brettworks

thinking through music

March 10, 2016

How Would You Analyze William Basinski’s “Cascade”?

It’s a beautiful, maybe melancholy piece of music. But where does it begin and end? It’s as if this music has been going for a long long time. It has an oceanic quality. It’s all about repetition. The music is built from a tape loop of a piano phrase. We hear a subtle melodic movement within… Continue reading

criticism, loops
March 6, 2016

Curating The Week: Kygo, A History Of Sleep Music, and Holly Herndon’s Musical Process

• An article about the “tropical” house music of Kygo. “The term is slightly misleading; Kygo does not always rely on the kick-drum pulse that defines house music, and for him ‘tropical’ refers more to a general mood—invariably described as ‘chill’—than to any specific musical tradition, of whatever latitude. But if electronic music seems to… Continue reading

Curating The Week
March 3, 2016

Gong Music

My new recording is available here. Continue reading

gong music
February 25, 2016

Reading Analogically: Ideas From René Redzepi’s “A Work In Progress”

“We’re always searching for an association that allows the dish to make sense on a fundamental level–a connection we can build the finishing elements on.” “We made a dish with no reference points in the past nor in other lands.” Examining in depth a single ingredient. Mapping ingredients and creating a knowledge bank. “It’s almost… Continue reading

Creativity, culinary arts, Reading Analogically
February 22, 2016

Umberto Eco (1932-2016) On Writing, Symbols, Interstices, Creativity, Stubborn Incuriosity, Theory And Story

“I think an author should write what the reader does not expect. The problem is not to ask what they need, but to change them…to produce the kind of reader you want for each story.” “The more elusive and ambiguous a symbol is, the more it gains significance and power.” (Foucault’s Pendulum, page 420) “I… Continue reading

quotes
February 21, 2016

Curating The Week: Human-Sounding Computer Voices, Computer Creativity, And How Paintings Sound

• An article about the challenges of creating a human-sounding computer voice. “Most software designers acknowledge that they are still faced with crossing the “uncanny valley,” in which voices that are almost human-sounding are actually disturbing or jarring. The phrase was coined by the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970. He observed that as graphical… Continue reading

Curating The Week
February 16, 2016

On Beauty

‘We make beautiful things’ he said to himself, thinking about it means to be a musical maker. ‘The point is not to think but to arrest thinking’ as he fiddled with a sound on a string. ‘Beauty is ever-open to reconfiguration’ an idea accompanying his plucked note. ‘Beauty thrives on analogies’ a thought while listening to the… Continue reading

beauty, the poetics of music
February 12, 2016

Notes on John Berger’s “Portraits”

“The given is a prison.” – John Berger, Portraits, p. 37. For a few years now I’ve been loving the writing of the English critic, novelist, and cultural historian John Berger. I came to him through the work of Geoff Dyer, who is a huge Berger fan himself and made me aware of Berger’s classic… Continue reading

book reviews, criticism
February 8, 2016

Brett’s Sound Picks: Kara-lis Coverdale’s “Ad_renaline”

“Music is an adjectival experience.” -Simon Frith (Performing Rites, p. 263) The mood of Canadian organist and composer Kara-Lis Coverdale’s “Ad_renaline” is optimistic, though tinged with mystery too. The music is made up of layers of organ (organ-ish?) sounds and voices. We hear three pulsing staccato chords of uneven counts repeating a two measure phrase, with… Continue reading

Brett’s Sound Picks, criticism
February 7, 2016

Curating The Week: On Synchronization, Turning Art Into Sound, And How The Mind Affects The Body

• A piece about the reason why a group of metronomes will eventually synchronize with one another. “This process, known as phase synchronization, was first observed in pendulum clocks in 1657 by Christian Huygens. It has since been found in systems ranging from thermoacoustic engines in the lab to the rhythmic blinking of fireflies in nature.” • An article about a… Continue reading

Curating The Week

Thomas Brett is a musician and writer who holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from New York University. He is the author of Principles of Electronic Music Production and The Creative Electronic Music Producer, a book described by Sound On Sound magazine as “a deep philosophical analysis of the various creative inspirations, ideas and processes involved in producing electronic music.” His essays have appeared in the journals Popular Music and Popular Music and Society, as well as edited collections by Routledge, Oxford, and Cambridge University presses. Thomas has played percussion on Broadway since 1997 and writes about music at brettworks.com.