Music in a Suburban Scene

Ideas for compositions

2010-11-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

One of the ideas for a set of pieces that has been haunting me recently has been to create a massive set to depict elements of urban life....or urban history.

I've been on the cusp of finishing a piano suite entitled "Music for a Suburban Scene" for almost 5 years. I hold it off and I hold it off longer in hopes that I will develop more as a musician. That I will gain an individual voice that will be original and interesting. I know that all i need is an hour a day for a few months to get me to where I want to be with these pieces.... unfortunately I moved to the east coast and no longer have Sibelius available.

But the piece I now really want to write, what I crave to do, is create something on-going. Something that never is finished. A set of compositions which literally will be worked over years and years for the rest of my life.

la Cité Radieuse is one concept for a title. This is a title of a radical work of architecture by Le Corbusier, but it is also a concept which he extended to urban planning for a modern city. a "radiant city" is one full of exuberance, energy and diversity. I think that is what I want to try and capture musically. Some pieces for piano, maybe some for ensembles, some for other solo instruments.... All to capture images of what could be scenes in a "radiant city". Thats what I'm obsessed with at the moment.

That and Abbie Hoffman, who seems like someone I would have liked to have known. A character who would be at home in the diverse, exuberant "radiant city" of my imagination.

Parisian Streets

2009-11-07T23:20:00.000-08:00

Another month.

2009-09-21T21:45:00.001-07:00

So this blog has sunk back again. Listened to some short story on NPR about a man who was recording his whole life, every day... and had been doing it for well over a decade. Seems utterly ridiculous, but i realized that this blog is itself a snapshot of my thinking about music over the last 4 years. When I read my old posts, i remember my state of mind, i remember where i was and what i was listening to. Its great to leave these crumbs behind. I dont know if anyone else will ever follow them, but I enjoy revisiting my thoughts from time to time.

Im going back to France in two weeks for a trip. Visiting and vacationing family and friends is the central reason... but it'll also be wonderful to be back in la france, i can get back to speaking french regularly. Then Turkey! thats by far the most exciting thing this year... visiting turkey and seeing the ruins there. I really look forward to it!

Ive found i havent been listening to much of the music in my collection... Its OK by me, ive heard all of it pretty well through now. Im greedy, and I'm begging to know where i can find the next interesting thing.

Anyone heard anything interesting recently?

My lazy summer:

2009-08-22T11:46:00.001-07:00

Ive having a wonderfully self-indulgent, sunny, warm summer. Basking in the post-graduation glow, I am being incredibly lazy.

On lala I've had the chance to listen to the lush electronics of the Helio sequence. Particularly their first and second albums.`This surreal track, filled with floating, spiraling processed sounds appeales to my taste for heavlily layered musical anarchy. Animal collective holds the same attracton.

But compared to the earler tracks of Animal collectve, the vocals here are more conventional, fitting in with typical indy-rock Sprechgesang melodic patterns .

2009-06-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Now that school, and its associated thesis is firmly out of the picture, I'm going to try and concentrate on music again. My goal is to write out the entire Music for a Suburban Scene out by the end of the year. Its high time I get the damn thing finished in some form (even if means later re-writes). I've also decided I want to undertake an even more personal project, the creation of pieces for all my close friends and family.

Right now I have written out one of these kinds of things. A short, simple piece called For February 18th (my friend's birthday) and I Have every intention of writing a For December 18th, For July 2nd, For September 26th, and so on. Its a little more personal than a card. I always liked doing art projects for friends. Gives me a purpose to make something. I mean, if its just for me, whats the point?

Graduated.

2009-06-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Now what?

(post #300, woo)

Me messing around (Improv )

2009-05-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

So i have this etude idea i came up with the other day, and a friend of mine recorded it for me on cam. Sorry for the squeeky chair. Its an improv that kinda sputters out. The first part is supposed to be a little flashy.

Thoughts on Machaut.

2009-04-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

One of the most striking observations of the west Ive ever encountered was written by an Egyptian novelist in the late 19th century. I forgot his name, and the work he wrote, but in it he expressed a bewilderment with the western worlds obsession with representation, reproduction and detached observation.

Westerners, in his mind, wanted nothing more than to place everything under glass to study. They wanted to re-create and represent something for scrutiny, for the academy. Life itself would become a museum, with this constant, futile aim to comprehend something through some kind of mirror, through a painting and a model, or a sculpture or a novel.

It could be argued that this mentality arises from the scientific method, from rationality, from the impulses of "modernism" in the western sense, and from the academic aim of expanding our knowledge. These mirrors westerners create may be, in the eyes of an egyptian, only two dimentional deceptive depictions of reality.

Listening to some of this, early notated music, looking at ancient cartography (Arab, Roman, Indian, Western Medieval), I cant help but think this wasnt an isolated western phenomenon. One cultivated by the academies, certianly. Machaut's gorgeous Notre Dame mass is music from the middle ages, written down hundreds of years ago and preserved like the scripture it recites. This begs the question, why was the notation of music seen in other literate civilizations? The arabs themselves during the period of Machaut were readers and critics of Plato and Aristotle long before Erasmus or Francis Bacon, and probably maintained much higher literacy rates among the general populations than in Western Europe at the time. Yet, why did they not leave an extensive musical notation system?

These were the people that introduced the Persian Tar to Spain, which evolved into the lute of Renaissance Europe and celebrated Spanish Guitar, these were people who influenced western musical development in this same period though trobador song. But where is the notation of this Arab music from the time of Machaut? We still have the traditions of Andalucian song in Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, but was it a lack of this impulse for the preservation, representation and reproduction of music that kept beautiful arab script out of music? and is the fine-tuned precision of western notation the result of this same impulse?

...

2009-04-16T15:59:00.001-07:00

There is a universe of music waiting to explored. Yesterday, thanks to Smithsonian Global Sound ( accessed through my university) I fell in love with music from Azerbaijan and its neighboring Armenia. Hearing these sweet melodies and unfamiliar instrumentation brings out urges to travel and explore, the exuberance in this music lifts my ears. I look forward to getting to know music from the Caucasus region. Yet it is daunting, hundreds of tracks of music recorded in this small region (about the size of my state) and I still have so much to hear.

Just the other day I was enjoying the beauty of Oumou Sangare's music. From Mali to Azerbaijan, there are so many incredible corners of the world, and an equally dizzying number of beautiful pieces of music. Lala.com is great for connecting up to this music, as it contains an incredible number of tracks online.

I need to travel again. I'm getting antsy.

Currently working on my thesis on 20th century urbanism in Marseille, France (not focusing on Corbu), who would of thought that it would have been so difficult to find writing on? ah well, that cosmopolitan city is my favorite in France.

2009-04-07T00:13:00.000-07:00

I've discovered that while the piano midi on Sibelius sounds like crap, the marimba midi is great. Conclusion: Everything sounds better in Marimba.

Been admiring the musics of The Decembrists recently. Never has a song about two gay male prostitutes (on the bus mall) sounded so beautiful. Their folksy melodies can span a wealth of emotions and moods, from melancholy to jittery and energic. Anyway, i'm impressed.

school has picked up again. Now i have some thesis to write and graduation to apply to. ? Still working piecemeal on my piece for my friend For December 18th I've decided to make it one in a series. The problem is, who's birthdays mean the most for a piece of music? I've nailed down family as immediately important, but how far does that extend? Better yet, How many people care?

Composing for a friend

2009-03-06T15:04:00.000-08:00

My best friend's birthday was not long ago, and since he doesn't need more crap, I decided to do that artistic thing and make him something. Since I'm only good at making two things, music and sketches of buildings (this statement is very much debatable ) I settled on writing him a little piece of music.

Now thats all personal and crap, but when I actually settled down to writing the piece, I was faced with a problem. I like Louis Andriessen. Bang on a Can, Steve Reich and co. this comes across in a lot of my stuff... and i know, easy going peter will not enjoy tense, dissonant music. So ... I'm pushing myself to make something of a compromise. It has to be smooth enough and consonant enough that it doesn't provoke any intense feelings (and pianistic pyrotechnics are strictly forbidden!) , yet its gotta be interesting enough and progressive enough to be called contemporary. This aint easy, so its my work in progress.

Midi is a cruel mistress. My music sounds calm and smooth on my keyboard and harsh, ugly and uninteresting on the computer. It hurts a little, inside.

