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Working Knowledge: Creating Space Between The Notes Or, Subtractive Epistemology
It may be a bit of a cliché in music to talk about the space between the notes, but it’s a cliché for good reasons and with good intentions. The space between the notes is where the time of the music is most perceptible. In drumming, for instance, the space between two stick attacks on… Continue reading
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Brett’s Sound Picks: Huerco S.’s “The Sacred Dance”
I know little about how Huerco S. makes his electronic music, except that it seems loop-based, it has many layers, and creates a serene sensation of pulsation–circling, echoing, flanging, and chugging along, around and around, almost the same but always somehow changing just enough. My favored track on his For Those Of You Who Have… Continue reading
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Chasing Creativity
Creativity is a wolf that you’re chasing in a mountain forest in the middle of winter. You run after this stealth silent and fleet-footed animal that sprints ahead of you, flying over rocks and branches, leaping over iced streams, always vanishing just around the next bend in the trail. You’re patient in your pursuit,… Continue reading
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Polyrhythms, negative space, circuits of meaning: making sense through Dawn of Midi’s “Dysnomia”
My essay on the music of Dawn of Midi, “Polyrhythms, negative space, circuits of meaning: making sense through Dawn of Midi’s Dysnomia”, is now available in the journal Popular Music. You can read an abstract of the essay here. Continue reading
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Working Knowledge: How It’s Sounding
If something sounds good today, return to it tomorrow. Chances are that it will probably still sound good: musical quality maintains its value over time. Conversely, if the music doesn’t sound good today, it won’t improve over time. Chances are that it will probably still sound bad tomorrow: musical problems persist over time. Continue reading
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Ventrilo-Dialogue: A Conversation Among Composers
Johann Bach: I think that the aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. John Cage: I think that music is everywhere. Arvo Pärt: I have a need to concentrate on each sound, so that every blade of grass would be… Continue reading
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