"So he spoke,
and Antinoös grew more angry in his heart
and, looking
out from under angry eyebrows,
spoke winged words:
'Now I do not think
that you'll get out of the halls
all in one piece,
since you insist on uttering
such words of derision.'
So saying, he seized the footstool
and let it fly at Odysseus
and
hit him right at the point
where the shoulder joins the back.
Odysseus
stood like a rock, utterly unmovable,
nor did the missile of Antinoös
make him teeter,
but he shook his head in silence pondering vengeance
in the secret inner chambers of his heart . . ."
Homer - from "The Odyssey" translated by Charles Stein
Texts
Recorded
November 11, 2023
Adagio in F Major, Anh. 206a - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout
leads an experienced life
through all its moments
at each turning
homing in
on completeness
its pull
ever-present
passions resolved in the end
the book may be closed now
Étude in F Major, Op. 10 #8 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
jolly at first
bluffs through peril
will the jollity hold
why yes!
the jolly will hold
we'll sit on the porch now
and spin our yarns
Fantasiestück in C Major, Op. 12 #6 "Fabel" - Robert Schumann - Eric Le Sage
here are the puppets
this is their conflict
and this the moral
lesson
dreamy slow drift
into town energy
every location
has its
story to tell
as we march along the main street
New English self-satisfaction
Nice Work If You Can Get It - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Blue Note Recordings]
bass line
might be on a different planet
and it would still serve
to keep the melody on target
Miss Ann (Take 6) - Little Richard [from Here's Little Richard]
each line
opens with a descending figure
in carefully patterned
variants
Midnight - Ray Charles [from Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music]
muted/unmuted low bones
instruments
sound like something somebody
is doing
Work Song - Nina Simone [from High Priestess of Soul]
surviving with soul intact
His Eyes, Her Eyes - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan with Michel LeGrand]
underlining parallels with effects
for recording orchestra
Jericho - Joni Mitchell [from Don Juan's Reckless Daughter]
comfortable clothing
we can move in easily
no bunching or binding
Goodbye, Julie - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
inner monolog
of anticipated reunion
Happy - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]
post-industrial complacent
dreams of hopes
warm glow
deep
fuzzy
Time Is An Ocean - Paul Simon, Mark Anthony, and Ruben Blada [from Songs from The Capeman]
not from the normative Americana experience
as seen in the movies
Heathen - David Bowie [from Heathen]
a fog on the sound
soft light
break into the clear
am I
where I belong
anymore
the air is charged with flow
we are carried
Languourous Motion - Steve Layton & Improv Friday [from PPP]
a buoy
tethered
to the muddy river's bed
the gentle
undulations
of the earth's rhythms
touch its bell
a sound
afloat
on a sound
actively languorous
keeping at it
the joy
of exacting revenge
Totem 51 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Totems V]
a marker of place
it stays put
and its place
is made
to stay put
a writing
a reminder
of the local mythic
heroes
in that sense
a hero
is an imaginary figure
brought forth
in order to people our stories
the story
made the hero
and includes them
why
the realms
of Gods
and
heroes
are so close
is
that
they are all
within
stories
shared among people
the surrounds have changed
the place stays put
in its place
of staying put
it breathes
through tubes
strides
on dry brush
Three Days - Willie Nelson [from ...And Then I Wrote]
a song that explains its text's conceit
in case we didn't catch on
Spanish is the Lovin' - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
late evening
fireside anthem
anyone can imagine themselves
into the song
trope
in song
regret for Mexico
our Latin half
Pale Blue Eyes - REM [from Dead Letter Office]
more regret
for lost love
hang out at the end of it
for
another go round
Nice Work If You Can Get It - Glenn Tate [from Some of My Favorite Love Songs]
performed
as a dance
on the keys
Robot Sadists and the Mechanical World - Yuni in Taxco [from Prizes]
marching in strict formation
all language objects
