From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V12 #57 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Sunday, April 1 2007 Volume 12 : Number 057 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: So quiet...whisper... ;^) ["J. Kara Laidlaw" Subject: Re: Alloy: So quiet...whisper... ;^) Merujo inquired inquiringly, :^) > From: Merujo > Date: 2007/03/28 Wed PM 04:40:56 CDT > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Alloy: So quiet... > > > So, has anyone purchased "From Brussels With Love"? I haven't yet, so I'm > curious about the "proto-Airwaves" recording. I know some of you have > already heard it on the earlier release of "Brussels." But, since I'm > missing out, I figured I'd ask y'all for your opinion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Honestly, Meru, I think that earliest version of 'Airwaves' is lovely. The talent sure shines through...Thomas' piano-playing was gorgeous. I don't know if anyone, including him, knows whether or not he took lessons, but boy could he tickle those ivories. The piano's perfectly tuned, too...the bass is deep and velvety, with good fretwork. Gosh, I sound like I know what I'm talking about, don't I! ;^) But I'm a rank amateur. What I mean to say is, boy is that bass well-played. :^D Does anyone know if Thomas played the bass, too, or did he have one of his musical buddies help him out? :^) By stark contrast, track 4, 'Children on the Hill' by Harold Budd, which could have been utterly gorgeous, is ruined by an off-key piano...or at least it sounds poorly tuned to me...in my head, it 'looks' like 3-D film does when you're not wearing 3-D glasses--a definite blurred double-image. And yeah, I can see music in my head. :^P Not that it's ever done me much good... ;^) Are there alternate tunings for a piano, anyone? I've barely been near a piano in my life, so I wondered if a fellow {or lady, hee hee} Alloyed might know. Yep, I've been reading ahead, and I've read Mary's fair-minded opinion. :^) So, Mary, how did you like John Foxx's two, uh, 'songs', hee hee? I was curious to hear the music made by musicians I've heard about, like Bill Nelson, but I'm afraid that the only tracks other than 'Airwaves' and the Brian Eno inter- view that made an impression on me were track 16, Gavin Bryars 'White's SS', which reminds me of rain falling into puddles...I love the rain...and track 13, 'Piece for an Ideal' by Durutti Column, which is light and airy and pleasant. :^) I guess that the songs on "From Brussels..." were sort of experimental, hmm? Apparently musicians were a bit lost after disco got throttled, and they were all trying to formulate the 'next big musical style', which turned out to be New Wave, I guess. It was interesting to hear Brian Eno try to explain in his interview how he went about creating music. He just sounded like an average person, you know? Like somebody's cousin, hee hee. Sounded very unassuming, and not egotistical. I guess I thought that a musical genius would have this attitude...he said, "I'm not a brilliant player of any instrument; I'm not a great singer or anything like that." Sounds like something TMDR would say, hmm? ;^) I think the word I was looking for was 'humble'. Ah, these unassuming geniuses...or genii...whatever the plural of 'genius' is. ;^) From my perspective, Meru, "From Brussels..." is an interesting audial snap-shot of a point in musical time, between disco and New Wave. To me, it was worth the $20.98. :^) > Groovin' on the summer weather and cherry blossoms here in DC, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sounds lovely... :^) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Melissa > http://merujo.blogspot.com > > -- > "We all have ability. The difference is how we use it." -- Stevie Wonder Love and music, always music, Kara... It's All About the Music. :^) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:10:11 -0700 From: John McJunkin Subject: Re: Alloy: So quiet...whisper... ;^) Hey Kara, Harold Budd and Brian Eno gained notoriety for utilizing "treated" piano, which was sometimes accomplished mechanically (for instance pushing thumbtacks into the felt of the hammers to arrive at a "honky- tonk" or "old-west saloon" style sound, or de-tuning the thing a bit. Sometimes it was accomplished electronically after the fact with chorusing or other modulated delay effects. I keep saying "was" as though treated piano is not used anymore. I'm sure there are still more than a few experimenters out there who are coloring