Discussing “Silver Apples Of The Moon” puts me in a quandary. I like Morton Subotnick personally, and very much enjoyed studying with him. I appreciate his desire to liberate the world from the shackles of keyboard-centric thinking. There’s no question that his music is personal, original and forward-thinking. But I find myself unable to emotionally [...]
Also filed in Composition, Interfaces, Recording, Sampling
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Tagged analog, anxiety, buchla, Composition, electronica, modernism, morton subotnick, rhythm
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Apple has long made a practice of giving away cool software with their computers. One of the coolest such freebies is Garageband. It’s a stripped down version of Logic aimed at beginners, and it’s a surprisingly robust tool. The software instruments and loops sound terrific, the interface is approachable, and it’s generally a great scratchpad. [...]
Also filed in Interfaces, Music, Recording, Sampling
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Tagged apple, beginners, drumming, garageband, guitar, interfaces, ios, ipad, keybs, linkedin, midi, Music, music teaching, Sampling, sequencing, songwriting
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For my grad school thesis, I’m designing an intro-level music education app. I’m operating within the techno/hip-hop paradigm, with an Afrocentric rhythm-oriented approach. Electronic dance music production software had brought me much joy over the years, joy that I’m eager to spread to more people. I firmly believe that everyone is a potential musician, and [...]
Also filed in Interfaces, Software, Video Games
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Tagged accordion, brian eno, drumming, haptic feedback, interfaces, keybs, linkedin, midi, moog, morton subotnick, music notation, nyu, Video Games, visualization, xenakis
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I’ve toyed around with several iPhone and iPad music apps. Many are intriguing and fun, but few have inspired me into making “real” music. In preparation for the next Disquiet Junto project, I downloaded Nodebeat and tried some improvisation. I like the result: The app combines randomness and control in an intriguing way. I also [...]
Also filed in Composition, Improvisation, Interfaces, Music, Software, Video Games
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Tagged animoog, Composition, electronica, figure, Improvisation, ios, ipad, Music, nodebeat, random, touch
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The seminar I’ve been taking with Morton Subotnick is sadly drawing to a close. As part of the end of the semester, we were invited to Professor Subotnick’s home studio, a few blocks from NYU, to get a demonstration of the setup he uses in performances.
Also filed in Composition, Improvisation, Interfaces, Key Musicians, Music, Sampling, Software
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Tagged ableton, avant-garde, buchla, classical, Composition, electronica, experimental, Improvisation, midi, morton subotnick, nyu
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Guberman, Daniel. Post-Fidelity: A New Age of Music Consumption and Technological Innovation. Journal of Popular Music Studies, Volume 23, Issue 4, pp 431–454 Guberman divides the history of recorded music into two distinct sections: the fidelity era, stretching from Thomas Edison through the invention of the compact disk, and the post-fidelity era, beginning with the [...]
Also filed in Dance, Internet, Music, Music Business, Recording, Technology
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Tagged audiophiles, cell phones, dance, hip-hop, linkedin, mp3, nyu, pop, Recording, sodcasting, technomusicology
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Friday, September 23, 2011
Anna and I caught one of the best performances we’ve seen in years the other night by Tune-Yards. My friend Andrew, who was at the show, said this afterwards: “I can’t decide whether hearing the president say ‘This is not class warfare, it’s math’ or the fact that this band could become popular makes me [...]
Also filed in Music, Race and Identity, Sampling
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Tagged africa, audience participation, drumming, hipsters, indie, looping, merrill garbus, race, tune-yards, ukelele
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Back in June we went to see the incomparable Reggie Watts perform at Central Park Summerstage. I think Reggie is one of the most exciting artists of our time, but it’s difficult to verbalize exactly what he does. His performances combine improvisational music and absurdist standup comedy into a free-associative yet oddly coherent and impactful [...]
Also filed in Improvisation, Key Musicians, Music, Race and Identity, Recording, Sampling
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Tagged comedy, hip-hop, Improvisation, jake lodwick, jazz, looping, reggie watts
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Computers can only do a few very simple operations consisting of flipping electrical switches on and off. You can represent numbers in patterns of the on-off states of sequences of switches. By flipping switches on and off in particular patterns, you can perform simple mathematical operations on the numbers. You can do more complex mathematical [...]
The other day Brian Eno was on NPR talking about his process. He likes to have people walk into the studio without any preconceived ideas or written out material. Then he has the musicians improvise within certain constraints. Usually these constraints are more about a mood or a vibe than a particular musical structure. After [...]
Also filed in Autobio, Improvisation, Interfaces, Music
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Tagged brian eno, buddhism, comedy, electronica, groovebox, guitar, Improvisation, intuition, meditation, revival revival, singing, upright citizens brigade
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