Playlist

Preface

"[Benjamin Franklin's] penchant for bending the rules when occasion indicated...was esteemed a charming foible. When one opponent, a Frenchman, checked his king, Franklin illegally ignored the check and moved another piece. Called on the violation, Franklin declared, 'I see he is in check, but I shall not defend him. If he was a good king, like yours, he would deserve the protection of his subjects; but he is a tyrant and has cost them already more than he is worth. Take him, if you please. I can do without him, and will fight out the rest of the battle en républicain.'"

H. W. Brands, from The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin 

Texts

Live

July 18, 2026

Finnegans Wake, Part 2, Chapter 3 - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer

Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle

circumcentric megacycles

it was long after once

breast bare to the brine bath
he is consistently blown to adams

the sinner the badder
for bubblin' through the medium
of Gaulic Mooseopotamia 

old volcanos
makes coroners of us all 

this most unmentionablest of men
blastfumed
ah pause 

/// 

infernal machine
here comes emptybody
courting daylight
and saving darkness 

language pouring into thunder
sut down and shet up  

giant crash in Eden
and soon to bett
and drums o' bliss
every Tom thick and heavy
hip hop Horatio
his mother was a glue pot
the streets spin tales
shave on the furst of his face 

knock knock
who's without 

deluded in the high places 

foots like a glove 

bind your heads goin out
lead us not into refornication
silence 

///
the trim grimtale
nothing more is told
until now 

the man of centuries
leave the letter
that never begins to go

mister monster
in the chair
poor Erin boys go brawl
guards of Finland 

the murder of investment
once again
Wittingtom
a penance for your thoughts 

takes up the communion of sense
like his bosom fiend
Erin gone broke
after the deadbeats
the bustle of Bakerloo 

mind your pews and queues 

a strange man
wearing a barrel 

the abnihilization
of the hurdily gurdily
shut 'em up
on
all
around 

/// 

vice verse
sounding
in all Confusalem 

his round house
of seven faces 

reading
in a suppressed book 

the tale unravels around the language
erupting from within it 

the coach
with the six insides
until Arthur comes again 

anybody's beastness
as usual 

thunderburst
ravishment
the keen
of old bards 

pink ponk 

the punch of quorum
on the mug of truth 

all the boots
in the straights
hide seek
highed sink
count
the hemidemisemicolons

Recorded

July 19, 2026

Nocturne in A-flat Major (#4) - John Field - Benjamin Frith

such a music
lives in the beauty of its tone
and the fluidity of its tune
lyrical loveliness essence
and
that it hints
toward depth of feeling

Album d'un voyageur, S. 156/R. 8, Book I, "Impressions et Poesies": IV. Vallee d'Obermann - Franz Liszt - Ashley Wass

such a music
lives in the elegance and sophistication of its gesture
its passion
is its sensibility
drama essence 

it transforms itself in plain sight

Gesänge der Frühe, Op. 133 - Robert Schumann - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded August 11 and September 12, 2007]

1
firm determination 

2
decorated by threads of a different meter 

3
heroic 

4
peril and plea and peace 

5
a hymn of thanks 

these pieces are partly out of my reach technically
but I think I play with some understanding of their workings 

wonderful pieces!

6 Romances sans paroles - Cecile Chaminade - Mark Viner

Lisztian in its drama language

Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72: No. 1, Gibøen's Wedding March - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø

such a music
lives in its clever inventiveness
quaintness essence

Sonata No. 10, Op. 70 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev

this music
asks us questions
for which there are not certain answers 

it lives
in the charms it casts
enchantment essence 

an entirely new way
to think fluently in music
the technical particulars
are of less import
than the doors it opens

St. James Infirmary - Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five [from Hot Fives and Sevens]

concerning what comes to us all

July 20, 2026

Of Thee I Sing (Incomplete) - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]

not a moment of her voice
is uninvested with an idea

I Want To Hold Your Hand - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology]

some live performance
with a great deal of cymbal in the mix

Roses of Yesterday - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin, All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]

so he can rhyme
discloses
and roses
across multiple lines intervening

The Old Rugged Cross [from New Orleans Traditional Jazz Legends 3]

hymn tunes
in the later 19th Century
tended towards a lot of sweetness
and risk coming across as sentimental drinking songs

Boy Glory - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]

analytical talk with oneself
to understand ones past

Who Would Imagine a King -Whitney Houston [from One Wish: The Holiday Album]

so sweet and softened
one wanders why Christ
would even need to be born

Beat Goes On (Feat. Kanye West) - Madonna [from Hard Candy]

circular lines
encouraging self talk

Back from the Dead - Spinning Whips [from Sentimental Groover]

a music made of parts
(guitar drums et cetera)
one person one part
segregated responsibility
inner part adds found stage dialog
(from a movie or tv show)

