 |
| Bickleton, WA |
"'The cannibals, who eat up folks, have always made a point
'To kill
their two legg'd animals before they dress'd a joint;
'But Christian
anthropophagites possess a nicer goût,
'And cook their flesh alive
whene'er they make a human stew.'
Thus did he snarl and grumble at this
glorious institution;
Some enemy he must have been to Britain's
constitution,
For he who'd seek to work a change by pleading for
humanity,
Must either be disloyal or the victim of insanity."
from The Comic Almanack an Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humorous Poetry, Quips and Oddities, First Series, 1835-1843
Texts
Recorded
May 3, 2025
Banned Sectional 11 AK NKM - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 29, 1988]
organ and harpsichord
the sound and balance is quite comfortable
pitches are considered frankly
quite happily listenable
even
with the background roar
harpsichord swapped out for guitar
or
perhaps just finger plucked?
or perhaps
that's just what those
sound like
or some sort of synth?
I'm puzzled
as to what
some of these sounds are coming from
mostly harpsichord I'm pretty sure
now
though it has a certain sampled sound bodilessness to it
strange
the morphology of the object eludes me
harp?
I'll need to ask them next time I see one of them
got to be some sort of electric keyboard?
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
takes it for a spin around the track
see what it can do
then a
quiet amble in the garden
now a ride into countryside
so cheery
bracing banter
tip the fellow with the hurdy gurdy and the hatted
monkey
another round me hearties
it all makes for such grand talk
later
at dinner and games
a lively wit
May 4, 2025
Banned Rehearsal 483 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from Teach Yourself To Drive]
as a mode of invitation
a formidable barrier
has benefits
filters the casual
rewards the intrepid
the aforesaid
formidable barrier
is an image of a moment
now distantly past
my guess
as to who might have been who:
Karen on drums
Aaron on keys
me on the strums
Neal on the reeds
and
Anna filling in the interstices
with various light percussions
some of us don't hold still throughout
ukulele garden
we are among the larger denizens
of a municipal aquarium
mega-swimmers on display
in our domestic doings
a strange
world
viewed from an impossible standpoint
even gets radio static
in there
Intro - 50 Cent [from Get Rich or Die Tryin']
six seconds of closely micd metallic and mechanism sound
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
Gradus 137 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 14, 2008]
the frame tales of Gradus
its creep through the combinations
its
ostensible verbally explicated aims
its positioning within an
intellectual framework
none of that
is anywhere
in the
experience of listening
to any swath of it
except
as an
overlay
posing as an explanation
with what does this music converse?
other musics?
Neal has said
Cage
OK
but this music doesn't say
what Cage says
that
is
it does not continue Cage
but critiques it from inside
:aside:
Neal tells of seeing Cage
conduct Atlas Eclipticalis (at
Cornish?)
by using his arm
to indicate a passing hour
in the
manner of a clock face
human become mechanism
but also
kind
of showy
a theatrical ordeal
an idea for a music
without
necessarily being an idea from music
id est
a musical idea
an idea that music had
Leave Me Behind - Acapulco Lips [from Demos]
school gym party sound
Banned Rehearsal 954 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 11 & 14, 2018]
a surface of multiple layers
in the act of syncretizing
into a
texture
a delicate scrim
Gentle - Steve Layton [from Red Sky]
kitten kneading
paw by paw
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
Madrigals, Book IV: Longe da te, cor mio - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
belonging to those vocal musics
which are among other things
musics for interior spaces
activated by voices
the singers
play the room
it is their instrument
Ich bin ein rechter Weinstock, SWV 389 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
17th Century polyphony
partakes of a certain abstract affect
as do
letters
befitting
in this case
the sense
that we are
reading these words
writ in music
and voices
and acoustic
architecture
Ciaccona in C Major, BuxWV 159 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
holds his theme
with such firmness
it leaves a hole
when it
suddenly
ceases
in the pedal
refits it marvelously
especially fascinating personally
as I am
deep into a Passacaglia project of my own
Premier Ordre (sol), La Manon - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
a complete delight
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
taking such delights apart
to discover how they tick
leads us on a
merry chase
down devious modulations
Symphony in E-flat Major, K. 453 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
1a
grandiose but grimly so
approach to the dominant
1b
at home among the extravagant
live large and prosper
2
synchronized textile mending
evening peace
to contain
the passionate heart
in prayer
3
vigorous exercise
in the fresh air
there's that hurdy
gurdy man again
4
party time
Die Schöpfung, Der Sechste Tag - Franz Joseph Haydn - English Baroque Soloists, The Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner, Sylvia McNair, Donna Brown, Michael Schade, Gerald Finley, Rodney Gilfry
orchestration master class
using the strings
as the default
orchestral sound
it establishes a distinction
between two classes
of sounds:
[default, special]
a distinction
that he uses
compositionally
a fugue is a game of voices
Kinderszene, Op. 15 - Robert Schuman - Wilhelm Kempff
strange culture
in which grown folks
with names
that nearly
rhyme with harrumph
dressed in elegant clothes
entertain
sophisticated adults
with scenes of childhood
but Schumann
always was
his own
rather strange
culture
and
they're frightfully well crafted
a veritable night circus dear
all
the tents beneath the spell
but what's behind the spell?
