
Only one more song to mix! And Pete is working on it now. Band=happy.
Let me talk to the guys about maybe posting something on our MySpace page. Would you like that?
I seem to have come down with something involving a very violent cough. Just another reason to be glad I was at the studio last night and not the rainy, shitty Mets game.
Lecture 9: new instruments don´t necessarily lead to greater songs
Yeah! Band practice today - and we finally got to check out our new and improved instruments. I got a new guitar and Steffen had a new pickup installed. And, man, do we sound great! You can almost hear it in this picture.
But come to think of it the last time I bought a new instrument it wasn´t such an improvement after all. Because the day I got my Ukulele we also recorded this song:
I said goodbye to CBGB a year ago—when the Rebellion played there for what I knew would be the final time. I did pass by last night at about 2am, on my way home from the studio. There was a crowd outside but not as large a crowd as I expected at that hour. I had kinda hoped for something riot-sized.
The press coverage of CB's closure makes me angry. There is a much deeper story here that the media have chosen to ignore.
In November, 2001, when I moved onto the street that would soon be renamed Joey Ramone Place, I was disappointed to learn that the plant nursery at the corner of 2nd and Bowery, beneath the mural on the north side of the Amato Opera, was to be razed for an NYU dorm. I inquired as to whether NYU owned the entire block, and what that might mean for CBGB. I got good news and bad news: NYU did not own the block, but CB's lease was up in August, 2005 and Hilly Krystal had no intention of re-upping. Again, I knew this in November of 2001.
Whether or not to keep his club open was, of course, Hilly's prerogative and I can't begrudge him his decision. The man had essentially been running a rock and roll charity for 30 years—as soon as bands got popular enough to earn the club a profit, they ditched out for larger venues. What upsets me here is the spin: at no time was CBGB going to be "saved". The decision to eliminate the club had been made years earlier, and not by any landlord, city government or neighborhood organization.
This did not stop a menagerie of attention-starved "celebrity spokespeople" from championing the lost cause, soliciting donations from college kids and taking advantage of music fans' passion. I hate when rich people tell the rest of us how to spend our money. You think Little Steven and Elvis Costello need your middle-class cash to "save CBGB"? Come on.
At the Joey Ramone Place dedication ceremony, held inside CB's, HIlly Krystal referred to Joey as a mensch—a real man. Instead of hiding behind a movement he wanted no part of, Hilly should have been mensch enough to admit that he was no victim, that he was simply tired of running the club and felt entitled to cash out and go home. I would have understood—he'd more than earned that right.
But to go out in a blaze of bullshit? Nothing punk about it.
Not a very auspicious place to be musing on ones own future, but where better? Sheets are clean.
Lots of construction sounds outside. The memory of the landscape on the drive from LA, and the looming city lights as I approached Oakland and San Francisco.
Its not these things keeping my eyes open anyway.
What am I doing living in a small town in the UK? Something is dying there. Something is killing there.
In this town there are a lot of people here wearing alternative uniforms. I think may have worn one too.
What to wear these days, I wonder?
Listening to Music for 18 Musicians. Turned it on to mask the street and building sounds. To try and get some sleep. Now I'm hearing it as something very different. It won't help me sleep. Its not a sleeping song.
Something is unfurling on a horizon. Had a feeling like I did in Norway, only different.
Iterations. Similar changing things. Presented and re-presented in a different form. It is like a Coletrane thing, only different.
Again now. Again then. Again. And again.
I wonder if something is about to change.
Inauspicious. Spelled it right the first time.
Something happened Algernon, and it keeps shifting. Now, faster than ever.
At the pool-side again, worshiping the wireless deity at the BW across the way. The grit building up on my keyboard is amazing. Must be the highway kicking up the LA sand. I'm right near the airport, so I can see all the flights coming in. Humans are everywhere, doing everything. I see them flying in the air, climbing out from underground, walking, swimming, screaming, fucking (honestly, right at the pool-side last night). Its kinda weird. I mean, all this in a relatively desolate area near the airport. What goes on in town? We live in a sci-fi film. At least, I am right now.
Its strange enough to live in Devon and get mobile phone calls in pubs built in the 13th century. That is weird. Still, LA and New York are already so fucking Blade Runner... oh, why do I even mention it?
I want to go running. I want to do that in the sun. It is overcast in LA. What the fuck? I mean, if you're going to develop a case of melanoma, you might as well get started in LA, right? I know, stupid... but you try and live in the land of mist and fog for a while (No, Jackie Paper. The UK, not Honah Lee...). You'll be up for some serious sun too. Phttttttttt.......
I'm waiting on the delivery of a box of discs and another package which arrived with an associate of ours in LA yesterday. She's bringing the stuff by in a bit.
Coffee here at the ole' M6 sucks. However, it is coffee. What did Zappa call it? Oh yeah; "Black Water." No, Jackie Paper, I'm talking about coffee, not a "defense contractor" (read: Mercenary Killer hired with your tax dollars).
I have to call Sacramento today and see about doing a radio slot. From there, its on to San Francisco.
I wasn't able to get an amp yesterday. Maybe today. I feel tied down to things until those discs show up. I can't "busk" a rehearsal without them, really.
It's not as difficult as I thought driving back on the correct side of the road. Still, as I recall, it creeps up on you. Its once you stop thinking about it, that you go into the mode where you're apt to drive on the English side. Then, you're probably dead. So, I try to avoid that; being dead.
