Preface
"'Man and boy, Jeeves,' I said, breaking a thoughtful silence which had lasted
for about eighty-seven miles, 'I have been in some tough spots in my time, but
this one wins the mottled oyster.'
We were bowling along in the old
two-seater on our way to Totleigh Towers, self at the wheel, Jeeves at my
side, the personal effects in the dickey. We had got off round about
eleven-thirty, and the genial afternoon was now at its juiciest. It was one of
those crisp, sunny, bracing days with a pleasant tang in the air, and had
circumstances been different from what they were, I should no doubt have been
feeling at the peak of my form, chatting gaily, waving to passing rustics,
possibly even singing some light snatch.
Unfortunately, however, if
there was one thing circumstances weren't it was different from what they
were, and there was no suspicion of a song on the lips. The more I thought of
what lay before me at these bally Towers, the bowed-downer did the heart
become.
'The mottled oyster,' I repeated."
P. G. Wodehouse, from The Code of the Woosters
Texts
Recorded
 |
| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72: No. 11, Knut Luråsens Halling II - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø
punch the third beat of three
or
let's stamp in hemiola time
Poème provençal, Op. 127: III. Le passé - Cécile Chaminade - Mark Viner
echoes
down valley
Here Come De Honey Man-Crab Man-Oh Dey's So Fresh And Fine - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong [from Porgy & Bess]
medley of goods for sale passes by
Revolution 1 - The Beatles [from The Beatles (White Album)]
criticism of surface solutions
Harborcoat (Live in Toronto) - REM [from Murmur]
this music behaves like a wall
the graffiti on it doesn't make it less a wall
Pink Cadillac - Bruce Springsteen [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Springsteen Miscellany]
mostly three notes
the occasional fourth reserved for ends of phrases
Chances Are - Scott Robinson [from Thinking Big]
a tune laid out sweet
on softly giving chords
Waltz in Waves - Brad Hawkins, Jess Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jess Canterbury]
imperfectly repressed friction
Disco Heaven - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]
club ad
Snohomish Mash-Up Piece #4 - Ext_ The Chicken, with blues - S. Eric Scribner, et al [from Odds & Ends]
layers of immediacy
Exu - Steve Layton [from Trouble in Mind]
this music is a niche ecosystem
Interlude - unattributed [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have To Be Cool]
a moment to strum and pluck
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| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
Say It Isn't So/How Deep Is The Ocean - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin, All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
careful of his intervals
high and low points
sky and ocean
Sweet day, so cool (Parry) - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]
let's put a moral damper on joy
that must die
(leave it to the English)
Gap 1st Batch 8, 16 - J. K. Randall - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded September 2, 2026]
8 could be cleaner
I've since redone it
16 is good matter of fact
Press Conference (In The Rose Garden) - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]
the names of these tracks
bear no clear connection to the sounds on the tracks
they operate as an entirely separate aesthetic object
the tracks themselves
are united
by the obscurity of their origins
and ubiquitous use
of what might
be vinyl surface noise
Intensity-Ace - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]
toggle switch
John Henry - Smokestack and the Foothill Fury [from Lone Buffalo]
I guess we're all John Henry now
Third Floor Blues - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/1950s Music]
our machines instruct our aspirations
Do The Sweetback - March Wind [from Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]
let's do a dance craze song
Don't Blame Me (Take 1) -Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
sonorities given time
to hear how they bend pitch space
Art is Either a Complaint or Do Something Else, Mesostic 3 - John Cage [from Text Pieces]
a series of phrases and fragments theroef
recited
in the shape of saying
something
but
saying nothing
'my' and 'work'
frequently joined
as in
'my work'
as though it were the subject
of saying nothing
Memory - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
like one of those awful end
of film life montages
to remind us
of what we just
saw
and
how the film maker wants to underline moments
for us
as being
of particular importance
Give It 2 Me (Paul Oakenfold Edit) - Madonna [from Hard Candy]
aspirational insatiability
Break of Dawn - Dawn Richard [from Goldenheart]
fills in the space
of anthem
of self
rebuilding
 |
| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
Forest Show (end) - John Teske, Neil Welch, Greg Campbell [recorded live in Ravenna Park, Seattle, August 4, 2023]
after-show discussion
the recording device gets some attention
we walk toward
out
Chain That Door - Mudhoney [from Superfuzz Bigmuff]
an assault with fire hose
A Response to the Wednesday Morning Shooting at Café Racer, Track 7 - Neil Welch
info spill
Celebrating the Life of Carl Richard (Dick) Eisenbrey (continued) [recorded live at Langley United Methodist Church, Langley, WA, August 26, 2018]
Guy's talk
a representative of the Lions
Lisa's talk
Siri's talk
a
representative from the church
Infra Structure - Wadada Leo Smith, Benjamin Boretz [from Inter/Play]
facing off
until such time as common activities spark
and conflagrate
continuously
(You Will) Set The World On Fire - David Bowie [from The Next Day]
solid pillars
announce the bounds
How Easily We Are Fooled - Denise Glover [from Gaps in the Stories]
a weave
of lines
forming sonorities
to support
their weave
of lines
Let The Truth Be Told - No Man's String Band [from Let The Truth Be Told]
homespun wisdom
Nözzzvyräätüü - Blazzed [from Blazzed]
umlauts and vowels and Zs
oh my!
