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Brett’s Sound Picks: Glenn Kotche’s “Anomaly: Mvt. II”
There’s a wonderful rhythmic insistence to this music–a rolling 6-beat feel with shifting accents that blends the sounds of string quartet (Kronos) with a multi-percussion drumset part. In its positive energy it evokes the homespun of Charles Schultz’s Peanuts mixed with the shimmer of Indonesian gamelan… Continue reading
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On Web Searches That Brought You Here
What is the relationship between music and discipline? A great question! While it’s a cliché that in music, practice makes perfect, and that steady, mindful practice requires discipline, perhaps less remarked upon is how the act of playing music is itself a form of discipline. Making music disciplines one’s mind to focus on the sounds… Continue reading
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On Using Voices To Sell
For a few years now I’ve noticed TV commercials using the voices of well-known actors to advertise services and products. I started paying attention to these voices during the 2012 Summer Olympics. It was an ad for VISA, and the reassuring, trustworthy voice was that of Morgan Freeman: There are other examples too. In an… Continue reading
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Alan Watts On Resonance As Consciousness
In his book The Tao of Philosophy, Alan Watts (1915-1973) talks about resonance as a form of consciousness: “when I tap on this crystal, which is glass, it makes a noise. Now that resonance is an extremely primitive form of consciousness…when you hit a bell it rings, or you touch a crystal and it responds,… Continue reading
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A Spontaneous Conversation About The Pragmatics Of Creativity
“How did you make this?” “I made it through making a series of small decisions, one after the other.” “Oh. But how did you know which direction to go in?” “Each moment prompted a small decision in need of making, which in turn suggested a path forward along which to travel.” “Did it take a… Continue reading
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An Article About Electronic Music Fandom
My article “Autechre and Electronic Music Fandom: Performing Knowledge Online through Techno-Geek Discourses,” is available in the journal Popular Music and Society. You can view an abstract of the article here. Continue reading
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On Creative Constraints: Inhabiting The Midrange In Music
A few years ago I bought a pair of monitors for my computer for working on music. Since limited desk space was a consideration, I chose a small size: the woofer speaker on each monitor is only about 4 inches in diameter. The sound of the monitors is uncommonly rich and powerful though, with a… Continue reading
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Notes On Tiger C. Roholt’s “Groove: a phenomenology of rhythmic nuance”
Tiger C. Roholt’s Groove: a phenomenology of rhythmic nuance is a splendid, rigorous, and brief (140 pp) book that makes a compelling case for something many musicians already know something about: groove. Groove is the feel of a rhythm–that quality of musical time that can make it seem as though the music is pushing ahead… Continue reading
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