Saturday, December 10, 2022

Playlist

Preface

"'Rum creeters is women,' said the dirty-faced man, after a pause.
'Ah, no mistake about that,' said a very red-faced man, behind a cigar.
After this little bit of philosophy, there was another pause.
'There's rummer things than women in this world, though, mind you,' said the man with the black eye, slowly filling a large Dutch pipe, with a most capacious bowl.
'Are you married?' inquired the dirty-faced man.
'Can't say I am.'
'I thought not.' Here the dirty-faced man fell into ecstasies of mirth at his own retort, in which he was joined by a man of bland voice and placid countenance, who always made it a point to agree with everybody.
'Women, after all, gentlemen,' said the enthusiastic Mr. Snodgrass, 'are the great props and comforts of our existance.'
'So they are,' said the placid gentleman.
'When they're in a good humour,' interposed the dirty-faced man.
'And that's very true, said the placid one.
'I repudiate that qualification,' said Mr. Snodgrass, whose thoughts were fast reverting to Emily Wardle. 'I repudiate it with disdain - with indignation. Show me the man who says anything against women, as women, and I boldly declare he is not a man.' And Mr. Snodgrass took his cigar from his mouth, and struck the table violently with his clenched fist.
'That's a good sound argument,' said the placid man.
'Containing a position which I deny,' interrupted he of the dirty countenance.
'And there's certainly a very great deal of truth in what you observe too, sir,' said the placid gentleman."

Charles Dickens - The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club

Texts

Recorded

December 4, 2022

Ma maistresse - Johannes Ockeghem - Blue Heron, Scott Metcalfe

interdependence
of each
to each
to each
for
maximal individuation of voice

His Rest. Galiard, Fvb 195 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

imitative entrances lock the ear into little boxes of apparent coherence

Sonata in G Major, Kk. 210 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

head rhyme generated moment extensions

Impromptu in E-flat Major, Op. 90 #2 - Franz Schubert - Alfred Brendel

the contour shape of a sung phrase
imitated in running triplet figures
contrasting movements conjoined

Twelfth Street Rag - Louis Armstrong's Hot Seven [from Hot Fives and Sevens]

playing off of an inexplicit background
transformation of an unstated model
but
evoking that model as the center
of its expression
of rhythmic configurations

Suite for Clarinet 1b - Johanna Beyer - Craig Hill

blown about
wandering night
blown about wandering night 

giocoso
lamentation
contrast

Havin' a Ball - Billy Kyle [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

enters twice for twice the fun
they all dance

You Go To My Head - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: the Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

a song includes its mood lighting and mixology

Crazeology - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes]

here the model is explicit
or at least a stand-in for that model is presented at the outset
and any aspect of it can be commented upon
by the standing committee

December 1952 - Earle Brown - David Tudor

played upon an accessorized piano
firing projectiles at targets
70 years ago

Speak Low - Bill Evans [from New Jazz Conceptions]

with the left hand
sinisterious figure
gruff goat
turning Charlie Parker corners up there
beatnik hot

'Till there Was You - The Beatles [from First Live Recordings, Volume 1]

the later commercial version
doesn't include John sassing Paul
at every opportunity

Bonnie Ship (the Diamond) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]

sings songs he's been listening to
in his voice
transformative encyclopedia
whale shanty

Flower in the Sun - Janis Joplin [from In Concert]

rhythm as a force
drives directly through her 

it's mesmerizing

A New Career in a New Town - David Bowie [from Low]

the sizes of things count themselves
in twos and fours

Atom Tan - The Clash [from Combat Rock]

playing with his backup singers

December 5, 2022

Entos 4 - Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer, David M, Marcia Z [July 25, 1987]

accumulation by excruciating increments
backtracking at all points required
resulting in:
an improvised choral arrangement
in four voices
of the opening verses of John
the music will stop you
what is it in the music that makes completion
what gives you that sense of completion
nobody agrees
calendar coordination

