"July - Down at Beulah"
George Cruikshank, from The Comic Almanack, First Series 1835-1843
Texts
Recorded
January 3, 2026
Madrigals, Book IX: Come dolce hoggi l'auretta - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
decorousissimo
Wagner's Rheinmaidens should have had it so good
Praeludium in F Major, BuxWV 145 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
if the Praeludium behaves
structurally
like the clown that
presents a play's argument
before the curtain
then this clown
is prolix
or perhaps
just stalling
a hide and seek
can't catch me
fugue game
played
up in
the arches
the various chapels
cadence in order
Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut, BWV 117 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman
we are floated to our pews
on billows of bliss
and a blessing is
given
in baritone
and a sermon as well
I lose myself
in the casual brilliance
of the voice-leading
a chorale that dances
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| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Sonata in E-flat Major, Kk. 307 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
fresh as daisies
every time around
Kinderszene: Wichtige Begebenheit, Op. 15 #6 - Robert Schumann, Florian Uhlig
an announcement that echoes down the corridor
Buch der Lieder I: Der König von Thule, S531/4 - Franz Liszt - Alexandre Dossin
something puzzles
something moves
something decides
4 Pieces: Ironies, Op. 56 #2 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
all the parts of these things
appear to be other parts
of other
things
D'un matin de printempts - Lili Bolulanger - BBC Philharmonic - Yan Pascal Tortelier
frolic on weightless limbs
flit like butterflies
filled with
wonder
Don't Jive Me - Louis Armstrong's Hot Five [from Hot Fives and Sevens]
this music forwards the personality of its makers
Hallelujah I Love Her So - Ray Charles, Milt Jackson [from Soul Brothers-Soul Meeting]
cats having a right good time
Not a Second Time - The Beatles [from With The Beatles]
hanging ones blindnesses out
for all to see
Nathan is Forever - Joni Mitchell [from Song to a Seagull]
leads us will-lessly
into an aromatic garden
some of which
affects the sensibilities
chemically
The Ballad of Danny Bailey - Elton John [from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]
the echo sheen
effaces the individuality
of the various
instruments' sounds
which makes the instrumental-only verses
come
across
as part of the costumery
 |
| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
playing subhuman
as an exotica
then he comes out
to tell his Bo Diddley brag tale
January 5, 2026
Train in the Distance - Paul Simon [from The Essential Paul Simon]
the promise of distance's potential for escape
Banned Rehearsal 158 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [November 4, 1988]
a tale is spread out before us
it overwhelms the recording levels
waxing nostalgical
clang and bang and grumble and wail
trombone imitates the doppler
of a model airplane
round and round
loop by loop
why?
without it
cheese would have no flavor
the coffee not
stay hot
...am I here?
...am I a radish?
the radish goes on
thus spake the bumper sticker
shouting to release tension
this session is intent
on hollering
over itself
I'm looking for something specific
I'll know it when I find it
I
think it was the first Loft tape I was looking for
the quintessential urge
to overshout
born
of the rage
of adolescence
the imperative
to dominate
a specific song
about nothing in particular
spends his days
as a radish
outside
hip deep
in
manure
Ich grolle nicht!
as sentimental driving anthem
Just Say I Love Him - Nina Simone [from A Single Woman]
the point of a song such as this
is to create the conceit
of a
figure
that is singing it
and to embody it
essentially
actorly
this remains the case
even when
or especially when
it is
autobiographical
though self-portraiture
perhaps a better word
for a song
made to be sung
from ones own first person
If She Don't Love Me - Jonathan Richman [from I'm So Confused]
another example of above
song as a staged song and dance act
Pablo Picasso - David Bowie [from Reality]
waddayaknow!
he's covering Jonathan!
 |
| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Zither Film Mix 01 Reversed - Keith Eisenbrey [November 30, 2008]
a graph of a population
as to
distance from a center
moving
here
from the out
to the in
rhythmic bands
of
zero population events
events imputed
to occupy
a measurable
acreage
of influence
made audible
continuities confuse confusion
Track 1 - Old Man Williamson [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 6, 2013]
the endless open mic industrial chopper
Figure Study 181015 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey
following
where the sound
my fingers make
goes
brambles
or morass
or night
Overscape (SoundScroll V, part 3) - S. Eric Scribner [from Soundscrolls - Lost Landshapes]
the guitar comes across
as the voice of its amplifier
a cave of
sound specimens
held in silence
reaching across chasmotic
void
this is awesome
I Wish That Gal Was Mine - Herschel Brown and His Washboard Band [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
that's a washboard
for sure
as shootin'
like tap dancing with the fingers
I've Got a Woman - Ray Charles - [from Ray Charles at Newport]
blues
as a theater
put on by the band
for dancing to
 |
| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
somebody is singing an opera favorite
this may not be the Lake
Washington Singers
my mom's tapes were not always completely labeled
The Only Way Out (Is to Walk Over Me) - Dolly Parton [from Just Because I'm a Woman]
abject humiliation
Red Baron - Billy Cobham [from Spectrum]
insinuating its mood lounge-wide
groove all night
I've Had It - Black Flag [from The First Four Years]
to be muttered under ones breath
as a mantra
to cope
with
working life
a rage-quitter hero is something to be
5 Movements: December 8, 1983 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded March 7, 2010]
it's not the slowness
but the particular agogic friction elicited
between it
and what preceded it
within a constant awareness
of the narrowness
of the choice
this
then
that
in
unending
see saw
cycles
recording a sound
creates an exportable image
of a distance
from that sound
recreated
as an image
of a distance
from the sound
different
from amplitude
:presence:
the ghost
of the microphone's ear
are we comfortable with that kind of intimacy
doesn't let on
what it's about
or
whether the lower
is
the higher
and the higher
the lower
or
the lower
is lower
and
the higher
higher
they share their interval
with parental care
each note
in turn
may be the first
just what's down there
past the cobwebs and bones
a report from
the field
 |
| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
as the produced sound shifts gears
from small to big
it glorifies
power and consumption
How Am I to Know - Sun Ra [from Monorails & Satellites]
fingers follow ears
as ears follow fingers
for
fingers have
ears
and ears fingers
Sky Fits Heaven - Madonna [from Ray of Light]
the witch in the dance
an old trope
playing the part
Bug Guitar - Keith Eisenbrey [from Summer Songs/Winter Mix]
initiation event
commemorative book report
bug guitar
VCR
(not a bad rhyme past me)
A Barren Land - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from A Live Wire]
seen at highway speeds
between there and here
parallax of power
poles
dynamic perspectives
Sea of Glass - Shelby Earl [from Swift Arrows]
relationship business
either or
The Separation - The Science of Deduction [from Alternative Works]
techno
fo'
tech bro bar
feel bad
irony
good time buds
Intermezzo 1 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 3: 1982-1983]
Wagnerian mountain horn call
adds notes methodically
as locations
among the horn tones
it seeks to expand
into its possibility-field
without disturbing
its serenity
the cut of this music's clothes
will never make the glossies
ideally
it might not come to mind
that it's one note at a time
except
in those moments
one hears it
being two notes
a few times
 |
| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
singer provides their own scat trumpet commentary
I'm Confessin' (That I Love You) - Judy Garland [from Judy In Love]
soft and smooth
and a coy curtsy
Mr. Ugly - Aretha Franklin [from Laughing On The Outside]
slow dance devotional
A Saucerful of Secrets - Pink Floyd [from A Saucerful of Secrets]
enter clanging bells
robed and obscured by the mists
dial twiddler's crescendo
a music that transpires
free floating
amid moment scraps
let's be weird
like they are
down in Darmstadt
enter the anthem
to save the day
for triads
 |
| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
You Won't See Me In The Morning - Betty Davis [from Betty Davis]
she singer
he singer
she group
he group
she band
he band
she player
he player
mixed singer
mixed group
mixed band
mixed player
Trouble Under Water - U-Men
all he
all the time
Banned Rehearsal 159 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [November 10, 1988]
glimpses
of what it might become
through the trees
distortion sound on tape
stemming from
the inability of the
mechanism
to faithfully record
a hyper-ample input
perceived
at this end
(faithfully reproduced)
as a limit
against
which
the sound seems
physically repressed
splashed back
into itself
a right palpable limit
an alienation
we plod grimly
each to our own drumming
we sing
as we go
ploddingly on
gibberish
and scat
and in-tongues
the music of language
without the relational shackles
virtual body
of the Funmaker's string bass pluck
a staple sound
in the early days of Banned Rehearsal
we have reached camp
and have set off the windup toys
as we pitch
tents
and prepare a meal
spurts of radio talk
in the radio blender
quite the roar of distortion there
some of this sound
is from this sound's sound makers' pasts
we sort through the detritus
a segment has no sound
perhaps 20
seconds
perhaps more
no pickles
no mustard
 |
| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
a blissful oblivion
as to how what one is doing
accomplishes that
doing
ask no questions
of one's own means
the harmony between
what one has done
and its perfection
unqueried
we are
to adore
the blissful oblivion
and its purity
she plays with an expressive touch
a music
playing the part
of a music
an image
of the
surface sheen
of a music
but not
of its workings
pretty peroration
past
pretty peroration
perorate pauselessly
always a new pretty pose
Meet Me Half Way - Bonnie Raitt [from Fundamental]
sexual relations as a partnership
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
the sentimental favorites
of a sentimental age
of a sentimental
generation
forever dated
Zither Film Mix Forward - Keith Eisenbrey [November 30, 2008]
negotiating the relations pertaining
twixt over-plenty and rarities
minced sound cake
the first null spaces
are a marker
a limn
the soundfile
is the material
not the sounds
the soundfile
is a soundfile
of
The Desert Deep - Princess [from Selling Sulphur]
heroic battle theme
there will be explosions for sure
Banned Rehearsal 968 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt [October 22, 2018]
we are a collection of rattles
and assorted noisies
is this sound speaking to me
or is it talking among its constituents
of which I
as the listener
am one?