Cage on Branca

2009-02-26T22:17:00.000-08:00

"My feelings were disturbed ... I found in myself a willingness to connect the music with evil and with power. I don't want such a power in my life. If it was something political it would resemble fascism" (John Cage, 1982).

When cage made this comment on Branca's loud, experimental-punk influenced music, he was hitting on something very relevant, a criticism that hits harder on this music, and other music like it, than any other critique I've seen. To describe it, as essentially musical fascism has a surprisingly sturdy foundation when we look at fascism more academically.

Fascist ideology, speaking broadly, is the ideology of power, the glorification of violence and militarism, the cult of the personality, and the desire for totalitarian oppression. It is anti-capitalist, anti-marxist, anti-socialist, anti-feminist, anti- democratic, anti-egalitarian, and anti-rational. yet it is not sufficient to simply define Fascism by what it isn't. Turning to the so called "fascist minimum" we can get a better picture of this cult of violence and action. Michael Mann in his book Fascists writes that the five elements of the fascist minimum can be listed as 1) hyper-nationalism, 2) Cleansing, or top-down purging and/or oppression and elimination of defined enemies, 3) paramillitarism

Music which seeks to overwhelm the ears, as Cage viewed it, was totalitarian music, and its aim was express that power and violence. What is interesting about this impulse within the music, is that within other musical circles the authoritarianism and violence of sound becomes manifest within the minds and actions of people. There exists, and has long existed a link between skinhead neo-nazi groups with Death-metal, speed-metal and hard-core punk. This aint a coincidence. Modern punk, and metal-skinhead groups consist of disaffected male youth who clearly glorify and enjoy violence, paramillitarism and action. They might don the apparel of a militaristic organization and fight against some abstracted, vaguely defined enemy. These types of people probably suffer from the acute anomie that sociologists ascribe to the fascist recruits of the early 20th century. These hooligans of the contemporary age mirror that identical type of group that helped push Mussolini into power, and helped terrorize the jews during the 30s. The age of most fascists, like hardcore punk/metal-skinheads, were 18-35, and they were predominantly male.

While it would be stupid to call Branca a fascist (i dont know his politics), it is not a stretch to see a parallel between the manifestation of aggression within sound and the emotional effect of creating an agressive mentality within the listener. Driving, deafening music controls your hearing, it can blast you, like a bombastic parade, into an excited emotional state. Punk-rock prides itself on action, movement and excitement. It asserts a clearly anti-commercialist, anti-intellectual, anti-status-quo mentality, and comes as a prefab identity for many followers and loyal fans. They dont wear arm bands, but they do wear tee shirts.

But does this really condemn any music at all? most music is disliked (or, conversely enjoyed) more for its association than for its actual musical language. So what does someone do when confronted with an art that might be tainted by fascist influences? Even After learning about the futurist affiliation with fascists, I still love futurist works-in-themselves, even if they're creators were very much lost. So does art stand alone despite the people who create, support, or help create it ( with a glance towards Karajan) ?

Any one else use Sibelius?

2009-02-25T23:29:00.001-08:00

Because when it runs on my computer, shit freezes up pretty badly. I dont know how the hell Sibelius could be so demanding, but maybe its just too much for my poor ole laptop. Anyone else know?

Anyway, its making composition difficult, especially when i'm busy uses the internets for all kinds of important things. Like Email, and and video memes:

Yeah, i have a pretty crude sense of humor.

Philip Glass- Music in Twelve Parts (again), part 11.

2009-02-11T22:09:00.000-08:00

I really wonder if I'll ever get over the sheer radicalism of early Glass. This is one of the prettier parts of the 12, despite its true minimalist austerity and constant pulse. The composer once described his music as functioning like wheels in a machine, which makes perfect sense to me. These arpeggios become conceptual spinning disks that morph with the music like clay on a potters wheel.

So to approach this music do we have to be armed with metaphors to describe it? Or can we just listen and enjoy? I think, since the music is so extreme in its forms and unconventional, that the only way to become accustomed to it is to approach it with this mindset. This adds to the music's radicalism, since it has to be understood through a conceptual framework, rather then through standard, accepted formulations, even for a 20th century avant-gardist. I would happily argue that the early work of Glass is some of the most challenging of the century, yet it has opened up avenues of thinking-in-music that never existed before. Suddenly music ceases to follow any western narrative form, no begining, no middle, no end. Music becomes the experience of sounds and rigorous patterns where a chord could be held for 20 minutes. Sustained tones become important-in-themselves, sustained patterns are the music. Change is not a given, it becomes a surprise.

note on blog

2009-02-07T15:28:00.001-08:00

Going for a re-vamp of the site. This poor blog has fallen into decline, and started that long, slow decline 2 years ago. I don't know if i can promise any kind of renaissance, but at least I can try and re-organize my links to make more sense.

2009-02-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

I hate postmodern lingo and rhetoric.

hate it.

I'm currently taking a senior seminar course on European Fascism, which is fascinating, but i have stumbled upon, much to my chagrin, one of the most inane, pointless displays of verbose gibberish imaginable. Allow me to demonstrate:

According to our ‘reflective metanarritive’ of modernism’s dialectical relationship with modernity, the ardent craving for a new spirituality and new temporality that drives what Emilio Gentile calls Italianism expresses primordial longings for a new nomos, a new canopy of temporalized sacrality generated by a contemporary reality experiences as anomic, as decadent.

Has the author just lost it? Is there a point there at all, or just rhetorical meanderings? I believe I understand that what he intended to say: "That the fascist conception of modernism, as technologically, industrially advanced, or totalitarian, stood in conflict with the modern thought of French-revolution humanist types. "But the expression "modernism's dialectical relationship with modernity" is borderline meaningless in itself. Simply put, the author's language is pompous, self-satisfied and stupid.

I dont understand the point of writing so much and saying so little. I suppose the so called post-modern distrust of the"metanarritives" that can pop up in history might motivate them to create nebulous clouds of lingo, with vague, confused meanings. Yet the author can't sustain it for that long, eventually he has to make a fucking point:

....[ the perception of fascism as] political modernism bent on overthrowing a liberal system identified with the 'Old Italy', whose utter inadequacy to address the forces of modernization irrevocably sealed its fate.

Now, wait, so I just read a massive run-on for no fucking reason? hm. Guess so. And it left me so much the wiser. I now understand that there are some in academia who write down to the reader so as to stroke their own egos. I have little patience with this bullshit, especially when i have other, much clearer, and more thoughtful, well-written texts that I can choose from.

Rediscovery

2008-12-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

My first real love in music was the music of Debussy. Throughout my early teens it became a goal of mine to own and listen to every note, every scribble that man ever put on paper. I listened to dozens of obscure works and unpopular pieces, some unpublished works that i could find recordings of.... and yet my thirst for finding unheard works never ended. I still bemoan the fact that he didn't write more. Its safe to say that Ive heard the entire bedth of his musical language. I know all kinds of pieces... from the Six épigraphes antiques of 1915 to the Printemps of 1888. and everything obscure in between.

Originally I preferred his earlier, lush and pretty pieces like the Arabesques to his more abstract, fragmented and dissonant later work. This changed. I soon found his earlier compositions to be too "fluffy", too "belle epoque" for me, and I began to favor his later, more angular pieces like En Blanc et Noir. Recently I found the Images pour Orchestre ( including Iberia) on glorious Imeem, re-affirming my old love of these works. Its from his Images pour orchestra that I found out what a cor anglais is. I heard the solo lines of that instrumentin the Gigues And Rondres des Printemps - and It mystified me. I still remember listening to it over and over again to figure out what instrument it was. I searched all over to try and figure it out.Anyway, those floating melodic fragments still make me melt.

how can you not love this? So many sublimely beautiful moments in this opening of Iberia:

Images, II. Ibéria: 1. Par les rues et par les chemins - Sir Simon Rattle

And that slow, languid Gigues, with its haunting cor anglais.

Images: I. Gigues - Sir Simon Rattle

///love

Etude Idea

2008-11-18T16:05:00.000-08:00

With new technology on hand i can now make this a greater vanity site than it already is-

I recently got a camera and a means to record myself on my keyboard. Heres an etude idea that i'm playing around with, posted on my youtube account. I think its technically challenging enough to be a real etude.

