Support
Looper's Delight
|
Support |
|
|
>>I've tried on occasion describing some of the stuff I've done with the instructions "imagine the Cocteau Twins recording for ECM". It generally didn't work mostly because people usually only knew one or the other reference and if you have to explain the shorthand it isn't short any more.<< Which raises an interesting question - is your (or my) intention to accurately describe your music (both in technical and 'musical' terms) in a way that makes sense to you, or gives credit where it's due, or places your music in relation to music that the questioner is familar with, or to unsettle the questioner, or to provoke them to seek further/convince them to buy your CD/put them off all together/sound like a badass who drops the right names??? All of these will illicit different answers... for example. fellow looper - 'what kind of stuff do you do?' me - 'well, it's sort of influenced Michael Manring's JamMan looping, but with a fair dose of Bill Frisell in there - I also tend to use my DL4 for some mad texural stuff, using the backwards and speed shift functions in loop mode. I also never sync my loops up - I've got a JamMan, DL4 and MPX-G2 - so it all shifts in relation to itself fairly regularly. Harmonically, I tend towards diatonic stuff, but the layers over the top and random noise stuff can take it anywhere - lots of room for random acts of noise production... I'm getting more and more into spontaneous 'remixing' of sounds as I go along - getting the loops going and them messing with them, dropping them in and out, but I've not really settled on a structured way of doing that yet...' my aunt at a christmas party - 'so, Steve, what's your band like?' me - 'well, it's just me, but it sort of sounds like documentary soundtrack stuff - lots of whale noises and nice tunes. there's a bit of jazz in there as well and I use lots of electronic gadgets that allow me to record one part as I play it and them play over the top. It's all great fun, and I don't really mind if people fall asleep, get up and walk around or laugh at what I do, or just listen in a polite english audience kind of way...' dance producer bloke who goes to the same church as me - 'what sounds are you makin' at the moment?' me - 'ambient mellow stuff - chill out room music, mainly, a bit dubby in places I guess... I've been trying to get a gig at the big chill, but no good contacts there yet, you don't know anyone do you?' three very different answers, with different intentions and different images conjured up. But writing this has made me think that I've not really tried to label what I do in a way that makes sense to me - it just 'is' - I know the process, and I'm aware of my favourite harmonic areas, but taken as a whole, I've not really thought about a box. I guess I'm too into the minutae of what I'm doing to worry about the big picture... the only time I'm really aware of style in what I do is when I'm playing support to a particular artist, or in a particular context where some of what I do would be seen as wholly inappropriate - then I have to decide whether as a childish acts of annoyance I go ahead and try to turn a few heads, or play it safe... and to be honest, I have to admit it often depends on what I'm getting paid for the gig, which is a rather tragic admission... :o) Anyway, some people seem to have definite boxes in which to place things, in order to feel safe, and others are happier with ambiguity. Jeff Berlin thinks that all fretless bassists are essentially ripping off Jaco - that's all he can hear in the basic sound of the fretless bass. Others are able to hear and enjoy the myriad different possibilities inherent in fretless bass, and are therefor free to explore and listen without subscribing to Jeff's rather narrow parameters. It all seems to be about boxes. ...I also have qualitative problems with comparing myself to other artists, in that even those I'm influenced by are bound to be perceived as either 'better' or 'worse' than me, and therefor it can be seen as an act of self-aggrandisement to say 'yeah, I'm influenced by Bill Frisell' (or the ECM Cocteau's, or Frippertronics or whatever) - how many times have you been to see a mates band which he says are 'sort of a cross between the Beatles, The Cure and Radiohead, with a bit of early Floyd thrown in' and the nearest comparison you could honestly make is with some naive music students faffing about with guitars trying desparately to sound like their heros... So I'm obviously reluctant to sound like I'm dropping myself in that category, for fear that people may think that I'm doing precises the same thing as 'mate's band 1.1' So, what to do? I'd sound like a bit of a twat if I went through that whole list of options and criteria for assessment whenever anyone asked me what I sound like, so I guess I'll settle with 'solo bass - no, nothing like Level 42. Why not have a listen to the sound clips on my website?' and if they can't be arsed to do that, f*** 'em... :o) cheers Steve www.steve-lawson.co.uk