Playlist

Preface

"One Boa constrictor, at the Zoological Gardens, swallows the other.

The cunning serpent in the park

One day was feeling rather hollow,

So took his brother for a lark,

Or, just as likely, for a swallow."

from The Comic Almanack, 1st Series 1835-1843

Texts

Recorded

July 12, 2026

R.S. - Steve Layton [from Red Sky]

what is cast into the cauldron
is subsumed
what wafts out from the cauldron
is addressed
with ritualized drumming 

bound to its medium

Sonata in D Major, Kk. 333 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

brief first segment
more extensive after the hinge

Nocturne in A-flat Major (#3) - John Field - Benjamin Frith

searching out the stance
from which the opening figures
can be most effectively reopened

Album d'un voyageur, S. 156/R. 8, Book I, "Impressions et Poesies": III. Les Cloches de G(eneve) - Franz Liszt - Ashley Wass

generous with time
the magic settles gently
enfolded within its embrace
we breathe in deeply
we enter its world
exit through sweet sleep

Ouverture-Manfred, Op. 115 - Robert Schumann - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz

among the more potent of symphonic three-chord bursts
this magic barges right in
leaves what's left of you
hanging by a thread
on that final unmistakable chord

3 Piano Pieces, EG105 - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø

1
let's be a harp
we can shimmer in motion 

2
let's best our passions
in simplicity and humility 

3
let's play swords and bucklers

2 Poèmes, Op. 71: II. En Rêvant, Avec Une Grande Douceur - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev

intervals of transposition
and complex melodic intervals

Tight Like This - Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five [from Hot Fives and Sevens]

the piano player is fun to listen to
heads in a more Art Tatum direction

July 13, 2026

I Won't Say I Will (Incomplete) - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]

the written melody
has a clear shape across its entire stanzascape
which gives the singer
a firm base
from which to range 

this set of takes
has several tries at the end

Moonlight Bay - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology]

on britcom tv

Let Me Sing and I'm Happy - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]

if my song can start you cryin'
then I'm happy

Hefner and Disney - T. Bone Burnett [from Proof Through The Night]

another of those sneering tales he tells

The Little Green Lane (Lovatt) - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]

this melody lilts of the 1890s sentimental

Lou-Easy-An-I-A [from New Orleans Traditional Jazz Legends Volume 3]

the state song?

Sex and Rebellion - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]

confidence is a power play posture

Mother and Father - Madonna [from American Life]

using distinct vocal
to create a dialog
across lines and stanzas

I Will Always Love You (Live) - Dolly Parton

anthem of devotion

Cadenza Sans - Steve Layton [from The Composer Plays Revisited]

sans concerto
it would seem

The Teacher - Paul Simon [from In The Blue Light]

a portrait song or cosmogony

Melodic Landscape (Soundscroll 1, Part 3) - S. Eric Scribner [from Soundscrolls: Lost Landshapes]

billows of hills float on the horizon

July 14, 2026

On Green Dolphin Street - Bill Evans [from Some Other Time / The Lost Session from the Black Forest]

chords of sevenths or greater
increase the likelihood of common tones
in any direction

Sitting Still - REM [from Murmur]

melody is adequate to the chord changes
note by note
syllable by syllable
the elision between two stanza types
is thus made plain

Security of the First World - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back]

just the beat folks
nothin' else to hear here
move along

Are You Still Up/Sweet Dreams/Whoops Now - Janet Jackson [from Janet]

the album is interspersed with short segments of sound
that seem to purport to be slices of a life
to be fantasized about 

the giggly good life

Beyoncé Interlude/Gift from Virgo - Beyoncé [from Dangerously In Love]

this song has a sensually smooth sound skin

Rubies - The True Bugs [from 25 Songs]

singalong
fire circle
at the summer beach

I Can't Help Falling In Love With You - Peterman [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 6, 2013]

during this song
two burly fellows were so enthusiastic
in the good feeling
as to give each other
a big burly fellows embrace
right there on the floor of Victory Lounge 

I was amused

For Robin - Slothrust [from The Pact]

an epistle
telling the recipient
the story of the recipient
as one might address a memory

You Never Left (Demo) - Dead Bars [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have to be Cool]

a scrawl on a wall

Rio - Wayne Shorter [from The Classic Blue Note Recordings]

as seen by night life
among the moneyed and swank

Happy Nowadays - Buzzcocks [from Nancy's Mix]

in order to cleanse the room
of past energies
gets into all the corners

Something2 Dance 2 - N.W.A. [from Straight Outta Compton]

here they comes to save the day! 

instructions for those at home

Une nymphe jolie (1587) - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'n'Roll]

the world of nymphs and sylphs and fauns and unicorns
is a safe seeming sensual pleasure land
for use
in the ritual of seduction 

strong well writ tune

Soundscape - Darrell [from Jack Straw Cultural Center, Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]

Satan Junior's lullaby
loves waves
a fleet of bush tits flitted by

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

found on the table

666 - Chaotic Noise Marching Corps [from Smashed as Smash Putt]

parade clown band
drummer's tattoo
rudiments to the front lines!

Sapwood [from WCRMS Participants 2018]

slow flow soil chemistry
process depiction
audible graph
intermedial mapping

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

17
Satie had a crack at it or two 

18
peep show sound track 

19
as a troupe of puppet clowns
Petrushka's taunt's progeny 

20
an oracle and its yesman-ma'am-man yes'm
share a waltz 

21
hang on we're picking up something
in a dialect of Morse 

22
now in warm silks and mood lighting 

23
here's Buster and Fatty 

tossing plates of food
from kitchen to dining room 

24
gets lost in prettyland

Do You Feel It - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]

rockin' instrumental track
proto Stooges

Supplement - Elaine Barkin, J. K. Randall, Mathew Rosenblum, Marjorie Tichenor, Daniel Warner [from Inter/Play]

July 13, 1983
I'll need to check
but it wouldn't surprise me
if I hadn't met Elaine
that Summer
on the same trip East
but no
that was in the Summer before
in '82 

here the emerging poem
in word language
by being sounds among sounds 

an interesting way
to think about the setting of text to music 

its sounds
on a level footing
as sounds
to all those other 

given time and humans
a music will arise
and it will not be static
until societal norms
force it
into acceptable channels 

is a stone a female rock?
are we all still here?
wherever here might be 

a hungry beast
devours the poem thus far
the end of the thus far poem
previously rumored
was overstated
not unscathed
but not nil neither

