Re: On being complete nerds

[TritoneDW@aol.com]

Okay, here's my 2 bits.

Looping "Technique":


Almost entirely ambient---devoid of all but incidental harmony and melody. 
I
tend to think in layers of pure sound. I'm of the guitar and Jamman camp, 
so
I'm using the guitar as a "sound generator". (No offense to keyboard 
players,
but personally I think that the guitar is better suited to ambient sounds
than the synth or sampler. Please don't kill me.)

I find that there is a core group of sounds out of which I construct loops:
rubbing the strings laterally with a slide, volume swells of notes/chords
done so as to create a continuous harmonic sheet, glissandi with slide and
EBow, scrapes, spring sounds, driving the strings into the pole pieces. One
can also use the microphinic properties of pickups to interesting 
effect--try
playing a walkman into your pickups while making a loop. You can of course
record some guitar on a tape, then play it through the walkman, through 
your
pickups into the loop (you get the idea). One good idea: record the 
original
loop as a blank--leave it empty--then enter all layers in the layer mode.
This way, you avoid irritating pops and clicks at loop points. You probably
all know this. 


Listening:

Well, I don't really have a lot of time to listen to things lately, but 
here
is a random smattering of things to pass through my life lately.

Praxis--Mutatis Mutandis. Still the best Praxis album. I've been listening 
to
this for years.

Mr. Bungle--Disco Volante and the first album. Fantastic. Check this 
out--it
can't be described.

Jonas Hellborg/Buckethead/Michael Shreve--Octave of the Holy Innocents.
Acoustic bass and guitar shredding with deep grooves. 

Lutoslavski--String Quartets (performed by the Kronos Quartet). Excellent
contemporary string music.

Bach Cello Suites--performed by Yo-Yo Ma.  Is there a better musician than
Yo-Yo Ma alive today? Stunning performance of some of the best music of the
Baroque.

Penderecki--Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. Talk about sound mass.

Josquin DesPrez--Motets. Rennaisance vocal wonders.

Gesualdo--Madrigals, especially book 6. Weird sounds from the rennaisance.

Gamelan Seker Jaya--Balinese Music in America. A wonderful Balinese Gamelan
ensemple in America. If your in the SF bay area check 'em out live. They
collaborate occasionally with a San Jose Indian dance company. Cool.

Portishead--Dummy. Unfortunate lyrics (unfortunate that it has lyrics at
all), but great grooves and production. 

Naked City--Naked City. What can I say about this one?

Shakti--Shakti. Or this one?

John Zorn--Forbidden Fruit. Kronos Quartet with DJ. Check it out.

U. Srinivas--Rama Sreerama. Karnatic music played on electric 
mandolin(!!!).
Stunning.

Anyway, people have been listing some great music on this thread. If you've
got the time, you could hardly go wrong. I'm not sure about the Spice 
Girls,
though :-).

Drew Wheeler