must be
roughened up
distressed
a new section at the end
as
extensive
as the song portion
an accumulation of short cycles in maneuvers
The Atrocity of Sunsets - Greg Sinibaldi [from Ariel]
small objects being rolled in a tin drum
Santo - Christina Aguilera [from Aguilera]
a thin membrane
for environment
and we're inside
being told
things
The Fool On The Hill (Demo) - The Beatles [from Anthology]
how often does the process of producing a song for release
eliminate
wonderful oddities
a contraption
concerning
how inner workings go
Beat Surrender - The Jam [from The Sound of The Jam]
presumes
a big stage
with flashing lights
and sparkly body
suits
and dancing
lots of dancing
Eyes of an Angel - The Swearengens [from Devil Gets Her Way]
the devil made me do it
not my fault
I can't be blamed
Krist Novoselic's New Band - Alone in Dead Bars [recorded live at The Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 15, 2017]
we're kinda like a rock band
Blood and Bubblegum - Star Anna [from Live at Rimbert Illustration]
my skin
is a two way radio
a strumming verse
songs take
their hooks out
for go round
after go round
Here We Come a Wassailing - London Symphony Orchestra [from Songs for the Holidays]
orchestrated opening
has a taste of Mahler's Fourth
so much
arrangement
that the song itself
may be irrecoverable
The Fantastic and Glittering Palace of Madness - Pete Comley [from Lost City Music, Volume 2]
composing a sound world
or
as much of its entirety as possible
there is no leakage from outside
it's all text
its wave form
is what there is
an illusionary project
virtual reality
a believable fiction
Rooftop Days - Song Sparrow Research [from Song Sparrow Research]
old songbook words
warm blanket
unforced tones
glow
surrounds us
why leave
Rato D'Agua - Camarones Orquestra Guitarristica [from Feeexta]
as though with authority
assumed
cyclicity
tempts one
to hear music
from above it
massed volume
keeps you tied and gagged
Treehouse - Mikey and Matty - [from And It Came to Pass / Not to Stay]
verse one
an odd rhyme
about fingernails
and time to suck us
in
unfolded
into a larger metaphor
Grand March from Aida - Giuseppe Verdi [from 100 Greatest Classics]
as royalty
expects force projection
acclamatory
opposing
brass choirs
act out a fictional space
inside a staged space
Zibra Island - Brendan Byrnes [from Micropangea]
sounds from a diorama
impulses reverberate through the instruments
in waves
machined precision
an infra game locale
House of Flames - The Maldives [from Mad Lives]
acoustic strings and reeds
dissonance against a drone
in out
in out
there is no other way for this melody to be
than
to be this way
with these tones
and overtones
in this jacked up resonance
with these vowels
these slow diphthongs
aloft
on a
magic sonority ride
Worm Man - Ramones [from Halfway to Sanity]
doing his Stooges bit
playing the cartoon villain
Sklamanie - Stanislav Surin
the piano is from a strange distance
to have been played by the singer
whose microphone
removes them
from anywherein
that
might have enclosed it
mostly
Broken - Bad Cop/Bad Cop [from Warriors]
blame the old
Plastic Off the Sofa - Beyoncé [from Renaissance]
mixed messages
make out session
Schopska Pesen - Philip Koutev - Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir [from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares]
a firm challenge
Mother Don't Cry For Me - Andrew James Robison [recorded live at The Rat and Raven, Seattle, August 9, 2012]
a country
or post country
epistle
I Need You - Prom Queen [from Doom Wop]
all the sounds
squeeze into this tight closet
in your head
Copper Bottom - Robin Holcomb [from One Way Or Another]
couplets rhyming
and not
Man In the Mirror - Michael Jackson [from Bad]
quiverbrato
stanza repetitions
guided
by the structure
of the dance number
Astro Novus - The Ancients [recorded live at The Rat and Raven, Seattle, August 9, 2012]
eventually
it's a song about space adventure refugees
He Was Despised - Marjorie Palmer [from Make A Joyful Noise]
harsh piano sound
I have had the pleasure
of seeing Sharlet herself
a small dog
who performed tricks
while Mark was busking
in E-burg
Soon As I Get Home - Total Experience Gospel Choir [from Bits & Pieces]
where does the notion
that we'll wear crowns in heaven
come
from?