Freedom - Marley Marl [from In Control Volume 1]

who owns what
what owns whom
rhyme drummer

Hungarian Dance #1 - Johannes Brahms - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]

and we come full circle
to Johannes and whatzisname Joachim

Colors: Bright Yellow - Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury]

in which the space is clearly audible

Bye Bye - Mariah Carey [from E=MC2]

the woman who wears grief more cheerily than you

Happiness - Chastity Belt [from No Regerts]

world weary teen mask

The Custody Battle - Steve Kennedy, Lisa Puteska [from Untitled Album]

a constant and intense pressure
only gets worse

Sleepless Cycle - Megan Ihnen [from Sleep Songs - Wordless Lullabies from The Sleepless, volume 2]

in gradually unlimiting space
along an activated pitch scheme

July 15, 2026

Ask Me Now (take 2) - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]

each singular gesture
distinctly made
no blur between them

Head Injury - Soundgarden [from Ultramega OK]

novelty numbers were a staple of the scene

Renjeng Su - China (Taiwan) [from The World Sings Goodnight]

swaddle song

Donald Rumsfeld - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]

textures of layered surface noise
distant drums and dry wind

Starstruck (feat. Space Cowboy & Flo Rida) - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]

using voice to activate effects

Blue Girl - Shelby Earl [from Swift Arrows]

a battle with a rival self

2f2f2f(2f) - Triptet [from Slowly, Away]

there is business to transact at the reception desk
we are taken up in its clockwork arms
particularly noted and logged
we are now a part of its process
the motor spins
we are suspended in the suspension room
watch kept far above

You Can't Win With a Losing Hand - Eddie Floyd [from Written in their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]

solid guitar work

Little Sally Tease - The Kingsmen [from The Very Best of The Kingsmen]

shaming circumspection
alternate fade-out ending

Bullet The Blue Sky - U2 [from Rattle and Hum]

lifted on platforms of theatrical portent
ick

The Juniper Tree - Andrew Toovey - EOS, Charles Peebles, Marcia Bellamy, Richard Morris, Jacqueline Horner, Nick Hariades

Marcia Bellamy was a classmate of mine at the UW.
Neal had kept in touch with her
and that is why I have this recording 

it opens with a lengthy violin solo
then dives into nightmare puppetland 

character signified in voice 

each statement
set as a new poempage
each scenestatement
carefully crafted
to punch on stage
without overt or overbearing cross-reference among scenes 

sounds have traditional significance
musical manners also have traditional significance

whosoever cooked up this tale
is twisted somewhere 
taboo horror
incest and cannibalism
traditional response: revulsion 

we fade into the legendmist
to black
followed by
the curse taking hold
that is
Scene 4 

the inquest scene
a traditional method of societal closure
to ease us 

from revulsion
into complacence 

dramaturgical problem
it's hard to follow cannibalism
with anything more horrible
though
perhaps
resolution of revulsion is worse

Reality - David Bowie [from Reality]

playing his part occupying his voice even through the full frontal arrangement

Low Clarinet Symposium [from Low Clarinet Symposium]

Sim-Symposium
with cymbals and drums
honkfest
a rage against machine
an applause pause
regroup 

not without its charms
its clear commitment
sticking with it
without over thought 

some folks
has just gots to get together
and shred
evacuate the system
purge maximally
it's a bit like watching a fire hose
at full throttle

the drums
are the low clarinet lion trainer
keeps them to their traditional roles

Tonight - Acapulco Lips [from Acapulco Lips]

is time to ParTEEE!
so kick off your shoes and dance

Chasing a Straight - Kara Hesse [from Soujourner]

another cardplay metaphor
life at the love table

A Noiseless Noise - PJ Harvey [from I Inside The Old Year Dying]

stanzaic freedom
short lines
care paid
to phonemes
and their rhymes

July 16, 2026

Stimmung 1968 (continued) - Karlheinz Stockhausen

jumping in midway
we are in a suddenly more varied sound world
but only because we recall
the opening pitch focus
but here
it is the focus
on each presented pitch
rather than
just the one pitch one focus of the open
(per my immediate recollection) 

articulatory aberrations
in the form of spoken words
in various languages 

this piece and many other of Stockhausen's oeuvre
are such products of their theatrical moments in history
that the idea of a revival performance
abrates 

the chorus resonators
pick up sounds
from the spoken bits
and melt them back
into new words 

technique for listening
latch on to any clue
as to what might be going on
and stick with it 

until
the music tells you
something different 

this piece transpires
in the space
where language sound
resonant sound
and word sounds
jump states freely

Adagio - Samuel Barber - The Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]

I presume that brass players learn to optimize mouth shape for tone
(part of what distinguishes practiced players from novitiates)

GamElang - Elaine Barkin - Sue Carole DeVale, Michael Bakan, Elaine Barkin, Wanda Bryant, Lindsay Clare, Alice Hunt, Jay Keister, Grace M, David Martinelli [from Open Space 12]

events with shapes stand at the entry
inside
the discussion is held
in terms of events with shapes 

I'm reminded of her hubcap masks
this is like those 

difference between
needing specificness
and needing specifications

Ain't No Way - Aretha Franklin [from So Damn Happy]

sung so it sounds like she means it
right then

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

a poem in the voice of a handwriting (impersonal)
(or rather
not projecting expression
beyond the bare words) 

and hymnody
scraping the mountains plain
(a nocturne)

Black Magic I - Antique Scream [from Two Bad Dudes]

two bad dudes
couple of wild and crazy
posture clowns 

were these the guys that had a shtick
where the drummer would solo
and the other guy would go to the bar
and buy
and return with
a beer?
this is a long enough drum solo

Sinners and Angels - SeaStar [from Sinners and Angels]

badboytemptation trope
transgression always tempts

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

over-produced beyond any believable stage
the words are too large for their import
these folks are confused
in their self absorption
triumphal downfall
belt it out
or be buried

