"'Oh no! That hated race, those Phrygian fates opposed
to mine! Why
didn't they perish on Sigeum's fields?
Why won't these losers lose? Why
didn't they burn
in burning Troy?'"
Vergil - "The Aeneid" (translated by Shadi Bartsch)
Texts
Streaming
April 15, 2022
Seattle Modern Orchestra - Darius Jones in Seattle
co-Artistic Directors, Jérémy Jolley and Julia Tai
Julia Tai, conductor
grey angel - Christopher DeLaurenti - Michael Nicolella, electric guitar; Marcin Pączkowski, electronics
one
an expansion
of the other
in
an other space
Cyclic Complement - Angelique Poteat - Angelique Poteat, bass clarinet; Marcin Pączkowski, electronics
create the space
step right in
another space setting song
is the setting
the sun's
or
setting sun
live echoes the past
we follow instructions
Inference Engines - Yiğit Kolat - Darius Jones, alto saxophone; Jordan Voelker, viola; Michael Nicolella, electric guitar; Bonnie Whiting, percussion; Yiğit Kolat, electronics; Marcin Pączkowski, electronics
Chekov's thunder sheet
long long breathing
each iteration an
intertransformation
echo fantasia V - Maria-Eva Houben - Eric Rynes, violin; Jordan Voelker, violin; Erin Wight, viola; Ha-Yang Kim, cello; Ross Gilliland, bass; Leanna Keith, flute; Angelique Poteat, clarinet; Anna Barbee, horn; Raymond Larson, trumpet; Grant Reed, trombone; Michael Nicolella, guitar; Cristina Valdés, piano; Bonnie Whiting, percussion
each carefully different note
is the same
carefully
different
note
returned
WAR - Darius Jones - Eric Rynes, violin; Jordan Voelker, violin; Erin Wight, viola; Ha-Yang Kim, cello; Ross Gilliland, bass; Leanna Keith, flute; Angelique Poteat, clarinet; Anna Barbee, horn; Raymond Larson, trumpet; Grant Reed, trombone; Michael Nicolella, guitar; Cristina Valdés, piano; Bonnie Whiting, percussion
conducted by swatches
battle instructions
shadows on the
floor
April 15, 2022
Motet: Laetatus sum - Marc-Antoine Charpentier - Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet [from Vespres à la Vierge]
tripping right along
the few broader measures
very few
have
a big impact
many sectioned
by tempo and meter
Schütz
might have called
this
among his Symphoniae sacrae
Get Mine, Get Yours - Christina Aguilera [from Stripped]
about?
about production composition
how its overlays mix the
verbal message
she says she won't bite
but her vocal is recorded with a sharp edge
Baby Sister - Dolly Parton [from Just Because I'm a Woman]
filled with people
higher than a steeple
I curse the man
who
made you what you are today
Trust in Me - Etta James [from At Last!]
motherly devotion
to the daddy son
April 9, 2022
Praeludium, Fvb 106 - John Bull - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
step by step accumulation
of decorative abundance
held in place
by long tones
O Nomen Jesu - Peter Philips - The Tudor Consort, Peter Walls [from Cantiones Sacrae Quinis Vocubus]
the text is held tenderly
turned slowly
next line
new game
each next line
new game
the phrases
must be regarded
closely
each alone
Sonata in D minor, Kk. 176 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
differing figures
joined by their metrical placement
these figures
all begin on the upbeat
or
joined by their subsequence
to a
common supersequent figure
points in the past
do not recede
at any kind of even rate
our analysis of time's continuous passage
is at variance
with our experience
of music's past moments
Sonata in C minor, Op. 111 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Stephen Kovacevich
he really grunts and growls along with it
yuck
underneath the
Sturm und Drang
it keeps coming back
to a quiet shelter
then
hurls itself back in
the more often a pitch returns
the less tenable it seems to be
the rash tempo leaves the ceiling
to turn graceful bends of heads
upon Balzacianly slender necks
floating in their moments
Trascrizione di concerto sopra motivi dell'opera Merlin - Feruccio Busoni - Wolf Harden
endlessly entertaining us
with feats of musical legerdemain
a
theatrical pianism
entertaining
if what music does
to make
itself
is entertaining to you
it is to me
April 10, 2022
