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Looper's Delight
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>>> ...any methods out there to re-kindle the spark? >Check out: >Oblique Strategies - a set of problem-solving cards for artists. One thing I enjoy about mixing non-synchronous loops is that occasionally two or more completely unrelated events will match up perfectly... Just the other day, I was looping with some folks and the topic arose that while the music we were making was certainly interesting and didn't sound half bad, it might be in our better interest to write some "songs" as points of reference to better anchor the set and provide a firmer foundation for the improvised material. One comment was made to the effect that "we're turning into a jam band. An ELECTRONIC jam band, but still a jam band." While I didn't necessarily agree with this view, nor see improvising as inherently evil, it got me thinking about unconventional writing methods, and I recalled having many years ago read a description of Oblique Strategies. I have never seen a deck of these cards, and have only heard paraphrased a couple of the "aphorisms" found on them, and had not even thought about them in years until last week. Not having access to Oblique Strategies cards, I decided to make my own. I divided one side of a sheet of paper into a large grid, then turned it over and repeated the grid on the other side so that it would line up when I cut the "cards" apart. On one side of the paper, I wrote phrases describing moods and textures, or intentionally vague instructions; "quietly aggressive", "slowly falling slowly", "simple", "vibrating like an angry swarm of bees", "spaghetti Eastern", "building", "kelp forest", "funkier than James Brown", "wooden pandemonium ritual", "electro-Rasta Dub plate" and so forth, all designed to be as non-specific and open to interpretation as possible. On the other side I wrote, at random, a key signature or something such as "D Modal" or a gamelan scale or raga, or "no pitched sound, highly rhythmic". (You could also write a color on there, and use them for visual arts). Then all the little slips of paper go into a hat, or a box or some such suitable container, and are drawn in pairs (one instruction from the front matched up with the key or scale from the back of the other card) to serve as guidelines to organise an improvisation. Interpretation of the instructions may be discussed by the musicians at the time the cards are drawn, OR you can agree to NOT discuss them and just play. Record the whole mess, then go back and listen to it with an open ear to extracting the best parts as the basis for actual "songwriting", or sample the tastiest bits. Or not, it's up to you. The cards are just a tool, a game which can spur creativity, but to overuse would be to abuse the muse... The cards I came up with are probably nothing at all like Peter Schmidt's actual Oblique Strategies, but that doesn't really matter, since they're just an exercise in creative thought, and a lot of fun to boot. The results obtained by making your own cards are probably also quite different than what would come from using an actual set too, although now that the link has been posted with all that great Oblique Strategies info (Thanks to Bob Campbell! http://www.msn.fullfeed.com/~gtaylor/ObliqueStrategies/index.html ) I think I'll have to look into the real Schmidt and Eno thing! I'm going to keep (and add to) the ones I made, though; they're as much fun to make as they are to use, although Dan Bartell's Big Hat/clogs/bathrobe/bicycle/strawberries approach is probably a bit more original. Later, Tim P.S.: I'm looking for an inexpensive single-space rack mount unit for pitch shifting. Any of you have any suggestions re the ones you like or the ones you hate (and why)?