What's Wanting For - Your Mother Should Know [from Demo Album]
no track segregation in view
 |
| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
Fifteen Short Pieces - Todd Harrop [from Possible Worlds 2]
the microtonal intonation practice in play
creates an interesting multiplanar
pitch geometry
this music is not interested in alternate modes of consonance
but
in new angles of intervals
gestures
Webernian in attitude
Album d'un voyageur, S. 156, Book I "Impressions et poésies": No. 3, Les cloches de Genève - Franz Liszt - Leslie Howard
just one of those utterly magic melodies
floating up there
its many moods
Fantasy in C Major, Op. 131 - Robert Schumann - Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Ruggiero Ricci, Kurt Masur
in a dark forest of weeping moss
a naiad tells a tale of woe
but see!
a sunny
hero approaches
on a handsome steed
ready for adventure
and deeds of worship
even down with diligence
if required
Sea Pieces, Op. 55 #4 - Starlight - Edward MacDowell - James Barbagallo
one imagines a calm and glassy night
Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72: No. 12, Myllarguten's Springar - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø
the regional flavor of swing
Poème provençal, Op. 127: IV. Pêcheurs de nuit - Cécile Chaminade - Mark Viner
a tale of passion and peril
There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong [from Porgy & Bess]
is this a traficker's palaver?
Sportin' Life reads as a pimp
 |
| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
let's dress up old-fashioned for a lark
Catapult (Live in Toronto) - REM [from Murmur]
vocalist's voice sits high toward the sinuses
Shut Out The Light - Bruce Springsteen [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Springsteen Miscellany]
a solid song
done wonderfully
he has a pretty nice voice
when he's not
shouting
Oh! Sister, Ain't That Hot - Scott Robinson [from Thinking Big]
the very picture of tourist jazz in the Big Easy
as danced by Fozzy Bear
that pianist has angular fingers
Source-Drain - Brad Hawkins, Jess Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jess Canterbury]
high pressure flow
empty to drip by drop
drip drop
we peer about
at the empty
cavern
to be floodingly filled
full again
oh happy bowl!
kaikaikai""sssdude - Kai - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]
Alice
in the world
of presets
push me
pull me
Go Tell It On The Mountain - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from Smokey's Jugband Christmas]
tells the song new
Kless (in memoriam Iannis Xenakis) - Steve Layton [from Virtual Composition)
solid blocks
the impersonal world of the Industrial West
Soundscroll VI, Part One - S. Eric Scribner - [from Soundscrolls V-IX (live)]
are we OK being sounds?
do I want to make music
or would I be satisfied with
sound?
do I prefer the music
or the sound?
could I accept the sound
were it
not music?
the music
were it not sound"?
<aside>
but
we'll make music of
it
even if it is just sound
we do it all the time
I Can't Remember - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin, All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
I need to see the dance routine for this
how many costume changes would Busby
require?
There Comes a New Moon - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]
is this a sly reference to menstruation?
Gap 1st Batch, 11, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21 - J. K. Randall - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded Septmber 3, 2026]
I know I redid 11
bobble at the beginning of 15
observe that al niente
like it
means something
 |
| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
lots of radio static
drenched in it
Heavy Metal Lover - Lady Gaga [from Born This Way]
playing a fashion character
giving a come one
Stars and Soulmates - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/1950s Music]
a pity about the hum that crept into the sound
nothing else ever sounded quite
like an inexpensive consumer keyboard
Home - Bad Hug (w/ Bree) [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have To Be Cool]
recording through an electronically altered voice box
a mask
Here Comes Sickness (live in Berlin) - Mudhoney [from Superfuzz Bigmuff]
cooties! run!
Summer Me. Winter Me. - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
figurations float across the bar
a blanket of cozy
[300] - Dawn Richard [from Goldenheart]
life is our adventure movie
look the part
be the part
Celebrating the Life of Carl Richard (Dick) Eisenbrey (end) [recorded live at Langley United Methodist Church, Langley, WA, August 26, 2018]
let us pray
the sound of the roar of prayer
spoken communally
and we sing a
hymn of praise
a glorious noise
a benediction after announcements
amen
What Would I Do? - Leon Moore [from Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]
just echoey piano and pipey voice
marvelous
completely believable
Art is Either a Complaint or Do Something Else, Mesostic 4 - John Cage [from Text Pieces]
reading a list of words
colored by making statements of it
A Response to the Wednesday Morning Shooting at Café Racer, Track 8 - Neil Welch
splitting the shadows of tones
disphasing their parts
A Question, a Rose (1.17.19) - Benjamin Boretz - Scot Moore
following the music as it flows into knots
within knots
epilogue follows
Heat - David Bowie [from The Next Day]
identity crisis
filial guilt
oppressive anxiety
Blue Sky - Denise Glover [from Gaps in the Stories]
sky bathing
 |
| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
I Just Cried - Your Mother Should Know - from Demo Album]
all about the toms
Sari Heldon - Blazzed [from Blazzed]
launching sound critters
that circle
on tethers
and off
fill the room
with
circling synth sound
Nametag-Laundromat - Christian Molenaar [from Possible Worlds 2]
parts and how they fit together
narrow cycles
Album d'un voyageur, S. 156, Book I "Impressions et poésies": No. 4, Vallée d'Obermann - Franz Liszt - Leslie Howard
the three note figure that opens
points to its middle note
by accentuation
(amplitude)
and duration
the downbeat
is a guide
to help us align what
follows
hinting at ambiguity
Märchenzählerungen, Op. 132 - Robert Schumann - Walter Boeykens, Jean Hubeau, Gérard Caussé
1
the tale
is in the characterization of the principals
puppets made of blocks
2
long waiting
in cloistered seclusion
3
our hero at last
to deliver us
(handsome too!)
Sea Pieces, Op. 55 #5, Song - Edward MacDowell - James Barbagallo
or shanty
as commonly dubbed
Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72: No. 13, Håvar Gibøen's Dream at the Oterholt Bridge. Springar - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø
full of snaps and dotted rhythms
Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong [from Porgy & Bess]
not an actor singing
but a singer
creating an actor
to sing the song
Savoy Truffle - The Beatles [from The Beatles (White Album)]
we'll read now from the dessert menu
Gardening at Night (live in Toronto) - REM [from Murmur]
I've heard this song many tens of times over the decades
and still haven't a
clue what most of the words are
somebody is too young
and they said it
couldn't be arranged
 |
| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
the band is in the tunnel
all the crowds are alike
we get to hear the
introduction music
(Palisades Park)
if two repetitions will serve
eight
or sixteen must be that many times better
then the drums
for another too long
by the time the song starts
we'll need to go home
we have title at last!
the
sound on this broadcast dub is pretty awful
murky and unpresenceful
segue into
the Boomboom song
a monotonous energy
Sleepy Time Gal - Scott Robinson [from Thinking Big]
opening remarks
to remind us of the tune
and its origin
one of the sweet
sentimental ones
soft shoe shuffle
Summer Night - Brad Hawkins, Jess Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jess Canterbury]
and the critters of the night scurry and scrounge
KTKicks-Kalen - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]
enforced cyclicity
generic music pill
Beating Against The Sky - Steve Layton [from The Composer Plays Revisited]
fists raised in rage?
