aesthetics
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On Modular Grid Structures: Thinking Through Sol LeWitt’s Cubes
I recently saw a striking cube-based structure by Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) at the MoMa. When you stand in front of it and take it in, the work works on multiple perceptual levels. Here are few things that I noticed: one large (about 5 by 5 foot) and shallow three-dimensional square; twenty-five smaller (1 by 1 Continue reading
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On Sounding A Bigger Energy: Mumford And Sons
When I first saw Mumford and Sons on Saturday Night Live recently I wasn’t sure what to make of them–which is my fault not theirs. They seem like a throwback to an acoustic bluegrass-folk-rock sound. No synthesizers, sequencers or drum machines, just acoustic guitar and bass, piano/organ, banjo and dobro, a horn section, sing-song group Continue reading
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On Voice, Authenticity, And Not Being Fake
In a recent online interview excerpted in The Guardian, musician and Portishead member Geoff Barrow discusses the idea of singing with a “fake” voice. Leading the pack in Barrow’s view is the late Amy Winehouse, a white singer who sang, some people say disparagingly, like a black jazz or soul singer from an earlier era–or Continue reading
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How Many Words Is A Sound Recording Worth?
“Seeing is believing, but hearing is hearsay” — Julian Henriques, Sonic Bodies (2011) Like a lot of people, I’m a fan of Instamatic, a smartphone photo app, because it makes me feel like a skilled photographer. The app is essentially photo editing software that allows you to quickly–really quickly, with the tap of a virtual Continue reading
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Peter Coviello On Musical Talk That Does Something
sympathetic resonance –a harmonic phenomenon wherein a formerly passive string or vibratory body responds to external vibrations to which it has a harmonic likeness (Wikipedia). In his article “The Talk That Does Not Do Nothing” in the July/August 2012 issue of The Believer (The Music Issue), Peter Coviello writes about fighting with a friend over the Continue reading
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On The Nature Of Blogs II: Matching Form And Content To Capture Meaning
As I have said elsewhere, practically speaking this blog is more for me than for you, sure, and tries to ask questions about musical things as I encounter them. And by things I mean: musical sounds, instruments, artists, aesthetics, technologies, codes and systems of signification, compositional techniques and performance practices, and so on. But metaphorically Continue reading
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On Vintage Fetishism And Rustic Analog Appeal: From Urban Outfitters To Bon Iver
While waiting for some take out food I dashed into the clothing store Urban Outfitters to have a look around. Founded in Philadelphia in 1970, Urban Outfitters specializes in hipster aesthetics–specifically, making clothes that look vintage and of an older era. Originally a single store in lower Manhattan, the company now has retail outlets in Continue reading
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“Look What I Found!”: On Music And Mushrooms
Having recently spotted some mushrooms that were growing in an unlikely place I thought (loosely) about some of the similarities between mushrooms and musical life. Here is what I came up with: Both mushrooms and musics grow in very particular conditions, thriving particularly well in cool, dark, and hidden places. Mushrooms are fungi and musics are fungi-like, Continue reading
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On The Musicality Of M.C. Escher
“Order is repetition of units. Chaos is multiplicity without rhythm.” “My work is a game, a very serious game.” “Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?” – M.C. Escher I’ve long been curious about M.C. Escher’s (1898-1972) drawings and woodcuts because of their precision, their order and symmetry, their use Continue reading
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“Where Are We?”: Situating Wonder Through Music In Apple Siri Commercials
wonder — (1): rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one’s experience; (2) : a feeling of doubt or uncertainty Is there anything the Apple iPhone can’t do? And for that matter, is there anything Siri, the phone’s voice activated seer, doesn’t know? Recently I happened to be in Brooklyn early Continue reading
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