Filed under: Reviews, Think Pieces | Tags: avant-garde, documentaries, Evelyn Glennie, experimental, music, Touch the Sound
Imagine you are colorblind and one day your eyes are fixed so you can see all of the colors you’ve been missing-that is what watching “Touch the Sound” is like.
“Touch the Sound” is a documentary about Evelyn Glennie, a Grammy award-winning, deaf, percussionist who plays music by feeling the vibrations of sound. The result is music unlike anything I’ve ever heard before — the work of someone who experiences sound unlike anyone you’ve ever met or ever likely will meet. You know the feeling of you fingers rubbing the rim of a wineglass? It is in that sensation that Glennie’s music resides.
The movie itself is one long music video with scenes of Glennie traveling the world to play with different avant-garde musicians intercut with minimalistic interviews. The sound quality itself is amazing and with each new location the film takes a few minutes to dwell on the tiny noises we hear but ignore everyday.
“Touch the Sound” is much more cinematic than any documentary I’ve ever seen; the camera work and editing often uses the visual element as a metaphor for the sound- extreme closeups for tiny sounds, panning up as the music ascends in volume or tenor, and even spiraling around Glennie as she plays. The film is so stylistic that it borders on not being a documentary at all. If this is a documentary, then so is Vertov’s “Man with a Movie Camera.”
The director explains in the documentary that he is composing scenes to demonstrate the principles of sound, kind of like a PBS science show. For example, for the scenes with Glennie and Fred Frith in the sugar factory, they filmed them playing music for three days. So is it an accurate recording of an improvised song? Yes. But it’s not spontaneous or objective in anyway. Thomas Riedelsheimer, the filmmaker, picked the location and introduced Glennie and Frith himself specifically for this film.
Which is fine, I have no problem with both “Touch the Sound” and “Man with A Movie Camera” being labeled as documentaries– they are trying to achieve an artistic truth as opposed to a journalistic truth. But where as most documentaries minimize stylistic flourishes in an attempt to (supposedly) remove the presence of the director as much as possible and increase objectivity, “Touch the Sound” uses the camera work and editing to try and convey the director’s subjective impression of the music.
A great example of this is the opening sequence which starts with Glennie playing a gong almost inaudibly. As she plays louder the camera glides away from her. Since the microphone recording the sound is not moving away from Glennie, this shot has the simple but awe-inspiring effect of defying how we would normally experience a sound if we were walking away from it.
I know that must be confusing, but unfortunately I can’t find any videos of this clip; I’m afraid you’re just going to have to rent the movie for yourself.
Filed under: Heads Up
Cool new project from Vice Records were each assigned a color. The songs are all great, and even better, free, but this video is bananas.
Filed under: Think Pieces | Tags: Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Panda Bear, Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys played a big role in my childhood. I vividly remember standing on the swings and pretending to surf while singing “Surfin’ USA” with my friend Michael Gates.
Ah, to be sixteen again.
Actually, when I really was sixteen I saw the The Beach Boys in concert. Well, a chop shop version of The Beach Boys with Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, plus I think one of Brian Wilson daughters was playing too…point is they still rocked.
Thanks to my recent love affair with Panda Bear, I decided I needed to revisit The Beach Boys.
If you’re not a fan of the The Beach Boys or Panda Bear this might take some explaining. Pet Sounds is more like a symphony than a pop album, with layers upon layers of instruments played by The Wrecking Crew, a group of L.A.’s best musicians that Brian Wilson recruited to record while the rest of The Beach Boys were out on tour.
It opens with “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” a tribute to the longing to be older and experience
e life more fully. The album ends with the sound of dogs parking at a passing train, which serves as a metaphor for the passage of time. It’s from the dogs’ barking that the album gets it’s name, which serves as a double entendre, because “petting” is what old people called making out. Panda Bear opens his song “Comfy in Nautica” with the sound of an owl hooting, which could probably be considered a head nod to Pet Sounds. But if Pet Sounds is impressionistic, with each distinct element creating a bigger picture, Panda Bear is surreal, nonsensical and disturbing audio clips of screams, crying, and gun shots float in and out with lots of scratching techniques thrown in for good measure.
So for President’s Day I listened to the the album in it’s entirety twice as well as a 17 part podcast series about the album that was available through iTunes.
“Wouldn’t it be Nice”
Notably, one of Paul McCartney’s favorite pop songs. This music is so plush. Normally I tend to focus in on the lyrics, so I’m having to readjust how I listen to try and catch everything. I’ve heard you can listen to this album back to back and cue in on different details each time. That certainly seems to be true.