Kraanerg (beginning) - Iannis Xenakis - Callithumpian Consort, Stephen Drury

this music dismantles hulks
cuts large into small
slag heap resonance 

ferrous items sorted out
several camera angles
on each station

Shakin' All Over - Girl Trouble [from Hit It Or Quit It]

the engineer says
we have plenty of tape
but in the context of a three minute pop song only
and then they fade

Elderly Woman Behind the Counter - Pearl Jam [from Rearviewmirror]

any line has a tight footprint
mostly within a tight registral area

Midnight Blue - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]

reminiscence of a song
sentiment mnemonical

July 17, 2026

Hollow Earth Radio - Seattle Phonographers Union [from Seattle Phonographers Union]

fireworks
reports
ripping pants
and spinners
crowds
roar
traffic horns
inventing
an unforeseen space
out of collected events
collectively
or
a trajectory through unforeseen spaces

Snarkiselk - B'Shnorkestra [from Go To Orange]

passing through a sequence of tempo grooves
street fair crowds

Switch and Bait - Tom Swafford [from Violin Improvisations]

footstomping hoedown freestyle

Study in D-flat Major - Jeremiah Lawson - Jeremiah Lawson

Jeremiah seems
as best I can tell
to revel in using the craziest possible guitarist means
to produce plain spoken music

In Session at The Tintinabulary

July 12, 2026

Zerah - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 158 Zerah 260712 [260712]

July 13, 2026

Banned Rehearsal 1155 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1155 260713

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.

Playlist

Preface

{NB check out those framing noses!} George Cruikshank (presumed) from The Comic Almanack, 1st Series, 1835-1843

Texts

Live

June 20, 2026

Mark Hilliard Wilson, guitar, with Peter Nelson-King, voice
Prospect Congregational United Church of Christ, Seattle

Mark played a selection of pieces old and new that he announced from the stage, so I will not attempt to list the program 

musics shaped by the interactions
between the hands
and a fretboard
and an arrangement of strings 

the polyphonic voices
associate themselves
with particular congruencies
of finger and string
and location
within the finger figures 

the practiced sound of the instrument
is almost impossibly lovely
and it features a pleasant and grounding set
of extraneous sounds
(fingers on wires)
keeps it real 

this was a most pleasant afternoon recital

June 25, 2026

Neil Welch, Scott Robinson
Wayward Music Series, curated by Haley Freelund
The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle

Neil Welch

pitch is an identifier of sound groups
we use it
to say
this sound
and that sound 

a piece that arises
from thoughts
concerning underground mushroom forces
eruptions from below
where most of them lives 

last piece
with the big bass sax
sounds must be coaxed
from its underbelly
with some piano tones
and hanging rattles 

endings are gently massaged

Scott Robinson

brief high cries
descent into lower registers
these breaths
became pitch events
leading ear
through its space
the thoughts are clear
blatant Hungarian quasi-clarinet
(taragato)
finding two cornets in one
must be a device
that switches
from straight bell
to a built-in mute 

and three different saxophones
including an obsolete C Melody Sax
and bass with range to die for

Together

and together
Neil on soprano
and Scott on bass

Recorded

June 21, 2026

Uprising - Steve Layton [from Bedtime Stories]

we count in location
we recount in relocation
inexorable alternation 

the potion brews
molecules bond
and rebond
it drains off
but count remains

Sonata in C Major, Kk. 330 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

another on fortepiano 

used less as a contrast device
than as a means of articulating the shapes of phrases

Two Hungarian Recruiting Dances, S241 - Franz Liszt - Leslie Howard

elegant affairs
for the officer class 

early early Liszt
so still in an essentially Galant style
with the merest hint
of dark Schubertian shades 

the pretranscendant Liszt

Album for the Young, Part 1, Op. 68, 1-18 - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig

touch
as contrast among
and common aspect among

the common touch
(heh heh)

and contrast within
a sequence of articulated groups of phrases
distinguished by their varieties of touch
a primer in how to do so
by the master his own self
for beginners 

sparing of the power moves
available to a more fully grown hand
the pedaling required
is not Scriabin fancy 

Wilder Reiter
touches accents 

as the pieces progress
their gradual expansion of scale
instructs prolonged concentration

Lyric Pieces, Book II, Op. 38 - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø

amusement
Ken Benshoof admired these pieces
I think he was fond
of how focused they are
they don't move on
to new material
that isn't nearly
not new
the only real complaint
I might have
is that they don't break new ground
as a music
they are content and settled
all debts paid in full 

but they sure are pleasant to hear
status quo unchallenged

6 Idylles: I. Allegretto leggiero, Op. 24 #1 - Agathe Backer Grøndahl - Sara Aimée Smiseth

this one wanders close to moody shades
and lingers

2 Preludes, Op. 67 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev

murkier portions settle
in a low mist 

moves smoothly
upon many swiftly vibrating legs

June 22, 2026

Save It, Pretty Mama - Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five [from Hot Fives and Sevens]

decorative
gussied up
stanza forms

I Won't Say I Will (incomplete) - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]

this album
includes a bunch of outtakes

She Loves You - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology]

I have a consistent inability
to pick up the downbeat in this song
until I'm several measures in

Blue Skies - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]

Broadway trope
hey there folks
suddenly I'm in love

Johnny Bye-Bye - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]

song report
addressing the immediate past of song
a sketch demo

My tocher's the jewel (Ruubra) - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]

lots of Scottish snapping

Alabama Jubilee [from New Orleans Traditional Jazz Legends Vol. 3]

sunny day
trouble free vibe
with banjo scrubbing

Queen Gasoline - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]

warning
against a risky person
to engage with 

contrasting dynamics
stanza by stanza

Haul Away Joe (live in 2000) - Scurvy Bastards [from Piranthology]

talk like a pirate night
at the local pub

Snohomish Mash-Up Piece #3 - S. Eric Scribner [from Odds and Ends]

a music full of sounds in relation

The Writing On The Wall - Lost In Space [from Live at The Player's Lounge]

performing selves
on a common stage 

song
(broad sense)
as a party game
keep it lively

Ace - Rawn Jawn [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have To Be Cool]

the vocal microphone
has an unfortunate ringiness to it

It's All Right With Me (incomplete) - Bill Evans [from Some Other Time / The Lost Session from the Black Forest]

at some point
there's no reason for a record company
to not release
all of the sound they've recorded
even edited for clarity
and to protect the innocent
here's Bill thinking a thing through

Hula Hoop - T. Bone Burnett [from Proof Through The Night]

verbal imitation
of the Sun Records echo effect

Untitled Hidden Track - REM [from Green]

this song
tells us what it is for
like labels on vitamins

U.S.A. (Ogalala Sioux Indian) - Jerry Gartett [from The World Sings Goodnight]

premise:
all peoples sing infants to sleep
possible
perhaps even plausible
yet unconfirmed
ill-defined term "peoples"

Intervention - Madonna [from American Life]

hard edges to the tracks this is made of
they are not in the room at all
not making sound?
you are erased from existing

I Will Forever Hate Roses - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]

romantic disappointment
is a curse
upon a memory 

bump the key up a fret!