GO OBAMA

2008-11-03T23:43:00.000-08:00

Well, i really doubt there are any republicans or undecideds reading this blog, but for historical reference i'd thought i'd just throw it out there. So there you go- future- i'm a supporter of Barack Obama, i hope he wins, i really do. More than that- i hope that the US will improve its relations abroad, and I hope that it inspires people, i hope that this will move people, shake things and ignite a sense of social progress towards a more humanistic, more egalitarian, more rational civilization.

All hopes.

I feel sometimes that this country is dominated by people who live with half their mind in the dark ages. Gay? horror! muslims? Evil! foriegners? dangerous!

there will always be idiots, thats a given, and there will always be bigots, there will always be racists, xenophobes, homophobes, morons of all stripes and shapes, but i can only hope they dwindle in numbers with the passing of time. Society never changes quickly. People will hold onto their stupid ideas till they're in their graves. Human technology may advance, but the general human wisdom of society will never improve much.

Palin Song

2008-10-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

Move over Steve Reich. What an interesting speaking-melody this song has. All jittery and jumbled, fragmented and jazzy.

Anyway, this is fucking brilliant.

Again

2008-10-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

Its Fall, again. The third since i started this blog. School again, this time I'm happy to report that I'm taking Spanish. I'm enthusiastic about it, there are lots of similarities with french and i can't help but francify what i'm studing. I've been writing "L'Hombre qui hablar..." things like that. Anyway, I can understand a lot of it already. Hopefully i'll reach a decent level of spoken spanish before my life's out.

In music news, well, theres no real music news. I work occasionally on the third movement of Suburban Scene, i know it could be done in a few days if i actually put energy into it. I just don't have it. I lack a personal drive to finish it up quickly. Maybe things cook better when they're cooked slow? Maybe not. The first and second movements both took me all of two weeks to write, and they enjoyable to write, which is something kinda rare. I work on things piecemeal anyway, a half hour here and there, day to day it piles it up into some 5 minutes of music. Kinda satisfying.

Troy- thank you so much for your conversions of the midi files. I have dozens of these of my dozens of pieces, I'm not going to shove them all your way, don't worry. But I really do need to thank you. They sound beautiful. I'll (re?) post them soon. :)

Midis for My Music

2008-09-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

*Edit* fixed the link for mov. 2 so now it actually linking to the second movement!

So here are some basic, mechanical midi files of the two movements of Music for a Suburban Scene finished so far. The third may be on its way soon. Do not hesitate to tell me what you think. I depend on it.... so comment please. Thanks.

Suburban Scene Mov. 1

Suburban Scene Mov. 2

2008-09-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

It is true that i've been abscent from this blog. I just havent felt the energy. I've been busy. Other excuses like work and school come to mind. Frankly, i just havent had anything particularly meaningful to say. I feel like I'm stagnating in terms of my musical development a little. I want to stretch the piano in different directions but don't feel incapable at that. What i need is a good electronic keyboard that offers some interesting new sounds to work with.

I've been writing more of Music for a Suburban scene. I'm just starting the third piece, which is the one im most hesitant at adding anything too. Ironically its the piece i know the best when i play it.

Sometimes I feel like this kind of thing is an embarassing mistake, a display of my inability to be fresh or original. Some days I feel confident that my piano works have some merit to them and that they're worth presenting to people. I go back and forth. I like my works, most of the time, if that means anything. The movement of suburban scene has got a solid energy and even virtuositic touches. Its structured, maybe too structured. Maybe bordering on stilted, maybe just poorly structured. Maybe well structured? Maybe its too archaic in format, maybe its refreshing and effective? Is my music a watered down compromise or is it still interesting? I guess you guys can tell me. I'll post it soon.

Camping trip pictures.

2008-09-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

woo.

Suburban Scene Part 1

2008-08-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting to work writing out pieces of music that i intended to finish 3 years ago. The work, which was framed with parts written while i was still in highschool, has waited for 3 years for me to feel musically mature enough to make something coherent out of it.

While i dont necessarily think i'm "musically mature" Its more or less high time that i get to work on it, regardless as to how i feel about my own compositional voice. Everything is a learning process, so why not just dive in? I'm not going to get anywhere with it if i dont try. So thats what i've undertaken, the first piece is almost finished and... its intended to be a set of maybe 8 piano pieces. So one of 8 so far... a ways to go, but i have a lot of time and i'm in no rush. They've waited for 3 years or more... they can sit on the burner a while.

Anyway, the interesting part about all this is that i knew what i wanted to call this set of pieces long before i knew exactly what would be in it. And the name of it actually gave the name of this blog. The set is entitled "Music for a Suburban Scene" and its sort of my attempt at a summation and melding of the musical influences that inevitably resulted from my years in suburban america. Kinda a lofty goal, i'd say. But hey, aim high right? Really, its a set of pieces meant to evoke life in a cul-de-sac, life around SUVs , Burger King, Safeways, traffic and parking lots.life around families with teenagers, dogs, Sprinklers and unkept lawns. I'm not actually sure as to the titles of all the set but i sure as hell know that one of them is going to called "The Mandingo", you can google to figure out what that means.

other ideas for titles were "beige carpets" and "tricycles".

I guess those are still on the drawing board. Anyway, this first piece has turned out to be much more technically demanding than i expected, and it was *supposed* to be the simple introduction. Ah well, makes things more fun to play.

2008-08-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

This is the only opera i can honestly say i enjoy, and thankfully some kind dude posted the entire thing on youtube.

I fucking love mussorgsky and I wish he had written more in his short life.

2008-07-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

I am guilty of not always viewing some of the blogs I hold in highest esteem and link on the sidebar there. But i recently stumbled upon some excellent posts in On An Overgrown path (which is named after one of my favorite works for piano)

This post reflects several of my thoughts at the moment, so i figure I best divert attention that way.

My one beef is with the term itself.- "world music" seems like an insult if we somehow exclude western classical traditions from the group. If we're talking about "traditional world musics" It better as hell include it ALL, balinese gamelan to native american pow-wow musics, to shostakovich and back. (i dont think many people would approve, though) Otherwise, we're using an essentially categorizing music in a very ethnocentric way- ie. "classical music" and "everything else thats traditional on the planet", knowing full well that separate is inherently unequal in this kind of dialogue**, I would propose that we specify which traditions we're talking about. If its Northern Hindustani Classical or Tuvan Throat singing, or Taureg traditional music. "world music" just doesn't cut it.

**I'm not going to sit around and discuss music in terms of one kind being more or less important than some other kind, and thereby creating value judgments about the nature of different music traditions. Nor am I automatically calling all music equal. The "importance" in the western sense can not be applied to other cultures where music functions and is perceived differently, and the musical values do not necessarily translate. It is simply stupid to try weigh the importance of someone like Veena Sahasraddhe against Pavarotti, just as one does not judge a Kandinsky as they would a Botticelli.

2008-07-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the capitol hill block party, good times.

Fleet Foxes played, it was good stuff. Listened to different bands, but the foxes were why I even went. That, and i had nothing else to do yesterday.

Good band, great music. Local group who might be bringing plad back, or at least in this region. They've certainly cultivated a 1970s eco-hippy mountain-man image.

I approve.

2008-07-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

This music gets my back all tingly and crap.

no, really. Just this first movement. I love the whole thing, but man, this is gorgeous. And is it wrong for me to hear just a little Don Giovanni in it? I've known this music for years, but im back to it, after watching an episode of Curb your enthusiasm, which features two excerpts of Berlioz.

I said to my roommates. "THATS BERLIOZ!!! OMFG!!!"

alright, maybe not quite like that, but pretty close. so now im on a romanticist kick i guess. Berlioz and Liszt. Oh, trusty old Liszt, i always listen to him. Anytime i need something cool to listen to, i pull out a transcendental etude or mephisto waltz. This morning i was almost late to work because i was obsessing over the beauty of this performance:

I love the intensity. Its really just perfect and amazing.

{romanitic} sigh.

Beirut captures my sentimentality

2008-07-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

And im talking about the band, not the Lebanese capital. (which i'd love to visit some day)

Nantes is the second track on Beirut's second album The Flying Club Cup, a great new album. While I generally make a point of strongly disliking people who are my age or younger and more successful than me, I'll make an exception for Beirut's lead singer.