Soul Brother #1 - Pete Rock & C. L. Smith  [from Mecca and the Soul Brother]

the mix is a neighborhood crowded with sounds

Interlude: Sad / Special - Janet Jackson [from The Velvet Rope]

talking to oneself
aspirational self care
the song stops
then another song starts
no showboating from the hired crew allowed

December 6, 2022

Long House Welcome Song (Samish) - Johnny Moses [from When The Humans Thought They Were People]

accompanied by frame drum
but starts with just the voice
long sung tones begin each phrase
which accumulates articulation
and internal cyclic structures
as they ripen

Intermezzo 3 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, March 17, 2007]

a series of dyads each of 11 or 13 semitones
shaped into a quasi contrapuntal exploration
of an incrementally expanding pitch space region
I think I wrote most of this one in Malabar, FL, in early 1983 while visiting a friend and fellow student

The Universe Hates Me - Broken By Clouds

this band rehearsed at the same facility as Your Mother Should Know

tempo of suburban streets

Gradus 313 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 12, 2017]

locations
in temporally local arrays
have array shapes
composing with array shapes
do we take in these shapes
as objects
to be compared amongst themselves
or
as a single object
that morphs continually?
Yes I think both
in the same instantly synthesized manner
we take in song
as
both singular and multiple
a synthesis
of a synthesis with a primitive
that is itself
both synthesis and primitive
no wonder we're so confused
music is a confusion 

|| 

on a time scale that includes both rungs
the entirety of the location collection shifts
but does that change the analysis at all as far as my experience?:
only
I think
to the extent of my prior knowledge of the plan
otherwise
it comes across as simply an accelerated morph
but also
gradually
as a permanent transformation
no going back
the greater the number of locations in play
the greater the number and variety of array shapes
to try on
and the greater the possibility of division

The Surrogate - Tom Swafford [from Rough Spaces]

scrubby arm figures
vigorously applied

His Humour, Fvb 196 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

is occasionally twisted in puzzlement

Oedipus Rex - Igor Stravinksy - London Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti, Peter Pears, Kerstin Meyer, Donald McIntyre, Stafford Dean, Ryland Davies, Benjamin Luxon, Alex McCowen, John Alldis Choir, John Alldis

the opening chorus turns itself inside out
constantly churning stone
we don't get the whole story
in either text narrated
nor in the music sung nor played
we don't need it
Oedipus didn't have the whole scoop either 

a self-tightening knot
it all pulls inside

December 7, 2022

Moten Swing - Carolina Cotton Pickers [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]

for listening on your feet
floor dance with showboaters

Mingus Fingers - Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

rhythm lesson

It Never Entered My Mind - Peggy Lee [from Dream Street]

as much as the phrases are made disjunct in her breath scheme
she both carries the thought to the end
and leaves each pause open as to where she might be going
through each oddly rolling rhyme

Tapestry from an Asteroid - Sun Ra [from The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra]

slow dance

(I Love You, I Love You, I Love You) Sweetheart of My Dreams - Thelonius Monk [from Standards]

weight contour of the key-strikes
is unerringly vocal
singable
only the the notes he needs
bends time

Stand Behind Me - Carole King [from Rhymes & Reasons]

strand of autobiography
we are put in the place of readers
intimates
her bland piano playing
a feature of the handwriting of her singing
shapes of letters

Psycho Killer - Talking Heads [from Talking Heads: 77]

text from a selection of narrators
severely segregated

Open All Night - Bruce Springsteen [from Nebraska]

trucker road house rhythm
anywhere that's nowhere USA
popping bennies

Resonance 1987 - Ann McLellan

a low rolling tune
pressure or pokes applied
tones added
but join the common throb
the sound on this end of time and transfers is gloriously cruddy
time is taken for tones to sink in
some fall through out the bottom end
off the map
ends
bump
without fuss or finesse
love it