Black Jesus + Amen Fashion - Lady Gaga [from Born This Way]

at the heart of what fashion sells
is a command to conform

Black Cloud - Whitney Ballen [from You're a Shooting Star - I'm A Sinking Ship]

anxious sensitivity
to vibes
emanations
the creepies
all the congregation of them
another bivalent dynamic
stanza to stanza

Lie Flat - Megan Ihnen [from Sleep Songs - Worldless Lullabies from The Sleepless, volume 2]

a poem
in lines of pitches

Marie Antoinette - Wayne Shorter [from The Classic Blue Note Recordings]

post war coolness
nouveau suave
or urban social aspiration
politely sophisticated
nouveau Galant
shaken not stirred

Respectable Street - XTC [from Nancy's Mix]

in the original Nancy's Mix
the compilator skipped the introductory bit
that sounds like a dictaphone recording

My Baby's Gone - Girl Trouble [from Hit It Or Quit It]

writing a song
to a microphone
and related equipment
the sound
is
the score
they read
I guess
she's gone away

C.R.E.A.M. (a capella) - Wu-Tang Clan [from Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)]

rhyme as accent

The Closer I Get To You (with Beyoncé) - Luther Vandross [from Dangerously In Love]

a delicate negotiation

June 23, 2026

My Prolix Verses Fade - Christian Asplund [from Viola]

the edge of sound making
scrutinized
the business end
of scraping strings with strings
an activity
of making sound
this music
seems to eschew
the tool
of unity by common referential framework
or generation

Did Your Mama? - Holly Palmer [from I Confess]

bivalent dynamic stanza differentiation
seems to be a situational conceit of nurse to patient?

Freaks Only - Red Ribbon [from Dark Party]

I'm an idi-idiot

Top Of The Mountain - The Staple Singers [from Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]

from gospel
the dialog between lead singer and backups
also the counsel and witness

Killer Joe - The Kingsmen [from The Very Best of The Kingsmen]

broadly cartooned figure
of late adolescent culture

Piano Player - J. K. Randall, Matthew Rosenblum, Marjorie Tichenor, Daniel Warner [from Inter/Play]

peering through cloudy glass
lengthy segments
with pauses
quite pronounced
between them
then
sneaking in
their edges
as though
the soundful segments
were negotiating a path
through a forest
of pause segments
as though they they had been pre-arranged 

this is the room
of moving slowly
Crumar and sax
like gulls 

what
in the music
stands for
the player's sharing a communication event
where do we hear it happening? 

in the shaping
of each sound
to each sound
with trust among them 

why should such a  conversation
need
to be a music
even if it is? 

Crumar chuckles low in the belly

Trenke, Todarke - Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir [from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares 2]

antiphonal

Lake of Fire - Nirvana [from Unplugged in New York]

rural backwoods vocal delivery

Soundscape - Val [from Jack Straw Cultural Center: Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]

sounds as a thing
to be kept
saved for later

Other Side of the Morning - The True Bugs [from 25 Songs]

symptoms in a list

O Sapo - Camarones Orquestra Guitarrística [from O Curioso Caso da Música Invisível]

a real
hair twirler
hip swaggerer

René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War - Paul Simon [from In The Blue Light]

memory poem

Remember - Tom Baker Quartet [from Begin Again]

this place grows on you
seeps right in

It's Not Easy - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]

the old trope
of the everuntrustworthy female

Atlas Eclipticalis with Winter Music 831211 630 PM (continued) - The New Performance Group, John Cage]

punching buttons at prescribed times
which button
isn't crucial
that it be pushed
is
but only exactly
at the prescribed times 

these sounds represent objects
not nodes within a statement
or shared communication event
none of that! 

though
surreptition abounds
play on! 

shhh
they're listening
back to the buttons

Vamos (Surfer Rosa) - Pixies [from Surfer Rosa]

tightly wound
threat posture
guitar solo time

New Weather: II: Blemish - Edward T. Cone - Mimmi Fulmer, Jeffrey Farrington,John Whitfield, Cyrus Stevens, Jayn Rosenfeld

the care
with which pitch
lays out its cards

Colors: Green Grass - Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury]

a score is a stimulus
a prompt

Boom Synth - Michael - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]

not unplayful

Pretty Wicked Things - Dawn Richard [from Goldenheart]

sci fi fantasy witch queen vibe
dance song
end to end consistency

All My Friends Use Reverb - Lisa Puteska, Steve Kennedy [from Untitled Album]

abuse of machine regularity
looping can change linearly
but not transform or generate

Diabelli Recomposed (continued) - Various [from Diabelli Recomposed streamed by Claudia Bigos]

2
this one daubs paint upon it

3
exclaims over the exquisite detailing on the stitches

4
a lecture upon it is given
at quickened pantomime pace
such as before talkies

5
this one came apart in the box

Goldstaub (continued) - Karlheinz Stockhausen

these sounds inflict themselves upon each other 

human
hooman
hoomann
who mann
one moon
hoo! 
man

awakened in the middle
a lesson to anyone
what might be passing by
or
to no one
or
to someone
but not to you 

big bass blat 

ensemble exits
tingling their bells
into the lobby
or the distance 

we chanced upon
some hippies
in a wood

As The Night Goes By - Patti Smith [from Dream of Life]

fine grained sensibility
giddy love

June 24, 2026

Une jeune fillette (1576) - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'n'Roll]

we picture costumes and sets around this music 

a line of melody
and a delivery
that belongs to our image of the past

Infraction Against The Homeland - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]

constructed from disparate source materials

Thanks 4 Nothin' - Mariah Carey [from E=MC2]

a dance spotlight
spots moments
of the spinning situation

First Song - Hope Wechkin [from Leaning Toward The Fiddler]

poem declaimed
by means of song
or prose
so declaimed

Sexy Vampire - Black Dresses [from Hell Is Real]

fantasies of youth

I Inside The Old Year Dying - PJ Harvey [from I Inside The Old Year Dying]

a line from a sonnet
sung in a paralleled interval

Ferdinand The Imposter - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]

character sketch
fellow at the bar
I can catch a few words
now and then

Night of The Living Baseheads - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back]

busy with episodes of intrusion

Liebesfreud - Fritz Kreisler - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]

musicians and their markets 

this sounds
like a silent movie accompaniment

Fall Dog Bombs The Moon - David Bowie [from Reality]

the conceit here
is that each stanza
adds to the story
oracularly

Under The Big Top - Rachel Harrington [from City of Refuge]

aerial act metaphor
devotion of partners

Land, Love, and Liberty - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from High Roads and Hard Shoulders]

testament and challenge
quite the strummer and picker on that guitar of his

Crystalline Thunderstorms - Triptet [from Slowly, Away]

evocative
illustrative
with tech specs aplenty 

intercrystalline probes
into the weirdness
of crystal math
it is
out
precisely
there

Seven Psalms - Paul Simon [from Seven Psalms]

this segment eases into its tonality
from out of its prior tonality 

the greater song takes it into itself
now a new time is there
to catch us up 

new movement
the Lord is my engineer 

some interesting sounds now and then
deeply human
doesn't try to overwhelm
with gewgaws
a comfort sermon

Think -Aretha Franklin [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

plea for recognition

Dopeman (Remix) - N.W.A. [from Straight Outta Compton]

rules of the game
veering toward self parody

Lord, If I Got My Ticket - Robert Shaw Festival Singers [from Amazing Grace]

pretty fancy arrangement there

In The Blue of Evening - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]

have the voices
that sung these songs
in shows
passed
beyond memory?
drowned
by a legion
of lounge pianists
in tuxes?

Look Unto The Sun - Achil - Prospect Choir, Kia Sams [from Prospect Congregational Centennial 1908-2008]

tightly made

Unicorny - Bad Cop, Bad Cop [from Wings of Techno]

when loops congrue
our world shrinks to a pinpoint

Old Fire - Kara Hesse [from Sojourner]

weary old love
lost sadness

Emax II the Max - Pete Comley [from The Paintronic Project - Paintronics Vol 5 - Glowing Orb Of Even More Paintronic Electronics]

throbbing closer
throbbing higher
a pitch
of uncertain solidity
respiration wheezes
crud bubbles from below
potion master
checking readouts
and adjusting settings
levitating
a standing wave

June 26, 2026

Nocturne in E-flat Major (#1) - John Field - Benjamin Frith

thinking vocally in one hand
and lutishly in the other
great care taken toward each

Infant Joy - William Blake - Allen Ginsberg [from Holy Soul Jelly Roll]

using music
as a stand-in
for Blake's illustrations

Duck Alert - Marley Marl [from In Control Volume 1]

goofing off
amid the tracks
of sounds
collected
by sound collectors

In Session at The Tintinabulary

June 21, 2026

Fair Haven - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 155 Fair Haven 260621 [260621]

Postscripts

Drops

Music by Barkin and Others

another collection of musics that have found their way into my fingers over the years
music by Elaine Barkin, Anne Gorrick, Neal Kosály-Meyer, Carson Farley, Doug Palmer, Kam Morrill, Leanna Keith, Richard Johnson, and Emily Doolittle

Keith Eisenbrey, piano and clavichord
Neal Kosály-Meyer, voice

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

Playlist

Preface

October {1841} - A Drive in Drury Lane, George Cruikshank, from The Comic Almanack, 1st Series 1835-1843

Texts

Recorded

May 2, 2026

Sonata in G Major, Kk. 324 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

Scarlatti bedazzles with clarity 

at the hinge a huge surprise bursts forth
as might the sudden arrival of royalty

Novelleten, Op. 21 #7, in E Major - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig

this is the Schumann that exuberates
this is the Schumann that thinks things through
this is the Schumann that leaps across logical steps
this is the Schumann that dreams
shadowed and fae

Buch der Lieder I, S. 531: VI. Angiolin dal biondo crin - Franz Liszt - Leslie Howard

this music spotlights the performer
is about how well it is being imagined
even when not being pianistically spectacular

May 3, 2026

Sonata in C Major, Op. 70 (#10) - Alexander Scriabin - Ruth Laredo

wisps
languid
drift across the lake
en pointe

playful naiads bathe splashily
fauns lounge on mossy stones 

sylvan scented scenery

Since I Laid My Burden Down - The Elders McIntosh and Edward's Sanctified Singers [from The Anthology of American Folk Music]

the tempo presses forward
as with mass behind it
the wind
pushes it along

I Wants To Stay Here - Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald [from Porgy and Bess]

She leaves the S off of 'wants'
never really belonged there anyway?
that is
what did it signify?:
blackness
or a dialect
or a dialect that signified blackness
giving words a skin color?

You Really Got a Hold On Me - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology]

Rock and Roll
may have appealed to its target audience
because it didn't perpetually look back
to remind its listeners
of musics of the past
as Jazz did
with the so-called American Songbook 

early on
it was devoid of nostalgia

House Burning Down - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]

a prelude in long cascades
current events
eyewitness reports 

flourish around the arena to close

7 Preludes for Guitar - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded on clavichord April 20, 2026]

these seven
are in the Chopin order
I wonder if he hoped he might complete a cycle of 24? 

the clavichord has a different set of articulations available than guitar
not to mention the lack of anything quite like open strings
or the different methods of activation

quintessential Lockrem
witty
droll
touching

Pretty Flamingo - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at The Roxy]

a song we can all sway to
big crowd hug
but now that he's got your attention
he'll tell a long story
it's important
that you believe
the song is autobiographical 

by this time
nostalgia had laid down roots

House of Mirrors - T. Bone Burnett [from Truth Decay]

the voice of this poem
has a strong stink of disdain
as though authoritative

May 4, 2026

Orange Crush - REM [from Green]

we come in
to the middle
of whatever situation
the words may purport
to appertain to
but
are offered
no useful assistance

Alice in Wonderland - King's Singers [from Chanson d'amour]

nostalgia trip

Little Star - Madonna [from Ray of Light]

clean electric sound
sci fi containment vessel

Construction - Christian Asplund [from Brainstun]

set the corners
measure the extents needed

The Tracks of My Tears - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]

rural tempo
village life

Electric Hands - Spinning Whips [from Sentimental Groover]

factory floor tempo
robotic arms
protective equipment required

Enter Summer - Steve Layton [from Próxima Estación]

as if it had a skin
and liquid deeps 

we are submerged
within this music's space

Lauda Anima - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey #7: 1995-2001]

a hymn tune
treated as a text
for commentary
as to
its strangeness

He's Coming Soon - Laura Henton [from Goodbye, Babylon]

unfussy temperament
you can see them sitting there
with their instruments
piano
back against the wall
singer
in front of the sound funnel

A Word To The Fore - Norman Monath [from Songs of the Pogo]

looking back across the fertilizer
no need to sally forth

Katie's Been Gone - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]

relationship in flux
and suspense
an aria
in the form of an epistle

I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow [from Nancy's Mix]

surfer wanna be
beach dance

May 5, 2026

Looking For You (I Was) - Patti Smith [from Dream of Life]

melody opens rhyme
into gardens
beyond the phonemic

The Wedding Song - David Bowie [from Black Tie White Noise]

polyrhymic

Sex and Rebellion - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]

desperate lust

Gold Fever - Scurvy Bastards [from Piranthology]

singing in character
a narrator
tales
around the common fire

Devil Don't Remember My Name - Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs [from Crooked Path]

understanding ourselves
by insinuating our selves
into literary figures
(characters or conceits)

Cumulus - Cumulus [from I Never Meant It To Be Like This]

this music
is a bed
for language
to rhyme upon

How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns - Paul Simon [from In The Blue Light]

reproduction
of a former production
old
as older
than old

Hush, Little One - Megan Ihnen [from Sleep Songs 2]

melody spinning
the recorded space around her voice
is strangely empty

Nightmare - Alphonso Trent [from That Devilin' Tune]

walking along
minding its business
the usual howdies and heys
to fellows

Breathless - Jerry Lee Lewis [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]

that's too close to the mic there Jerry 

back off

Remember - Rusty Dedrich Orchestra [from Irving Berlin, All by Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]

Ben's example song
forever transformed
by cultural context

Stop This Car - Jonathan Richman [from Jonathan Sings!]

helpful advice
as a safety skit

Louder Than a Bomb - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation]

this musicpoem
seeks immediate pertinence
chorus keeps verses apart

Neapolitan Fisher's Songs - Black Cat Orchestra [from Dante's Inferno Live Score]

stage orchestra
plain facedness

Peru - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]

this music
is a cavalcade
sound scene
with dancing costumes

Soundscape - Jose [from Jack Straw Cultural Center Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]

lots of lively crackle in this one

What Is Time - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from A Live Wire]

old John Henry
hammers on
end of the line

Circles - Cornelius Dufalla, Patrick Derivaz [from Bass Violin]

among ancient beasts
long dead
long wings
glide
through keening air 

Walk Away - Slothrust [from The Pact]

restraint of tonal color
frustrated stasis

The Farthest Shore - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey #7: 1995-2001]

each tonal activity clearly delineated

May 10, 2026

Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying - Blind Willie Johnson [from Goodbye, Babylon]

strenuous pull on the downbeat

Fred Adams - Ray Rhodes [from The Art of Field Recording]

came to a bad end
(noose department)

Medley: All The Things You Are - Bill Evans [from Alone]

quick figures
of variously even rhythms
left hand support

Brain - Dan Sedia - Dan Sedia [recorded live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]

as
it learns
new tricks

Something Like That - N.W.A. [from Straight Outta Compton]

persona projection 

branding

Love Part 2/Because of Love - Janet Jackson [from Janet]

chorus opens
like a rondo

Colors: Brown - Jesse Canterbury, Brad Hawkins [from Brad Hawkins/Jesse Canterbury]

a glimpse

No Ones Got The Guts to Steer - Solvents [from Manresa Castle]

from a vaguely suburban life

Boundary - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 6, 2013]

naming references
is not calling upon muses
muses can't be referenced
by imitation
they sing direct
or not at all

Dreamtime II - Nat Evans [from Flyover Country]

tones float away from their centers
across the taut earth
ironed plain

Soundscroll VII (part 1) - S. Eric Scribner [from Soundscrolls V-IX]

depending on mood
a title can be a help
or a hindrance 

creaturely
more than graphically

Texas and Pacific Blues - Frenchy's String Band [from That Devilin' Tune]

loose and relaxed

Fever - Little Willie John [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

slinky dance

May 11, 2026

The Rebel - Marley Marl [from In Control Vol. 1]

a collaboration among the parts of manufacture

Calm - Wayne Shorter [from The Classic Blue Note Recordings]

an ambrosia
that flows
in glowy sparkles
cool colors
blue and pale

Of Old - J. K. Randall, Marjorie Tichenor, Daniel Warner [from Inter/Play]

we comprehend such music as this
by displacing events
from a timeline
into characters
(or agents)
(or identities) 

the positions of those agents to each other
are projected
from the timeflowline
but
the strata
upon which they are projected
is outside
of that timelineflow 

comprehension confounds sequence 

agents have locations
in heardspace
(the space we perceive the sounds
to transpire within)
independent
of the flowlinetimes
of their various enuncements 

persistence of agents
across the flowtimeline 

signal processing
only understands
the line of time's flow
not
the persistence of the agents
enuncing within it
nor
even
their existence
howsoever virtual
that existence my be