The music in this album is an eclectic- mixing folk, french chanson, brass band, even lounge sounds and other influences into a sweet lyrical and graceful expression. There are many french references in the music and title, which is kinda fun (for me anyway). The greatest song on the album is the sublime Mausoleum, but this is less of a album review and more of a personal note, so im not going to dive into any detail, so just trust me.... its good.

Nantes, the song makes no references to my city in its lyrics (its MY city now days), but just that title is enough to capture my attention, and the beauty of the song taps into my nostalgia for last year and my idle life as un etudiant etranger en france.

But the place (though beautiful and charming as it is) i miss a lot less than my friends i left.

HOT

2008-06-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

Its hot.

Its 70 degrees at 8:30 in the morning. Yesterday it was 92 here, and last night my bedroom did not dip below 85 degrees, ugh. Seattle is in heat-wave, a rare but shocking occurrence that arrives a few times every summer. Since we (collectively as the people of seattle) own no air conditioners, we have to bear it out with fans and crap. And let me tell you- you can fan yourself all you want, but when your apartment is, at 7 in the evening, hovering around 93 degrees, it doesnt really matter. Its been hot since friday, and its going to stay nice and warm all week long.

Don't get me wrong, its gorgeous weather, and i'm really doing well on my farmers tan, but man oh man, it comes as a surprise after the shittiest spring in memory.

Two Little Pieces from 2006

2008-06-17T23:21:00.000-07:00

So Sibelius has been an EXCELLENT program for me, and has given me the opportunity to write up in classy fashion some old pieces from 2006. Its amazing to me how much things change in 2 years, i would never write music like this anymore, but these two i've hung on to because i really like them a lot.

This Berceuse written back around 2006 and is one of my favorite pieces i've written. Its extremely simple, but if played correctly, very delicate. This is a midi version of the piece, which i have from the Sibelius, and it aint playing it with any delicacy, but thats ok, you get the idea.

Midi Version: http://www.zshare.net/audio/13795384e1fb620e/

Another super easy little piece (one of those few that i really enjoyed both writing and playing) is this untitled piece, written a little earlier. Any ideas for a nice little title for it? I'd name it after you if it sounds right... Personally, though i like the piece, its too retro for me, sounds too much like Ravel- but thats ok, I tried. And at least its pretty. Anyway, it is also pretty delicate and simple, and all the same i have a crude midi version here to go along with the sheet music

http://www.zshare.net/audio/137961439b5d1ca3/

Anyway, like i said. I wouldnt write music like sounds like this now adays, not because of some change in attitude, but because i know how now. But I'll have to prove that another day.

2008-06-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

"I am never sea sick- only sea drunk..... (toasting) To good health!"

-igor stravinsky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R-0zt_T_4M

Paradise Moment #2--

2008-05-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

I have just had a paradise moment. It was right here, just now. Sitting on my bed, laptop on lap. Sweet, delicious, me-made teriyaki chicken with bell peppers and onions, and a mug of organic (real) lemonade. Listening to the sublime, sublime Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ (Steve Riech)

I love life.

(....i love lamp)

2008-05-05T22:14:00.000-07:00

Alright, you guys, my 2-3 readers, you may be aware that im, uhhh... taking a little sabbatical right now. So i give you this musical youtube beauty to relax with- and this little pseudoguru moment:

i often get the feeling that the majority of people's problems come from a lack of perspective. When im angry i like to look at Hubble photographs and reflect for a few seconds about the amazingness of it.... I should just post hubble pictures one of these days

(Oh yeah, and thats my sister in the photograph)

Heard in the High Atlas.

2008-04-26T13:10:00.001-07:00

I love berber music.

Veena Sahasrabuddhe

2008-04-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

I am no scholar of Hindustani music, but i know what i love..

This woman is a master of music . She is amazing, and by far my favorite Indian Classical musician. Incredibly beautiful singing, elegant lines, warmth and variety of melodic invention. Her music is poignant, haunting, so what more could you ask for?

Im a big fat fan.

2008-04-12T10:45:00.001-07:00

The radiohead concert is sold out :( on the first day tickets go on sale, they're gone. Hows that even possible? People are nuts... Either way, i was planning on going with a friend this august, but i guess thats not gonna happen :(

I've been working on Sibelius-ing (as in the program, not the awesome dude) my great Anti-masterpiece Junk Folder, which i mentioned (and even scanned a page of the score) a long time ago, like 2 summers ago, when i wrote most of it. Its so fun to be able to hear my piece, even if its on these shitty midi voices, it still is cool. Easier to conceptualize, i guess. Who knows if i'll ever get anyone to play it.

i'll probably post some of the score on here one of these days. Ive layed out the first 2 of 5 songs. (the 5th was never finished) so i have some work to do. The whole thing wont be ready before summer, im sure of that. Anyway, its been fun to work on between homeworks...

like O.M.G.

2008-03-31T22:57:00.000-07:00

Alarm will sound, my most favoritest group ever, is doing something fan-fucking-tastic. Aside from covering THIS:

(how the hell they're doing that, i dont know) they're also going ahead and doing covers of

THE SHAGGS

yeah, thats right, the mutherfucking shaggs.

And if i was in new york, i would be all up in that kitchen business. Do they tour? Maybe their website has clues (oh wait, theres no tour schedule posted for 2008... DO'H). Eitherway, this 69' thing they've got going makes me feel... so.... much... love.

I guess there is nothing for me to do but buy their merchandise. hurray!

Animal Collective- Strawberry Jam

2008-03-25T11:29:00.001-07:00

My recently acquired recording of Strawberry Jam is pretty sweet.

Maybe a little tame in comparison to some of the earlier works of Animal collective, but sweet all the same. I was familiar via Youtube with several of the tracks already, like the eccentrically lyrical Fireworks and the darkly hallucinogenic-electronic folk of Peacebone.

Chores, the third track, feels like a kind of homage to the The Shaggs, and their only release- philosophy of the world. The track 06 #1 has a continuous minimalistic electronic organ pattern reminiscent of Riley's Persian Surgery Dervishes or Glass' Music in a Similar motion.

The 8th song in the set, Cuckoo Cuckoo, uses a sample of a luscious late-Romantic piano chord progression (i don't know what its lifted from, Faure? Scriabin? cant tell), repeated endlessly with the groups typically strident vocals and electronics layered over that peaceful piano sound bite.
All in all, in this disk we get a continuation and development of the groups' ability of creating simple, folksy lyricism along side visceral, experimental electronics, dissonances and a strong eclecticism and energy.

2008-03-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

Which just begs the question..... why aren't there more weightlifting classical musicians and fans? I dont get it. Is it that persistent platonic/cartesian dualism crap? that (incorrect) mentality that the body is meaningless and has no effect on our supposedly independent intellect? Meh, for the record, I'd like the say that weightlifting is quantifiable awesome*. And for you fellow pianists, it strengthens the forearms, which is excellent for extended tremolo passages and possibly the Concord Sonata.

Anyway, i think classical musicians could always use a little more muscle... in the various meanings of the word.

____
* i could list the reasons, but i wont here. unless you really, really want me to.

Que Sera Sera

2008-03-18T23:48:00.000-07:00

More Mughals.

2008-03-12T22:03:00.000-07:00

(Love)

30 second improv

2008-02-25T21:10:00.001-08:00

Me again. Making noise.

Terry Riley - Poppy No Good and the Phantom Band (1968)

2008-02-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

I love you Poppy No good, and the band aint bad either.

....Currently reading about Mughals and their reforms. Have a midterm in my Mughal history class on tuesday. Lots and lots of history to cover, from the Delhi Sultanate till emperor Jahangir. I should say- I think Akbar is my favorite emperor ever, but Hadrian comes in a close second.m Then again, we havent yet gotten to Shah Jahan, and i like me my architecture.

But then again, almost all emporors were assholes. Kinda comes with the job.

Look what Youtube put on their front page:

2008-02-08T10:26:00.001-08:00

Wow. Im impressed, and the video is pretty sweet.

Pyramid song-radiohead-2001

2008-02-02T22:51:00.001-08:00

Beautiful music. They played this at the laser show i went to not long ago.

Im sick again. fucking viruses. This is my comfort for the evening

In Imitation

2008-02-02T09:59:00.001-08:00

What’s your purpose?

To eat. To eat well, to share the passion of eating well with others.

