Stochastic Clouds
In the local library this morning, I read the free copy of the cool and beautifully-produced music mag The Wire. While it isn’t cool enough to review Laura Cantrell’s When the Roses Bloom Again, it did remind me of two extraordinary musical experiences of mine. The Mela Foundation offers a new recording of La Monte Young’s The Well-Tuned Piano (a play on Bach’s Wohltemperierte Klavier). It’s a live recording, lasting six and one half hours (as the site so quaintly puts it). It also classes the music as “Just Intonation“, whatever that means (the link explains it but I’m not reading it as my brain will explode). I’ve tried to explain to people what it sounds like, and failed. I liked Kyle Gann’s attempt though: “The Well-Tuned Piano is an unparalleled exercise in attunement to sound. Each large section builds up from sparse, melodic notes to dense, stochastic clouds with such gradualness that intense listening is needed to catch the process in motion. Here, form followed acoustic necessity: the flow of momentum marshaled the vibrations of air in the room, slowly making the ear aware of sounds that weren’t actually being played. The play of combination and difference tones created astounding aural illusions. Young’s achievement represents the first successful implantation of an Eastern heart into a Western body (a grand piano). Considering the work’s harmonic, thematic, and timbral complexity, my gut feeling was that five-plus hours was not a minute too long.”
The Wire also links to CST Records’ pages on God Speed! You Black Emperor whom I saw play on the day of Jill Dando’s murder. While my friend didn’t think much of it, I was impressed, particularly by the use of film (of which you can see a clip by clicking on the bottom right train.ram hotspot). The noise was something else. Their new lp yanqui u.x.o, produced by the great Steve Albini, continues their tradition of excess: “u.x.o. is unexploded ordnance is landmines is cluster bombs. yanqui is post-colonial imperialism is international police state is multinational corporate oligarchy. godspeed you! black emperor is complicit is guilty is resisting. the new album is just music.” (sic) According to The Wire, the alternative cover is controversial.
Other SpikeMagazine.com posts of interest:
- ain’t that a kick in the head Yesterday I found…
- Music Is My Hot Hot Sex
- Shostakovich Comes To London
- Long Blondes Split
- Words and music
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