Doctor Jazz - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers, Chicago Days]
early big band
clown car orchestra
beneath the slapstick
the
embryo
of Sun Ra's Arkestra
in costume
Nobody's Darling - Cumberland Ridge Runners [from Evans 78s]
I wonder
in the isolated rural West
as in other isolated areas of
the Americas
the people were forced to entertain themselves
to a
greater extent
and into more recent times
than in the larger towns
and cities
was it here
that Country Music arose
as the
recorded residue of that tradition
as it came to an end
in the
train wreck of modern culture
Me, Myself and I (take 1) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day, The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
clever grammatical word play was in fashion
from Broadway days
we
blame Cole Ira and Irving
The G_____ - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes]
when the changes come back around to the top
it might be analogous to a
tonal cadence
and it does enter into
how the structure of the song
is perceived
a kind of reset button
what is different
is the
sense of journeying to get there
that is
specifically dramatic
potentiation
a romantic
caught in the rain song
Driving Guitars (Ventures Twist) - The Ventures [from Walk Don't Run]
dance music
going down
the dance craze road
The Look of Love - Nina Simone [from Silk & Soul]
such a soft touch on the glottals
she pays close attention to the words
she's saying
and making a personally coherent statement
long long
o
on go
and so
a new game for the coda
I Wanna Be Where You Are - Michael Jackson [from Got To Be There]
in our desire to project ourselves onto our children
we turn them adult
without consent
flipside of eternal youth culture
Smash It Up - The Damned [collected from Nancy's Mix]
poetic guitar solo
part 1
then the drums are applied
tempo
change
the song proper
part 2
psychedelic fade on an
acapi
{NB that's what's in the journal folks clear as day. I have no idea
what I might have meant}
Cooks County - The Who [from It's Hard]
it'sa mighta gonna break apart at any moment
or get in a fist fight
April 11, 2022
Banned Rehearsal 115 - Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 22, 1987]
tongue drum starts it
then a flute of some kind
then a guitar
string being rubbed
distant gales
far outside
behind walls
and shutters
vocals on a liquid
vowels droning and swooping
settling into a steadiness
the word window is used
then
picked up in imitation
the drone expands and rhythmifies
take the
elevator not the stairs
becomes a song
and difficult to step off
spins off
stops
all stop
the sunlight in the middle of
the night
a basketball
not the court
or
a device was
activated
flute
and doing some
my serious business with pots
and pans
some thing may be sizzling on the stove
back to our
muddles and daddies
a device is activated
where the light goes out
tongue drum and click stick percolate and tap
subdued throughout
echoed on devices
windows in muddles
{from my journal entry of June 25, 1988:
slow a song gathers
take
the elevator by Neal
then echoes
window by Aaron
on a
chant-tone
some cookin' by Anna
why do things get in a muddle,
Daddy?}
April 12, 2022
Buggin' Out - A Tribe Called Quest [from Low End Theory]
metabrag
a brag about the qualities of their bragging
Banned Rehearsal 472 - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [November 8, 1997]
we jump right in
torpedoes be damned
forte eruptions from the
piano
fill the keyboard with pounding
ever stalwart Uncle W
ever steady on the tiller
electric guitar taking potshots from all
sides
bring out the big drums
ring the bell
ring the bell
hostile waters
partially subdued
we bang on stuff
we come to a safer harbor
we sing at the moon in canine polyphony
a calmer Aaron emerges amid the jingly bells
oh dear Isaac's a fuss
we do trend noisy
fingery tuniness wanders through the din
overtalking
outshouting
Keith sermonizes against wine
party drums pounding now
inciting a temperance riot
with harsh whistles unpent
synthesizer or guitar hard to say
might just be Neal singing
solo voluntary
is it time for a rousing hymn?