Oh, my English friends will have something to say about that. I'll say it again: THE CORRECT SIDE OF THE ROAD. Ha! I'm on another fucking continent! Come on, do something about it! Didn't think so... that's right...
I think you're suffering from something that I'm trying to get more accustomed to about this trip. Thus far, nothing has been settled at all. The dates you have on your machine are something over a week old (I think). I probably haven't been very good at keeping you abreast of changes. That's probably due to my very intense schedule and that things are still kind of up in the air. You'll have to bare with me on it.
So, here's the deal on Oregon and Washington:
I fly into Portland on the 17th. I go to Seattle on the 18th. I drive to Eugene the 19th. After the show on the 19th, I drive back to Portland, drop off the car, sleep at the Airport and catch the flight at 5:30 to Minneapolis/St. Paul (by this time, it is actually October 20th). I play St. Paul on the 20th.
I got into the Motel yesterday at around 5:30PM and went right to sleep. I slept till around 6:30 this morning. I'm just up now. I love sleeping that much. Generally, it doesn't happen for me. However, I was really, really exhausted after the trip. The train from Devon to London was awful. Then, the long wait at Heathrow and perhaps the worst flight experience I've ever had... I wasn't able to sleep much at all. I did get some reading in, but I needed to sleep. I'm having weird sinus stuff happen, which is not great for singing.
Holy time zone Batman! I've just looked at my computer clock which is set to UK time; its fucking 3PM for my friends there! Totally surreal!
Things are essentially settled because you've sent the Card to Jax. I'm now a bit jumpy because of the problems we encountered getting stuff to Jed's PO box. That didn't occur to me until, through a shrieking headache on the flight, just somewhere over British Columbia, the PO box thing came to mind. I believe I did launch into a fit of cursing, the likes of which my fellow passengers rarely enjoy. I'm good at swearing, as you may recall...
Anyway, I'm facing east now out the window of my Motel 6 right now and the sun rise is beautiful. I'm praying to the wireless god who appears, according to my laptop, to reside in the Best Western across the way. I probably have to go visit the shrine over there, things are flickering a bit here.
I'm going to try to pick up a mobile phone today. That should help me to get things in order and to be in touch on the fly.
Should run now. Is there anything I've missed from the messages you've sent?
I'm at Heathrow waiting for the flight. I had to cut open my raincoat in order to remove an ex's lighter, which was caught in the lining. Used a dull pair of scissors and almost hacked off the security team leaders left pointy finger. He wasn't in a great mood. Neither was I.
and I'm sure SOME GORILLA IS NOW STAMPING MY GRANDMOTHERS GUITAR TO SPLINTERS.
Had to get that out of my system.
What the fuck? I can bring a laptop, but not a fucking acoustic guitar on a flight?
Can you tell I'm annoyed?
Why smoke? Why leave a lighter in the lining of my raincoat?
Why all the extra security measures when, according to just about anybody who looks into the situation, the primary route for getting something dangerous onto a flight is through the back end (airport staff entrances and personnel etc.). I wonder how long it will be till we find out the hard way that our fantastic, supposedly elected protectors are kidding us. About airports. Amongst other things...
Took the sleeper train from Devon, but the compartment wasn't great. Lots of noise. Zero sleep, really.
I went running last night before going to the station, so I'm pretty exhausted now. The run was really good though. I took a very slow pace and did about six miles. Weather was warm, but very humid. Made for a nice run. Moon was amazing, dodging in and out of the clouds. It gets like that in Devon.
I hope LA is hot and dry. I'll try to get some sun.
Want to get to LA, sleep all over the place, get up, rehearse, run, soak up some sun and meet our contact there. Take it from there.
Ok, I'm going to try to book a room in LA now.
Michael b
The other two still have to study - which means again no rehearsal today. And again I will have myself a great evening on the couch doing nothing.
Say what you want about Germany - but TV here is the bomb. It´s like that shuffle function on my iPod. See, I sincerely believe that my iPod can somehow miraculously sense what I want to hear and sometimes even what I should hear. Like yesterday when Tori Amos was followed by Iron Maiden´s "Number of the Beast" I went: "Yeah, right, enough of that broad I really want some Maiden now!" See, my iPod new even before me that I was in need of some mean British Metal.
So, consequently I also do believe that Steve Jobs somehow shuffles my TV. Because after hitting the jackpot with ROCKY IV the other day guess what´s on today? Yeah right: TOP GUN. That other classic cold-war drama. Warplanes and Kenny Loggins might even beat Sly and Survivor in a montage. Man, I wish I could be on that highway to the Danger Zone. And I bet Val Kilmer could kick Dolph Lundgren´s butt any given day, yeah!
GREAT!
thorsten
PS: OK. That was the last entry about stupid movies.
I know... boring... I've been asked to post these somewhere for the students to view... where better?
Here's my take on things:
Aesthetics and compositional approaches in music created with electronic means were influenced early on by theorists and composers focusing on a non-referential approach to sound work.
As things went along, this focus shifted or was jettisoned completely (at least in my understanding).