outside the lines with piano. And what an excellent description of the chorusing effect Budd used in this case--it does actually "blur" or double the original signal, like the two distinct images of a 3D film. Nicely put! jm On Mar 31, 2007, at 1:48 PM, J. Kara Laidlaw wrote: > > Merujo inquired inquiringly, :^) > >> From: Merujo >> Date: 2007/03/28 Wed PM 04:40:56 CDT >> To: alloy@smoe.org >> Subject: Alloy: So quiet... >> >> >> So, has anyone purchased "From Brussels With Love"? I haven't yet, >> so I'm >> curious about the "proto-Airwaves" recording. I know some of you have >> already heard it on the earlier release of "Brussels." But, since I'm >> missing out, I figured I'd ask y'all for your opinion. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Honestly, Meru, I think that earliest version of 'Airwaves' is > lovely. The talent sure shines through...Thomas' piano-playing was > gorgeous. I don't know > if anyone, including him, knows whether or not he took lessons, but > boy could > he tickle those ivories. The piano's perfectly tuned, too...the > bass is deep > and velvety, with good fretwork. Gosh, I sound like I know what I'm > talking > about, don't I! ;^) But I'm a rank amateur. What I mean to say is, > boy is that > bass well-played. :^D Does anyone know if Thomas played the bass, > too, or did > he have one of his musical buddies help him out? :^) > > By stark contrast, track 4, 'Children on the Hill' by Harold Budd, > which could > have been utterly gorgeous, is ruined by an off-key piano...or at > least it > sounds poorly tuned to me...in my head, it 'looks' like 3-D film > does when > you're not wearing 3-D glasses--a definite blurred double-image. > And yeah, I > can see music in my head. :^P Not that it's ever done me much > good... ;^) > > Are there alternate tunings for a piano, anyone? I've barely been > near a piano > in my life, so I wondered if a fellow {or lady, hee hee} Alloyed > might know. > > Yep, I've been reading ahead, and I've read Mary's fair-minded > opinion. :^) > So, Mary, how did you like John Foxx's two, uh, 'songs', hee hee? I > was curious > to hear the music made by musicians I've heard about, like Bill > Nelson, but > I'm afraid that the only tracks other than 'Airwaves' and the Brian > Eno inter- > view that made an impression on me were track 16, Gavin Bryars > 'White's SS', which reminds me of rain falling into puddles...I > love the rain...and track 13, > 'Piece for an Ideal' by Durutti Column, which is light and airy and > pleasant. > :^) > > I guess that the songs on "From Brussels..." were sort of > experimental, hmm? > Apparently musicians were a bit lost after disco got throttled, and > they were > all trying to formulate the 'next big musical style', which turned > out to be > New Wave, I guess. > > It was interesting to hear Brian Eno try to explain in his > interview how he > went about creating music. He just sounded like an average person, > you know? > Like somebody's cousin, hee hee. Sounded very unassuming, and not > egotistical. > I guess I thought that a musical genius would have this > attitude...he said, > "I'm not a brilliant player of any instrument; I'm not a great > singer or > anything like that." Sounds like something TMDR would say, hmm? ;^) > I think > the word I was looking for was 'humble'. Ah, these unassuming > geniuses...or > genii...whatever the plural of 'genius' is. ;^) > > From my perspective, Meru, "From Brussels..." is an interesting > audial snap-shot of a point in musical time, between disco and New > Wave. To me, it was worth the > $20.98. :^) > >> Groovin' on the summer weather and cherry blossoms here in DC, > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Sounds lovely... :^) > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >> Melissa >> http://merujo.blogspot.com >> >> -- >> "We all have ability. The difference is how we use it." -- Stevie >> Wonder > > Love and music, always music, > Kara... > > It's All About the Music. :^) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:56:40 -0700 From: John McJunkin Subject: Re: Alloy: So quiet...whisper... ;^) Oh--and one other thought--"Urges" is a great example of treated piano in pop music! jm On Mar 31, 2007, at 4:10 PM, John McJunkin wrote: > > Hey Kara, > > Harold Budd and Brian Eno gained notoriety for utilizing "treated" > piano, which was sometimes accomplished mechanically (for instance > pushing thumbtacks into the felt of the hammers to arrive at a > "honky-tonk" or "old-west saloon" style