Party of One - Brandi Carlile [from By The Way, I Forgive You]

lazy pedaling on the piano
signifies sincerity
add strings to signify swelling feelings
must have been the finale on tour
an orchestra fills the stage

Soundscroll X: Tandâalis (Stone Drone) - S. Eric Scribner [from Ussers of Sleep]

it opens nearly inaudible
crosses the line between
in long shallow curves
we descend into their space
the layers
of all
that's under us

Turn Out The Stars - Bill Evans [from Another Time: The Hilversam Concert]

these parts
are having a good time
hanging out
supporting each other

Shut It Tight - T. Bone Burnett [from Proof Through The Night]

old timey tune feel
complete with string band and fiddle

Blow Away The Morning Dew (Morris) - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]

pastoral sentimental
social music

Jean de Nivelle (c. 1610) - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'n'Roll]

effective accompaniment
of low stringed pluckers
and on a large drum
played softly

Gave It a Name - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]

repeat it three times
so it knows its the name of the song
not an unattractive idea for a song

Melodia na Neblina - Frieze of Life [from Nuclear Frog Pond]

concerto thinking
(instrument groupings adjacent and talking)

Radio - Beyoncé [from I Am...Sasha Fierce]

selling equipment
selling selling

Mean Kind of Love - Star Anna [from Go To Hell]

lost in the subrural wastes

They Can't Keep the Sun from Rising - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/1950s Music]

the convenient they

For a Moment the World Changed - Steve Layton [from No Mind]

throbs of various pitches and rates
collide in partials space
new
and more interior
world

Try Being Lonely - Dolly Parton [from Just Because I'm a Woman]

sung with space between words
clearly articulated
to expressive effect

Something Better Change - The Stranglers [from Nancy's Mix]

threat to the breezes

Ghione Dos - Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir [from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares 2]

weaponized vocal projection

Hungarian Dance 2 - Johannes Brahms - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]

popular tavern fare at the time

Gotta Make It to Heaven - 50 Cent [from Get Rich or Die Tryin']

grinding rough edges
life rail

Shatterbound - The True Bugs [from 25 Songs]

weary
down pressed
lines

End of the World - Cumulus [from I Never Meant It To Be Like This]

young folks in dialog with each other
in song form

Cease Fire - Christina Aguilera [from Lotus]

a plea
then
shows the plush lining

I'm a Regular - Your Mother Should Know [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have To Be Cool]

one of Neal's songs that Dead Bars picked up

July 21, 2026

Do Something To Me - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]

open with the hook-title
begging for sex
perseveres for 2'37" 

9-9 - REM [from Murmur]

broad meter
with few words
plastered toward the downbeat
chorus fills the bar with sung sound
a simple effective distinction

Rebel Without a Pause - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation to Hold Us Back]

the lines pop out of the downbeat
breath intake

Eva Ziegler - Switzerland [from The World Sings Goodnight]

a song to lull
and calm
and regulate

Walkabout [from Jack Straw Cultural Center, Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]

this sounds like an activity
that Suzie Kozawa
{who was involved in this project}
might have cooked up
wandering the studio space
with noise makers
is what it sounds like

Hunger: The Journey of Tamsen Donner (continued) - Tom Baker - Maria Mannisto, Jesse Canterbury, Greg Campbell, Brian Cobb, Tom Baker

musical cues
for kinds of page turns
the broad distances
must first be considered
scrap book song entries 

oops!
an anachronism:
It Is Well With My Soul
is from the 1870s
wouldn't have been sung
in the 1840s anywhere

The Limp - Cornelius Dufallo, Patrick Derivaz  [from Bass Violin]

we are underwater in the tidal zone
crabs emerge
feed and dance
flounder shapes hover low
birds outstretched above

Track 8 [from Unknown Christmas Album]

fulfilling a desire
to sentimentalize away
any thought

Diabelli Recomposed (continued) - Various [streamed May 11, 2023]

25
big floppy notes
blunt but tender 

26
on Broadway
(movie version) 

27
we are oh so correct
oh so mechanical
and dreamy 

28
oh dear
as done by Sir Andrew
as a whole stage show
Diabelli! 

