Playlist

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

Preface

"There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath; like those fabled undulations of the Ephesian sod over the buried Evangelist St. John. And meet it is, that over these sea-pastures, wide-rolling watery prairies and Potters' Fields of all four continents, the waves should rise and fall, and ebb and flow unceasingly; for here, millions of mixed shades and shadows, drowned dreams, somnambulisms, reveries; all that we call lives and souls, lie dreaming, dreaming, still; tossing like slumberers in their beds; the ever-rolling waves but made so by their restlessness.

To any meditative Magian rover, this serene Pacific, once beheld, must ever after be the sea of his adoption. It rolls the midmost waters of the world, the Indian ocean and Atlantic being but its arms. The same waves wash the moles of the new-built Californian towns, but yesterday planted by the recentest race of men, and lave the faded but still gorgeous skirts of Asiatic lands, older than Abraham; while all between float milky-ways of coral isles, and low-lying endless Archipelagoes, and impenetrable Japans. Thus this mysterious, divine Pacific zones the world's whole bulk about; makes all coasts one bay to it; seems the tide-beating heart of the earth."

Herman Melville, from Moby-Dick; or, The Whale.

Texts

Recorded

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

January 10, 2026

Banned Playalong Playedalong 4 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [November 18, 1988]

on an ice sheet swept by gales
listing meats to eat 

I sing of the manly breakfast
taken out of doors
dressed in syrup from Vermont
corn flakes
raisin bran
and froot loops
and cheerios swimming in milk
cereals with a prize on the bottom 

Whitmanesque inventories
and the just too close voice
of Proust
on assuagement of suffering
not a positive joy 

partake
of the five-tiered wedding cake
closeted
with the little person inside me 

I sing the toaster electric

the building of a thingness
from the stuff of itself
Urthing
Urersatz 

I was confused
gave me quite a start 

language can pull interpsychic states
out of common experience
such as
a bare modifier
such as
"weird"
being
an adequate expression
of the sentence
"That is weird."
though subject and predicate
are silently understood
seamless intersubjective

Nanwei Chin Su - Japan - [from The World Sings Goodnight]

it doesn't harm each of these tracks on their own
but over time
the uniformity of sound-engineering
imparts a weird sense of deadness to the enterprise

I'll Dip - Aretha Franklin [from A Rose is Still a Rose]

the variety of vocal productions
that pass across her sung line
is a jaw drop

Little Drummer Boy (feat. Bobbi Kristina Brown) - Whitney Houston [from One Wish: The Holiday Album]

brings his little drummer friends over
and they're gonna go all taiko 

the little taiko tyke

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

January 11, 2026

Zither Film Mix Reversed - Keith Eisenbrey [November 30, 2008]

the last of the preliminary mix tracks
of which there were six
three regular
and three reversed
all six
were then to be combined
to make the final item in the series
since the three regular mixes
all begin with a dense texture
and finish with a thin
and the reversed mixes
begin thin and end densely
the resulting conglomerated track
will begin and end dense
and thin out toward the middle
like the shape of saddle 

if anything now
can be music
then
the usefulness of the term
may be nigh vacuity 

perhaps
we want new terms
for the various species of objects under consideration 

one might regard the desire
to include anything at all
as music
as a desire
to valorize those anythings at all
with an epithet
a badge
rather than
a desire to understand them 

we often assert that a music
is
or is like
such things
as poems
pictures
dramas
dances
et cetera 

is it as commonplace
for those other modes
to be asserted to be
or to be like
those
its fellow modes? 

what then do we mean? 

going in the dense to thin direction
the first moment
of no sound
is an immediately attended event
whereas
in the other direction
the last such moment of silence
is always provisional
and retrospected

Leave Me Behind - Acapulco Lips [from Acapulco Lips]

alas
another victim of the loudness wars
though here it's mostly the instruments who hog the mix
convinced it's all about them

Anvik - Aaron Keyt - Keith Eisenbrey [December 19, 2025]

this music
is a delicate explanation
by several voices

Nature Lives in Motion - S. Eric Scribner [from Adjacencies]

Aaron
above
manipulated notes
to make note things
out of sounds
Steve
here
manipulates sounds
to make sound things
out of sounds 

timbre can be distinguished
but can't be laid out
except upon a merely plausible spectrum 

their various distinguished categories
form only loose and permeable alliances 

and yet
note-like things appear 

this music
is a walk
in a large garden

Madrigals, Book IX: Alle danze, alle gioie - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

this song is dancing on a stage

Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott, BuxWV 200 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Stimone Stella

wisdom floats down upon us
a blessing from heaven

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

January 12, 2026

Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg, BWV 149 - Johann Sebastian Bach Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman

episodes differentiated by tonal/polyphonic procedure
phrases crafted to assist in the comprehension of the text's rhetorical rhythm 

complete a sentence
complete a phrase 

what has been bubbling along
behind what one attends
reveals itself
in spillover continuations 

an extensive chorale to finish
with brass flourish

Sonata in C major, Kk. 308 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

at a gracious tempo
even in heavy fabrics
long pauses

Symphonie Fantastique, S470 - Hector Berlioz, arranged by Franz Liszt - Leslie Howard

this is quite fun as a solo piano piece 

Liszt
in great excitement
tells us
the symphony
that Berlioz wrote 

waltz emerging
from a tectonic rumble

technicolor widescreen beheading

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

January 13, 2026

Kinderszenen: Träumerei, Op. 15 #7 - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig

lifted from next to nothing
nestling back

4 Pieces: Nuances, Op. 56 #3 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti

a melody
in counterpoint
to
an invariantly figured accompaniment

West End Blues - Louis Armstrong [from Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]

this music
faces out
into the room it fills 

does it also
pull the listener
into itself? 