What’s your passion?

Butter chicken, panang curry. Good and interesting sounds.

What are your peak experiences?

pretending to be arab and getting away with it....My sister says i look like Ali Baba with a turban.

What are the top qualities you look for in a good friend?

Someone with their feet on the fucking ground. Is that so hard to find? someone authentic, someone with the ability to accept unusual and new things/experiences. I also very much like rude people who are funny about it.

Who are your heroes and heroines from mythology and legend, and from history and religion?

Helen Thomas, Kurt Vonnegut and the Cookie Monster.

What are your unique talents and how do you like to express them?

Unique? um. being able to philosophize about weightlifting by attacking moronic platonic/Cartesian dualism. I love weightlifting.
I speak french. I express it by speaking french, usually in the context of criticizing france.

What are the best qualities you express in your relationships? (Those are the qualities that allow soul to manifest in the world and in the work place.)

Strange Noises. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- is a personal favorite, also known to use BWAAAAAAAAAH and WAAAAAAAh (usually in the context of pouncing on somthing) as well as Bleeeeah and mmmmnaaaaaayh

2 more

2008-01-23T01:38:00.001-08:00

these are the longer ones. haha. Its wierd to think that a 1 Minute 20 some second piece could be long, but its all relative. doing these short pieces each second feels significant. I write some 4 bars that last 15 seconds and i sit back and cant help but think how much music i made in 4 bars. haha .
These are by far the most technically demanding pieces in the set. In fact, im thinking they almost go beyond the range of what i was initially trying to do, which was really write tiny un-intimidating works that any one could play. But aside from the repetition which simplifies things the demands in number 12 ^ above are beyond the abilities of the person i wrote for in (say) number 7 below. I'm happy to keep em though.

hey, do any of you want to play this?

2008-01-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

The radiohead laser show last night was sweet. They did a good job with "pyramid song" in particular

Um, i said i'd "publish" the fruits of my winter vacation, so here are 5 samples of some 12 pieces i've written up. The title of the set is "music for begining" the idea here is that they're incredibly easy pieces that would serve as music for a novice pianist, or music thats good for warmups good for sight-reading etc. So they are sort of functional-music type things. I havent written any performance indications, but i've been kinda lazy. Anyway, i know how they're supposed to be played, it should be obvious from the way they sound and are written, but hey, who knows. Do any of you 3/4 guys who see this site want to play my music? they're super easy! hahaa

Anyway, heres the first few:

dude, im so going to the Radiohead laser show tonight

2008-01-18T18:25:00.001-08:00

No, seriously. i am.

woot woot.

Aphex Twin- Drukqs

2008-01-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

I swear every time i try to post something half-way serious or intelligent it just comes out looking ridiculous and stupid.

On the other hand, i've been listening to these great pieces of Aphex twin. The work as a whole is extremely diverse, and I was surprised to hear how well he handles the piano! The prepared piano pieces are charming and beautiful, while the"techno" tracks are facinating, manic and really well done.

I recently got Sibelius and im writing down a few of my tiny piano pieces that ive composed over break. Its a great tool, im enjoying it. I plan on sending off a few of my files off to some friends, im even tempted to post my little pieces on here

Sorry if this reads like a Manifesto.

2008-01-05T15:01:00.000-08:00

One conception of music that i hope develops in the 21st century is the idea of music constructed without borders, without particular contries or nationalities or traditions defining them. This is inherently opposite from the modernist euro-centric conception of art-music/music art as a western and only western phenomenon and the rest of the worlds music output as a lesser category of "world music". Of course that concept is today known to be absurd, so instead, this is the idea that every music culture on earth had material to contribute to the learning of a musician and that these experiences are inherently valuable, and that judgments of inferiority should not be imposed upon non-European musical traditions.

This is not an argument about equality or inequality of the richness of musical traditions around the world, but the idea that music, as an artistic creation of individuals, is not something that has to be confined to specific traditions and instrumentation, and that learning is cross-cultural. This idea does not encourage some musical pastiche of style, but rather the understandings of the possibility of song forms and singing, instrumental or human.

I can imagine that my school on campus could offer classes on indian raga as well as piano performance, or west african drumming along side introduction courses to Gamelan. Today those wonderful subjects are all sort of grouped together in those "world music" sections, marginalized in a country which has grown less and less culturally Dependant on europe in the 20th century.

On a smaller scale, focusing in on the united states and canada, I suppose my hope for the 21st century is this : cultural dependence on europe will finally end and that a well grown hybrid and mixing will develop that would allow for a new musical environment that is not just older european or older east asian or middle eastern notions of music, but something that has absorbed both, and all, and comes up with something new and fresh.

Here in the US and Canada, we are living in (thank god) an increasingly diverse society with people coming from cultures completely different from those of the europeans that settled these two countries. Asian, African, Polynesian and Middle Eastern cultures are already mixing and enriching the lives of citizens in this country. Our music today should aim to reflect these wonderful changes and not just rely on older instrumentation, dispite its familiarity, and aim to speak a musical language that speaks to people, no matter where they're from.

I guess our problem is that a lot of people cant step out of our own generally white-European culture, into a different view, where musical traditions are not treated as superior or inferior, but just as matters of fact. One of things that bothered me in living in france was its mono-culture. Its one, singular self-absorbed culture that just doesn't invite others to the party. That was unbearable to me , and why i realized that i was glad to be American, and to be able to eat my pad thai one night and my chicken masala the next, to live in a country that doesnt (in principal) treat people with other ethnic and cultural origins as inferior.

Probably my last post of the year

2007-12-29T22:44:00.000-08:00

And i really just dont have that much to say. Vacation is nice, but it makes me lazy. Ive written a number of tiny little piano pieces specifically tailored for beginners. Its the only kind of composition i can really tolerate right now. I think I've written about 8 of these little things. They're nice, maybe i'll post them sometime.

um. What else. Ive continued to browse youtube on occasion, i stumbled upon a good performance of Shoenberg's gorgeous Verklarte Nacht. ( I found that after listening to Blondie... hahaha.) And realized that the wierd and unpleasant world of blindingly ignorant youtube trolls makes its way to shoenberg videos too. Bizarre and stupid comments litter this video of six nice musicians just doing their job... (and doing a great job that would make Schoenberg proud) I cant really say much in the face of so much stifling idiocy (its more a problem of "where to start tearing down this monolithic tangle of crap?") So i just generally ignore what people post on youtube.

Probably the best for my sanity.
____

So thats the last post for the year of 2007. Onto 2008.

When did my perception of the passage of time become so warped? I swear time seemed to pass slower when i was little. The years just seem to speed up as they go.

End of Quarter Laziness

2007-12-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

im just sitting around, being rather un-productive. eating, surfing Youtube,etc. Anyway, the other day I found a video of my favorite work of Philip Glass, Music in a Similar Motion ( its broken into two videos, actually, since it goes over youtube's video time limit.)

And its lovely. During my roadtrip across California and Oregon this summer it was music that kept me calm in stressful moments of (generally California) driving. My passenger was not always pleased, but he was able to deal with it, and i think it might have even rubbed off on him.

So here are some pics from said roadtrip..
.

The Collective Memory Of Men With Beards

2007-12-09T20:12:00.001-08:00

I think it'd be a good band/song name.

and their first album could be entitled Waterboarding.

...it would be about surfing, of course.

An Ethnomusicological Moment

2007-12-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the Chicken Dance of french origin? INDEED IT IS. It even has words too. In french, however, it is called the Duck Dance (Le Dance des Canards)

Regardez:

2007-11-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday i found this so beautiful i couldn't help but start crying like a baby

Sometimes i do that and its kinda embarrassing. Oh, and then i write posts about it and put it on my public music blog for everyone to see. Kinda pathetic, but i think its sincere, and there are only maybe 3 people who read this anyway. i hadnt heard this amazing music in over a year, so maybe thats why. Or maybe im just a big sob.

I love bulgarian women.

Terry Riley- Music for the Gift III

2007-11-18T23:13:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon this little gem on Youtube just today, so i thought i'd share it. Im no expert on Riley's music, but i do love it, and every now and then something just appears online that really just faciniates me, like this little piece. Its tape-looped jazz quartet from 1963, and this avant-garde work really sets the stage for what came directly after it- In C, and consequently the entire minimalist "idea". Whats surprising is how early it was made, and yet its still so refreshing. These kinds of pieces support my thinking that Mr. Riley is one of the most under-rated of major composers from the last 50 years

Some Music from al Magrebia.