We'll look at my view of how this changed during the course of the 20th century, and some examples of contemporary digital media work where traces of some things discussed can be found.
extra-musical reference was essentially anathema to those who established and institutionalized electronic music practice
especially true during the initial period of institutionalization of electronic music practice. In the musical realm, these attitudes are, in some respects, attributable to the rise and increasing dominance of modernism at the end of the nineteenth, and the early to mid-twentieth century. paralleled or perhaps derived from theories arising in the visual arts.
Clement Greenberg
critic, theorist concerned with modernist painting
painters such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Albers
Paper: “Modernist Painting.”
the task of the Modernist painter is to explore the aspects of painting that pertain only to paint and the two dimensions involved in a canvas. In his words, the purpose of Modernism was
“…to eliminate from the effects of each art any and every effect that might conceivably be borrowed from or by the medium of any other art.”
According to Greenberg, the task of the Modernist painter is to explore the aspects of painting that pertain only to painting. In his words, the purpose of Modernism was “…to eliminate from the effects of each art any and every effect that might conceivably be borrowed from or by the medium of any other art.” He goes on to describe how modernist painting became, in part, an attempt to move away from sculpture. Modernist painters moved into an exploration of the two dimensional space, oriented toward the flat surface and nothing else. See Albers et. al. This description can be easily extrapolated to describe the prevailing attitudes toward composition and sound work in the cases of Busoni, though to the Futurists, to Cage through Schaeffer and Eimert, Boulez, and certainly early Stockhausen work. Their move away from issues which appear to be literary or theatrical – involving program-oriented elements, focused on matters outside sonic features of a piece – can be seen as directly in line with the approach described by Greenberg in the visual realm. He says; “The essence of Modernism lies, as I see it, in the use of the characteristic methods of a discipline to criticize the discipline itself…” Greenberg, Clement. “Modernist Painting”, taken from the internet Feb 10th 2004, 2pm.
View Mark Rothko Painting:
meant to deal only with the canvas, paint and light
often Rothko’s paintings are thought to give an illusion of the main panels of color floating above the surface of the canvas
Modernist oriented approach is present in musical discourse for a long time:
Eduard Hanslick:
Mid19th Century:
proto-modernist
specific consideration/judgment/critique of music based on internal relationships between sounds in music
external reference frowned upon
emotional response, at best, is a result of purely aesthetic considerations
music was to engage the mind, not emotions (requires one to accept splitting emotions and intellect into discrete elements of human experience – dubious proposition…)
20th century composer who first really deals with the idea of electronically produced sounds as musical materials.
Ferrucicio Busoni
1907 From his paper: “A New Esthetic of Music”
…representation and description are not the nature of music: herewith we declare the invalidity of program-music… “Absolute music” is a form-play without poetic program, in which the form is intended to have the leading part.
Busoni seeks an expanded set of sounds for composition
views electronic sound making as a probable route
he is peripheral in electronic music, but his writings precede and predict coming music endeavor
Futurists 1909 to 1935
Italian arts group
Russolo, Marrinetti, Pratella,
Russolo is key musican
Busoni quoted in manifestos
seek to bring the sounds they hear around them into the music
industrialized society
redefine music as the art of noises
celebrate things mechanical: even, unfortunately, mechanized war…
make own instruments: Intonimori
mechanical, physically driven by hand cranks etc
performed in Italy and across Europe: London, Paris, Berlin etc.
Russolo attempts to categorize sounds in expanded pallet
Cage 1912 -92
Futurists impact Cage
Also Duchamp, the Dadaistss, and probably Busoni (indirectly)
perhaps one of the most well known of composers and theorists of the 20th Century
theoretical concerns reach far beyond music: indetermanency
cage writes his first piece for recorded media in 1939
play from webpage
Imaginary Landscapes uses turntables with variable speeds and other electronic devices
Play sample from net
he was interested in “indeterminate” or chance compositions and performances
chance composition – which has great import for later developments
numerous pieces using electronics
used various means to ramdomize the compositional process
also used expanded sound materials:
prepared piano
ambient tape sounds
radio noise and random broadcasts
street noises etc.
he was attempting to remove his agency from the piece
went on to collaborate with numerous figures: David Tudor
wanted a focus on sound, for the sake of sound (not narrative).
this is in line with Busoni and other modernist approaches
Let sounds be themselves rather than vehicles for man-made theories or expressions of human sentiments.
And further on:
New music: new listening. … Just an attention to the activity of sounds.
In 1937 Cage famously expressed his disappointment with limited scope of timbre exploited by those involved in using the Theremin.
Most inventors of electrical musical instruments have attempted to imitate eighteenth-and nineteenth-century instruments… When Theremin provided an instrument with genuinely new possibilities, Thereministes did their utmost to make the instrument sound like some old instrument, giving it a sickeningly sweet vibrato, and performing upon it, with difficulty, masterpieces from the past. Although the instrument is capable of a wide variety of sound qualities, obtained by the tuning of a dial, Thereministes act as censors, giving the public those sounds they think the public will like. We are shielded from new sound experiences.
Leon Theremin: mention here…
Russian inventor of electronic instrument
there’s one presently in the Library at college
uses electromagnetic field sensor as trigger for sounds: basically, wave your hands near the antenna and you get sounds…
Play sample
this is one example of electronic music instruments, which are the predecessors of software for live performance: Max/MSP, LiSa, Abelton Live, etc.
