I continue thematic listening on my iPod rather than the pseudo-random mode of the last several years. Today, it's remixes of Steve Reich works. Some comments:
The older remixes from the late nineties are much less sophisticated than those from last year. But even where both recordings have artists I already listen to, e.g. Howie B and Four Tet, the old remix of Eight Lines sounds trivial versus the more organic Drumming. Maybe the art of remix has really improved in the last ten years.
I like the Andrea Parker remix of The Four Sections better than the original but wouldn't say that about any of the others. I think this is a function of how poorly Reich's techniques sound with orchestra.
The Tranquility Bass Megamix juxtaposes multiple Reich works in a clever way. I'd like to hear this done with other composers as well.
Still to listen to, The Orb's Little Fluffy Clouds which samples Electric Counterpoint and America's Most Blunted which samples Come Out.
"I’m only half way through the book and will update this post if I need to." Read the post but 'preciate Roger tackling a NorCal kind of book. Not to say I endorse this particular work. See also the comments.
Republican POV: "Today’s Democrats are not a political party. They are an amalgam of grasping, conniving, pusillanimous misanthropes, kept together by threats and outright bribery using taxpayer monies."
Democratic POV: 'Pelosi hit Bush earlier yesterday with what, for him, is pure Kryptonite. If you check out this video clip of Pelosi urging Bush to "calm down," you'll identify that weapon as temperance.'
"Just finding singers who can act naturally (screen naturally rather than stage artificially) while singing is a major accomplishment, and I am very impressed at what Woolcock achieved" The music, not so much...
"Unlike fallen chains such as Tower, boutiques such as Silver Platters and Rasputin in San Francisco don't spend on expensive national advertising. They're more like art-house theaters." And that scruffy in-store experience doesn't cost much
aworks operational note: I considered delaying this post until after the auction expires, in case I remember my eBay account info (last used when I got that Scooby Doo trading card to give as a present). But in the interest of helping the Internet community support music more substantial than Billy Ray Cyrus singing a theme song...
Describing the rationale in her blog (link corrected), composer/musician Celeste Hutchins has two commissions up for bid on eBay until April 1st. From the auction description:
Commission a short piece by Celeste Hutchins
I'm working on an album of pieces around 1 minute in length. I
expect it to be done in two or three months. It is possible for you
(yes, you!) to commission a piece on the album. You as the commissioner
get to name the piece, which will be created especially for you. Your
role as titler and commissioner will be mentioned in the program notes
for the piece whenever it is presented in any form...
Hmm, if I were to win, what name? As I am still in the middle of my personal Coltrane-fest, let's see what the next handful of tracks are called: I Want to Talk About You, Good Bait, Afro Blue, One Down/One Up, Introductions & Announcements, My Favorite Things, and To Her Ladyship. Ok, with that inspiration,my first set of candidate names are I Want to Talk about Aworks, My Favorite Aworks, and To Her Aworksship. Five consonants in a row on that last one is rather awkward, though. And it turns out that track title isn't even complete nor is it a Coltrane original:
The final track, a Billy Frazier composition entitled “Original
Untitled Ballad (To Her Ladyship),” was not released until 1970.
for the record, afro blue was the best music out of the bunch, neither too mellow nor too long.
"I love [Steve Reich's] affinity for polyrhythms, and the way he will repeat a section over and over, before finally displacing one of the voices by a 16th note to make sure you’re still awake."
"7. Name an instance of non-standard concert dress you wish you hadn't seen. Actually it was kind of quaint, but ultimately a little disturbing: a string quartet of four teenage girls wearing white summer dresses and not wearing any shoes."
"uPlayMe helps people find friends, new songs and new videos! It is probably not hard to imagine that finding someone who likes and plays music by Duran Duran, U2, OutKast, or Madonna might create an even deeper relationship."
Friday and Saturday, I was listening to the music of composer Jacob Druckman. After several months of the timbral richness of Terry Riley and Keith Fullerton Whitman, maybe it was time for something with more formal structure.
Today, it's back to the more improvisatory with John Coltrane. No surprises in what I am hearing although the biggest discovery, via Evan Tobias, was finding JazzTube:
This site is devoted to giving you the best videos on Jazz that have been collected by Jazz lovers thru out the world and made available on the great YOU Tube Web Site
Several hundred jazz artists are listed.
In hindsight, this is an obvious idea and probably something Google can't complain about. Note also companion sites to come include Blues Tube, Soul Music Tube, Rock Music Tube etc. although no Classical Tube, let alone Contemporary Classical Tube.
The Jazz Tube Coltrane page supplies six videos, including Naima although one needs to go directly to YouTube to find the code for embedding the video:
Allman cools off into a reverie, then starts up again, finding an even more furious peak. It was this long, masterful solo that drew comparisons of Duane to jazz immortal John Coltrane. Duane uses one of his standard "licks" here, a quick three-note lick.
Mark Stryker interviews John Adams. In addition to talking about his self development early on to be able to handle pressure, Adams had this to say about writing On the Transmigration of Souls a year after 9/11:
I suppose part of my image of myself is that I am an American composer
and that I ought to be able to respond to something like this. But it
was very difficult. I spent the first month just surfing the Internet
looking, thinking, sifting things, trying to find what this piece could
possibly be.
"What did surprise me was the sense of entitlement many of these people exhibited when it came to benefiting from other people's work" OTOH, I considered canceling my SF Chron subscription because of the arrogant tone of this column.
From this post's comments: "Elizabeth Edwards says: March 22nd, 2007 at 11:09 am Thank you, Jane. And all the commenters here. You all inspire us. Now, back to work."
Works include Heavy Metal, American Standard, and Hockey Scene, Period 1. Charles sounds like Charles; John sounds young; Heavy Metal sounds science fictionish.
"The short synopsis is something like this: We're all doomed, so get out while you can and start working in a field that promises more longevity, like dog-walking or mine-sweeping."
"But retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co. took away the hits business by undercutting the chains on price. Today such megaretailers represent about 65% of the retail market, up from 20% a decade ago, music-distribution executives estimate.
I continue thematic listening on my iPod rather than the pseudo-random mode of the last several years. Today, it's remixes of Steve Reich works. Some comments:
