Make Benefit Blog for Glorious ElectroAcoustic mus

Why We Fight: A Story of How This Class Impacted My Thinking

2008-12-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

Playlist:

A Charlie Brown Christmas (Album)

Devotchka "How it ends"

The Decemberists "Castaways and Cut-OUTS" Album

Stars "Undertow"

Bright Eyes "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" & "Digital Ash In a Digital Urn" (Albums)

To tell the truth it is the end of the semester and I am burnt out. It still amazes me how we all arrive burning bright and ready to learn and engage others and now everyone looks down at the sidewalk like zombies with a distant stare to no where wishing they were home. The end of the semester is too much and its getting worse and worse with each new year of school. I feel like if you pass through the gauntlet of initiation once then you should be able to call it good and stand tall along side your professors in the achievements.

Now to some talk on myself...

Despite the opening negative rant I have learned a lot of knew ways of open thinking this semester which is critical when studying anything. I thank this class for that. But really this semester I attempted and completed my giant goal of a complete study of Stalinism in Russia today ( well complete as I could get while still a undergrad). This class has tought me how to wrap my head around things I don't necessarily understand which is critical in understanding things that are as complex as Stalin and Stalinism.

Thanks Steve!

Writing about big ideas in music forces us to go beyond our personal levels of academic comfort. by this I mean it pushes our asses to go deeper and further into the real tough subjects at the center of everything. We come out dirty and confused but we come out with BIG ideas, new ideas and apply them to art, music, academia, life etc. For instance the last chapter on Noise art or sound art really was difficult to get through and there were many times I wanted to give up on it but beneath those words were the skills I needed to get at to complete my semester's masterpiece.

Also, things such as I mentioned above made me feel that taking the time to make a semester long project as I did for this class was way more rewarding for me than making a bunch of smaller pieces. I came out with only one piece at the end of the semester but it is something that I put 6 months work of research and creating into and i am proud of it. I feel that the video and EA piece I made put together deliver a message more powerful than my 18 page thesis. The video is a semesters worth of readings, discussions, and growth.

On Music...

I still think Noise music is noise but it is still something really really out there and cool and I dig that. i did that Noise music forces people of there asses and up against the wall because of the different dimensions it breaks through and the pain it causes its listeners. So maybe this is the future of music? Does this mark our departure from all the old Genres into something new and mind bending? I think maybe it is. We will always have our musical history, that will never leave us, but we can't help but look at what the future might be and try to take what we have and shape it into something we could work to having. Eventually the breakthrough will come when someone stumbles upon it. There are no formulas. The conclusion is not written.

Maybe it will take all of the violence and shock of industrial music, mix with the improve of jazz, the comfort of an acoustic guitar, and the brain of classical. What can we say about where our culture is going musically when it is influenced by so many other things? Will it become the noise music from japan? or will it mutate what japan is putting out into something bigger into a new wall of noise and music and emotion that takes decades to break through before we can make something new.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, jack frost nipping at your nose, deadlines swing like the hangman's noose is it Christmas time or finals week?

2008-12-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

All though its been said many times many ways, happy holidays and merry Christmas to all!

down to the music.

I think this is the perfect oportunity and space to discuss Christmas music. First off I would like to point out that there is no happy medium when it comes to liking Christmas music people either LOVE it or HATE it. I happen to LOVE it and i enjoy nothing more than listening to the classics of the Christmas music genre, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, etc. I think that all the best Christmas music has some grounding in either a church sound or a jazz sound. Jazz to me brings out so many different emotions, with its constant changing and improvization, it is easy to get lost in the sounds whether it is happy/sad/chill lounge jazz, or something really kicked up like Louis Armstrong's "Cool Yule." What sounds make us feel more at home during this time of year. For the majority of people I think the concensus is they would much rather be at home with their families and loved ones for the holidays than stuck in school trying to write a semesters worth of papers in two weeks time.

What would happen if someone remixed all of the classics to make a sort of Kid A of Christmas albums. Not only would this be great but I think it would be tearing down some previously existing boundaries. For example, Radiohead on the Kid A album sings in pleasant angelic voices about terrible awful things. How would it sound if we used a paranoid Radiohead sounding score to put to the lyrics of some of the classics? Hmm ... is this a future project?!

I would really like to see someone do this if it already has not been done by someone else. The holidays need something new to replace the N*Sync christmas albums. (Shudder).

Seriously though, what is it about the soothing sounds of lounge jazz in Christmas music that makes everyone fall in love with winter?

I wish I knew. I think the music sounds like it is very much at peace with itself the way the drum brush caresses the snare the light sounding electric guitar, the soft horns and steady walking sound of an upright bass, the piano does a lot for the nostalgia of the sound as well. Put a set a beautiful sounding vocals to it and I can think of nothing more nostalgic and warming. Going back to the discussion we had about music and culture some weeks ago i wonder if this is our cultural norm. Let's think about this...

If we played this music to someone in Russia or some tropical nation what would it mean to those people. I'm sure they would find the sounds them self soothing but would they get a real sense of Christmas nostalgia and childhood magic? It might be easier if you have experienced the setting sun on a cold day as the snow glows like it holds a thousand tiny diamonds. Is it childhood? Is it the way are parents have raised us that impacts the psychology of Christmas and Christmas music. Christmas music doesn't even have to be Christian or religious for people to love it or appreciate it. In fact most Christmas music today is not religious at all, why is this?

A holiday that started out as the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ is now one of the biggest commercial/family holidays of all time in the Western world. That is a whole other discussion on its own.

Da Svidanya,

Tyler

Play List:

A Charlie Brown Christmas (the whole Album)

Diana Krall - (Christmas Songs) album

Nat King Cole (Christmas Song) song & album

Bing Crosby (White Christmas)

Luciano Pavoratti ( O Holy Night)

Louis Armstrong (Cool Yule)

"Frosty the Snowman" as sung by my Dad. =)

"O Christmas Tree" also sung by my Dad.

Radiohead - Kid A

Ben Harper - Waiting on an angel

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds " The Christmas Song"

2008-11-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

I have made an iMovie, oh yes I have made an iMovie...

It is a very grand and grim imovie.

More later, class for now...

so way later... but it is all related.

All semester long I have been taking an independent study about Stalin, Stalinism, and the Soviet Union from 1922-1953. All semester long I have been working on a research thesis about what is Stalin's legacy in Russia today and how that seems to affect Russians and Russia.

To fully grasp these ideas I had to expand and deepen my already deep and wide knowledge and understanding on Stalin.

Knowing about this project at the begining of the semester I decided to try to find a way to "mash" the two topics together (EA and Stalinism) suprisingly this was the easy part. A mass culmination of sound, noise and image would be the perfect acompanyment to any discussion of Stalinism and in the true Stalinist form I decided to display it on a massively repressive scale.

I wanted to evoke the emotions of fear and patriotism and disgust from people with my piece I wanted them to feel what people have felt everyday for decades.

Taking on this project was no easy task, i found that it too had to be researched and perfected to get the right response. From the test run on the class I think I accomplished my goal from the begining of the semester. I did not make alot of songs or movies but what I did make I put everything into.

Along the way I saw how electro-acoustic music held up the ideas i was trying to convey with my piece. I found this especially to be true with the chapters on industrial music from the readings. They used the same sounds and noises and imagery that i did to achieve the same ends. though what I made is a complete and total departure from the industrial scene I like to think that it is my link to the musical part.

kick it

2008-11-17T16:07:00.000-08:00

Playlist:::::::::

Quantic: "An Announcement to Answer" - really good Dj electro music. you could put a snowboard video to it.

Beastie Boys: "Ill Communication"

Brian Eno: "Another Day On Earth"

Thom York:"the Eraser"

Anothony Green: "Dear Child (i've been trying to reach you)"

Culture and Music

A big part of culture is music. Many people say that math is the universal language but i think that is only half true. More people communicate through music than math. Really just think about it for a while...

Listen to something past or present in a different language and jot down what you feel. Or even the same language check out a different genre say your a country bumpkin go out and listen to an album like The Roots - "Things Fall Apart" or "Game Theory." There is a great difference in the sounds and lyrics even but they both address the basic human emotions and themes: love, life, death, sex, conflict, social injustice, etc, etc. One can assimilate into a community and start to understand where those people come from just by listening to their music. Some groups rhyme about some really complex things like racial and social injustice for example, but by hearing out their problems or triumphs through the music you get an insight into a culture that you can't get from a conversation or a book. Music is the the written audio text book of culture.

With out a doubt..

i challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and listen to someone else's culture. Go check out some French rap. or German metal. Country music. Gangsta rap, industrial, emo, pop, noise. DO IT.

For instance,

I am looking at history through the sounds of an era. I have created my own audio textbook using the sounds of Stalin speaking, Shostakovich playing a symphony, and the Soviet National anthem. put together these different sounds make a song that speaks about the cultural repression of millions of people enslaved by the psychology of fear and dependence to a Tyrant. Even if you don't know alot about history or Russian history you can get this message out of music just by listening and analyzing the sounds. We should all stop reading for classes and start listening to the texts that are right infront of us. Whether thats an Mp3, CD, Vinyl, Cassette, 8track, whatever go listen to some culture.

"Odd How People Shake"

2008-11-10T17:38:00.000-08:00

Playlist:

The Strokes: "Razorblade"

Wilco: "Sky Blue Sky"

Sigur Ros: "Takk" (Ablum)

John Mayer: "Gravity" & "Where the Light Is" (Album)

Dan Deacon: "Crystal Cat" (Thank you to whoever showed this guy in class!!!)

Incubus: "Here In My Room"

The Postal Service: "Give Up" (album) If you like death cab for Cutie's singer and wanna hear some cool electro/acoustic music check it out esepecially the track "Such Great Heights."

Nirvana: "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter"

FEAR BEFORE THE MARCH OF FLAMES: "ODD HOW PEOPLE SHAKE" (ALBUM(GOOD)!

So...I think you all should go watch the Kill Bill movies and refamiliarize yourself with them...

On Music.

I just read Ch.8 Power in Noise/Music and I went back and brought up a conversation we had last week about metal, grunge, grind, metalcore, etc. I started to re-think through the chapter about how volume, shock value, noise, and repetition all play into the theme of power; displaying it and breaking it down. Like industrial and gangsta rap music all of these genres and sub genres of music have a few things in common. play really loud and use some sampling to get you to listen. If you have ever been to a metal show just imagine the volume already at 11 then cranked up to 111. A overwhelming wall of sound puts you at the bands mercy. I mean the volume when it goes down (whether you realize it of not) makes you listen intensly for that next note untill you are overwhelmed again and at the subservient mercy of your masters above you on stage. The use of sampled sounds like machine guns, a woman's crying scream, etc show you what power you are listening for.

Noise is signified by the volume which in turn signifies the message coming.

To really get the gist of all of this you really need to take some music that you may consider noise and play it REALLY LOUD or really soft and then you will see. I will revisit this entry after class tomorrow to see if somethings i thought have changed....

Love peace chicken grease

2008-11-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll I forgot to show you all a really cool link and some playlistenings from this previous week.

Check em':

"Soviet National Anthem" by The Red Army Choirs of Alexandrov

"Paper Planes" by M.I.A.

"Space Oddity" By David Bowie

"Take of your pants and Jacket" (album) by Blink-182

"Ill Communication" (album) by Beastie Boys

YouTube - George Washington Really really really funny and cool. Goes to show what animation and song can do for one another.

Cio,

Tyler

The Crescendo 70 years in the making.

2008-11-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

RED SKY AT NIGHT SAILORS DELIGHT

RED SKY IN THE MORNING SAILORS TAKE WARNING!

RED STAR AT NIGHT SHINES BRIGHT

RED STAR IN THE MORN TREACHERY IS THE NORM.

We are surrounded the wolves are at the gates circling waiting for the walls to fall or all within to perish.

The sheep inside fight back they are no longer sheep the desperate struggle for their homeland for the revolution for their survival is at hand. The walls will not be breached we will not retreat. NOT ONE STEP BACK!

The siege of Leningrad lasted for over 2 years and yet the German Werhmacht could not break through to Leningrad. In fact the German failure to do so at Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad led toward the turn in the war from a struggle to survive to a great tsunami of soviet destruction that swept over the German military pushing them all the way back to Germany, where they would suffer at the hands of those who they punished not a year earlier.

Not to make this a history lesson but little known fact: It was the Soviet Union and the Red Army that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and destroyed Hitler and Nazi Germany not the Americans, or even the British. (Though both helped and fought heroically to defeat the Werhmacht. Without the help of the allies and the opening of the Western front it is not certain that Hilter would not have failed in his conquest of Europe.)

To the music.

Shostakovich Symphony No.7,

The symphony that captures the struggle and ultimate victory of the Red Army and the Soviet citizens who drove back the wolves from the gates. In this piece Shostakovich has created a great tribute to the struggle of those men and women who took up arms and mobilized an entire society in defense of their nation. If you are reading this and know anything of Shostakovich you would say, "Hey wait a minute! Shostakovich was a dissident and an opponent of Stalin!" Yes, that is all true Shostakovich was an opponent of Stalin's regime but, Shostakovich was still a Soviet citizen and still took pride in his nation. Wether it was pride or fear is a whole other debate.

Symphony No.7 captures the highs and lows of battle. It shows the depravity of being under siege, the desperateness and the horror. It also signs as a classic example of history re-interpreted through music.

Do genres die?

2008-10-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Playlist for now....it changes minute to minute but i'll do my best to put down some good Shizz for ya'll.

.
Aesop Rock: "None Shall Pass"

"Forrest Crunk"

Stars: "Set Yourself On Fire"

"Your Ex-Lover Is Dead"

Ryan Adams: "To Be Young"

Radiohead: the entire Amnesiac album specifically a song to point out "Knives Out"

Dusty Springfield: "Son Of A Preacher Man"

One Day As A Lion: One Day As A Lion - EP (This is RATM front man Zach de la Rocha and members of the Mars Volta making some amazing jams!!!!)

Frank Sinatra: "Come Dance With Me"

Fleetwood Mac: "Rhiannon"

I have a Russian class now I'll be back later tonight...Da Svidanya!

back again..

Underoath - Lost In The Sound of Separation. (It grows on me more and more each time i have a listen.)

Now down to the bloggin'

I would like to use this entry to take the time to examine the constancy and endurance of musical genres. Classical, rock, hip-hop, acoustic, folk, and pop music are all genres that are now constants they have endured the test of time and over time they have evolved produced new sounds, fads, and followings. They are all constantly in our ears and our mind whether we are paying attention to them or not. Each of these respected genres has become a part of what we consider the music community whether that is because people still listen or the masses feel that the artists of these genres have proven themselves by producing something mind blowing or inspiring. Having taken a look at my musical library and how my tastes have changed, expanded, and relapsed back to something I used to love or hate I started to wonder if the constancy and endurance or certain genres is real. By this I mean does a genre ever really die out? At some point does the giant sell out asteroid crash into the musical earth killing off all of the flash in the pan genres? For example, though I have moved away from it, "emo" music seemed to be all I listened to bands like Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, Armor for Sleep, Death From Above 1979, etc. At one point or another I thought these bands and this type of music was the end all be all, though I still enjoy these bands the genre seems to have been killed off for the most part by MTV and the mall rats running around everywhere that have bought into the commercialization of a subculture and in a way almost made the music, the look, and all else that goes with "emo" music start to disappear. It seems that the apocalypse is fast approaching for this genre and fashion if you will. When the dust settles will this genre and all the bands within it find it self out of luck out of jobs and out of record stores, more importantly will they be out of our consciousness?

I think for now my tentative answer to that question would be no. I say no because it will evolve into something else a new sound a new culture until that too is overplayed, destroyed, or forgotten for some time and then rediscovered. Now that we live in a globalized society in the digital age we will continue to rediscover our planet's music. I am not just talking about what is popular at the moment but all music all culture everywhere. It will all be rediscovered and evolve into something new. A new sound or a familiar sound. This is something that I will be thinking about and re-analyzing throughout the semester and life even.

I would like to know what other people think...

Da Svidanya (Good Bye in Russian)

Tyler

Hello Comrades!

2008-10-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings -

So this week I will be revamping/evaluating my artist's statement...

I still want to create something that makes people see history through sound but after hearing a multitude of shorter pieces I would like to take some time and work on some short musical essays. I see these shorter pieces as being stepping stones toward reaching the goal of a final and polished long work on the Stalin piece I presented earlier this year. I would really like to try and step in the other direction from which I have been mainly focused on. Ultimately I see myself heading in the same direction musically but I would like to take some time to back track and see if I can come up with some new ideas and sounds that will really enhance the experience that I am seeking.

Da Svidanya

Tyler

Post, posting, posted, postedest

2008-10-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well no new songs just revisiting the old song for now.

I would like to thank everyone for their encouragement and positive criticisms in class, I will take everything you all said into consideration when I go to work again on a new song.
For the moment I don't know where I will be going in terms of new material. I think I would like to leave the historical theme for a bit to make a more electro sound, I have been listening to alot of underground Hip-hop and alot of Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac lately and would like to do something in the direction of that. I would like to create something sound like this. For those of you who are not familiar with Radiohead or the two albums I mentioned I would highly recommend them. I think last week I posted some links that everyone should check if they are at all interested...
Another cool band or group I found is Aesop Rock. especially the song "none shall pass."

and if any of you want something really cool that has a good blend of electro and acoustic check out "Minus the Bear." A great band, any of their cds should leave you happy.

In fact I think that is my recommendation and profile band that I will write about next week. Minus the Bear. Everyone everywhere go listen to this band. they are the perfect blend of everything. They have some really cool harmonic stuff and some other really rhythmic and ambient sounding sounds. I would start out with the Cd Highly refined pirates, goin into, Menos el Oso, followed up by, Planet of Ice. Don't question it just do it! You won't be wasting your time. If you have read this far into this entry you owe it to yourself to listen to something good. bye.

Influences...

2008-09-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vgMYcMROcc
Radiohead - Knives out video
http://www.youtube.com/user/radiohead - Radiohead youtube site.
http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/- official radiohead site.

Well...

I guess I would have to say one of my musical influences, if not the musical influence, is Radiohead.
Those who are unfamiliar with exactly who they are and where they came from can find alot of biographical info as well as music videos in the links i have posted.

Radiohead have found a home in and perfected the electro-acoustic genre, they have created sounds that portray many different themes of paranoia, jubilation, darkness, fear, and sunshine lollipops. They use outstanding lyrics and vocals as an instrument to convey this sound and the message through that sound.

Radiohead for me is the band that has crossed the bridge from traditional rock into electronic music. For example I really love all of their albums but the two that stick out in my mind as being their best are "Kid A" and "Amnesiac." I choose these two in particular not only because they are really far out, but they use melody and varying electronic and acoustic arrangements to convey really dark topics themes. Its something on par with an apocalyptic lullaby. But not all of their music is dark and gloomy. Take for instance the album "In Rainbows."

I know that when I sit down at the computer to compose something on garageband it is Radiohead inspired. I hope this semester to use my interest in Radiohead to expand my interest in the genre and in doing so find a new passion to build on one that already exists.

By the way everyone should check out Radiohead's singer (Thom Yorke'S) solo project "The Eraser" and don't hate me when your head literally explodes...

Link to a cool interview on Thome Yorke speaking about internet pirating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioyqmeVszis

One small step for electroacoustic one giant leap for Tylerkind.

2008-09-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

So . . .

Over the past week I have been tinkering around with and laying the groundwork for my end piece in this class. I wanted to start small, use this piece to play around with garageband and reacquaint my self with the software.

My idea is part influence from a family guy episode and part my own personal interest and academic area of concentration. I wanted to create a sound that when played brought out certain raw emotions, I wanted people hear history. Really I feel like it’s the same idea as a silent film except for this is an imageless film or a wordless book…if that makes sense.

So far I have been successful in navigating garageband and creating and manipulating the sounds that I want to produce. It is still in the works but will definitely maybe be ready on time.

More later. . .

Tyler