'So have I,' said the stranger. 'Epic poem, - ten thousand lines - revolution of July - composed it on the spot - Mars by day, Apollo by night, - bang the field-piece, twang the lyre.'"
Charles Dickens - "The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club"
Texts
Live
June 1, 2022
Tom Baker Quartet
Tom Baker, Greg Campbell, Brian Cobb, Jesse
Canterbury
Royal Room, Seattle
We adventured out once again, this time all the way out to Columbia City, to catch the welcome return of the Tom Baker Quartet, following a decade or so of their internal geographical separation.
river passages
white water and calm
crazy disbalancing moves
balanced on the fly
the new song For Bill is lovely.
We're so glad you're back playing
again.
From Recent Arrivals
May 28, 2022
Remedy - Adele [from 25]
piano and power vocal
like Billy Joel
if he could sing
keyboard
intentionally bland in the figuration bureau
tarted up
with a reverb
I Will Survive (The Aretha Version) - Aretha Franklin [from Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics]
runs through the song quickly so she can get to the party
He Was a Big Freak (Record Plant Rough Mix) - Betty Davis [from They Say I'm Different]
moves every danceable shiver
When I Fall In Love - Betty Roché - [from Singin' and Swingin']
turns a swift pivot on that sudden "or"
takes the long lines
in
the short segments
until the wind up
for the ending
(nice
lower appoggiatura)!
Recorded
Pavana, Fvb 123 - Thomas Tomkins - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
the background motion is so simple to follow it nearly disappears
while
we delight in the sparkle
then we find ourselves ensorcelled
without hearing how
O Maria Mater - Peter Philips - The Tudor Consort, Peter Walls [from Cantiones Sacrae Quinis Vocubus]
theological minutia contemplation
the pericope
as a lens to the
whole of Grace
Sonata in F minor, Kk. 183 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
sticks on pitches that hang in the air
sensitive to how the shapes of
his figures energize the pitches with an additional functionality
Waltz in D-flat Major, Op. 70 #3 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot (1943)
a pretty dress and a fine cut of coat
May 29, 2022
Don Carlos, Act II - Giuseppe Verdi - Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Claudio Abbado, Placido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, Lucia Valentini Terani, Leo Nucci, Ruggero Raimondo, Nicolai Giaurov
this is the act where I lose track of the plot
gist at end:
Don
Carlos can't marry his lady love
since
she is married to his dad
there is trouble from many sides
quite the horn line to open
the music follows the character closely
so closely that the lines between each character
as they follow
each other
turn on points
not turning
spinning in a moment
characters sharing a moment
also share the music
structural
signifier of simpatico
the male duet
a neutral moment is their set
piece duet
but the artificiality of it won't hold it together
quite the little bromance there
scene 2
some female voices
at last
you know this will end badly
it starts so cheerfully
as I suspected
solemnity
sometimes the music is the
politeness which the social situation demands
the music is our own
empathy up on stage
he loves sudden interruptions
May 30, 2022
Wild Man Blues - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers]
interruptions to the simpler flow of it poke here and there
another
music intruding
might be 6 or 7 of them
possibly more
Don't Know If I'm Comin' or Goin' - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day, The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
a show tune type song
says its thing
time for a dance
repeat
the thing
move on
swing is among other things a form of rubato that can coexist with a steady
beat
it is not of course the only such rubato to have arisen
and
although swing can coexist with a mechanically steady beat
that
steadiness is not required
I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm - Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine [from The Irving Berlin Songbook]
entertainingly fancy duetting
showing off
Any Day Now - Chuck Jackson [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
commercial popular song
instruments hold to certain limited functions
at most offering a response or echo to the vocal at its own level
more of the time clearly subordinate
The Look of Love (from Casino Royale) - Morgana King [from Gemini Changes]
her voice is held close inside
comfortable with breathing intimacy
doesn't sail into anthemic grandeur
except as an occasional glance
RFO-M-F(32) - Anthony Braxton [from Saxophone Improvisations Series F]
a duet among close registers within the figuration
an ambitus melody
turning inside out
Sons of the Silent Age - David Bowie [from Heroes]
a series of chords rising stepwise
aims elsewhere than where it lands
discussing the emptiness of another's life is a risky game
Looking For the Perfect Beat - Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
industrial design for mass dancing
to lose self in a raving mass
a
social solvent
be part of the solution
just a lonely ion floating free
Cantus - Keith Eisenbrey - Fehrwood Ensemble [2nd rehearsal run-through March 29, 1987]
at the time I was working with the idea that the sounds made while composing
were also music of some interest
this project started with a long
session of me improvising fingerings on a recorder
which session I
recorded to see what might happen
as it turns out
the final piece
is not so far off the sounds of that session
and even maps it
metaphorically
as
the ideational path of the melody that emerges
as
the payoff
Rap Promoter - A Tribe Called Quest [from Low End Theory]
cuts off short
after some diggidiggidangdidangs
Loop Di Loop - Shonen Knife [from Brand New Knife]
I guess it has a teenybop freshness about it
just doesn't do much for me
this band could really cook together
always seemed to be having a good
time
Consider the Birds Mix 1 - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]
put it all together and what have you got
a bird coop
bickerers
and mutterers
some sounds are recognizable for what they originated as
even when sliced out of their envelope context
xylophone
it's a quick sound anyway
and human voice
as for the rest of
it
not so much
Karen thought it all sounded like birds bickering
hence the title
Consider the Birds (how they bicker)
there was a scheme for
how all the little bits would be put together for the mix
but I have
forgotten it
ends with sudden disappearing
May 31, 2022
As the Clouds Drift By - Song Sparrow Research [from Song Sparrow Research]
this song is a boat on a creek
or a planet surface with picturesque
atmosphere
stops before the song feels complete
does music arise out of the physical properties of sound
or from the
psychic properties of people?
