Playlist

Recorded

January 7, 2018
Banned Rehearsal 623 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [November 2001]

intoned among the reverb a keening tale
wholly indecipherable resolving into small talk (enlarged!)
percussion feedback washtub piano
in avante jazz dreamscape mode
an opera twisted sense of compositional response
episodes, with screams certainly wandering
out of chamber symphony territory
upon which could be inscribed temple rooms
no longer regular passing of time
at multiple rates
dissimultaneously, ritualistic, a grim march into future's moil
excerpts of architecture inserted
transparent and lucid utterance stick with it to the end
Someone to Watch Over Me and other Gershwin Favorites

Cotopoxi - Brad Anderson [from Dark Energy - Interstellar Pianos]

Perfect intervals and ray guns
static as the speed would seem to increase

Gradus 190 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 2011]

in order to follow the thought precisely

in
order

to catch a glimpse of thinking happening

the long silences are evidence of a larger idea overshadowing, or holding, cupped
{stray inappropriate thought: punitive silence}

free improvisation is a strict method of being particular

I am playing back a sound in this room that is a sound that had been made in this room. Their various acoustical spaces share similarities across a medium.

purposeful silence

placing a tone so as to thread the needle's eye
the eye between the partials of other tones

split them like kindling whack!

patience testing silence

January 9, 2018
Mind The Gap - Strange Like Us [from Strange Peeps]

hollow shell
the center not empty so much as gone, never was.
(arthouse punk)?

Pavana the Sixte "Kinbrugh Goodd" and The Galliarde to the Sixte Pavian - William Byrd - Elizabeth Farr [from Ladye Nevells Booke]

Here the independence of voices is achieved largely by other means than current voice-leading practice would suggest.

What is the role of the extraneous noise of virginal playing, essential to its charm, the effect of its image on how its music hangs in space?

first voice, then second voice, then a conjointure of voices, folded in continually
dough making

Senegalese Stomp - Savoy Bearcats [from Alan Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

In loving imitation of keyboard figurational shenanigans.

Song of the Coulee Dam - Woody Guthrie [from Columbia River Collection]

He kept trying to get the same song right: retry, re-write, re-use.

In The Middle of the House - Vaughn Monroe [a Rescued Record]

a 50's pop novelty song with great train sound effect. I learn this actually reached number 11 on the Billboard magazine's Most Played by Jockeys chart, and 21 in the Top 100. Imagine that. I wonder if Dr. Demento ever spun it?

In Session at the Tintinabulary

January 8, 2018
Gradus 325 - Neal Kosály-Meyer

circumambulates

gazes
up and down

it does not move
things in it
do

some of them

a vast
combination lock

a long way around
to clear

Playlist

Live

September 11, 2017

Jim Hurst

Jim Hurst
Fireplace Room, University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle

I was reminded of keyboard virtuosi: Jelly Roll Morton or Liszt, in the seeming ability to be all parts of an imaginary ensemble at once, and of Arthur Rubinstein in that miraculous efficiency to do it all without moving his fingers. But it isn't just the mind-blowing technique, it's the poetry with which that imaginary ensemble is evoked - Art Tatum quicksilver magic. Thank you Dave Campbell for inviting Jim out to Seattle!

Take-away line: "Edsel still runs but my turntable quit."

Recorded

Elizabeth Farr

September 10, 2017
The March Before the Battell - William Byrd - Elizabeth Farr [from My Ladye Nevells Booke]

Phrase balancing balanced with energy release in overlapping sequences, each voice taking its turn to unwind.

Die Kunst der Fuge Contrapunctus XV - J. S. Bach - Zoltan Kocsis

We do not dissipate energy, we exhaust it.

Messin' Around - Cookies' Ginger Snaps [from Alan Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

More than a hint of that ol' razzle dazzle minstrel show showmanship. Theory: jazz landed in highbrow territory because it was so woke to its roots. Its aspirational trajectory had force behind it. So much of the old practice makes us uncomfortable (as it ought), but the musicianship is for real.

Echo In The Dark - Original St. Louis Crackerjacks [from Alan Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

Already (1936) moving toward becoming a meta-music, journeying toward the abstract. See Theory above, its roots are its subject matter.

Standing Outside - Wade Maines [from Goodbye Babylon]

The arrangement is absolutely professional showman, but here, where the verbal portion is the point (gospel before music), the music portion sticks more firmly to the demotic, doesn't push forward to become its own thing.

Crazy Arms - Ray Price [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

Somewhere back there in time, a singing movie cowboy sensibility.

Tragedy - The Fleetwoods [from Come Softly To Me - The Very Best Of The Fleetwoods]

They nailed this one: overblown teen drama and their patented soft-porn harmonies. A heady mix.

Swingin' Medallions

Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) - Swingin' Medallions [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

Not a heady mix, just good drunk dumb fun.

Bargain - The Who [from Who's Next]

The parts of this song push against each other, far from working together they storm into separate rooms. But hey! they have a synth!

Rich Bitch - The Stooges [from Metallic 'KO]

Using anger words to incite an angry energy then ride the wave. Sorry Iggy, this one just comes across as bad tempered.

Track 1 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [from Neal's Recital Tape]

Bach, Sinfonia from the C-minor Partita.

Adam Raised A Cain - Bruce Springsteen [from Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band Live 1975-1985]

Bad boy booster.

September 12, 2017
Banned Rehearsal 252 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [March 1991]
On a personal note, this was the last session before our first son was born. At Toad Hall, a pitchscape of surfaces. Metal. Drum. Bells. Folded. Hinged. Can-bottom Diaphragm. What might remain in that big red bag of fun? The rim of the brim can. Toot Chorus.


In Session at the Tintinabulary

September 15, 2017
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge 170915 A - Keith Eisenbrey
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge 170915 B - Keith Eisenbrey

We stopped by in the afternoon to reconnoiter. Mostly it was pretty quiet except for a tiny chipmunk that barked at us for several minutes. Its little tail would jerk out with each bitty bark. Not much got on the recording but general wind noise. I did another recording while we took a short walk but had some audio problems. I'm not sure the B session is salvageable.

September 16, 2017
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge 170916 A - Keith Eisenbrey
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge 170916 B - Keith Eisenbrey

Back again the next morning, the birds were slightly more active, and the breeze was less. The B session was also a walk and also has some audio problems here and there, but not as bad as the day before. I think I recorded too hot. Be that as it may, it sure was chilly at that hour! The site is not entirely quiet of traffic noise, but it's pretty darn remote.