Instrument used in Beach Boys song Good Vibrations often thought to be a Theremin: however, it is an instrument called The Tannerin (which basically produces the same sound through a different triggering system)
Another composer influenced by Busoni and the Futurists is Edward Varese
Varese studied under Busoni after reading Esthetic of New Muisc
was peripherally influenced by the Futurists
Varese precedes another French composer and theorist.
Varese conceived and attempted to open an electronic music centre in Paris, but was unsuccessful in achieving this goal.
Moves to America.
composes with electronics there:
Listen to a piece?
Varesse draws directly from theoretical writings concerned with visual arts; often of a modernist bent
Pierre Schaeffer 1910 - 1995
Influenced by futurists
originally an electrical engineer
worked for Radiodiffusion Tèlèvision Française (RTF)
made similar categorizations to Rusolo in sounds
Makes proposal for music/sound research labs
founds Studio d’Essai, which later becomes GRM (GRM tools etc).
worked with some of the biggest names in electronic music, who collelessed around GRM
Schaeffer forms GRM 1958 in Paris, with Luc Ferrari, Iannis Xenakis, François Bayle, Stockhausen (until his departure for Cologne).
Schaeffer explored the use of recorded sound
found music concrete
uses vinyl discs
first closed loop recordings (closed grove on a record)
allows him to develop his theories centering around “Reduced Listening”
here you begin to listen to a sound closely, hearing its formal characteristics
attack
decay
etc.
Play stuff…
Schaeffer was focused on intrinsic (absolute) sonic relationships
a listeners ability to identify a sound is discussed by Schaeffer as a problem
he tried to get deeper into the recorded sound, so as to keep the listener from identifying the sound but was largely unsuccessful
(Denis Smalley later called this source bonding; a proclivity in a listener to attempt to identify the physical occurrence which generates a sound – largely behavioral theory, quite compellingly argued).
Even as late as 1970, Schaeffer and his followers adhered to a modernist line
As an example:
Luc Ferrari Presque Rien (1970), who later migrates to electronic music studios in Milan.
Luc Ferrari says “Presque Rien (1970) evoked an extremely negative reaction from the GRM. “…Everyone was scandalized by it without exception.”
intentional deployment of referential sound materials (specifically, the environs of a sea shore).
Ferrari leaves Paris, in part due to the constraints he experiences in relation to external references
Robindoré, Brigitte. “Luc Ferrari: Interview with an Intimate Iconoclast” Computer Music Journal Vol. 22 No. 3 Fall 1998, PP 13
Ferrari’s work and the dynamic pushing him from Paris, have resonances with things happening outside of European electronic music circles – we’ll talk about that in a bit.
Cologne
West German Radio’s studios
founded electronic music studio in 1951
Herbert Eimert (1897 - 1972) music theorist, musicologist, and composer.
Werner Meyer-Eppler (1913–1960), physicist, experimental acoustician, phoneticist, and information theorist
discussed their work in terms of total serializing approach
Viennese School – twelve tone (Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Berg etc).
used synthetically generated sounds
avoided issues of listener identification
extend the democratization and manipulation of twelve tones to the “…exercise [of] control over every other aspect of musical composition.” The focus was a total serialization of all the parameters of sound.
Synthetic sounds – not recorded
achieved through direct manipulation of electrical voltages
using vacuum tubes and solid state voltage controllers
electrical voltages cause vibrations in the diaphragms of loudspeakers, headphones, etc.
this sound sythesis, the predecessor of synthesizers
play the moog… samples… shiver… pop music: Kraftwerk, Synergy etc…
sampling synths will come later… preceding other forms of digital sampling
eliminates two issues
mediation by performers
and recognition of sound sources
but here trouble was to emerge for the intrinsic (absolute) or modernist approach, as it did for Schaeffer
Myer-Eppler has an interest in phonetics – the pronunciation of words
he works toward speech and voice synthesis
His work inspires Stockhausen to break from the intrinsic (absolute) approach
voice synthesis such as Gesang der Jünglinge (1956)
play sample on net
Now we’ve got people inside the European Centres breaking with the modernist or intrinsic (absolute) focus paradigm
Who’s been listening to Stockhausen and other electronic music?
Play ending of Beatles Day in the Life
Where else might this be happening?
North America:
Some work similar to Cologne is going on a Bell Laboratories in New Jersey
James Tenney
Also Tape music, Cage, Bebe Lebarron, Feldman (friend of Rothko and Pollok), David Tutor,
World Soundscape Project (WSP) at Simon Fraiser University in Canada
late 1960s.
Murray Schafer (not related to our friend in Paris)
interested in preservation of sound environments and markers (church bells etc.)
concerned with noise pollution
WSP is the polar opposite European approaches
listener is encouraged, even required, to develop extrinsic references
ex. Vancouver Sound Scape recordings are meant to preserve sounds of the place and time period
geographic, cultural and ecological surroundings are meant to be documented
Ferrari,speaks of his disappointment at not being acknowledged for his influence on Schafer and his followers
Schafer discusses the Vancover recordings as documentation, but also as “a “world symphony” and each sound piece containing “its own direction and tempo.”
The World Sound Scape project includes composers such as Barry Truax and Hildgard Westerkamp.