“You Still Believe in Me”
“That’s Not Me”
“Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)”
This is so much more like a sympathy than a classic rock album. I’ve always found it strange to lump The Beach Boys in with Rock ‘n’ Roll. They sound so much sweeter, they’re more like a rockabilly barbershop quartet singing about girls and rebellion. Note: Mike Love made a similar point in the podcast, but he sounded like a tool when he said it.
“I’m Waiting for the Day”
Easily my favorite song so far. I love the big booming drums dum-da-dum-dum’s, they just sound so happy. Plus, this song has so much attitude! “But you know that pretty soon I made you feel glad that you belonged to me” super creepy and possessive! “You didn’t think I could sit around and watch him take you?” I love how provocative the last four lines are. It’s like a rap song, start some shit!
“Sloop John B.”
Originally a poem by Carl Sandburg adapted by The Kingston Trio. Perhaps the best way to gauge the scope of Brian Wilson’s musical ability is to listen to the two versions back-to-back. They are basically the same melody, and I’m not knocking the Kingston Trio here, but Brian Wilson has added a deep, rich complexity to the song.
“I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times.”
I love how The Beach Boys never lost their candy coating, even though these songs are noticeably darker and existential than their earlier work. I guess that’s the side effect of having four guys harmonizing with high pitch voices. I wonder if you couldn’t speak English, or if you could listen to these songs without the vocals, if you could still hear the dark subtexts of the album.
“Pet Sounds”
Originally titled “Run, James, Run” and was made for a James Bond film. Sounds great, it’s very easy to imagine this song playing over the opening title sequence (hint hint to the current Bond film makers, Quantum Solace is a fucking terrible title, but we’d forgive you if you used this song).
“Caroline, no”
It’s easy to forget this was music of rebellion, especially since my parents encouraged me to listen to The Beach Boys as a kid. In the 1980’s, The Beach Boys were banned from playing on the Washington Mall. WTF? They’re as American as apple pie!
Conclusion:
I listened to the podcasts first, which perhaps was a mistake, and I started feeling doubtful about my project. There was one cast for each song, and clips from each song were intermixed with interviews with the “Boys.” A lot times they didn’t have much to say, especially on the instrumentals, but for what it’s worth, I can now tell Mike Love and Brian Wilson apart just by their voices.
My worries were ridiculous, listening to the album I became completely engaged with the swell of the music, these are songs that just can’t be cut into ring tones. After spending the day listening to Pet Sounds, I was appropriately blown away. I shifted gears and put on “Help!” one of my all-time favorite Beatles songs.
It felt like switching from a motorcycle to a bicycle. After training my ears with an album of a hundred instruments, the guitar and drums line-up sounded tinny and hollow. I recovered, and on a second listen was able to enjoy it a bit more, but I realize now I’ve made a step forward in my knowledge and appreciation with the unexpected result of being more critical of my old favorites.
Filed under: Think Pieces
We’d all probably agree that this is music:
But what about this:
I would say “yes” but my mother would probably say, “no, not so much.” Which is a problem, especially when you’re dedicating a year to “music.”
So I thought I’d turn to my two favorite dictionaries for definitions to help me set parameters. Let’s take a look at the contestants.
The Oxford English Dictionary aka the OED: A triumph of humanity, as important as Shakespeare or Whitman to the English language. The Oxford English Dictionary attempts to catalog every word in English. As an added bonus, the OED cites the first written use of each word as well as examples of each word’s use through history.
Urban Dictionary: User submitted definitions that are voted on by the unwashed masses. Urban Dictionary excels at slang, jargon, and the “street” usage of a word. Often their definitions are much better than traditional dictionaries for the common spoken usage of a word.
For a full list of both dictionaries definitions, click here.
So when does sound become music? The OED gives a cursory nod to “harmony, melody, rhythm, expressive content, etc.” which is cool because those are the closest means we have to express music objectively with verbal-based language (as opposed to sheet music which I would argue is a form of written language). But even for the OED, the definition quickly slips into the abstract and subjective, “[t]he art or science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds to produce beauty of form” and “the occupation or profession of musicians.” So musicians are people who make music and music is that which is made by musicians.
Resist the urge to make fun of the circular logic of this statement and I think you’ll agree that this is a pretty awesome definition of music because it intertwines music and humanity. By this definition sound, unless created by a human, is not music. After this point the OED pretty much slips into metaphor, listing personifications of music, such as this gem from Chaucer in 1425 “With Rethorice com forth Musice, a damoysele of our hous.”
Isn’t that pretty?