we'll flail and fume
make some noise
Track 5 - S. Eric Scribner et al [from Free Improvisation Quartets Project]
just over the horizon
the drum portending
and the beast arrives
within us
time
to cry
I Won't Go Far (demo) - Dead Bars [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have To Be Cool]
arranging meet up
dialog
one sided
I'm Playing With Fire - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin, All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
while merry go rounding with you
When winds they blow not (Wood) - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]
bludgeonly word painting
at the whim of the poets windy images
Gap 1st Batch 8, 11, 14 - J. K. Randall - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded September 11, 2026]
some re-dos
 |
| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
Ambience for Camp David - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]
in the rain
we've only just begun
with crickets and sheep and drum beats
Artpop - Lady Gaga [from Artpop]
a pop song is a costume to inhabit
and act out from
its features
as a music
are subservient
to its function as a costume
Yesterday's Love - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/1950s Music]
Weimar cabaret vibe
weary decadence
Heaven Knows - Homer Banks [from Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]
front half
back half
back and forth
break
articulate to release built up tension
I Love You Sweetheart of All My Dreams - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
treating the accompanying figures
as parts of the whole
essential to it
not
subsidiary
Art is Either a Complaint or Do Something Else, Mesostic 5 - John Cage [from Text Pieces]
wtih Cage
generally
as in these
I often get a feeling
that what I am hearing
is simply not true
to what it could have been
had it been what I want it to
be
Unchained Melody - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
has anyone seen the movie Unchained
recently?
Lone Buffalo - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from Lone Buffalo]
existential blues
Imps - Blazzed [from Blazzed]
piew piew
delayed groove
we'll make a music
out of sci-fi lase gun sounds
and
chipmunkish vocals
If I Think (live in Berlin) - Mudhoney [from Superfuzz Bigmuff]
music
if a mode of social intercourse
may be
a constructed quasi-linguistic
mode
undelineable
we know it
when we hear it
because
hearing it
is
constructing it
Goldenheart - Dawn Richard [from Goldenheart]
the glow of memory
signified with reverb
A Question, A Rose (1.24.19) - Benjamin Boretz - Scot Moore
these tones
form a shape
of nodes
in a space
that turns itself
toward us
at
any angle
freely
a sculpture
suspended
from emptiness
turning
with Kubrikian
grace
(sans Strauß)
A Response to the Wednesday Morning Shooting at Café Racer, Track 9 - Neil Welch
||:8+7:(hold)||
(quieter now)
[pause between]
[pause longer]
(stronger now)
(moderate now)
 |
| Dry Falls State Park, Washington |
generally it's a mistake
to ask another
to woo in your stead
just ask King
Marke
of Cornwall
Magnetic Appeal - Scott Anthony Moore [from Possible Worlds 2]
an instrument's music
is the notes it plays
its possibilities of pitch
enchamber them
and set them going
a snow globe of tones
Album d'un voyageur, S. 156, Book I "Impressions et poésies": No. 5, La chapelle de Guillaume Tell - Franz Liszt - Leslie Howard
we encounter a formal gate at entry
within a grand solemnity
our spirits are
lifted in awe and amazement
our heads spin
our business dispatched
out we go
Szene aus Goethes Faust, Overture - Robert Schumann - English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
we approach incrementally
take many winding paths
arrive without unwinding
Sea Pieces, Op. 55 #6, From The Depths - Edward MacDowell - James Barbagallo
remnants that surface
Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72: No. 14, The Goblin's Wedding Procession at Vossevangen. Gangar - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø
robustly structured sequences of strong rhythms
In Session at The Tintinabulary
September 13, 2026
Badea - Keith Eisenbrey
September 14, 2026
Gradus 437 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
any set of sounding pitches
has a focus point
or center of mass
or acoustic
node
which need not be stable
there are multiple practices
among musicians
as
to how those nodes are conceived
and how their relations are managed
the nodes
themselves
persist outside any such management
but
such practices are
themselves creative
and capable of engendering new objects
out of such nodes
and the motions of attention among them
the chord of nature
so called
is
merely one such practice
often cited
even when little is left of it
in the
experienced object
September 16, 2026
Gap 1st Batch 15, 19, 22 - J. K. RandallPostscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 35
Sabbatical Improvisations 2014-2015
Another album of solo improvisations for you.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream.
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