well done codetta track
hidden there
past the end
Divine/Mimosa - Swearin' [from Swearin']
as though recorded on limited equipment
Whatever I Can Get - Red Ribbon [from Freaks Only]
in this mess together
George N. Gianopoulos: An Autumn Sunset: II. “Lagooned in gold...” - Stephanie Lamprea [from Quaking Aspen]
well that's one way to recite a poem
the color of your feet
Roses from the South - Johann Strauss [from 100 Greatest Classics]
bloom quickly
when they go
between each bush
a gravel path
watch your step
none of that giddy fluidity
from character
to character
that Chopin couldn't resist
this
is
to
dance to
Sunshine - Tyrannosaurus Grace [recorded live at The Rat and Raven, Seattle, August 9, 2012]
drummer solos in
bass joins the jam
feedback
and we settle
into what I presume will be
the song's groove
the one high-voice
vocalist
squeaks between notes
Runaway - Lures [from There's No Pressure]
man
at a loss
about someone
who
had found
one of
those fifty ways
Schubladenbrief ((Desk-)Drawer-Letter) - Eric Nathan - Parry Karp, Christopher Karp [from Missing Words]
elbow grease
into it
block dynamics
hard boundaries
Got My Mojo Working - The Young Fresh Fellows [from The Men Who Loved Music]
a live version I think
reckless jalopy fun
Which Side Are You On - Ian Bell, John Teske [from Embers of Discontent (final mix)]
for the dire opening credits
of the big screen epic film
of the
Harlan County War
Brass Beam - Waxahatchee [from Out In The Storm]
upfront attitude of judgmentalism
but also reflective about it
Fill The Space - Doug Kolmar [from So Said Life]
music as valued pastime
Madrigali, "Six Fire Songs On Italian Renaissance Poems": V. Luci serene e chiare - Morton Lauridsen - Polyphony, Stephen Layton]
in dialog with art song
as well as madrigals
madrigals
as to the way the voices work with each other
but
art song
in how it faces out
rather than in
it is
addressed to us
as a body
the voices
don't speak among
themselves
as much as in the older practices
Song 5 - Peterman [recorded live at The Blue Moon, Seattle, October 4, 2012]
the drums that open
help establish the parameters
within which
social dancing
or moshing
can be accomplished
Dream Gig - Dead Bars [from Dream Gig]
I've got insoles in my shoes
give me something beautiful
Dark River - Steve Peters [from With My Back to the Wall]
ripples
glass
bodies of warm light
Abide With Me - William Henry Monk [from 100 Greatest Classics]
{this collection is larded with obscurish Anglican anthems}
nearly a
self-parody
hymn words
ought not
not
not
to be
word-painted
and
one should never
never
never
express a devotional mood with them
Track 7 - Nancy Cole Silverman - Adam Verner [from A Much Married Woman]
lots of telling
long unaccounted periods of time
situations and
dialog
nothing necessary to the back story
is left to figure out
Diamond Jim Brady
introduced
with his 3X5
notecard
personal information
Chemical Hearts - Shelby Earl [from The Man Who Made Himself a Name]
round and round
but with a gloriously handled dramatic hesitation
before the leap
to cycle back
at two points
corporate breathing
plot driven
this
then this
but
playful
Fantasia on "Greensleeves" - Ralph Vaughan Williams [from 100 Greatest Classics]
arrangements follow arrangements
innumerable costume shifts
Chunka - Bruce Hamilton and Friends [from Mash Hits Volume 1]
a rude interruption
someone's drilling holes into the sound world
Crows - Mud On My Bra [recorded live at Sunset Tavern, Seattle, April 18, 2017]
the flat affect
slow count to eight
part of the costume
Biosynthesis - Benton Roark - Re:Naissance Opera [from Music from The Apocrypha Chronicles]
at first
there is no stage
but
it appears
up front
with the synth on it
is a speaker a stage?
U Got The Look (2020 Remix) - Prince [from Sign O' The Times]
song
as a collection of statements
forming themselves
into a
structure
but
without much consideration
of narrative
scansion
Track 6 - Black Plastic Clouds - [recorded live at The Sound Effects Café, Seattle, October 20, 2012]
pounding out one and three
Track 8 - Sun Dummy [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, April 27, 2017]
guitar keeps time steady
vocal pulls away
to no avail
Good Intentions - Emily Stranger [from Labor of Love]
dark Taylor
once
what is said
is said
repeat it all
in
what might as well be
the same order
Succe$$ I$ The Word (12" Success Version) - Boogie Down Productions [from Criminal Minded]
end run
to the goal
as culturally defined
eat more to win
Track 6 - The Hunting Club [recorded live at The Sound Effects Café, Seattle, October 20, 2012]
gentle walk
in a transfigured landscape
Already Gone - Alvvays [from Antisocialites]
the glider squeaks
when we swing our legs
our inner voice
fills experience
utterly self-absorbed
Limbus 3 - James Falzone [from So Far Still]
topiary
somewhat out of pristinity
grand and lovely
Souper - Milton Babbitt [from Erik Carlson's Slowly Expanding Milton Babbitt Album]
our dinghy
jostled by wakes
from all sides
don't stand up
Ode To The Nightwatchman - Triptet [from Figure In The Carpet]
probes infest body civic
press to the walls
keep to shadows
Hallelujah - Three Fingers [from Stocking Stuffers]
does it bug anyone else
that the song's self-description
"the
fourth the fifth" etc.
doesn't match the actual tune being sung?
Mistress Kitenu - Tom Swafford [from Rough Spaces]
balance beam care
The Meeting Place - XTC [from Fossilfuel]
video song
reinventing cinema
from the montage outward
The Wish - Robin Jackson and The Caravan [from Dust Diaries]
my exploratory youth
of love cycles
cumulo vampus
expecting little
step
briefly
barely
to the side
all of an inch or two
Motus ad Nihilum - Eric Flesher
understated funky four
in a rolling drum
the terrain changes
but our kickin' along mood
remains buoyant
The River Between - Benjamin Boretz, Richard Teitelbaum [from Inter/Play]
radical chamber music
there is no audience
outside the chamber
I am in it
with them
I am
made an equal
of them
instantly
there is no other way
to be in the chamber
with them
than
with them
direction shift
synth leads
piano observes
stretches feet
unmoved
immediate
total
vesting
irrecoverable
comprehensive
and unavoidable
inclusivity
{mortal sin
being the
obverse
of unconditional love
as in a coin
but
in what
moral universe
might such a coin
have been minted?}
flowing
to the next leap
use the force Luke
into the weeds
the whole explosion
of whens and whats
and nervous safety
ocean swells
from slow angles
subdued in harbor
dredging
to bedrock
scraping clean
whew!
done with that
let's sit for a spell
one is still with them
I
being the one
as is still
with them
a fabric
can ascend
and descend
pitch-wise
and
pitch-class-wise
in
incompatible directions
simultaneously
chronometrically
kairologically
I'm Looking For a Woman - Freddie & The Screamers [from I Ain't Crazy]
raunch on display
at the local bar and grill
is repetition of a verse
required for radio play
or
to otherhow sell the song?
has there been market research?
Anak Ko - Charms [from Human Error]
enter at your own risk
subsumption of self
into the prevailing
décor
is strictly enforced
Sonata in C-sharp minor, Moderato - Jeremiah Lawson
ferociously complex guitar figurations
one is compelled
to hold
the thread of thought
through thick and thin
In Session at The Tintinabulary
November 12, 2023
Lindon - Keith Eisenbrey
another arrangement of a shape-note tune
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 6: 1984-1988
Working with narrative forms, both explicit and implicit, playing games with memory, and finding ways to set texts.
Keith Eisenbrey 5: 1984-1988
My first years back in the Puget Sound area, working with the experience of repetition and with relationships between the vertical and horizontal pitch realms.
Keith Eisenbrey 4: 1983-1984
Finishes up the music I wrote while I was in New York (state) under the ostensible supervision of the academic world.
Keith Eisenbrey 3: 1982-1983
Written in Red Hook, NY, and Malabar, FL, as I was beginning to think about thinking about music.
Keith Eisenbrey 2: 1981-1982
What occupied my time toward at the end of my undergrad days and in the year before I went east for a while.
Keith Eisenbrey 1: 1979-1981
Keyboard works I composed while an undergrad at the UW.
All are free for download.
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2012
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