entrancement
delight beyond delight
it drifts in air
we are
enchanted
transfixed
elusive function
off to sleep
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
does it lie between
or is D-flat
hovering o'er the Sea
Natural
with the gentle weight
of one key above another
Bleeding Hearted Blues - James P. Johnson [from Really The Blues]
a peopled scene
in ten fingers
and some keys
here's the miniature tap dancer
here's the comic duo
re-imaginated summary
of a vaudeville stage act
as Liszt did with
Don Giovanni
Finnegans Wake Chapter 7 (continued) - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [streamed January 9, 2021]
morbid process from his plagiarist pen
simulchronic flash in his pan
this rancid Shem staff
pure mouse farm filth
smatter of
fact
doubtful eggshells
ineffable tries of speech
unsyllabled best intentions
once current puns
stale
chestnuts
worms of snot
catalogue of the cast out
|||missing sound|||
writing the mystery of himself
in furniture
in what was meant
for a closet
for his own ends
out of his wit's waste
highly prosy
the indelible ink
life unlivable
common to all flesh
human
only mortal
I've Got a Date With a Dream - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
heaven blue heaven
Unidentified (1938) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]
a much better title than untitled
Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata XI - John Cage - Adam Tendler
the innards of a wayward clock
an articulated mechanism running its
program
Kinda Dukish - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]
explosive
Nine Thorny Thickets - Peggy Lee [from Sea Shells]
with that sea shanty poetic rhyme
a girl in a jail
scenes from a
slow burn bodice ripper
with accompaniment
on harp and
autoharp
too much plot for this poor fellow
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
The vocal line crosses the page
in both directions
up and down
back and forth
we list our words
Everybody Step - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
he's the best professor in all the land
the clarineter couldn't be
better
jump on the newest rage
Take Me To The Mardi Gras - Paul Simon [from There Goes Rhymin' Simon]
explorateur
of the grooves of the continent
Anselma - Los Lobos [from And a Time to Dance]
keep the offbeat tight
to focus all motion
to a quiver
in
the midriff
Twist and Shout - The PKs [from Live In The Living Room]
let's count it off
in all the tempos
it isn't going to be in
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
Easter Sequence - Cambridge Singers, John Rutter [from Brother Sun Sister Moon]
list of neumes
to be inserted
in the usual way
into the
ordinary
in their best duds
for a special occasion
Gone To The Moon - Fastbacks [from Zücker]
winds up to chorus stanza
three times
by shorter routes each
time
doesn't last long enough
to be much more than a colorful blip
Alligator Alley - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]
guitars flutes and a drum (bongo?)
