Thomas Brett
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Literary Distillation: Notes on John Coates’ “Between The Hour Of Dog And Wolf”
John Coates’ Between The Hour Of Dog And Wolf (2012) proposes that our thinking and decision-making are inseparable from our bodily experience, and more specifically, dependent on the various chemicals (testosterone, cortisol, dopamine, etc.) that course through our brains and literally alter our perceptions. His case studies revolve around Wall Street traders (Coates worked in… Continue reading
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On The Trickle-Down Of Electronic Dance Music Aesthetics V: Coldplay’s “A Sky Full Of Stars”
Though it has been fashionable to criticize the English band Coldplay for one reason or another–they’ve been too popular, their music is too sentimental, their singer Chris Martin overuses his falsetto voice–they do what they do well. Their music uses pop materials precisely, and for many listeners, Martin’s concise and catchy vocal melodies are worth… Continue reading
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Ventrilo-Dialogue: A Conversation With A Popular Singer
T: Rihanna, thank you for talking with me today. R: My pleasure, Tom. It’s nice to have this conversational break. T: I agree. So, lets begin with the obvious. You’re omnipresent in the pop culturescape: it seems that every few weeks one hears your voice on a new song, and your image is everywhere—on TV,… Continue reading
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On Unconventional Measures: That “Selfie” Song
By conventional measures, “Selfie” by the DJ duo The Chainsmokers is a clichéd, threadbare, and annoying piece of music. But if you can endure it, it’s also a fascinating bit of meta-commentary on the rituals of nightlife and club culture circa 2014. The song enacts its stance through copious use of voice samples of a fictional… Continue reading
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On A Note That Just Won’t Quit: A Great Big World’s “Say Something”
Every so often I peruse Spotify’s various listening lists to see what musics folks around the world are streaming onto their devices. This time around I clicked on Spotify’s “Global Hits.” Along with some usual suspects–Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” (which will undoubtedly become as enduring as “Happy Birthday”), songs by Katy Perry, Coldplay and Shakira, and… Continue reading
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On The Nature Of Blogs V: Reflections On Stability And Instability
A friend recently pointed out the use of the word “destabilize” in one of my Ventrilo-Dialogues. Here’s the video: He liked the idea of “destabilizing the notion of authorship” enough that he mentioned it to me several times. That got me thinking. And since it was me who wrote those words in the first place… Continue reading
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Literary Distillation: Notes On Bruce Weber’s “Life Is A Wheel”
Among the many lessons offered in Bruce Weber’s Life Is A Wheel, a flowing and meditative memoir about bicycling across the United States, are two delightful insights about the nature of thinking and progress. Riding all those miles each day, Weber has lots of time and space to think his thoughts (and then write… Continue reading
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David Hockney On Perspective
I’ve been reading more Lawrence Weschler lately, this time his engaging study of the painter David Hockney, True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney (University of California Press, 2009). I first encountered Hockney’s work in the mid-1990s at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibit was a show of Hockney’s English… Continue reading
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Pantha Du Prince And The Bell Laboratory Play Terry Riley’s “In C”
American composer Terry Riley’s “In C” (1964) is widely considered one of the first and most important minimalist compositions. The piece, scored for an ensemble of unspecified instruments and size, consists of 53 short melodic phrases that musicians play and repeat as many times as they wish before moving onto the next. When all the… Continue reading
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On Creative Analogies: Lessons From Coi
“Perfect food is born of perfect order.” – Daniel Patterson, Coi I have written previously on this blog (see culinary arts posts) about connections between cooking and music. To add to that mix, I recently read Daniel Patterson’s excellent Coi cookbook. The book is structured around a series of short narratives that provide context for… Continue reading
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