Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 21:21:06 -0800 (PST) From: Steev To: J103 Subject: Re: Detritus Jon, thanx again for all your comments and kind words. Here's some answers... On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, J103 wrote: ->*Who is the voice in "Rant 23?" " That's me! I should have asked you to guess first... That's one of the last times i used my own voice in a piece, at least unprocessed. The guitar's me, too... ->Maybe I'm just not listening ->closely enough, but there seems to be a very relaxed attitude about ->establishing a strong narrative. Like a dream, which I believe fits most music ->within this genre, the samples work in and amongst themselves, sometimes ->connecting to equal a message, but more often than not, the message seems ->unclear. But the listener is never certain that there wasn't one. Still a ->pretty weird dream, though. The kind you wake up from with your eyes wide and ->get right out of of bed. I like that metaphor. As far as relaxed attitude goes - You're right. I think maybe my more recent work is more ... directed. But a consistent strain in my work is the influence of Dada, chance operations, and randomness. Hazy meanings and unclear messages. Ambiguity... ->*I like the way you adjust the pitch of the Beatles song in "Beatle pound" for ->a moment and construct that loop... or did you adjust it at all, maybe that ->was the way it was. Anyway... Yeah, the sample's from "Come Together", the pitch is shifted down and then looped. ->*I was commenting to a friend of mine recently in a letter which I was writing ->while listening to your tape, that I could really learn a lot from it. I have ->a tendency to polish my own stuff up to such a point that it just glides right ->in and out of your ears, no sharp points or abrasive protrusions to catch ->painfully, or noticably on the inside of your head. Your stuff seems more raw. ->I've been feeling lately like I should experiment more with this chaotic tone. ->This is the "noisy" side though, which I am listening to at the moment. ->Perhaps the south side will be different. That's a very astute observation. Before you sent that, I had noticed how "clean" the pieces on your tape are. Which is a good thing. It all depends on your aesthetic, and maybe what you're trying to achieve. A lot of what i do artistically has to do, i think, with how i perceive the world, with mirroring the confusion and chaos and variety and roughness of what's out there. Perhaps purposely providing "protrusions" for the mind to catch on... 'Detritus' is all about things rotting and mixing and forming new things, almost accidentally... or maybe not. Is there such thing as a coincidence?? ->*I think its the incorporation of sound, noises that I am talking about. yes! i like noise, and noises.... ->*I rarely use any noise. Its all sampled music and voices with me. You've got ->this distortion happening right now, a grinding, grating sound. I'm on the ->first track of the south side now. "Let me tell you a story" on the north side ->is another example. The voice is buried deep, way underneath the "barrage" of ->noise and sound. I always have the voices as either the first or second ->easiest thing to hear on a track... I am heavily influenced by John Cage, who taught that any sound can be music. I like to think that my work could be listened to many times and each time the listener might notice something else, a different layer might catch the ear. Brian Eno said similar things about his ambient music, that it was music that could be in the background, or, if paid attention to, had something to it, that you would want to hear over and over again. I also like to make things not quite easy to hear, so its like discovering buried treasure when you notice it... ->"I appreciate this type of work for its ability to bring one into or back into ->mind of a dream; the effect it has on my perceptions this way. I am lulled or ->shoved into a sudden "state." The samples may not even equal anything when ->assembled. The mere existence of the spoken words resembles the dreaming ->state. The fluttering in and out of patches of remembered conversations, ->snatches of dialogue from a film or a radio show; overheard conversations at ->work. The entire memory never surfaces in a dream but is remembered in part ->and then goes on to inspire the next recollection, not necessarily associated ->with the first in any way. The best dreams, I wonder, are the ones where the ->fragments seem to come together to suggest a meaning or an answer of some ->kind, perhaps to a personal question or concerns about the future - but it is ->just an illusion. Your dreams do not necessarily tell you anything about what ->is going to happen, nor should they be expected to answer any tough questions. ->The more troubling dreams, or depending on how you look at it, the more ->interesting, are the ones which appear as riddles. What is the significance of ->the juxtaposition of two miscellaneous elements? We rack our brains, we ->consult manuals and experts in order to discover the meanings of our strangest ->dreams. We can come up with an answer if we choose to, or remain in awe of the ->strangeness of the dream which seems to make no sense in reality. The examples ->of this type of work which juxtapose samples based on how they sound, rather ->than what they say, seem to me to be examples of this type of dream, while the ->ones whose samples come together to hint at a message or state it outright are ->simply examples of the types of dreams which really seem to be trying to say ->something, although they are just as often composed of equally random ->remembrances as any other dream." This is really good. The whole dream analogy is really intriguing. Dreams are, in a way, "samples" of our waking life, recombined to form some new experience that didn't really happen. Like a collage of life... Also your comments make me realize or re-realize a struggle i have had constantly within my music - the struggle between conveying meaning, and enjoying the manipulation of abstract sound. For a long time i strained to create works with more concrete "messages". I went to grad school to get an MFA in music, and one reason for doing so was to learn how to do so. But, at music school I learned that most composers, even "avant-garde" composers, aren't concerned with meaning. They are a very abstract and esoteric breed, living on sine waves and lines and lines of computer code. They aren't concerned, for the most part, with words, and language, and message. I took some critical theory classes to learn about words. But it wasn't enough. I learned alot, even fromthe composers, but i didn't finish my MFA, I wasn't learning enough, and i was spending too much money. Since then I've been living and working, and slowly trying to learn more about words and signs and symbols, and slowly doing more music that hopefully reflects what i've learned. But its still easy to forget, and while away hours sculpting waveforms, tweaking algorithms... Maybe i should send you some of my more recent stuff and see what you think. One thing: Your tape is really good. Keep reaching to improve, but if you like what you do, keep it up, and don't over-doubt yourself. Stick to your guns. As one of my composition teachers said once, "Don't worry about what other people think too much." Well, speaking of what other people think, I'm listening to your tape again, and its time to tell you some things about it. I like it a lot. I get lots of tape from the "cassette underground", i trade with alot of people, and there's a big range of stuff out there. But your tape is really top-notch. Its really good production quality, and aesthetically sophisticated. You've got a great knack for finding excellent vocal samples that are really poignant. And the grooves and loops are really catchy too. The first track, "Being" - really cool. Whenever i listen to it, it gets stuck in my head and i walk around all day humming "This is the only proof of your existence." i like Burroughs a lot, its great to hear his voice used in such a way, almost turning him into a rapper. And who's the other voice, woody allen? excellent, disturbing, filled with existential dread. The kind of thing that would make you come completely unhinged if you listened to it on acid.... "Draining" - a similar effect, but even more eerie with that mr. rogers sample repeated over and over. Great backwards drums, too. or whatever you've done to that rhythm track... I like the way the tracks onthe tape all seem to hang together conceptually as well as stylistically. Maybe it's the titles that contribute to that coherency: Being, Draining, Answers, Questions... it conjures an atmosphere pregnant with profoundity, even though its slightly comedic, too. The tracks sound spare, almost minimal, and yet they create a tension that keeps one listening. Have you heard The Tape-beatles? You should if you haven't. You'd like them, I'm sure of it. They're from Iowa (as am I) so you may get a chance to see them perform, they come to Minneapolis sometimes. But actually, now they call themselves Public Works. Really great stuff, the kind of stuff that always inspires me and has been an influence on me for awhile. ->*PS - When I complete my web page (focusing on my text sound composition/found ->sound collage - and attempting also to sell the cd I am in the final stages of ->assembling) I would like to include a page of links. I would like to link to ->your new page. Does this sound like something you would allow? Also, could you ->link mine? I have never done this before, so have no idea if this is an ->appropriate thing to ask - or even how to do it, should you be interested. I ->have a friend who is helping with the web stuff. Anyway, please let me know ->what you think! Thanks again. Hey, linking is what the web is all about. You don't need my permission! And yes, i will definitely put a link to your page, if it has anything at all to do with your music.... Well, sorry again that it took so long for me to give you some feedback. I know how trying that can be, to want to hear what someone thinks about what you do and be waiting. I once made a tape of some of my pieces and sent them out to 5 friends with a little survey that i asked them to fill out about what they heard. It took months or in some cases over a year for them to send the surveys back; it was pretty frustrating! Anyway, keep up the good work and i look forward to hearing more from you... when will your CD be done? best, smh Steev Hise, Technical Thug steevathise.org http://www.cyborganic.com/people/steev new recycled art site: http://www.detritus.net ----------------------------------------------------------------- "I'm so up and down And I love what's not allowed. I was lost, now I see: And now I'm growing old disgracefully." -Chumbawamba, 'Mary Mary' -----------------------------------------------------------------