it pulls us toward
but not into
its workings

Last Night - Buddy Holly and The Crickets [from The 'Chirping' Crickets]

this music
is an act
it sings
as though it were personal
to the singer

Money - The Beatles [from With The Beatles]

this music
is an attitude strut

A Hazy Shade of Winter - Simon & Garfunkel [from Bookends]

this music
pretends to sophistication
of a literary hue

Eclipse - Pink Floyd [from the Dark Side of The Moon]

this
to that
of grandeur

She's The One - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at The Roxy]

this music
rides on its own glory
or is nothing 

rollercoaster

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

Six Intermezzi (Studio Version) - Keith Eisenbrey - Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey

assembled from my 1983 recordings

this music is a face
it presents itself
without explanation 

we observe them happening
optimally
there are not layers
between you and it
it is
after all
at your ear 

life in my 1983 head
confounding
of up and down
as a valid metaphor of pitch

Paths That Cross - Patti Smith [from Dream of Life]

some poets latch on
to the rhythms and flow of demotic music

All About Nothing - Fastbacks [from Zucker]

a band
to be a band
would be bent
to a single focused
brand
of sound
to stand
out
on the shelf 

a body of novelty acts

I Don't Do Floors - James King [from Bed By The Window]

marital bickering hoe down dance

Everybody - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Summer Songs/Winter Mix]

Keith Eisenbrey · Everybody (Winter Mix)

this is what happens
when I am left without a piano

Symphony in F Major, Op. 93 (#8) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Skagit Symphony

first movement broadly struggles a bit 

some of those wind players
may have found refreshment
at intermission 

ever over-eager brass
get their moment 

all the little clock parts
rush to their places 

here's the part
the horn player
practiced the most

Golden Goddess II - Antique Scream [from Two Bad Dudes]

Sweetwater Catalogue hype true believers 

bicep bros

Punch Back - Steve Layton [from Próxima Estación]

this groove continues to drill
until the plug is pulled from the wall

Intermezzo 3 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 3: 1982-1983]

thin voices
of narrow registral adjacency 

a voice
of center-of-sonority polyphony
of two levels
of apprehension

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

Worried Blues - Gladys Bentley [from That Devilin' Tune]

voice of experience

Crying - Roy Orbison [from For The Lonely]

frown clown

Selections 2 - Lake Washington Singers [June 14, 1963]

another
presumably
incompletely labeled tape 

this gentleman singing
is not the Lake Washington Singers
that I remember

Don't Tease Me - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]

the quasi-calliope sound of the B3

You Light Up My Life - Carole King [from Fantasy]

broad relatability
aspirationally acceptable

Nervous Breakdown - Black Flag [from The First Four Years]

punk clown
pretend to be an angry brit
from the streets

Euro Session - Janus Circus [from Bard Sampler 82-83]

street fair
contraption music

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

January 14, 2026

Banned Playalong Playedalong 5 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt

sounds have a size
within the space
they are made in:
its presence 

a played-back sound
includes that presence
which
then
has a presence
within the room
into which it is played back 

filling tapes with sound
as a goal
is too easy
to be worth the time 

it is filled
so what? 

a tape from the past
is played back
and we play along with it 

an asymmetrical relation:
everything on the tape from the past
is heard in the present tense
of the players-along
but
is impervious to
deaf to
what the players-along
play 

asymmetry
(social)
is a frustration
like improvising with a telephone pole
it pays no heed

Strange Repeating Bird - S. Eric Scribner [from Pianosphere]

cyclic infusions
minimalist stylistic repetitions
a methodology to fill expanses of time

Viva le High - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]

relatively modest use of dynamic contrast between segments

Desire - Frieze of Life [from Nuclear Frog Pond]

differentiated motion types
one quickly nervous
the other sustained and gooey

taking a solo
in such a composition
requires no explanation
it is an invariant part of the culture

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

Zither Film - Keith Eisenbrey [November 30, 2008]

an ode
to the texture
of a curve swept skin 

signal level
crab canon 

all the tingles
within the swept curve skin 

a note
is an irreproducible location  

here
in the middle
where coming and going meet
a moment
headed in both directions
at once
across the representational divide 

of course
it might be a silence
signal-wise 

headed tailward
it lingers
lifting
out of the softest cleft
this curve's texture
at each moment of curvature

The Mystery - Spinning Whips [from Sentimental Groover]

a story implied
within the acting out of the song 

nice combined vocals
in widely separated registers:
across a gender-gap of voices

Maple Leaf 181027A - Keith Eisenbrey [October 27, 2018]

a downpour in the driveway

Windows Down - Tom Baker Quartet [from Begin Again]

this is an awesome nice drive

Too Tight Blues #2 - Blind Blake [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

light fingered guitar dance
migrates tongueward

Some Other Time - Bill Evans [from Everybody Digs Bill Evans]

prospective nostalgia
dreamy

G---- Eyes - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]

fancy guitar playing

Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing - Stevie Wonder [from Innervisions]

the sophistication of it
is palpably intentional

Six Intermezzi (2004 Remix) - Keith Eisenbrey - Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey

very dramatic engine roar-by
on the heap deep jam rut

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

January 15, 2026

Don't Believe The Hype - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back]

music to words
broadside graphic
to broadside text 

music and words
a broadside design
designed loud
to punch 

is it
as a design among designs
violent?
yes. 
appropriate?
quite likely.

Nite Flights - David Bowie [from Black Tie White Noise]

his text-lines
in carefully laid out rhythm upon the meter

The Eyes of Amelia - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]

pretty guitar
being pretty guitar
with
warm glow
framed glossy
landscape photograph
lighting

Hello Jim - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Summer Songs/Winter Mix]

Keith Eisenbrey · Hello Jim (Winter Mix)

this one
I pretty much left alone
from its original
I may have done some compression or equalization
not much

Down and Out in London - Peter Fedofsky [from Situations]

this music is comfortable
in its raw charm
can't be shed of it

Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park

Go To Hell - Star Anna [from Go To Hell]

from the bottom of the gutter

R.B.G. - Bad Luck [from Four]

this music prints on sheets
this music is the machine
that prints on sheets
this music
is the sounds
of the machine
printing on sheets
both sides
flip flap whap
squeeze lift clear 

late generation impressionism
coded communication
a catalogue
of machines
for printing on sheets
in action
with their sounds

Intermezzo 4 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 3: 1982-1983]

changing the types of dyads used
changes the color
or mode
of the arising internal polyphony
its tonality
is differently shaped in pitchspace 

how pre-composition manifests downstream
or
just
how upstream composition
affects downstream composition 

demonstrating for myself

Wayward Girl Blues - Lottie Kimbrough [from That Devlin' Tune]

the guitar player talks with the singer
verbally and with his hands
the singer responds to each
individually