all made as pretty
as a well
loved guitar
no alligators in evidence
Psalm 133 (take 2) - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded May 10, 2005]
attaching words
to a subset of notes
within the thicket
distinguishes
between worded notes
and unworded notes
All Your Demons (Pulling) - Solvents [from Manresa Castle]
weary and defeated
leaving behind
Banned Rehearsal 840 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 8, 2013]
it sounds like the out of doors
the sounds are without some walls
probably on the porch
(in 2013 pre-patio)
so
there are
two and a half walls
but nothing behind the mics
at least
that's how I think I was doing things back then
blessing the
evening
interesting use of offstage piano
The Architect - Strung Out [from Black Out The Sky]
has all the song parts
in their usual places
acoustic guitar up
front
Magnuson Park 230411 B - Keith Eisenbrey [April 11, 2023]
but also got plenty birds
the frogs sneak in
beneath the birds
air traffic roads
roll
through billows of air masses
New Orleans Joys - Jelly Roll Morton [from That Devilin' Tune]
we follow simultaneously
Mr. Dexter and Mr. Sinister
as they
independently work the place
Mr. D distracts
Mr. S snatches watches
Dry Bones - Bascom Lamar Lunsford [from Goodbye, Babylon]
open with Enoch
(and it shall be opened)
the light come shining
Going To Shout All Over God's Heaven - Louis Armstrong, Lyn Murray's Choirs [from Louis Armstrong and Guest Stars]
did Lyn Murray do these choral arrangements?
what fun!
Relaxin' - Sonny Stitt [from That Devilin' Tune]
in a music such as this
wherein nobody ever plays the common through
line straight
is the common through line
perceived
as a
negative concept?
Arkansas Traveler - Jimmy Bryant, Speed West [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
a toccata transcendent
Cosmic Rays - Ray Charles, Milt Jackson [from Soul Brothers]
a bunch o' guys over
to record some stuff for fun
who's cool now
eh?
Just A Little Rain - The Brothers Four [from The Brothers Four Cross Country Concert]
aiming at the TVdeville stage
I Need A Man To Love Me - Big Brother & The Holding Company [from Cheap Thrills]
it's a whole little scene
each time around
ecstatic desire
One Day (At A Time) - John Lennon [from Mind Games]
pretty nicely sung there John & Company
he's always trying to
convince me of some philosophy
(bunk)
Brandenburg Suite - Allegro - Canadian Brass [from High, Bright, Light and Clear]
elaborating as a sphere
across its many lands
I'm Against It - Ramones [from Road to Ruin]
echoes of Groucho
self-parody attitude
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
Banned Sectional 12 AK NKM - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 29, 1988]
harpsichord and piano
ear and hand
ear can follow hand
or
hand can follow ear
what do hands know
autonomic triggers
what do ears know
a sense of place and space
bully beats
single tones
are to be heard
in all their many qualities
sets of tones
are to be understood
analyzed
modeled
designed
each attitude
can be dissected
by the other
the ears
here
have taken control
entering the same
chamber
in single file
we're in a new room
clumsy broad
shoulders
in narrow proximity
Rainsong - S. Eric Scribner [from Pianosphere]
gentle salve
Banned Rehearsal 486 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from Teach Yourself To Drive]
under sail
our craft responds
to the forces of wind
and
waves
and currents
alert to many flows
in search of finer
distinctions
quieter winds
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
hobby horse musicians
is that what I am?
yes
all hobbies are
esoteric
that's what makes them hobbies
some hobbies
involve
role playing
and costumery
and cosplay of all kinds
voice
acting
Banned Rehearsal 737 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 21, 2008]
the battle of Lexington
is discussed briefly
and without
awareness
of a passage
between times
we
are in an
other time entirely
drums and dueling guitars?
