Re: essential loop recordings

[Tim Nelson <psychle62@yahoo.com>]

> --- Kim Flint <kflint@loopers-delight.com> wrote:
> > So let's hear it. What were 5 albums from the 90's
> > that you think 
> > influenced looping? (or influenced you and your
> > looping.) Can you say 
> > something short about each one about what makes it
> > essential listening for loopers?

There seems to be some equivocation regarding the
criteria here. While I certainly respect Andre's view
that 'essential listening' should mean that it's
Important (with a capital i), unique and deserving of
its place in historical context, Kim's request *does*
include that parenthetical part allowing for the
subjectivity of personal influence. That seems to open
the door to an nth degree thing; just as Allan
Holdsworth has stated that the biggest influence on
his guitar style was the way a saxophone plays legato,
it's possible that a recording that doesn't even
include looping may be an important influence on a
looper. For example, the repetition in gnawa might
inspire someone to try to achieve a similar feel but
with a guitar and an EDP rather than a large group of
sentirs and percussion. Or, as in a couple of the
examples some of us gave, a musician doing sound
collage by assembling samples on a computer but not
actually doing realtime looping might give someone the
impetus to try to do a similar thing live with
real-time instrumentation, and as such is certainly an
influence on that musician's approach to looping.

So Terry's inclusion of one of his own albums *does*
in some ways fit the criteria of Kim's request,
particularly in light of Terry's claim that he
developed his looping style without knowledge of those
musicians Andre listed (and many others) who were
indeed looping prior to that time.

Should Kim's question be rephrased to specify that
"Essential Loop Recordings" must competitively earn
their inclusion by featuring the first known example
of a particular technique, must feature specific
equipment and/or must be widely known? Or should we go
with the "what were five albums from the 90's that
influenced you and your looping" aspect? I think
either way would be valid, but they'd be very
different lists!

-t-

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