Music & Audio
I love Tao Lin‘s Twitter style, especially his “I recommend…” tweets. Like:
“I recommend avoiding insane culture and people who mock and ridicule other people”… Continue reading
The older I get, the more I keep looking back trying to figure out where I come from, and why. And the more I look back, the more information it gives me to move forward.
Bill Frisell
At the gym today, the soundtrack was 100% young white male post-Strokes rock. It was so bland and formulaic, the lyrics so forced and shallow, that when a song by Foreigner — Foreigner! — came on, it seemed fresh, human, real. … Continue reading
Just finished reading Matters of Vital Interest: A Forty-Year Friendship with Leonard Cohen by Eric Lerner. And it was a beautiful friendship, and thanks to “Old Eric” for sharing it with us. Buddhism isn’t really as mysterious and complicated as it seems; the “enlightenment” people chase is no big deal. Their Roshi couldn’t simply tell them this, but toward the end I think they “got it.” … Continue reading
Someone has done it before? Honey, it’s all been done before. Nothing’s really original. Not Homer or Shakespeare, and certainly not you. Get over yourself.
Twyla Tharp
Stop thinking about artworks as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences.
Brian Eno
Keeping a close eye on the soon-to-be-available Digital Performer 10 upgrade from MOTU. I’ve kept my copy of DP upgraded (through most versions) since DP3, I think. Like the program, like the company (hey — they’re local!), and I think it’s an excellent platform for mixing. But for composing, I really need to have the freedom and speed you get with MIDI regions — which DP lacks. Maybe the new Clips are a harbinger of Object-Oriented MIDI in the timeline? Peter Kirn at CDM talks about DP 10’s new features in the context of the DAW universe: DP10 adds clip launching, improved audio editing to MOTU’s DAW… Continue reading
We had dinner at the Gardner Ale House last night, and enjoyed music by Bees Deluxe. “Acid Blues” they call it, but it’s not crazy — understated if anything — but certainly not the same old boring blues you hear all too often. Loved Conrad Warre’s bare-fingers guitar work (PRS into a little Fender, with dollops of Uni-Vibe). Digging their latest LP, Voice of Dog, on Spotify.… Continue reading
Reading Birth of the Cool: Beat, Bebop, and the American Avant-Garde by Lewis MacAdams. I want to see the 1961 film version of The Connection (directed by Shirley Clarke), Jack Gelber’s play originally staged in 1959 by Judith Malina and Julian Beck’s Living Theatre.… Continue reading
Reading Greil Marcus’ The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs. I’ve read most of his books over the years (starting with the indispensable Mystery Train), and what I find thrilling about his writing is the way he seamlessly combines deep knowledge with unbridled imagination.
The chapter on Buddy Holly (“Crying, Waiting, Hoping: 1959/1969”) is the best thing I’ve ever read on that artist. “1969” alludes to the Beatles’ attempt, in the studio, at playing the Holly songs that inspired them to start a band in the first place — as their band was falling apart. “A Day in the Life” has a big part in the chapter too. The whole ten-year story, as Marcus tells it, is heartbreaking.… Continue reading