Protect Ya Neck - Wu-Tang Clan [from Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)]

languageness
stands in front
musicness
lurks behind

No Matter What - Aretha Franklin [from So Damn Happy]

broad meter
packed with moments

The Clearcut - Rachel Harrington [from City of Refuge]

fitting voice and strings to each other

Parts of Speech - Swearin' [from Surfing Strange]

quantitative prose poem

Bundles and Waves - WRCMS Participants [from WRCMS 2018 Participants]

it is quite easy to produce music
and to bend that music
into familiar figurational activities
as easy
as telling a story

Surrey - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [December 3, 2023]

this one really gets somewhere I think
there are two arrangements
a two-voice and a three voice
one after the other

What Are They Doing in Heaven Today - Washington Phillips [from Goodbye, Babylon]

a spiritually didactic song
ancestor memories

Exaltation - Carl Ruggles - Greg Smith Singers

hymnal textures
of solid certainty
not just triumphant
but righteously so
without question

May 12, 2026

I Should Care - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]

a jazz composition
is
a thought
for a performance
to be about 

a ready-made reference
a thought-object
for discussion

Fuel - Echo & The Bunnymen [from Porcupine]

musical paper
is distinguished
by its ingredient list
and processing steps

Angel of Harlem - U2 [from Rattle and Hum]

some papers are generic
so as to vanish from awareness
but run a risk of dreariness

Cold Mountain Songs: A Critic - Robert Morris Deborah Norin-Kuehn, Margaret Kampmeier [from Open Space 30]

this music
is not a paper
upon which words are printed
but
a wire sculpture
tangled
in its co-independent words

The Crawford Overture - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]

this music
is about the sound
of a time
and place
and includes
its technologies

Beautiful, Dirty, Rich - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]

dance fragment
for the aspirations of pop culture

Kitty or Baby?  - Swingset Showdown [from Cymbal of Appreciation EP]

diapery doo wop

Orion OrYouOn OrWeOn - Steve Kennedy [from Untitled Album]

the groove
is the common property of all in its space
its value
depends on the population of that space
who hold it in common
that is
its value
belongs to the population
the population
not
to the groove

The Nether Edge - PJ Harvey [from I Inside The Old Year Dying]

the vocal stanzas
require
the lengthy instrumental stanzas
(intermezzi)
so that
their impact
can settle adequately 

bridge to the finish

King of Kings - Rev. Johnnie Blakey [from Goodbye, Babylon]

preached at a projecting holler
with lifted voice

Donna - Richie Valens [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

it must be a strange experience
to have a hit song about you
ubiquitous on the radio

Do You Love Me? - The Kingsmen [from The Very Best of The Kingsmen]

there's that mashed potato and monkey

Tell Her About It - Billy Joel [from The Essential Billy Joel]

flattery will get you anywhere

Jane - EPMD [from Strictly Business]

fantasy day in the life

Tant que vivray (1530) - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'N'Roll]

from a themed collection
(a collation of musics)
but ignore the cutesie album title

One Wish (for Christmas) - Whitney Houston [from One Wish: The Holiday Album]

commercialism
out-commercialisms itself
at Christmas

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

the subject of this music
is our projection into its situation

Cactus Wine - Ancient Warlocks [from Ancient Warlocks]

dive bar rock
is a sound
to be within
not
to be properly observed
from a disinterested standpoint

There's a Halo Around the Moon - Black Dresses [from Hell Is Real]

a rage
at being
a lust
for being
a rage

Banned Rehearsal 1089 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [December 4, 2023]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1089 231204

a device
is set to drumming on things
its mechanical persistence
is its primary character
persistent mechanisms
can deafen
I venture
briefly
through triadic harmonies
we move about the room
watched warily
by the mechanical device

Stowaway - Earl Hines [from That Devilin' Tune]

gleaning rides across the sea
requires charm
and style
and showy politesse

Images - Sun Ra and His Arkestra [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

highway driving
countryside scenes

Cactus Tree - Joni Mitchell [from Song to a Seagull]

mixed tense relationship

Jubilee - Lawrence McIver, McIntosh County Shouters Group [from The Art of Field Recording]

robust stage
for stomping drums

End Of The Line - Traveling Wilburys [from Traveling Wilburys]

blessing at show's end

Foster-The Old Folks at Home - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]

sentimental
for the lost age
lost home
lost lives
sweetened up
for memory's use

Yo, Han - Greg Sinibaldi [from Nuclear Frog Pond]

sodden depths
for creeping critters
basso dwellers

Friday, Sunday - Courtney Marie Andrews [from Urban Myths]

digging into self deceptions

Row Away - Dawn Clement [from Tempest/Cobalt]

a flavor of sentimental redemption legend

Behind the Dempster - Triptet [from Slowly, Away]

pulses slowly
distant sounds
carried along
the rails
slow
pulse
of the yard
breath
of the network

May 13, 2026

Chamber Music VIII: Particles & Waves - Steve Peters [from Chamber Music]

the sorts of things
that things can be
particular and wishy-washy?
vague?
concepts
nodes within thought

He's The Lily of The Valley - Texas Jubilee Singers [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

quite the fibrilous vibrato she's got there
piano goes all dancey at the coda

Got To - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]

intro riff
adds instruments
track by track
verse
chorus
long long verse
back to the chorus
to release 

fade to end
(such a pity it was going so well)

Love on a Farmboy's Wages - XTC [from fossilfuel]

introduction
page margin 

brit country

Golliwog's Cakewalk - Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]

a stage act
puppet
clown

My God Is a Rock - Robert Shaw Festival Singers [from Amazing Grace]

catechism notes
Jesus as a hero

Slavonic Dance - Brave Combo [from Box of Ghosts]

dancing in uncomfortable clothes
short carousel ride
too many times around

Mi Yo Mei - The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet [from Laws of Motion]

vocal ensemble
folkish
like a sea shanty

Just So You Know - Holly Palmer [from I Confess]

production forward
voice
brand
rom com montage song

Sinfonia 9 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey [December 8, 2023]

