Preface
Texts
Recorded
February 7, 2026
Heartbreak Hotel - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at The Roxy]
at least he doesn't drag this cover on and on
Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War - Paul Simon [from Hearts and Bones]
an unlikely line
to serve as rhyme sandwich breads
The Killer Moon - T Bone Burnett [from The Talking Animals]
he likes to decorate the last syllable of his lines
rhymes with them
Switzerland - Cornelia Blatter [from The World Sings Goodnight]
lisped with cowbells and zither
Y'All Scared - Outkast [from Aquemini]
sounds of city intrude palmipsestually
Turkish Song - Scurvy Bastards [from Battle Born]
without singing
Intermezzo in midi: Rises - J. K. Randall [from Open Space 22]
a path of stones
set apart just so
Goliath - Dawn Richard [from Goldenheart]
tension
between song to say something
and dance to dance
February 8, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 972 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 17, 2018]
a discussion is had
on the uses of accompaniment
to support and
comment
upon expressivist figures
and the grace
it is
incumbent
upon the expressive figures
(melody, for example)
to afford
to the uses
that accompaniment
put upon them
for their support
and comment
there goes Joplin
on a wind-up contraption
instructions
on the proper uses
of certain harmonic dissonances
and cultural coercions
on the job
and hard at work
useful
in the production
of culturally acceptable artifacts
language pulls an end run around music
if given half a chance
best
to chain it down
corporate changes of subject
are neither demanded nor prohibited
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
capable harmony singing
the words of the poem
get a bit lost
in the sheen
of the reverb effect
Madrigals, Book IX: Oh mio bene, oh mia vita - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
and so we bid farewell to Claudio
for the nonce
some men's voices
(three?)
enact a conversation poem
Missa in A Major, BWV 234 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman
statements unfold from within themselves
twisting sumptuously through
their potentials
as they actualize
flute duet to die for
to introduce
the
qui tollis peccata mundi
February 9, 2026
Sonata in D Major, Kk. 312 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the match could go either way
and does
Kinderszene: Fürchtenmachen, Op. 15 #11 - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
phrases that resolve
with small tones
off the end beat
La Carnaval de Venise, S700 - Franz Liszt - Goran Filipec
imitates mandolin
proceeds from there
showing off with humor
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
observes its cadence fondly
but doesn't touch
Savoyagers' Stomp - Louis Armstrong, Carroll Dickerson's Savoyagers [from Hot Fives and Sevens]
Liszt's playful runs
and Armstrong's sliding notes
share a sense
of fun
Summertime - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]
long held liquids
wildly syncopated
Ol' Man River - Aretha Frnaklin [from Laughing On The Outside]
after the intro
takes it
at a city-living
sprightly clip
A Saucerful of Secrets - Pink Floyd [from A Saucerful of Secrets]
it thrives
on a version of weirdness
its signification of
psychedelic creativity
Bell Boy - The Who [from Quadrophenia]
belle buoy
the character portrays his situation
but doesn't live in it
Sex Bomb - Flipper [from Nancy's Mix]
mosh pit
wipe out
beer spew
Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley [from A Miscellaneous Miscellany]
the echo
gives the impression
that there are two Elvises
hearing double
even through the iffy dubbing
Bill Challenger - Fastbacks [from Zucker]
must be some sort of superhero
for such a theme song
Everything is Everything - Lauryn Hill [from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill]
a multitude of voices
in trapped cycles
Silly Blues - Keith Eisenbrey
once I got the score {to Slow Blues} into software
I juiced the
tempo
exposes something about its shapes
as they flit by
We Are All Tomorrow's Food - Empty Cage Quartet [from Stratostrophic]
bass sneaks in
beneath the drum's set up
winds come to find the
table laid
escape
from the threshold
of rational capture
though hovering close
Last and Final - Hope Wechkin [from Leaning Toward The Fiddler]
a voice
within
a type of music
or
about
that
type
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Licking a Wound - WRCMS 2018 Participants
three flutes
if my ear count is accurate
finds ways
to orbit the same axis
in distinguishing twists
a poem overtrudes
in poem declamation voice
Hebron - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [October 8, 2023]
its key is unlikely
out to to the end
Washwoman's Blues - Bessie Smith [from Empty Bed Blues]
an oppressed worker
in their voice
servant class
singing to
her washboard
X-Ray Blues - Ray Charles, Milt Jackson [from Soul Brothers-Soul Meeting]
keeping it cool
and low to the ground
out for a stroll
Olden Style Pieces III - Henryk Górecki - Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
stone beds and solemn thoughts
The Same Rope - Etta James [from Tell Mama]
shiny electronic organ sound
it smiles
another karmic revenge fantasy
Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock & Roll) - Elton John [from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]
shake it out kids
My White Devil - Echo and The Bunnymen [from Porcupine]
not outsized
fills its space honestly
playing for those in the
room
not for those populating
a pretended posterity
Carmen Suite - Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]
re-arrangement
can be a way to clarify details
figuration play
do not forget
stay out of debt
Heterophony - S. Eric Scribner [from Pianosphere]
a pleasant thing
Joy - PJ Harvey [from Is This Desire?]
a sound
composed
to be a space
on a virtual screen
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
portraits of heroes
White Horse - Taylor Swift [from Fearless]
such a drama
we'll underline the moral for you
Interlude II: Piano Solo - Jesse Canterbury, Tiffany Lin, Brian Cobb, Paul Kikuchi [from Crosstalk-Here Now]
a composer and a piano player
meet for a discussion
in one body
Fox Spit 181225 - Keith Eisenbrey [December 25, 2018]
I'm wondering
how I came to have a quiet enough moment
on
Christmas Day!
to do this
Rust, Amber, and Clay - Anna La Barge, Tom Baker [from Sand]
some music obscures
some music allows
this music enters the
conversation
mulling its own hexachords
Take Me Back - Frank Stokes [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
string together
all the troubled romance songs
of the American
demotic
and allow their theme
to run its course
money management
is a common area of distress
I Loves You Porgy - Nina Simone [from Little Girl Blue]
the song's operatically pretentious ancestry
brings up the question
of sticking to the score
and what counts as the score
to be
stuck to
Walking Along - The Young Men [a Rescued Record]
so wholesomely small town
booster
Yoiks!
a key shift!
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
each stanza
paced
to land
at the title
Elite Syncopations - Scott Joplin - E. Power Biggs
whatever Joplin's performance practice
the sixteenth note grid of the
scores
are like enough to machine instructions
to be treated as
such
whang on four
to end the phrase
Borderline - Madonna [from Madonna]
the intro must be of sufficient length
to allow a costume change
the band strips down
to bass and cowbell
dance club track length
round and round
Exsultate Deo - Cambridge Singers, John Rutter [from Brother Sun Sister Moon]
music to hear its space
Pallas Athena - David Bowie [from Black Tie White Noise]
adding weights
filling it up
cramming it in
narrow focus
cutting tool
delicate work
in tough material
One By One - Billy Bragg & Wilco [from Mermaid Avenue]
fade ins
are worse ideas
than fade outs
far far too much compression
for the delicacy of the song
Fast Blues - Keith Eisenbrey [December 4, 2003]
same as silly blues
but less so
allows more of the melodies out intact
a theme runs pell-mell
through a set of variations
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
the poetic sentiment
reduced to next to nothing
no back story
no future
all now
all
in now's dance
I think she's saying
that strobe lights
is
what makes
everything sexier
Wanna Go Home - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from High Roads and Hard Shoulders]
sloppy strummer
on the accentuated syllables
Augered, Buggered, & Stoned - Steve Kennedy, Lisa Putesca [from Untitled Album]
more vigorous strumming
and a grumble in its tummy
February 11, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1085 - Keith Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenb rey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 9, 2023]
the primordial soup of a session
is of the consistency of moving bodies
in a small room
being quiet
we can remain there for some time
 |
| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
death
as victory over troubles
last will and testament
done with sorrow
Do It Again - Judy Garland [from Judy In Love]
that magic kiss
famous in legend and trope
Mothlight - Stan Brakhage [from By Brakhage]
luminous life textures
At The Zoo - Simon & Garfunkle [from Bookends]
light poetry
for the masses of youth
Fantasy End - Carole King [from Fantasy]
sets us down
at story's end
with advice
All Along the Watchtower - U2 [from Rattle and Hum]
the problem with choosing sides
is that any side
is compromised
by its having been invented
in our individual minds
Get Off The Bandwagon - EPMD [from Strictly Business]
hustling to survive
brag for your life
brand name
battling
band name
battle of the bandwagons
Pale Scrub - Black Cat Orchestra [from Dante's Inferno Live Score]
cabaret
is a music
in which to think
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
I recall
perhaps incorrectly
that Jonathan sang this song
when Karen and I saw him
back before we were being quite an item
having been set up
by Neal and Anna
at a venue
whose
name evades me
{NB: Karen says it was the Backstage}
but
I may be wrong
{NB: Karen says I was correct}
it may have been the other
time
at the OK Hotel
Musetta's Waltz - Brave Combo [from Box of Ghosts]
as a tune
it relies on its dynamite opening sequence
and charm
to inveigle one
through the workmanship part
in the middle
Backwoods Barbie - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]
across the country
breakfast table
real life
like folks
Cheeky - Bad Cop/Bad Cop [from Wings of Techno]
what the voice says
portends naught
nothing portends
nor
pretends
an incessant reminding
of control's control
on you
faceless
I Was The Train - Vince Mira [from The Cash Cabin Sessions]
sentimentalizing the industrialization age's tool
of liberation
and oppression
the train
was the weapon
aimed
at the indigenous
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
more hands than fingers
grooving out
in the offshore undersea
sucker bars
Dirt Cult Record Intro [from You Don't Have To Be Cool]
volume 1
Tom Cat Blues - Otto Gray's Oklahoma Cowboys [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
nothing
but a voice or two
and a guitar or two
easy tempo
changed on a sudden
Truly True - Norman Monath [from Songs of the Pogo]
silly love rhymes
that lilt alliteratively
geeeur
deeeur
Percy's Song - Bob Dylan [from Biograph]
intersperse
a cycle
of rhythmic rhyme
between
each
payloaded line
turn turn again
tied up together
in the rain and the wind
Don't Break This Heart of Mine - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and the Mysterians]
the insecure male's
distrust
of their romantic partner's fidelity
I Can't Stand The Rain - Ann Peebles [from The Original funk Soul Sister]
just possibly
the finest entrance
atop an ambiguous beat
in
industrial music history
the amazing mystery
of
the seeming to be missing
beat
Grow Old With Me - John Lennon [from Milk and Honey]
reconstructed from a demo
his piano playing
was less than stellar
capable for its purpose
no more
 |
| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
I'll Take You There - Big Daddy Kane [from Long Live The Kane]
heaven
past the hole in the wall
affluence land
Without You - Mariah Carey [from Music Box]
catching low notes
is a sure sign
it's headed
for the
stratospheres eventually
sweeping camera shot feelings
Fearless Love - Bonnie Raitt [from Fundamental]
date night
make out
montage song
String Quartet Movement - Alexander Borodin [from Eisenbrey 2003]
definitely Borodin
famous cello violin duet
even the viola gets a
shot at the tune
your ermine soil, its viands - Christian Asplund [from Viola]
the bow
is the character
pizzicato
is a way
of using
the fingers
as supplementary bows
inside-pinkone-outside-pinktwo - Andrew Young [from Inkplaces]
manipulating sound
with tools
designed
to manipulate
waveforms
but
I'd want to get my hands in it
size of a short story
I Will Be OK - Dead Bars [from Red Car Burns split with Dead Bars]
diary entry
poem of few words
pure lands part 3 - Ensemble Unnamable [from Fourth Floor]
there is an interesting relationship
between the sounds of music
being played by musicians
and the sounds of dancers
moving
in a space
they have different kinds
of musical interest
Jazzbo Dan and His Yodelin' Band - Roy Evans, James P. Johnson [from That Devilin' Tune]
listen to him
raising sand?
Sam?
one trick pony
The Great Pretender - Stan Freberg [from The Very Best of Stan Freberg]
this piano player
is an early hero of mine
can't play none of that clink clink clink jazz
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
advanced back beat
clap track
Blackbird - The Beatles [from The Beatles (The White Album)]
the clicktrack
is annoying
Paul M.
does Paul S.
(If I Had It to Do All Over Again, I'd Do It) All Over You - Paul Revere & The Raiders [from The Legend of Paul Revere]
ready for seconds
Mann und Weib und Weib und Mann - Brown, Garbe, Parkins [from Bard Sampler 82-83]
from some music club
or class
or what?
hard to say
it
seems unlikely
to have arisen on its own accord
Magic Flute words
in a television dump
Not Alone Any More - Traveling Wilburys [from Traveling Wilburys]
Roy's spotlight moment
with high note ending
Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nothing to F' Wit - Wu-Tang Clan [from Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)]
list the references
to other media than music
in both the sound
text
and the text text
anchors it
in a culture-reference
temporal region
Track 8 - Students of Joan Schoepflin [from Spring Recital June 9, 1998]
in order to capture attention
a music must depict something
relatable
the
whew I'm done
final cadence
energy
To The Moon - Karin Blaine [from Dirty Money]
one of those wink wink songs
that isn't about what it is about
per
its conceit
Raga Ahir Bhairav-Tintal/3-2 Son - Anjuman [from Rumba Meets Raga]
decorativism
sets a mood
and does not veer
common to social
musics
grooving out allowed
Tracing The Moon -Peter Fedofsky [from False Ties and Nice Hoods]
happy go lucky vandalism
Palasidai - Tim Root [from Constance and The Waiting]
brute force accumulation
in a narrow space
soon filled
brimming the space
saucer landing sound
why not
there's always room
for any old thing
when we achieve the central chamber
a voice tells us something
and
is swallowed back into the sound
and rises up
from within it
transfigured
spewed into space
Simple Hymns - Aaron Keyt
a procession of hymns
begin with clowns
followed by dignitaries
and costumes of many cultures
In Session at The Tintinabulary
February 8, 2026
Litchfield - Keith Eisenbrey
February 9, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1144 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 30: Sabbatical Improvisations (part 1) 2013-2014
In 2013 I had reached an inflection point in my big project, Études d'exécution imminent, and took a sabbatical (indifferently observed) from composing written-down music. I filled the time with various forms of improvisation, both "in-the-moment" composing, and sometimes puttering about with multi-tracking and other digitally applied effects. Here are the first bunch of them.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