Play Westerkamp piece: Contours of Silence
here the composer is documenting a sound world and making work with the recordings which refer the listener to the context and time… it is narrative driven, it requires external reference
Reich:
Perhaps the most famous composer of the late 20th Century (and now the 21st)
considered to be a founder of minimalism
his compositional practice begins in the electronic world
Come Out:
Recording of the voice of Daniel Hamm
beaten by police in NYC
describes having to open a bruise to get the police to allow him to get medical attention
the piece deliberately refers to these events
something parallel to protest music
Reich clearly expresses his intent to break with Shaeffer in Paris and other electronic music makers concerned with muting external reference
Writings on Music
I wanted people to hear the words; I didn’t want to disguise them (as tends to happen in musique concrete). PP 21
Reich is rejecting Schaffer and the absolute music crowd
in some ways, I would suggest he’s making electronic “protest music”
to me, this is as much protest music as Bob Dylan’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”
What were other “minimalists” doing?
Play opening of Phillip Glass: Building
And Reich tells us:
“In terms of tendencies, composers have historically had an ear out for the folk and popular music of their day, and in our time that means rock and roll.” PP 51, Writings on music
So what were rock musicians doing during the rise of minimalism?
Play opening of King Crimson’s Frame by Frame
Play Phillip Glass “Building” again.
Do you recall me mentioning that synthesizers became samplers over time?
Play Public Enemy
people are referring to things outside the music
turn-tables… looping…
just a little point of interest… remember Cage and Schaeffer’s use of these things?
Play Bjork Cvlada
Play Schaeffer
music concrete with external references to boot… like the sound of music with recordings of mechanical sounds… heh… no quite, but you get the picture…
There are a number of points which can be discussed here
I’m primarily interested in these:
there is a break down in the proscriptions concerning what electronic sound work
Issues outside of sonic relationships are on the menu by the end of the 20th Century.
This was probably true in popular and vernacular music discourse all along.
there is a convergence happening in musical terms.
concepts, equipment, approaches, venues etc in formalized “high art” music and vernacular idioms are overlapping to a huge extent.
this parallels many happenings in the visual arts during the twentieth century
Pop art and collage begins to eclipse the modernist approach
think about sampling in these terms; DJ spooky discusses this point.
this is one kind of convergence or implosion
Reich and Glass are performing contemporary classical and electronic music in Rock venues
inversely, rock and vernacular musicans are blurring the lines as well…
Example Brian Eno
Pop music performer/producer (Roxy Music, produced U2 and Paul Simon’s latest)
but also acclaimed ambient music composer
you’ll find Eno Sound installations next to performances of Reich on at the Barbican in London this month
Eno discusses Jimi Hendrix in terms of sound textures, rather than virtuosity…
what relevance does this have?
Play Paco de Lucia, from 1967. Now here’s a guy who can do things with a guitar that Hendrix could only begin to touch… However, it we hear Hendrix in the way Eno suggests, we see his relevance for the future of the electric guitar
EX:
Matt Bellamy of Muse, uses a Kaos pad and other kinds of digital effects
this is part of the Hendrix legacy….
also a convergence in the use of electronics and computing technologies
no longer strictly in the hands of an elite class
functions now similar between Visual and Audio software
people have skills which migrate across software and across medium
visual arts and sonic arts are far less removed
time is a primary linkage… it takes time for a piece of sound art, or video art to unfold…
I’ve discussed a very fine thread
Nevertheless, it all of it has relevance for various sorts, digital sound art
Here are some examples
Radio, digital and other wise
as you may recall, both Paris and Cologne grew out or raido
Schaeffer’s work was first aired publicaly on radio
Resonance FM
digital in two ways… brought to you digitally, but also very focused on digital sound art.
same for other stations
WRPI in the states
Bamff radio in Canada
Also, Pod Casting, from talk to sound art radio shows
fixed media: CD, MP3, etc.
Beast/Acousmatic music performance from Birmingham
Live performance of fixed media pieces (diffusion)
tied to
film and television sound tracks
multi-channel sound/surround sound (Apocalypse Now, Matrix - Video game sound scapes etc)
remember the photo of Francious Bayle?
mulitchannel sound installations?
Bruce Nauman's “Raw Materials” in the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern
Sound installation at Living Coasts by David Prior
Installations which combine visual and sonic elements
Little Earth, London Field Works
Dugal McKenna, Jo Joelson, Bruce Gilchrist
Combination sound installations/instrument/performance piece
Alvin Lucier Music on a long Thin Wire 1977, was a performance piece and an installation
live music performance hardware/software MAX/MSP, Abelton Live, LiSA
almost seems too obvious to mention: Pop and art music people are using software in performance or as basis for installations
Stiem institute in Holland specializes in various kinds of wearable controllers for eletronic sound work
Also, software allowing for work with installations
music that uses the internet to enable collaborative composition or performance
Live internet Jamming: almost seems quaint…
EX:
Absolut Jam July 3 1999
DJ Spooky in Montreux
Psychonauts in Berlin
Djane Lefki in Athens
Djs Chesh and Anton in Cape town
restricted to the artists involved and observers at the time
video and sound work sent via an IDSN network
packets of sound and visual data ping ponged back and forth, modified and re-sent
1995 Res Rocket
allowed users to log on and collaborate on music pieces together
Willy Henshall, of the band Londonbeat
Tim Bran, a successful engineer, producer, and member of the band Dread zone
Matt Moller and Canton Becker, two students at Northwestern University in Chicago,
Res Rocket was purchased by a corporate interest in 2003 (Digitech – Pro-Tools people)
interested users have set up http://jamwith.us/
Sound installation with Internet Links:
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Jem Finer: Long Player
A piece of music meant to last for 1000 years.
a fantastic piece of work…
music that is delivered via the internet, with varying degrees of User Interactivity
The flight from London to Cali is going to be difficult! I'm likely to fidget all the way! I'm terribly impatient...