On Urban Dictionary, on the other hand, music is described almost exclusively with superlatives and metaphors, ‘Long story short, its “fucking your ears with noises, catchy noises”’ writes Chang Tan, “Mankind’s Greatest Achievement.”says Red Hot Chili Pepper, ” Something the world would be lost without,” adds Matt.
I love these definitions because the writers have focused on explaining how music makes them feel, which I think is a testament to how subjective music really is. Unforunately, they don’t work very well in the classic sense of a definition.
John A., however, has submitted what I think is my favorite definition of music, “Noise that is pleasing to the ears.” I think that if we combine this with the OED’s “occupation of musicians” we’d have a pretty good definition of music.
According to the OED’s definition, anyone who considers himself a musician can make music; according to Urban Dictionary, anyone can determine what music is.
So here is my working definitions of music, “Noise, made by musicians, that is pleasing to the ear.”
Looks like we can both be right, mom.
Filed under: Reviews
I listened to The Go! Team on the train this morning…this band makes me want to take off my pants and dance around like an epileptic. I highly recommend it (the music, not the public-pantless-shuffle-spasm).
One more cup of coffee and I’ll be ready to take over the world.
Note: Video to come.
Filed under: Project Update
Week 2ish.
On My Nightstand:
Mystery Train by Greil Marcus
New Music (for me at least):
Robert Johnson The Complete Collection by Robert Johnson
The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks
Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home by Bob Dylan
Oracular Spectacular by MGMT
Online…
Some Bands I was poking around MySpace at: Obviously I’ve heard a couple of songs here and there by these bands, so seemed like a great idea to delve a little deeper, especially since most of them are based here in New York. I mention Vampire Weekend because they are the band that everyone insists on mentioning that they’re listening to. Well, you know what? They aren’t that great. “APunk”’s alright.
Most of these bands didn’t work for me, but that’s okay. It is, perhaps, unfair to base an entire review on a couple of songs on someone’s MySpace page, although shouldn’t that be their best songs? I liked Lightning Bolt and The Muggabears, Panda Bear and Blak Thor knocke
d my socks off.
New Moby
Some Articles I’ve been reading Online
The Grammys are Irrelevant (WWTTD)
Bands You Need to Hear (L Magazine)
Best Music of 2007 (The AV Club)
Videos:
This Bat for Lashes video is the cat’s pajamas-
The thrilling conclusion to this four-year-old interview (I’m not being sarcastic, Bob Dylan is hyper-entertaining to watch in an interview)-
Filed under: Reviews
Well I finally watched “Once” and it restored my faith in humanity, just like I knew it would. One thing that bothered me, though, was how the movie got tagged at some point as “the musical for people who don’t like musicals.” Is it a musical? Really? If it is then “Walk the Line” and “Ray” are too.
My friend Michael argued with me that it is a musical because music tells a significant amount of the story, but I know another movie that fits that definition, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (“Go ninja!/ Go ninja! / Go!).
OK, so it’s a musical. I was playing the Devil’s advocate. But this leads me to my second point, the tag that this movie defies description. Not so, it’s part of a healthy subgenre of movies about bands making music.
Some Other movies about Fictional Bands Making Music:
1. “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”
2. “That Thing You Do”
3. “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”
4. “High School Musical”
More to come as I think of them
Filed under: Reviews
No Age were pretty hit or miss on every other song, alternately nailing it and putting out an undistinguished wall of noise.
The Liars sounded great and the lead singer looked like a giant Stretch Armstrong in a pink suit.
Evil Brian writes: Everyone was dressed like they had Down Syndrome and were busy doing the walking dead shuffle. If someone had cracked open some brains, they would have gone bananas (Down Syndrome Zombies=Twice as strong). But, since no brains were spilled on the floor, so fans showed their appreciation by nodding their hands and tapping their feet.
It was kind of nice to be at a concert where everyone respected your personal space though.
Pretty short show, but I understand the lead singer is having back problems.
Filed under: About: Project Mission Statement
The Project:
Basically, I decided for my New Year’s Resolution that this year I was going to immerse myself in music. Which I’ve been doing, I’ve been consuming music like a college student with Limewire.
But for my Chinese New Years Resolution, I’ve decided to refine my project a bit. It seems to me that while rampant consumption is all well and good, there’s only so much you can really get out of studying without some kind of output.
This blog is for me the analytical component of the project. This isn’t a Live Journal, this isn’t about my life. That said, here’s my background. Feel free to skip it.
My Background:
I am neither a (professional) Elvis impersonator nor a car bomber, so if you’re looking for those Brian Childs you’re in the wrong place.
Currently I’m a jack-of-all-trades at Asylum.com. I’ve had articles published with mensvogue.com, The Brooklyn Rail, Metro newspaper in New York and I have a book of short stories, “The Evening Rolled On Like a Tank Being Driven By A Zombie.” Previously, I’ve blogged about Coney Island, and I used to keep a blog to workshop my short fiction.
Some stories that I’ve written about music, or heavily influenced by music, include:
Rocking to the Beat of Many Drummers (Metro)
Automatic Music Machines (published no where)
Fire Fight (published as Ryan Winters on Thievesjargon.com)
Some other stories I’m particularly proud of are–
Habitat of the Human Freak (The Brooklyn Rail)
Corduroy Cult (mensvogue.com)
Disappearing in South America (Lulu Press)
In terms of my music background, Michael Jackson, Little Richard, Sly and the Family Stone and the Beach Boys were big records for me growing up. I think of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ “Once Upon a Christmas” as the definitive version of Christmas music. I know all of the words to “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.”
In high school I went to local punk concerts most weekends and also started listening to big band music and learned how to swing dance. I went to college in Athens, Georgia were we traded around new CD’s every week and saw an uncountable number of concerts. I studied history and Spanish, my honor’s history thesis was on African-American stand-up comedy. I have a master’s degree in journalism. I cannot play an instrument.
Post college, my musical tastes have been most influenced by Bonnaroo, both because of all the bands I’ve been introduced to there and because it serves as a music swapping session for the people I go with.
As far as reading about music, I love biographies as well as profiles and writings by musicians, but I don’t read many music reviews because they seem kind of pointless nowadays when you can just listen to most things yourself. I’m also fan of Chuck Klosterman (I imagine hundreds of people clicking off my screen after reading this).
Don’t worry, Chuck can have his thing. I’m not interested in ripping him off, nor Lester Banks or Greil Marcus or anyone else. If this project succeeds or fails it will be on its own terms.
The Project (part 2):
I was planning on writing a novel, but quite frankly that doesn’t seem like where the action is right now, so this is filling the slot for my need to have a creative writing project–think of it as part essay, part poem, short story, photo essay, podcast collage.
I’m going to write several short posts a week about what I’ve been learning and use my historian and journalist skills to put out several essays, not so much music itself as the culture surrounding music. I’m also hoping to produce a series of podcasts where I interview some of my friends about music. Some people I’m hoping will sit down with me include:
My friend Michael Tedder, A reporter for CMJ
My boss, Neil Gladstone a former CMJ reporter
My boss, Jared Willig, former head of AOL Music
My cousin, Brett Boutwell, a professor of music history at Cornell
My cousin, Allen Childs, a student of music and musician
My friend Tony Ragazzo, an accomplished musician.
As well as my buddies Michael Rundle and Kyle Bruno, who are generally brilliant and know an excessive amount about music.
We’re going to talk about how music is influenced by technology, sound as a metaphor for meaning, the history of music journalism, and music as therapy, as well as some lighter stuff.
Before these podcasts (and my essays) I’ll give a round up of readings, music and movies/documentaries that are relevant to the discussion so that you can follow along in my project if you like.
Which brings me to my final point. After reading David Byrnes article in Wired and watching Pete Seeger: the Power of Song while this project was still forming in my mind, I was struck by music’s traditional role in bringing people together. It seems that nowadays, with the iPod, music is often turned into a buffer zone against the outside world. I’m all about a richer internal life, but this project is inspired by music’s historical purpose of getting people together, about sharing something you love, and I’m hoping that’s what will happen here.
So if you know a book or a CD you’d like to recommend for this project, please drop me a line or comment. I’m going to try and set up a discussion board, so anyone can get more involved if they like.
Unless you’re into Linkin Park.
Cheers,
Brian
Filed under: Project Update
Today I’m watching “Once” and going to see The Liars at Warsaw, in Brooklyn. Here’s some other stuff I’ve been into since my project started.
Listening:
Funeral, Arcade Fire
Before the Flood, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
These Times They Are A Changin’, Bob Dylan
Take it From the Man!, The Brian Jonestown Massacre
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Bruce Springsteen
Untitled, The Byrds
The Liars, The Liars
Time for Heroes, The Libertines
Permanent, Joy Division
In Rainbows, Radiohead
Sky Blue Sky, Wilco
Podcasts from iTunes:
John Lennon: The Rolling Stone Interview
Bob Dylan Podcast: Episode 16 (I’ve got 1-5 on my iTouch right now).
On the Night Stand:
Rick Rubin profile “The Music Man” from New York Times Magazine
Pete Doherty: Man Out of Time from Spin
David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars from Wired
Chronicles I by Bob Dylan
Born in the USA by Jim Cullen
Viewing:
