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On Small Frustrations With Making Electronic Music
One stumbling block for me with electronic music is the sounds. It’s hard to find sounds that excite me the way certain acoustic sounds do. Acoustic sounds seem infinitely open and malleable, responsive to my limitations and even my (brief) moments of control. Acoustic sounds are also mysterious and always slightly beyond my comprehension. (Think… Continue reading
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Roger Linn On Drum Machine Groove And J Dilla’s Off-Beat Sound
Music is fortunate to have inventors like Roger Linn. Linn has designed or co-designed a number of drum machines–such as the LM-1, the LinnDrum, the Akai MPC series of sampling workstations, and Tempest, a recent venture with Dave Smith. Linn is skilled in making instruments that musicians can, and do, use with ease in musical… Continue reading
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General Notes On Theory
Theory connects the dots. Theory maps the space. Theory reads between the lines. Theory extends the boundaries. Theory pushes the envelope. Theory names the parts. Theory explains. Theory is speculative. Theory stakes a claim. Theory raises the stakes. Theory is political. Theory gives voice. Theory reveals signification. Theory is empirical. Theory coins terms and uses… Continue reading
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On Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer’s Re: ECM
The record label ECM has long interested me, ever since I used to buy second-hand jazz LPs as a teenager. (And I wrote earlier ECM-related blog posts here and here.) The brainchild of German producer Manfred Eicher, ECM is as famous for the beautiful and atmospheric recording quality of its releases–Eicher loves to record in… Continue reading
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On Voice In The Tour De France
“Why do you watch this? It’s pretty repetitive.” “I just kind of trance out.” “Do you like it because it’s soothing and mellow?” “Yes! It’s all about the scenery and especially the voices.” “Okay..Can we watch Wimbledon now?” *** When July rolls around, the world of professional cycling rolls into our apt, bringing the bright… Continue reading
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Music Distillation: On Olivier Messiaen’s “Cloches L’Angloisse Et Larmes D’Adieu”
Piano bells beyond, clusters equal transcendence, resounding, modern. Continue reading
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Notes On Some Kinds Of Writing
Some kinds of writing require you to be in a critical frame of mind. Some kinds of writing require you to be in a safe space. Some kinds of writing require you to be in dialogue with the work of others. Some kinds of writing require you to be patient. *** Some kinds of writing… Continue reading
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On New Features: Brettworks Gallery
The brettworks blog has a new page called Gallery that features photos I’ve taken while running. You can access the Gallery here. Continue reading
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Microthought: On Musical Means To Ends
There’s a man who walks the subway train each night asking for money by way of wayward singing of a song. “Fee-lings” he begins, nodding to that old standard but the riffs turn to his hunger: “I’m hun-gry” in a monotone, and then the proposed solution– “I like chi-cken” –exhaling a single harmonica tone. “I like… Continue reading
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On Shameless Plugs: Evernote
For a long time I used the yellow note pad app on my Apple phone to write these blog posts. But every once in a while I deleted notes accidentally. The problem: that little trash can icon is right next door to the email icon! Touch the trash by mistake and your note is gone–without… Continue reading
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