Keith Eisenbrey · 09 Sinfonia 9 231026 Midi

a game of steps

Smiling Skies - Benny Meroff [from That Devilin' Tune]

cheer up music
be happy

This Is The End - Buddy Guy [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

fancy guitar blues

Bucket T - The Who [from Magic Bus]

let's be California
and sell something

If Anyone Falls - Stevie Nicks [from Timespace]

we dance
to songs
of romance
howsoever sad
or crossed

Do I Move You? (Outtake) - Nina Simone [from A Single Woman]

low slung beat

Track 13 - Eckstein Middle School Students [from Mach 6]

sounds like a TV theme song
of a certain age

Keep On Moving - The True Bugs [from 25 Songs]

being The Clash
in a new land

Flecha Ligeira - Camarones Orquestra Guitarrística [from O Curioso Caso da Música Invisível]

shopping action
upscale mall
price is right

Inside - Kara Hesse [from Sojourner]

singing the blues
in the night

Begin Again - Tom Baker Quartet [from Begin Again]

in two modes
(odd couple)

Avalon Blues - Mississippi John Hurt [from Really The Blues]

another song
about wishing
to be back
in a hometown

Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas, and Cello - Roger Sessions - The Group for Contemporary Music

insinuates its tonality
takes right over
pinball nightmare
Caligari creepy
cobbly Viennesian alleyways
cloaked
in 1930s fog

The Wayward, Barstow - Eight Hitchhikers - Harry Partch - Harry Partch with Ensemble

beatnik theater
life on the road
underbelly of the West 

they say there's a hell
what do they think this is?

Shout, Lulu - Guy Bruce [from The Art of Field Recording]

fingerwork
to fascinate
tongue work
to amuse 

if that billy goat runs away
whoopee and bombs away

Ubi Caritas - Cambridge Singers [from Brother Sun, Sister Moon]

words
made so pretty
as to remove them
from earthly life

Original Dixieland One Step [from New Orleans Traditional Jazz Legends, Vol. 3]

museum display
all the notes
none of the smell

Back Down - 50 Cent [from Get Rich Or Die Tryin']

assertion person
in your face

The Illusion of Transparency - Empty Cage Quartet [from Stratostrophic]

a bass and a percussion
poke at their images

Gleaux - Dawn Richard [from Goldenheart]

verse lines
cut short
leaves gaps
for the dance
to show

Caution - Mariah Carey [from Caution]

track two Mariah
comes in
over the top
of track one Mariah
don't count Mariahs
if you know what's good for you

Sinfonia 9 (clavichord) - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded December 9, 2023]

the further I get
from the time of composition
the less inclined I am
to care how I devised it

May 14, 2026

A Blues Serenade - Frank Signorelli [from Really The Blues]

measures introduced
in dis-symmetric pairs
curtain rises
onto a slower time

Susie Q - Dale Hawkins [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo's Milieu]

a record's sales
a confluence
of demographics
marketing
and the whims of a market 

this is half a song at best

Es - Karlheinz Stockhausen 

these
are asserted
to be
important
and
infantile

Tom Watson Tune - Mabel Cawthorn [from The Art of Field Recording]

voice
tuned
to the banjo box

Panis Angelicus - London Symphony Orchestra [from Joy To The World]

sung for operatic stakes

Bedjo Makekar-Indonesia [from The World Sings Goodnight]

to a quiet bell

99 Problems - Jay-Z [from The Black Album]

taking a stand
out loud

The Way I Loved You - Taylor Swift [from Fearless]

to
and about
peers
and peer relationships 

a narrow band of aboutness

Henryesque - Hope Wechkin [from Leaning Toward the Fiddler]

back and forth bowing
vigorous straight strokes

Tribute to May - Canals of Venice [from Fall on November]

romance
of the possible catastrophic fail 

the old
do or die quest

Totem 29 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Totem VI]

demonstration of
performance of
production of
playing of
expressing of
saying of 

that they might not be
mere examples
but actuality
right there
in the buff

Pinetop's Blues - Pine Top Smith [from Really The Blues]

an introduction
in two times
neither of which features
in Pinetop's Blues 

the pianist is a time scamp

The Book of Love - The Monotones [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo's Milieu]

A+
for clever vocal writing

Everyday People - Sly and The Family Stone [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

and scooby dooby doo 

socially conscious sells
when fashionable

Atlas Eclipticalis with Winter Music December 11, 1983 8:30 PM (beginning) - John Cage - New Performance Group

at minimum
we can grasp
onto the ritual motions
of doing music
louder than silence 

outside its purview 

that is
we are in a space together
and we are listening
and that
is music 

I note
that I was able
just now
to easily
and quickly
distinguish
the sound of our tea kettle's whistle
and Atlas Eclipticalis with Winter Music by John Cage 

and that
is music 

the night sky
as score
so geocentric 

mapping notes
from a Romanticized chaos
tossing sticks
or coins

Follow Me Down - Girl Trouble [from Hit It Or Quit It]

guys
tell guys
how they
being guys
deal
with dames
but
it's all bar brag posturing
so guy

That Was - Fastbacks [from Zucker]

guitar chorale preamble
a scrim of distance
tween us and them 

palpable alienation

On The Sunny Side of the Street - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]

songs become familiar
as being old favorites
they point
to their times
like old photos do

No Path to Ground - Cross-Talk [from Here Now]

the hard softens 

a pitch salve

Notebook A: Rock & Roll - J. K. Randall [from Open Space 22]

||:adding bits
bit by bit
bits are machines
they do
their bits:||

Any Old Time - Denise Glover [from Gaps in the Stories]

country trope
welcome back home
on honest
country
sheets
of musical paper

Sinfonia 9 (piano) - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded December 20, 2023]

in the affect
of a Lisztian
station of the cross
the motions
descend
inexorably

In Session at The Tintinabulary

May 3, 2026

Hanley - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 148 Hanley 260503 [260503]

Northfield - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 149 Northfield 260503 [260503]

Since we were away on the 10th
I did two of these
to keep up
with my
one arrangement a week
habits

May 4, 2026

Banned Rehearsal 1150 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1150 260504

we gathered on the patio
for the first time this year
hard to say if we'll be back
on the 18th
or return to the studio

May 11, 2026

Gradus 433 - Neal Kosály-Meyer

locations within
and between
filling it in 

// 

follow the poetics
of branches
into the canopy

Postscripts

Drops

Music of Gavin Borchert (part 2)

This volume collects 30 additional two-part inventions by Seattle composer Gavin Borchert, performed on clavichord. The recordings were made at my home in 2023.

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