Give Him the Ooh-La-La - Blossom Dearie [from Give Him the Ooh-La-La]

advice for digging gold
Napoleon and an army of debutantes
change the history of France

On Broadway - The Drifters [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

the combo is recorded as though on risers
individually risen
individually lit
in groovy pastels

Chest Fever - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]

different from a chest freezer 

a song for making the music
these folks make together
when they do make that music
together 

a shared culture within an artifact

Desert Hush - Morgana King [from New Beginnings]

a strange connection
from this wordless bit
to Pink Floyd of the same era

Lawyers in Love - Jackson Browne [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

the weary strivers
at their weary striver bars
sorry lounges 

big dramatic synth-led modulation

Banned Rehearsal 160 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [December 2, 1988]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 160 881202

the sudden malfunction of the rolling pin
is Karen baking? 

a music erupts
to silence the Beatles 

Aaron and I yowl and whang at guitar strings 

Boo Cookie contest 

Karen must have been baking cookies 

a rousing rendition
of the Buddha Cookie Chorus 

Uncle Walt
by the roadside
breathless
endless lines
roll on
across the prairies 

it is amazing
how much
a list of Whitman's poems
sound like
a Whitman poem 

a tale of ticking talking 

The Beatles are back
with the clockwork

Highway '61 Revisited - PJ Harvey[from Rid of Me]

most of this arrangement is presented
as though played on the stage
except the bit at the beginning
which bit transforms the whole
into
an only-as-recorded product

Track 9 - Richard Rorex & Reid Merriman [from Mood for Richelle]

well crafted guitar sounds
for well crafted guitar lovers

Pavane for a Dead Princess - Brave Combo [from Box of Ghosts]

this dead princess
really rocks out
to her tender pavane

SpottieOttieDopaliscious - Outkast [from Aquemini]

slinky close dance
comment on a culture
from within that culture

Day is Dying In the West - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [January 12-18, 2015]

a solid hymn
does not need to be sung
to professional standards
to be maximally effective

In Session at The Tintinabulary

January 11, 2026

St. Ann's - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 132 St. Ann's 260111 [260111]

January 12, 2026

Banned Rehearsal 1141 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1141 260112

Postscripts

Drops

Music of Kosály-Meyer, Verrall, Palmer, Baker, Oldham, Osborn, and Cobb

This album is a selection of music by various Seattle-area composers, composed between the 1940s and 2010 or so.

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

Playlist

Bickleton, WA

Preface

ODE TO SIR ANDREW AGNEW:

AND ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.

"Sir Andrew Agnew, oh! thou scourge of sinners,

Thou legislator against vice

And nice

Hot Sunday dinners!

What shall we do

Now thou art gone - thou and Sir Oswald* too -

To make men fast and pray

Each seventh day?

Who now shall save us from sin's burning embers?

Now that we've lost our two old Marrowbone members?"

But seriously, Sir Andrew, do you think

There's so much harm in meat and drink?

That a hot steak

Ate once a week

Show a depraved state of society?

That frizzled bacon

Argues a soul mistaken?

And - pray don't start! -

That devil'd kidneys show a dev'lish heart?

That there is irreligion in hot fry?

And that cold pie alone is pie-ty?

If so, begin, Sir, with the rich: ask these

To give up their ragouts, and stews, and fricassees.

I guess they'd think your application rather strange;

but if you will work out your bill,

Believe me, you must take a wider kitchen range.

Then Sir you think it wrong

In 'bus or cab to ride along

The streets,

Intent on rural treats

At Hampstead, Islington, or Turnham Green;

but have you never seen

The crowd

Of knight and dames, on palfreys fierce and proud,

That fill

Hyde Park o' Sundays? I don't wish to tease,

But, Sir, for riders such as these,

There ought, I think, to be a rider to your Bill.

No doubt it's very wrong, and shows but little nous,

To go a tea-drinking, and making merry

At th' Eagle, Rosemary Branch, or Yorkshire Stingo; -

Chalk Farm's as vile, by jingo!

There's something very black about White Conduit House.

Richmond is sad;

And Twickenham's as bad:

And Hampton Wick is very wicked - very.

But Sir, - excuse the freedom of my pen -

D'ye think that they
Who spend the day

At Tattersall's, in laying wagers

On Derbys, Oaks, and Legers,

are better men?

And then, the Clubs! - where gambling of all kinds,

and vices such as daylight never saw,

Are carried on behind cast-metal blinds -

For these, Sir, Can't you frame some new Club Law?

Then, Sir, I know

You vote rat-killing low;

And wouldn't sit

For worlds in the Westminster Pit.

And so no doubt it is - extremely shocking;

But so is cocking!

And I have known full many a noble lord

(I have, upon my word,)

Fight cocks upon this day:

so pray,

Before us poor folks you legislate,

Just try to quell this main-ia in the great.

Then music drives you mad:

And, Scotchman tho' you be,

I know

You wouldn't suffer even a Scotch fiddle;

And, as for "down the middle,"

And such-like tricks of Dame Terpsichore,

I've often heard you say they're quite as bad;

And that all persons merit a sound whipping

Who are found tripping,

(Apropos -

How you'd be shock'd in France

To see, Sir, a whole country dance!)

Mind! I don't say but that all this is wrong;

But is it worse, Sir, than the Sunday song

of Grisi, Albertazzi, Betts, Rubini,

Lablache, or Tamburini?

And would it not be better first to wipe out

This sin among the high and mighty of the State,

Before you put the poor man's pipe out?

For my part, I think Vivi tu

As wicked as All around my hat - don't you?

And really I don't know

How you can stop Jim Crow,

And let the rich

Carry their concerts, Sir, to such concert pitch.

And, if, Sir, I may speak

My mind, you plan to gag our week

(Tho' done perhaps with very best intention)

Is but a weak invention.

Besides, Sir, here's a poser, -

At least to me it seems a closer,

And shows a shocking lack of legislative skill -

If nothing, Sir, 's to work from Saturdays to Mondays,

Pray how's your bill

To work on Sundays?