2007-11-12T19:37:00.001-08:00

I thought, since i dedicated the post below to morocco in pictures, i should post a few words, too, so i'll do that now-

North african music was a highlight of my travels, Berber music in particular, which was played loudly in front of restaurants and cafes, in front of shops and in houses in the High Atlas. Im certainly not the first to be surprised by its beauty and freshness, theres a lot of study by ethnomusicologists (For good reason!) of the beautiful and alluring art they create there.

People sing in north Africa, and they dance; music is embedded in the culture. The elaborate echoing Adhan sent out from loudspeakers on the mosque every morning (woke me up always at 5:30, particularly on fridays) calls the faithful to prayer (and they do go! oh they do). Then they ring out 4 more times before days end, every day framed with short musical prayers. It reminded me i wasnt in france anymore, and that in fact i was somewhere far more interesting.

Currently im listening to the gorgeous music of Larbi Imghrane (the link is a good preview of his music) which fuses traditional berber songs with more modern instrumentation and electronics. The rich in lyricism and beauty. The CD i own, is Series of immortal songs, volume 1: The best of Raiss Ahmed Bizmaven- bought in Marakech's Djemaa El Fna square (photos 5 and 6 in the previous post). Mr. Imghrane is pretty famous in morocco, so its possible to find lots of his music online, thankfully. Unfortunately i cant read Arabic, so i dont know the name of my favorite song on my Cd, track 4, but i can assure you its really lovely.

A section from the first track of my CD HERE, forgive the cheesy video. Its in a Berber dialect, by the way, not Arabic, so most Moroccans probably dont know the words either.

Al Magrebia me manque.

2007-11-09T14:36:00.001-08:00

Eargasm-

2007-10-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

I guess this is a continuation of my series of posts dedicated to my favorites. And Youtube. Sure, you could call me lazy for just posting some video without any substantial thinking put into a post, but i'd just remind you that no considerable amount of thinking has ever really graced these pages (except for that time i was listing off favorite forms of chocolate. Thats a toughie) Anyway, i gotta go back to my exam now. its schoola time!

My Favorite Glass

2007-10-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, yeah, more Youtube, but this is some GOLD. Here are brief clips from the early 70z of the ensemble practicing the gorgeous music in changing parts , and later we hear a brief bite of music in a Similar motion (my favorite work), as well as rare footage of Einstein being performed.

I fucking love this stuff, i eat it up. The best part is that every different performance i hear makes it sound so new and fresh, its so new and daring still. God i love it.

My Favorite Liszt:

2007-09-29T20:24:00.001-07:00

Performed by people younger than me... AAAAAAH!

Just look at that kids freaking eyes! i love it. Excellent performance of Liszt's 12th (my favorite) etude, Chasse-neige.... "snow hunt" i guess is what it translates to. Anyway I love this music and i hadnt heard it in a while, so here is a great performance.

Terry Riley is Double Parked

2007-09-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

this is the most awkward and bizarre interview ive ever seen:

Debussy- Nuages, favorite music

2007-09-14T11:03:00.001-07:00

When asked the question "Whats your favorite piece of Debussy?" I have to hesitate. I guess the answer "everything" doesnt really fly, so i narrowing it down is my only option, and it comes down to this languid piece of sublime eargasmic goodness. Sure his Etude pour octaves, his Sons et parfums qui tourne dans L'air du soir, his Reflets Dans L'eau, his Images Pour Orchestre, are everything that is sublime in music and in art, but this one is the most dreamy, melancholy and visual- at least for me. Then again, who better to romanticize clouds than someone raised in Seattle?

2007-09-11T11:35:00.001-07:00

Well, its been 6 years now, time flies. Since its a music-themed blog i should probably say about music, and that will be this: im not a fan of music that commemorates tragedy. Ive never heard adam's Transmigration, or the dozens of requiems by dozens of hero-composer types who pretend to live in the late 19th century. it doesnt interest me.

I anticipate the media will be buzzing about this date as if it has something more than a symbolic meaning. Anyway, there are greater tragedies that have been unfolding since 2001. But i doubt Darfour or civilians in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Lebanon and northern Isreal will be discussed today.

Its so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say abou a massacre, things like 'Poo-tee-weet?'.

I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee.

-Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

2007-09-03T17:31:00.000-07:00

For any francophones out there i present this incredibly amusing Comic, And anyone who has ever dealt with the french postal service may understand exactly what this about, you might not even need to speak french to get the message.

2007-08-27T21:07:00.003-07:00

i have to get minor toe sugery today. Stupid big toe and its problems.

Currently listening to Glass. I figured out how to open two winamps at once and thought it'd be fun to make a recording of me playing music in 12 parts at the same time. Like tape looping, except with winamp, and no loops are involved, just me sliding the music around as i feel fit. Its fun.... More on that craziness later.

2007-08-27T21:07:00.002-07:00

Also, my 30 some second frucked up version of music in a similar motion. and some random improv.

To be honest, the etude below is a little too adams-y for my tastes, a little too old-fashoned. Also, sorry for all the mistakes in the recording.

Oh well.

Etude For Octaves

2007-08-27T21:07:00.001-07:00

Linkie

New animal Collective-

2007-08-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

Currently in Vegas. Enjoying myself.

In the bay area...

2007-08-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

Currently just north of San Jose. Staying with family. Visited San Francisco again today, did a few of those tourist things, it was lovely. Nice day, not too cool either, sunny. Reading Vonnegut, and thinking about relocating to the bay area. I should ask Mr. Gable about it. I wouldnt mind living in a tiny little studio. My sister just moved into a studio in downtown seattle. She looks out over skyscapers, im envious. Then again, here in san fran, the financial district here is not somewhere i'd really want to live. I would prefer somewhere a little towards the west, in one of those beautiful old neighborhoods where everything seems lovely. Im too idealistic. But i guess thats what happens when you grow up feeling stranded in the suburbs.

In two days im going to Barstow. Not on some harry Partch homage trip, just a stop to sit in a pool and see death valley the following day. Im taking it easy here, no 12 hour drives for me.

2007-08-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

I had a dream recently in which i was listening to a recording of a compostion i had writtten (which exists only in the dream) And then, as often happens in dreams i was magically and inexplicably transported back to an actual performance of my piece, watching the musicians do their thing. It was such a satisfying feeling. As i remember it, the music was very much like Cages variations I (as performed by Patricia Kopatchinskaja.) In my version it was all the same except the trio of violin,piano,singer/vocalist was all amplified. The piano part was pure...well, me: decending appeggios of minor sevenths and open fifths with a tinge of dissonance and post-minimalist mannerisms, but the vocal/spoken parts were pure cage.

Speaking of cage, my friend recently had on some prepared piano pieces by Aphex Twin. I had never heard them, but they were preeeetty nice. I need to get myself a copy.

Animal Collective - Did you see the Words

2007-08-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

So i figure i should streamline my links, just a little, since im linking to a number of sites for which the motivation was "maybe i'll visit them if i link to them" But in reality I gathered up a collection of links that hold little interest to me. I could go and talk shit now about some of the sites ive linked to, and how i regret the fact that their site once interested me (and no, im not talking about northwest palms and subtropicals, they're most definitely staying) But that wouldnt be very nice. would it?

And in addition Im just talked out about a lot of classical music, or at least that music in the general repertoire . I said what i had built up over my teenage years, my feeling and comments about composers and their music, ideas i was unable to communicate to anyone, and today i dont see myself adding anything too significant to a discussion on Brahms' sublime 4th symphony- for example.

But this page still remains my little link-repository. When im bored i go back here to check out what other sites have to say, But should i come up to that moral crisis of whether or not to privlege certain sites or not- and what a banal moral criss that is

Messing Around

2007-07-21T10:33:00.001-07:00

A Nocturne is what i want to call this , not because it is one, but because i think its a nice name. I'll hold the pretention for this second one, and call it what it is-

me messing around
some shit made with the same amazingly limited recording abilities
....again-

I wish i owned a synthesizer.

