brettworks

thinking through music

Electronic music

  • On Impetuses For Making Views From A Flying Machine

    I recently finished a series of nine electronic music pieces begun in December 2009.  One impetus for collecting and finishing the works came by way of an organ recital I heard at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London this past spring.  (I was in England to give a paper at a conference for the British Forum For Continue reading

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  • Jaron Lanier on Technology: Music and MIDI

    Jaron Lanier, an American computer scientist, musician, and author, is pretty cool in my book.  In his recent manifesto, You Are Not A Gadget, he makes a strong case for probing how technology reduces us as the creative humans that we are, muting the “cultural anger” we need to come up with new tools that do Continue reading

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  • Flying Lotus and The Density Of Musical Information

    There has been a lot of well-deserved hype surrounding Flying Lotus’ latest record,Cosmogramma.  Lotus (aka Steven Ellison) is one of the leading figure on L.A.’s experimental instrumental hip hop scene, blending beats with experimental textures. His live performances are intense, visceral and physical, and the music has a great, pounding weight to it.  On Cosmogramma, there Continue reading

  • Creative Strategies in Electronic Music

    If you subscribe, like I do, to Future Music magazine, each month you get a nifty DVD with free sounds and musician interviews.  This month’s disc featured a video tutorial with Kieran Hebdan – aka Four Tet.  It was pretty brilliant (as the English might say).  Hebdan brings the viewer through the composing process he Continue reading

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