Thomas Brett
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On (Making) Recordings Versus (Living) Live Music
“Record stores”, a friend of mine once memorably observed as we drove past one, “are where music goes to die.” And with the demise of record stores, music recordings–and by recordings I mean CDs–have had a tough time surviving since MP3 downloading became the primary way most people get their music. For musicians, it used to… Continue reading
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On Nostalgia And The Voice Of Michael McDonald
I’m in the grocery store, staring at the fish offerings, when a subtle wave of melancholy washes over me. I’m restless and keep moving, eyeing products on the shelves, looking for a particular milk brand–but I just can’t shake this feeling. Since when is grocery shopping such an emotional experience? The milk and some odds… Continue reading
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On Recorded Music’s Last Gasp: More On Evanescent Materials In Solid Containers
Walking the aisles of a neighborhood drugstore I came upon a strange sight: a small, sad rack of CDs. From top to bottom were eight different releases I could identify (see pic above), including works by Santana, Aerosmith, Hall and Oats, Sade, Earth, Wind & Fire, Elvis, Bob Dylan, AC-DC, and a Michael Jackson compilation… Continue reading
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Ventrilo-Dialogue: A Conversation With Arvo Pärt
Chant: “(Advocatam) Llibre Vermell de Montserrat” Arvo Pärt: “Da Pacem Domine” Arvo Pärt: “Mein Weg” Aphex Twin: “Rhubarb” (Note: If you are looking for further musical juxtapositions, press play on the chant clip and when it arrives at 0:05 press play on the first Pärt clip [and turn up its volume slightly] and listen to the mix.) Continue reading
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On Spam Feedback
One of the curious things about maintaining a blog–or maybe just my blog–is that most of the “feedback” I get is in the form of spam. My dashboard settings tell me that so far I’ve been “protected”, thank goodness, from some 1600 spam messages (and counting) that keeping hitting the blog like bugs splattering on… Continue reading
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On Drumming, Primitiveness, Wood, And Overtones: Michael Gordon’s “Timber”
You could make the argument that percussionists are as defined by their musical actions as by the objects of those actions–by the fact that they percuss on whatever can be percussed upon. And they don’t just play snare drums, timpani, and xylophone either. Partly thanks to the influence of “world” percussion traditions (of Indonesia, sub-Saharan… Continue reading
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On Perception, Presence, And The Creative Process: John Berger’s “Bento’s Sketchbook”
“I’m taking my time, as if I had all the time in the world. I do have all the time in the world.” – John Berger John Berger’s Bento’s Sketchbook (2011) is a meditation on the connections between seeing, feeling, and drawing, and how these connections shape how we perceive and make sense of the… Continue reading
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On Motion, Repetition, and Transformation: Robin Harvie’s “The Lure Of Long Distances”
It is not down in any map; true places never are. – Herman Melville At the core of Robin Harvie’s The Lure Of Long Distances: Why We Run (2011) is a disturbing yet intoxicating idea: that you’re not really free in any endeavor until you no longer feel the gravitational pull of wanting to return… Continue reading
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From The Hard Drive: Backing Up Old Voices
This is supposed to be a funny post. As I was dutifully backing up and copying thousands of old files from a dusty desktop computer on New Year’s (I’m preparing to bury the computer in my closet—which, by the way, is starting to resemble one of those small cars out of which an implausible number… Continue reading
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On Less Is More: El Fog’s Rebuilding Vibes
I don’t quickly absorb music that’s new to me. As a listener I’m inherently suspicious of what I’ve not yet come to know (and this includes my own works in progress!) It takes me a while to get–let alone trust–a music. Because of my tendencies, there’s not a ton of sound on my iPhone. In… Continue reading
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