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On Bi-Musicality: An American Performs On Arabs Got Talent
In 1960, the ethnomusicologist Mantle Hood wrote an influential article called “The Challenge Of Bi-Musicality.” The article argues for the importance of the western student learning how to perform non-western music. Performance allows us to get inside the music and experience its technical, aesthetic, and sonic challenges. Drawing on examples from his research on Indonesian… Continue reading
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A Wishlist Of Musical Plenty
Give me better music, more interesting and compelling music, more groovy music, more transcendent music, more euphonious and euphoric music, more logical and sensible music, more noisy, out-of-tune, lifted-up-over-sounded music, more unpopular music, more unforgettable music, more peopled music, more anonymous music, more goal-oriented music, more soundscape music, more mindful music, more wandering music, more religious… Continue reading
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On The Ecstasy Of Musical Influence: Hearing Steve Reich’s “Piano Phase” In Tim Hecker’s “Live Room”
One mark of a composer’s influence is how often their sound reappears in the work of other artists. By this metric, the American composer Steve Reich has been highly influential. His pulsating, percussive soundworld is pervasive in the music of both his imitators and heirs alike. The Canadian electronic musician Tim Hecker makes creative use… Continue reading
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On Andreas Tilliander’s TM404 Project
“I would have a sequence running for two hours, seriously, and I was afraid to ruin it all by touching a single knob.” – Andreas Tilliander One of the more compelling soundworlds I’ve been listening to recently is a project by Andreas Tilliander called TM404. The music is made entirely with old Roland drum machines… Continue reading
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Music Distillation: On TM404’s “202/303/303/303/808”
Old technologies, machines in conversation, keeping time, syncing. Continue reading
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On The Rhythms And Sounds Of Running
Running in the New York City marathon a few weeks ago I had ample time to think about the rhythms of running, pacing and tempo, on-the-course sound, and fatigue. Along with some 50,000 other runners, I lined up on the Staten Island bridge and then moved through the streets of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and… Continue reading
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Music Distillation: On Ryoji Ikeda’s “Supercodex 08”
Rhythms, frequencies as bits of information– sounds anonymous. Read about music distillations here. Continue reading
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Music Distillation: On Ital Tek’s “Challenger Deep”
Arpeggiating beats into pieces so small, fast pulse becomes slow. Continue reading
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On The Lessons Of Antifragility For Creativity: Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s “Antifragile”
“We know more than we think we do, a lot more than we can articulate” (35) – Nassim Nicholas Taleb I used to resist randomly exploring some aspect of music software–an instrument, a sound, an effect, a sequencer–because I wanted to have a sense ahead of time where I was headed. (Good luck with that… Continue reading
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