q/a

[bryan.helm@dinosaur.com]

Well I've collected all my thoughts and cereal boxtops
to join in the recent questionfest....here goes:

1.Who's on the forefront of looping? Commercially, dollar
for dollar, year in year out, probably either the dreaded
Mr. F or old Mr. Delirium Tremors himself, no surprise.
>From an aesthetic vantage point the forefront belongs
to artists that I would suspect are not only not on this
list but little concerned with anyone elses opinion of
their work or collection of gear. To be popular one must
be a mediocrity.

2.Why is Fripp and his work seen by many people in
a difficult at best context? People's expectations can
ruin anything. IMHO all you get for your ticket purchase
is a seat in the hall. If you want to be assured of hearing
familiar tunes, go see the Beach Boys or Wayne Newton,
they ALWAYS play the same tunes and try to please their
devoted followers,(what a great crowd..anybody here from
Cleveland?). When an artist has many facets to their work.
it's unlikely they'll all be showcased in a solo concert, 
especially when a goodly volume of that work is in a group
(duo,trio,quartet,quintet,sextet,ensemble), and all are done
with seperate intent. Solo Fripp is NOT King Crimson, what's
the mystery folks?

3. When was the seminal moment that I knew looping was
for me? When I first ran the Wurlitzer electric piano into the
analog tape echoplex in the sound on sound mode, in the
mid-70's. Abuse of a Space-echo and then a couple of half-
track decks was not far behind.

4.What is it about looping that makes it different from other
musical pursuits? The instant multi-track dynamics are
certainly the most immediate of the intrigues. Artists confined
to monophonic outputs from their instrument(trumpet, old synth,
etc,) can realize polyphony within a far more casual context than
studio multitracking has traditionally presented ( an aspect that is
changing). This freedom I believe extends one's desire to hear all
sound subjected to the manipulation of the loop, once begun. To be
honest it's the same issue as humor: you either get the joke or you
don't ...explaining it is of no use to the unexperienced. Only mass
market exposure to the technique's result will alleviate this ad man/
manufacturer's nightmare ( and this is happening around the world,
every hour, every day now). Listening to, and/or making loop music
is an aquired taste.For me, after 20 years there are still lots of new
recipes to be created via the tools at hand, be it a dull knife or a
deluxe food processor, the artisitic integrity is the true fulcrum.

                                Enough of my blather...loop on.
                                           Bryan Helm