29
at melodramatic peril
mustachios twirl
damsels recoil 

30
as a bit of intricate jewelry 

31
a new scene
silly shadows
chase hordes of tall round hats
and billy clubs 

32
it got lost in a mirror 

33
as a character piece
Diabelli voice-acted

Stimmung 1968 (end) - Karlheinz Stockhausen

patterns of joining and leaving
disjoining
rejoining
regrouping
in patterns
entering ones own sci fi future world
another self-mythology
within which
patterns
sounds
and wordbitsounds  shift
between
each other 

all  those days of the week:
is this just an advertisement
for his later operatic boondoggle? 

even breathing
brought
under compositional control

Pfritz - J. K. Randall, Kevin Shopland, Marjorie Tichenor [from Inter/Play]

flute muscles and sax muscles
sounded serious
so we enter the improvisational space
those
are all abbreviations 

I remember listening to these tapes
30 plus years ago
but my sense of what they were ever intended to be
has shifted 

the demand
of the not playing your game
to be allowed
to not play your game
as an equal
that is
all this music
doesn't play music's game
and yet
it regards itself
with equal seriousness 

interestingly
contraposed to Stimmung 

those musicians
were behaving as instructed
these
are simply behaving 

OK
let's hear it for the Communist Manifesto 

oh wow man 

let the beat evacuate itself
in the wander lands 

the costume
the cast
small p production
Sargeant
Sardines
Sartines
I need some amplification here 

he speaks in a vacuum
point nine
one point two
one point two 

Phoelix the Cat
ripped by Williams

Wack It - Marley Marl [from In Control Volume 1]

the image of command and control
dance call

Daughter - Pearl Jam [from Rearviewmirror]

the full presence of the production
enters in stages
exits similarly
but more lingeringly
long fade

Colors: Stainless Steel Grey - Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury]

a swatch of it

Frenetic Interlude #2-Various - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]

game show timer track

Divine/Mimosa - Swearin' [from Swearin']

this music goes places
and earns its stanzas
and its re-arrivals

The Moon - Whitney Ballen [from You're a Shooting Star, I'm a Sinking Ship]

this music
exists
in a genre-space
a set
of culture conversations
among musics
sharing common enough concepts

I Would Like to Be the Air - Megan Ihnen [from Sleep Songs - Wordless Lullabies from The Sleepless, volume 2]

overdubbing the loop way
but keeping the distinction of spaces plain

July 22, 2026

Kraanerg (continued) - Iannis Xenakis - Callithumpian Ensemble, Stephen Drury

pitch masses shift heavily
woozily
a certain quantity of the sounds in this music
come across
as the sounds
of the world happening
as they might be depicted  by instruments
Petrushka's barrel organ squeaks
come to mind
as another example
of a similar effect
the result
is a temptation
to treat the music as a narrative
depicting a story
but
the big breaks inside of this portion
suggest a more monumental concept
though still
essentially
depictic 

an air of harsh elements
no obvious sense of humor
or sense of community
it isn't playing around
extremes are sought

All I Want Is You - U2 [from Rattle and Hum]

to fill a stadium
or a fungible recording
with song
may harm the song 

when every song
must bloat 

to fill up to the net weight required
in largely the same way
the process
can bulldoze the song
so produced 

this one wanders off at the end
letting the strings pick up the parade manure

Music from MA - Jocelyn Chang, Michael Leese, Tony Steve

I remember that Michael was big on the use of harps
these folks make pretty sounds
much gentler than Xenakis
they are in the room for each other
bends here toward a Lou Harrison vibe
flute harp and light percussion
blocks and bells being graceful and lithe
playing with a clear attempt
to be musical
and make musics 

somebody picked up a didgeridu
in the interval
now they're making an eerie atmosphere
harp has gone missing
whoops it's back
I guess we're done

Bring Me The Disco King - David Bowie [from Reality]

life on the runway
at the bleeding edge of commercially enlightened taste
technical perfection
repeated lines
weaving among the vocals
and groups of vocals

I Wish You Well - Mariah Carey [from E=MC2]

Mariah occupying both solo and backup
(as does Bowie)
though Mariah can sing higher notes 

clutchy embrace

Jewels N' Drugs (feat. T.I., Too $hort & Twista) - Lady Gaga [from Artpop]

miles beneath the surface
where greed lives
and lust dances to flashing lights

Herbie Blood Sharrock - Bret Harte [from Dubble Thud]

a tempo is established
by invariance
it counts for you
so's you don't have to 

we'll bliss out now
each in our own manner

Sweet Sensation - Carla Thomas [from Written in their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]

this is a sharp song
performed exactly
worth the price of the whole collection

Limbo (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival) - Wayne Shorter [from The Classic Blue Note Recordings]

moves right in
to fascinate
allows little room
to breathe
ample room
for the guitar
to make the rounds
of each table
the keys
will just have to stay in place 

pretty darned nice sounding  also 

we'll take our bows now
and bid fare thee wells to all

Juice Party - U-Men

the legend exceeds its basis I'm sure

Good News - Aretha Franklin [from So Damn Happy]

never left the church
preacher extraordinaire

Winter Warn - Smokestack and the Foothill Fury [from Lone Buffalo]

local wisdom passed along
in the Winter it gets cold
and it is long

Barks and Bites - Choke The Pope [from Who Cares]

this fellow is very articulate
concerning the exact degree
of his self alienation