entropic counterfacts
the sound must be real
clearly made
on the spot
with
mechanical means
virtual objects
in a virtual real room
rather than
virtual
objects
in a virtual virtual room
 |
| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
more battle dance
but clowns
Requiem for No Hero - Steve Layton [from No Mind]
motions within a tonal stasis
dim fluctuations pass near to the face of
it
Wire Grass Dog - Earl Johnson and His Clodhoppers [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
slippery tune
in a slippery tuning
Whither the Starling - Norman Monath [from Songs of the Pogo]
wavelets of water left over from snowthes
Pat a Pan [from The Life Treasury of Christmas Music]
the melody is made to be cleverly arranged
I'm Gonna Take What He's Got - Etta James [from Tell Mama]
what she tells herself
to keep going
Music and Me - Michael Jackson [from Music and Me]
send 'em out whistling
with warm blankets
 |
| Comet Falls Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
BAB KEE 831212 - Benjamin Boretz, Keith Eisenbrey [December 12, 1983]
piano soliloquizing openly
Crumar lights the stage
a character
upon it
joined at pitch
impatient to express
imperturbable
in my soliloquizing
Glam Slam - Prince [from Lovesexy]
a music
as a dance
followed by some scribbling
All I Ask of You - King's Singers [from Chanson d'amour]
a song
from a musical theatrical?
niche pop
Track 6 - Students of Joan Schoepflin [recorded live June 9, 1998]
this pedagogy teaches fingers to do things
my memory
of the
pedagogy
I was trained with
did that
only
at the
service
of teaching the ear
to hear things
Come On - Keith Eisenbrey [from Summer Songs/Winter Mix]
moving from one meaning of the phrase to another
inexplicitly
Stranded in the Echoes - Solvents [from Manresa Castle]
at a residential speed limit tempo
Seattle Party - Chastity Belt [from No Regerts]
heavy mood fog social
Splinters - Choke the Pope [from Who Cares]
the guitar loudness
stands for the intensity
of the emotion mood
being expulsed
Intermezzo 2 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey #3: 1982-1983]
a three-body problem to puzzle at
the math is not orbital
but
cyclic
math in a closed cycle
constructed upon a spectrum
based
ultimately
on what seems to match what
this music
is thinking about something
the pitch choice
is too deliberate
to be random
each differentiated duration
is a differentiated species
of
melodic interval
that is
say
that a whole step
taking
in
a short span of time
is
a different manner
of whole
step
than one taking in
a lengthily-held span of time
deliberation shows
it is salutary
for a long slow section
to tax ones patience
patience
is there
to be taxed
why else have it?
voices emerge from the figures
as they clarify before us
time to tax our patience yet again
but
we'll wrap up instead
summarize
and send
 |
| Paradise, Mt. Rainier National Park |
sword and pistol by his side
only rhyming matters
relieves most of the lines
in the poem
from the need to make any
sense
Chubby has an amazing voice
Sh-Boom - Stan Freberg [from The Very Best of Stan Freberg]
you gotta talk unintelligible
back to nonsense and scat and speaking in tongues
Tatumy intercuts
mumble
not mambo
don't you do gibberish
Stella!
Surfin' U.S.A. - The Beach Boys [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
if everybody had an ocean
across the USA
shipping would be a
breeze
but beaches
rare indeed
surf across the continent
first person to
Our Love Was, Is - The Who [from Magic Bus]
shooting for the psychedelic ingenue
but couldn't commit to the bit
The Easy Winner - Scott Joplin - E. Power Biggs
were Joplin to be played
on an instrument
devoid
of a system
of levers
would be
a travesty
levers
are its Buddha nature
Bat Out of Hell - Steven Travis Pope
flange-y filters
on a fine enough sequence of percussing sounds
like an improvisation
upon a signal of an improvisation
one suspects a toy piano was involved
at least in spirit
In Session at The Tintinabulary
January 4, 2026
Dundee - Keith Eisenbrey
January 5, 2026
Gradus 426 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
the relation of one to the next
is in relation
to the relation
of the next further next
to that next further next's
next
further next
composing the partitions
of a rung's notes
if we hear
what is happening
as if
from the standpoint
of adherence to the score
clearly partitioned
in regions
and combinations of regions
{NB: alas, my recording failed due (no doubt) to user error}
Postscripts
Drops
Music of Kosály-Meyer, Verrall, Palmer, Baker, Oldham, Osborn, and Cobb
This album is a selection of music by various Seattle-area composers, composed between the 1940s and 2010 or so.
1. Pastoral "The Color of Water" - Neal Kosály-Meyer
2.-5.
Four Pieces for Piano - John Verrall
6.
Another Sad Song Littering the Highway of Life - Doug Palmer
7.
On Off - Tom Baker (with Tom Baker, electronics)
8.
F r AgM eNt (s) - Marcus Oldham
9.
Theme and Three Variations - Sean Osborn
10. dear s - Brian
Cobb
Track 1 recorded live at Bard College in 1982
Tracks 2-5 recorded live at
University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle in 2005
Tracks 6 and 7
recorded live at UTUMC in 2006
Tracks 8-10 recorded at my home in 2007
and 2010.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