Meeting the Free Drummer - Mara Helmuth [from Open Space 16]

multiple flailing fists on multiple wandering pianos
now we replace fists with fingers
a bodily gestural shift
the pianos wander further afield
an architectural gestural shift
flange filter intrudes
a technological gestural shift
the editing becomes more blatant
a procedural gestural shift
we lose track of piano altogether
an originary gestural shift

Banned Rehearsal 640 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Isabel K, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 19, 2002]

the 18th Bannediversary celebrated
bells bells bells
taps too
but mostly bells
a rattle
golly we've had that frame drum for over 20 years now
winnowed down to a small drum
the kora
a cymbal
we reawaken
to thin out
glock and a rubbed surface
next to nothing
the door opens and closes
the bell on the knob jingles
an ocarina hoots
distracted and timorous
but sounds return
guitar
toy steel drum
cases are unlatched
a tambourine is shaken
tub bass
another venerable personality
we stick with it long enough for a cowbell clang
electric guitar
autoharp

Neben - An Auf [from An Auf]

filtered piano scribbles
space to fade or bubble out

December 8, 2022

Banned Rehearsal 819 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [August 13, 2012]

a drumming off in a corner
we begin properly
the tribe gathers early in our porch sitting days
not yet finding the best way to mic it
finger thrums and wristy shakes
our sound is spread more thinly than we were on the ground
why might that matter
it makes it harder to hear the collective groove
proximity effect is particularly forward
difficult to attend to what everyone is doing
collective construction sounds
small parts
no power tools used

Harbor Island - The Deadrones [from We Are Watching]

gloom heavy
all they can do to lift it a full five tones up
falls right back

Banned Telepath 91 Tucson - Steve Kennedy [July 31, 2022]

breeze rumble birds and intermittent footsteps on gravelly surface
birds or bugs
raspy chatters
if it's a bird sound
and not Steve with a noisemaker
then it is not a bird I'm familiar with
several of the song birds
are new to my ear as well
a traffic goes by
good morning nice weather today
the chatter must be a critter
because its rhythm is echoed at distance
do I hear a coyote yipping out there
or some sort of gull or owl
the rhythm seems more avian that canid
Steve returns for his device
but pauses
off

December 9, 2022

Fayne Would I Wedd, Fvb 197 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

provisional terms:
tonality (of a moment)
a society of tones as it emerges in experience
key (of a moment)
a global construct by which tonalities might be regimented
tonalities might emerge in manners mutually opaque
to the manners in which they emerge in other musics 

:: 

quasi-linguistic

Southern Shout - Dixieland Jug Blowers [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

opens with an orchestration of a blues guitar
door opening measure
to the extent there are cadences every few bars
they serve to give space to a smorgasbord of pop up punch lines

Boo-Hoo - Count Basie [from The First Recordings He Ever Made]

cuts off in the middle of the verse
must have run out of vinyl

Unloved and Unclaimed - Roy Acuff [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]

concerning an unclaimed body pulled from a river
the news item and a comment upon it

Long Tall Sally - Little Richard [from Here's Little Richard]

the band is notable for a paucity of guitars
perhaps a hint of a rhythm guitar behind the piano
perhaps not

Session No. 112 - Stevie Wonder [from The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie]

Stevie is adept and charismatic
but the cut is not particularly interesting otherwise

Come In - The Irish Rovers [from The Unicorn]

Irish hospitality theme song
yee haw

Tom Joad - Country Joe McDonald [from The Greatest Songs of Woody Guthrie]

another abandoned body
become an abandoned family
of an abandoned class (agit-prop)
become a working class hero

Canons - Conlon Nancarrow, Charles Amirkhanian [from Conlon Nancarrow Speaks with Charles Amirkhanian]

interested in this temporal thing
canons make it easier to follow the temporal relationship

Home Sweet Home - Walt Wagner [from The Evening Muse]

hymn time
hammer it home in the bass

In Session at the Tintinabulary

December 5, 2022

Banned Rehearsal 1065 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt

digging into the big red bag of fun

Postscripts

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery

some listening journal doodles from 1991












No comments:

Post a Comment