Romulus Hunt (continued) - Carly Simon - Nashville Opera, Dean Williamson

the avante life
torn
tween dance and sports
and Dad and Mom
trying to set up his folks' rapprochement
he doesn't want them
at the track meet

Ruby, My Dear - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]

got lost in his fingers

Sweet Child o' Mine - Guns N' Roses [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

articulate

Long Ago and Far Away - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]

we'll wash you
in candle-lit memories

A Stocking Full of Chaw - Swingset Showdown [from Cymbal of Appreciation EP]

a rude awakening

Idiot Orange - Red Ribbon [from Dark Party]

a political message?
as though personal though
cryptic

July 23, 2026

Study #4 in C-sharp minor - Jeremiah Lawson - Jeremiah Lawson

figures in eight-syllable groups

The Jolly Green Giant - The Kingsmen [from The Very Best of the Kingsmen]

complete with a Keytish list of vegetables

Three Readings - Tildy Bayar [from Open Space 12]

sound and spoken language
works
if spoken language accepts
that its sound
is limited
by its words
in ways
that sound sound
refuses 

objects of spoken language
before they are statements

Powow at Crawford - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]

muffled sounds
beneath an audibly present surface

Super Wizard - Ancient Warlocks [from Ancient Warlocks]

a hero
on his comic book pages
a made up world

Darling Lorraine - Paul Simon [from In The Blue Light]

moments in invented lives

Serenade #2 for 11 Players - George Perle - Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose

an expressionist:
expressions every last interval
each gesture significant
in all directions 

keeping track of which directions
is
thankfully
not my problem

En Reve - Norbert Moret - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, Anne-Sophie Mutter

evocativism:
a scene we witness
suddenly gets all concertoish
per the contract
this piece works best
when it isn't being a concerto 

an illustrator
a set designer

Mistica - Tania León - Cristina Valdés [streamed May 5, 2021]

lots of story before the piece
stubborn
impatient
dreamy
in turns

Ugly Beauty - Greg Sinibaldi, Jesse Canterbury [from Ascendant]

we vibrate our needs
into a liquid echo space

lonely saxophones
drifting in the dreamy

The Haunting - Slothrust [from The Pact]

trapped in a living

String Quartet No. 2 - György Ligeti - La Salle Quartet

these sounds arise in an alienated space
muttering crowds
whispers and poison
oppression
sullen obedience
always watched
it is unclear
for whose benefit
this is intended
is it fun to play? 

string quartets are serious business
and must be approached
with all due severity 

suddenly
it's the opening of Nielsen's Fifth Symphony
out on a line
to dry
in the breeze

The Rose - Mudhoney [from Superfuzz Bigmuff]

gravel beach surf
dark wharf underbelly
of city life

Under the Rainbow - Mathew Rosenblum [from Circadian Rhythms]

flute battles with media sound bits
selected for their instant recognizability
within the context of its popular culture
the battle settles into grudging allowance

Too Close - Dawn Clement [from Tempest/Cobalt]

open harmonies
sunfilled wishes
of freedom flying

Gérard - Participants [from Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions 2018]

a marked avoidance of melody
as an overt gesture
these are sounds
until they begin to march

O God Our Help in Ages Past - Alan Hovhaness - The Choirs and Orchestra of St. John's Cathedral, Denver, Donald Pearson

shaped like a choir anthem
each verse a different setting than the last
ABA
so it is easily understood
with optional unearned Amen

Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car - Billy Ocean [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

Go Dog Go pick up lines
to dance to 

A Waltzer in the House - Milton Babbitt [from Erik Carlson - Slowly Expanding Milton Babbitt Album]

voice and vibraphone
take us through a twisted copse

Somebody Said What Now - Holly Palmer [from I Confess]

recriminations and rumors
jealous thoughts

Garbageman - Steve Kennedy, Lisa Puteska [from Untitled Album]

being told off at length
through an obfuscating duplication of voice

In Session at The Tintinabulary

July 19, 2026

Farnham - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 159 Farnham 260719 [260719]

this is the 159th setting I have made
from the tunes found in an 1846 shape note song book
and completes the second large grouping of those tunes
grouped by their sharing the ability
to accommodate quatrains of 8 6 8 and 6 syllables 
(Common Meter, or C.M.) 

next up is Short Meter
or S.M.
or quatrains of 6 6 8 and 6 syllables 

I have been writing these
one for each Sunday morning
since July of 2023
and am about 3/8 of the way through the book

Postscripts

Drops

Music of Aaron Keyt - Part 3

This third collection of the music of my long-time collaborator Aaron Keyt is composed of two sets of short pieces: Hedgehogs (2014) and Music for Wallace (2016). The recordings were made at my home in 2020/2021.

recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream.