Saturday, April 2, 2022

Playlist

Preface

"There are twin Gates of Sleep. One, they say, is made
of horn, and lets true visions pass through easily.
The other gleams with complex work in ivory,
but through it shades send lying visions to the light.
Anchises and the Sibyl brought Aeneas
to this gate and sent him through."

Vergil - "The Aeneid" (translated by Shadi Bartsch)

Texts

From Recent Arrivals

April 1, 2022

Particles of the Infinite Pt. V - Alex Anthony Faide, Alessandro Inolti [from Particles of the Infinite]

this vehicle has a loud engine
moves right along
buckle up

once outside
the perfumed fronds
brush so lightly
drugged so gently

"poppies, poppies, poppies . . ."

Remembrance - Motoko Honda

the figurations surrounding the melody
seem to imitate an orchestra
as it might be arranged for song production
(no that's not right) 

it becomes the flesh of its chords
which proceed like chord changes do
as a cyclic pattern
rather than
like a contrapuntally charged tonal progression
the chords change
but don't move or transform
remain
in some sense
atomic

Jibing - Amy Denio [from Chapel Sessions]

loop based I think
an increasing inhabitation
of muttering Amys

Prayer Variations - Alison Yun-Fei Jiang - Pathos Trio [from When Dark Sounds Collide: New Music for Percussion and Piano]

here we are floating
or
we were
perhaps sinking
there may be urgency
in our fleeing
hiding
breaking through
floating once more

Recorded

March 26, 2022

Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, FVB 101 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

ut and la are mordented
on their first appearances
up and down
in slow waves
of ut to la
et la to ut
cross ripples
from the edges of the pitch pool
reflect the upper
and lower
depths

Alma Redemptoris Mater - Peter Philips - The Tudor Consort, Peter Walls [from Cantiones Sacrae Quinis Vocubus]

it brings us along
as it moves through its moving alongness
each line
a station
moving
contemplation

Sonata in C minor, Kk. 174 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

brickwork
puzzle
mosaic
a size
is a size
until the back half
generates its own back half
stranding a front half
in the vanishing chamber

11 Bagatelles, Op. 119 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Stephen Kovacevich

re-inventing the old ways
to seek where they might go next
between Chopin type preludes
and Schumann type character pieces
and Beethoven type variations
they interlock
outside their perimeters 

children's stories 

Waltz in F Major, Op. 34 #3 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot (1943)

weightless
fleet
take a bow

Original Jelly Roll Blues (take 1) - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers, Chicago Days]

keep your ear on the tune
don't let it sneak up behind you

Carelessly - Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

the first bars
are in a quicker harmonic tempo
than that
in which
the song proper
lives

Max Making Wax - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes]

moving too fast to stop now
spit it out

Teenage Letter - Jerry Lee Lewis [from Rare and Rockin']

Jerry and Jelly
share nominative syllable count
backseat makeout
pressure tactics

Hello Little Girl - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology Volume 1]

these older guys
sure do spend a lot of time
on little girls

Prelude in G minor - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded March 18, 2022]

pretty good (my playing)
it could use a more varied touch in places
especially the beginning

The World is a Ghetto - War [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

composed throughout
moves are earned
prepared
followed up

Holidays in the Sun - The Sex Pistols [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

drum strikes
crunch
like marching boots
attitude
as marketable commodity
typecasting

Someone Like You / Walkin' Cane - The Knitters [from Poor Little Critter on the Road]

it's difficult to lampoon country music
it has such a deficit of irony in general
that the lampooning
is swallowed up
without so much as a twinge
absorbed 

fireside hootenanny singalongs

to the cemetery
walkin'
from the boneyard
dancing

March 27, 2022

Banned Rehearsal 114 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Julie F, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 21, 1987]

in the mix
it is as though
we were all in the room
together
though
we were actually separated
along the coast
and by time
Karen and I
made our tape
quite late in the evening 

do you like my party hat?

{from my journal entry of June 3, 1988:

much better balanced than 113
some talk about smoking
percussive guitar and catalog work
nice vocal solo with mbiru Keith!
actually one of the most enjoyable telepath tapes
as a mix
in a while
sleepy again
going to town
on fishwhistle
rhythm of speech
underneath
Morris the Cat
enough cross-talking
to make it really quite beautiful
layered}

Soul Driver - Bruce Springsteen [from Human Touch]

interesting mix for Bruce
each instrument track remains clearly itself
they don't meld into a mush
like they often do
similar vocal delivery to Star Anna 

Weary American Country Blues

Banned Rehearsal 470 - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 25, 1997]

some kitcheny rattle rhythms
Uncle W snoring melodiously
in the easy chair
bells need shaking
chatter among the guitars
Uncle W has stopped snoring
picked it up again
elaborate preparations
and fine chatter
a new phase
celebrated by truly tinkly bells
ah yes
Uncle W has awakened at last
conversation picks up
still gotta shake things though
that task never really ends
this
may yet be cooking
going on
chemical processes
application of heat
agitating
stirring
kneading
ingredient economy
open plan improvising

a rules girl
some Vegas crooner
from radio land
I don't think we're in the kitchen anymore
though still the shaker shakes
Aaron finds wolves in his synthesizer
we have entered Uncle W's snore
we search out its cavernous sinuses
for the Chamber of Resonance
we'll have to go by plane
ride the wind
will wake up
when supper is ready
messages from
journey
to the center
of the slumber
explorers of the past
the past passed
dragon rumors persist
tap the metal walls
our lights search the shape of our containers
quiet drum beat
friendly
in one space
made of inter-rotating
distinct
spaces
distinct
in that
they have
distinct methods
of distinguishing
their shape
to themselves
we may have found
snore central
the much renowned
Chamber of Resonance
in the center
of Uncle W's
capacious
schnozz 

still get radio in here
who knew?

{from my journal entry of September 16, 2005:

sound (tech) is pretty good in this one
I wonder if we had moved the microphones by this [time]?
focused murmurs
we speak as though into cans}

March 28, 2022

Grandmother Cedar Tree - Johnny Moses [from When Humans Thought They Were People]

inter-generational care
socialization

Consider the Birds, Mix 2 - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]

from multiple locations
within an interior
critters
tap and hoot
a texture
that undulates
in numerous
familial
interactions
there is no single path of attention
it desires
a field of communications
in action
sparks
move along the paths
they make themselves
node to node

Overture - Tyrannosaurus Grace [from Much More Than A Story]

going prog
light show ready

March 29, 2022

Maple Leaf 170326 - Keith Eisenbrey [March 26, 2017]

five years and three days ago
in our yard
we had loaned it
to an urban farm co-op
the year before
so I placed the device
next to the remains of some kale
if one knows what to listen for
I can be heard in the kitchen
making coffee
we are a block or so from a 4-lane highway
so there is plenty of traffic sound
crows song birds air traffic a seagull
crows caw in groups of evenly separated calls
the count varies
but amounts to a kind of spaced out mathematics
are there local dialects of crow caw lingo?
some human person sings something
while they walk by
full voice
I think some bird or other
must  be on the ground
very near the device
though it might be a squirrel
short sharp chirps
interesting chatter among yard kind
very quick
hummingbird?
a mob of something chirpy
erupts in the distance
crows can be quite stern
there's me tromping out to put a stop to it

Infrathin Condition 8 - Doug Haire [from Infrathin Conditions]

the unimaginable magnitude of perception

Ut, me, re, Fvb 102 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

and chains thereof
ascending
with mordents
given how few
these days
speak tonal
as it were
do any
still
really
speak tetrachordal? 

multiple
ever shifting frames
of functionality
implying
who knows what
economies of thought

Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Foster, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Lisa Otto, Josef Traxel

Fischer-Dieskau at his most egregious
over acting
and over-engineered
they sat the flautist right next to me
did Bach's orchestras use transverse flutes? 

a woman's desires
(as opposed to
her father
and her marriage prospects)
treated
as humor fodder
all the Dad hears
is tootling 

default legato strings

Take Me to the Water - Rev. E. D. Campbell [from Goodbye, Babylon]

recording of a performed baptism
sounds like a holler
but it's a chant
shaman-adjacent
an honest attempt
to understand
and echo
what was presumed
to have been meant
by John the Baptist

If I Had Possession over Judgment Day - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]

his intro riffs
are more like checking his tuning
than anything more compositional
he matches his vocal delivery
to different positions
on the figures
on the guitar

Sally Walker - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy Volume 1]

includes instructions
for the party game
doesn't matter
who's in the chair
it's got to be a Walker

Sweet and Easy to Love - Roy Orbison [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]

bop de wadda wadda wah
sweeter than easy
does Roy know what they're saying behind him?