sound, or de-tuning the > thing a bit. Sometimes it was accomplished electronically after > the fact with chorusing or other modulated delay effects. I keep > saying "was" as though treated piano is not used anymore. I'm sure > there are still more than a few experimenters out there who are > coloring outside the lines with piano. And what an excellent > description of the chorusing effect Budd used in this case--it does > actually "blur" or double the original signal, like the two > distinct images of a 3D film. Nicely put! > > jm > > > On Mar 31, 2007, at 1:48 PM, J. Kara Laidlaw wrote: > >> >> Merujo inquired inquiringly, :^) >> >>> From: Merujo >>> Date: 2007/03/28 Wed PM 04:40:56 CDT >>> To: alloy@smoe.org >>> Subject: Alloy: So quiet... >>> >>> >>> So, has anyone purchased "From Brussels With Love"? I haven't >>> yet, so I'm >>> curious about the "proto-Airwaves" recording. I know some of you >>> have >>> already heard it on the earlier release of "Brussels." But, since >>> I'm >>> missing out, I figured I'd ask y'all for your opinion. >> >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> Honestly, Meru, I think that earliest version of 'Airwaves' is >> lovely. The talent sure shines through...Thomas' piano-playing was >> gorgeous. I don't know >> if anyone, including him, knows whether or not he took lessons, >> but boy could >> he tickle those ivories. The piano's perfectly tuned, too...the >> bass is deep >> and velvety, with good fretwork. Gosh, I sound like I know what >> I'm talking >> about, don't I! ;^) But I'm a rank amateur. What I mean to say is, >> boy is that >> bass well-played. :^D Does anyone know if Thomas played the bass, >> too, or did >> he have one of his musical buddies help him out? :^) >> >> By stark contrast, track 4, 'Children on the Hill' by Harold Budd, >> which could >> have been utterly gorgeous, is ruined by an off-key piano...or at >> least it >> sounds poorly tuned to me...in my head, it 'looks' like 3-D film >> does when >> you're not wearing 3-D glasses--a definite blurred double-image. >> And yeah, I >> can see music in my head. :^P Not that it's ever done me much >> good... ;^) >> >> Are there alternate tunings for a piano, anyone? I've barely been >> near a piano >> in my life, so I wondered if a fellow {or lady, hee hee} Alloyed >> might know. >> >> Yep, I've been reading ahead, and I've read Mary's fair-minded >> opinion. :^) >> So, Mary, how did you like John Foxx's two, uh, 'songs', hee hee? >> I was curious >> to hear the music made by musicians I've heard about, like Bill >> Nelson, but >> I'm afraid that the only tracks other than 'Airwaves' and the >> Brian Eno inter- >> view that made an impression on me were track 16, Gavin Bryars >> 'White's SS', which reminds me of rain falling into puddles...I >> love the rain...and track 13, >> 'Piece for an Ideal' by Durutti Column, which is light and airy >> and pleasant. >> :^) >> >> I guess that the songs on "From Brussels..." were sort of >> experimental, hmm? >> Apparently musicians were a bit lost after disco got throttled, >> and they were >> all trying to formulate the 'next big musical style', which turned >> out to be >> New Wave, I guess. >> >> It was interesting to hear Brian Eno try to explain in his >> interview how he >> went about creating music. He just sounded like an average person, >> you know? >> Like somebody's cousin, hee hee. Sounded very unassuming, and not >> egotistical. >> I guess I thought that a musical genius would have this >> attitude...he said, >> "I'm not a brilliant player of any instrument; I'm not a great >> singer or >> anything like that." Sounds like something TMDR would say, >> hmm? ;^) I think >> the word I was looking for was 'humble'. Ah, these unassuming >> geniuses...or >> genii...whatever the plural of 'genius' is. ;^) >> >> From my perspective, Meru, "From Brussels..." is an interesting >> audial snap-shot of a point in musical time, between disco and New >> Wave. To me, it was worth the >> $20.98. :^) >> >>> Groovin' on the summer weather and cherry blossoms here in DC, >> >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> Sounds lovely... :^) >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> >>> Melissa >>> http://merujo.blogspot.com >>> >>> -- >>> "We all have ability. The difference is how we use it." -- Stevie >>> Wonder >> >> Love and music, always music, >> Kara... >> >> It's All About the Music. :^) ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V12 #57 ***************************