27 Shocking revelations for a Conservative Classical musician/composer/critic

2007-07-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

Shocking Revelation #1) Classical music isn’t inherently superior to other kinds of music.
2) Just because its written down doesn’t mean its superior to non-notated music
3) The western orchestra has changed less in the last 150 than it has in the entire history of its existence, these last 150 years being the period of the most radical social and technological developments in the history of humanity.
4) The classical musical institutions are swamped by conservatism and a fear of change, and resists adapting to new musical ensembles..
5) Just because its in the form of, or called a symphony/ string quartet/sonata doesn’t mean its a dignified or a quality piece of music.
6) Popular music is not the devil
7) Just because its popular doesn’t mean its not good
8) music which is complicated is not necessarily (and often not) better or superior to other kinds of music
9) Music that is simple, or that uses simple harmony is not innately inferior
10) Minimalism is not evil or necessarily insane
11) What John cage did actually IS music
12) Composers today are just as smart as composers from the 19th century.
13) there are many good composers who are alive today and writing great music.
14) Most of what vivaldi/telemann wrote is not really worth listening to.
16) The musical public today is smarter and better educated than they were in the 17th 18th, 19th and early 20th century.
17) Some of the best music made in the last 80 years has been by non-classical musicians.
18) Amplification is not an evil or heretical practice and the microphone is a legitimate piece of musical equipment
19) acoustic music is not superior to electronically amplified or modified music.
20) pure electronic music is legit, as much so as a string quartet
21) the electric guitar is a good instrument and is safe to play, write for and listen to.
22) its ok to have amplification in an opera, string quartet, or what have you
22) Classical musical institutions are often swamped by disgusting, insane cultural-imperialist ideas and dogmas.
23) Its ok if not everyone loves classical music
24) "classical music" is actually a ridiculous expression and a moronic way of classifying things, (how can Palestrina and Stravinsky sensibly be classified the same way? or Bach and Debussy? Monteverdi and shoenberg? etc)
25) Many classical musicians, critics and composers have tried to isolate classical music from the rest of the world for the last 60 years
26) Many classical musicians, critics and composers are self-pitying.
27) "Classical music" Is Not going to die anytime soon

old improvs

2007-07-09T06:38:00.000-07:00

This is a collection of old(er) improvisations, dating from the dustbin of history (2006) recordings that i felt were somewhat sub-par, so i havent published them until now, But i figure i've thrown worse things onto this blog than what im about to present. (they're not that bad, right?) Anyway, here they are:

Febimprov- On the electric piano, just some random stuff.
June3- This formless blob of somewhat contrasting sounds includes the addition of distortion fuzz from overloading the mic.
Feb2- This is my favorite of the three, and the least poor, i imagine. It changes character at the end.

So thats that for now. Still in Emrbun, taking the night train to paris tonight, and Im leaving for the States wednesday, I dont know when i'll be back to europe.

self portrait in B minor

2007-07-09T03:14:00.001-07:00

I gave a little concert for friends before leaving Nantes, so these are pictures from that day, These are my friend Immanuelle's photos

If i had photoshop and knew how to use it, i could remove the red-eye... ah well

from copenhagen

2007-07-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

A concert in the glyptotech, a wonderful sculpture museum

Beethoven and "child mozart" in the glypt

more glypt, this time,Liszt!

and elsewhere in the city....

Carl Nielson (as a naked child on a horse?)

Copenhagen was beautiful, if somewhat, ahem, expensive. I had a great time there.

Back in beautiful, beautiful Embrun, France

2007-07-03T12:14:00.001-07:00

Sometimes i really love france. Im leaving here in a week, unfortunately... but i'll be back at somepoint in the future.

2007-06-26T01:06:00.000-07:00

Im leaving nantes now, for the last time. Its actually leaving me a little more than melancholy. Im going to deeply miss the wonderful people ive met here, my group of international friends. Im already planning on a trip to algeria and to quebec in the nearish future, to be a tourist and more importantly see friends. I miss morocco, i miss stockholm, and i will miss Nantes, profoundly. Whats worse is that its all transient, even i were to come back next year, all the people im close to will have already left.

in copenhagen

2007-06-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

For the weekend, taking the night train to stockholm monday night, Copenhagen is a beautiful city, but its raining and the weather is shit. It feels like February in seattle, for fuck sake. Im kinda peeved, but what can you do, and i suppose this way its more "reality" travel , since i figure the weather is frequently like this, no? Anyway, it is beautiful, but personally, i much prefer warm climes.

Nachoqatsi

2007-06-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

From Youtube:

na - cho -qatsi (from the Hopi language), n. 1. Nacho life. 2. Life eating
nachos. 3. Life eating crispy tortilla chips smothered in cheese. 4. A way of
life that celebrates the consumption of nachos

Anyway, i just figured i should post this awesomeness.

Also, the official trailer for the violent videogame Grand Theft Auto 4 uses music, cut and mixed, from koyaanisquatsi with similar styled NY computer graphics. I doubt Philip would be pleased by that one, however.

2007-06-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

So since there are no pianos in france ive been releasing all my anxiety by drumming on things. various things, water bottles, tables, chairs kitchen utensils, it bothers some friends and it... well, no, i think it just bothers them. Anyway, when i was in maroc i had the opportunity to buy a lovely handmade drum for a little less than 20 dollars. I figured for an authentic, nice drum i cant get a better price elsewhere and i just when ahead and bought it.

anyway, for archival purposes im posting this humble (really humble) little recording of my near incompetence playing a drum. Hell, i dont even know what proper drum playing sounds like or what the is name for mine in particular. Vive l'ignorance!. Maybe i'll figure these things out someday.

Pines of rome

2007-06-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

Just a few...

In marrakech

2007-05-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

this world class city is filled with gardens and beautiful things. Im currently in one of the ubiquitous cyber cafes checking email and registering for university housing for next year... and oddly, Philip Glass' heros symphony was just playing on the radio, accompanied by some french dialogue. French is everywhere here, which makes it very easy for me, but then again, they all then assume im french, which kinda bugs me. Do i LOOK french? apparently. Then again, a salesman in the atlas mountains asked if i was berber.

Shukrun.

well, sort of. he guessed practically every other european nationality beforehand "french?" no, "spanish?" no, "Italian?" no, "Belgan?"no, "Swiss?" no, "German?" no "Portugese?"no... Why not Isreal though? I guess i didnt look jewish enough, ha. But what does it matter if i cant pass for arab. im still semitic, damnit! hahaha.

Again more arab music,

im enjoying it.

beautiful, beautiful country

In Morocco

2007-05-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

This is a spectactular country. Currently in Ouarzizate, going to marrakesh tomorrow. I visited Zagora and some sahara sand dunes yesterday. Incredible countryside, and music and bread everywhere.

seriously.

I love arabic music.

un chat compositeur

2007-05-10T08:02:00.000-07:00

Et Voila.

Il a l'air d'etre un grand musician.

kinda like those cat playing piano videos Alex Ross posted, but this one is my favorite.

So sarko won

2007-05-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

No surprises here. lets just hope he's just not crazy. also some cars are apparently burning in the banlieu. its become a "fashon" here to burn cars, the french are not impressed anyway.

What else.

well, on the 14th im headed to Rome, then Napoli to see Pompeii and Herculanium, and then Paestum as well. Then on the 22nd im headed to see my sister who is living with a family in marocco. I'll be in marrakech, plus ou moins, for the week or so. Im really excited for my trip, and marocco in particular.

Im speaking french every day, and comfortable, generally, in doing so. its chiant, as i would say, that right now when im getting to the point of "fluency" that im soon going to leave.

2007-04-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

Saw Rigoletto last night here in Nantes. Nice opera house. Have to say, didn’t get anything in terms of a coherent plot. The scenery didn’t exactly explain much to an opera novice like myself. It appeared at first to be set in a 17th century anatomy lecture hall, and never really changed too much after that. Sure there were fog machines and a boat in the end, but nothing ever really appeared different, they were always in that strange round room. Essentially it appeared like a series of tableaux of various contrasting melodramas without any kind of connection between it. Im not quite sure what happened, there was a kidnapping, and several people singing and then the lead lady dies laying down in the end by throwing her arms up and saying "bleaah!"

ok, the last bit i made up, but that’s what it seemed like, and there was definite arm moving going on. Anyway, the music was lovely, i want to get a CD of it, even if i couldn’t discern any kind of message or story. It was a pleasant exercise in abstracted contrasting histrionics.