*Sir O. Moseley, who lost his election, they say, from having seconded Sir Andrews' Sunday Bill."

from The Comic Almanack an Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humorous Poetry, Quips and Oddities, First Series, 1835-1843

Texts

Recorded

Bickleton, WA

April 27, 2025

Madrigals, Book IV: Anima del cor mio poi che da me misera me - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

a poetic/sung breath
opens
and fills a constellation of pitches 

neumes become sound

Das ist je gewichlich wahr, SWV 388 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

these words
are inscribed
upon the space
beneath the cathedral dome
in which
we participate 

these things
are certain
and
will not be moved

Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 148 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

long notes
pointed at
and underlined multiple times 

this this this
is the pitch that matters
and these pitches
are how it matters

Premier Ordre (sol): La Bourbonnoise, Gavotte - François Couperin  Kenneth Gilbert

jolly and free of care

Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gotte, BWV 76 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman

long tones shine like brightening stars 

||excursus:
late 18th Century eschewal of contrapuntal forms
perhaps
a reaction
to what might seem to be
the constant chugging engine
of voices
working themselves out
over the tops of each other 

began to make the dukes yawn?

Bickleton, WA

April 28, 2025

Sonata in B-flat Major, Kk. 272 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

passages
with similarities of figuration sequence
but differing tonal motions

Sonata in F Major, K. 533 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Mitsuko Uchida

stage repartee
master chef in the kitchen 

middle movement
idealized maidenhood
pious and pure
kept 

third movement
distinctly not
a ripsnorting finale
a quiet pleasure

Die Schöpfung: Der Fünfte Tag - Franz Joseph Haydn - English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir, Sylvia McNair, Donna Brown, Michael Schade, Gerald Finley, Rodney Gilfry

title card
the curtain opens
to the cute critter dance
the vibrantly encreatured world

Humoreske in B-flat Major, Op. 20 - Robert Schumann - Peter Frankl

a suite of conversations
a vision of timestopping beauty
a thrilling encounter
a sanguinary yarn
tender confidences
strung
so that
the oddball alternations
reach outside
the confines
of their number 

one can never
not expect
a return

Bickleton, WA

April 29, 2025

Sonata in F-sharp Major, Op. 30 (#4) - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev

tonal parfumier
for me
not an aroma
but
the image of one 

senses quickened
and the hounds are off
on the scent

Dippermouth Blues - King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band [from The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]

music
as decorative art
fashions change

Finnegans Wake, Chapter 7 (continued) - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [streamed January 9, 2021]

the hand's touch
is a language without words
as very recently
as a thousand rains ago
the noxious pervert's
perfect lowness
stank out of sight
how is that
for low
laities and gentle numbs
the Monster Book
of Patriotic Poetry
whiff the polecat
at close range

I Can't Get Started (take 1) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

hitch a ride
on the silver screen fantastical

Symphony No. 1/rejected mvt. 2. Largo (1938) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]

in search of past music

Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata X - John Cage - Adam Tendler

exotical fan fiction

Janet - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]

energetic intro
sudden calm
outro back to energetic
(fade)

Bickleton, WA

The Blessing - Ornette Coleman [from Something Else!!]

sequential speechifying
in lengthy periods
of ornately metered lines

Anna (Go To Him) - The Beatles [from Please Please Me]

here guys
sing into this can

Crosstown Traffic - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]

misogynistic sex brag

You're Pretty Face Is Going To Hell - The Stooges [from Raw Power]

another one
priapic strutter

Sunbird - Carole King [from Welcome Home]

living the dream
life
in a sunbaked hippie montage

The Murder Weapon - T Bone Burnett [from Proof Through The Night]

a double attempt
on an epic
U2 type
stadium entrance
but
his voice isn't that big
gets lost
in such a large space
tries too hard for grandeur
unearned

Improvisation for Organ and Guitar (Part 4) - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from Wake - Yu Feng - Improvisation]

occasional intonation
(when the beams cross)

thrashing away
energy release
allows relaxed functioning
for cooperative listening

Track 2 - Elizabeth Panzer [from Talking Harp]

harp music
that sounds like harp music
so that
if you want harp music
you can have some 

this one
has sharp words in it

this music wears the costume of a story teller
every page colorfully illustrated

Banned Rehearsal 500 (part 3) - Isaac E, John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Holden K, Kia M, Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 27, 1998]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 500 980627 part 3

I announce
that I will go prepare the coffee 

a feedback has been formed 

it had already been a long session
and we were fading 

Aaronsbundler attempts a rescue 

tunes into
our stress fractured commonality
hanging in there

Bickleton, WA

{journal entry of July 6, 2006:

of all human endeavors
music exists
or could
strenuously
for our benefit
music
for the sake of music
that is
for the furtherance
of the art of music
is an empty task
unless
understood
as a metaphor
an image
of ourselves
furthered
in the music
experienced
as furthered
in the music 

generates
into a parallel knot
of domestic livingsound}

April 30, 2025

Interlude - Jay-Z [from The Black Album]

up from below

Banned Rehearsal 736 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 7, 2008]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 736 080407

sounds of objects interacting
back alleys of culture
prestige transits elsewhere
in the public eye
we make mechanisms
that can be made
to make sounds
make sounds
in the ways
they are made
to make them 

splooshy puddles of organ clumps 

piano sets up a soapbox
to huckster from 

we sit back
to enjoy the evening dim

Here Comes The Sun - Peter Fedofsky [from False Ties and Nice Hoods]

cinematic moment
for happy romance

Bickleton, WA

Banned Telepath 61 Port Haiden - Aaron Keyt [March 14, 2018]

through these sounds
we bring this room
to you 

acoustic character
imported spaces

The Many Voices In Our Heads - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from The Many Voices In Our Heads]

improvisatory collaborative groove production
subcultures within subcultures 

it's subcultures all the way up

Sly Mongoose - Montrose String Orchestra [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

in those days
our time was fluid 

that fiddle player
sure can play

School Girl Blues - Rosa Mae Moore [from Really The Blues]

heart to heart
mom & daught? 

scenes from a weary life

The Flat Foot Floogie - Louis Armstrong, The Mills Brothers [from Louis Armstrong and Guest Stars]

one of the greatest tracks of all time
in my ever so humble opinion

Little David Play On Your Harp - Merle Travis [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

its time
follows its own internal logic
with no apparent concern
for industrial uniformity

Walking at Night in Key West - Allen Ginsberg [from Holy Soul, Jelly Roll]

when the mad
have lost their glad

Of Thee I Sing (Take 1) - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]

just about the kinkiest song ever
eh?