My rehearsals are going well. Getting positive signals from all points. I'm really, really, really looking forward to getting out there and playing these gigs!
And, thanks so much from the fantastic birthday wishes from everyone!
Looking forward to putting these songs in yer ears in person!
Lecture 7: Michael´s album is the best darn record ever!
Yeah, it´s the 10th of October! So Michael Bassett´s album "puddleskinwaving" comes out today! Congratulations and all the best whishes from us! We hope it´s going to sell like crazy because it surely is the best darn record ever!
The Rebellion stuff is ready to mix. There's this one song called "You Are Boring The Shit Out Of Me" that's about inane office small talk. Why is it every time somebody tells you their weekend was "too short, too short" or asks you if you're "workin hard or hardly workin" they smirk like they're the first person to ever say that? Asshole, you're not even the first person to tell me that this morning.
And I don't want to hear about how your day already sucks just because it's Monday. Every workweek in your lifetime is going to have a Monday in it. If you can't get over that, you need a new goddamn job. Here, come work for me so I can mercy-fire you.
Another thing I don't understand is why people insist on talking about the weather. I know it's fuckin raining out; I'm walking in it just like you are. C'mon, the mouth doesn't have to be moving all the time... you're allowed to take breaks for silence.
When someone starts trying to make conversation about the weather, I never know how to respond; it never occurs to me to engage another person on such a stupid, obvious and condescending level. I might as well say, "Wow, that sure is oxygen in this air we're breathing!" or "So, you're standing right in front of me, huh?"
Anyway, even if you're one of those dumb fuckers who talks about weather with acquaintances in elevators, you'll probably love "You Are Boring The Shit Out Of Me". Because you won't realize it's about you.
Just kina musing on going through Albany during the tour. I can’t figure out how to arrange myself toward it. Each time I have been back through, I get my hopes up and feel really sad when I go. I see lots of people that I love and miss. Also, there are people that I hope to see but never do. I don’t know how to make sense of it.
My experience in Troy and Albany was difficult. There’s a lot to it, including my own issues.
Whatever the case, I’m finding it hard to arrange myself toward doing a show there.
I’d like to give an example of a confusing and frustrating experience I had, which tends to sum up a good portion of my experience in Albany:
I guess this should be prefaced with a description of something that tends to get me in trouble sometimes: I laugh.
There are times when I get caught up in something and I laugh out loud. Like when I used to go to see my old guitar teacher, Matt Smith. To say the least, he is a stellar guitarist. I would go to nights where he was hosting a jam session and basically laugh until I was falling down. It was good. Another guitarist who could elicit this response from me is Chuck D'Aloia. The guy is just a beautiful player, let alone person. Songwriters could do it to me. Tina Ward was out of control. Another songwriter, my friend Mitch Elrod can get me laughing when he sings, because he really does take things to another level. He’s great. I’ve had this response to live John Zorn shows on a number of occasions. John Coltrane recordings… easy. PJ Harvey, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Paco de Lucia, Charlie Chaplin, Michael Jordan, King Crimson, Steve Reich, Icebreaker… all of these people-type-phenomena have elicited this sort response from me at one time or another. I just get laughing. I have this kind of response to speakers if they hit their mark as well. I find recordings of Martin Luther King Jr. speaking really moving (less laughing here, and more just awe, really). Here’s another example of something entirely different; I saw my friend Bob Gilmore give a short talk at Cambridge university. He got it. It was totally extemporaneous (at fucking Cambridge) and he just nailed it. I was laughing like a fool. He’s just a fantastic thinker and speaker. My friend Tracey Warr can do it to me too. I saw her address an audience at the Baltic in New Castle – found it hard to catch my breath. I saw a research seminar by Catherine Laws once; she killed me. Brilliant!
Actually, come to think of it, I have had a related experience standing on a mountainside in Norway during the midnight sun. I laughed out loud like a fool… then, I believe, I wept. Then laughed again. The landscape was that shocking. I can’t really do it justice. If I tried to write it down, I’d only diminish it. So what? It was pretty fucking amazing.
I’m glad I have this kind of experience of things. I can’t quite explain it, but there is a kind of childish raw joy that comes up in me in response to things sometimes. Then, I laugh. It is a great feeling.
Every now and then, things get muddled. Here’s an experience, which to me, is a lot about my Albany days.
I was watching a performer in Albany one night. She was playing at a Café. I was really enjoying her performance. She has a fantastic way of interacting with her audience. So, I was laughing out loud. I was honestly really enjoying the show! Then, from the stage, the performer turns toward me angrily and says “You’re just laughing because you can actually play the guitar!” I was shocked and felt terrible. There was nothing of the sort in my mind.
I dunno, maybe I’m a bit autistic or something. I was just enjoying her interaction with the audience.
That performer still acts strangely toward me. I saw her at a place in Albany when I last went through town. I tried to say hello, but she didn’t appear to recognize me. I couldn’t help but think that she was actually still angry and trying to “get me back.” It was kinda sad really. What do you say to that kind of thing?
It is not a good memory of Albany. There are a lot like it. I feel pretty uneasy about returning there. There are a lot of people that I love. And, to be honest, there are a lot of people I’d like to just get on with. I’m not sure how great that’s going to be.
Plus, on top of that, I’m not always prince charming or anything…
Just stopping by, laughing like an ass at Mike K's entry about the apparent arrival of a new prophet... also, just saw the addition of Justin's new buddy icon... have to say, that guy can do it... really dig it! Go Justin!
Good news in the Eschaverse!
A longtime friend of both the Rebellion and Eschatone is now a proud papa. Chris Radtke is officially Dadtke as of last night. He and his wife (though mostly her) had a baby girl. According to Dadtke she was born "speaking doomsday prophecies" which prompted mom and dad to name her "Locust Sabbath Calf's Blood."
Just saw that the guys in wax on. wax off. are beating each other up in rehearsal! Cut that out! And, yeah, skip the Sly flicks... bad for the brain... amongst other things...
Listening to Miles Davis Kind of Blue right now. Love it.
Had a friend come to play with me at an Art Gallery in the UK. He’s a trumpet player. You might not think it works with an acoustic guitar and voice, but if you imagine that Kind of Blue breathy sort of sound, you’ll have a sense. The trumpet can be an incredibly delicate instrument. Just fucking beautiful combined with the right set of hands and lungs. My friend Tim Sayer plays beautifully and that show was great. People were floored. Great hands and lungs, that Tim.
Be back with more later. I’m probably going to post my lecture notes from yesterday here. I’ve got students asking for them, so I though to do that.
I have to say, it is very, very strange to be giving lectures. After having torn down walls to burn in a fire place, so as not to freeze to death at night, and/or driving a cab in NYC, one doesn’t really expect to be holding forth at a university. I have to say, I feel terribly insecure about it still. The students were really cool though, and the course they are taking sound really great. Another friend of mine, Tim Dollimore (different Tim) is teaching it. Lucky studnets there...
Anyway, I have to get back to work now – book flights and cars uggghhh… anybody want me to play in their living room? I’ll bring some coffee. Hey, maybe I could bring Tim and his Trumpet!
We finally got to rehearse tonight. But see for yourselves:
Eventually they did make up and we could continue but from now on: no more Stallone movies for Steffen and Olli. (Well, at least they didn´t play Demolition Man)
I tell you what: the only thing more awesome than wax.on wax.off and Michael Bassett posting to the same weblog is wax.on wax.off and Michael Bassett being on the same label!
Today is (fingers crossed) the last day of a vicious work grind that began in late August. It ends at 2pm, when I cut out to watch Johnny Maine play Cinderella for the New York Mets. Then, much later tonight, I'll be at the Visitors show.
Tomorrow we wrap up production on the Hanslick Rebellion stuff. "Wrap up production" is one of those gauzy terms bands often use to sound like they're getting something done when in fact they don't have the money or authority to actually do anything. So let me clarify: tomorrow, everything that needs to be recorded or cleaned up will have been recorded and cleaned up. To me, the process of arranging and recording is "production"... then comes mixing, mastering, manufacturing—the parts where the band can only say "yea" or "nay", not actually get in and tweak.
More work to come on the Eschatone site this week... we hope to get more downloadable swag up for each band (as well as more substantial bios), and maybe open those pages at the top that still say "coming soon" when you click on 'em. Let me take this opportunity to give some credit where credit is due:
First, Joe Schepislearned php from the ground up just so he could develop a back-end system for this website. That's how the content flows seamlessly from section to section—artists can post their own tour dates or blogs and have them show up everywhere at once. It's a masterpiece, and I only wish we could sign all of you so you could use it too.
Second, I am merely one of the partners in Eschatone Records. Lisa Brennan and Joe Slevin are doing every bit as much ass-busting as I am for this label. That's the only way we could have gotten this far in so short a time. All I can do is make stuff; Joe and Lisa make stuff possible.
Third, a good number of our graphics (buddy icons, desktop wallpapers, and all of our banner ads, not to mention the album art for puddleskinwaving) were created by Justin Lloyd at Black Sea Illustration. You know all that stuff they say about good, fast and cheap? How the most you can hope for is two outta three? WRONG.
Yeah, "OVER THE TOP", great movie!
I watched "OTT" a few days ago and it took me a lot of time to create some "OTT"-related band-names:
Hawk And Son
Son And Hawk
Disgusting Truck
The Independent Truckers
Bull Hurley Experience
The Mighty Mighty Broskos
Mad Dog Madison And His Melodymakers
Actually I don´t know exactly what to do with this material. Maybe I will support some upcomming nameless bands. I have also some albumtitels in progress. For example:
No Prayer In Vegas
Meet Us Halfway
Become The Champion Or Something
So don´t be shy, young band people. Call me, if you are interessted to work with me in order to find a name for your new own band. Oh, by the way, I have lost my cell-phone in Germanie´s greatest cherry and apple-growing area "Altes Land" (engl: The Old Land, located near Hamburg). Try it with an e-mail to steffen@eschatone.com
I'm lovin this blog page. Reading MB and Thorsten side-by-side was magic enough, but now Mike Keaney's here and WOW... it's like a Snickers-avocado-and-bile sandwich. Dee-lish!
