Thomas Brett
-
On Soloing A Part: Listening To Eddie Van Halen’s Electric Guitar
Thanks to a recent post by Open Culture, I recently listened to the electric guitar part to Van Halen’s 1984 hit, “Panama.” Just to be clear, it’s a recording not of the song with the full band of guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Just Eddie Van Halen’s guitar in complete isolation, up close and personal. It’s… Continue reading
-
Notes On Aphex Twin’s “Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt 2”
Quick on the heels of last fall’s Syro, Aphex Twin, aka Richard James, recently released an EP of computer-controlled acoustic instruments, titled appropriately enough, Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2. I had heard about James’s collection of such instruments and even saw a photo somewhere of a snare drum attached to which were metal claws holding… Continue reading
-
Brett’s Sound Picks: Toumani And Sidiki Diabate’s “Rachid Ouiguini”
Spiraling interlock, joyful sadness, around and around four inevitable chords, imprinting hope through groove, the kora music of Toumani and Sidiki Diabaté makes the case for acoustic duets: Continue reading
-
On Music, Thinking, Dreaming, And Gender: Two Chords In A Lego Commercial
“Music’s ability to conceal its processes and to communicate nothing/everything ‘directly’ is largely responsible for its peculiar power and prestige in society.” – Susan McClary and Robert Walser, “Start Making Sense!: Musicology Wrestles with Rock.” Every once in a blue moon I watch a TV commercial that stops me, holds my attention, and generates the… Continue reading
-
On (Mis)Trusting Music: A Subtext To This Blog
I don’t trust music. Music shapes and directs my perception too much–telling me when and how to feel. How can it do that? Not just, what gives it the right to do that, but practically speaking, how does it pull off this trick? I can’t see or touch music, or ever seem to get to… Continue reading
-
Notes On Paul Morley’s “Words and Music”
“Music is merely a form of guesswork about consciousness.” “Music is careful attention paid to ongoing experience.” – Paul Morley, Words and Music (16, 134). It was with much delight that a few weeks after finishing Bob Stanley’s Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I read Paul Morley’s exhaustive, masterfully strange, and revelatory history of popular music, Words… Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.