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Re: Or, the occasionally opaque veil of opinion
Not talking about the portland loopfest (or any other loop shows I've seen)
I'd like to say that I'm not really sure what you mean by "Transparent
technology." Unless you're singing in an open field, you are using some
sort
of technology. Some technologies are more "mature" than others, in the
sense
that they do what they're meant to do well, and are understood and
utilized by
artists to achieve their goals. This can be a gray area for sure. Some
art
is about how technology works and effects us. It is it's own point and
can be
annoying, as the technology can be.
In the scope of world history what we're doing is *really* new. There
will be
bumps in the road. I remember listening to Adrian Belew's "Desire Caught
By
The Tail" and thinking, "Adrian's got a new Guitar Synth and he wanked
around
with it and made an album." All but a few tracks seemed thin in the
content
world... unless you think of them as an album about the GR-300. (not sure
if
this was the model, but you know...) Later I read an interview where
Adrian
basically confirms what I'm saying, so there you have it.
But he stuck with the Guitar Synth and quickly learned how to *use* it,
instead of showcasing it's features. This is difficult. A lot of gear
can be
overwhelming. One must work in a sensitive way and all the time LISTEN. I
played at Mat's Switch Show and what I found interesting is that some of
the
best stuff seemed to happen when musicians were all of the sudden thrust
with
new people using different instruments. I think it was because that's when
people really started listening to each other. This is something we all
have
to strive for, and believe me, I know I can be guilty of getting lost in
what
I'm doing. This is especially bad when you're shooting for purely
improvised
music, and double plus bad if it's experimental. There's a difference
between
playing "noise" and making noise. Many are not sensitive to this
difference.
Many listeners are not sensitive to the difference either, and this often
can
lead to bad reviews of great shows. (I have no way of knowing if this is
the
case in Portland) Sometimes however, people are just wanking, and that's
kind
of OK too if that's what they like to do and they can find people who like
to
listen to wanking.
Oh well, I'm just rambling now.
Mark Sottilaro
"S.P. Goodman" wrote:
> I don't believe however that technology should "add" to my music, instead
> that it be as transparent as possible to my hoped-for/intended result