I like to think of my posts as a pizzaburger deluxe with the sauce on the side. I'm probably way off.
Happy Day of Atonement to all my Jewish brothers and sisters. Being a dyed in the wool papist I've always felt that every day should be Atonement day but in the interest of inter-faith goodness I'd like to atone for not playing out in way too long.
But never fear! The Rebellion will be rocking in the extreme at Sin-e on the 14th of November right here in NYC. So fucking relax.
But not too much because also on the bill will be Briertone, as well as fellow Eschatonians the Visitors, and the amazing Mike Bassett. Not a show to be missed.
In the meantime, let the knowledge of an impending Rebellion release ease your mind.
Yeah! Eschatone.com opened its doors today and it looks pretty awesome. A great job well done!
Man, everybody around here is so darn hard-working and busy. Jed’s working, recording an album, running the label, putting this site together, and along the way somehow even managed to design a kick ass packaging for our CD – not to mention the brilliant ad for PUNK magazine. Meanwhile Michael B. is working on his PhD, some lecture on digital media, books a tour and even finds time to rehearse and write lengthy blog entries on Eschatone.com thanks to his Mr.-Miyagi-touch-type-technique that came with his G3. Same goes for wax.on wax.off. Our bassist Steffen and our dummer Olli are currently studying hard for upcoming exams.
And what do I do?
Well, I can tell you what I did yesterday. Since there was no rehearsal because the other two were hitting the books again (those nerds) I did nothing. And afterwards I watched ROCKY IV which luckily was on at night. Man, what a great movie. I think it is the best sports movie ever made. Actually I think it is the best movie ever made. I mean, you have an exhilarating performance by Sylvester Stallone, a Dolph Lundgren (as always) outplaying himself, a cold-war plot that puts Dr. Shiwago to shame and most importantly: the badest training montages ever. Nothing beats ROCKY IV, man, nothing!
Just found out - no rehearsal tonight either. So, here are the things I have planned for today:
1. go rent "Over the Top"
2. get me an Ivan Drago type crew cut
3. listen to Survivor all day
4. work out
5. work out in a run-down barn
6. work out in a run-down barn in the snow
7. work out in a run-down barn in the snow to Survivor
8. run away from the KGB, climb a mountain, and jump up and down
9. google for nude pictures of Brigitte Nielson
10. try to find out whatever happened to Dolph Lundgren
That gotta keep me busy!
thorsten
Things I actually will probably do today:
1. watch "Over the Top"
So, I’ve spent the last day trying to assemble material for a lecture for a friends digital media course. I’m enjoying the research and finding out stuff, but I ‘m absolutely hating taking time from booking and other stuff related to the tour.
I did get a rehearsal in, and fed my friend’s cat, who seemed very appreciative (the cat, and probably my friend too). So much for the wild life…
Also, as expected, the place where I work is making demands on my time which are well beyond what they should expect based on the contract they’ve given me. I’m trying to figure out how to politely keep to the hours I should be expected to work.
It’s weird writing this. Who are you dear reader? I mean, wouldn’t you be doing yourself a favor by reading something else (I dunno, Dante’s Inferno or Frank Zappa’s autobiography), listening to some music (preferably mine, but you know, Jed writes great songs too, and so does wax on. wax off… I’m partial to Icebreaker’s version of Michael Gordon’s Trance too, or PJ Harvey’s Stories from the…).
Sometimes I wonder what its like to read what I’ve written. That is, to be outside of the experience of writing and reading it freshly. I mean, despite the typos and misspellings…
BORING... I'm sure... zzz...
I had an experience of reading some of my own writing in that way recently. It happened while we were working on the cover art for puddleskinwaving. I had someone send Jed a bunch of word files pertaining to the recording. In the set of files was an old message. Jed found it really interesting and thought it should be included in the recording. He sent me a copy of the text. I only barely recalled writing it. It was a bit like reading it for the first time. I was knew the general arch of what was being written about, but everything was relatively fresh. It was quite moving to read.
I believe the text Jed found was something I culled from an email originally sent to my friend Lars Asbornsen. I made the letter more anonymous and saved it, intending to use it for liner notes in a CD. I must have decided to skip it, or forgot about the writing.
Jed liked the text and we’ve kept it in the album cover.
It was strange to read for a number of reasons. My writing has much improved since that time. I guess that stems from having to write so often in higher education. I also suspect that learning to touch type has helped my writing. I first picked up a computer after paying my student loans in NYC. It was an Apple G3. What was the first software package I bought? Well, I don’t recall the name, but it was a touch typing training software package. If I was able to learn scales and play them all the time, I could certainly learn to type. So, there you go... home keys and all...
Where, exactly, is this text going?
So, yeah, learning to type was good for my writing. Why? Because I’m terribly impatient. So, the fact that I can just throw the stuff on the page now helps me a bit.
Anyway… If you’ve read this far, I commend you – or, perhaps offer you my condolences… really, you should go listen to some music J…
Oh yes. It's gonna be awesome! Besides that looking forward to playing out in NYC & beyond! We're gonna have a blast. In other news, the Mets are gonna make it through the playoffs, even without Pedro. This is our year!!! See you guys soon,
CART
