Sun, 29 May 2005
This weeks trio of audio artifacts gets a shot in the arm from David Toop via his recent book Haunted Weather - Music, Silence and Memory (and the CD he compiled to supplement the book). His book covers a wide range of current music, but it also delves deeper into the implications of technology on modern music and other more philosophical ideas. Well worth a read, and a listen. Autechre starts off tonites excursion with Parhelic Triangle from the 2001 album "Confeild". The rhythmic pattern that guides us thru this piece slowly evolves (or devolves) and revolves around itself until it is barely recognizable, until it's memory is all that we have to hold on to. The title may be a pun on "parhelic circle", a luminous circle or halo parallel to the horizon at the altitude of the sun. Who can say for sure. This weeks Inkxpotter mix reclaims "Language" warping the sounds of James Joyce reading Ulysses (circa 1929), John Cage reading from Finnegans Wake (circa 1960's) and Terence McKenna (circa 1990's) reminding us that the world is made of words. How these disjointed times are unified into a cohesive sound sculpture can only be experienced by listening multiple times with full attention. Toshiya Tsunoda closes off this weeks installment with Bottle at Park. from the album "The Air Vibration Inside a Hollow". The sound work of Toshiya Tsunoda represents a radical rethinking of the concept of field recordings. As he explains his method: "To render the vibration of objects audible, a piezo-ceramic sensor with a weak current is used to generate pressure. The vibration transmitted inside a solid is then changed into voltage, which can be recorded". The words that stand out to me are "render the vibration of objects audible", keep this fragment in mind as this weeks show flows into your brain. |
Sun, 22 May 2005
We begin tonites three cut collision with John Zorn and Naked City playing "Punk China Doll." Zorn explains, " My musical world is like a little prism. You look through it and it goes off in a million different directions. Since every genre is the same, all musicians should be equally respected. It doesn't matter if it's jazz, blues or classical. They're all the same." Naked City is but one of Zorns numerous musical endevours. The link above is a great resource for entering the world of this musical genius.
In the following piece we are brought thru a piece of recycled history and current quagmire via the Iraq wars (v1 and v2). I've assembled a mass of noise and other musical elements on top of a piece by comedien Bill Hicks on the first Iraq war. Hicks died in 1994 but his commentary rings eerily true today. Did we really do this war once before?
Closing out the day on a quiet and rather rhythmic note we have " Organ in the attic sings the blues," by Deadbeat. This glitchy rumbling dub seemed the only way to ease out of this evenings festivities. |
Thu, 19 May 2005
"Any
barrier
between music
and noise
has seemed
artificial to me. Many of my compositions explore the inherent beauty of non musical sounds and are inspired by such diverse sources as machines, destroyed pianos, warped 78 records, and detuned radios."
Annie Gosfield
Category:imagery and word
-- posted at: 6:49pm PDT
|
Sun, 15 May 2005
In the foreground we have a piece by Sigur Ros from their 1999 album Agaetis Byrjun, the cut is called Avalon. I liked the sound of it and thought it fit well with the other pieces. Their website is worth traveling to for the numerous free music downloads. Gives you a sampling of their style and also includes unreleased and live cuts In the middle ground Inkxpotter is still feeling the pull from the depth of possibilities that sprung to mind from the Salem witch trials and the documentary on the same. He grabbed some snipets and juicy samples and squished a few electric guitars into unrecognizable mush in order to free some lost souls from the endless persecution of backwards people. Or so he tells me. We shall call this remix "Still waiting." In the background we round out this collection of oddities with the sounds of Aesop Rock and the title cut from his latest work Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives. This Cd also includes an 88-page book with lyrics from every Aesop Rock song from his first release, Float, to this new EP. So if you missed any of the amazing wordplay that Aesop rock laid down you know where to go. |
Sun, 8 May 2005
Tonites program looks at the group mind as reflected in three differrent pieces of audio artifact. The thrilling unity, the hellish hypocrisy, all inside the one mind. Clocking in at under 29 Minutes we begin with RFCL - Radio Free Clear Light and their forays into the Black Valley. A place I have journeyed with them a fortunate few times. The third piece is by Sunburned Hand of the Man - Gyp Hawkin off of Rare Wood. They are an improv collaborative process emerging in strangely unified pieces they create in the moment. The bottomline of Dave Alexander's bass rolls us into a tonal centre where the rest of the group can circle in orbits of whacked out activity. "The music feels like nothing you would feel comfortable trying to nail down in such literal, lunkhead fashion, but still imparts a sense of being simultaneously transcendent and elemental, loose limbed and precision tooled" (Wire 6/2004) |
Wed, 4 May 2005
word
Category:imagery and word
-- posted at: 8:48pm PDT
|