residual snare fuzz
buzz
is appropriated to common use
Work
a Wring Tone
We Wait
got them
boss on my phone blues
callin' me up
whensoever
they choose
but here
time is our own
we
are a weird western
da da
in a dry land
its domestic arrangement
a plastic groove
remorphs freely
allowably
new topic
don't look back
many sounds
in this the
provenances of which
elude me
some electronic contraption or other
no doubt
some species
of feed back
when this you see
remember me
when this you hear
remember clear
when this you feel
remember real
when this you smell
remember well
when this you taste
remember haste
Sound Check - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Comet, March 5, 2013]
check check check
mumble mumble
making that sound
chatter
chatter
Sweeping Broken Pot Parts - Keith Eisenbrey [March 18, 2018]
an improvised composition
with found objects
push brooms and
pottery on a concrete pad
Philadelphia - Dead Bars [from Sinkhole]
filled with amplitude
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
<0 1 2 3>
slowly ordered semitones
ever rising within
never shifting its sempiternal focus
Unser Wandel ist im Himmel, SWV 390 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
comfort in troubled times
for those troubled in troubled times
Ich dank dir, lieber Herre, BuxWV 194 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
patience for all possible augmentation
to the limit of our breath and
muscle
Premier Ordre (sol), L'Enchantresse - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
their steady gaze and fixed intent
inveiglements
Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman
sets the pericope
as a problem
to work at
how
we are
to understand
a difficulty
we
are involved
in its
intricacies
all good things
handed round freely
each statement
from on high
wrapped in figures
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
Sonata in F Major, Kk. 274 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
in a house of doppelgänger rooms
Symphony in C Major, K. 551 (551) "Jupiter" - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music, Jaap Schoder, Christopher Hogwood
1
the collection
at first blush
has a less than scrutible
dramatic economy
step to one side
at the hinges
to inspect
the internal workings
and cross bracing
an imposing
edifice
2
repetition
with accumulating depth of field
3
the menuet of bureaucratic function
an empire of calm
efficiency
4
redounding
to the bountiful harvests
and general
prosperity
a happy polity
top to bottom
Die Schöpfung, Dritter Teil - Franz Joseph Haydn - English Baroque Soloists, The Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner, Sylvia McNair, Donna Brown, Michael Schade, Gerald Finley, Rodney Gilfry
the uncorrupted world
enraptured awe
of self
these
are
a few of my favorite things
we'll wrap things up with a fine fugue
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
a demonstration
of where
upon the rhyme
of the figure
the rhythm
of the figure
rhymes
Symphonische Etuden, Op. 15 - Robert Schumann - Shura Cherkassky
it stands
dreamed
but unmolded
in solid stone
chins in
hands
speculating
in dismissals
find the winged creature
within
symphonic
in Schumann's context meant:
something of worthy scope
and heroic ambition
uncomfortable in uniform
a tempo
that moves between two tempos
orchestrated masterfully
for solo piano
hovering between dissonance and consonance
slip between keys
Cherkassky was the shit
Prelude in F-sharp minor, Op. 31 #2 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
these times are at odds
under pressure
Wolverine Blues - Jelly Roll Morton [from That Devilin' Tune]
articulated puppet man
unduplicatable decay
of piano sound
on
presumably
pre-electronic recording device
(1923)
the distortion
becomes part of its presence
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
. . . but bright in the main
reeling more to his right
of tenman's
thirst
broad is my name
and broad is my feature
stand forth
Shem MacAdam's son
let us pry
we thought
would
and did
of twosome twiminds
egoarc
swim together
in the pool of Sodom
sniffer of carrion
amply
heaving metamorphosisis
to find out
how his innards work
a blethering ape
Pain the
Shem Man
Shem
you are mad
he points the deathbone
and
the quick are still
he lifts the lifewand
and the dumb speak
You Can't Be Mine - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
a packed room of telling
Study No. 20 (partial) (1938) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]
modernist baubles
taped to the ordinary
Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata XII - John Cage - Adam Tendler
sounds set
within a particularized rhythmic environment
Montevideo - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]
specificity of place
dance with an accent
Don't Smoke In Bed - Nina Simone [from Little Girl Blue]
so noir
it excretes trenchcoats
Time - Chris Kenner [from Land of 1000 Dances]
after they put you
way down in the ground
just keep movin' on
late model sermon
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
Track 2 - John Lennon, Yoko Ono [from Two Virgins]
raw assertion
occasionally fitful episodes
of interested listening
consistently underwhelming
Bennie And The Jets - Elton John [from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]
meta self-advertisement
a list of review snippets