Where Have You Been All My Life - The Beatles [from First Live Recordings, Volume 1]

recorded with what?
even then
vocal amplification couldn't keep up

Tramp - Otis Redding and Carla Thomas [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

any big show
needed a comedy number
smack down
rhythm play
also
allows the man to brag in public

Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - The Spinners [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

the opening figures
in the bells
and then
the strings
each
rise
in an imitation
of the inflection
of inquiry 

the whole thing sits up high there

Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

covered by a sheen
from head to toe

Riding With Mary - X [from Under the Big Black Sun]

the difference between the verse and the chorus
registers
as a small change
in the ongoing texture
constant in all possible other ways

March 30, 2022

Banned Sectional 6 AK NWM - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 21, 1987]

pipe organ and piano
in a big space
so tempting
a large scale painting in oils
and a small ink drawing
chat
color
and figuration
on each other's duds
there's the big Bundler
after which
we calm down for a bit 

a challenge
in pairing piano and organ
the piano's sound
all emanates
from a specific place
from an object
in a room
its size
as a sound
within the space
is limited
and fixed
the organ's sounds
come into our space
and inhabit that space with us
this aspect of organ sound
is almost impossible to capture in a recording
with the result
that
the perceived sound
shrinks abysmally
as though
we were hearing it
the wrong way
down a telescope
the piano sound
keeps more of its presence on recordings
generally
but little of its resonance can be heard
through even the organ's shrunken sound
neither comes off particularly well 

they do manage to find some nice conjoined places
especially toward the end
despite the systemic challenges

Nuthin' But a "G" Thang - Dr. Dre (feat. Snoop Doggy Dog)

rhyme games
word play
like
what bebop was
to the tin pan alley
word play
as to
tin pan alley
tunes

Velvet Rope - Janet Jackson [from The Velvet Rope]

at home
within a complex social/rhythmic environment
it works
if you can create multiples as needed

PC KEE 020303 - Pete Comley, Keith Eisenbrey [March 3, 2002]

Pete had asked me to bring my Silvertone hollow body and Sunn Stinger over to play
while he spun vinyl
through boxes and devices
unnamable
everything
was recorded
and mixed
on-line
without microphones
another channel in his mix
it was an unusual experience for me
having no idea
whether what I was doing
would make a sound
out there
it's hard to believe
it was 20 years ago 

Pete has a unique collection of vinyl
sounds of history
sound effects
birds
and music of various varieties
a sound poem
of the randomishly curated past
somehow my electric guitar stylings
fit right in
with this
psychedelic junkheap
of sound
should I be unsurprised?
switch toggling rhythm
effects play
pile off the road
on the high side
a weapon of destruction
a silent movie
without the movie
it will be on your conscience
it happens all too often
in Volkswagon engines
unmerchantable wood
everything must go

March 31, 2022

Postcard - Curtains For You [from Heaven's Waiting]

it ends in the air
though without an anticipated cadence
more like
an anticipated fade-out

What's Wanting For (Karen and Neal duet) (final) - Your Mother Should Know [March 20, 2012]

this version is a bit of a mess
the two vocal conceptions don't gel

Earplug Girl - Alone in Dead Bars [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, on July 15, 2017]

a loud song
about a loud band
and a girl

Banned Telepath 82 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [February 28, 2022]

the wettest last day ever
and so viola
low tech
and hi tech
admonishments
string tones
pots and pans tones
electronically processed tones
each quite distinct
though our activities
are each scribbly
in nature
or perhaps
doodly
is more accurate
there is intent
pots and pans
give way
to kora
which sounds a bit like a viola
but held
more inside itself

beware the mermaids should they sing 

the various tones or timbres in play
find modes of connecting amongst themselves

Fantasia, Fvb. 103 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

by then it was clear
that the rhythmic outlines of one's subjects were composable
so as
to have effect
upon
or within
the textural design of the whole 

similarly as to their pitch structures

My Daddy's Got a Brand New Way to Love - Alberta Hunter, Price Goodson, Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]

"My Boy"
in the older
night time
America

kept the London Bridge
from falling down

Little Red Caboose - The Pickar Family [from Evans 78s]

song as a carrier wave
for light verse
newspapers had recipes
and these also

Placetas - Chano Pozo and Orchestra [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]

did aspects of African drumming
transfer more intactly
to the Caribbean
than to the Southern USofA
or did they just survive longer?

I may have a tin ear for this
but there is a distinct similarity here
to what I have heard
of the music of Burundi
(which is not a great deal)

Rock-A-Billy - Guy Mitchell [a Rescued Record]

a history of sorts
Billy as in hillbilly
I don't think guy is one

In Session at the Tintinabulary

March 28, 2022

Banned Telepath 84 Lost Again - Steve Kennedy

Banned Telepath 84 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey

March 30, 2022

Rounds for Aaron (fourth bit) - Keith Eisenbrey

Joshua Tree Prelude 7 - Aaron Keyt

April 1, 2022

Rounds for Aaron (last bit) - Keith Eisenbrey

I still need to put all these together

Banned Telepath 84 Toad Hall - Aaron Keyt

Banned Rehearsal 1048 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt

The Telepaths 84 assembled

Postscripts

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery 

more doodles from 1988






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