Track 4 [from The Life Treasure of Christmas Music]

in multiple languages!

In a Station - The Band [from Music From Big Pink]

alienation of uniqueness
among the inanimate

I Wish You Would - David Bowie [from Pinups]

barely a chord in width

Rave On - Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band [from Live at The Roxy July 7, 1978]

finding his inner Memphis

BB JB KE SJ DS 830725 - Benjamin Boretz, Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey, Sarah Johnson, Dan Sedia [recorded at Bard College, July 25, 1983]

we pause to hear our thinking

at the time

and for some time thereafter

I felt I had made a significant breakthrough

in how I thought of/played/composed with the piano

this session 

in my enthusiasm

I may have taken over some of it

spreading new wings 

but

this first part is just lovely 

starts with guitar and piano dancing
Jill's electric violin pizzicato
provides prodding 

if

in fact

this is the tape I think it is

which I think it is

as it gets to the part

where I play loud 

here's my Bill Evans chorale chords

and yet
I may be mistaken
time has passed since then 

quite an enjoyable session though 

I'm not sure I have the track labelled correctly
as to personnel

{confirmed wrong on all right-aligned counts

not that tape at all}

Sabre Dance - Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]

does not sound safe or sane

Banned Rehearsal 347 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [December 17, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 347 931217

as though we had never stopped
plug it in
and it goes 

turn off all the choices
it doesn't know what to say 

I'm guessing
I'm doing my pinniped imitation on sax
and Aaron is on the keys 

Jingle Bells
as we near the holiday 

had not yet developed
a reasonable mic placement
the room sounds emptier than it does now
its reverberation was harsher 

Aaron sings the haydideedayday song 

like a waffle in the waves
weightless waiting within

Bickleton, WA

{journal entry of December 1, 1998:

saxophone makes an early squeaky appearance
is it me ?
:sounds like Aaron on the organ
I don't think Karen tried to play it...
yes
must be Aaron at keyboard
myself at sax 

what is the difference between a tune and lyricism?
a tune is composed from outside
prepared
and lyricism
is an active state
an activity
a compositional activity
a tune can be invented on the spot
but
this is not the same
as waxing lyrical
a tune
composed
can be a stimulus
to lyrical activity/composition
but
is it possible
or even desirable
at one and the same time
to compose a tune
which stimulates
a separate
and time-skewed
lyrical activity? 

||tuning violin and organ
a lyric stasis
a need for lyrictivity
a prefound basis
a seed
from outside
an insemination
sounding
like some familiar surface
familiar
or current event
onhooking
to
John here
here's Nhoj
cleverness
is something recognizable
an event
for clinging 

a matrial material matrix}

Bickleton, WA

May 1, 2025

Changeling - The Kent 3 [from Blood on the Flat Track Soundtrack]

complete with its own narration
monodynamical 

Psalm 133 (take 1) - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center, May 10, 2005]

pretty good take
but for one bobble (mine)

Fallen So Hard - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from A Live Wire]

a live recording
sounds about like he did when we heard him

Songs Your Mother Should Know - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Karen Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, July 5, 2013]

introducing the man who formerly had no hair

a mini musical

I must have been hosting Salon that night

Ain't So Simple - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/1950s Music]

a member of our church shared these tracks that she had made

Magnuson Park 230411 A - Keith Eisenbrey [April 11, 2023]

Keith Eisenbrey · Magnuson Park 230411 A

some crows having a ruckus
traffic and twitter birds
traffic
that constant roar of the urban world

Bleeding Hearted Blues - James P. Johnson [from Really The Blues]

blues thread
comment thread
dance thread
all twisted together
a strong rope

Ha Ha Blues - Rosie Mae Moore [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

scenes from rural life
in the low lane

Bickleton, WA

I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket - Herman Chittison [from That Devilin' Tune]

style and influence
followed with
baseball stats! fluency
every year
a new amazement
trace of pedigree

Sonata Breve, Op. 26 - Lockrem Johnson - Lockrem Johnson, Gerald Ogle

they go through things together
two for one
and one for two
a not unmassy breve
as breves go

Saving My Love For You - Johnny Ace [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

so this
is the late great Johnny Ace 

a completely believable voice

Frankie and Johnnie - Morgana King [from Sings The Blues]

right through a hardwood swingin' door 

how few verses are required
to tell the whole sorry tale?

The Bells of St. Mary - Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans [from A Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector]

if a bell is mentioned
a bell must be rung 

repressed
by a wall of sound
only the hook matters
the rest is window dressing

Let There Be More Light - Pink Floyd [from A Saucerful of Secrets]

now there
is an entrance
perfectly cinematic
that
actually sounds
like something
somebody
cares about 

emphatically
not
in song form
more like
sprawled
in an altered state
across the ruin
of a song form

Quadrophenia - The Who [from Quadrophenia]

replacing orchestration
with attitude and amplification 

if you make the soundtrack
the film will surely follow
build it
they will come 

vamp after vamp
all intro
no showtime
overture
in the form
of a table of contents

Bickleton, WA

Utopia - Sun Ra & Walt Dickerson [from Visions]

these guys
are on some same page alrighty 

adept at tuning
to a going
that isn't a groove
that
could be sold and fitted
to use elsewhere 

something about the vibe of this
reminds me of Mike Marlin's Dubious Duo
(equally fab) 

this is about them
with each
we
are witnesses to it

The Cutter - Echo & The Bunnymen [from Porcupine]

tracks have histories of their own
how they got made
and histories
of connections
how they found me
compilators are valuable
to mix culture
for our mutual benefit 

this track
and its band
found me
via Nancy's Mix
underground share tapes

In Session at The Tintinabulary

April 27, 2025

Swanwick - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 95 Swanwick 250427 [250427]

April 28, 2025

Gradus 413 - Neal Kosály-Meyer

pursues its path
approaches all taken
or each taken
all transformation
all the time
acoustic models
limit tonal possibilities
wrist shaking
fist shaking
proclaimed
in high legend

Postscripts

Drops

I had the great good fortune to meet the eminent Seattle composer Lockrem Johnson (1924-1977) a few months before his death. A vast treasury of information on Lockrem and his times, including scores and historic recordings, can be found at lockremjohnsonestate.com.