puffery in a
mirror
Moonlight In Vermont - Willie Nelson [from Stardust]
leaning into its list nature
more advertisement copy
Organic Rock - The PKs [from Live In The Living Room]
on theme
more copy
invent fame
to play its role
for
the device
Winter Wonderland - London Symphony Orchestra [from Joy To The World]
the recording studio
is too cavernous for this song
The Wedding - David Bowie [from Black Tie White Noise]
bells could have gone somewhere
but got trapped
by a groove
left in the dust
Track 2 - Richard Rorex, Reid Merryman [from Mood for Rochelle]
an instrumental duet
in the shape of a stanzaic song form
or
mariachi stage act
Psalm 133 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey [June 9, 2003]
so that
I could hear the voices
of the music
differentiated
by instrumentation
but not also
by the layers
that
language adds
Call Me Ismael - Peter Fedofsky [from Situations]
chasing down the past
Fox Spit 1 - Keith Eisenbrey [July 15, 2013]
I recall
that I had ventured
into a compositional sabbatical
one of the thoughts I had
to do
in lieu
of composition
was to make some improvisations
I started
with some of the guitars I have hanging about
this is
one my brother Paul made
a resonant steel string
Fox Spit
is
the name of his luthiery
and
in the process
take some time
to listen to my ear
Cry - Steve Layton [from Virtual Composition]
with all the sampled
looped
and lambasted
bells and whistles
and clever imitations
this music
is a better film
than
the surface of its soundtrack
might lead you to believe
lascivious rubbings
Maple Leaf 230412 - Keith Eisenbrey [April 12, 2023]
birds and machinery
a desperate battle
for the hearable
world
some critters
have reasons to be making their sounds
we
allow ourselves the privilege
of making sounds
accidentally
in pursuit of other aims
and yet
we
oppress
the yard
is asnore
with birds and bugs
our unconsidered sounds
lack compassion
birds chirp
with a different sort of regularity
than bugs do
Mr. Crump's Rag - Jesse Crump [from That Devilin' Tune]
the pianos of that era
became different creatures
under the
ministrations
of the recording tech available
they never recovered
Get 'Em Again Blues - Chicago Footwarmers [from That Devilin' Tune]
everybody gets a solo on the record
all our calling cards face up
When Buddah Smiles - Coleman Hawkins [from That Devilin' Tune]
some records get made
so as to sell a sound
some
to spread
the word
Robbin's Nest - Sir Charles Thompson [from That Devilin' Tune]
that piano never had it so good again
Off Minor - Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane [from Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane]
reshaping the flow
nudges and shoves
tucks and pokes
where
the flow goes
includes
its extensions
outward
into
vertical potential
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
an ability to command a room and a crowd
A Time For Love - Bill Evans [from Alone]
lingering at the now
that slips away
then skipping
along the
streetside
dancing with the lampposts
reliving it all
again
and again
Spectrum - Billy Cobham [from Spectrum]
fashion mag spread
for the moneyed hip
fast cars and sleek women
above it all
Prove It All Night - Bruce Springsteen [from Darkness At The Edge Of Town]
juke box dance tune
all night man
sex brag
October (Love Song) instrumental - Chris & Cosey [from October Love Song]
bright flange
slosh
loose bead drum
liquid dance floor
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
Banned Telepath 16 Seattle - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [March 31, 1988]
rooms and sessions
each share a tonal language
tonal languages
invent themselves
as they go
they are
what they seem
to be
rahrrrr!
time life
books
I'm not interested
twice
I manage
to play a reed instrument
so that
it can't be
identified
I am tickled
by its unpredictability
it forms distinguished worlds
an instrument
ought to surprise one
now and then
this would have been
in the living room
of the big house at
Greenwood
we took a vow
and don't bow
down
to sales pressure
we
don't knuckle
under
Rid Of Me - PJ Harvey [from Rid Of Me]
at a rock and roll whisper
flip side
tutti forte
segmented
but
ratio of small to big
is inverted from the
norm
Banned Rehearsal 501 - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 25, 1998]
fitting ourselves
in tight quarters
weary magic
sentry duty
after a moment of cessation
we start again
then proceed
over the thin sounds
beach combs
comb
for what happens along
flotsamwise and jetsamic
hurdy gurdy houses
were injurious
to the well being
of the
community
places of nocturnal amusement
wiles of the wanton
searching for nothing
in particular
is a valuable
and
pleasant activity
In Session at The Tintinabulary
May 4, 2025
Lanesboro' - Keith Eisenbrey
May 5, 2025
Bangor - Keith Eisenbrey
May 12, 2025
Banned Rehearsal 1125 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt
Postscripts
Drops
I had the great good fortune to meet the eminent Seattle Composer Lockrem Johnson (1924-1977) a few months before his death. I have been working on some of this music since I was a teen. A vast treasury of information on Lockrem and his times, including scores and historic recordings, can be found at lockremjohnsonestate.com.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
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