Friday, Nov. 07, 2014 | 09:39
sounds different
interesting (to me) note: Takemura's Scope is digital fragments and found sound stitched together into music. symphonic composition rather than songs. it's fascinating. however, i suspect that its digital nature means the parts are never more than they seem. it's clean and precise with little room for bleed or modification. though tiny details may surface, it doesn't sound remarkably different on repeat listens.
[now that i write that my second point seems less interesting, but i'll continue anyway.]
i've heard Pop a dozen times. i know the album pretty well. i know the songs. what i'm hearing today, possibly because i'm working and thus not getting caught up in the songs themselves, is production detail. the snare on "Staring At The Sun" changes from verse to chorus, and in both cases i don't think i registered the drum sound before. the snare on "Last Night On Earth" is more consistent, but different from the previous song. i heard a guitar part on "Mofo" i know i never knew was there.
this sonic subtlety is fascinating, and a marked contrast from Scope where the sounds are the same every time. i think with Scope that's because of their fragmented and digital nature. they're not drum/guitar/vocal, they're bleep, click, squelch, etc. my brain can't short-hand the sounds and so hears them for what they are every time. i need repeat listens to Pop before i get beyond the preset sounds in my head.
Friday, Nov. 07, 2014 | 09:17
Music Programming for November 7, 2014
when i listen to music at work now, with the freedom to select from whatever cds i have in the office, i sometimes program a sympathetic series of sounds, while other times i go in for juxtaposition. for example, this morning i began with the jagged, fuzzy drones of Main's Hz, followed it with the clean digital glitch of Nobukazu Takemura's Scope, and now have U2's Pop on my headphones. i went from something disorienting and unconventional to something with kick and Bono (i'll spare you a belabored pun about Robert Hampson's guitar work in Main sounding like the edge of a guitar or a guitar taken to the edge--Main guitar The Edge). after Pop i'll hit Moby's Animal Rights, which will transition nicely (from the standpoint of a blend of rock and electronic styles) into 2562's Unbalance. whether i get to Sister Machine Gun's Burn is a question of time, but it'll be a good end to the day (assuming that's all the time i have--it's possible i'll get to sneak in part of another cd, though i have no idea what my mood will want then).
and this is why i have so many cds, and why i'm annoyed at what i sold (and at some of what i kept instead). i already miss Ottmar Liebert and Bruce Springsteen (sonic youth not so much [blasphemy!]).