1-24: 24 Preludes, Op. 50 (1967)
25: Sonatina for Trumpet and Piano, Op. 35 (1950)
26: 2 Songs to a Child, Op. 27 (1942/1948):

Do You Hear The Snow

Good Night

27: Chaconne, Op. 29 (1948)
28: Songs in the Wind, Op. 32 (1949)
29: Jazz Hanon 11 (1971)
30: Last 2 Songs, Op.52 (1973):

Because I Cannot Tilt Your Head

An Old Tune

31: Fifth Sonata, Op. 34 (1953)

Keith Eisenbrey, piano (all tracks)
Peter Nelson-King, trumpet (Op. 35)
Susan Payne O'Brien, soprano (Op. 27 and 52)
Lorri Froggét, soprano (op. 32)

Songs in the Wind recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, October 13, 2007
2 Songs to a Child and Last 2 Songs recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, March 16, 2024
All other tracks recorded 2023-2025 at The Tintinabulary, Seattle.

texts
Do You Hear The Snow by Lewis Carroll
Good Night by Mark Twain
Songs in the Wind by Ruth McDonald
Because I Cannot Tilt Your Head by Anon.
An Old Tune by Robert Abraham

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

Playlist

Preface

"'When Prince Bladud had been shut up in the lofty turret for the greater part of a year, with no better prospect before his bodily eyes than a stone wall, or before his mental vision than prolonged imprisonment, he naturally began to ruminate on a plan of escape, which, after months of preparation, he managed to accomplish: considerately leaving his dinner knife in the heart of his gaoler, lest the poor fellow (who had a family) should be considered privy to his flight, and punished accordingly by the infuriated king.'"

Charles Dickens - from "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" 

Texts

Recorded

September 16, 2023

Fantasia in D minor, K. 397 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout

parataxical sequence of states
too far
step back
no help that way
if there is no firm place
retreat is empty
we'll fence in a nice garden here
fragment cuts off at a half cadence

Der Wanderer in Der Sagemuhle - Clara Schumann - Dorothea Craxton, Hedayet Djeddikar

love the little codetta
as we close the book
where were we
just now

Largo in E-flat Major, KKIVb/5 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson

a melody
is an episode
in the image of a thing
that is being sung

Advertisement (Third Encore to Dynamic Motion) - Henry Cowell - Henry Cowell

leaps in and splashes for all it's worth

I think there must be a place in the soul - Charles Ives - Kia Sams, Russ Warner

sentimental to the core
paints
feelings of meanings

My Melancholy Baby - Ray Charles [from The Great Ray Charles]

love how the piano comes in
so that it's practically in the middle of its verse
when it finally comes around
magnificent tempo modulation
into the bump & grind at the end

Keeper of the Flame - Nina Simone [from High Priestess of Soul]

exotic fantasy sound
totally
charismatically
tasteless

And The Feeling Good - Sarah Vaughan [from Feelin' Good]

a music of having arrived
after long living
sung to those
who have arrived
after long living

Hard Rock Café - Carole King [from Simple Things]

does she get residuals?
every beer sold
party place
it will fix your funk

Wages of Sin - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]

part of the appeal
is an ability to evoke a life
that might be somebody's
this one has a colorful arrangement
that doesn't rely on drowning everything out in big band tutti power

Jimmy Rose He Went to Town - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]

a song doesn't need to be commercially sized
to be a song among songs

Born in Puerto Rico - Paul Simon [from Songs from The Capeman]

a photograph that reveals a past in a place

Compass 2 from Compass (2001) - Jarrad Powell [from Natural Selection]

bowing bells and gongs
glassy shimmer
hard and brittle
delicate sharpness
rolling vowels in the abstract

Cannonball - Brandi Carlile [from The Story]

... and the Belly Flops 

but seriously:
in the business of sharing ones suffering
for credibility 

but that's unfair
this is a strong song
local talent did well here

Another Day - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury - [from River Rats and Pipelines]

the hollow jug
bass rhythm
is at an interesting conflict with the guitar
as though behind
but exactly so
as though
and it may be
the playing of it
demands that apparent lag

September 17, 2023

Gaze - Nat Evans [from Coyoteways]

the wind is stilled at dawn
the sun stares
meditative
blank
impersonal
we are turned to it
as on a spit

Pitch Collection 3 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Antoneide]

among these trombone sounds
appear several trombone sound locations
and a multitude of conversational paths
cairned by the pitches of the trombone sounds
becomes a flock of trombone-playing geese
passing over

in a vast texture
it is more difficult
for a change of a small parameter
to make a difference that seems to matter

Intermezzo in A minor, Op. 4 #3 - Robert Schumann - Eric Le Sage

balanced phrase periods
but not sequenced
in groups of binary formations
more in the way of a Rondeau

Baby (take 1) - Little Richard [from Here's Little Richard]

great sax solo

Baby, Ain't That Fine - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]

an accidental recording
of some seemingly drunken dudes
playing music for their amusement
nothing wrong with that
what skews the whole experience
is the knowledge
that it is Bob Dylan
and it comes with all the baggage of Bob Dylanhood

My Opening Farewell - Bonnie Raitt [from Sweet Forgiveness]

cinematographically scripted memory

Air Ship - Ornette Coleman [from Of Human Feelings]

moves fast
chattering as it goes
news of the day
gossip of gossip

As The Rhyme Goes On - Eric B. & Rakim [from Paid in Full]

the purpose of the incessant talk
is to hypnotize
disrupt sense
alter consciousness

Gangsta's Fairytale 2 - Ice Cube [from The Predator]

a cluttered mind
cluttering minds

Until The End - Curtains for You [from Heaven's Waiting]

churchy organ
ukulele
simple vocal
quite nice message rhyme
buried in nonsense rhyme

September 18, 2023

Jemkow - Black Plastic Clouds [from Electroplate]

stoked for the party

Garage - Keith Eisenbrey [December 17, 2017]

Keith Eisenbrey · Garage 171217

closing car doors underground

Tied Up Five Ways - Steve Layton [from Moving Bodies]

the sizes of things
are shown to be not irregular
always measured against a drum track
with a steady pulse
however
when the pulse remains
but the drum track changes
or is something else at a certain point
the regularity of measured sizes
may be compromised