do we listen to discover artifacts of
sound or artifacts of us?
window or mirror?
both?
social or
physical?
|||
as social
distinct from language
in that
linguistic
reference supersedes the internal reference
if reference it is
of
music
or
are the mechanisms of internal self-referentiality we
consider musical
merely so many metaphors
linguistic contrivances?
|||
as physical
what is it exactly we are attending
sound by means
of sound?
and isn't attention a social act?
|||
windows wide open
oh my such sweet smelling Spring
a
breeze that blows by
Jaunty Part 2~~~-~~~-~-~~-~-~- (Rojahn Remix) - Lost Chocolate Lab [from Previously Clean]
at a cabin by a lake
fishing for lazy afternoons
Fantasia, Fvb 124 - Thomas Morley - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
intervals in time
then in pitch
along Guido's Hand
they
repercuss
throughout
dig a hole in a meadow
good people
Riding on a Humpback Mule - Cumberland Ridge Runners [from Evans 78s]
that mule was saved
must have gone to a camp meeting
fiddle guitar and vocals in harmony
Bottle Up and Go - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy Volume 1]
this train keeps going faster is it gets along
Bassism - Sun Ra [from The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra]
lovely moment where the sound is reduced to the slowly bowed bass
one
would almost think the beat had stopped for moment but it hadn't
Flying - The Beatles [from Magical Mystery Tour]
not entirely sure this vehicle is aloft for real
somebody having fun in
the studio
Scumbag - John Lennon and Yoko Ono [from Live Jam]
one gets the feeling that John didn't just want to leave The Beatles he wanted The Beatles to leave him
Looking After No. 1 - The Rumour [from Max]
male strut uptight
convincing itself it knows what's right
for who
isn't number one
June 2, 2022
Come Back to Me - X [from Under the Big Black Sun]
country lyrics with a retro rock and roll sound and a distinctly not country styled sax solo
Crazy - REM [from Dead Letter Office]
lots of shaken things and take a walk
repeated
Music for Winds and Harp - Michael Leese - Arcadian Winds
settings are adjusted tested readjusted
finding music to make at each
setting
Morsey rhythms
Seven Years in Tibet - David Bowie [from Earthling]
a large sound instrumental punctuates the interval between each verse
which
(the verse)
increases in vocal presence on the second iteration
the large
sound punctuation has words the second time it comes around
3rd verse
no vocal
heard
an amateur ensemble plays that string orchestra movement that comes up constantly with intonation issues
Livin' in the Future - Bruce Springsteen [from Magic]
it helps
to hear this as simply a rhythm of syllables
that
I
haven't a clue what he's saying
outside of the chorus
na na na na na
I got that
whew
Side by Side - Your Mother Should Know [recorded at the Tintinabulary, Seattle, June 6, 2012]
a train case full of kazoos no less
Retrograde - Bad Cap / Bad Cop [from Warriors]
music for moshing
happy heaps of folks squeezing together
high
energy community glob
Banned Telepath 85 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 11, 2022]
I am frankly at a loss as to how many people would be needed to do all this
I'm playing washtub
Neal is on the phone
Karen is drumming
who is making the other sounds
I must be wandering amongst the
percussion
Neal sneezes over the cell waves
now we all wander
we're recording these Tintinabulary sessions in five channels
two
Realistik PZMs ca 1990 taped to the East wall at opposite ends of the studio
treated as a stereo signal (one and two)
an Audio Technica stereo
condenser mic in the middle aimed West stereo oriented up down (three and
four)
and a large diaphragm Audio Technica mic to pick up the phone
(five)
though all the sounds leak to the others
keyboards of all
stripes should be approached with extreme caution
In Session at the Tintinabulary
June 1, 2022
Joshua Tree Prelude 18 - Aaron Keyt
Anybody's Fingerbook 5x5 (augmentational) C D A - Keith Eisenbrey
June 2, 2022
Sinfonia 2 - Keith Eisenbrey
I just finished this on Thursday. After several months of struggle it came together easily in just a few days. This is a midi realization with which I am quite pleased.
June 3, 2022
Joshua Tree Prelude 19 - Aaron Keyt
Anybody's Fingerbook 5x5 (augmentational) D A B - Keith Eisenbrey
Prelude in F-sharp minor - Keith Eisenbrey
Postscripts
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
some listening journal doodles from 1989
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