And it reminded me of that euro-trash question on the recent meme i filled out.

From the cathedral of Toledo, Spain

2007-04-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007

2007-04-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

2007-04-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Currently in Sevilla, Spain, and writing from my hostal. Seen Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Cordoba and most of the major sites in this city, so im heading back to france land soon and i know im going to miss iberia. Granada seems livable, as does cordoba, and i need to learn spanish, should i even try to study abroad again? well, maybe i should graduate first.

and pictures will come soon.

More youtube

2007-03-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

This time, three videos of Glenn Branca.

Here's my her0 in action in a loft in NYC from 1978. Things you can do with an electric guitar that you can't do with a piano, unfortunately. Its almost as much performance art as music.

the second is an algorithmic edit (don't ask me what this means) of the first video, and is pretty sweet for the audio alone ( though the video utilizes a cool effect). The music is completely transformed into something unrecognizably different, vaguely reminiscent of reichian tape looping or of a scratched heavy metal CD. Those haunting echoes at the end are the most interesting. I dont hear the source in the original. however, i have to admit that the video is a little too glitchy for my eyes to sustain ...

... and this last one is the most dramatic though much less dynamic, certainly the most visually striking. This beautiful 19th century beaux-arts concert hall filled with music so viceral, so severe and acidic that you almost expect the traditional-looking audience to react in outrage. I think this is one of my favorite videos on youtube.... almost surreal to hear that music in what appears to be a bastion of the old world.

2007-03-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

Alright, i'll play along. This is a little meme from Soho's site, and since i have the time to kill on this monday afternoon...

1. Name an opera you love for the libretto, even though you don't particularly like the music.

uh, i dont really listen to much opera other than einstien on the beach, and i think i'd be bored by that libretto (par contre, i love the music). I think for me this works in reverse. I dont know any opera text i like better than the music, the texts are usually rather banal.

2. Name a piece you wish Glenn Gould had played.

HA, if i liked Gould this might work. Uh, i dunno, John Cage's Sonatas and interludes. He probably could have done those fairly well.

3. If you had to choose: Charles Ives or Carl Ruggles

Ives. I sadly only know Ruggles through the written word and nothing more.

4. Name a piece you're glad Glenn Gould never played.

Anything Debussy post-1900. Images 2 contains some of the most delicate music ever written for piano.

5. What's your favorite unlikely solo passage in the repertoire?

hm. these questions are getting harder. Define solo and repetoire. haha.
does the flute in the begining of the orchestral version of Ravel's Barque sur l'ocean count? i think thats several flutes anyway. The opening to the Rite of Spring but i don't know how thats unlikely.

6. What's a Euro-trash high-concept opera production you'd love to see? (No Mortier-haters get to duck this one, either—be creative.)

again with the opera. ok, Puccini's Manon, sung and acted while suspended from bungee chords.
Imagine the chorus. heheh.

7. Name an instance of non-standard concert dress you wish you hadn't seen.

anything too rich looking, jewlery and that crap. I think people who exceed a certain income level and show it off should be forbidden from entering the concert hall.

8. What aging rock-and-roll star do you wish had tried composing large-scale chorus and orchestra works instead of Paul McCartney?

uh. George? i really dont know. Someone from they might be giants, they made good music.

9. If you had to choose: Carl Nielsen or Jean Sibelius?

this is a retarded question. Sibelius wins 16 times over. Just listen to his 4/5/6/7th symphonies and dare to tell me otherwise.

10. If it was scientifically proven that Beethoven's 9th Symphony caused irreversible brain damage, would you still listen to it?

Well, no. no i wouldnt, and I think beethoven would support me on this, as he has 8 others to enjoy afterall. its not the END of the world if i dont listen to the 9th, since it appears most people manage to get along just fine without listening to it... How long before y0u'd get brain damage? could i just do the last movement without the medical problems?

2007-03-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

Recently, i've been more or less focusing my musical attention on Last.fm, listening to various radio stations, and generally being awe-struck by the incredible diversity and sheer number of groups of musicians i had never heard of who are/were making very interesting music. on my page (shamless plug) theres a list of all of this music i've up until now been unfamiliar with-

Stereolab,Prefuse 73,The Residents, Philip Jeck, Deerhoof, Four tet, Jackie-O motherfucker, Charalambides. I had only heard of Stereolab, and only the name, and im really impressed by all of this stuff and i hope to hear more. The dazzling array of music thats presented on Last.fm leaves me humbled, I dont by any means have anything close to a big picture of independent music today, and i dont know if that would ever be possible in the first place.

Im traveling to Spain on the 3rd till the 12th.

Hoping for a heat wave.

Political dead-end #1

2007-03-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

Recently a friend sent me a link to a post on a blog called This Modern World by tom tomorrow. Anyway, its a ridiculous thing i saw on this site. Apparently theres something called the Conservapedia, (À cause de* liberal bias!) ....anyway, Im not going to get upset by this black hole idiocy and write some sprawling rant, i think, instead, that its more productive to laugh at it.

But im dancing around the subject, the real reason im posting here is because of dinosaurs.

...

err... actually conservapedia's hillarious and pitiful article on dinosaurs. HERE you can find it, but just in case you're lazy like me, i'll quote it for fun. Its too good not to be quoted.

There are a number of lines of evidence that point to dinosaurs and man coexisting. For example, explorers have reported seeing a live dinosaur. A thousand people reported seeing a dinosaur-like monster in two sightings around Sayram Lake in Xinjiang according to the Chinese publication, China Today. An expedition which included Charles W. Gilmore, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology with the United States National Museum, examined an ancient pictograph which is claimed to portray dinosaurs and man coexisting.....

I saw a picture once of a giant cat on a monorail, and im sure more than a thousand people have already seen it. Here, now conservapedia can write an article about the existence of it!

and a little later...

Some Christians reject the Theory of Evolution and the current science community consensus of the age of the earth. Of those Christians who reject evolution, the Young Earth Creationists believe, based primarily on Biblical sources, but also drawing on Archeological and fossil evidence, that dinosaurs were created on the 6th day of the Creation Week as a final addendum to the wonders God created, approximately 6,000 years ago; that they lived in the Garden of Eden in harmony with other animals, eating only plants; that pairs of various dinosaurs were taken onto Noah's Ark during the Great Flood and were preserved from drowning; that fossilized dinosaur bones originated during the mass killing of the Flood; and that some descendants of those dinosaurs taken aboard the Ark still roam the earth today...

and finally....

Because the term only came into use in the 19th century, the Bible obviously does not use the word "dinosaur." However, they are alleged to be mentioned in numerous places throughout the biblical account. For example, the behemoth in Job and the leviathan in Isaiah are sometimes said to be references to dinosaurs, although some reject this view, saying that behemoth was a hippopotamus and leviathan was a crocodile. There is a problem with this view, however, such as the fact that a hippo doesn't have a "tail like a cedar" and a crocodile does not accurately match the description of leviathan.

Now i have bascially quoted the ENTIRE article for you. That whole... whats it called, "science" crap that's those dirty evolu-atheists promote, that liberal bias, is left out. No other possibilities are given. so case closed, god created the dinosaurs and noah lived with them and put them on his boat.

The end.

Anyway, i figured this would make a good companion post to PWS' utterly true post about Conservatives and science.

WebernUhrWerk- pure computer music!

2007-03-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

so today i downloaded this program WebernUhrWerk for shits and giggles on this here laptop. I enjoy it so far. Its a very simple program, straightforward and limited in what it does(draw paralells here), nonetheless it produces true, authentic computer music derived from webern's last tone row, ad infinatum. I could listen to serialism constantly for days without ever hearing an exact repetition (i know this prospect must really excite all of you) It'd be nice if could enter in my own tone row and see the effects, but still, i gotta admit, its kinda cool, how many times have computers actually created something... uh, artisticky? . Though my feelings on seralism are, uhm, mixed, i really do enjoy webern from time to time.

thanks to karlheinz Essl for the invention, who actually has an enormous opus of his own compositions available for download on his site, pretty cool stuff, and i think i'll be exploring it for the next few days.

Dolmen Music

2007-03-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

Went to Karnag (carnac in french) today in brittany. This was my birthday present.

And exactly what i wanted.

Sarah here is posing for a perspective of the size....