Honey Hush - Jerry Lee Lewis [from Rare and Rockin']

licks and interjections
more or less forgot to worry about words

Emily - Bill Evans [from California, Here I Come]

melody is a clearly discernable thread to follow
everything else is designed to ensure its clear discernibility

Soon - Total Experience Gospel Choir, Pat Wright [from Bits and Pieces]

a show-off number with quick articulations and ricochet call and response

I Wish You Love - Glenn Tate [from Some of My Favorite Love Songs]

as a song might be in Hallmarkland

No Gardens Here - The Hope [from In The Deep]

route 75
the long way south
sketches on the bus
fellow passengers
holding still

Kaplnka-1 - Stanislav Surin

like a nursery song
eruptions of expression
the swelling heart

Song 4 - Sarah Pasillas [recorded live at The Victory Lounge, Seattle, April 27, 2017]

platformer stanzas
pitch = passion

Conversation Piece - David Bowie [from Toy]

working in a limited pitch region
for the contrast
when the stanza moves elsewhere

September 19, 2023

Early Morning Cold Taxi - The Who [from The Who Sell Out]

the petty indignities of the fast life
same situation over and over
and the stupid tacked on ad

Symphony in C minor (#5), first movement - Ludwig van Beethoven [from 100 Greatest Classics]

with repeat
thank you
each new thing
is a growth from the old
though
one is left wondering about the oboe solo
skeleton key or door to elseness?

Irresistable (West Side Connection) - Mariah Carey [from Charmbracelet]

weaving voices around the sound
arachnid

Scribes Eye - Head for the Hills [from Robber's Roost]

entitlement rap

A Much Married Woman, Chapter 4 - Nancy Cole Silverman - Adam Verner

western success boosterism
our gloriously off-colored past
lullabies to the little ones
safely in the past

Banned Rehearsal 948 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt [December 18, 2017]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 948 171218

a deliberately attenuated sequence of items
call attention to themselves
begins to hide behind the other sounds
timbre as used in orchestrations
is a marker
for an object in physical space
a piano
a viola
a drum
et cetera
objects in space
to that extent
they move us away from conceptual music
the music that creates its own geometry in virtual space
pitch and sequence
point toward this virtuality
now the attenuate sequence
has a gaudy hat
the paces at which various agendas leave an audible trace in the signal
do not line up
they interpermeate shiftingly
a mature geology

Low Desert Signal - Doug Haire [from Western Stoner]

kitchen sounds and chitter chatter critters
wind and water and flame
some bird bangs his head on a post

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - The Philadelphia Brass Ensemble [from Festival of Carols in Brass]

with a beery lilt

Brel Yvane - Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir, Philip Koutev [from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares]

robust temperament

Drag Racing Thoughts - Dubious Duo [from Children of Siberia]

skittery frenetic

That's What Love's All About - Back Burner [from Simmer On]

string band advice column

Her Love Is Killing Me - Freddie and The Screamers [from I Ain't Crazy]

some guys go to bars
to get their bellyachin' done
hence the blues
instructions on how to complain about life

Sticky Notes - Mud on my Bra [from Sunset Tavern]

has a charming DIY brilliance to it

Sewing Machine Water Train - Tom Varner [from Sound Vespers]

something went gloaurp
more than one something
train whistle
whale song
swarm song
boom boom BOOM!
gluaorp!

The Gnome - Pink Floyd [from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (digital)]

psychedelic pop music gets no better ever

The Hardest Time - Los Lobos [from By The Light of the Moon]

portrait poem

The People Story - Johnny Moses [from When the Humans Thought They Were People]

someday long ago

How The Mighty Have Fallen - The Tripwires [from Makes You Look Around]

telling someone's life story
as an accusation
how does it feel

Convermash - Bruce Hamilton, Paul Muller, Jérôme Poirier, Jude Cowan, Chris Vaisvil, Roger Sundström [from Mash Hits Vol. 1]

making tracks to share

Song 4 - Sun Dummy [recorded live at The Victory Lounge, Seattle, April 27, 2017]

works
transportation provided

Hvinskyn - Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir - Halla Lovísa Loftsdóttir [from Strengur]

the spirit
coming from whence
going to hither
passes by
a visitation
in passing
not gently

September 20, 2023

24 Preludes - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded 2006-2022]

stretch out
snap back
undulate
pull
overlap
press
tickle
march out
listen hush
mock battle
strive upward
keep it together
behold
marvel
weave
evoke
stir slow
call forth
announce
watch
guard
stretch
luxuriate
linger
needle
grumble
bring forth
knead
force back
drift down
march back
flow
caricature
dance
whirl
frighten

In God's Country - U2 [from The Joshua Tree]

the song starts strong and then evaporates

Song 13 - The Humidiflyers [from Humidiflyers 2002]

clear the slate
slow it down for testimony

Moon Rising - Goat [from Live at Sonarchy]

gentle pulse washed by broader waves
a rhythm like an incense
heady and infectious
a ground of being
from within which
this music becomes possible
set it
forget it
the crowd vanishes
we are left
with little else
but pulse
so washed

Red Hot Kinda Love - Christina Aguilera [from Lotus]

top of the world
the song that gets sung
is heavily encrusted
with jewels and fashion

Problems - Alone in Dead Bars [recorded live at The Victory Lounge, Seattle, April 27, 2017]

a song is a paragraph's worth of saying

Seen, Unseen - James Falzone [from So Far Still]

the singularity of the device is questioned
from this place
figuration magic

Good Morning Good Morning - The Beatles [from Anthology]

a song about sudden boredom
and bewilderment
without the titular hook

Joseph lieber, Joseph mein - Tielman Susato Krummhorn Gesellschaft [from The Glory of the Krummhorn]

writing arrangements of simple melodies
is a time-honored pastime
of heavy hitters in the old days

Start! - The Jam [from The Sound of The Jam]

disconnected statements
it doesn't matter if
for disconnected
urbanist attitude

'Twas the Night Before Christmas - The Capitol Steps [from O Christmas Bush]

by homeland security
elf kaida

Lullaby - Byron Au Yong [from Yiju]

close vocals layered with moving around noises
an image of a family space
idealized enfolding
rapturous
clangorous

D-List (I'm On the) - The Snubs [from Witness Protection Program]

up tempo mouthy
with a key lift

Grande Fantasia with 6 Variations - Amélie-Julie Candeilee - Seattle Baroque Orchestra

from the age of flourishments embellishments and gaudy politesse
the privileged were getting nervous
and must be stroked
with delightful entertainments
composed as showcases
for skill display

September 21, 2023

Wales Visitation - Allen Ginsberg [from Holy Soul Jelly Roll]

angelic as light bulbs
nameless as the vast, babble to Vastness!
a solid mass of heaven
tongued with cloud hang
vegetable tremble
the great secret
is no secret

Home for the Holidays - London Symphony Orchestra [from Songs for the Holidays]

implies that where one resides the rest of the year isn't home?