not yet a tape
a march
by land it is then
ring the bell incessantly
now for the hymn to rouse
A Thousand Years of Prohibition
everybody's favorite drinking song
lift up your eyes
behold the Dawn
the kazoos are a nicely unhinged touch
and the yelping dog honks
dreams of yesterday
and Schubert
somewhat the worse for wear
{from my journal entry of September 27, 2005:
a slowish spine of a
chorale
bristling with drumming on drums and piano
and else
a list of shouted German words
battling texts
gets silly
some sound glitches
not like the usual ones
hard to say from
whence they arise
certainly a noisy
succumbs to cleverness}
Praying Mantis - Curve - Jarrad Powell [from Natural Selection]
an increasing population
of regularly irregular pulse generators
a
pitched rain
now abates
a swarm emerges
drips from twigs and
leaves
a sparse population
of shy hoots and toots
patience may be
rewarded
with a slightly more vehement hoot
and even some clicks
here and there
96 Rocks Promo Mistress Bridget - Specyphyi [from Nine Songs]
a 30 second radio spot in which the band Specyphi makes sounds briefly
Real Sick Maniac - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at Victory Lounge, March 27, 2017]
the urge to shout and scream in public or private
has always been a
strange one to me
one of those male bonding things
none of which
ever felt like a thing I needed
Damage in Your Wake - Daniel Husser [from 1 Month Challenge]
starts in an inchoate mood
focuses into a song lyric for a verse
then is snuffed out
Veni, Fvb 107 - Traditional - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
a cascading fountain
just long enough
for a few sips of tea
Memphis Frolic - Rag Williamsons' Beale Street Frolic Orchestra [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
loose jointed
good time
music
for loose joints
I'm a Steady Rollin' Man - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]
the opening salvo
nearly identical in every song he does that's a blues
is like announcing
I'm getting on the blues train for this one
and a like riff gets him out
it's like a door
Y_____ Gal - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy Volume 1]
I don't know
whether the term is considered derogatory or offensive
but it isn't mine to use anyway
he builds the whole song on repeating it like a taunt
wagging tongues
a study pianistic
the way the metrical sense shifts
is almost
baroque
Schützian
April 13, 2022
Concerto - Samuel Barber - Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, John Browning
1
in a great hurry to get ahead of itself
promptly finding itself
isolated and harassed
climbs heights
but awkward on the way back
did the soloist wander off
there they are
sad in their
surroundings
works hard to make noise
out of its time by about 50
years
too many recognizable figures
echoing back through the
orchestra
an untransformative echo chamber
2
a dreary day
3
time to run
energy must be expended
or there will be no
applause
everything within narrow bounds
can't be loosed
a
constrained life
the title is underlined in the song
with a choral setting
then a
call and response
a preaching type number
Attica State - John Lennon, Yoko Ono [from Some Time In New York City]
topical support songs don't age well
empty gesture at this pass
possibly different at the time
though one wonders who would listen
that wasn't already on board
Plein Chant - Elaine Barkin - Harvey Sollberger [from Open Space 12]
this is a place a human can be at
each moment
along each reach
in every corner
Genesis - Walt Wagner [from The Evening Muse]
not the bible story
William Tell Overture (Closing Section) - Gioachino Rossini [from 100 Greatest Classics]
starting with the JP Patches opening oboe solo
then the Lone Ranger
only the parts that pop culture has deafened us to
industrial strength cover
she barely lets the tune out from inside its
smallest possible ambitus
Battle for Britain (the Letter) - David Bowie [from Earthling]
oblique narrative fault lines
slip the whole into a part
drummer
is having a vigorous workout
April 14, 2022
PCKEE 020310 - Pete Comley, Keith Eisenbrey [ca. March 10, 2002]
with Pete's magic
I seem to be doing things on the guitar
that I
am not capable of accomplishing
swarms of signal creatures
nibble
at the edges of the surface of this and that
and at the distinctions
between that and this
signal is ultimate homogeneity
guitar has
been sucked into radioland
the space of outer chatter
robots make
industrial adjustments
the guitar chatters on and on
a constant
nuisance
wreaking a terrifying vengeance
on those who disbelieve
it's unnatural
swarms of disembodifying sounds
roam the
land
California Quail
When Birds Fly South - Back Burner [from Simmer On]
bluegrass adjacent
some rhythmic strumming
fancy picking
come in anywhere
have some pie
Four Places on Planet Earth - S. Eric Scribner - Keith Eisenbrey, Matt Kocmierowsky [recorded live at the Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, May 24, 2012]
prerecorded sounds
birds frogs water running
those sorts of sounds
and Matt and I improvising from a thin script at stations
there
were probably four of them
gongs may have marked the time
or their
sounds
we moved from station to station
according to the thin
script
there were noisemakers at each station
and possibly
instructions
immersive discourse
synthetic wilderness
places
determined by configuration
they're all here
but re-composed
the vocals are shouted
but aren't much more than a thin film of sound on
top of the cymbal sheen
Banned Telepath 83 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [March 14, 2022]
if we don't have toddler fuss
we will need to make do with Otamatone
Karen scribbles on the xylophone
I mess around in the southeast
corner
with a little amplifier
amplifying the washtub bass
works pretty well
and the Otamatone
there are many little
toys on the table in the southeast corner
the Otamatone has three
settings
pipsqueak duck and goose
we are doing nothing fancier
than banging on stuff to hear it make its noise
In Session at the Tintinabulary
April 11, 2022
Banned Telepath 85 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer
April 12, 2022
Banned Telepath 85 Back Yard Morning Rush Hour - Steve Kennedy
April 13, 2022
Banned Telepath 85 Hair - Pete Comley
2 minutes of slomo guitar thrash
Banned Rehearsal 1049 - Pete Comley, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Neal Kosály-Meyer
Joshua Tree Prelude 10 - Aaron Keyt
Lonely [from Minute Etudes (Book One)] - Emily Doolittle
I'll be giving this one another try
I'm excited about where it's headed
Postscripts
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
more listening journal doodles from 1988
