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From The Archives: Chords And Beats
Five years ago I wrote a series of pieces for piano and electronic sounds (percussion, bells, sub bass, pads, etc.) called Chords And Beats. The “chords” were improvised on piano, the “beats” and other sounds played on the keyboard to trigger non-piano sounds. Sometimes the chords came first, sometimes the beats came first. Whatever the… Continue reading
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On The Soundscapes Of Le Quattro Volte
Le Quattro Volte (2011) is a riveting, faux documentary-style meditation on death, (re)birth, the relationship between humans and the natural world, sound and time. Directed by Michelangelo Frammartino, the film follows the repetitive daily life of an elderly goat herder as he goes about his work in a small rural Italian town. The man doesn’t… Continue reading
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On Damon Albarn’s DRC Music Collaboration
It wasn’t all that long ago that indigenous, folk, popular, and art musics from Africa, Asia, South America, the South Pacific, the Caribbean–heck from most anywhere outside of North America and Western Europe–were hard to come by, relegated to the “international” or “world music” bins at your local record store. Then, in the late 1980s,… Continue reading
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Some Notes On The Usefulness Of Improvisation
“The problem with improvisation is, of course, that everyone just slips into their comfort zone and does sort of the easy thing to do, the most obvious thing to do with your instrument.” — Brian Eno My friend Lee is always asking me to write music for him to sing over–“we just need an A… Continue reading
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On Janet Cardiff’s Forty-Part Motet
When you go up to the second floor of MoMA PS 1 in Long Island City, Queens and walk down the hallway you can already hear the ethereal floating voices of Canadian artist Janet Cardiff’s sound art exhibit coming from a large room around the corner, beckoning you to take a closer listen. Walking into the room… Continue reading
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On Geoff Dyer’s But Beautiful As Music Criticism
“I’ve always believed that an artist is someone who turns everything that happens to him to advantage.” – Geoff Dyer One of the limits of writing about music, of music criticism, is that words routinely feel inadequate for capturing and rendering music’s essence. Writers who write about music also have to face the obvious fact that they’re trying to make… Continue reading
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On The Rhythms In Bollywood Films
Last week I attended a Powerpoint talk at my local public library given by a young Indian musician and composer named Rushi Vakil who spoke about the rhythms of Bollywood films. Surveying the history of Bollywood from the 1950s to today, Vakil traced the use of different traditional Indian rhythmic cycles known as taals as well as western music beat… Continue reading
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On Computers, Bicycles and Minds
“In my perspective … science and computer science is a liberal art, it’s something everyone should know how to use, at least, and harness in their life. It’s not something that should be relegated to 5 percent of the population over in the corner. It’s something that everybody should be exposed to and everyone should have mastery… Continue reading
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Atul Gawande On Performance And Coaching
In his recent New Yorker article “Personal Best” (October 3 2011), physician and writer Atul Gawande explores the question of whether or not professionals–such as say, doctors or teachers–might benefit from having personal coaches watch them as they work and then provide performance critiques. For most of us, once we finish school and get out into the working… Continue reading
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On The Inner Life Of Sampling
I’m at the computer, headphones on, Ableton Live software open, listening closely to audio sample loops that I’ve made of Wonders, a CD of marimba and vibraphone music I recorded eleven short years ago. (How time flies!) Why am I spending my time like this, mouse-clicking around loops of my musical past? What am I thinking about as… Continue reading
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