Capriccio in A minor (#24) - Niccolo Paganini - Salvatore Accordo [from Masters of the Bow]

the theme that launched a thousand variations
with some if its own

Pianos and Bricks (Dorian Wood) - Prom Queen [from Covers]

stanza two begins
with the last word of stanza 1
romance > love
many sharp objects

Khegirnanna - $.99 Dreams [from Brood of Bau]

internal exotic
invented other
bass line conforms all
to a cycle of two pitch places
lets go
and it all drifts away

Stuck - Chastity Belt [from I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone]

what does it mean to express oneself?
pushing the internals out into the social sphere
must arise from an urge to do so
the more specific the identity
of what is inside
the more specific must be
the face of the urge

Skittering - Tom Swafford [from Rough Spaces]

muse
demon
urge
demiurge
inkling
yen
rib-poke
whim
the word for the origin of an idea
to do expressing of oneself
whether that origin is within us
or arrives from elsewhere
(as inspiration)
an indeterminable fact
lurking within our figures of speech 

where does language come from

The One I Love - REM [from Document]

this one goes out
is expressed
as a song artifact

That's My N**** fo' Real - Young Zee [from 8 Mile]

strut brag
balls out

The City of Good Neighbors - Peter Fedofsky [from The City of Good Neighbors]

chromatic descent
keeps the ambitus narrow
a closely defined location
low skies

For Hummingbird Heron & Honeybee - St. Paul de Vence [from St. Paul de Vence]

quite a fine study in vocal harmonies
the string band comes in gently
but brings it down to an earth
from which it can't self-extract

Avenged Seven-Minute Abs - Gaytheist [from Let's Jam Again Soon]

set to loud and close
Morse code guitar
wind up for the big punch
pummel and pummel

Cuff It - Beyoncé [from Renaissance]

pop music industry
sells the expressions of beautiful women's desires for sex
for socially dancing to

Young Fresh Fellows Update Theme - The Young Fresh Fellows [from Refreshments]

cock of the walk
pizza and cheese curls

Swamp Entrance - Pete Comley, Dave Fuglewicz [from Lost City Music Volume 2]

forgotten sci fi film
Lost City Soundtrack
Indiana should be here any minute now
I'm sure of it
I wasn't going to listen to this track by track
but I changed my mind
the tracking is entirely after fact
but
it was a creative decision on Pete's part
so
I'm interested in those sorts of decisions

Sonarchy - Seattle Phonographer's Union [from Seattle Phonographer's Union]

a phonographer takes careful phonographs of sounds in the wild
Seattle is a spacey place
its place is the spacey place
a particular flavor of spacey
that of the light in late November
a spaciness that reaches inside
ominous space
beetling o'er
campfires are a favorite subject
and a conversation among topics
as many ideas about phonography
as there are of them
plethora of imaged places
a roundness in the mix

The Lighthouse - Low Hums [from Low Hums LP]

the lonely outpost
outcast loner post
keeps the Eddystone

Borg Pillow - CEP [from Drawing the Target Around the Arrow]

one starts by collecting a repertoire of assemblages
and of the activities of assembling
id est
composition
connnectifying
drawing lines around
in the rhythm of a headache throb
tides and ripplets
baby ripples

Fifteen Moments from The Time of Rivers - Tom Baker [from Deeply Lodged]

this is the sound of people making the magic happen
this too
these all
open formed
even when sequenced
it matters
that their order matters not
that ghastly light
it orders that their matter orders not
recording
has begotten the notion
of a sound itself
as the locus of an artifact's identity
rather than
the intent
being the sound itself
don't hide

The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson [from Bad]

extreme separation
his vocals dance in their own voice
voice body
in how it moves
those robot backup vocals are freaking me out

I Am Mine - Pearl Jam [from Rearviewmirror]

from a more distant nearness
mythic warrior testimony
the sincerity of heroic sentiment
in times of war
old civil war wounds

Lord Daniel - Mary Lomax [from The Art of Field Recording Volume 1]

the mythic moment melodified over
as it begins the envelope of story
between the moments of beginning and ending disasters

Severed Head - Ian Bell, John Teske [from Embers of Discontent (original mix)]

got lost thinking about discontent in America as I hear it in our music at the ages

Coco Flush - Charms [from Human Error]

industrial spacey
over the sci fi edge
down in trenches
galley slaves

Aloft - Lori Goldston [from High and Low]

draw the bow
drawn by a  bow
by a bow
by a bow
by a bow
by a bow
by a bow
by a bow
by a bow
by a bow
by a bow
drawn bow
drawn bow
drawn bow
drawn bow
drawn bow
drawn by a bow
drawn bow
drawn by a bow
drawn bow
draw bow
draw bow
draw bow
draw

In Session at The Tintinabulary

September 17, 2023

Stonefield - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 948 171218

continuing my Sunday discipline of arranging old shape-note tunes for keyboard or what-not

September 19, 2023

Invention in F Major - Gavin Borchert

September 20, 2023

Invention in G minor - Gavin Borchert

four more to go in this set of 30

September 22, 2023

Patti's Parlour Pieces (#23) - Ken Benshoof

I think I finally got this one sounding pretty good

Postscripts

Drops

Keith Eisenbrey 3: 1982-1983

I have started sharing collections of my compositions in albums on Bandcamp. These document the beginnings of the activity, in words and music, of thinking about thinking about music.

Keith Eisenbrey 2: 1981-1982

These are two electronic works completed at the end of my undergraduate days and in the year that followed.

Keith Eisenbrey 1: 1979-1981

These are the keyboard works I composed while an undergrad at the UW. 

All are free for download.

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery

listening journal doodles from 2009